Qiao Xia ultimately didn't get on the rickety oxcart driven by Niu Ping'an, but instead sat on the motorcycle behind Chen Xi.

The two arrived in town at four o'clock in the afternoon, an hour before the mayor's workday ended. Unfortunately, neither of them knew the way, so they could only wander around the town, waiting for Niu Ping'an to slowly come down from the mountain.

Qiao Xia was surprised to find that although the town was isolated and inconvenient to travel to, it was home to many ethnic minorities, and almost every shop owner wore clothes with distinctive ethnic characteristics.

Most of the food sold in each small shop was something Qiao Xia had never seen before.

Qiao Xia strolled from one end of the street to the other, still full of enthusiasm. She exclaimed, "This town is just perfect for tourism!"

Chenxi nodded. "This place has developed a lot now. It's very different from a few years ago. Before, this street looked old and dilapidated. Apart from a supermarket and a few clothing stores, there was nothing else."

"These things were all set up with the support of the town mayor over the years. It's just that the people in the mountains have limited spending power. The town mayor wanted people from outside to come, but the roads were not smooth enough to make it work."

Chenxi was also quite helpless about this. This place was too remote. No matter how well it was built inside, it would be a waste if people from the outside couldn't get in.

Dr. Qiao Xia muttered, "I do have a way..."

The two estimated that it was about time, and they talked as they headed down the mountain pass to meet the people.

The old ox let out a pitiful "moo" when it saw them. On the cart behind it, the ox was sitting peacefully asleep, snoring loudly, with the whip still hanging tightly around its neck.

In such a distressing situation, the old ox didn't go crazy and throw him off; he really deserves praise for his composure.

Chenxi, annoyed, went up to Niu Ping'an and woke him up, "Wake up, Uncle Ping'an, we're in town—"

"Huh?" Niu Ping'an suddenly opened his eyes, looked around in confusion, and subconsciously wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

He lingered on Qiao Xia's face for a couple more seconds before finally realizing what had happened and slapped his forehead: "Oh no! I've ruined the important business."

Without saying a word, he pulled them towards the town office, where the lights were indeed off.

Niu Ping'an frantically took out his phone and made calls. On the fifth call, the other end finally answered.

Niu Ping'an spoke very rudely, "Where are you?"

After hearing what the person on the other end of the phone said, Niu Ping'an's face lit up with joy, and he immediately pulled them towards a restaurant in town.

Pushing open the door, more than a dozen pairs of eyes turned to them simultaneously, and Niu Ping'an's face immediately darkened. "What's going on? Weren't you only calling me?"

Immediately, someone shouted, "Niu Ping'an, you have the nerve to call on me! Why are you the only one invited? So you can get all the benefits?"

The others chimed in, and Niu Ping'an, knowing he was in the wrong, remained silent.

The woman sitting at the head of the table quickly reassured him, "Alright, let's find a place to sit down first."

Qiao Xia then looked over in the direction of the voice. She was the only woman sitting in the entire private room. Even though she had intentionally cut her hair short to make herself look more mature, she still looked very young, no more than thirty years old, surrounded by a group of people.

Her words had little effect; apart from the waiter outside the door who noticed and brought over two stools, no one inside got up.

At this moment, the small private room was already crowded with people around the table, and if anyone else wanted to sit in, someone would have to give up their seat.

Niu Ping'an knew he wasn't the main character today, so he didn't compete with them for a seat. Instead, he tried to coordinate with others to find a seat for Qiao Xia.

Unfortunately, everyone present was a village chief from various villages, and they were glued to their chairs. It took a while before someone recognized Chenxi's identity and forcibly pulled her hand to make her sit down.

Chenxi stood up, intending to give her seat to Qiaoxia, but this only caused another commotion inside the room.

At this moment, the man who had been sitting next to the mayor suddenly stood up, tucked his briefcase under his arm, and said with a forced smile, "I don't think we can eat for a while. Why don't you eat first? I have things to do at the mine, so I'll head back now."

In an instant, everyone in the room changed their tune, saying, "No, Mr. Zhu, you're the guest of honor today. We're here to drink with you. How can you leave?"

With a forced smile, General Zhu asked, "Did you come here to have a drink with me, or to ask me for money?"

He put one foot on the chair, pointed at the town mayor and cursed, "I'm not saying this to be mean, but I do make a little more money from mining than any of you here. But you can't keep taking advantage of the same person forever."

Mr. Zhu took out a bottle of Moutai from his bag and poured it into a small glass about the size of his little finger. “Mayor, you are the local official. Did I ever ask you for tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan without batting an eye?”

"You've brought so many people here today, shouldn't you give me some face?" General Manager Zhu pushed his wine glass towards the town mayor, the meaning of which was self-evident: he wanted to deflate the town mayor's arrogance.

The mayor pushed the glass back, saying, "I told you, I don't drink."

Mr. Zhu stuffed the Moutai into his bag, casually flicked his bangs, and said, "Then you can't blame me. Until we meet again, everyone."

After saying that, she turned to leave, but as expected, she was grabbed by the others, who tried to persuade her with kind words and put pressure on the town mayor, all implying that she should drink the wine.

Qiao Xia found the scene disgusting. "As expected of a poor, remote place, they dare to flaunt a hundred thousand."

Only after everyone had pressed President Zhu down did his words reach the ears of everyone present, and Qiao Xia once again attracted everyone's attention.

Qiao Xia stood there, calmly letting everyone look at her.

Niu Ping'an, who was dozing off on a chair by the door, immediately stood up and introduced her to everyone, "This is Miss Qiao from City A. She wants to build roads for all the mountains."

The town mayor's eyes widened in surprise, and the others began to murmur amongst themselves. Only General Manager Zhu scoffed and stood up, saying, "I thought you were genuinely inviting me for drinks today, but it turns out you're just trying to intimidate me?"

Mr. Zhu waved his hand dismissively and said sarcastically, "The people who can build highways for you are all here, why would I bring out my measly few hundred thousand to embarrass myself?"

Everyone tried to mediate again, but Mr. Zhu didn't sit down half-heartedly as before. Instead, he looked directly at Qiao Xia and said, "If you want me to sit down, fine. Didn't you want to stand up for the mayor? You drink this glass of wine for her."

Everyone turned to look at Qiao Xia. Although no one spoke, their eyes held a faint sense of pressure.

Qiao Xia was simply too young to be trusted, and the others were even less willing to lose President Zhu, who had repeatedly given them money.

But they didn't want to really offend anyone, so they used their numbers to put pressure on each other with their eyes.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Qiao Xia raised her wine glass...