"It's not that I'm in a hurry, it's just that another newspaper from the city has come down to us."

"I've heard that this newspaper has a very good reputation."

"You mean this..."

Sun Zhou patted the back of Wang Xinguo's hand, wanting to see what his next move would be.

Wang Xinguo also frowned, put down his teacup, and lit a cigarette.

"Old Sun, there's no use in us being anxious now."

"What's the use?"

"Are we going to drag Wang Chengyun down with us?"

To be honest, Wang Xinguo also felt a bit annoyed by this matter.

He now suspects that the people in Stone Village are bluffing them, even though they have money to build a Hope Primary School, it seems they have contacted other people to crack down on organized crime.

In reality, it was all just blind luck.

It's all just their own imagination.

Stone Village had no power to challenge Wang Chengyun; the crackdown on organized crime was purely coincidental.

Now, the two of them are the ones being held hostage.

Trying to curry favor with Wang Chengyun is pointless, and continuing to wait will only lead to nowhere.

This made the two of them a little annoyed.

"Alright, Lao Sun, come back this afternoon, I'll go and find out what's going on."

"Don't be in such a hurry."

Sun Zhouzheng nodded.

Meanwhile, at the Stone Village Hope Primary School.

Liu Shengxing also walked all morning with the help of people from the Education Bureau.

I stayed at school for lunch and stayed until school ended in the afternoon.

"Uncle Liu!"

"Try it!"

"These were grown by ourselves!"

Liu Shengxing sat at the school gate, looking at the white radish handed to him by a little girl, and took a bite with a smile.

"Sweet! Very sweet!"

The two newspaper employees who followed also covered their mouths and chuckled, recording the whole thing with their cameras.

After Liu Shengxing finished dealing with the little girl, he turned away and secretly wiped away his tears.

They arrived on a Friday.

Due to the school's special circumstances, parents are generally asked to pick up their children on Friday afternoons.

When Liu Shengxing first arrived, he thought the school environment was nice, seeing their uniform school uniforms and shoes.

It wasn't until school ended in the afternoon, when many parents had their children take off their school uniforms to reveal the worn-out, patched cotton-padded jackets underneath, that they realized how harsh life was in Stone Village.

Even so, the children still carefully wrapped their textbooks in layers of cloth and put them back in their schoolbags, afraid that they would get damaged on the way home.

We're so poor, so incredibly poor.

This was their first reaction upon seeing the true face of the school.

It's not that the school is poor, but that these children come from poor families.

The female commune member watched the child leave through the door and couldn't help but sigh.

"If it weren't for this school, they might never have been able to leave this mountain."

The male member nodded in agreement.

Faced with the living conditions in the stone village, they could only shake their heads and sigh.

"Editor-in-Chief Liu, you're going back soon, right?"

Bai Yejin, dressed casually, approached Liu Shengxing with a smile. The baskets she and Zhou Xuelan were carrying contained some local specialties from Shitou Village.

Seeing this, Liu Shengxing hurriedly declined.

"Hey hey hey!"

"Teacher Bai, that won't do."

"How can I take your things?"

Bai Yejin exchanged a glance with Zhou Xuelan beside her, and continued to explain gently.

"Editor-in-Chief Liu, I also have to thank you for taking the photos of the children."

"It will cost a lot of money to bring it back after you've finished washing it."

"This is also a small token of our appreciation from our fellow villagers."

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Liu Shengxing had no choice but to accept the two baskets of local specialties.

There wasn't much in total, just two baskets of eggs and potatoes, and some sweet potatoes.

When the female member saw the contents of the basket, she couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat. She picked up the basket and silently walked out of the school gate.

Liu Shengxing was also very fond of teachers Bai Yejin and Zhou Xuelan.

He had already learned from the Education Bureau that there were three volunteers in this group for teaching in Shitou Village, all of whom were graduates of vocational schools in Muye City.

Liu Shengxing greatly admired their courage for being willing to endure hardship in such a place after graduating from vocational school.

He had been there all day, but he still hadn't seen the school's principal.

After a slightly tentative inquiry, I heard Zhou Xuelan teasing me from the side.

"Him?"

"He's a very busy man."

"They've probably been busy with things in Makino City lately, and they usually bring us food or something."

I come back about once a week.

Liu Shengxing nodded after hearing this.

But after hearing what Zhou Xuelan said, I vaguely felt something was strange.

The person she described seems vaguely familiar...

However, he didn't think much of it. After agreeing to have someone from the Education Bureau help deliver the developed photos, he followed the others and returned to Shuiyun Town by car.

On the way, Liu Shengxing chatted with the staff of the Education Bureau, inquiring about the situation in Stone Village.

At this point, the employees could only look embarrassed.

The statement, "We have provided the greatest assistance," left Liu Shengxing completely bewildered.

help?

How can this be helpful?

It seems that apart from verbal assistance, he hasn't seen any real help at all.

When Liu Shengxing arrived at the town's education bureau, he was dumbfounded.

The entire education bureau building was deserted, with hardly anyone around, except for an old man sitting leisurely at the bar near the entrance, listening to the radio.

Not to mention that there are very few employees in the building.

If it weren't for the Education Bureau sign at the entrance, the three of them would have thought they had entered a library.

After entering the Education Bureau, Liu Shengxing finally met Wang Xinguo, the director of the Education Bureau, in his office.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!