Chapter 571 — Divine Physician Kang Nearly Kicks the Bucket
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Wei Zhao watched the eyes of Zhong Yongliang as he lay in the hospital bed—calm, yet shadowed—and sensed something was amiss, though he could not figure out what Zhong Yongliang intended to do. By instinct, Wei Zhao suspected that Zhong Yongliang would seek revenge; he simply could not tell whether the target would be the Gu family or An Liwen.
On the ride back to school, Wei Zhao sat beside Kang Xiaofeng. Kang Xiaofeng made no effort to hide his glee—that little bastard Zhong Yongliang had finally gotten his comeuppance. A kidney carved out of him! Let's see how much he could still bounce around now.
"What exactly happened with Tang Zhi? Why didn't she come to school today? Do you have Xiao Fen's family's number? Give them a call and ask," Wei Zhao said, a touch worried. He hadn't seen Tang Zhi for days and found himself oddly missing her—and he still couldn't understand why she was avoiding him. Was there some misunderstanding?
"Oh, today? The shantytown is being demolished. They said surveyors came to discuss compensation, and every household has to leave someone home. Liu Xinlan asked for a leave of absence; Tang Zhi is probably at home too," Kang Xiaofeng replied.
"I see." Wei Zhao nodded. Tang Zhi's mother had mentioned this to him before, and they had already agreed that after the demolition, he would chip in some money for a storefront unit. Hearing Kang Xiaofeng's explanation, Wei Zhao relaxed. As long as Tang Zhi was safely at home, everything was probably fine.
"Boss, let me tell you something. Yesterday, Zou Ruoming's old man showed up at my house..." Kang Xiaofeng recounted everything that had happened at the teahouse, especially the look of terror on the Zou father and son's faces the moment they heard Wei Zhao's name. It had left Kang Buzzing on cloud nine.
Wei Zhao listened and offered only a faint smile. Making small-timers like that tremble in fear was hardly a source of satisfaction for him. Only Kang Xiaofeng could get so worked up over such a thing.
Today was a momentous day for the shantytown, for a development company was coming to redevelop the area. It was, in fact, good news. The residents had long dreamed of moving into proper apartment buildings—and naturally, they all hoped for a generous compensation payout as well!
This wasn't the first time a development company had eyed the shantytown, but each time it had fizzled out due to prohibitive costs. Compensation and resettlement for the displaced residents fell squarely on the developer's shoulders. But the shantytown was not like a typical old-town renovation project. The houses were ramshackle, true, but due to historical reasons, each family's plot of land was considerable in size.
Every household, apart from its dwelling, also owned a bicycle shed, a storehouse, and a thatched outbuilding—all of them bearing property certificates and all of them, upon demolition, to be compensated by floor area. Tally it all up, and each family besides its residence held several hundred square meters of sheds, warehouses, and the like. What would the demolition of all that cost?
The compensation for a single household might not be contained within three or five residences. Given this situation, what development company would dare undertake the project? Was this not a money-losing proposition?
Yet there was no help for it. The shantytown's predicament had its historical roots: this place had originally been farmland, later converted to a township. It was not until the close of the year 2000 that it finally bordered the city proper, and only over the following decade or so did it gradually grow into part of the urban core.
In the days when land was cheap, no development company had given this area a second glance. But later, when nearby infrastructure came into its own and property prices climbed, the place had become too expensive to demolish.