"What are you talking about?" Su Lao San asked.
"I heard before that there would be an election before the New Year. Why is there still no news?"
Su Changjiu said he planned to step down during the upcoming New Year's election.
He wanted to go to the capital with his wife.
After all, staying alone in the village was a tasteless existence, and sometimes it was not even easy to get a hot meal.
Moreover, the business of Yuling Malatang was really good, and Su Changjiu was also worried that his wife would be too tired alone in the capital.
"I don't think it will be that easy for Changjiu to step down," Grandpa Su said, stroking his beard.
Grandpa Su also knew that Su Changjiu wanted to hand over the position of village head to a younger person.
"The village has only just started to develop this year, and all these developments are thanks to Brother Changjiu. I think the higher-ups won't let Brother Changjiu just step down like that." Su Lao San strongly agreed with Grandpa Su.
Are they kidding? The village had just started to show some improvement, and they were losing their leader?
As long as the leaders above still intended for Nanling Village to develop, they couldn't do this.
Besides, would the villagers allow such a thing to happen?
The village head was an official elected by the villagers themselves.
Even if the higher-ups agreed, the villagers would not.
Indeed, just as the Su family members had guessed, Su Changjiu had told the town leaders about his intention to step down and let Su Xiaotong be the village head.
But the town leaders could not agree.
Because of this, the town leaders had been talking to Su Changjiu and trying to persuade him.
Su Changjiu was not old, only in his fifties, still in his prime. At such an age, why would he want to step down instead of working hard?
Moreover, Su Changjiu was a person who dared to think and act. With Su Changjiu, the development of Nanling Village would be basically guaranteed.
They were counting on Nanling Village to be a model of prosperity for the town. How could they let Su Changjiu step down at this time?
So, today, the town leaders came again.
Su Changjiu had to continue discussing with the town leaders.
"Mayor Liu, Su Xiaotong is very good. If I step down, it will be a good opportunity for young people to take on the responsibility."
Mayor Liu, sitting opposite Su Changjiu, glanced at him.
With just that glance, Su Changjiu felt that the situation seemed not very good.
He didn't know why he felt this way, but he truly thought so.
"I don't know what's wrong with your Nanling Village. Everyone wants to step down!"
In other villages, people were fighting to become village officials.
These days, many people even went to the town to find leaders, recommending themselves and believing they were more suitable to be leaders than the current village officials.
This Nanling Village was really strange. Not only did Su Changjiu want to resign, but the old branch secretary also voluntarily resigned.
A village that was developing rapidly, its village head wanted to resign, and its branch secretary also wanted to resign. What was going on?
Hearing this, Su Changjiu immediately thought of a possibility.
"What did the old branch secretary say? Mayor Liu."
"What did he say? He said he was old and wanted to give his position to a young person, and that you should be the village branch secretary."
Mayor Liu said irritably.
If Su Changjiu hadn't wanted to resign and was unwilling to be the village head, none of this would have happened.
The old branch secretary definitely wouldn't have thought of resigning!
What?
Hearing these familiar words, Su Changjiu felt a headache.
"How could the old branch secretary think like that?"
"The old branch secretary is even older than you. You can say you're old and give way to young people, so why can't the old branch secretary, at his age, do the same?"
The more Mayor Liu looked at Su Changjiu, the angrier he became!
He had never seen anyone like this.
Su Changjiu gave a wry smile.
"Mayor Liu, to be honest, my wife opened a shop in the capital, and the business is quite good. I'm worried about her being alone in the capital."
Su Changjiu had never told anyone else about this before. He originally planned to go to the capital quietly after resigning.
But looking at the current situation, he had no choice but to tell the truth.
Mayor Liu did not know about this. Hearing Su Changjiu say this, he was so surprised that his mouth was agape.
If that were the case, it would indeed be difficult to persuade him.
Being a village head was good, but how could it compare to developing oneself outside?
Although he was only a small leader in the town, he had some understanding of the outside world in the past two years.
People who went outside in recent years had made a fortune.
Even as a town leader, he couldn't prevent Su Changjiu and his wife from going out to make money.
But the problem now was that Nanling Village had just started its development. If Su Changjiu, the leader, left, it was likely to fail.
"Village Head Su, I can understand what you're saying. However, as you can see, Nanling Village has just started. If you, the guide, leave, I'm afraid it will completely fail later."
"When the old branch secretary spoke to the town leaders, he also said that his ideas could not keep up with the times. You are a person who dares to think and act, and Su Xiaotong is a steady and reliable person. Let the two of you work together to develop the village."
"Su Xiaotong is a good young man, but he is still too young. If you are not in charge, we in the town cannot be at ease!"
Mayor Liu did not use official jargon, but spoke practical words.
It was rare to have a person with vision and foresight. If they let him leave like this, the town leaders would truly become sinners.
Su Changjiu fell silent because of Mayor Liu's words.
Hadn't he thought about what Mayor Liu had said?
But if he agreed to stay and continue to be a village official, and let his wife work hard alone, he felt it was not right.
However, if he left without considering the town leaders and the villagers, he felt it was not proper.
"Mayor Liu, I need to discuss this with my family again."
His desire to resign was somewhat related to Tian Xiaohe and his wife.
As long as he was the village head, these two would always cause trouble.
They would always use various excuses to control the villagers and seek benefits for themselves.
He felt that if he couldn't even manage his own family, how could he manage a village?
Su Changjiu's idea was indeed a clear understanding of his son and daughter-in-law.
As expected, Tian Xiaohe was causing trouble again.
Su Changjiu's home was not peaceful this December.
His mother-in-law had been gone for several months and only returned around the New Year.
Upon her return, she said that Xiaocao was not their biological daughter and that Su Xiaocao and Su Sangong were engaged and would be married on the twenty-eighth of December.
This shocked both Tian Xiaohe and Zhang Caiyun.
Zhang Caiyun was fine. Whether Xiaocao was their biological daughter or not, it didn't matter much to her.
This sister-in-law was a good person. If nothing else, since she started working, she had given plenty of things to the family's children.
As an aunt, that was enough.
Zhang Caiyun even asked someone to buy the best cotton and quilt covers from the county town to make two quilts for Su Xiaocao as dowry.
But Tian Xiaohe did not think this way.
She felt that she had suffered a great loss.
If Su Xiaocao was not her in-laws' biological daughter, then all the things that Su Xiaocao had eaten and used from the family over the years were a loss for nothing?
Now that Su Xiaocao had found her biological mother, her sister-in-law would not have the confidence to speak to Su Xiaocao anymore.
She could not take advantage of her.
How could this be?
She thought hard and felt that it was time to ask for benefits.
If she didn't ask for benefits now, she wouldn't be able to get them in the future.