260 Villagers Causing Trouble (2)
“Shi Lichun, how can you do this? We’re all from the same village. You gave him 5,000 dollars, but you gave us 500 yuan. You… aren’t you too biased?”
“Shi Lichun, in that case, my family’s land also has to be used to grow watermelons and peanuts. It’s much more worth it than renting it to you.”
“You guys clearly said it yourself. There are rules for renting land in the countryside. Why are you giving others a high rent behind everyone’s backs? Speaking of which, I’m not willing to rent anymore. I want a high rent too, okay?”
…
Everyone spoke one after another. There was no opportunity for Shi Lichun or the other members of the Shi family to speak.
Actually, this was how people were.
When it came to personal benefits, everyone would quit!
When everyone heard Shi Bangjian say that the Shi family wanted to rent his family’s land for a lot of money, they only smiled. Perhaps they were just watching from the side.
However, when the other party really asked for so much rent, they immediately felt aggrieved.
Driven by greed, they naturally wanted to fight for more and use fairness as an excuse to cause trouble.
“Shi Lichun, I heard that this land is rented by your niece, right? Since your niece is so rich and can pay a rent of 5,000 dollars per acre for Shi Bangjian, she must give us the same rent, right?”
“That’s right. I heard that your niece’s family is loaded. A few thousand dollars is just a drop in the ocean. If she’s so rich, why be so petty?”
“We’re not asking her to buy us a house, a car, or give us money. At least be fair to us about renting land, right?”
“That’s right. Since you’re rich, why are you so stingy? Your niece offered so much at once. Farmers like us can’t earn that much even if we spend our lives facing the yellow soil. We don’t ask for much now, but you have to give us a reasonable rent for renting land, right?”
…
Shi Lichun and everyone from the Shi family listened to the villagers’ words, and their expressions became worse and worse.
Grandpa Shi Tietou stood out and glanced sharply at the villagers who came to his house. His expression was a little ugly as he asked in a deep voice, “If you think that my granddaughter is rich, should I give some to you directly?”
Some of the villagers’ eyes flickered with anticipation.
“But on what basis? Are you saying that you can’t make much money just because you’re farmers, or is it just because you have more people?” Shi Tietou shouted sharply, “Whose money doesn’t come from hard work?”
“Uncle Tietou, don’t be angry. That’s not what we meant.” Someone saw that Shi Tie was angry and immediately tried to persuade him. “We just want to ask if this is true.”
Shi Tietou sneered, “Hmph, are you just asking me? You’ve already confirmed it in your mind. You’re being aggressive here. Why? Do you think my family is easy to bully? Or do you all think my Shi family has no one else?”
Hearing Shi Tietou’s words, many villagers immediately smiled awkwardly and said, “Uncle Tietou, we didn’t mean that.”
Not to mention the entire Stoneback Village, even in the entire Shahe Town, no one would bully the Shi family.
Who would dare to think that the Shi family had no one?
Unless there was another family with more donations than the Shi family’s son-in-law, who was richer than the Shi family’s son-in-law. Otherwise, wouldn’t bullying the Shi family be equivalent to being slapped in the face?
“That’s not what you meant? I think most of you think so!” Shi Tietou snorted coldly. “Who told you that the rent for Shi Bangjian is 5,000? Come out now. If I didn’t pay 5,000 to Shi Bangjian would you have to make it up for our family?”
Shi Tietou’s sharp gaze swept around again. When he saw their evasive expressions, he sneered in his heart.
He said, “Yaoqing, go and call Shi Bangjian’s family over. Tell them that someone will pay the rent of 5,000 dollars!”
Shi Yaoqing covered his mouth and laughed. He quickly replied, “Okay, Grandpa!”
However, before Shi Yaoqing walked out of the courtyard, Shi Bangjian rushed over with his son. There were beads of sweat on his forehead. It was such a cold day, but he was actually sweating. He had rushed over.
Behind him were his wife, Li Xiuxiu, and his mother.
“We’re all here.” Shi Bangjian wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, “We heard that someone was claiming that we are renting our land for 5,000 dollars, so we rushed over.”
Shi Lichun took out a stack of contracts from the room and raised them up. “As you all know, every family we rent land from will have a rental contract. The contract states the rent and the lease period. Now, in front of everyone, I’ll let you see if the rent we give Shi Bangjian is 5,000 or 500 dollars!”
Shi Bangjian looked at everyone and said with a very serious expression, “I don’t know who spread it that the Shi family is renting our land for 5,000. If my family doesn’t have that much, are any of you going to compensate me?!”
Hearing Shi Bangjian say this, someone asked curiously, “Bangjian, how much is the rent for your land?”
“I got as much as everyone else – 500!” Shi Bangjian said seriously, “We’re all from the same village and the same place, so the rent will definitely be the same! My family’s land doesn’t have gold, to have rented it for 5,000. If I have gold, I might as well keep it and dig for it myself!”
When everyone heard Shi Bangjian’s words, they looked suspicious. Clearly, they did not believe him.
A villager immediately said, “That’s not right, Bangjian. Two days ago, you told us that Lichun and the others wanted to rent your family’s land. Your family’s land is in a good location, so the rent will definitely be more. At that time, you said that you wanted at least 5,000 in rent. Otherwise, you would have earned more than 5,000 by planting it yourself! Then, you rented out the land. Everyone naturally thought that your family’s land was rented out for 5,000 dollars!”
Shi Bangjian did not deny it with a dark expression. “I said that at that time. I was just joking at that time. How would I know that you would take it seriously!”
Shi Xiaohai nodded and said, “The rent in the surrounding villages is at a maximum of 200 dollars. The rent in our village is even higher. My parents were just joking with everyone about the 5,000 rent. Who knew that everyone would take it seriously? 5,000 for the rent is impossible, okay?”
Hearing the father and son say this, the villagers felt a little puzzled!
Joking?
However, from their expressions previously, they did not look like they were joking at all!
Shi Lichun took out Shi Bangjian’s contract and said very seriously, “Look at this contract. Is the rent 500 or 5,000 dollars? Don’t worry, this contract is legally effective!”
Everyone rushed over to look at the contract. It was written clearly in black and white that the rent was 500 dollars per acre per year.