Ling Zhenfei shook his head after listening, "Spending half the money to rent useless land, you tell me, isn't that foolish of me? I ask you, would you rent at this price?"

"Well, you can't really say it like that." Guo Ju was slightly embarrassed.

Ling Zhenfei said with a smile, "The price of wasteland is what it is. If you can accept this price, then I can too. If you can't accept it, neither can I."

Guo Ju truly hadn't expected Ling Zhenfei to be so difficult to deal with—it didn't seem like the mental state a man in his twenties should have.

"Just listen to me, we agreed on half rent, half give-away. The village is supporting the construction of Xishan Manor. A nominal rent will do. Let's do this, rent it to Xishan Manor at one-tenth of the price."

The oldest member of the committee stood up and said to Guo Ju and the others. He was the village's old party secretary, and his words carried quite some weight. When he said this, everyone was stunned. One-tenth of the price, that was too cheap.

Guo Ju was the first to object, "Elder Master Wang, the price you mentioned is too cheap, it won't work, definitely not."

Elder Master Wang said, "Xishan Manor is renting the land, not buying it. Every year, they will still have to pay the village money. Those idle wastelands aren't being used anyway. If Xishan Manor doesn't rent them, nobody will."

"Now that Xishan Manor is renting to develop and make use of them, and also paying us, that's a great thing. If it were me, I'd feel embarrassed to even ask Xishan Manor for money."

After Elder Master Wang said this, the other committee members expressed their agreement, and thus, Guo Ju was somewhat embarrassed to say anything more.

"Zhenfei, what do you think about this price?" Elder Master Wang asked Ling Zhenfei.

"Old Master Wang, since you put it that way, of course I agree,"

The price was beyond Ling Zhenfei's expectations—one-tenth of the price could really be considered a gift, and naturally, Ling Zhenfei agreed.

"I can accept this price. Everyone, rest assured, as long as Xishan Manor develops well, the entire Qinghe Village will prosper too, and no one will lose out,"

Everyone laughed together. They could already feel the benefits that Xishan Manor was bringing to Qinghe Village, as many of them had already rented their land to Xishan Manor.

Several committee members were pleased, but Guo Ju's expression remained somber. Today's meeting was spearheaded by him, intending to extract some money from Ling Zhenfei.

Who would have thought that Ling Zhenfei would easily neutralize his plan and rent a vast area of Qinghe Village's land to Xishan Manor at such a low price, effectively being defeated without gaining anything.

But Guo Ju was not discouraged, and suddenly he spoke again.

"Let's put the matter of the land aside for now, Ling Zhenfei, there's something else I must make clear to you."

Everyone was shocked and looked at Guo Ju, not knowing what he wanted to say.

Guo Ju continued as if addressing the committee members: "Maybe you are not aware, but I am very clear that before Ling Zhenfei became our village head, he rented the entirety of Xi Shan from Wang Changhe."

"Everyone knows what Xi Shan is—a mountain with the best vegetation coverage in our village. But now, Xishan Manor has built a road leading up there, and they even plan to build a guest house on the mountain."

"Do you realize how much damage this is going to cause to the forest? It has already impacted Xi Shan's environment. Destroying the forest should be illegal, Ling Zhenfei, don't you want to explain?"

Shock ran through Ling Zhenfei's heart. He had never expected Guo Ju to bring up Xi Shan, where indeed some vegetation had been cut down to build an inn, although Ling Zhenfei had instructed that trees should only be cut when absolutely necessary.

But since they needed to build roads and houses, not cutting trees would be impossible. Today, Guo Ju brought up this matter, clearly intending to intimidate Ling Zhenfei and leave him thoroughly frightened.

Just now, when Guo Ju asked Ling Zhenfei for money and Ling Zhenfei easily resolved it, Guo Ju immediately brought up the forest issue to continue striking at Ling Zhenfei.

Ling Zhenfei laughed, seemingly not taking the matter seriously at all.

"Guo Ju, I'm really puzzled here, who exactly is the village head of Qinghe Village—you or me? You sure have a lot of concerns."

Guo Ju also started laughing, "Ling Zhenfei, stop the nonsense. It doesn't matter who the village head is. Even if I were just a committee member or an ordinary citizen, if you damage Xi Shan, I'd still report you."

Ling Zhenfei scoffed, "Xi Shan is leased by me for development and use. Otherwise, why would I lease it? Just for decoration? Why don't you go check the contract I signed with Wang Changhe and see what it says?"

"The contract clearly states that Xi Shan is leased for reasonable development. I'm just building an inn there, what's wrong with that?"

After listening, Guo Ju laughed, "Ling Zhenfei, is the contract you signed with Wang Changhe even valid? It doesn't matter who, if someone damages the mountain forest, it's a crime, and I can totally report you to the Forestry Bureau."

Ling Zhenfei fearlessly retorted, "You legal illiterate, the government has already designated the protected areas, and Xianling Mountain, behind Xi Shan, is the protection zone. Xi Shan Manor here is our village's forestry operation, initially set up for logging."

"Now I cut a few trees and you make such a big deal about it. Are you targeting me because you can't accept that I became the village head?"

Ling Zhenfei's demeanor changed suddenly; he no longer wanted to give Guo Ju any face. He had been approaching with a smile until then, but it seemed Guo Ju really thought he could be easily bullied.

Guo Ju slammed the table and stood up, "Ling Zhenfei, spare me the talk about who's the village head—I won't buy it. I seriously suspect there's something fishy about the contract you signed with Wang Changhe from the start."

"What could be fishy?" knew Guo Ju was getting furious with embarrassment.

"How Wang Changhe got imprisoned, you must know. When you signed the contract with Wang Changhe, only the two of you knew about it. Look at how much land Xi Shan Manor covers, I'm sure there's something wrong there."

"What's wrong?" Ling Zhenfei said, mockingly watching Guo Ju perform; the lad was clearly just making things difficult for him.

"What's wrong? You surely must have bribed him to lease the land to you at such a low price. Wang Changhe went in for accepting a bribe, but here you are, the bribing village head, thinking you are above the law!"

Guo Ju spoke righteously, and to those unaware, it seemed he was speaking the truth. The other committee members also fell into contemplation, pondering the issues Guo Ju had raised.

Ling Zhenfei laughed, "Do you know what defamation is? If you have no evidence, you better not talk nonsense. I think you have no evidence; otherwise, you would have already called the police, not be here spouting off accusations."

"Do I even need evidence? I can report you anytime."

"Then you should go ahead. If you don't, I really won't respect you." Ling Zhenfei's spirits were high. He was determined to make Guo Ju suffer a bit.

By then, the two were at each other's throats, neither willing to back down, and Ling Zhenfei certainly didn't want to indulge the lad.

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