Chapter 448: Chapter 448

Huangjia Gully still does not have a primary school. The children from the village walk ten kilometers to the neighboring village to go to school. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveIＦire.net

The village chief’s heart stirred upon hearing this, and a fervent light shone in his eyes, as 150,000 yuan would be sufficient to build a small rural primary school.

If there were a school in the village, the children wouldn’t need to travel so far to and from school every day, freeing up more of their time. They wouldn’t have to drop out due to lack of time to help with farming at home.

The village chief has always been distressed by the high dropout rate in the village. In his view, for the mountain village children, only education could pave the way to rise above their circumstances.

He steadied his mind and asked, "What about the other fifty thousand yuan?"

Wan Chu’er said: "The fifty thousand is for hiring teachers. Pay the salaries of two teachers for a year from this amount. The remaining money can be used to buy more books for the school, or the village leaders can decide how to spend it. The precondition is that the money must be used for the school and the children."

The salary for a rural teacher is about one thousand yuan each; she has chatted with the local military wives, and they are very willing to earn this salary. Having something to do is better than waiting idle at home for their husbands to get off work, and a few of them have decent educational backgrounds, more than enough to teach at a primary school.

Seeing how thoroughly Wan Chu’er had thought things through, even considering the teachers, the village chief and the accountant believed her to some extent.

The two awkwardly smiled at Wan Chu’er, "We need to discuss this between us."

"Sure." Wan Chu’er consciously stepped aside, not looking at the villagers who were blocked at the gate, and lowered her head to ponder over the matter.

In fact, she had long planned to do something for the children of Huangjia Gully. The children’s plight was one reason, and her boredom was another.

She always remembered what her grandfather had said when she left Beijing, advising her to find something to do and not to waste her energy and talents.

Today, she encountered such a troublesome issue. She didn’t want to let the Zhang Family benefit nor leave this problem festering. So, she came up with a plan to have the people of Huangjia Gully pay off the Zhang family.

With interests at stake, the people of Huangjia Gully would naturally do their best in this matter.

After a while, the village chief and the accountant finished discussing and came back to find Wan Chu’er.

"Miss, if what you said is true, all more than eighty households in Huangjia Gully will be thankful to you," the Village Chief Huang sincerely said, "If you have any conditions, as long as not unreasonable, we will definitely do our best to meet them."

Wan Chu’er smiled. It’s good to deal with understanding people, which spares much explanation.

"My condition is simple: your village must ensure that the Zhang couple will no longer trouble me. I dislike troubles, and I am not afraid to tell you the truth that my husband and I could easily leave here for a better place and job."

Village Chief Huang and Accountant Zhou exchanged looks, and seeing the shock on each other’s face, further affirmed their guess. They both believed that Wan Chu’er was no ordinary person and must maintain good relations with her.

Village Chief Huang assured, "Don’t worry, Zhang Gouzi always makes trouble out of nothing. This is not his first time swindling others; I will definitely teach him a lesson once I’m back."

Wan Chu’er nodded and continued, "I don’t know much about building houses, you can go back and quickly put together a detailed plan and procurement list. I will provide the money based on your requirements."

This would maximize prevention of embezzlement and also allow her to be indirectly involved.

Village Chief Huang and Accountant Zhou had no objections to this requirement. After all, the one who pays the money calls the shots. They also recognized that the woman before them was not to be fooled easily.

Village Chief Huang eagerly said, "Tomorrow... no, tonight I will go to the township to report this matter to secure approval from the education bureau as soon as possible. Zhou Changsheng... oh, that is our village accountant, I’m Huang Qiwu."

Being too excited, Village Chief Huang became somewhat incoherent and explained himself to Wan Chu’er.

Wan Chu’er smiled and introduced herself, "Village Chief Huang, Accountant Zhou, my name is Wan Chu’er."

"I’ll take care of the paperwork for the approval, and Zhou will handle the finances, oh, based on Miss Wan’s plan and the purchase list," said Village Chief Huang. He also uneasily instructed Accountant Zhou, "Changsheng, make sure to inquire thoroughly - we must buy materials that are both affordable and of good quality."

"Don’t worry, Village Chief," Accountant Zhou immediately responded.

Wan Chu’er raised her eyebrows, noting the urgency of the two men. She glanced at the crowd outside the family compound still causing a scene and suggested, "Village Chief Huang, why not go back to the village first and hold a meeting? I prefer peace and quiet."

She was not one to anonymously do good deeds; she wanted the villagers to know why she was willing to offer money and allow them to deal with the Zhang couple themselves.

Village Chief Huang immediately understood Wan Chu’er’s intent and hastily replied, "Rest assured, we will leave immediately. Once I’m back, I’ll call for a village meeting. From now on, Zhang Gouzi and his wife will definitely not cause any more trouble."

"That Little Lizzi, please take care of him for now. Once he’s better, send us a message, and we will surely come to pick him up."

Accountant Zhou also nodded in agreement. Wan Chu’er was now a great benefactor of Huangjia Gully; they certainly couldn’t afford to upset her further.

Thus, after discussing briefly, Village Chief Huang and Accountant Zhou immediately headed outside.

"Village Chief is here," someone shouted, and everyone immediately turned their attention to Village Chief Huang and Accountant Zhou.

Someone asked, "Village Chief, Accountant Zhou, what were you discussing inside for so long?"

"Will that money still be compensated?" another person asked.

When Zhang Gouzi and his wife, who were far away, saw that Wan Chu’er wasn’t approaching anymore, they turned to leave and immediately became anxious, "Hey, about the money, you haven’t given it to us yet—come back—"

Village Chief Huang’s face darkened immediately, and he told a few young men in the village, "Take Zhang Gouzi and his wife back and stop embarrassing us out here."

Zhang Gouzi’s wife, realizing that people were indeed coming to seize her, began to run away while shouting, "Village Chief! We haven’t done anything wrong; why are you arresting us?"

Village Chief Huang replied, "Aren’t you demanding money? We’re going back to hold a village meeting right now to thoroughly discuss this matter."

He didn’t specify who should pay whom, but the Zhang couple mistakenly thought that the village was going to advocate for them to get money from Wan Chu’er. Village Chief Huang, impatiently waving his hand, ordered people to quickly capture the Zhang couple and take them to the village.

Seeing people orderly marching away, the two young soldiers standing guard heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that they must report this incident up the chain, to ensure that Captain Jiang’s family does not suffer from this issue.

With such a major disturbance at the gate, the news had very quickly spread throughout the family quarters; a few family members had even come out to watch the spectacle.