"There is only such a four-lane road in our county (except for the county seat), which Xu Jiayin repaired." Driving on National Highway 221, the driver Master Zhou turned his head to look out the window, and then quickly turned his head to look ahead, with a smug smile on his face.
This road is part of Provincial Highway 211, heading northwest, passing through fields, villages, markets, after reaching Gaoxian Township, turn left, enter County Road 001, which also has four lanes, and in three or five minutes you can reach Jutaigang Village, Gaoxian Township, Taikang County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province, the hometown of Xu Jiayin, chairman of the board of directors of Evergrande Group.
It is about 25 kilometers from the county seat of Taikang to Jutaigang Village. Master Zhou told Lazy Bear Sports that when Xu Jiayin sent his father back to his hometown in December 2018, the roadside was full of police, and outsiders could not get close.
The introduction of the village shows that the name "Jutaigang" was formed in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, because "there is a southern platform in front of the village, and there is a post in the back". At present, there are 15 villager groups, with a total population of 4205 people and a cultivated land area of 4042 mu. In 1978, Xu Jiayin, who took the college entrance examination for the second time, was finally admitted to the Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute, and he walked out of here, and the fate of a rural youth was changed.
After graduating from university, Xu was first assigned to the Wuyang Iron and Steel Plant in Henan Province and then moved south to Shenzhen and Guangzhou to do trade and real estate business, where he founded Evergrande Group in 1996 and became China's richest man in 2017. "Zhoukou Evening News" reported that Xu Jiayin has invested a total of more than 1 billion yuan for his hometown in recent years.
However, in the past three years, the Evergrande Group has decayed due to its own problems, and Xu Jiayin has been put on the cusp, and even the news that the village has drawn a line with him has been reported, and the merit monument erected for him in 2005 has been toppled.
When Lazy Bear Sports visited Jutaigang Village at the end of April this year, it found that the merit monument still stands on the small square of the village, and the villagers are still grateful to Xu Jiayin in this village, which only used running water in 2019. The villagers said they knew Xu Jiayin had "fallen" but "would not forget his kindness to our Zhuang'er."
▲Xu Jiayin at the groundbreaking ceremony of Guangzhou Evergrande New Stadium.
Black nest head
Jutaigang Village has two main streets, north and south, each about 1 km long. Except for the alleys and dirt roads, the rest of the road is paved with cement. Villagers say the roads have been built three times, first asphalt, then cement, and in 2019 a new layer of cement was re-laid on top of the original one. Some people say that Xu Jiayin paid for the three paving of the road, but more people say that "only the money for the last paving came from Xu Jiayin".
Most of the young people in the village have gone out to work, leaving behind those over the age of 60. Young people bring home the money they earn from outside, tear down ancestral houses made of mud bricks, and build two- or three-story buildings framed by cement and steel.
The village is changing, but many of the people's living habits have not. For example, if you ask a villager where someone lives, after saying the name, they will frown and ask, "What's his nickname?" "Here, almost everyone has a milk name, which is more contagious than the daimyo. However, Xu Jiayin is a special case, as long as these three words are said, everyone can tell the location of his family's ancestral home, and tell more or less stories about him. When saying this name, the villagers would add the word "Yin" to the pronunciation - Xu Jia Yin'er.
Xu Jiayin's milk name is "Factory", and he has a half-brother named Xu Jiaqin, whose milk name is "Dongsheng". Her sister's name was "Rong'er" and she died at the age of eighteen or nineteen, before Xu Jiayin left the village.
No one in the village can say clearly about the origin of the name "factory", they say that it is a random arrangement of parents after the birth of the child, and there is not much attention. Some villagers joked that when they were young, they called it "factory", but when they grew up, they went outside and opened a factory.
The ancestral residence of the Xu Jiayin family is located in an alley about 300 meters southwest of the village square, with three north houses, and the entire courtyard is about 200 square meters. The bricks and tiles of the house and courtyard walls are gray, the courtyard walls are very high, almost 3 meters, and the height of the two low walls at the entrance is about 2 meters. To prevent people from entering, the cement at the head of the wall was filled with glass fragments.
The blue iron door of the Xu family's ancestral home faces west, and the gate is always locked because it is uninhabited all year round. The door frame is spliced with stone slabs to form a couplet, the upper link is "the rising sun is in the Ji House", the lower link is "Spring Breeze Deliberately Enters the New House", and the horizontal criticism is "Happy House". These were built during the later renovation and are rough workmanship. The text of the couplet is engraved with a lion, and there is a palm-sized break in the middle of the lion on the left, which has not been repaired to this day.
▲The gate of the ancestral residence of the Xu family. (Photo by Zhao Yu)
Inside the ancestral home are two large elm trees, one with lush foliage and the other without a canopy and withered. According to villagers, the tree's sticking branches affected neighbors, who cut down the crown after consulting with Xu's brother, and the tree is now dead for two or three years. The Xu family's ancestral residence is surrounded by three-story small buildings built by villagers, only it is still a bungalow, using its original style to counter the changes in village architecture and the style of the times.
The three north rooms of the Xu family's ancestral home have lived in a maximum of 6 people, Xu Jiayin's parents, grandmother, brother, sister and himself, but the days of such prosperity did not last long. More than a year after Xu Jiayin was born, his mother died of septicaemia, and his sister died soon after she grew up.
At that time, every family in the village would worry about food and clothing. The clothes worn by Xu Jiayin's family are all made of earthen cloth hand-woven by his grandmother and father, and because of the limited food, the food he usually eats is sweet potatoes. Every year after the sweet potato is ripe, it is cut into slices to dry and stored, and when eating, it is ground into powder with a stone mill, and then it is steamed with water and noodles, dough into balls, and steamed in a pot, which the locals call "black nest head" or "sweet potato dumpling". Villager Zhao Longchen can still recall the appearance of the black nest head, which was very sticky when it was first steamed, and his hands were full of yellow, slimy sweet potato puree; When cool, it turns black, and it tastes dry and hard.
When attending the 10th China Charity Award Ceremony, Xu Jiayin talked about his experience of eating black nest heads in middle school: "Because the school is far from home, I carry a basket of sweet potatoes and black nest heads made of sweet potato noodles every week, and a bottle of salt to school. Eat a sweet potato, a black nest head, and a bowl of salt water at each meal. In summer, when it is hot, the head of the black nest quickly grows hair, wash it and eat it. When he returned to his ancestral home in December 2018, village officials arranged an improved version of the black nest head on the sweet rice, and the sweet potato noodles were mixed with cornmeal, which tasted much better than the original.
fiancee
The word "poverty" is stuffed with Xu Jiayin's past in Jutaigang Village. His father, Xu Xiangao, joined the revolution at the age of 16, recovered from his injuries in 1946 and returned to his hometown to work as an accountant, working as an accountant in the production team, and later in charge of the river embankment. Grandma can make vinegar, and my brother, who has hardly gone to school, carries a can of vinegar along the street every day to sell, a bottle for 1 cent, and Xu Jiayin occasionally walks the streets with his brother. The apricots grown at home were ripe, and the brothers also carried baskets to sell.
The meager income could not change the poor situation of the Xu family, and when the family did not have enough food to eat, they could only borrow from others. Neighbor Gao Chengjun told Lazy Bear Sports that his family had lent the Xu family 20 pounds of wheat, but he never paid it back.
Although life is hard, Xu Jiayin's studies have not stopped. According to Gao Youchen, a classmate of Xu Jiayin's primary and junior high schools, everyone used to study and work at the same time, and the main place of labor was the kiln factory in the village, and "there was no long time for labor in class." After elementary school, Xu Jiayin and Gao Youchen would go together to cut grass for livestock, and after middle school, they became pushing and grinding grain. After school, Xu Jiayin often finds a few partners to go to the teacher's house to push and grind. Gao Houchen said that at that time, Xu Jiayin knew that he was "quite attentive."
The intermittent attendance of classes leads to poor academic performance for everyone. Gao Youchen remembers a time when the township organized a unified examination, and the class of 37 students only scored 140 points in total (the personal maximum score was 100).
After junior high school, only a small percentage of the class had the opportunity to continue to high school. Gao Youchen said that when he went to high school, it was a recommendation system, and Xu Jiayin had a cousin who worked in Gaoxian Township for teaching and reorganization, which helped him a lot. Gao Youchen's academic performance was still outstanding at that time, but because he was one year older, he did not have the opportunity to continue his high school education.
For this cousin who had helped him, Xu Jiayin was grateful. After his success at Evergrande, his cousin followed him to Guangzhou. "To do chores in name is actually to raise them." Gao Youchen said.
▲Xu Jiayin's hometown gathered in Taigang Village. (Photo by Zhao Yu)
In 1975, 18-year-old Xu Jiayin graduated from Taikang County No. 1 Senior High School and returned to the village to work. During this period, he developed a marriage relationship with Ms. Zhang, who was working in the village health center at that time. Ms. Zhang is also a villager of Jutaigang Village and is about the same age as Xu Jiayin. According to the villagers, Ms. Zhang's family is good, her father works in a credit union, and her uncle is a village branch secretary.
There are different accounts of this marriage in the village. His elementary school and junior high school classmate Gao Zhengfu told Lazy Bear Sports that Xu Jiayin's father had asked people to talk about the mediation twice, but they were unsuccessful, "the woman thought his family was poor and did not agree", and later he personally went out and told the woman that "Xu Jiayin has a future, ambitions, and will definitely become a big thing in the future", only after promoting this marriage.
Gao Youchen said that this marriage was not promoted by Gao Zhengfu, but said by a cadre of Xu Jiatuo's brigade. Like Gao Zhengfu's story, the woman did not agree at first, and only reluctantly agreed after saying it several times. Because Ms. Zhang's uncle was the secretary of the village branch, Xu Jiayin got the opportunity to drive 40 tractors in the village, responsible for playing fields, cultivating land, and pulling sand stones. "At that time, it was very good for a brigade to buy a 40 car, and it was an honor in the countryside to be able to drive it." Gao Youchen said.
Although there are different accounts about the details of this marriage, several villagers are very sure that Xu Jiayin was engaged to Ms. Zhang at that time. According to the villagers, Ms. Zhang is very virtuous, and in her spare time, she will go to Xu Jiayin's house to help do some housework for sewing and patching, and she does not work for Xu's family.
In September 1977, China's Ministry of Education decided to resume the gaokao, which had been suspended for more than a decade. When the news reached Jutaigang Village, the Xu family moved their minds. Gao Zhengfu can still recall the scene after Xu Jiayin learned the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination, and the two were in the field to take care of the crops for the production team, and Xu Jiayin suddenly said: "I don't watch it." I'm going to Gaoxian Township to review. ”
Gao Zhengfu listened to this and asked in surprise: "What do you do with the review?" ”
Xu Jiayin said: "Go to university. I have to get out. ”
Gao Zhengfu said that Xu Jiayin had planned to enter Tsinghua University in Beijing, but fell off the list due to insufficient preparation. The villagers laughed at him and gave him the nickname "Lao Qing". But this did not destroy his determination to go out, he studied for another year, and in 1978 he was admitted to the Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute, becoming the first college student in Jutaigang Village.
The changes of the times and personal efforts allowed this 20-year-old villager of Jutaigang Village to come out of the plain village rich in wheat, corn and sweet potatoes, and began a magnificent life.
Build schools
Many years later, Xu Jiayin described his college experience in a public speech: "After the country resumed the college entrance examination, I was admitted to university. Because I had no money to study or eat, the state gave me a 14 yuan monthly bursary that allowed me to finish college. ”
In fact, when Xu Jiayin was preparing for the college entrance examination for the second time, he almost gave up because he had no money. Fortunately, he received financial support from the head teacher and had the opportunity to continue his studies. Some villagers said that the teacher funded him 20 yuan at that time, but because of his age, the specific amount could not be verified. When Xu Jiayin returned to his hometown in 2018, he specially visited his teacher's house to repay the grace of dripping water that year. Some villagers said that Xu Jiayin gave the teacher 1 million yuan, while others said that they did not give money and gave a house.
Although the accounts are different, these have become the talk of locals praising Xu Jiayin's "Zhi'en Tubao". His high school teacher died two years ago.
After being admitted to university, Xu Jiayin's marriage with his fiancée, Ms. Zhang, came to an end, as described in many literary works - the boy went to a bigger world, and the girl stayed in the village.
There are more versions of the story about the end of this marriage. Gao Zhengfu said that the woman from a good family made new shoes for Xu Jiayin before he went to college, prepared food stamps and two or three hundred yuan. "Two or three hundred yuan is a lot, and at that time, the pigs fed for a year were only sold for 60 yuan."
Neighbor Xu Jialing said that the woman not only gave the Xu family money, but also planned to build three rooms for the two to live in after marriage. But because Xu Jiayin was admitted to university, he left the village, the house was not built, and the money was returned, and his marriage with Ms. Zhang ended.
After graduating from university, Xu Jiayin was assigned to the Wuyang Iron and Steel Plant in Henan Province, where he met his current wife, Ding Yumei, and Ms. Zhang married into a village 8 kilometers away from her home.
When Xu Jiayin returned to Jutaigang's ancestral home in December 2018, some of his classmates were given the opportunity to meet him. Gao Zhengfu and Gao Youchen, who were present at the time, confirmed to Lazy Bear Sports that Ms. Zhang was also invited by the village to come to the scene as a classmate. When they met again 40 years later, both of them had entered the age of flower armor. Gao Zhengfu said that Xu Jiayin recognized Ms. Zhang after being introduced, and then exchanged pleasantries.
Gao Youchen said that Ms. Zhang's face was heavy that day, and he described such a detail to Lazy Bear Sports - the reporter interviewed at the scene saw Ms. Zhang's face and asked: "What's wrong with you?" But she didn't answer.
This is the second time in 40 years that Xu Jiayin has returned to his hometown, dating back to 1998, two years after he founded Evergrande Group. At that time, he donated 1 million yuan to his hometown to establish Jiayin Primary School. When Xu Jiayin was a child, the primary school classroom in the village was a few grass houses that did not shelter from the wind and rain. Catch the rainy day, heavy rain outside, light rain inside, and the desks are made of mud tables.
The new Jiayin Primary School has three floors and 18 classrooms. It has expanded from more than 200 at the beginning of its establishment to more than 700 now. In addition to the students from Jutaigang, children from nearby villages also come here to study.
On the wall opposite the school's teaching building, a propaganda board was specially opened for Xu Jiayin, calling him "the pride of Jutaigang". There are photos of Xu Jiayin in the propaganda board, and there are also detailed text descriptions about his wealth, status, and achievements with Evergrande Group.
▲Introduction of Xu Jiayin and Evergrande Group inside Jiayin Primary School. (Photo by Zhao Yu)
According to Dahe News, since 2016, Xu Jiayin has donated another 1 billion yuan to build Jiayin Middle School, Jiayin High School, Gaoxian Hospital and Modern Ecological Recycling Agriculture Base.
Through field visits, Lazy Bear Sports found that there is a Jiayin High School in Taikang County, which was originally named Taikang County No. 1 Senior High School. The school has a branch in Gaoxian Township, also named Jiayin High School, and the school's wall reads "Gaoxian High School, Xu Jiayin's alma mater, a place where you can study quietly" on the fence of the school. Opposite it is Jiayin Middle School, and there is an inscription of Xu Jiayin on the teaching floor: Respect the teacher Shangxian, learn and be benevolent.
Both schools were built next to the rural road leading from Gaoxian Township to Jutaigang Village. Because within the scope of nine-year compulsory education, Jiayin Middle School does not charge tuition, students only need to pay more than 1,000 yuan per semester for food and accommodation, and the tuition and accommodation fees of Jiayin High School for one semester are 2,900 yuan, and the meal fee is calculated separately.
The hospital invested and built by Xu Jiayin is located in Gaoxian Township Development Zone. Master Gao, who drove in the area of Gaoxian Township, told Lazy Bear Sports that the hospital has not been put into use and has been used as an isolation point during the epidemic. There is still a banner written "Taikang County Epidemic Prevention and Control Finger Gaoxian Hospital Isolation Point" on the main entrance of the main building of the hospital. The design and color of the three schools and one hospital built by Xu Jiayin are exactly the same, all with dark red top floors and off-white buildings.
The vegetable greenhouses and farms he invested in were also located on the rural road from Gaoxian Township to Jutaigang Village, and were built and handed over to the township government for management. Gao Zhengfu said that the previous contractor of the vegetable greenhouse "grew everything and did not make any money", and now it is contracted by a new company to grow only eggplants, and the farm opposite mainly raises cattle. A close observation of the sloth bear sports found that in addition to cattle, there were also alpacas and other animals in the farm.
Back home
According to villagers in Jutaigang Village, Xu Jiayin returned to his hometown in December 2018, and police were everywhere on the road from Taikang County to Jutaigang Village. Not only was he accompanied by leaders at all levels, but also arranged for some neighbors and classmates to come to the scene to talk with him. Security guards guard the entrance and exit of the hutong of the Xu family's old home, and only those who have permission can enter. The Xu family's house was only less than 100 meters away from the Xu family's old mansion, but he couldn't get close.
Xu Jiayin ate bittersweet rice in the old house, and there were sweet potatoes, black nest heads, boiled cabbage noodles and salty soup on the table. Gao Chengjun went to the scene as a neighbor. Before going, the village cadres specially told everyone to pay attention to proportions and not to take photos with Xu Jiayin alone. Gao Chengjun told Lazy Bear Sports that because he had not returned for too long, Xu Jiayin could hardly recognize his past neighbors and classmates. When I met with the captain of the production team at the time, I also asked: "Who are you?" After the other party introduced himself, Xu Jiayin suddenly realized: "It turned out to be you, why are you so old?" The captain of the production team hurriedly said: "Not only am I old, aren't you also old!" ”
That year, Xu Jiayin was just 60 years old, and he was no longer the poor boy who used coarse cloth to change his old military uniform to Gao Chengjun, the commander of the militia battalion of the brigade.
Because of his good personal friendship when he was young, his classmate Gao Zhengfu said directly after seeing Xu Jiayin that he only came back once in 20 years, "You have to do something good for the people."
Gao Zhengfu told Xu Jiayin that the weather in his hometown was arid, there were not enough wells, and it was difficult for ordinary people to water their land. "You should help install a submersible pump, and the people will be able to get out of the water as soon as they swipe their cards." When Gao Zhengfu communicated with Lazy Bear Sports, he even said in front of Xu Jiayin: "This little money is an X for you!" ”
Xu Jiayin did not hesitate, and soon paid for the submersible pump to help the wells in the village that water the ground. Before 2019, the villagers of Jutaigang Village relied on water presses for drafts. At Xu Jiayin's appeal, the village was connected to running water. Some people said that the money was printed by Xu's family, but most said that the money for the water pipes came from the government, and the 150 yuan money for the water pipes connected from the pipes to each household came from Xu Jiayin. If the Xu family had not printed the money, this part of the money would have to be paid by the villagers themselves, as was the case in several villages next door.
When he returned to Taigang Village in 2018, Xu Jiayin gave each villager 3,000 yuan in cash, a bag of 10 kilograms of rice and a barrel of 5L of cooking oil. According to Dahe Daily, Xu Jiayin has donated a total of 5.8 million yuan over the past few years to build roads and install running water and drainage systems in the village.
It was because of his good deeds that the village erected a monument of merit to him in the square in August 2005. The stele is divided into four sides, Xu Jiayin's name is engraved on the front, white characters on a black background, it is written "educating talents for the country and benefiting future generations", the money is all the villagers of Jutaigang Village, and there are four words "Liufang Hundred Worlds" directly under the stele.
▲Jutaigang Village is a meritorious monument erected by the Xu family. (Photo by Zhao Yu)
Xu Jialing told Lazy Bear Sports that the four characters "Liufang Baishi" were erected when the stele was erected, and the content of the inscription was decided by the villagers after a meeting and discussion, but a few years ago, someone suggested that Xu Jiayin is still alive, and it is not appropriate to engrave "Liufang Baishi".
Later, the villagers pasted the words "Liufang Baishi" with mud and painted it with the same black paint as the body of the monument. But just last year, the villagers cut the mud that had been pasted again. Because the paste was too tight back then, the character could not be completely restored, the three points of water of the word "flow" were a little less water, and the word "Fang" had no cursive head and became "square", and no one cared about it.
When Xu Jiayin returned to his hometown in 2018, he also went to the village's Jiayin Primary School and the vegetable greenhouse and farm on the edge of the village, which was his last return to Jutaigang Village. His father died in January 2019 at his old home. Several villagers said that Xu Jiayin did not return home at that time, and his father's fate was handled by his brother Xu Jiaqin. It snowed heavily that day, and the village requisitioned the vacant homestead of its neighbors and erected simple greenhouses to receive people who came to mourn.
Down
In the wheat field northwest of Jutaigang Village, there is an ancestral tomb of the Xu family. The ancestral tomb is a large rectangular courtyard, covering an area of about 12 acres, with a gray Chinese-style gate, with Shou'an Gate in the center, and "Fu Shou" and "Ankang" written on the two sides of the doors. Cameras are installed on both sides of the door. The courtyard walls are about 3 meters high and are covered with creepers. In front of the gate, there are cypress trees that have not grown tall and poplars with trunks about 10 cm in diameter, and wheat fields are all around the perimeter.
According to the villagers, due to the construction of ancestral tombs, some villagers' cultivated land has changed places. The graves of two other people in this area were moved after consultation. There were rumors in the village that each family who moved the grave would receive 1 million yuan in compensation, but no one could confirm it. In April 2022, someone reported online that the ancestral tomb of the Xu family was suspected of illegally occupying cultivated land.
The villagers can't remember exactly when the ancestral tomb was built, only that it was built around 2016. When it was first built, there were rockeries, fountains, pavilions, and many ancient trees bought from outside the door. "The tree is so big that a truck can only pull one tree." Xu Jialing said. He also heard that some leaders above thought it was too high-profile, and all the ancient trees were later removed.
▲Jutaigang Village's ancestral tomb of the Xu family. (Photo by Zhao Yu)
In front of the ancestral tomb of the Xu family, a car with a license plate in Zhengzhou, Henan, was parked. Villagers said the car had been driven from Zhengzhou by the security personnel who were in charge of guarding the ancestral tomb, and that he belonged to the Zhengzhou branch of Evergrande Group. I usually live in the cross-courtyard in the gate, and I can have a salary of more than 6,000 yuan per month. The gate of the ancestral tomb is closed, outsiders can only watch at the door, and even the villagers of Jutaigang Village have rarely entered.
But after the Evergrande Group fell into trouble, some people who collected debts from Evergrande threatened to destroy the ancestral tomb of the Xu family.
The time when Evergrande Group's predicament was known to the public was in July 2021, when China Guangfa Bank applied to freeze Evergrande Bank's deposits of 132 million yuan, and the group fell into a debt crisis. Evergrande Group's financial report shows that by the end of 2021, Evergrande's total assets were only 1.699 trillion yuan, but its total liabilities had reached 1.898 trillion yuan, that is, 199 billion more liabilities than assets.
The Economist said in a report published in September 2021 that since 2020, the Chinese government has been trying to limit the size of property developers' debt. Changes in real estate lending rules have left several real estate groups in default, including Evergrande, whose $300 billion debt is the highest among the world's property groups. Since September 2021, Evergrande's offices across the country have been surrounded by Evergrande's investors, who are demanding that Evergrande return the money. Many of these people invested money in financial products managed by Evergrande and were subsequently trapped. Also included are suppliers and contractors who worked but were owed for Evergrande's projects, which are now halted.
On May 12, 2023, China Evergrande issued an announcement stating that the company received a notice of enforcement from the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in respect of the previous arbitral award of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, and that China Evergrande and its subsidiary Guangzhou Kailong Real Estate Co., Ltd., as well as Xu Jiayin, the controlling shareholder and executive director of China Evergrande, were the enforceees. Specifically, it concerns the three batches of strategic investors introduced by Evergrande seven years ago, involving a total of 130 billion yuan in capital increases, and now some war investors are trying to recover losses through law.
This is the first time since Evergrande fell into crisis that the actual controller Xu Jiayin has been judged to be the executor.
The once infinitely beautiful Evergrande Group is "completely dead", and the stormy waves of the outside world make this small village located in the hinterland of the Central Plains feel a cool breeze. After hearing the rumors that someone was coming to destroy the ancestral tomb of the Xu family, the villagers of Jutaigang Village spontaneously set up a "security team", and when they saw strangers entering the village, they would take the initiative to ask where they came from and where they were going to go. "If you encounter someone who is particularly suspicious, report it to the village, and the village will report it to the police station." Xu Jialing and many villagers took the initiative to patrol around the village for fear that someone would come to cause damage.
"If someone comes to sabotage and the village brigade horns blow, everyone will pass, who dares to make trouble?" Gao Zhengfu said. With the joint efforts of the villagers, the ancestral tomb of the Xu family was not affected.
There is news on the Internet that since the problems of the Evergrande Group, the villagers will tear down the merit monument erected by Xu Jiayin and completely distance themselves from him. But through on-site visits, Lazy Bear Sports found that the merit monument was still standing on the village square. This is a distribution center for villagers, and there are often old people sitting there chatting and basking in the sun in the red heart pavilion next to it. Four villagers set up a simple table with wooden planks and sat on a pony to "play upgrades", surrounded by a circle of people watching the cards. The villagers said that the monument of merit has always been there, has never been torn down, and "the people in the village will never agree."
"Xu Jiayin has fallen now, but we will not forget his kindness to the village." Xu Jialing said.
Cliffside
Although the villagers of Jutaigang Village still support Xu Jiayin, changes are still happening quietly. The ancestral tomb of the Xu family originally had 4 security guards on duty, and 4 cleaners were responsible for cleaning. According to Xu Jialing, the lawn in front of the door was trimmed like flat ground. But now only two security guards are left on duty in turn, and there is no longer a dedicated person responsible for cleaning. A field visit by Lazy Bear Sports found that the grass at the entrance of the ancestral grave was 20 centimeters high, and the lawn was no longer "like flat ground".
A teacher at Jiayin Primary School told Lazy Bear Sports that Xu had promised to set up an education fund when he returned to Taigang Village in 2018. Evergrande Group plans to deposit 100 million yuan into a trust company, and then distribute the annual benefits to Jiayin elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools and hospitals. Jiayin High School can be divided into about 3.2 million yuan per year, 900,000 yuan for junior high school, and 500,000 yuan for primary school. But since the Evergrande Group had a financial problem, no one has mentioned this matter. The school teacher insisted that 100 million yuan had been deposited, and the principal of Jiayin Primary School had reported the problem upwards but received no feedback.
Gao Zhengfu said that "Xu Jiayin's guy has a good spirit of charity", emphasizing that he had a channel to contact Xu Jiayin, and originally planned to contact his old classmates to give some living allowances to the elderly in the village who were over 60 years old, but later gave up such an idea. "He can't do it now, so don't look for him."
Evergrande Group has two real estate projects in Taikang County, Evergrande Imperial View and Evergrande Royal View. The well-decorated Evergrande Emperor View has been handed over, and the real estate transaction website shows that the average price of the property is 6237 yuan / square meter. Evergrande Royal View is still in the construction stage, and after the group's accident, the project is in a state of stoppage, and even once rumored that it will be finished.
However, an article on the "Taikang Luxun public account" shows that the construction of the property has started in June 2022, and a video of the start of construction is attached. However, the property has not been handed over so far, and it has been overdue for nearly a year. Taxi driver Master Zhou told Lazy Bear Sports that last year, an owner went to the roof of a building to "jump" to put pressure on the developer, and was "rescued".
Another taxi driver, Master Yue, who grew up in Taikang County, did not have much affection for Xu Jiayin, saying that when Evergrande Group did not develop real estate in Taikang County, the average price of real estate here was about 4,000 yuan, and now it has risen to more than 5,000. Evergrande's house is sold at the most expensive 6800 yuan / square meter, which makes the people's purchase pressure greater.
When Master Yue took me to Jutaigang Village, I happened to pass by Jiayin High School in the county seat, and he said, "Sooner or later, the name of the school will have to be changed back to Taikang County No. 1 Senior High School." "This is the name of the school registered with the Education Commission, and you can't become a Jiayin High School just because you built a few buildings."
▲Jiayin High School in Taikang County. (Photo by Zhao Yu)
Later, Master Yue added: "I don't say when to change it, but I will definitely change it back." "He even suspected that Xu Jiayin had built a school in Taikang County and obtained preferential land for real estate projects, and then went to earn money from ordinary people." He is a businessman who pays attention to maximizing profits. ”
Changes and doubts in the outside world cannot change the impression of the villagers of Jutaigang Village on Xu Jiayin. Cheng Weidao, who is both Xu Jiayin's middle school classmate and son-in-law of Jutaigang Village, has to give a thumbs up with both hands before talking to Lazy Bear Sports about Xu Jiayin, and then list the good things he has done for the village.
However, since sending his father back to his hometown in December 2018, Xu Jiayin has not returned to Jutaigang. He has been away from the village for 40 years since he was admitted to university in 1978. In 40 years, he has gone from a poor farmer to China's richest man, and now he is on the edge of a cliff with his China Evergrande in an unprecedented crisis.
40 years of vicissitudes, in the torrent of the times, individuals are small and ordinary. For most of his life, Xu Jiayin could never go back to the past, and he could not go back to his hometown.
No matter how turbulent the outside world is, Jutaigang Village is calm as usual, and there are still people basking in the sun and playing poker in front of the merit monument. The sun that was about to set shone golden light on the black monument, and in the crowd of "fighting" on the side, suddenly there was the sound of cards falling on the table and a shout: "Hanging master! ”
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