“Okay, then I’ll lead the men to continue working.” Chen Jianguo nodded and went back to work.

Chen Feng and Xia Yingying carefully examined the stone.

"It's in really good condition, but it's still a bit different from my diamond-shaped piece."

"The two ends are not symmetrical. At first glance, they seem to be the same length, but upon closer inspection, you can see that they are not the same."

"But finding this kind of ore is already a blessing from God." Chen Feng held the stone in his hand, finally feeling relieved.

"How are you going to give it to him?" Xia Yingying asked.

"Let's wait for him to come, and then find an opportunity to secretly give it to him," Chen Feng said, rubbing the ore between his fingers.

"Then tomorrow we'll go to the county town and find a place to buy some nice gift boxes and package them up. That way they'll look much more elegant."

“After all, even the best things will seem cheap if you just give them to him like this.”

Xia Yingying made a suggestion beside him.

“Okay, let’s go tomorrow and pick out a nice gift box to wrap it up,” Chen Feng said, stuffing the ore into his pocket.

Around 10 p.m., Chen Feng and Xia Yingying went home, and the mine closed for the night at 11 p.m.

With goods on hand, there's no need to rush.

The next day, Chen Jianguo led the people to work, while Chen Feng and Xia Yingying went to the county town to choose gift boxes.

Xia Yingying looked for a long time before finally settling on a red gift box, the perfect size to hold the ore.

Although the gift box looked nice, it was really expensive, costing Chen Feng over a hundred yuan. He just listened to the salesperson's persuasive sales pitch.

With its velvet satin finish and handmade silk lining, it's definitely worth every penny.

Chen Feng couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, he just knew it looked pretty good.

"Since we're already here, let's just buy whatever we want and go shopping," Chen Feng said after paying the bill.

"Aren't you in a hurry to go back? Aren't you going to pick out any goods?" Xia Yingying asked, turning around.

"Hey, I had Huang Fei pick some at the mine, but I feel it's hard to find anything better than this." Chen Feng didn't have much hope.

"Let's go shopping! I haven't been shopping since we arrived," Xia Yingying said happily, pulling Chen Feng's arm.

If work suddenly turned into play, anyone would probably feel this way.

A few more days passed, and just as Chen Feng had predicted, although some more ore was found, the quality was not as good as the one Xia Yingying had chosen.

Moreover, the more gold was mined, the more it piled up, almost forming a small mountain. At night, Li Chunlai and his men simply lay down on the gold mine to sleep.

In his words, being able to sleep on a mountain of gold in his lifetime is a worthwhile experience.

Meanwhile, Wang Shan had already arrived in the city, where city leaders came out to greet him.

"Leader, welcome to inspect our work. It's my greatest honor." Xiahou stepped forward with a bright smile, beaming with joy.

"Well, let's start with people's livelihood and see how things go." Wang Shan shook hands with him and said calmly.

He didn't like sitting and listening to them talk; he preferred to walk around and observe.

Of course, he didn't need to explain anything to him; he just needed to tell him what to do.

"Alright, boss, let's talk in the car, please." Xiahou respectfully invited Wang Shan into the car, and then he followed.

"Look, sir, this is the newly widened main road in our city. It used to be always congested, and citizens frequently complained about it. Now that it's finished, the citizens are very satisfied," Xiahou explained to him.

"Hmm." Wang Shan looked outside but didn't say anything.

They walked around like this for the whole morning. Wang Shan pointed out many things that needed to be corrected, and Xiahou nodded repeatedly, saying that he still had many shortcomings.

"By the way, has a gold mine been discovered in your city?"

After lunch, Wang Shan leaned back in his chair and looked at Xiahou.

"Yes, yes, boss, I was just about to tell you about this. A large gold mine has been discovered in our city, with an estimated scale of around 10 billion. Would you like to go and inspect it this afternoon?" Xiahou was eager for him to bring up the topic, so he quickly followed up.

"Of course we'll go. There aren't many mineral resources this large in the whole province, especially here. Let's set off in a bit," Wang Shan said.

"Okay, let's get started now. As we walk, I'll explain the specifics of the mine to you."

Xiahou cleared his throat, and the group headed towards the mine.

“The gold mine is already in operation, but it has been repeatedly obstructed by local villagers.”

"Why?" Wang Shan asked upon hearing this.

"Because there's a local thug who also wants to contract this mine, but he doesn't have the qualifications, so he's harboring thoughts of revenge, which is putting our entrepreneurs in a difficult position," Xiahou replied.

"Then arrest him, is there even a question? Obstructing mining operations is, at the very least, a disturbance, and at worst, organized crime. What's your business?"

For the first time, Wang Shan's words carried a hint of dissatisfaction; what he hated most was this kind of concession from the law to the illegal.

"Well, boss, the situation is a bit complicated. This scoundrel went to university, a top-tier one at that, so he's quite educated and knows how to exploit loopholes, making him very difficult to deal with," Xiahou explained.

"Heavy-budget? Rogue?"

Wang Shan frowned slightly upon hearing this. How could two completely unrelated words be connected?

“He is well-versed in criminal law and is very cautious. He never leaves any evidence when he does something. For example, when he was recruiting for a local company, he sent a few thugs to throw feces and disrupt the order at the scene.”

"The impact was particularly egregious, causing psychological trauma to the company's employees, who at one point couldn't even mention the word," Xiahou said angrily.

"That's definitely the style of a thug, and those are rather despicable methods. So why not arrest him?" Wang Shan asked.

"Because he sent people to splash it, and they were masked. The scene was extremely chaotic at the time, and they took the opportunity to slip away. It's impossible to find out who exactly was involved."

Xiahou sighed.

"After the companies moved in, he sent people to smash all the tools every night, so that the companies would have no tools to use in the morning."

"They even illegally cut cables, interfering with the operation of machinery on site," Xiahou continued to complain.

"This is outrageous! This is absolutely outrageous! What are you all doing? Why aren't you arresting them?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Shan frowned even more deeply. What kind of heinous behavior was this? It was practically equivalent to organized crime!

“He always causes trouble in the middle of the night. There’s no evidence at all. Even when we arrest him, he won’t admit it. I have no choice but to let them collect evidence,” Xiahou said, shaking his head.

"Didn't they have a few people watching the scene to catch him red-handed?" Wang Shan asked, puzzled.

"We looked for them, of course we looked for them. Boss, you don't know how outrageous that kid is. When he saw that someone was on duty at night, he sent someone to pretend to be a ghost to scare them. The employees were so scared that they kept calling for their mothers."

"So no one dared to take the night shift, and they could only let him do whatever he wanted."

"Damn it, does he think there are no laws in remote rural areas? Doesn't he know this is illegal?"