Chapter 701: Fixing the Road, Crossing the Hill

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Wang Jianli sighed. He had to take them to Wang Yao’s clinic.

“Had a fall?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes,” Wang Jianli said.

“I see,” Wang Yao said.

He happened to finish seeing his patients and had nothing to do. They went together to the foot of Nanshan hill.

“Please wait here for me,” Wang Yao said.

“Why can’t we go with you?” the surveyor asked.

“Would you allow strangers to enter your own house?” Wang Yao asked.

“But, this is just a hill,” one of the surveyors said.

“This is my hill,” Wang Yao coldly said.

The surveyors didn’t know what to say. They watched Wang Yao walk up the hill through a small path among the trees.

“His hill? Bullsh*t!” one of the surveyors unhappily said.

“Exactly! How arrogant he is!” Another surveyor agreed.

On his way up the hill, Wang Yao bumped into San Xian, who brought something to him in his mouth.

“You took this off?” Wang Yao curiously asked.

Woof! Woof! San Xian barked toward the sky.

“You mean Daxia did it?” Wang Yao asked.

Woof!

What a coincidence! Wang Yao laughed. He had fantastic helpers on land and in the sky.

“Well done! Thank you so much!” Wang Yao patted San Xian’s head with a smile. “As for this one…” He took a look at the drone in his hand.

The surveyors had become impatient while waiting at the foot of Nanshan Hill.

“How come he’s still not back?” a surveyor asked.

“I suppose he is still looking for the drone. Be patient,” Wang Jianli said.

“What do you think he has on the hill that he doesn’t want people to see?” a surveyor asked.

“Must be something valuable, like wild ginseng or expensive plants,” another surveyor said.

They had waited for nearly one hour before Wang Yao came back with a drone.

“Is this the drone you’ve been looking for?” Wang Yao handed the drone to one of the surveyors.

“How… How come it is like this?” the surveyor asked in shock.

He was surprised to see that the drone had been completely damaged and couldn’t be fixed.

“I found it among the rocks near the foot of the hill. Maybe it smashed onto a rock after falling from the sky. You can see it is severely damaged,” Wang Yao said.

“OK, thanks,” the surveyor said.

They left feeling disappointed.

“How are we going to report it to the manager?” one of the surveyors asked.

“The drone is not cheap,” another surveyor said.

“Exactly, it costs several tens of thousands of dollars,” one of the surveyors said.

“Do you think the cost will be deducted from our wages?” another surveyor asked.

All of them were upset. They planned to never come anywhere close to Nanshan Hill again.

In fact, the drone wasn’t badly damaged when Wang Yao found it. He took some time to study it before crushing it with his hands. The major parts were broken into pieces and not fixable. He didn’t want the drone to take pictures of his herbal field. Otherwise, his secrets would be released.

The surveyors still took the drone to a store for repair. They wanted to try their luck.

“Are you sure it dropped on the ground instead of being crushed by a car?” the store assistant asked.

“Yes,” a surveyor said.

“I don’t think it is fixable. You can throw it away,” the store assistant said.

“What!” the surveyor cried. “Oh no!”

They would definitely get blamed.

“Why did they ask us to do the damn survey over there?” one of the surveyors complained.

It was really hot that day. The temperature reached 100 degrees at noon. It was even hot in the village.

Sun Yunsheng came to the village to see Wang Yao. He was in a hurry.

“Hello, Yunsheng, how can I help you?” Wang Yao asked.

“Dr. Wang, can you please have a look at this?” He showed Wang Yao a highway planning map.

“Weihai highway?” Wang Yao knew about the highway, which had been under construction for a long time.

“Yes, the highway connects Haiqu and Wei. It had been approved by the government. The construction had started. Take a look at this.” He pointed at a place on the map.

“Is that?” Wang Yao was shocked.

The highway would cross the east side of the village. It seemed that it would also cross Nanshan Hill.

It was clear that every obstruction would be removed for the highway to pass. Houses would be demolished, and hills would be dug.

“I can’t let the high go through the village,” Wang Yao said. “It is so strange. They should have checked the areas when they were planning the highway.”

“They will come to check,” Sun Yunsheng said. “They had sent surveyors here to prepare for future construction. They will soon work out a budget.”

Wang Yao immediately got why those surveyors had come the other day. They came for the highway. He should have asked why they were visiting the village.

“I suppose the original plan was not like this,” Wang Yao said.

If the highway was going to go through their village, it should be in the original plan. After all, the government would have to compensate the villagers for occupying their lands. Relevant personnel should have visited the village a long time ago, and everyone in the village would have been talking about it. Wang Yao was sure the change of plan happened recently.

“I’ve asked someone in the government. The original plan was not like this. They adjusted the plan recently. The original plan was like this.” Sun Yunsheng drew a line on the map. “See, the new plan actually took a detour, like…”

“Like they deliberately want the highway to pass the village, right?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes, I agree with you,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“So, who did the plan?” Wang Yao asked.

“Technically, any plans of building a highway have to be approved by the provincial government,” Sun Yunsheng said. “The plan is also required to be filed in the higher level of government department. I presume the department of infrastructure in the province is in charge of the plan.”

“Can the plan be changed?” Wang Yao asked.

“I heard it’s gonna be really difficulty. My people are communicating with those people who are in charge of the plan,” Sun Yunsheng said.

Although Sun Zhengrong’s business was on a large scale and he had a solid social network in Qi province, his family was not powerful enough to change the plan of a highway, which could cost billions of dollars to build.

In addition, the change was out of the blue this time. If further changes had to be made, the construction would have to be delayed. The government really wanted the construction to finish by May 1 of the next year.

“What is the reason for the change?” Wang Yao asked.

“I heard underground water was found under part of the highway in the original plan, and there was a reservoir nearby, which would increase the complexity of construction. Therefore, they had to change the plan,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“Do you think it is reasonable?” Wang Yao asked. He was not familiar with building construction while Sun Yunsheng had some knowledge in it. Sun Yunsheng’s family also invested in land developing.

“No! Given the technology nowadays, building a bridge over the ocean is not a problem, let alone some underground water,” Sun Yunsheng said. “Protecting underground water is just a stupid excuse. They just need to build a bridge over it. It’s not gonna affect the environment.

“Thank you for dealing with this for me,” Wang Yao said.

“I’ll try my best. Don’t worry, Dr. Wang,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“I’ll make all the necessary payments. You just need to let me know as soon as possible of any news about the highway,” Wang Yao said.

“Sure,” Sun Yunsheng said after thinking for a moment. “I’ll try my best to use all my connections to solve the problem. If you know anyone who can stop the highway passing the village, don’t hesitate to ask for help. I think soon there will be people coming to the village to negotiate the compensation.”

“I know,” Wang Yao said.

Sun Yunsheng had heard this news by accident during a recent party. He immediately asked someone to get the planning map and brought the map to Wang Yao right away.

Hmm! Wang Yao kept thinking about the highway after Sun Yunsheng had left. He wanted to know why there had been a change in the plan. However, his priority was to stop the highway passing his village.

Who should I speak to?

After thinking for a while, he decided to meet Yang Haichuan in Haiqu. Yang Haichuan was currently the head of Haiqu. He called Yang Haichuan but was cut off right away.

Yang Haichuan returned his call about an hour later. “Sorry, Dr. Wang, I was in a meeting. How can I help you?”

Wang Yao made an appointment to meet Yang Haichuan. He left the village early in the morning the next day for Haiqu.

Yang Haichuan didn’t meet him at work. He was surprised to know the purpose of Wang Yao’s visit.

“I really don’t know why they changed the plan,” he said. Of course, someone had reported the change to him, but they only mentioned that it was a minor change. He didn’t ask for details. “The highway is going to pass your village?”

“Yes,” Wang Yao said.

“Please wait a second.” Yang Haichuan made a phone call in front of Wang Yao.

“It was the Department of Infrastructure in the province to request the change, not from Wei or Haiqu,” Yang Haichuan said after hanging up.

“Is it possible that the highway won’t pass my village?” Wang Yao asked.

“Well, this is going to be tricky,” Yang Haichuan said.

He wanted to help Wang Yao, but he couldn’t given his current position. He was in a tricky situation. As the head of Haiqu, he needed a good excuse to change the plan of the highway again.