Ah San also said, "Everyone should protect their own ancestral graves. If you donāt have the ability and it gets flooded, you can only blame your own bad luck."
Hearing this, Zhao Ya didnāt say anything.
In fact, she was also weighing the situation in her heart. Her reason told her that she should protect the majority, but her emotions told her that she should protect her hometown.
This was indeed a tough choice.
So, Chen Jiusi, what are you going to choose?
Zhao Ya looked down at Chen Jie from the mountain. She truly admired some of his administrative ideas.
She wanted to see even more his mindset when faced with such important decisions. Her master had said that when faced with difficult choices, it was easiest to see a personās true nature.
Zhao Ya looked down at Chen Jiusi.
At this moment, at the dike below, Zhou Chu clung to Chen Jieās thigh and said, "Gang Leader, I know I didnāt follow your orders this time and made my own decisions, committing a major taboo. Afterward, whether you want to kill or flay me, Iāll listen to you, but this dike, I beg you, it canāt be removed, Xiantao Village canāt be flooded!"
Chen Jie looked at Zhou Chu, and at this time, the guild members in the river also looked at Chen Jie and said, "Gang Leader, Xiantao Village canāt be flooded!"
Chen Jie said, "Everyone, why canāt Xiantao Village be flooded? Just because itās my Chen Jiusiās hometown, where my ancestors are buried?"
"What about downstream then? Zhang Family Gully, Pengjiazhen, Yang Linwei, arenāt those places deserving to be flooded? There are thousands of households there!"
Chen Jie looked at the crowd and said, "Do they deserve to be flooded?"
Upon hearing this, a guild member in the water said, "Gang Leader, Iām from Yang Linwei, and Iām willing to have my home flooded, but the Gang Leaderās home absolutely cannot be!"
"Yes, Iām from Zhang Family Gully, Xiao Sun Village. My home was just flooded, but I donāt regret it. Gang Leader, let us continue to block the water, we will definitely hold on."
"Iām also from Xiao Sun Village."
"Iām from Pengjiazhen."
"Iām from Yang Linwei."
...
One by one, the brothers in the water reported where they were from, shouting out that their own homes were downstream, willing to let their homes be flooded, but absolutely not allowing the Gang Leaderās ancestral grave to be.
Chen Jie, moved by these words, still maintained an unwavering firmness on his face.
Chen Jie pondered for a moment then said, "Brothers."
"I know you are all good brothers of the Fishing Guild, and I know you are here to protect me, and for that, I, Chen Jiusi, am grateful."
"I heard what you just said, and you all are right. Xiantao Village is indeed my Chen Jiusiās hometown, but not just mine. Thereās Chen Xiaohu, Chen Wang, Chen Heng, Uncle Zhongāitās all our homes down there in Xiantao Village."
"It can be said that more than half of the Fishing Guildās leadership comes from Xiantao Village."
"We are the leaders of the Fishing Guild. We earn a monthly salary far beyond yours, but now faced with this great flood, everyone knows that after a big flood, nothing will survive, and all properties will be reduced to nothing."
"The loss is too great, and you may not be able to bear it, but as your leaders, we must, because we are your leaders!"
"So today Iāll make a statement. For such huge losses in the future, the leadership must lead by example in bearing them. We, the brothers of the Fishing Guild, the higher the position, must think of taking care of our brothers and not just filling our own pockets."
"Today I, Chen Jiusi, will set this example. Begin the dike breach and flood discharge, starting with me, Chen Jiusi!"
"Ah, Gang Leader!"
Hearing this, all the guild members on site widened their eyes and shouted for the Gang Leader.
They were truly moved.
At this time, Chen Jie looked at Wu Zhong and said, "Uncle Zhong, I asked you to evacuate the people of Xiantao Village, did you?"
Chen Jie was afraid that Uncle Zhong also didnāt listen to him and failed to evacuate the people, because just evacuating the people would take quite some time, which could easily miss the best timing for flood discharge.
Uncle Zhong replied, "Everyone has been evacuated, Hu Zi and Erba with them are already on high ground!"
Hearing this, Chen Jie let out a sigh of relief. Uncle Zhong was still reliable.
Chen Jie said, "All right, all hands on deck, come up."
Upon hearing this, guild members forming a human wall in the water all fell silent, and Chen Jie, seeing this, commanded, "As your Gang Leader, I order all of you to come up!"
"Yes!"
Upon hearing this command, all the guild members climbed up from the water onto the riverbank, with Chen Jie guiding them onshore.
Meanwhile, downstream, the Village Chiefs of Sun Family Gully, Pengjiazhen, and Yang Linwei were watching their precarious dike with their people.
Someone said, "Village Chief, itās not good, our dike has started to leak. If upstream doesnāt discharge the flood soon, our three towns canāt be saved!"
Hearing this, the hundreds of villagers following the Village Chief gritted their teeth.
"Village Chief, what should we do?"
The Village Chief remained silent, and then an angry villager said, "Damn it, itās all because of Xiantao Village. If they hadnāt blocked the dike by force, would we be flooded?"
"Thatās right, Xiantao Village thinks theyāre so great just because they produced a Fishing Guild Leader, getting more and more arrogant. Why should we be the ones flooded? There are thousands of households downstream."
"Yeah, thatās right. The Fishing Guild uses their power to bully others!"
The Village Chief said in a low voice, "Keep it down, unless you donāt want to live anymore."
"What lives do we have left when our homes are about to be gone?"
"Yeah, thatās right, the Fishing Guild is using their power to bully others. My home can be flooded, but Chen Jiusiās home canāt, why not!"
"Yeah, why not?"