Chapter 551: Expropriation

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The National Investment Corporation and Qingkang Company worked together to use Stoneback Village as the radiation center and collect the fields of the surrounding dozen or so villages.

It was a levy, not a lease.

This was because Gu Qingming could plant space and spiritual spring water for at least an infinitely long time.

In order to avoid trouble, it would be easier for the country to administer them if they were collected directly.

However, during the process of collection, great difficulties were encountered.

The majority of those who remain in rural farming were the elderly.

These old people had all gone through hard times.

They did not have the skills to sustain themselves and relied on the land at home.

In the past, these lands had supported a large family and raised children. Their reliance on the land was equivalent to their lives.

Now, basically every family was living a good life and did not rely on farming to support their family.

However, these lands had already become the spiritual support of the elderly.

Now that the government suddenly said that they would expropriate these lands, some elders could not accept it although the compensation was very high,

However, many elders believed that the compensation should be made to them. Instead, it would be taken by the young people.

What if the youngsters did not care about their lives? What would they do then?

Therefore, they felt safer with the fields.

“These lands will be confiscated by the country. However, don’t worry, the country will compensate you with 36,000 dollars per acre.” A member of the government personally came out to explain to these old people. “Moreover, the country will also give some pensions to old people like you who are 60 years old.”

An old man’s eyes lit up and he immediately asked, “Will there really be a pension? How much will there be?”

The staff member said, “Yes, a pension of at least 150 dollars a month. Different age groups have different pensions.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Those between 60 to 60 shall receive 150 dollars, those between 70 to 79 will get 200 dollars, and those from 80 to 100 receive 300 dollars. Also, when you are sick, the state pays for the treatment.”

“That good? But, is that possible?” The old man clearly didn’t believe it.

The staff member said, “Old man, we’re from the country. Can’t you trust the country?”

“I do believe in the country, but I feel that it’s impossible.” An old man was still very suspicious.

The representatives were speechless.

Hence, they tried their best to persuade these old people.

After a long period of hard work, most of the problems were finally resolved.

However, there were still many elders who still felt safer with the land. No matter how they were persuaded, it was useless. This made the representatives helpless.

The main thing was that the elderly like them had a difficult family background. Unlike other families, they had young people to rely on. On the contrary, some of the young people in the family had to rely on them.

President Chen rubbed his forehead and smiled bitterly at Gu Qingming and Mo Junyan. “CEO. Gu, President Mo, think of a way. Those people are unwilling to give in and still insist on farming. What should we do?”

Gu Qingming smiled and said, “President Chen, these lands are equivalent to their lives. It’s the way they rely on to survive. It’s understandable that they can’t accept taking back these lands at once.”

President Chen frowned. “I can understand them, but what should we do now?”

Gu Qingming thought for a moment and said, “How about this? Promise them an amount of food per acre of land.”

President Chen said in a slightly different tone, “How can we do that? President Gu, you should be very clear about the purpose of the country’s expropriation of these lands, right? If we give them all the grain, then what’s the point of us doing this expropriation? We have to prioritize the overall situation!”

The last sentence was a reminder to Gu Qingming.

The National Investment Corporation cooperated with Gu Qingming’s Qingkang Company to confiscate a large amount of land in order to free it up for Gu Qingming to use the spiritual spring water to plant crops.

The agricultural products produced by this crop would be immediately transported to the army to protect the country.

The crops watered by the spiritual spring water could improve and greatly improve a person’s physical fitness.

As long as these soldiers’ physical fitness improved greatly, they could better protect their country with less risk.

That was the real purpose.

Therefore, Gu Qingming’s suggestion to barter these grains was not feasible at all.

Gu Qingming smiled and said, “President Chen, don’t be anxious. What 1 mean is that it might not be the food grown in their own land for them. It’s just to ensure that the food is given to them!”

President Chen immediately reacted and his eyes lit up. He said excitedly, “You, you’re right. Why didn’t 1 think of that?”

“However, President Chen, there’s still a huge hidden danger here?” Gu Qingming reminded.

“What hidden danger?” President Chen was puzzled.

“If you take back these lands in this way, I wonder if other families will cause a commotion like this.” Gu Qingming directly pointed it out.

President Chen immediately said seriously, “This is a problem. I’ll talk to the organization later and see if we can discuss a protocol to minimize the problem.”

After all, they were state personnel, not bandits.

“CEO. Gu, what do you think?” President Chen asked sincerely after some thought.

He did not want to underestimate this girl who was only in her early twenties.

Through his understanding of her, he knew that this young lady was smart and opinionated.

No wonder Mo Junyan, the President of the Mo Corporation, pursued her.

It was said that he had yet to succeed.

Mo Junyan followed Gu Qingming because of this matter.

Gu Qingming thought for a moment and said, “In my opinion, I’m just giving the two of them a choice. One is to compensate with money, and the other is to compensate with food. Of course, there’s a time limit for taking food. For example, twenty or thirty years.”

Compensation was a one-time buyout.

Taking food as compensation was a long-term thing. As for how long it would last, there had to be a time limit.

There was no year limit, and the drawbacks were huge.

President Chen nodded and said, “I’ll go back and discuss this with everyone!”

With that, President Chen left.

After President Chen left, Mo Junyan looked at Gu Qingming and said, “You still have to worry about them. I wonder what they’re doing?”

Gu Qingming shook her head and said, “It’s fine. Although this project isn’t very big, it’s very troublesome. Didn’t you encounter any troublemakers when you were working on the project?”

Mo Junyan shook his head and said, “I don’t know about that. I’ll leave it to the Manager to handle it.”

As the President, he only grasped the overall direction and did not have to ask about everything.

Otherwise, he would not be able to finish his work even if he worked himself to death.

Gu Qingming was instantly speechless.

However, it did make sense..