PCJ – Chapter 238 Not Easy to Deal With

If Deng Junshan had known this would happen, he definitely wouldn’t have made such a decision. But now that he’s taken the first step, there’s no turning back—the county’s tea factory has resumed operations, and the trademark for bamboo-tube black tea has been registered. This is a heavy burden, and no one is going to carry it for Deng Junshan.

On the other hand, Zhou Baoying, the top official of Xintian County, hasn’t commented on this matter. If he knew how things had turned out, he’d probably be laughing secretly.

Moreover, the key workers at the tea factory have already returned to work. It’s easy to invite a deity, but hard to send one away. Without some compensation, these workers won’t be easy to dismiss. Also, their wages have been overdue for a long time. Even if no severance pay is given, their back wages must be paid, or there will certainly be trouble.

If things go well, plenty of people will rush to take credit. But if it goes south, no one will come to clean up the mess.

Deng Junshan isn’t one to give up easily. He plans to go to Meizi’ao personally—he doesn’t believe he can’t handle a mere child.

Meizi’ao has been bustling these days. Just after the town’s party secretary and mayor left, County Magistrate Deng arrived. His visit set a new record for the highest-ranking party official Meizi’ao has ever hosted. Ma Lisong, the principal of Meizi’ao Primary School, was even hoping that Deng Junshan, who had decent calligraphy skills, could write the school’s name. Many places in town still display signs with Deng Junshan’s calligraphy.

However, Principal Ma resisted the urge because he knew the purpose of Deng Junshan’s visit. If he dared to ask Deng Junshan to write anything, the villagers might tear down the school’s gates later on. They might even give him, a traitor to Meizi’ao, a good beating.

The town has been eyeing the profitable garden managed by Zhang Jiaohua’s family for a while, and the villagers have known about it. When Deng Junshan and his group arrived, they were greeted by villagers wielding hoes and rakes, giving him the kind of “welcome” that the Japanese invaders might have received.

But the villagers weren’t stupid—they knew that driving the county magistrate away would cause a huge scene. They just wanted to give him a scare. Of course, they didn’t know it was the county magistrate at first; they thought he was just some official. When they found out who he was, they quickly tossed their tools aside.

Zhang Manyin rushed up to Deng Junshan. “Magistrate, you have to stand up for my family!” Zhang Manyin almost knelt down, but Deng Junshan quickly helped him up. “Old man, whatever issue you have, just tell me. I’ll make sure to stand up for you.”

“My grandson contracted the garden and worked so hard to revive the dying tea trees and produce black tea. He even won an award at the provincial level. But now, the town wants to take over our garden. Isn’t that robbery? Everyone else is talking about reform and opening up, encouraging farmers to get rich, but our town wants to rob us of our property. Isn’t that banditry?” Zhang Manyin, who had recently visited the provincial capital, now had a broader perspective and watched the news every night at 7 p.m.

Had he not come unannounced, Deng Junshan might have suspected that someone had set him up.

“Old man, you might have misunderstood. No one is trying to take your grandson’s garden, nor is anyone forcing him to hand over the black tea-making process. The county just wants to integrate the tea industry. Bamboo-tube black tea is a traditional specialty of our Xintian County. If we make this specialty product our flagship, our county’s tea industry can really thrive,” Deng Junshan said, cleverly shifting the concept by calling bamboo-tube black tea a traditional product of Xintian County, implying it wasn’t just a private asset of the Zhang family.

“But this bamboo-tube black tea isn’t a traditional product; my grandson came up with it himself!” Zhang Manyin protested.

Deng Junshan was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but there was no backing out now.

Zhang Jiaohua went to school as usual today and didn’t come home until after school. When people came to the school to call for him, he ignored them. Naturally, the villagers were on Zhang Jiaohua’s side. Many suggested that he hide at his granduncle’s place, but Zhang Jiaohua wasn’t the type to shy away from trouble.

“Hello, Zhang Jiaohua, I’m Deng Junshan, the county magistrate of Xintian County. Principal Ma Lisong tells me you’re an excellent student at Meizi’ao Primary School and a very ambitious young boy. I’m here to talk with you about bamboo-tube black tea. It’s remarkable that someone your age could develop such a product. However, black tea has the potential to become a famous Chinese tea, but it can’t grow big and strong if it’s only produced by Meizi’ao Garden. Considering that you’re still in school and shouldn’t spend too much time on tea production, the county tea factory would like to acquire your tea-making process. You can name your conditions. Your parents aren’t around right now, but if you transfer the black tea process to the county factory, the county can arrange jobs for them, making them state employees, and get your family urban household registration. Your whole family could then move to the county seat, and you could attend school there. You’d be able to live with your parents every day, without having to endure the pain of separation,” Deng Junshan had done his homework before coming. But unfortunately for him, he was dealing with Zhang Jiaohua. Any other child would have been knocked out by this barrage of offers. Even Zhang Jiaohua was tempted.

But Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to transfer the black tea process, but I’m the only one who can make it. No one else can, and I can’t teach anyone. The garden is collectively owned by our village. If the villagers don’t want it, they can take it back.”

“Hey, kid, why can’t you be reasonable?” Secretary Cui Shilin from the county government office couldn’t help but point at Zhang Jiaohua.

“What are you going to do? Hit him?” Zhang Youlian, Zhang Jiaohua’s uncle, immediately rushed out and grabbed Cui Shilin, refusing to let go.

The county officials scolded Zhang Youlian, and the villagers started to gather around. Deng Junshan quickly intervened. If things escalated, his reputation would suffer even more. Besides, the situation ultimately hinged on Zhang Jiaohua. But dealing with a child like this was tricky—he was too young to be reasoned with, and there were no other tactics to employ. Deng Junshan knew he had to tread carefully and slowly.

Just as Deng Junshan was still figuring out a solution, something even more troubling happened.

The director of the Zijiang City Tea Factory arrived in Xintian County without notifying anyone and went straight to Meizi’ao. Last time, the Zijiang City Tea Factory had also benefitted and won a gold medal at the Xiangcha Cup. Deng Junshan originally intended to visit Meizi’ao to build rapport with Zhang Jiaohua. He knew Zhang Jiaohua’s garden didn’t have a stable sales channel, so he had a plan in mind. This time, besides trying to build a good relationship with Zhang Jiaohua, he also wanted to establish a business partnership with him.