BXBX NOVEL Chapter 214 - Two-Hundred and Fourteen: Intimidation
Not only the Zhang family but everyone present was dumbfounded. The villagers didn’t expect the Zhang family to actually have such a treasure hidden away! ‘As expected, that family wasn’t ofone heart and mind with the village! the villagers thought.
Driven by curiosity, the villagers followed the group to the village committee. The leaders of the province and city surrounded Gu Bei and the others as they introduced themselves, all more than eager to introduce the projects they brought.
Gu Bei waited for everyone to finish speaking before slowly opening his mouth to say, “You want me to invest here? I can do that. Not only can I invest, but I’ve also brought people from the Shi, Ye, and the Hai family of Rong City here with me. We can all develop this place.”
The leaders and locals’ faces lit up with joy when they heard this.
“Then, do you all know why I’m here?” Gu Bei asked.
The leaders looked at each other once again. They’d flocked here after receiving news from the leaders of Lu Town. They heard that Lu Town had obtained a lot of benefits from these outside investors and were green with envy. So they’d hurriedly listed all their respective projects and rushed here without asking or investigating why these people had come here. After all, it wasn’t easy to attract such big-shot investors.
The man in charge of the city’s development, Old Wang, quickly smoothed things over, saying, “Honestly, Mr. Gu, we rushed over as soon as we heard the news that you were here. We really don’t understand how and what potential you saw in our area, so we thought we might as well ask you face to face when we meet.”
He wanted to say that their area is an outstanding place, but looking at Mr. Gu’s dark expression, it would be best not to say too much right now. It was better to go along with their distinguished guest and let him take the initiative.
Gu Bei was all too familiar with dealing with bureaucrats. Hence, he briefly told them about his daughter’s disappearance when she was a child
The entire place fell silent at that. The junior leaders quickly lowered their heads and looked elsewhere while the senior leaders looked embarrassed, secretly regretting not asking around before they came. The current situation was really embarrassing.
Ye Kun coughed lightly before fanning the flames as he said, “I read a story online. A couple’s daughter got kidnapped, and when they found her, their daughter had already gone crazy. She died not long after. The old couple didn’t say anything, but after that, the people in the village where they found their daughter kept getting sick. Not long after, everyone in the entire village died.”
He continued, “In the end, the old couple turned themselves in. They said that they regularly poisoned the water wells in the village. They poisoned the entire village because everyone there knew her daughter was a kidnappee, and when she was abused and tortured, no one helped her, so all the villagers were accomplices.”
After he finished speaking, there was silence. Everyone felt a chill run down their spine, especially the villagers who were at the door listening in.
After a long while, Gu Bei chuckled, “Why didn’t I think of doing that? Why am I actually here talking about cooperation with the local chiefs when I could get revenge instead? You guys even want me to invest in this place that was my daughter’s Hell on earth. What’s the point of investing in a place like this?”
He sternly questioned, “Am I to make this place better, make it into a wealthy area so that the people here can kidnap and sell more girls? I heard that the Zhang family also bought their current daughter-in-law. Are the local authorities ignoring this issue just because no one reported it? If I requite evil with good, then what should I repay good?”
The police chief couldn’t sit still anymore and hastily stated, “Don’t worry, Mr. Gu. We’ll absolutely crack down on illegal acts such as trafficking women and children and severely punish the culprits.”
Gu Bei glanced at him, and his expression relaxed slightly. Those present were all smart people. Seeing Gu Bei’s attitude, they immediately agreed with the police chief, declared they would do everything they could to stamp out human trafficking in the area, expressed their sympathies, and cursed human traffickers and the like in unison. Before such huge benefits, even that entire village was insignificant, let alone the Zhang family.
Gu Bei seemed mollified after everyone had expressed their attitudes and nodded slightly. “Speaking of which, this matter has nothing to do with anyone here, nor does it have anything to do with this beautiful place. We came here from Lu Town and made a lot of plans there. As for this area… Shi Nian, Ye Kun, why don’t we consider it too?”
“Whatever you say, Grandpa, ” Shi Nian replied in a deep voice. Ye Kun smiled and also said, “Grandpa, you call the shots.”
All the officials heaved a sigh of relief at that..