Carrying a Jurassic on me-Chapter 1325 - 646 Drink Alcohol

After talking for a long time and seeing that Xu Changsheng was still silent, Shang Jin didn’t insist on getting an answer and said goodbye—strictly speaking, he was encouraging someone to cover up a misdeed. Whether it happened or not, he could only watch, and it wasn’t just him—even the people from the village could only watch.

He left promptly, but this left Xu Changsheng even more conflicted.

If it weren’t for young people being too proud and eager to make a difference, Xu Changsheng could easily have found a job in the Provincial capital or the city—after all, being an official in front of a prime minister’s residence was better than working in the boonies regarding promotion speed, which everyone knew.

An educated young man like him with an unusual family background could have simply sat in any office without being overly busy, and people would naturally be concerned about creating opportunities for him.

For example, joining an Investment Promotion Office and using family connections to pull in investments for projects was as easy as drinking water. Or, entering an unassuming department that takes care of the elderly, especially if someone higher up was about to retire, he could easily achieve some results and wait for his turn to get promoted as soon as they retired, elevating his status...

There were plenty of paths he could have taken, and any of them would be better than running off to the corner of this remote village. Not only would it be an easier job, but he would also have a large group to flatter him, no need to worry about anything, and just keep moving up the ranks.

But he genuinely wanted to accomplish something real—and it was precisely because of this desire that he became increasingly conflicted.

Just as Shang Jin had said, the village of Sancha River was experiencing a period of prosperity. If he dealt with the situation according to his own ideas, there was a very high chance that he would throw a cold bucket of water on the bustling village.

The reason it was said to be a ’very high chance’ was that there was no authoritative evidence to prove that the thief’s death was due to the beating. After all, it was possible that the thief actually had an illness since people didn’t generally go to the hospital for minor ailments, let alone get checkups.

One rat spoils the soup, and a single spark can start a wildfire. Some things need to be nipped in the bud because it’s far better than trying to remedy a situation after it has escalated.

The farmers in the village couldn’t think too far ahead, but Xu Changsheng, who grew up in a big city and was influenced by his family environment from a young age, could definitely think of certain things.

If Guo Liucai was sentenced to a severe penalty because of this, would the people in the village still be eager to catch thieves in the future? Would they?

If a few cases of stolen oxen occurred, would the villagers continue to raise cattle? Even if the villagers were willing to raise them, would the cattle farm allow it? After all, losing cows was accidental, and Yan Fei had promised when they first cooperated on the breeding project, saying that the loss of cows would be on him.

Even if Yan Fei continued to let people raise cattle, the villagers themselves would hesitate: The cattle farm might not ask them to compensate for lost cattle, but would the cattle owners themselves feel okay about it? Furthermore, they put their efforts and hard work into these cattle.

In fact, this issue would become clear just by looking at the statistics of the number of oxen raised over the years.

Tanghe County was the principal breeding area for Wan City oxen. After tractors became available in the countryside, the utility of cattle for plowing decreased, and the breeding numbers for oxen themselves declined.

Later, after a crackdown on cattle theft, the number of oxen dropped even more sharply.

Now, the number of oxen in Sancha River village was rising quickly, but in other places, the numbers had decreased a lot—if raising cattle wasn’t for plowing fields, then it was for making money. And if that money was going to thieves, then why bother raising cattle at all?

Xu Changsheng was well aware that Shang Jin must have come to him with the backing and opinion of most of the village.

But, he was the station chief, a law enforcer.

So now he faced two choices: either stick to his convictions and have a rigorous autopsy performed on the thief’s body, which would cause everyone, including himself, to be happy if the thief had indeed died due to natural causes; if not, then... no one could be happy.

The other choice was to close the case immediately and have everyone happily celebrate the New Year.

He hadn’t realized it yet, but when he thought about sticking to his convictions and the possibility of finding that the thief had been beaten to death—and that he himself wouldn’t be happy with that outcome—his internal scales were already leaning towards maintaining the current prosperity of the village.

He was conflicted until the sky became dark. Finally, he reached for the phone, intending to consult his elders on how to handle this kind of situation.

Just as his hand touched the phone, it rang—at that moment, the station was quite silent, and he was still immersed in thought. The sudden ring of the phone gave him quite a start.

The caller was Old Pan, who, upon hearing Xu answer the phone, asked cheerfully, "Officer Xu, have you eaten yet?"

Xu Changsheng, who had been agonizing the entire afternoon, hadn’t thought about food at all and didn’t feel hungry: "Not yet! Is there something you need, Minister Pan?"

Old Pan was waiting for that response. He then said, "Good, I haven’t eaten yet either! How about we go out and grab something to eat? There’s also Boss Yan from the cattle farm, and with the New Year approaching, why don’t we get together for a meal?"

Xu Changsheng hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Sure, I’ll come to find you right away!"

Upon hearing his agreement, Old Pan laughed even more joyfully, "No need, no need. Let’s just go to the beef restaurant on the west side and have a bite there. I’m heading out now, too. We can meet at the restaurant’s entrance."

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