Persimmon Tree Village, Gulin Town, there is a stream meandering in front of the village in front of you, and the houses built by the red tiles and white walls are neatly arranged along the mountain, although it is winter, there is no sense of depression, and the small mountain village located in the depths of Luliang Mountain is completely beyond the expectations of Zhang Chunhe and Cui Luyi.

Whether it was the information they learned during the investigation or what Lin Jia said on the phone, Persimmon Tree Village once distributed a large amount of money to each villager for selling coal. However, there are no shortage of coal-rich villages in the surrounding area, so why is there such a big contrast with Persimmon Tree Village?

With such questions, Zhang Chunhe and Cui Luyi came directly to the persimmon tree village committee, and only after seeing the village party secretary Lu Zhaolin did they always understand what was going on. At the same time, it is inevitable that there will be a deep admiration for the late old branch secretary.

"You are young, and you may not know how much coal we sold here for a ton thirty or forty years ago. ”

"Was coal much cheaper back then than it is now?"

"It's not just a lot cheaper, it's not worth anything at all. Lu Zhaolin explained: "Let me tell you this, at that time, one person in our office was about 15 yuan. The price of a ton of coal is 17 yuan, which is barely worth a labor. ”

"17 yuan a ton of coal?!"

This price completely subverted the cognitive outlook of Cui Luyi and Zhang Chunhe.

"How can it be so cheap?" Zhang Chunhe asked very puzzledly: "What does the 'well price' that Lu Zhishu just said?"

"Oh, yes, the price of the well refers to the price at which it is sold from our village. There are two departure fees and resource fees, which should be between 30 and 35 yuan per ton when added up. If you include the shipping costs, the price to you will be more than fifty or sixty. ”

This price is somewhat acceptable to Cui Luyi and Zhang Chunhe. It's just that since coal was so cheap at that time, selling a meal of coal was only worth a person's wages, how did this persimmon tree village make a fortune from coal?

"Our persimmon tree village can have today, thanks to the old branch secretary. ”

It turned out that there were 184 households in the entire Persimmon Tree Village, with a total population of more than 800 people, all of whom were surnamed Lu, and they were the descendants of an old ancestor. As a result, the people here are more united and united than in other surrounding villages.

In the late 80s and early 90s of the last century, when the price of coal was only 178 yuan per ton, the late old branch secretary made a decisive decision through consultation with the villagers: each household in the village should send a laborer to dig coal. In addition to the villagers' own use and the sale of part of the coal to pay for labor money and other expenses in the village, the remaining part is not allowed to sell more than a ton, and all of it is dug up and filled in a deep ditch at the entrance of the village.

The old branch secretary once said: Now that the country has just implemented reform and opening up, with the growth of the economy, the demand for coal will definitely increase in the future. In other words, the price of coal will definitely rise sharply. It's just that no one knows when coal will rise, and how much a ton of price it will eventually rise.

Sure enough, the old branch secretary said that when the time entered the new century, in less than ten years, when the price of coal rose all the way to nearly 1,000 yuan a ton, the tide rose, and the original price of 178 yuan per ton also rose to more than 600 yuan, which was equivalent to nearly 40 times the price of coal digging in Persimmon Tree Village at the beginning.

Therefore, when Persimmon Tree Village sold all the coal it had saved, it became a well-known and wealthy village overnight.

"Ahem, at that time we were divided by head. Each person received 360,000 yuan, and most of the families with large populations received one or two million, and the one family I remember the most received more than 3 million. You must know that the housing prices at that time were less than 2,000 per square meter in the most prosperous area of Songyuan City. ”

After listening to this shocking and enviable story, Cui Luyi and Zhang Chunhe also knew the source of funds used by Lu Xidong to buy a house and move to Songyuan City. Of course, the two would not forget the task of this trip, so the topic quickly turned to Lu Xidong.

"That's a restless man. As soon as Lu Zhaolin came up, he gave Lu Xidong a clear definition, and then said: "Originally, he was one of the successors after being seen by the old branch secretary, and he had been working as a clerk in the village committee for three years before he moved to Songyuan City. ”

"Secretary Lu, what were the restless performances of Lu Xidong back then?"

"Thinking about things is too extreme, I can't afford a small loss, I can only make a profit. likes to calculate others behind his back, and always feels that no one in the world is smarter than him. In addition, the style of life is not promisced. ”

This is somewhat in line with the results of the NSA's investigation into Lu Xidong. Cui Luyi asked again: "Can Secretary Lu know the case that Lu Xidong committed back then?"

"At that time, I was already working in the village committee, and I had come to many police officers after Lu Xidong was arrested. Everyone in the village knows it. No one expected that he would criticize the policies of the party and the state, criticize the social system, and incite others to do such unconscionable things with him. Obviously, Lu Zhaolin was very puzzled and angry about Lu Xidong's behavior. "He doesn't want to think about it, if it weren't for the current social system, he would have the money to move to the city?"

"After Lu Xidong moved to the city, did he come back often?"

"Not often, before he went to prison, he only came back to see Qingming and Spring Festival. Seeing that the two of them were always asking questions around Lu Xidong, Lu Zhaolin asked with some doubts: "It can't be that Lu Xidong is committing another crime, right? He has only been out for a few years." ”

After investigation, it was found that he was indeed involved in another criminal case. However, it is not entirely certain that he did it, and we are looking for evidence. "I was worried that the news would leak out and reach Lu Xidong's ears again, so Zhang Chunhe didn't tell Lu Zhaolin the truth. "Does Lu Zhishu know that Lu Xidong still keeps in touch with anyone in the village?"

Lu Zhaolin shook his head and said, "As far as I know, since the death of Lu Xidong's parents, he has almost no contact with the village. Even his uncle and other close relatives don't know about him outside. ”

"Has Lu Xidong ever come back after he was released from prison?"

"I came back once, and went to the grave of his parents to pay respects, and he was never heard from again. ”

Seeing that the branch secretary Lu Zhaolin knew very little about what happened after Lu Xidong was released from prison, Zhang Chunhe mentioned Lu Qingyuan again.

"That's a weirdo. I have to call him grandpa according to his generation. It seems that the village party secretary has a habit of giving people definitions, and Lu Zhaolin continued: "When I saw on the TV news that he was killed, and he was killed by such a person who was neither male nor female, no one in the village wanted to mention it again." In particular, his uncles, brothers, and others who were on the same branch as him were even more reluctant to hear his name. ”

"Did Lu Qingyuan get the coal money back then?"

"Of course I did. At that time, the policy set by the village was that no matter whether they were at home or not, whether the household registration was taken away or not, as long as they were the immediate family members of the Lu family in Persimmon Tree Village, they had a share. ”

"Did Lu Qingyuan come back to pick it up in person, or did he call the card, or did someone else send it to him?"

"He came back and fetched it himself. ”

"So you informed him beforehand?"

"yes. ”

"How did you inform him, calling?"

"Where is his phone number?" Lu Zhaolin did not mention the word "Lu Qingyuan" from beginning to end, but only replaced it with "he". "At that time, someone from the village was going to Jiangjun City, and although he never contacted his family, we still knew where he worked. So he entrusted the person to find the factory where he worked, and finally sent the news over. ”

"Who is the person who sent the news to Lu Qingyuan, can we meet him and ask about the situation at that time?"

"Yes, I'll call Jicai and ask him to come over. ”

In less than ten minutes, Lu Jicai came to the village committee office. When he heard that Zhang Chunhe and Cui Luyi were inquiring about their experience of sending a letter to Lu Qingyuan, they immediately smiled bitterly and said, "Hey, my Uncle Qingyuan." You don't know, I took a car and a taxi, and when I finally found the factory where Uncle Qingyuan worked, I was just in time for them to get off work at noon. After seeing Uncle Qingyuan in front of the cafeteria, he asked as if he didn't know me, 'Is there something to do with me'. When I told him that the village would ask him to come back and collect the money, he just said four words, 'I know,' and there was no follow-up. ”

"Didn't I invite you to lunch?"

"Uncle Qingyuan said those eight words to me before and after, and there was nothing else. ”

At this time, Lu Zhaolin, the branch secretary, interjected: "After Uncle Cai came back, the people in the village made fun of him about it. ”

(End of chapter)