Before Ye Yaodong could say anything, the leaders with sharp ears heard it, "Use money to bribe the villagers? You're so stupid, can you bribe every villager in the village? Give them the opportunity to ask for a huge amount? What a bad idea!"
The leaders also became angry when they were disturbed by these unruly people. It is true that unruly people come from poor and remote areas! Ignorant country folk are the most difficult to deal with.
Especially those who have faith like this, and their faith needs to be shaken.
Secretary Chen endured the scolding and secretly glared at Ye Yaodong.
Ye Yaodong said helplessly: "Leaders, Secretary Chen means that the museum can donate a sum of money to the Mazu Temple as a reward for taking back the bronze tripod and giving it to Mazu."
As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the village chief and the village secretary instantly lit up. That's right, Adong was commended and rewarded for handing in bronze artifacts, so there was no reason why Mazu would not be rewarded.
The leaders paused for a moment after hearing this, thinking that it might be feasible
He added: "Of course, if you donate too little, the villagers will definitely not agree. If you donate more, the villagers can use the money to maintain and build the Mazu Temple. Wouldn't that make everyone happy? You have achieved your goal without offending Mazu, and you have built a temple for her. The villagers will definitely be satisfied, and Mazu will be happy too."
He had this idea a long time ago. He had this idea when the county leaders came over. He originally wanted to tell Secretary Chen, but who knew that this guy would come up with a bad idea and ask him to change the donation. He kept it to himself. Fortunately, they didn't mention it yesterday, so he kept it to himself until now.
The village chief was very happy to hear his suggestion and thought it was great. "This is a good idea. You young man are smart."
Secretary Chen also said with a smile on his face: "Donate money to Mazu to repair the temple, and the villagers will definitely agree that you can take the bronze tripod away."
Ye Yaodong echoed, "As you can see, the Mazu Temple in our village is in tatters. It was torn down by outsiders a few years ago to break feudal superstitions. Later, the villagers secretly rebuilt it in a simple way, and it has remained like this ever since."
"If the museum can donate some money to rebuild the Mazu temple, the villagers will definitely be grateful and agree. After all, the Mazu temple is everyone's belief, and a bronze tripod is definitely not as important as a temple in everyone's heart. To everyone, the temple is definitely more important."
The leaders thought what he said made sense, and they were discussing it in low voices among themselves.
The villagers at the door were making louder noises. Originally, it was just the people on the fishing boats at the dock who were dissatisfied. They cursed all the way to the village committee, and some villagers who didn't know why were also aroused.
More and more people gathered at the door, shouting for them to get out of Baisha Village, saying that Baisha Village did not welcome them...
The door outside was slammed with a crackling sound. The noise was so loud that everyone in the house was trembling with fear, for they were afraid that the villagers would rush in and beat them up.
During the discussion, they were interrupted by the shouting outside and became a little restless.
The county leader said directly to the village chief: "We all need to discuss this matter of donating money to build a temple. Even if we donate, we have to report it to the higher-ups to see what they say. You should quickly talk to the villagers and ask them to disperse. Don't let a good thing get stuck. It will be difficult to end it later."
"Yes, yes, don't ruin a good thing." The village chief happily asked Secretary Chen to go with him, and Ye Yaodong followed behind, freeing up space in the house for them to discuss the matter among themselves.
This was the best solution he could come up with. If it didn't work, he would have no other choice.
As soon as the village chief and Secretary Chen opened the door, the villagers almost rushed in.
"Everyone, don't get excited, listen to me..."
"Say a few words, our village does not welcome those people, let them go, leave now..."
"Yes, tell them to leave. We won't give them anything from our village."
"Village chief, you can't protect those outsiders. You are from Baisha Village..."
As soon as the village chief said one sentence, they started talking a lot with saliva flying all over his face.
At this time, he could only appease her and casually wiped the saliva splashed on his face. He quickly said, "We have come up with a countermeasure that is beneficial to the Mazu Temple. We are discussing it. Don't get excited."
I've been talking for so long but haven't gotten to the point yet. Is this a common problem among officials
Ye Yaodong became anxious after hearing this, and spoke up for him, "The leaders inside said they would donate money to build a Mazu temple. Let's build a better Mazu temple for us."
"Why???"
The infuriating voices died down instantly, and everyone looked at him in disbelief.
"Is it true? They will be so kind as to donate money to us to build a temple?"
"That's a lot of money, right?"
"Is this true? You can't lie to us."
Secretary Chen quickly said, "This is what we proposed. They want to take the bronze tripod away, so we asked them to donate money to rebuild the Mazu Temple. The tripod is definitely not as important as the temple, don't you think?"
The villagers also calmed down, their attention diverted by the temple construction, and they began to talk to each other.
"It's OK to build a temple~"
"Yes, yes, our Mazu Temple is too dilapidated. It was secretly rebuilt a few years ago. In those years, everyone could secretly worship and burn incense. Everyone was satisfied. Now it is too dilapidated. It needs to be repaired."
"Yes, yes, building a temple can..."
"Let him build a better Mazu temple..."
"If we can donate money to rebuild the Mazu temple, we will give them the tripod, and this way we won't offend Mazu."
"Yes, the Mazu Temple needs to be repaired..."
As the villagers talked, smiles appeared on their faces. They all thought that building a temple for Mazu was a great idea and it would kill two birds with one stone.
This would not only avoid offending those leaders, but also rebuild the Mazu Temple in the village.
"Village chief, when will they donate money to build the temple? We need to choose a good day to start construction."
"Are you stupid? You haven't even told me how much money you're going to donate?"
"Yeah, you haven't said how much you're going to donate yet?"
"Yes, yes, yes, village chief, you should first ask them how much money they plan to donate. It won't work if it's less. Building a temple is a big deal."
The village chief quickly comforted the villagers, "Don't worry, the leaders are still discussing it. This is just our suggestion, so we don't know yet. Why don't you all go away first? I'll let you know when there's news."
Secretary Chen also said, "Everyone go back first and don't make trouble. Otherwise, if things get awkward, the plan might fail. We need to give the leaders time to discuss, and it also takes time to submit the report and get the money approved."
"Okay, okay, building a temple is a good thing. We can't make a fuss. Let's go back... Let's go back and eat..."
"Let's go back and have dinner."
"Let's go, go back and wait."
After calming down the villagers and sending them away, the village cadres all breathed a sigh of relief
"I say, what if those people don't agree to donate money to build the temple?"
"Uh..." The village chief suddenly paused.
"Then they can forget about taking the tripod away. If they want to take it away, they will have to compromise. The initiative is in our hands." Ye Yaodong leaned there, his hands in his pockets, and said leisurely.
"What if they are stingy and only donate a few hundred yuan, which is not enough to build the temple?"
"Then we have to argue about this, and it depends on you village cadres! Come on!" He clenched his fists, bent his arms, and gestured to them to cheer them on.
"Let's talk about it later. Let's get them to agree to donate money first. Our Mazu Temple really needs to be rebuilt. It's too dilapidated. It's a good opportunity for them to pay for it."
"Young people are smart. This is a good idea. It won't embarrass us, it will also benefit the Mazu Temple, and those leaders will be able to report to their superiors."
Ye Yaodong chuckled, looked around the house, and then whispered, "I'll give you another suggestion. After they confirm the donation, you can make another request. Ask them to advertise in the newspaper that the official museum donated money to our village to build the Mazu Temple, and call on people from all walks of life to donate money to repair the temple and ensure safety."
"Let's not talk about other industries. For example, people who work on ships and sea around us are willing to donate some money to build temples and do good deeds, praying for smooth sailing and safe sea voyages."
This is what they just reminded him of, what if those people are reluctant to donate because of the money they withheld? Then they need to raise funds.
We can't rely entirely on the government, as it's impossible for the government to be so generous. We can only try to get more.
Now that the idea of building a temple has been proposed, it must be built no matter what.
In the past, being able to worship secretly was considered good enough, and no one dared to think about building a temple. In recent years, everyone has basically solved the problem of food and clothing, and has some spare money, so building a temple is inevitable.
This is a good thing to ensure safety. I believe that the villagers will be happy to donate a little and do their part.
The village chief was pleasantly surprised and said, "This is great. Now some boat bosses have some money. Everyone believes in Mazu, so they will definitely be willing to donate money to repair the temple and do good deeds."
"So, you should try your best to talk to those leaders and ask them to approve more money as rewards, and then ask them to advertise it in the newspaper. The more people donate money, the better the Mazu temple can be built. If everyone contributes money, they will definitely come to worship often after it is built, and the Mazu temple will be prosperous."
“Hey~”
He suddenly remembered that in his previous life, when he was sailing on a big ship, there was a small statue of Mazu on the ship, and the captain would worship it with three incense sticks every morning and evening.
He had another idea.
"Or we can make some small statues of Mazu and offer them in advance. Those ship captains have money. If they donate a little more, we can ask them to buy a small statue of Mazu and let them place it on the boat for worship to ensure safety when sailing."
"Yes, yes, yes, this is good, this will work!" The village chief was so happy that he was almost incoherent and nodded repeatedly.
Secretary Chen's eyes lit up, "That's great. I guess everyone who drives a big ship would be happy to have a statue of Mazu on board to worship."
"Yes, this is a good idea. We don't have to worry about not being able to build the Mazu Temple..."
"Adong is really good at using his brain. He is so smart. He solved a big problem."
“These ideas are great.”
The other village cadres also happily agreed. Everyone had been worried for several days. They had just been thinking that something big was going to happen because of the noise made by the villagers.
Now the situation has taken a sudden turn.
"Don't be happy too soon. We still have to ask..." He pointed to the small house not far away, "We have to ask them to pay more money."
"That's for sure."
"Oh, I felt relieved instantly."
"Okay, then there's nothing for me to do now. I'm going home to eat." Ye Yaodong looked up at the sun in the sky. "It's really hot in the middle of the day!"
The corners of the mouth of the village chief and Secretary Chen twitched. This was the Ye Yaodong they knew.