Carrying a Jurassic on me-Chapter 1322 - 644

Shang Jin chuckled, "Even if you don’t say it, I already know, but I just want to hear you talk about it."

Officer Xu could tell he was hesitating and had a hunch about his purpose. In the past few days, other than the time of the thief’s death, there really wasn’t much going on. Everyone was busy with New Year preparations, and the only work-related matter was arranging New Year’s duty rosters, which had been planned well in advance. In fact, the village was already in a semi-holiday state.

"If you ask me, it’s the same old line, aside from being poor, this place isn’t too bad." Officer Xu started speaking since Shang Jin wasn’t saying anything. The same line again—after all, they were both young men, who had the patience for beating around the bush!

"Poor?" Shang Jin burst into laughter. "Our Sancha River is already top in the county this year, is that still considered poor? Have you seen what real poverty is?"

Officer Xu thought for a moment, "Doesn’t having just a flashlight as a home appliance count?"

When he said that, he felt somewhat skeptical. I’m not unfamiliar with rural life. Are you implying that I’ve never seen a household so poor that they don’t even own a black-and-white TV?

Unexpectedly, Shang Jin shook his head, "If you put it that way, it still doesn’t count. A flashlight needs batteries. If a household can often use a flashlight, that doesn’t count as poor. Those who are truly poor wouldn’t even buy batteries even if they had a flashlight."

Seeing Officer Xu was about to laugh and say something, Shang Jin didn’t give him a chance and continued, "Truly poor families barely use flashlights. Don’t disbelieve me, do you know how many ways there are to get a bit more life out of a spent battery so it can be used a few more times?"

"You guys have such advanced techniques here?" Officer Xu, watching Shang Jin with not a trace of jest, didn’t know what else to say, so he made a joke.

"Indeed, we do." Shang Jin seemed to think the atmosphere between the two was a bit off and started smiling. "Our local techniques usually aren’t shared outside, considered secret secrets. But since you’ve become our officer, I’ll pass it on to you! Let me tell you, if a battery is dead, sometimes leaving it in the sun can bring it back to life, and if it’s really dead, biting the battery can make it work again..."

What Shang Jin said about biting the battery to make it work again was true, but it was hardly a damn secret; all the adults and naughty children in the village knew this trick. The naughty kids knew that if a flashlight went out, you could take out the battery and bite it a few times to make it work again—the batteries they used before were carbon-zinc batteries, the kind with a metal rod in the middle and carbon ink-like filler. Nowadays, nobody should try this with batteries, as it could be dangerous.

Yet Officer Xu really didn’t know this and, upon hearing it, frowned and pondered, "What’s the principle behind that?"

Shang Jin just laughed again, "Don’t ask me, I really don’t know. That’s not what I meant to say. I mean, you, a city person, think that a household with a flashlight is the poorest, but that’s just not the case."

"It would be pointless to give you a lengthy explanation. I just wanted to point that out. You think that everything else is fine in our village, except for the poverty. But from our perspective, the best thing is that our place has finally started to become not so poor!"

"If you don’t believe it, just take a look at the agricultural supply shops on the street. They should all have a ledger, and once you look at it, you’ll understand everything."

Officer Xu rolled his eyes, "If you’re going to tell me, then tell me. You want me to check the ledger, thinking I’ve got nothing better to do?"

Shang Jin laughed heartily, "Alright, alright, no more beating around the bush. Let’s put it this way, I haven’t been here long, and there are some past situations I’m not clear about, but the shop at the east end of town that sells pesticides and fertilizers belongs to a relative of mine, and I am very clear about their situation."

"Before, villagers would come to buy things from there, and even a dime’s worth of Withering Spirit required much deliberation, and some had to buy on credit, waiting to sell their grain before they could come and repay. Most of the fertilizer they sold was on credit, and they’d collect the money after the grain was sold. Including now, there are still quite a few people who buy pesticides and fertilizers on credit."

"Also, let me ask you this, you’ve been to the countryside several times, have you ever encountered vendors selling their wares in the villages?"

Seeing Officer Xu nod, Shang Jin said, "Then you know what ’gan’ means, right? It’s when goods are left with someone, and the payment is collected after some time. Do you think that’s only done by sellers who are afraid that people won’t trust their goods? Actually, there’s another reason—because if it weren’t done that way, the goods wouldn’t move. What I’m talking about happened within the last couple of years. Now, there are fewer people in the countryside ’gan ’ when selling things, because many families have at least a little spending money."

"After all this talk, the bottom line is, our township, it’s really not poor anymore! Do you understand?"

Officer Xu frowned and thought for a while before shaking his head, "What are you trying to say? I still don’t get it."

Shang Jin took a sip of boiled water, showing no sign of impatience, and continued, "The main reason the folks in our township now have a little spending money is because many have started to raise cattle."

"So what?" Officer Xu continued to ask.

Shang Jin knew the officer wasn’t asking just to play around and explained further, "You’ve been the head officer for so long, going to county meetings. What do you talk about at every meeting? It’s about theft prevention, isn’t it? And what’s the main thing you’re trying to prevent the theft of? Cattle, right?"

Officer Xu wasn’t a fool, and he began to understand, nodding his head, "Are you saying that our township is now prosperous because everyone has started raising cattle? Is it because of the Sancha River Dairy and Pastoral Company, and Boss Yan’s contribution?"

"Geez!" Shang Jin began to smile wryly. "How can you not understand? Boss Yan’s farm has played an indispensable role in leading the wealth, but that’s not what I came to praise him for. What I’m trying to say is, the main reason our township’s people can raise cattle and become prosperous is that our township has the fewest cattle theft cases in the whole county, even the whole region. Since you’ve been here so long, you haven’t heard of one, right?"

Officer Xu finally caught on, "Oh, oh, oh, that’s for sure. If cattle thieves were lurking around the village all the time, those who want to raise cattle wouldn’t dare to, right? I’ve known this for a long time. You circled around so much before getting to the point, I almost didn’t catch on. Good public order definitely promotes economic development; everyone understands that."

"Then do you know who deserves the most credit for our township’s good public order?" Shang Jin asked again.

"You aren’t going to say it’s the boss of the cattle farm, are you?" Officer Xu asked, staring.

"Yes! That’s him, Sancha River’s boss! Oh!" Shang Jin laughed as he spoke. "Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. That was a saying from your predecessor’s predecessor. Back when Boss Yan was taking the High School Entrance Examination, he only scored three points. Nowadays, nobody dares to mention that. Just between us here, if you repeat this and say I said it, I won’t admit to it. There aren’t many in our township who dare to mention that now."

After bringing up an old embarrassment of Boss Yan, Shang Jin gave a thumbs up and continued, "Despite his three points on the exam, Boss Yan’s Kung Fu is truly something. Right when he entered junior high, he encountered three cattle thieves armed with weapons, and he defeated all three of them with his bare hands."

"I know about this." Officer Xu’s brow furrowed again. "Not only has he fought several cattle thieves, but he also caught poachers and oil thieves. The criminals who went through his hands ended up mostly injured or crippled..."

"Right!" Shang Jin jumped in. "I know what you’re thinking. You might say he did that when he was young and didn’t know better, or you might think his actions showed a disregard for what’s called human rights. Catching criminals and punishing them by himself, only sending them to the police station after beating them up—that’s illegal, right?"

Officer Xu guessed what Shang Jin was going to say next, but he still nodded.

"But you’ve also heard the township’s opinion of Boss Yan, haven’t you?" Shang Jin smiled. "Has anyone said he was wrong? And because of his actions on several occasions, thefts in our township have sharply decreased. Do you admit that?"

Although reluctant, Officer Xu nodded. The case files were right there on the corner of his desk. After the incidents where Boss Yan took action, there were fewer and fewer cases in the township. It was an undeniable fact, no matter how unwilling he was, he had to admit it.

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