Chapter 914: Another Water and Electricity Fee

On the way back to the hotel, Gao Yang and Qin Chuan switched positions.

Qin Chuan took the wheel, and Gao Yang, seated behind where Qin Chuan had been, immediately called the construction crew.

The call was simple. He just told them to work on that cement road, and the faster the better.

Never mind quality, just do some surface-level work and make it look decent. That was good enough.

Of course, the money would still be paid as agreed.

The two heads of the construction crew on the other end of the line heard this and understood exactly what Gao Yang meant. After all, they were well aware of why Gao Yang was pulling this stunt.

It was purely because the people in that small mountain village were too outrageous.

They also felt that the villagers were absolute beasts.

They were helping you fix the road for free, and yet you still managed to squeeze money out of them...

After hanging up, Gao Yang sneered under his breath, "Since you show no mercy, don't blame me for showing none in return."

Everything comes down to quality.

From big things like buildings and bridges, to small things like cars and phones.

A good-quality cement road typically lasts at least 20 years.

A mediocre one lasts about 10 years.

And if it's one of those shoddy tofu-dreg roads.

Slightly shoddy: 2 to 5 years.

Severely shoddy: 6 months to 2 years.

There was no choice. The people of this small mountain village forced his hand!!!

Inside the car, Jiang Ran and the others had also learned of Gao Yang's plan, but none of them tried to stop him.

After all, the villagers had brought this on themselves!!!

The car drove back to the hotel, and because of that parking fee incident, everyone was in a foul mood.

The next day.

This time, everyone had learned their lesson. The cars weren't parked at the village entrance but on the mountain road near the village.

The middle-aged man with slit-like eyes brought a few people over and took a look.

Just as Jiang Ran and the others thought, "Surely you can't charge a parking fee this time?"

The middle-aged man with slit-like eyes said, "You can't park here."

He pointed at the mountain road.

Gao Yang got anxious: "Why can't we park here?"

The middle-aged man with slit-like eyes smiled and said, "If you park your cars here, how are we supposed to get around?"

Gao Yang pointed and said, "Our cars are all parked in a single line. There's a huge empty space right beside them. Are you planning to drive a tank through?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"If it's really inconvenient, I'll move my car down the mountain right now. But you'd better show me exactly how it's inconvenient!"

The slit-eyed man smacked his lips.

He fell silent, let out a cold snort, and led his men away.

"Don't worry. I'll build them a super, ultra-shoddy tofu-dreg cement road."

The head of the small construction crew whispered into Gao Yang's ear.

Gao Yang was very satisfied: "Then, can the one-third that was already finished earlier also be turned into the same shoddy quality? I don't want to leave them a single inch of decent road!"

The head of the small construction crew gave an OK gesture.

The head of the small construction crew went in to start working.

Jiang Ran and the others also entered the village.

If yesterday's incident hadn't happened, Zhang Xue would definitely have bought some things for the villagers.

But today, there was nothing.

She was truly heartbroken.

Yesterday, when the parking fee was being demanded.

Not a single one of those villagers watching the show, not one who had accepted her kindness, stepped forward to say a fair word.

"No wonder so many small mountain villages can never be lifted out of poverty through relief efforts."

"Give them piglets in the morning, and by noon they're already on the dinner table."

Jiang Ran muttered quietly.

Road construction began.

Jiang Ran noticed that this time the construction was indeed faster than before.

After all, when you're cutting corners, speed is only natural.

"I estimate we can leave this place in about two days."

Looking at the progress, Jiang Ran calculated the time.

But just as he was making that calculation, trouble reared its ugly head again.

"What?! Electricity fees? And water fees too?"

"Why are you only telling us now?"

At this moment, Gao Yang was once again arguing with the villagers.

Building a cement road absolutely required water and electricity.

Cement road, cement road — without water, how could you mix the cement?

As for electricity, many machines used during construction needed it.

Previously, all the water and electricity for the roadwork had been drawn from the village.

But today, the other side suddenly announced they were charging for water and electricity.

"Why are we only telling you now? Simple!"

"Just like the parking fee. The first few days were free, but starting today, we can't give it away anymore. You've consumed too much of our water and electricity while building the road."

This was a fairly dark-skinned middle-aged man.

He'd clearly weathered plenty of sun and wind. The skin on his face felt like cracked, drought-stricken earth.

After yesterday's parking fee incident, Gao Yang knew this money couldn't be avoided.

So he asked, "Then how much are you charging for the water and electricity?"

The dark-faced middle-aged man held up one finger.

Gao Yang: "100? 100 a day?"

The dark-faced middle-aged man sneered: "What are you thinking? It's 1000 a day! Do you have any idea how much water and electricity you're burning through every day?"

Gao Yang instantly exploded: "1000 a day? Why don't you just go rob someone?!"

"Water is 3 yuan a ton, electricity is 80 cents per kilowatt-hour."

"Are you telling me we use 119 tons of water and 805 kilowatt-hours of electricity a day?!"

Gao Yang was, after all, a master's graduate in the humanities. Even if it was just liberal arts, it was still a master's degree. This kind of simple arithmetic was something he could crunch in seconds.

After he calculated it, the others knew the result and couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

These villagers must be absolutely desperate for money.

"Hey, Village Chief, aren't you going to do something?"

Gao Yang looked at the Village Chief, who was watching the show from the side. Who would've thought the Village Chief would let out a deep sigh:

"I can't do anything about it. I really can't control this. This is about paying water and electricity fees. There's no way around it!"

Gao Yang said: "Yes, there's no way around it, and the fees need to be paid. But you can't be this shameless about it, can you?!"

The dark-faced middle-aged man: "Who's being shameless? Don't spout nonsense."

Gao Yang was fuming: "Are you seriously telling me you're not being shameless? Have you lost your minds?!"

"Don't you want the road finished as fast as possible so you can use it? This is something that benefits the entire village! By messing around with the water and electricity fees, you've brought our construction to a halt right here. You're the ones losing out!!!"

The dark-faced middle-aged man: "Well, you can blame yourselves for that! It's not our fault. The reason things are stopped now is because you refuse to pay the water and electricity fees!"

Gao Yang gnashed his teeth. He genuinely wanted to skin this man alive.

He said, "Fine, then we'll just leave it stopped right here!"

He'd barely gotten those words out when, just like with yesterday's parking fee, that middle-aged man who'd suddenly appeared whipped out his phone and started yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Oh my, big influencer, you're not building the road again?!"

Gao Yang's heart was filled with fury and helplessness. All hope had drained away.

So he had no choice but to compromise once again.

After some negotiation, they settled on 600 yuan a day for the water and electricity.

This time.

After paying the water and electricity fees, Gao Yang and the others only filmed about half an hour of footage before heading off.

Afraid that these animals might come up with yet another scheme to squeeze out money.

So Jiang Ran and the others also followed Gao Yang back into the white SUV, ready to leave this place.

Only the small construction crew remained behind to continue the work.

Once they were back in the car.

Gao Yang immediately started laying into Zhang Xue, who had just buckled her seatbelt in the passenger seat.