Luo Yaozong stumbled back to the village with his pants soaked, reeking of alcohol.

His father was the village chief who had spent the entire day with officials from above, going door to door discussing relocation work.

Seeing Luo Yaozong return home drunk, he couldn’t contain his anger: “You good-for-nothing! Who was crying about being in too much pain to get out of bed? Now you’re out drinking! I gave birth to such an unlucky son, bringing misfortune to our entire family!”

Luo Yaozong moved closer, “Father, let me get you some water. Don’t curse at me – curse too much and I’ll become worthless. Who else will continue the Luo family line?”

Luo Degui couldn’t help but laugh angrily.

Luo Yaozong had truly struck his father’s weak spot.

The reason Luo Yaozong could be so unruly and defiant was because he was the Luo family’s only male heir in three generations.

Luo Degui and his wife had several children, but all were girls except for Luo Yaozong, their only son.

Being the sole male heir in three generations meant they couldn’t beat or scold him properly.

Before the bamboo rod could even touch him, his grandparents would jump out to protect him. The village chief position had been passed down in their family. When Great-grandfather Luo was village chief, he wasn’t this muddle-headed and was quite capable. Now in his old age, he only knew how to protect his only grandson.

Today, Luo Yaozong was acting strange – not only pouring water for Luo Degui but constantly hovering around him.

Being so unusually filial made Luo Degui’s hair stand on end: “You troublemaker, did you cause problems outside?”

Luo Yaozong’s expression was unnatural, “Father, I was just drinking properly with people at noon. What trouble could I cause?”

Luo Degui ignored him. Thinking of the task the fearsome woman had given him, Luo Yaozong grew anxious.

Just then, his grandfather called out loudly, “Come in and drink with grandfather, don’t mind your father.”

Luo Yaozong’s eyes lit up.

Why did he have to ask his father? Wouldn’t his grandfather know better?

Many family matters were still decided by his grandfather.

Even in village affairs, his grandfather had a say in them.

Luo Yaozong rushed into the room. He didn’t need to hide anything from his grandfather, who doted on him excessively:

“Grandfather, our village has sold all its land, why wasn’t the Stinking Bamboo Ditch area sold? I almost took a big fall when passing by there earlier!”

The old village chief’s eyes were cloudy, and he was tipsy too – Luo Yaozong’s drinking habit was inherited.

No wonder the old village chief protected his grandson everywhere – why scold him? This was the Luo family bloodline! The old village chief often told his son Luo Degui that Luo Yaozong was just immature, Luo family men all matured late, but once they did, they would surely achieve great things!

Hearing his beloved grandson’s complaint, the old village chief tried hard to open his drunk, cloudy eyes:

“Don’t speak nonsense, that’s not Stinking Bamboo Ditch, it’s the Luo family’s treasure land. I specifically instructed your father not to sell it, it’s to be passed down to you, generation after generation…”

The old village chief hiccupped.

Luo Yaozong Ferned, “Grandfather, tell me more, explain carefully, why is it treasure land?”

How could a stinking pond become treasure land?

His grandfather must be drunk.

Thinking of that alluring yet fierce woman devil, Luo Yaozong was desperate to get the truth from his grandfather.

He would be beaten to death if he failed the task!

The old village chief chuckled, “Gold sand springs from the ground, isn’t that treasure land?”

Luo Yaozong nearly fell from his chair.

What?!

Gold sand springs from the ground!

Gold sand?

Their village had gold sand?

Excitement appeared on Luo Yaozong’s face. If there was gold sand, of course, they shouldn’t sell it – but wait, if there was gold sand, how could his grandfather and father let it become Stinking Bamboo Ditch? They would have brought people to dig for gold sand long ago.

Just as Luo Yaozong wanted to ask more details, his grandfather’s alcohol kicked in and he fell asleep on the table, impossible to wake up.

Luo Yaozong’s expression kept changing. If Stinking Bamboo Ditch had gold sand, was that woman devil asking about it because she wanted to dig up the Luo family’s gold sand?

He couldn’t tell the woman devil the truth.

Luo Yaozong was full of calculations.

Luo Degui, listening outside, was furious:

“Luo Yaozong, get out here!”

The old man was asleep, and he had to discipline Luo Yaozong properly, or he couldn’t release the anger bottled up inside.

But when Luo Yaozong came out, he was deep in thought.

Luo Degui knew his son was unreliable. After hearing the old man’s nonsense, he might bring people to dig up Stinking Bamboo Ditch… How could such a stinking place have any gold sand?

Luo Degui’s temple throbbed: “Don’t listen to your grandfather’s nonsense. When he was young, he passed out drunk by Stinking Bamboo Ditch. Back then, the water there was still clean. Your grandfather lay in the pool for half a night and insisted he saw the pool full of gold sand! Later he bought that piece of land, saying he wanted to keep it for the Luo family descendants!”

Before Shenzhen became a Special Economic Zone, it was just a small place.

Before liberation, it was even more remote, with most residents making a living from fishing, few farming.

Farming didn’t bring much success either.

After the founding of New China, all land became state-owned.

Stinking Bamboo Ditch became the villagers’ dumping ground.

Luo Yaozong listened intently, “Then what happened? Did grandfather never dig up any gold sand?”

“Dig up my foot! Later the land belonged to the state, until a few years ago when fields were distributed to households. Your grandfather made Stinking Bamboo Ditch our family’s private plot!”

The old man was truly capable, of securing Stinking Bamboo Ditch before retiring.

Luo Degui was furious to death. Only after the old man retired could he become village chief, and by then, Stinking Bamboo Ditch was already the Luo family’s private plot.

What could the Luo family do with such a stinking place?

Other families’ private plots could grow vegetables, but the Luo family’s private plot was used for garbage!

Before Shenzhen became a Special Economic Zone, with few people and abundant land, land was the least valuable thing.

Every household was allocated plenty of land.

The Luo family had many people, but only Luo Yaozong as the male heir, though there were many daughters.

So that long strip of Stinking Bamboo Ditch, over 20 mu in size, all belonged to the Luo family.

Luo Yaozong stammered, “So Stinking Bamboo Ditch is our family’s land?”

So it wasn’t just the village’s, but the Luo family’s. Being in the Luo family naturally meant it was his, Luo Yaozong’s. His thinking was perfectly reasonable – he was the family’s only male heir in three generations, and everything was left to him. His sisters had been educated from childhood to accept this and wouldn’t fight him for it.

Blood rushed to Luo Yaozong’s head:

“It’s all my land? Then why not sell it?!”

This time, the village was selling residential land and private plots. Over 20 mu of private land – how much compensation would that bring?

Luo Degui glanced inside the room: “Your grandfather said not to sell it. You have no idea how many tricks I had to pull for this piece of land! Your grandfather said it’s to be left to you!”

Luo Degui was also very depressed.

He had gone to great lengths to exclude Stinking Bamboo Ditch from the foreign merchants’ 2,000-plus mu of land.

Luo Degui didn’t know how much per mu the government was selling to foreign merchants.

But for taking the villagers’ private plots and residential land, the compensation for private plots was 10,000 yuan per mu. Watching over 200,000 yuan slip away from him, Luo Degui’s heart ached terribly.

200,000 yuan!

Even though Shenzhen was now full of high-rises and foreign factory wages were five or six times those of inland cities, 200,000 yuan was still a terrifying sum.

Luo Yaozong breathed heavily.

His mind was filled with thoughts of his land, his money, his Stinking Bamboo Ditch, his gold sand springing from the ground!