Chapter 92

“What? No one wants the lotus roots in your field anyway. We’re just doing you a favor by digging some up, loosening the soil a little. Don’t tell me you can’t even spare that? No wonder no man wants you…” the leading man mocked sarcastically.

He used to have a wife. I mean, he’s a man—sometimes he had a few too many drinks outside, came home, and slapped his wife a couple times if she didn’t listen. So what? That’s how all the women in the village live, right?

But his wife was particularly delicate. He was just a bit rough, yet under the instigation of He Ruizhen, she actually went to the police station and reported him!

Though in the end, because they were a married couple, the station didn’t detain him—just handled it as a domestic dispute. Still, the fact he ended up at the police station was humiliating.

And before he even had a chance to get mad, the woman started acting up—she actually wanted a divorce?

Of course, the man refused. It’s not easy to get a wife in the countryside these days. What pissed him off even more was that his wife had He Ruizhen as her backing. That woman was a real piece of work—reporting people to the police at the drop of a hat, threatening to go to the media. Sure, the men in the village were tough at home, but when faced with someone like He Ruizhen, even they got intimidated.

Just like that, a perfectly fine family of his was “torn apart” by He Ruizhen.

He never reflected on the fact that it was his own smoking, drinking, refusal to contribute financially, and constant domestic violence that drove his wife away. In his mind, if it weren’t for those foul women in Lotus Pond Village backing her up, how could his wife have dared to divorce him?

Now she was gone, taking the kid with her, and no one knew where. He couldn’t find her no matter how hard he tried.

What made it worse was that he had planned to remarry. But in recent years, rural bride prices had soared. Once the matchmakers found out he was divorced, and that his previous wife had run away because he beat her, they all came up with excuses—none of them would introduce anyone to him.

The few they did introduce were either disabled or divorced women with several kids in tow. Who’d want that?

So the man tried to reconcile with his ex-wife, frequently using lotus root digging as an excuse to show up at Lotus Pond Village, hoping for a “chance encounter” or to fish out her whereabouts from the villagers. But the villagers had been thoroughly brainwashed by He Ruizhen and were extremely unfriendly to outsiders. No one told him a thing.

In his frustration, he started spreading rumors that the lotus roots in Lotus Pond Village were free for the taking, and anyone could come dig them. As a result, more and more villagers started sneaking over to steal lotus roots…

What he didn’t expect was that today, Lotus Pond Village had set up a checkpoint at the entrance!

“Sorry, fellow villagers. Our Lotus Pond Village’s lotus ponds have already been contracted out. The new boss is bringing people to dig them today. If you want to pick some lotus roots, wait until they’re done—then you can have whatever’s left!” He Ruizhen stood smiling at the checkpoint.

This had been prearranged with the production team.

After living here for so many years, He Ruizhen knew these people too well.

If she said today that their village had paid to hire workers to dig the roots, there would be rumors by tomorrow—gossip about how the village got rich off lotus farming, how people would come asking to borrow money, accusations of them being stingy for not hiring locals… All kinds of nonsense.

Better to just say the lotus ponds were leased to a wealthy outsider.

As Wei Sheng put it, if someone had paid to lease the ponds, then those lotus roots belonged to them. Anyone who came to dig without permission was stealing. If the amount was large enough, it was a criminal offense.

Sure enough! As soon as word spread that the lotus ponds had been contracted out, the crowd that had come to dig scattered.

Previously, they came because they’d heard the roots were going to rot in the ground and no one cared. A few roots to eat? Who’d make a fuss?

But once they were leased, the roots had an owner. Villagers might not fear a fight, but they wouldn’t risk a lawsuit over a few lotus roots.

When the man saw everyone else had fled, he was furious, nearly exploding. He wanted nothing more than to beat up He Ruizhen. But just as he raised his arm, a series of car horns blared behind him.

Turning around, he saw a group of young men in police academy uniforms jumping down from the vehicles.

Startled, the man instinctively stepped aside.

Leading the group, along with Yang Shaojun, was none other than Song Pingyi, the current president of the police academy. Most of the academy’s staff who lived locally had also shown up after hearing the news.

Wei Sheng had been right—there were still many conscientious people in this world. Especially in the police academy: those who could get in generally had a deep faith in the profession. They weren’t afraid of sacrificing their lives for the country, but they did fear that their families wouldn’t be taken care of afterward…

So no group was more capable of empathizing with the families of heroes from Lotus Pond Village than these police cadets.

If they didn’t help these vulnerable women and children today, didn’t set an example for society, then someday, their own families might become the next He Chunmiao.

Wang Qun hadn’t expected Wei Sheng to pull so many strings—he’d actually gotten the police academy to send people as volunteers! And every one of them stood tall and proud like poplars. When this aired, wouldn’t all the fangirls online just faint from excitement?

“What are you waiting for? Start filming! Is the drone in position yet?” Wang Qun had no time for pleasantries and rushed into work.

Not that he had any place for pleasantries anyway. The head of the police academy had shown up in person—this was too high-level. The new station director himself had come to receive them, along with several deputy directors and local propaganda officials. There was no way a small-time director like Wang Qun could squeeze in. Better to focus on shooting the documentary properly.

He’d been in the industry for years and had filmed plenty of major scenes, but never had he seen the police academy collectively turn out to be extras. He didn’t even need Wei Sheng to hype him up—he’d been too excited to sleep since last night and had everyone up early for a prep meeting.

The once desolate “Widow Village” was suddenly filled with uniformed cadets, stunning the entire surrounding area. It was the agricultural off-season, so the bored locals had all come over to see the commotion.

Would Wei Sheng pass up such a perfect brainwashing opportunity?

He’d long thought the villagers here had skewed values and were in dire need of moral education. And now, with all these righteous young cadets from the police academy on-site, how could he not take advantage of it to enlighten the villagers?

So the locals watching from the sidelines soon found that the drama they were spectating… was suddenly about them.

With a nudge from Wei Sheng, the police cadets began loudly commenting—

“Can you believe it? Such a beautiful place, and yet the people are so heartless! These are the children of heroes! Their family members bled and died to protect the country, and now the very people they protected are bullying their loved ones? Are they even human?”

Villagers: “……”

“If you ask me, it’s the parents who have no morals. No ethics at all. How could the kids they raise turn out well? People like this should be eliminated at the political screening stage! If they can bully the children of heroes, they shouldn’t be allowed to become civil servants or join the police force!”

Villagers: !!!

“And all that talk about rural revitalization and welfare benefits—people who are ungrateful and bully heroes’ families shouldn’t receive a single dime! We work ourselves to death to help you out of poverty, and in return, you beat up our children? People like this shouldn’t be allowed to prosper!”

Villagers: (⊙﹏⊙)

The cadets, emboldened by the cameras not pointing at them, kept the harsh words coming, practically tearing into the villagers who had wronged Lotus Pond Village.

If they could, they’d have dragged out the hooligans who’d harassed the single women in the village and given them a good beating too.

Let them be disciplined afterward—who cared? No one gets to bully the children of heroes!

Unbelievable! Widow Village—no, Lotus Pond Village—those old women actually landed the police academy as a powerful backer, and they even brought over a whole busload of handsome young men to help harvest the lotus roots?

The news spread like wildfire through the surrounding villages.

No one dared make crude or suggestive jokes about the women of Lotus Pond Village anymore. Funny thing was, a few of the more timid ones who had caused trouble there before seemed to panic when they heard a bunch of future police officers had arrived—they actually fled overnight.

If they hadn’t run, it might have been fine, but fleeing like that immediately drew the attention of the police academy’s students and faculty.

Come on—what normal person sees the police and instinctively runs? Obviously, they’d done something shady, maybe were already on a watchlist or had a warrant out for them.

Since they had some free time anyway, why not pass a few leads on to their seniors?

Just like that, the local police station and higher authorities received several anonymous tips.

With today’s powerful data systems, not to mention having their real names and home addresses, a quick database search was all it took—sure enough, a few of them had outstanding issues.

Now He Ruizhen no longer had to worry about those hooligans sneaking into the village to steal or bully the vulnerable. At this rate, they’d soon be sewing buttons behind bars.

But for now, He Ruizhen didn’t have time to worry about those punks. The police academy students had come all this way to help harvest lotus roots without taking a single cent—shouldn’t the village at least show some gratitude?

She and a few others drove to the nearby town for supplies.

Since so many people had come, she bought out the stock from two butcher shops just to gather over 400 pounds of pork. Worried it might not be enough, she also bought 20 chickens and 10 ducks from a nearby poultry farm, along with two crates of eggs.

She had wanted to buy some beef or lamb to make a few hearty dishes, but since it wasn’t a holiday, the vendors hadn’t stocked any. And there wasn’t time to drive to the county town. Thankfully, someone had contracted the big fish pond nearby, so she went over and had them catch more than 20 large fish.

“With the teachers, students, and the production crew, around 20 banquet tables should be enough.”

“Our own people won’t sit at the tables. We’ll just make some extra dishes and have the helpers eat casually in the kitchen.”

Everyone knew the village had no money and nodded in agreement. “They came all this way to help us—it’s only right they eat well. As for us, the food doesn’t have to be fancy. Just something simple.”

“And anyway, with 20 tables, these young guys aren’t going to eat every last bite. We’ll collect the leftovers, stew it all into a big pot, and everyone helping out can take home two bowls. No need to cook tomorrow.”

Maybe it’s just a local custom here, but every time they attended a village banquet, folks cared less about what was served during the meal and more about how much they could take home afterward.

The banquet leftovers were considered a delicacy. A variety of dishes all thrown together and reheated, full of mixed flavors—there was something special about the taste.

And with the broth and juices soaked into rice, it was especially delicious. Locals attending a banquet didn’t head straight to their seat after handing over their gift money. First, they asked the host for some plastic bags, ready to grab leftovers when the party ended.

So when He Ruizhen suggested setting aside a couple of kitchen tables with extra dishes for the helpers, everyone declined without hesitation.

No banquet food could compare to the taste of leftover stew.

He Ruizhen just smiled, saying nothing. She knew they were trying to save the village money on purpose.

But once the lotus roots were harvested, they’d soon have money coming in.

(End of Chapter)