Chapter 5: Showdown in the Council Yard

“Since you’re using ‘everyone’ as an excuse, then build the road however you want. I won’t argue.”

“The town road belongs to everyone, but my money isn’t everyone’s money, right? I’m not paying for this road.”

The manager was stunned by my words.

What really made me angry and lose my temper wasn’t just that the road didn’t reach my house. Building the road is for everyone’s benefit—it’s a public good. If the county had given us the money, I wouldn’t care how it was built. Even if the road was a mile from my house, I wouldn’t say a word. But this road is being built with the neighbors’ own money. And more than half of that money came from me.

If you want to build the road, I’m all for it. If you want money, I have no objection. But in the end, the road has nothing to do with my house—how am I supposed to accept that?

It’s like farming. There’s a vacant lot in town, and the neighbors decide to farm it together so it’s not wasted. From plowing and planting to watering and fertilizing, I did it all, and worked the hardest. But after half a year, when it’s time to harvest, I get kicked out. Others tell me the harvest has nothing to do with me.

I’m not asking for extra, just the same as everyone else. But even that can’t be done. Who wouldn’t be angry?

There’s only one dirt road in Maple Heights, there since before I can remember. The old folks say it was built by the Army back in the ‘40s. Sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, sometimes high, sometimes low—especially after rain, it turns to mud and is impassable. You have to hop around like you’re doing parkour, and if you’re not careful, you’ll twist your ankle.

Because of this road, the neighbors have suffered a lot. Over the years, many suggested fixing it, but it was always dropped for lack of money. Last month, a heavy rain didn’t stop for days, and several neighbors twisted their backs or broke their legs. The manager’s mom even fell and ended up in the hospital. The road issue came up again.

In recent years, living standards have improved, and every family has some savings. Honestly, Maple Heights went from struggling to doing alright mostly because of me.

Why? After failing the SATs, I gave up retaking them to ease my family’s burden and started working to support them. But how much can you make from working? Working overtime day and night, the extra pay was just enough to keep food on the table. I didn’t want to be labeled a ‘poor kid’ for life, so I tried to change.

I set up stalls, worked as a broker, sold fruit, ran a small restaurant. After many attempts, I found my way and started the herbal supplement business. Nowadays, people’s living standards are higher. Not everyone is rich, but few worry about food anymore. With spare cash and savings, people started to care about their health. There are millions of people in the country—who never gets sick, who isn’t afraid of death?

My first month in this business, looking at my bank statement, I wondered if I was selling the fountain of youth. Forget drug dealing or day trading—this is real profit, and it’s legal. From then on, I put all my energy into this field. In just a few years, I quickly built up my wealth and expanded my business.

I remember the first time I saw my name on the paperwork for the local Chamber of Commerce. My parents clipped it out of the newspaper and pinned it to the fridge. In Maple Heights, that was as good as a diploma.