Chapter 64: The Problem of Agricultural Tax (1)

  December has passed, and January has arrived. Nothing has changed in Yudu District, except that the financial income has been released. The agricultural tax and three proposals for five unifications have all been met. Xu Shaojie doesn't need to worry about these things. During this time, he spent more days returning to Huaiyang City. As long as it was a holiday, Xu Shaojie would go back and be with Zhang Xiaoyu. Xu Shaojie felt what it meant to be considerate and what it meant to be infatuated. After going back, Xu Shaojie didn't need to do anything. In the cold winter weather, Zhang Xiaoyu had already boiled water for him, and the bathroom was warm and cozy. Every time Xu Shaojie went in, Zhang Xiaoyu would wash him a bath. Zhang Xiaoyu was four years older than Xu Shaojie, and in her eyes, Xu Shaojie was her lover, her beloved, and also the younger brother who deserved her care for life. While washing, Xu Shaojie often couldn't help but touch Zhang Xiaoyu's body, and several times they washed together, from top to bottom. Zhang Xiaoyu's maturity made Xu Shaojie understand women and become a man. The clothes were all washed by Zhang Xiaoyu, the outerwear was machine-washed, and Xu Shaojie's underwear was all hand-washed with hot water. After returning home, Xu Shaojie lived a life like an emperor. Zhang Shaocai came over from time to time, mainly to send money and cigarettes. Xu Shaojie's expenses were high, and each time, Zhang Shaocai and Xu Shaojie would chat for a while.

  Zhang Xiaoyu's work in the company is very easy-going. When she goes to work, Zhang Xiaoyu is very careful and serious. She graduated from high school, her cultural level is not low, although she said that her grades were not good when she was reading books, but answering phone calls is no problem.

  Zhang Xiaoyu's daughter was addicted to TV, if Zhang Xiaoyu didn't call her, she would even forget to eat. The little girl was very clever, curled up on the sofa, covered with a thick quilt, often fell asleep while watching TV, and when she woke up, she found herself lying in bed.

  Xu Shaojie is worried about the many problems that have arisen in the process of collecting agricultural taxes and the "three deductions and five unifications". Within the stipulated time, the task must be completed, which is undertaken by all cadres and workers in the district, including those at the station level. By the deadline, everything must be paid in full. Huaguang Village has submitted its agricultural tax payments on time, but this is an exception. Many villages find it difficult to collect all the taxes, and the amount that can be collected cannot be reduced. As a result, conflicts have arisen. If the taxes are not collected, the shortfall must be borne by cadres and workers or units, which is clearly unacceptable. The annual salary of cadres and workers is not high, and they cannot afford to bear this burden. If agricultural taxes and "three deductions and five unifications" cannot be collected, a year's work will have been done in vain.

  Due to such factors, the problems and contradictions in the process of collecting taxes are particularly prominent. Cadres and workers have no way out and come up with all kinds of means to pay off debts with goods, which is a common occurrence. Sometimes, physical conflicts even occur, and police stations often send out patrols to solve problems, of course, to support cadres and workers.

  Yulin Township cannot escape this situation either. Xu Shaojie was powerless to stop it, and all of these are the evil consequences brought about by the peasants being too poor. It's not possible to let cadres pay out of their own pockets, let alone cadres who don't have any money to begin with. Xu Shaojie only asked that when going down to collect money, they should try to have a good attitude and absolutely cannot resort to violence.

  It's almost New Year's Day in late January, and the Spring Festival is approaching. However, there is no festive atmosphere in Yudu District. Some taxes are paid by cadres and workers themselves. Now, everyone must seize this opportunity to go to the village to collect money; otherwise, they will only have northwest wind for the Spring Festival. There is a custom in rural areas called "long work and short work". On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, it's considered full work, which means that after the 24th, one should not enter farmers' homes to collect money. The 24th of the twelfth lunar month is also known as "Small New Year", marking the beginning of the Spring Festival.

  The leaders of the district committee and government do not have to worry about this aspect, as they do not need to go down to collect taxes, so there is no problem with paying money. The ones who undertake the task are all the cadres and staff below. This time, Song Tao has done a good job, and Xu Shaojie arranged for him to be in Huaguan Village, completing the task early, without having to worry about anything. Because of this arrangement, many cadres and staff at the district government envy Song Tao, but there is nothing they can do, as everyone has a stack of IOUs in their hands that need to be cashed soon.

  Xu Shaojie took Song Tao to Huolong Village in Yulin Township to check on the tax collection situation. Huolong Village was the poorest area in Yulin Township, with 9 groups, of which 6 were responsible for collecting taxes at the education and culture stations. Xu Shaojie was worried about the situation here, so he decided to go and take a look himself.

  The Jeep bumped its way to Huolong Village, Yang Chen was very familiar with the village roads and tried to avoid as much bumping as possible. However, the road conditions were too poor, even if Yang Chen was a god, he couldn't avoid the bumps. Xu Shaojie didn't speak in the car, his rare seriousness made Yang Chen and Song Tao both know the reason, so they also didn't say anything more.

  As soon as they arrived at the village entrance, Xu Shaojie felt that something was wrong. This was an instinctive reflection, not just Xu Shaojie, but also Yang Chen and Song Tao found it was wrong.

  "Secretary Xu, it's almost Chinese New Year, but there's no one at the village entrance, isn't that a bit unusual?"

  "Secretary Xu, I estimate there's something going on in the village. I think it might be a problem with collecting taxes."

  Xu Shaojie furrowed his brow, not saying a word. Yang Chen knew what to do and stepped on the gas, heading towards the village secretary's home. The Fire Dragon Village Committee didn't have an office location; the village was too poor.

  Before his eyes was a sea of people, silent, deathly silent, with only heart-wrenching wails and men's manic laughter echoing from within the crowd. Xu Shaojie saw this scene from afar and felt his scalp tingle. They hadn't reached the village secretary's home yet, probably it was some farmer's house.

  Someone saw the jeep, and the eyes revealed a resentful gaze. Xu Shaojie's heart began to sink, wondering what had happened and why such a scene was unfolding. As Xu Shaojie got out of the car, he felt his legs slightly trembling. He didn't come to this village often and wasn't very familiar with it. The crowd instinctively cleared a path, but some villagers recognized Xu Shaojie; however, Xu Shaojie saw no friendly gazes, only angry ones.

  As he walked into the crowd, Xu Shaojie saw a shocking scene. He was somewhat dazed, thinking that in this day and age of Communist rule, such things could still happen. Five young men stood in the middle, all of them thugs. Two of them Xu Shaojie had seen before, at the tobacco purchasing station, where Yang Chen had taught them a lesson. Their faces wore arrogant smiles. In front of them, seven villagers knelt on the ground. A woman lay on the ground, her clothes torn apart, revealing her underwear. The heart-wrenching cries came from her mouth. She was a typical rural woman. On this cold winter day, among the seven kneeling people, there were two small children. Three of them had bruises on their faces and bloodstains on their mouths. As soon as Xu Shaojie arrived, the deputy director of the education station rushed over to offer him cigarettes. The two thugs who had seen Xu Shaojie's methods before looked panicked, while the other three seemed unconcerned.

  Xu Shao

  Jie slapped away the cigarette handed over by the deputy director.

  "What's going on? What are these people doing?"

  "Secretary Xu, we've come to collect agricultural taxes. The farmers here are too shrewd and we can't get the money from them, so we have to ask for help. With Chinese New Year approaching soon, if we don't collect enough money, our station will be held accountable."

  "Where is the village secretary and village head?"

  Xu Shaojie's face turned iron-green as he went forward to help the villager who was kneeling on the ground. He took off his outer garment and put it over the woman's body.

  "Secretary Xu, we know your reputation. Today, we are here to collect taxes and our brothers are working on behalf of the government. The money is about to arrive. What do you mean by doing this? We only listen to the leadership of the Education Station, regardless of who you are."

  Xu Shaojie didn't even lift his head and said a sentence.

  "Yang Chen, take action, knock out their teeth and see if they can still speak human language, see if they can still do human things."

  Xu Shaojie had just finished speaking, and Yang Chen moved, not only Yang Chen, but also Song Tao followed. The two thugs who had been taken advantage of by Yang Chen were smart and had already knelt down according to the rules of the underworld. The other three thugs, who had obviously underestimated Yang Chen's abilities, stepped forward together, ready to take care of Yang Chen and Song Tao before coming after Xu Shaojie.

  A crisp cracking sound rang out, a shocking and earth-shattering scream echoed out. Yang Chen's subordinates showed no mercy, each blow hitting the vital points, and the thugs fell to the ground one after another. Song Tao stepped forward, not showing any courtesy, and kicked with his foot. Xu Shaojie had already helped up all the people who were kneeling on the ground. The deputy station chief stood beside Xu Shaojie, his body slightly trembling, not daring to speak. The village secretary and village head appeared in front of Xu Shaojie at some unknown time.

  Looking at the thugs lying on the ground and two more kneeling down, Xu Shaojie sneered and spoke up.

  "I suppose you all know me, and also know that Xu Shaojie is a man of his word. Today's matter, I won't ask for the reason. You don't have the qualification to collect taxes, yet you dare to be so arrogant in front of me. I've already said it, knock out their teeth, and make them remember the taste of not being able to speak with a door closed. Yang Chen, knock out their front teeth."

  The howling sound came out again, and knocking out a front tooth is no easy task.

  The deputy director was already unstable, who knows what Xu Shaojie will do next, he involuntarily knelt down.

  "Secretary Xu, we were wrong, it was arranged by the station head, not my idea."

  "Get up, roll to one side, you are the deputy director of the education station, a cadre, I don't want to see you again. You bunch of losers have disgraced the face of the Communist Party. Go back and tell your director that he should quit his job. If the village can't collect all the taxes, he will be personally responsible. If he's not satisfied, let him come find me. Scram."

  Xu Shaojie's sudden fury stunned the people around him. The two cadres at the education station didn't dare to show their faces and hid behind the crowd, but Xu Shaojie had already seen them.

  "You two come over here, hiding behind and doing what? Where did your mighty winds go just now?"

  Two cadres walked up to Xu Shaojie with a sorrowful expression on their faces.

  "You two remember, two things to do immediately. First, the villagers who knelt down earlier, you are responsible for comforting and apologizing to them. If they don't forgive you, you will stay in the village and won't be able to go back home for New Year's. Second, report these hooligans' behavior to the police station. I don't acknowledge that they came to the village to collect taxes; they came to the village to cause trouble. In broad daylight, they actually made people kneel down, and a woman's clothes were even torn apart. What kind of behavior is this? Tell the leader of the police station what I said, and say it sternly. If the police station doesn't investigate, you can directly tell them that I will investigate their rice bowls."

  The two thugs kneeling on the ground had already lost their souls upon hearing these words. Once they arrived at the police station, they knew what would happen - at least being beaten half to death, and possibly even having bones broken. After getting out, they wouldn't be able to recover for several months without lying in bed.

  "Secretary Xu, we don't dare anymore. Please spare us, we also listened to the leader's words and came to the village. The two of us didn't lay hands on anyone. We really don't dare anymore. Please spare us... Waaahhh..."

  The two of them didn't care about anything, and started kowtowing. Their front teeth were knocked out, and their mouths were filled with blood and speech was somewhat slurred. The two of them couldn't be bothered with these things, they understood that among the thugs on the ground, there were people who wanted to take revenge for the previous tobacco purchase, taking advantage of today's opportunity, after beating someone up, they would run away. But they didn't expect Yang Chen to be here. After seeing Yang Chen, the two of them knew they were in trouble. They indeed did not make a move, the lesson from being beaten last time was still remembered by the two.

  Xu Shaojie looked at the villagers surrounding him, and several of them from different villages started speaking up.

  "The one kneeling on the ground didn't move, it was the one lying on the ground who made a move..."

  Xu Shaojie looked at the two people kneeling down and thought for a moment.

  "Get out of here! If I see you doing anything else that's harmful and unjust in the future, I'll break your legs."

  The two of them didn't dare to speak, got up and squeezed out of the crowd, running quickly. At this time, the farther they ran, the better. If Xu Shaojie changed his mind, they would be in trouble.

  Xu Shaojie had just finished dealing with these matters and was thinking about how to deal with the three thugs who were lying on the ground, when the villagers who had been kneeling earlier, including the woman, suddenly knelt down in front of Xu Shaojie. One of them opened their mouth, crying.

  "Secretary Xu, we're not refusing to pay, we just don't have the money. We didn't even have meat for Chinese New Year at home. We're not opposing the government, if we had the money, we would definitely pay..."

  Xu Shaojie was caught off guard, and hurriedly helped the kneeling person up, but everyone just wouldn't get up. The surrounding area was filled with wailing sounds, Xu Shaojie closed his eyes in pain, thinking that it was all caused by poverty. With great difficulty, the people who were kneeling finally got up, and Song Tao and the village secretary and head helped to lift up the crowd.

  Xu Shaojie looked at the villagers who had not dispersed, and everyone's gaze changed. The anger was gone, but Xu Shaojie's mood was extremely heavy. He could only take care of what he saw, but how could he take care of those that were invisible? This contradiction would never be resolved if the economy didn't develop. This time, the education station had spent money, but what about next time? The head of the education station was wrong, and the lower-level cadres hadn't done anything wrong. It was impossible for them not to eat. Xu Shaojie suddenly felt powerless, he had no way to thoroughly resolve all this.

  The village secretary and the village head had already been quietly comforting a few villagers, two staff members from the education station, one stayed behind, speaking kindly to each villager, the surrounding villagers were kind-hearted and had vented their anger, they also helped the staff member speak, persuading them that paying taxes was a matter of course, one quickly went to the district, Xu Shaojie's words, they didn't dare not implement.