Chapter 1115 - 1115

"Yeah, that's the one. Back then the district even specially sent cars to bring our village representatives here to look at this development. At that time construction hadn't stopped yet, everyone thought it was pretty good. The only downside was that the place was too remote, but the district cadres said this area was going to be planned as the new city center in the future. As soon as people heard that, they were over the moon, so of course they signed without a second thought."

Thea Sykes let out a sigh as she spoke.

What happened next stopped being so wonderful.

The district moved very fast.

They gave the villagers one month to move out.

They'd originally agreed that before the development was handed over, every household would get a 1,500-yuan monthly housing subsidy.

They only received that subsidy for three months.

In the fourth month, the money stopped arriving on time.

The village sent representatives to the district to ask, and the district came up with all kinds of excuses to delay payment.

And after that delay, the subsidy simply never came again.

"So that's when you all moved here?"

Dirk Carter asked.

Thea shook her head and said, "Not at first. After all, everyone was thinking that as long as the development was delivered, the housing issue would be solved. But nobody expected that about half a year later construction would be halted. At first, when we asked, they gave us all sorts of reasons, and it wasn't until we heard that the developer had skipped town that people really started to panic."

They went to the district government demanding an explanation.

The district refused to respond.

With no other option they went to the city.

The city leaders kicked the ball back, telling them to go resolve it with the district.

And so this to-ing and fro-ing went on for more than a year.

The housing subsidy never appeared, and the completion of the apartments grew ever more out of reach.

On top of the government's buck-passing, people finally couldn't hold out anymore. The village chief, Regis Sykes, organized the villagers and decided they would go petition at the provincial level. No one imagined that they would be stopped en route by the Riverwood District Public Security sub-bureau, which then used the charge of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" to lock up all sixteen villagers who went to petition. They were held for a full month before being released.

Two years ago.

The district party committee building sprang up at the foot of Southgate Mountain.

It became the grandest district- and county-level government compound in the whole city.

But the ordinary people of Southgate Village had neither homes nor money, and some had even got caught up in lawsuits. Compared to the district offices, it was like heaven on one side and hell on the other.

"You never thought about continuing to petition?"

Dirk asked.

Thea nodded slightly.

She said, "Of course we did, but later the district party committee and district government pulled a real trump card. They sent people over with a final ultimatum: if anyone dared to keep making trouble, they'd cut off our social insurance and medical insurance; those who had jobs would be laid off; those who worked for institutions would be made unemployed. They even threatened to cancel our household registrations, which would mean our kids couldn't go to school. Under that kind of pressure, most people gave up."

"Those who had the means left here to try and make a living elsewhere. The younger ones went off to other places to work. Only some who truly had no way to leave, along with a few old, weak, women, and children, stayed behind. With no money to rent, they had no choice but to move into this unfinished development to live."

"There's no electricity here, so most people use kerosene lamps, candles, or flashlights. There's no water, so they have to go a kilometer away to the river to fetch it. The hardest thing, of course, is having no money. Before, we still had land, so no matter how bad it was, you wouldn't starve to death. But now every last cent has to be spent on buying things. Think about the elderly—where are they supposed to earn money…"

As she spoke.

Thea's eyes reddened.

Listening to all this.

In that instant, everything clicked for Dirk.

He asked, "You're willing to do anything to make money just so you can support them?"

Thea nodded.

She said, "Two years ago, on his deathbed, my dad told me that he was the one who convinced everyone to sign, so the responsibility had to be borne by The Sykes Family. I had no choice but to quit school and come back here. Of course I can't bring everyone back to how life was before—the only thing I can do is try my best to make money and help them out."

"Your dad is the village chief, Regis Sykes?"

Dirk asked.

Thea made a small sound of assent.

She could no longer control her emotions, and her tears started streaming down.

Dirk, feeling a stab of tenderness, reached out to gently wipe her tears.

In that moment.

His heart was in turmoil.

He drew a deep breath.

And asked, "Frederick Eames is refusing to let you seek medical treatment because you're still filing complaints?"

"Yes."

Thea wiped at her tears.

She said, "We have no other way, so we thought about posting what's happened to us online. But every time we post something, they delete it. The district has already sent people several times to warn us that if we don't stop, they won't just bar us from medical care, they also won't allow us to live here anymore in future."

Absurd.

Utterly absurd.

In all his years in office.

Dirk had naturally seen officials who treated ordinary people like weeds.

But he had never before seen leaders who tormented the people like ants they could grind underfoot.

Right now.

He was already beyond furious.

"You've known me for this long, and you know I'm a leader—why didn't you tell me all this earlier? I could have helped you."

Dirk asked, forcing down his anger.

Thea gave a slightly apologetic smile.

Dirk shivered a little.

He asked, "In your eyes, I'm just like them too?"

Thea shook her head in panic, then, after a moment of silence, nodded and said, "These years have already shown me what 'officials shielding officials' really means."

"What about Heriberto Sutton, then? The former discipline inspection secretary—why didn't you go to him? He's an honest official."

"Dirk… no… Secretary General Carter… we're just ordinary nobodies. How could we possibly get close to such high-ranking officials? Of course we tried going to shout our grievances at the city party committee gates. Did it do any good? As soon as we got there, the Riverwood District police came and dragged us away. We really had no way out."

These words.

Were the cry of someone at the very bottom.

Dirk was now in a high position, and to him this was something very simple, yet for these people it was something they could never accomplish.

Power was not a tool for protecting the interests of the people.

Instead it had become an instrument of torture used against them.

When power falls into the hands of such scum, the people truly have no one to answer their cries to, whether heaven or earth.

"Do you know why Frederick Eames insisted on building the district party committee office at Southgate Mountain?"

Suddenly.

Thea turned to Dirk and asked.

Dirk of course didn't know, and shook his head.

Thea sighed and said, "Because he's superstitious, very superstitious. In the Phoenix Peak area of the city there's a place called Pearson Temple, and there's a Taoist priest there named Master Tongxuan. He's the one who gave Frederick the idea."

Frederick Eames was deeply obsessed with the I Ching and the Eight Trigrams, and he'd always believed in ghosts and spirits.

Ever since he became Riverwood District Party Secretary, he'd become completely besotted.

On the first and fifteenth of every lunar month, he absolutely had to go to Pearson Temple to burn incense.

And that.

Was how his relationship with Master Tongxuan grew increasingly close.