“Land acquisition village?”
Everyone perked up immediately. Who wouldn’t want their village to become a land acquisition village?
In nearby Xiaoshiling, villages designated for land acquisition were given factory job quotas. Those were iron rice bowls—state-owned enterprise jobs with guaranteed income. Even though the monthly salary was only thirty to forty yuan, the benefits were excellent.
Working in the factory meant no wind, no sun, no rain. Every month they distributed rice, flour, meat, and fish, even fixed quotas of milk and eggs. Any family with a factory worker instantly lived a much better life.
Old Secretary Sun froze. He snatched the red-headed document from the village director’s hands and read it over and over again, confirming it was real. He was so excited he could barely contain himself.
“Fellow villagers! We’ve struck luck this time! The Hui Steel Second Machine Tool Factory is going to acquire land between our village and the county town—they’ve included us in the land acquisition zone!”
The villagers looked at each other, then burst into excitement.
“Really, Old Secretary?”
“Of course! The document clearly states that the entire Hui Steel project will be moved here. Not only will there be factory job quotas, but they’ll also build residential housing and allocate apartments!” Old Secretary Sun smiled so widely that the wrinkles on his face folded into a blooming flower.
The village director was equally excited. “In that case, we can’t divide the land yet. We have to see how much Hui Steel will take.”
Seeing that the villagers had concerns again, he quickly explained:
“Everyone, don’t get too anxious. I know you’re happy about getting land, but think about it—this land isn’t really yours anyway. You farm it yourselves, bear the risks, and at best you earn a little. But if the land is taken by Hui Steel, we’ll have jobs in the factory. That’s a guaranteed income! No worries about harvests!”
“Everyone has relatives in Xiaoshiling—you’ve seen it. If a family has even one textile factory worker, how do they live? Don’t you envy them?”
Of course they did.
The village director’s daughter had married into Xiaoshiling and got into a cotton textile factory through recruitment. Every holiday she came back with malted milk powder, noodles, canned peaches, meat, all factory benefits—it made everyone jealous.
“Director, your daughter and son-in-law are both workers. They must send you quite a lot of money every year, right? Didn’t they even bring you back a bicycle last year?”
The director chuckled. “Exactly. That’s why this land acquisition is a good thing. If we divide the land now and Hui Steel decides it’s too troublesome and goes to another village, wouldn’t we lose everything? That would be throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds. Don’t you agree?”
“Really, they’ll give us housing too? Xiaoshiling’s factory housing is better than some parts of the city—blue-tiled houses, some even have multi-story buildings.”
“It’s true! If Hui Steel moves here, in the future we’ll be integrated with the county. Schools, hospitals—everything will be here. Our village has great prospects!”
Old Secretary Sun smiled broadly. “Did you ask? Did the higher-ups say how many factory quotas we’ll get and how much land will be taken? Everyone is watching—this has to be fair.”
The village director scratched his head. “They didn’t specify that. But there’s a project lead. Look at the last page.”
He put on his reading glasses and slowly read the final line of the document:
“The project’s chief responsible person is… Qin… Qin… Qin Zhoucheng?”
The village director froze. “Wait… isn’t that the Xiao Qin from Xiaoshiling?”
Immediately, the entire room fell silent.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Lin Su.
Lin Su was stunned.
Qin Zhoucheng? The overall person in charge of the land acquisition and relocation project?
Wasn’t he just a village resident—an orphan with no parents? From the introduction letter she had seen before, he was described only as a technician. It never said what kind.
His background… was this big?
Xu Ermei immediately got excited. “Xiao Lin! Xiao Lin, did you hear that? Your Qin comrade is incredible!”
Old Madam Sun shot up. “Why?! Why should an outsider be in charge of our village affairs? I don’t accept this! Is he the factory director? Or deputy director? If he gets promoted, won’t he just get Lin Su a job too? She doesn’t even have land in our village!”
Old Secretary Sun’s cigarette dropped from his mouth in shock.
He had thought Qin Zhoucheng was just an ordinary technician with no backing, which was why he had tolerated Old Madam Sun’s nonsense—and even tried to push Lin Su toward him to keep her away from Yu Minghai.
Who would have thought that this “ordinary young man” had suddenly become the chief person in charge of a major relocation project?
Had he offended a big shot?
The village director said seriously, “The Yu family, stop making trouble. This is a red-headed document issued from the province through the city. It’s already decided—no one can change it. Comrade Xiao Qin was originally a key technical backbone in Hui Steel, highly trusted by leadership. The appointment cannot be altered. Stop causing a scene with words like ‘mistress’ and nonsense like that—you’re embarrassing your educated son. I might have to have a talk with Da Hai about this.”
Ever since Yu Minghai became a university student, Old Madam Sun had never been publicly reprimanded like this before.
Her usual tantrums and loud behavior had always worked—but now they were useless, and in front of the whole village. She immediately felt humiliated.
Yu Xiuli couldn’t believe it. She took a deep breath. “Director… are you sure it’s that Qin Zhoucheng?”
The director nodded. “It’s Comrade Xiao Qin.”
“No way… how could this happen? How can Lin Su be so lucky? She just randomly married a man this powerful? Why her?”
Yes—why her?
In an instant, many young women in the crowd were thinking the same thing.
Qin Zhoucheng was handsome, tall, and outstanding—so why did this divorced, overweight woman end up “picking up” someone like him?
Lin Su also felt a bit uneasy.
But when she saw the envious, jealous eyes around her—especially Yu Xiuli’s twisted, poisonous glare, like she wanted to scratch her face off—she suddenly felt a surge of satisfaction.
There was nothing she could do about it. Who told them that Qin Zhoucheng had clearly saved someone, yet was falsely accused of being a molester? Someone even tried to pin a criminal charge on him.
Yu Xiuli’s face went pale. That accusation came from her mother, Old Madam Sun.
“As for this marriage,” Lin Su added casually, enjoying the moment, “it was actually arranged with the help of the village secretary. Thank you so much, Secretary.”
Old Secretary Sun looked extremely awkward.
Back then, he had only wanted to curry favor with Yu Minghai and his city girlfriend. Who would have thought Qin Zhoucheng had such a background?
A young man like that—why didn’t he introduce him to his own daughter instead?
The entire room suddenly became restless, everyone’s thoughts shifting rapidly.