Reborn in the ’80s as a Group Favorite Bigshot – Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Feeling a Little Uncomfortable

Gu Yue’s Big Brother and his father are still here, undergoing reform. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know more people.

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.” Gu Yue understood her meaning after a moment of thought.

Her considerations were far-reaching, something even he hadn’t thought of before.

A bicycle approached from behind. Song Chu pulled his arm, “Of course, you’ll be fine if you listen to me. Everyone says that Director Song has got your back.”

Gu Yue dodged the bicycle, feeling the warmth from her touch on his arm. His face flushed, “Yes, yes. From now on, I’ll be relying on Director Song’s protection.”

The two chatted and laughed as they returned to the hotel. Song Lao Si noticed that the usually reserved and quiet Educated Youth Gu was in a very good mood today.

He even initiated conversation with him a few times. He couldn’t help but marvel at his younger sister’s abilities.

Of course, Educated Youth Gu was also impressive. Daring to provoke a tigress like his sister, he was definitely a brave man.

The next day, An Dong and Xu Ting arrived in a car to pick them up.

An Dong was the driver and had once transported goods to this county town, so he was familiar with the route.

Luckily, it was a county under the provincial capital. After six hours of driving, they finally arrived.

They ate at a state-run restaurant in the county town and continued driving to Hongxing Village.

After another four hours of bumpy driving, they finally reached Hongxing Village.

Fortunately, they had set off at five in the morning. Both Gu Yue and Xu Ting knew how to drive a minibus and took turns driving with An Dong, otherwise it would have been very tiring.

It was a little after three in the afternoon when the car stopped at the entrance of Hongxing Village.

This village was quite remote, with only mountain roads leading to it. Drivers with poor skills could easily end up driving off the mountain.

An Dong drove this section of the road, as he had more experience.

The sudden appearance of a car at the village entrance prompted many villagers to call for the village brigade leader, and they gathered around.

“Who are you? Why have you come to our village?”

Xu Ting was dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. A pen was placed in his shirt pocket, making him look like an intellectual.

He smiled and said, “We are from the provincial capital. There is a poverty alleviation project, and we are responsible for it. We came here to see your situation.”

This was an excuse Xu Ting had come up with. There was indeed such a project in the provincial capital, and his cousin was one of the people in charge.

This county was on the list of places to be inspected. He was just borrowing his cousin’s identity and could also help him with the inspection at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

Hearing about poverty alleviation, the villagers all smiled. The group’s appearance and demeanor were quite distinguished, so they didn’t doubt them.

“So you are comrades from the provincial capital, no wonder you look so different.”

Soon, the village brigade leader and village cadres arrived.

After a very polite exchange of pleasantries, Xu Ting showed his work permit. Seeing that they were indeed from a large unit in the provincial capital, the brigade leader believed them even more.

Their village was particularly remote, backward, and poor. It would be great if they could receive poverty alleviation.

So he enthusiastically led them to the village committee office. Xu Ting, playing his part well, asked many questions about the village.

This was what his cousin had instructed him to do. Since he was doing the inspection anyway, he should do the job properly.

The brigade leader and others answered very actively, but Song Chu could hear that there was a lot of exaggeration.

Xu Ting noted down all the information he gathered. “We understand your situation now, but we still need to look around tomorrow. Your mountain forest resources are quite rich. We’ll go up the mountain tomorrow to see if there’s any value to be explored.”

The brigade leader didn’t understand what “exploring value” meant, but he still smiled and nodded, “No problem, I’ll have someone take you up the mountain tomorrow.”

“It’s just that there might be wild beasts in the mountains, so it’s quite dangerous. You should just look around the periphery.”

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Xu Ting smiled and said, “It’s okay, we brought hunting rifles. We’ll go into the mountains tomorrow and see.”

“For now, can you take us on a tour of the village?” he said.

The brigade leader naturally wouldn’t refuse, “Okay, I’ll take you around now.”

They rarely even saw county leaders, let alone those from the provincial capital. So they were very polite and enthusiastic, and there was a sense of inferiority.

The brigade leader and others took Xu Ting and his group’s inspection very seriously. They led them out of the village committee office, introducing the village as they walked, emphasizing how poor it was and how much it needed poverty alleviation.

Xu Ting just played along. The walk was relatively harmonious.

Song Chu asked, “I heard there’s also a farm here?”

“Yes, we have a farm where we raise some livestock,” the brigade leader nodded.

Song Chu smiled and said, “Then take us to the farm to have a look. I run a breeding farm. If your conditions are suitable, we can consider cooperating in breeding.”

The brigade leader was all smiles, showering her with compliments, “This comrade is so young and promising, no wonder I felt you were extraordinary the moment I saw you.”

“Although we are poor here, we raise our livestock quite well.” Cooperating in breeding seemed like a good idea too.

“Brigade Leader Wu, you flatter me.” Song Chu carried herself with the air of a successful person, which made them trust her even more.

She then spoke very professionally to the brigade leader about her experience in raising pigs and chickens, making the brigade leader nod repeatedly.

He thought to himself, people from the provincial capital are indeed different. They even have so many things to pay attention to when raising chickens and pigs.

He trusted their identities even more and wanted to get closer to them, even showing a bit of flattery.

As they approached the farm, they saw several children, about seven or eight years old, beating up a smaller boy who looked about five or six.

The little boy was curled up, protecting his head, but he didn’t cry or give in. He just bit his lip, his eyes full of stubborness.

The brigade leader’s face darkened instantly when he saw this. He shouted, “What are you doing? Stop it right now.”

These damn kids were really troublesome. Usually, it was fine if they bullied this little exiled criminal, but today they were seen by the inspection team from the provincial capital. He didn’t know if it would leave a bad impression.

The children were frightened when they saw the brigade leader approaching with a group of people. They immediately scattered and ran away, shouting that the boy on the ground was a bastard.

This made the brigade leader even angrier. He planned to have these children’s parents discipline them later. They were simply outrageous.

“I’m sorry, the children in the village are quite naughty. Please excuse them,” he said with an embarrassed smile.

Song Chu saw the little boy slowly get up. His lips and cheek were bruised, and his clothes were torn. He was obviously beaten badly.

She frowned, “Is this a child from your village? Those kids just now were a bit too much, so many of them bullying one.”

The brigade leader cursed those damn kids in his heart again. He explained with a smile, “He’s not from our village. He’s the son of a reform-through-labor criminal on the farm. He was sent here last year.”

“Even if he’s the son of a reform-through-labor criminal, they shouldn’t beat him like that. What if they beat him to death?”

Song Chu watched as the little guy, with a serious expression, picked up two trampled sweet potatoes from the ground, tucked them into his clothes, and limped towards the farm. She felt a little uncomfortable.

Gu Yue also frowned as he looked at the little boy’s back. This child gave him a deep sense of familiarity, and that scene just now made him feel uncomfortable.

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