Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Begging for alms at the door
Feng Zhenchang's idea of returning home in style was discounted. There was no way around it; the road had not yet reached the village. They could only park the car in the original Fushan Township, and then a group of more than ten people carrying big and small bags walked towards the village. Fortunately, this short walk was nothing for them.
As soon as they had put their things down, the once-deserted house immediately became lively with people. Several families came to the door to invite them to dinner, especially those who worked in the store.
But it was embarrassing to go to the house of a family with children, so in the end they had dinner at their second uncle's house. Since they were brothers, it didn't matter, and no one could say anything.
From the next day onwards, there was a steady stream of people coming to the house. Feng Zhenchang didn't go inside all day long. While they were still finishing drinks at one house, they were already being called to the next. It didn't matter if they had eaten and drunk enough; they would just go for a drink to settle their stomachs and relieve the hangover.
Mei Qiuping really couldn't get away, with the New Year just three days away, there was always the household preparations to be made, otherwise she would be unable to leave the house like Feng Zhenchang. Feng Yuxuan also went to a few places on her own, but Feng Yiping, who stayed at home with his mother preparing for the New Year, wouldn't go anywhere even when he was asked by other people.
Since you eat someone else's food, you have to return the favour. On the 29th, when the preparations at home were almost complete, Mei Qiuping asked Dongming's daughter-in-law to come and help, and set two tables for each meal at home for lunch and dinner.
During the meal, there were endless compliments. Feng Zhenchang had been drinking too much these days, and his face was a little swollen. Hearing these words, his old face seemed to have a second spring.
Mei Qiuping was worried about his health, so she gave him a piece of her mind when serving the food, telling everyone to just drink on their own and not keep toasting him.
If it had been in the past, they would not have dared say such things. Of course, back then, not as many people were toasting Feng Zhenchang, so saying such things would have just made them the laughing stock. Now, things are different. The two of them still carry a lot of weight in the Feng family, and everyone at the table listened to what they had to say.
Of course, they won't let them down. Several cousins who can hold their drink are also at the table.
During the meal, someone finally brought up the matter of opening the noodle shop. Mei Qiuping and Feng Yuxuan, who had been listening to the commotion outside in the kitchen, looked a little cold.
Feng Zhanchang laughed, 'I've been thinking about this for a long time. If you want to open it, I will of course help. I won't go into details today, but after the first month of the lunar year, there will be a plan.
The person who asked was very satisfied with Feng Zhanchang's answer, and Feng Zhanchang also felt that he was lucky to have been reminded by his son in advance.
After this question was asked, Mei Qiuping was fine, but Feng Yuxuan was emotional every time she went to serve food.
After everyone had left, the man from the village credit union stayed behind, gathered around the fire, drank strong tea, and tried to persuade Feng Zhenchang to deposit some money in the credit union.
Feng Zhenchang didn't know if he had listened, but he was in a good mood anyway. It was true that in previous years, he had begged this man to lend him a few hundred yuan at the end of the year to make the New Year a bit easier. Now, it was the credit union that was begging him, and that was quite a relief.
'Look, Uncle, if you leave your money with the credit union, the interest rate will be higher than if you leave it with the banks. It'll look good for you. You've built a big business in the provincial capital. Those who haven't been there don't know, but if you leave some money with us, everyone will definitely believe it.'
The interest rate at the credit union was indeed high. One reason was that the interest rate on the money he lent out was at least 3%, and it was compounded, so they could afford to pay a high interest rate.
Second, the management of credit unions is very chaotic. Those who are not regular employees will solicit deposits at high interest rates.
Other banks at least pay lip service to depositor confidentiality, but credit unions don't care about that. Often, when someone is in trouble and goes to the credit union to borrow money, the manager will first tell you about someone who has deposited a lot of money in the credit union and ask you to ask that person to vouch for you, and that you will have no problem at all.
Feng Zhenchang doesn't have any major problems, except that he is a bit of a show-off. In the past, he had no choice, as he was poor. Now that his wallet is a bit fuller and he has the means, he was swayed by what the credit union said, and thought about whether he should squeeze out 10,000 or 20,000 yuan and put it in the credit union to save face.
Feng Yiping didn't mind, as long as he didn't put in too much money, it would help his father's face. As the old saying goes, a person lives for his face.
Mei Qiuping came over and stopped him, 'This year we really don't have any money. What we earned this year has all been invested in the shop. Not to mention saving money, we still owe the bank more than 100,000 yuan!'
Unexpectedly, the credit union manager was even more determined after hearing this. He was also considered a banking professional, and it was not easy to be able to borrow more than 100,000 yuan from the bank, which proved that they had money.
'No way, auntie, you don't have to put in a lot, just a few tens of thousands. The interest rate is higher than the banks anyway, so it's also a way to help me, okay!'
'I really don't have any this year, but maybe next year. Next year we will definitely prepare in advance. You helped us a lot in the early years.'
After the people from the credit union had left, Feng Zhenchang didn't say a word, his face didn't show any smile, and he just kept drinking the strong tea.
Mei Qiuping knew that he was a little angry. She thought about how he had just restrained himself from arguing with her in front of other people, and so she said nothing and continued tidying up.
After entertaining the guests that evening, two more uninvited guests arrived: the village party secretary and the accountant came knocking on the door.
After a long exchange of pleasantries, he finally explained his reason for coming: 'Uncle, you are the first person in our village to buy a car, and you are also one of the first few in the entire town. I also want to do something for everyone and then go home to enjoy a peaceful life, so I want to organise the repair of this road, but money is a big problem.
You are highly respected in the village and have the deepest pockets, so if you stand up and say something at this time, it will be better than if I say a hundred things. So I was thinking, firstly, to see if you could step forward and help encourage people, and secondly, whether you would take the lead and donate some money.'
Feng Zhenchang was a little tempted by these words. In the past, the wealthy families in the village would also contribute to things like building bridges and paving roads. When he was young, his family was well-off and they helped to build a stone bridge. At that time, there was also a tablet next to it, which recorded their family's good deeds. However, soon after the liberation, the tablet was smashed.
'How much does it cost?'
The secretary of the village committee glanced at the accountant. Is there a way out? He was even more excited. 'We don't even have the money to hire someone to do a survey right now. I asked someone in town. It would cost about 200,000 yuan to build a machine-ploughed road wide enough for two cars to pass each other. If you can get 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, then we'll have the start-up capital.'
10,000 to 20,000 yuan. Feng Zhenchang didn't explicitly object. The glory of his parents!
However, this time, Feng Yiping couldn't bear to watch as Mei Qiuping didn't wait for him to object.
Village committees like theirs are rotten to the core. These cadres don't have any manners when eating. As the Yuan opera says, they really rob the mouth of a mud swallow, sharpen an iron needle, carefully search the face of a gold Buddha, look for a pea in a quail's gizzard, split the fine meat on a heron's leg, and carve out the fat and oil from a mosquito's belly.
No matter how much money is taken from the villagers, it never reaches the village committee. As for over-taxation and over-collection, it's no big deal, it's just normal.
Don't look at him, the village secretary, he doesn't even have a rank, but he makes a lot of money. Just from his family, who also farm, you can tell that he was able to help his son build a three-story building on the town street, with the upper floors for living and the lower floors for business.
'Oh, our family is not rich. We have earned some money, but it is the hard work of the whole family. Big things like road repairs are the government's concern. My father is not good at being the head of the family. If in the future everyone in the village agrees to raise funds to repair it, that's fine. You take as much as you want, and our family will take as much as you do.'
'Haha, Yiping, you're getting more and more sensible. You haven't even married yet, and you can take charge of your father's household,' the secretary of the village committee said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Yipe, playing the trick of sowing discord. Feng Yiping looked at his oily face and wanted to spit at him. This son of a bitch can't remember to learn from his mistakes, and he's just asking for trouble!
'Even if I marry, I won't be able to take over my father's role. But my parents taught me from a young age how to behave and what to do. For something so important as hundreds of thousands of yuan, you, as the village chief, don't even think about getting the money from the higher authorities, but instead you want to get it from everyone. It's fine if everyone agrees, but you didn't even call a village meeting or issue a notice from the branch committee, and you've already come to our house with an open mouth, asking for money. You think money grows on trees!'
'You little brat, how dare you speak like that? Uncle, auntie, why don't you do something?'
'Do what? Did my brother say something wrong?' Feng Yuxuan rarely helped Feng Yiping. freewebnσvel.cøm
Feng Zhenchang also reacted. Although everyone smiled when they met the village cadres, behind their backs, who didn't talk about them? Apart from anything else, the highlight of the village year was receiving a few people from the town, but every year hundreds of free-range chickens had to be eaten.
No matter how much he donates to the village, he can only get a receipt, and then, it may end up in someone else's pocket the next day.
'My son is right, for such an important matter, of course we should first ask the state for money. If the village agrees to raise funds, I have no problem with how much I should contribute, but we need to come up with a plan on how the money should be used and managed. As for now, I don't have a penny,'
The secretary of the village committee and the accountant left in a huff. Feng Yuxuan was unforgiving and said behind their backs, 'Be careful walking at night, don't fall.'
Feng Yiping could understand Feng Zhenchang's feelings. Having been poor for most of his life, he had now made some money and really wanted to do something for the village and, incidentally, make a name for himself. Such a way of thinking could not be said to be wrong. There were many people his age with the same kind of thinking.
'Dad, if you really want to do something, it's easy. Invite some people next year and build a simple bridge over the river with precast concrete slabs, so that we don't have to take off our shoes sometimes in winter and swim underneath in summer when there's a flood, when we go to school.'
'Yes, something like that is more practical. We'll find a few families, pool some money, find a construction team, and build something sturdy. We don't need to erect a monument or anything. Those who cross it from above can just say a kind word about us,' said Mei Qiuping.
'Right, if you don't have any money, you should start with something you can do. Trying to raise a few hundred thousand yuan to build a road is just trying to make more money for yourself,' said Feng Yuxuan.
'Okay, let's do what Yiping said. We're not young anymore, so it's good to do something like this.'
Feng Zhenchang and the others still believe in the idea that doing good deeds will be rewarded.