Zhijun planned to demolish the old house he was born in and rebuild a new one in his hometown village. This had been his dream for many years. To make a long story short, Zhijun started as an ordinary rural youth, doing small business and gradually expanding it into a large supermarket chain. After a few years, he became wealthy.
Although Zhijun already owned several houses in the city, he still used his brother-in-law's connections at the city's construction bureau to obtain a piece of land and built a six-story commercial building on it. He was reluctant to sell those houses and instead rented some of them out while keeping the rest. Despite having so many houses, Zhijun always had a soft spot for his old ancestral home. Recently, he decided to take action.
As someone from a rural background, Zhijun had always longed for his own spacious new house. Although he had settled down in the city, the familiar land and the deep nostalgia for his hometown always tugged at his heart. It was time to take action. Zhijun wanted to build a brand new mansion on the land where he grew up.
He first hired a few professional designers to survey the terrain together. Two cars drove into the long-abandoned village, everything looked familiar except for his ancestral home, which was becoming more and more dilapidated. The old house made of mud bricks was on the verge of collapse due to the passage of time.
After measuring and surveying with pen and paper, Zhijun contacted his cousin Yongjun to join the project. They had a simple lunch at Yongjun's house, and the designers discussed enthusiastically. Finally, they decided that the new house needed to be set back a bit to create more space. This would allow the new house to be larger than the old one, and it was also trendy to have a small courtyard in front of the house, so space needed to be reserved.
Behind the house was a small hill covered with bamboo, which had been abandoned for many years. They only needed to clear a portion of the land there as the foundation. Yongjun told Zhijun that the village had already allocated that hill to several households, so they would need to compensate them.
After completing the survey of the foundation, Zhijun went to a nearby brick factory to discuss purchasing bricks. With the current construction boom, the brick business was thriving, and reservations were necessary. After some negotiation, Zhijun paid a deposit of 50,000 yuan to secure the deal.
Two days later, he hired an excavator. He brought the excavator to the back of his house and prepared to dig a two-meter deep foundation for the new house. Behind the hill was a steep slope that was quite tall. As the excavator dug, the soil rolled down, and the bamboo fell along with it. Soon, there was a lot of commotion, and nearby villagers almost all knew about it and rushed over. Especially the owners of the bamboo forest, they hurriedly came.
"Why didn't you notify us before digging?" someone in the crowd questioned.
"Yeah, you didn't even discuss it with us, how could you start without permission?"
"Stop, stop, we haven't agreed to the excavation yet."
Seeing so many people, the driver quickly stopped and waited for instructions from the employer. Zhijun happened to be chatting at Yongjun's house when he heard someone shouting, so he quickly rushed over. When he saw the crowd, he immediately walked over and handed each person a cigarette. Everyone took the cigarettes and continued to discuss.
One elder relative of Zhijun had served as the leader of this group in the village, and everyone called him Old Zhao. He was now old. He walked out of the crowd and stood on Zhijun's side. Because of his age, he spoke slowly and authoritatively, "We are all fellow villagers, there is no need to make it so tense. If there is any problem, we can sit down and talk."
Huada, a big shot in the village, had a house adjacent to Zhijun's house, and the hill of bamboo had the greatest impact on him. Coincidentally, he also had the ownership of that hill. So he was one of the first to rush to the scene. Huada had graduated from high school and was an intellectual. He spoke softly and quietly, not someone who would argue. But soon, his two younger brothers and his third younger brother also arrived. The third younger brother was in his prime, with a loud voice, and with the right arguments, he regained some momentum.
The elder relative of Zhijun's family who supported them lost ground and became more arrogant in his speech. As there were many people on their side, his speech gradually became threatening. Huada's third younger brother couldn't bear it and reached out his hand, giving him a hard slap. The old man, due to his old age and frailty, stumbled and fell to the ground.
Immediately, people around rushed forward. Some held back Huada's third younger brother, while others helped the old man. Someone called the police, and Huada's third younger brother was taken away by the police. Zhijun's side sent the old man to the hospital.
After Huada's third younger brother was released on bail, he felt a complex mix of emotions. Although he had resolved the immediate trouble, he felt regret and guilt for his actions. He realized that his impulsiveness and anger had led to negative consequences, and now he had to bear the consequences and work hard to repair his relationship with Old Zhao.
Therefore, Huada's third younger brother took the initiative to visit Old Zhao's house and express his apologies and willingness to compensate. Although Old Zhao was still angry, he was a reasonable person. He accepted Huada's third younger brother's apology and expressed a willingness to reconcile. The village head, as a mediator, appeared between them and helped resolve the conflict with a calm attitude and professional approach.
At first, the village head leaned towards helping Old Zhao. One of Old Zhao's relatives was a lawyer in the province, giving them a significant advantage in legal matters. However, Huada's wife, unwilling to back down, contacted her own relative in the province, a senior official. This official called the village head and expressed his position, causing the village head to slightly change his attitude and handle the matter impartially.
In the end, after lengthy negotiations and discussions, Huada's third younger brother had to pay a compensation of 48,000 yuan to finally reach a settlement. He understood that if he didn't compromise in time, Old Zhao could have sent him to jail through legal means, which he couldn't bear.
After settling this public case privately, the three brothers discussed how to deal with the bamboo hill that was involved in the property dispute. Taking advantage of the situation, they made a high offer of 50,000 yuan as compensation.
Although Zhijun felt somewhat extorted, he had to temporarily swallow his pride and agree in order to restart the project as soon as possible.
Just as Zhijun was about to fulfill his wish and remove the biggest obstacle in his heart, he faced a new obstacle. His other cousin suddenly returned to their hometown from another city, adding a new barrier to his plans.
Zhijun's other cousin, named Xiaoming, worked outside the hometown for a long time and only returned occasionally. His house was right next to Zhijun's, although a bit further back. However, Xiaoming believed that Zhijun's plan to rebuild the building would block the sunlight to his house and make his living environment darker. Therefore, he strongly opposed Zhijun's construction plan and expressed his strong dissatisfaction.
Faced with his cousin's opposition, Zhijun tried to explain and appease, but to no avail. Xiaoming continued to voice his objections, causing Zhijun a great headache. After all, he didn't want to have conflicts with his relatives, but he also didn't want to give up his plans.
When Xiaoming went out to work again, Zhijun thought he could take the opportunity to restart the construction. However, just as they had started working, Xiaoming suddenly returned home early. Zhijun began to suspect that someone had leaked the information to Xiaoming, causing him to come back early to stop the construction. After careful observation, Zhijun made an unexpected discovery - Xiaoming had installed a surveillance camera in the corner of his house!
This discovery shocked Zhijun. He realized that Xiaoming was able to discover their construction progress so quickly because he could remotely monitor Zhijun's house through the camera. Once he noticed any movement, he could immediately take action. Zhijun deeply felt his helplessness.
In the end, faced with this situation, Zhijun could only reluctantly give up his plan to rebuild the house. He felt sad and lamented the twists and turns of fate. With a heavy heart, he left his hometown and returned to city life.