A burst of messy footsteps from outside, followed by bursts of laughter.
Jiang Ziyu felt embarrassed and got out of bed, throwing off the quilt.
She had arrived in a hurry yesterday and hadn't brought anything. One quilt wasn't enough to keep warm, and it was also inconvenient; both of them had slept in their clothes.
Jiang Ziyu opened the door and walked out, only to run into Shen Lin.
"Madam, you're awake." Shen Lin suppressed a smile and greeted her.
Noticing he had come from outside, Jiang Ziyu couldn't help but ask, "Who were those people outside just now?"
"Madam, don't worry, they were just some children from the village. You and President shouldn't take it to heart; they didn't hear anything." Shen Lin's words had the effect of protesting too much.
But thinking about it, they hadn't really said anything. Even if they had heard, what could she do to those children?
As Jiang Ziyu prepared to return to her room, Huang Shan arrived with the elderly village chief.
"Madam Di, have you finished packing?" Huang Shan inquired.
The construction project had been left for a long time. Now that they had a responsible person, they couldn't sleep at night, fearing that if they left, no one would oversee the matter.
"We're ready," Di Mingjue emerged from the room.
Led by Huang Shan and the village chief, they walked to the construction site.
Everything was as Huang Shan had described; the school, which was supposed to be built, only had its foundation laid, with a long section of rebar exposed.
Perhaps to prevent children from playing there, the rebar had been wrapped with thick cotton.
"President Di, this is the situation. This land originally belonged to the village. The crops harvested each year, wheat and corn, were enough to sustain the village for more than half the year. But now that the land has been poured with cement, this plot can only be looked at; nothing can be done with it," the village chief said, wiping away tears of sorrow.
In rural areas, wasting food was shameful, and wasting land was even more so.
Huang Shan sighed deeply as he looked at the large plot of land, "If we had known it would turn out like this, we wouldn't have agreed even if you beat us to death."
"Do you have the contract from the time of signing?" Di Mingjue suddenly asked.
At any time, if Di Jue Group undertook a project, there would always be relevant contracts. After all, although Di Jue Group was nominally helping them build a school, the land still belonged to the village.
The village chief recalled, "I think so. I remember it had a blue cover. They asked me to sign it at the time, but I couldn't write, so I just pressed my handprint with red mud."
"Can you still find it?" Di Mingjue continued to ask.
"Yes, it's at my home," the village chief replied with certainty.
He knew what was important and what wasn't. Thinking that the document on which he had pressed his handprint was related to the subsequent construction, he kept it at home along with his money for safekeeping.
Di Mingjue sent Shen Lin to take more site photos, while he and Jiang Ziyu followed the village chief to his home.
Although the village chief was old, he had preserved his belongings very well and was able to find them immediately.
Jiang Ziyu leaned beside Di Mingjue, looking at the name at the bottom of the contract.
Now, the contract, site photos, and the company's project proposal were sufficient to prove that Di Dongsheng was behind this matter.
Building a school would cost at least hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of millions. It was easy to pocket a substantial profit by just building it casually, let alone completing the project with just a few details.
This could be considered embezzlement of public funds and virtual fraud.
Di Mingjue looked at the nervous and uneasy village chief, "If you trust me, could you give me the original contract?"
Upon hearing this, the village chief immediately went forward to snatch it back, "No, if you take it and don't honor it, we won't have anywhere to complain."
The contract was their evidence, and he dared not give it to anyone. The document returned to the village chief's hands, and he clutched it tightly.