Chapter 021 Sponsoring the road’s upgrade
Translated by Yorasu, edited by Kai
… …
Noticing Wu Hao had already decided, Wu Hongguo could only helplessly sigh, “Since you have decided, I can only support you. Later I will meet with the village chief and talk to him about this matter.”
In Sanyuan city, planting herbs and gaining a fortune was not something uncommon. There are quite a few people who did that. For example, in the neighbouring village, several families did purchase under contract some mountain land and planted herbs which then earned them a large amount of profit.
Of course, while there are some who gain money, there will be exceptions as well. In general, it depended on their way of management and their planting experience and more importantly, current market trends and demand.
When the sky’s color gradually turned bright, after having breakfast, Wu Hongguo and Wu Hao went together to the village chief, Wu Sancai’s household.
Speaking of Wu Sancai’s household, it actually has a distant blood relationship with Wu Hao’s family. It should be during Wu Hongguo’s great grandfather’s generation.
“Hongguo, you came so early find me. Are there any matters?” The village chief saw Wu Hongguo and Wu Hao who was behind him and asked with some curiosity.
This morning, Wu Sancai heard about Wu Hao driving back to the village in an expensive car and he had gone to have a look. In fact, he was not the only one who knew about it. Most out of the hundreds villagers also knew regarding this matter. Of course, in addition to being surprised, endless envy was a part of their feeling.
“San ge, actually is like this. My son here has made quite a fortune outside. This time, he came back to try his luck planting. Isn’t there is a piece of land at the mountain behind which you had wanted to be contracted out? Today I come to find San ge to discuss about this matter.” Wu Hongguo smiled and explained his purposes while handing a cigarette to Wu Sancai’s. (T/N: Don’t smoke!)
As for Wu Hao, he did not smoke. Thus, he had not prepared such things.
However, seeing this scene, Wu Hao planned to get himself a few cigarette boxes when he went outside the village. Keeping some in his car would made his job easier when trying to ask for favours from someone.
“This is a good thing! A few years ago, our village did plan to contract out that piece of land. It was just that the land is really large and our villagers here did not have the ability to contract it in one go. Whereas outsiders did not pay any attention to our place; thus that piece of land had been abandoned for so long.”
“However, Hongguo, the cost to contract that piece of land is not small. What does your son, Wu Hao plan to do with it?”
“Uncle San, I intend to plant herbs on the land. As for what species, I still have not decided as I still need to do some research. For now, the most important thing is to contract the land and build our new house there.” Wu Hao took the initiative to explain with a smile.
“So this is the case! Building a house is just a small matter. The rules here are not strict either. After you have chosen the location, you just need to inform me to report it and it is good to go.” Wu Sancai nodded. Since Wu Hongguo had said that Wu Hao made a fortune, then building a new and s.p.a.cious house was certainly inevitable.
Nowadays, in the rural areas, whenever someone made a fortune outside, the first thing they do when they back home would be to build themselves a new and better house. Even their own village’s Yao Shixiong used the money he made to build a small western-style villa.
“O yea. Besides this, I also want to contribute to this village by upgrading the mountain road which leads to our village. That road is simply too bad to be used.”
“What? You say you want to sponsor the road repairs?” Wu Sancai was shocked to hear that. He even thought his ears had heard wrongly and could not help to ask again.
“Yes, Uncle San! I intend to spend money to upgrade the road into a cement road. Then, it will be more convenient for the villagers to go to towns outside for a trip or for business.”
“Hongguo, how much did your son earn?! Contracting the land and repairing the road, is the money enough for all this? You must know that to repair that whole road is not something cheap at all!”
“San ge, I will just tell you the truth then! This kid here had bought himself a lottery and won the prize. To contribute to the village by repairing the road is something I am fully supportive of.” Hearing this, Wu Hongguo directly told the truth to Wu Sancai.
Wu Hao who was beside them, helplessly sighed after heard this. He knew that after the words from his father, this news of him winning lottery would soon spread miles apart. (T/N: I blame his dad! Useless..)
And now he somehow felt some regret for using this reason to cover up his source of money. Since things had gone this far, Wu Hao could only play along.
“Haha! So it is like that. Then, I will rest easy. Plus, you sounded so determined.” Hearing the explanation from Wu Hongguo, Wu Sancai no longer worried about Wu Hao lacking any money.
As for winning the lottery, he knew quite a bit about it. Winning the jackpot would earn at least several millions of yuan. Even the cost of contracting the land or repairing the road would not be close to a million.
After all, the road leading to the village was not that long in distance. Plus, a few years back the government had cleaned up the trees along the road, so they wouldn’t fall during the seasonal heavy storms.
Now with just some sand and cement poured on top of the road with some minor repairs, it should not be much of a problem.
“Uncle San, then how much do you think contracting the land and repairing the road would cost in total?” Wu Hao asked.
“Well that piece of land is about 2000 acres. Since you forked out the money to build the village road, I will let you have the land at 100 Yuan per acre. How long do you plan to hold contract?” Wu Sancai thought for a while and offered the lowest price for the contract.
Of course the reason he did this was because Wu Hao is willing to sponsor the cost for the road upgrade. He believed that for this price, even if the villagers had a vote, there should not be any problem.
“As for the road upgrade, even I am not sure about the exact cost of it. Well, we can do it this way. Wu Hao would just have to pay for the materials and equipment hire. As for the other costs, our village will take care of it.”
“This way, when the time come, all the costs would only come from the materials and equipment hire.”
“En! Then, I will follow your plan then. Let me give you one million first to buy the material and rent equipment. If this money is not enough, just inform me. As for the contract duration, I think I will go for 30 years! I can pay for 3 years in one shot.” After thinking, Wu Hao told Wu Sancai his decision.
After settling these matters, the next step was for Wu Sancai to gather all the villagers and inform them about this matter. Then, he went to the town with Wu Hao for the relevant procedures of contracting the land. Afterwards, they went to a bank at the town to transfer 1.6 million to Wu Sancai. (T/N: What if Sancai runs away with all the money?!)
The 600 thousand was given as part of the village fund. The specific allocation would be decided later on by Wu Sancai and all the villagers in each household.
The remaining 1 million would be used to buy materials and equipment hire. From earlier works, Wu Sancai knew some of the road construction team. That very noon, Wu Sancai prepared a few trucks and related mixing equipment. At the same time, he also settled the matter of sandstone and cement.