Chapter 335: Call Me Uncle!

"Such a big formation?"

Li Xuewu and Yang Zongfang were chatting and walking downstairs when they were stopped by the duty officer standing on the third floor just as they reached the second floor.

Li Xuewu didn't take it seriously at first and asked casually, "Who?"

But the duty officer replied that it was a woman named Zhou Wang Yamei.

Hearing this, Li Xuewu turned around and went upstairs quickly.

The first sentence Zhou Wang Yamei said to Li Xuewu was: Little Qi killed someone, and then she said they were at the Qianshan Ski Resort.

Li Xuewu originally wanted to continue asking, but the phone hung up after a noisy commotion.

Knowing that Zhou Wang Yamei and Gu Ning were going out to play today, and Little Qi was also sent by him, now that Little Qi was in trouble, it must be because of Gu Ning.

Because Qi Delong knew the relationship between Gu Ning and Li Xuewu, he must have fired his gun for Gu Ning.

If this happened to someone else, they would have panicked, but Li Xuewu didn't. He picked up the phone and called Nie Liansheng.

This was the procedure. No matter why Little Qi killed someone, it was on Steel City territory.

Fu Haibo's case was different; that was Fu Changhua committing a crime in Beijing, which was why they came to arrest Fu Haibo.

Little Qi getting into trouble here still had to be handled by Nie Liansheng.

Li Xuewu put down the phone and walked downstairs, gave Yang Zongfang, who was waiting for him on the second floor, his thoughts on handling Yang Mingsu's mother and daughter, and also asked Yang Zongfang to ask for leave on his behalf, then took Han Zhan downstairs.

By the time Li Xuewu drove the command vehicle to the Qianshan Ski Resort, he saw quite a few people surrounding the platform of the service office.

By now, quite a few vehicles were parked in the parking lot. Li Xuewu had Han Zhan park, and he walked toward the crowd first.

Just as he reached the edge of the crowd, he heard people in the crowd discussing the dead person, saying all sorts of things, as if they had all seen it.

And on the platform, there were some rough voices roaring, "A life for a life."

"Come, let us through."

Li Xuewu pushed the crowd aside and walked inside.

At first, no one gave way to Li Xuewu. They had finally squeezed into a position to watch the fun, why should they give up their spot to him?

But seeing a scarred-face strong man over 1.8 meters tall bringing an armed person carrying a Type 56, they knew public officials had arrived, so they all made a path for Li Xuewu.

The people standing on the platform also discovered the abnormality of the surrounding crowd and turned their gazes toward this side.

And Li Xuewu's first sentence upon walking onto the platform was: "Such a big formation?"

To talk about the formation, it was truly not small.

A corpse was lying on the ground. Don't ask Li Xuewu why he was so assertive; why wasn't the person lying on the ground someone who could still be saved?

Because Li Xuewu saw that the back half of the person's head was gone, and there was a large pool of blood on the concrete platform.

Someone didn't know who shoveled some snow to cover it, and now it looked even more terrifying.

Standing beside the corpse was a middle-aged man in a security uniform, looking at Li Xuewu's side.

Facing the security guard were seven or eight young men in uniform clothing, each looking at the security guard with anger.

The rough voices Li Xuewu heard when he walked in should have been them.

Seeing Li Xuewu, although he wasn't wearing a uniform, Li Xuewu's aura and the armed personnel behind him still made the few focus their attention on Li Xuewu.

This middle-aged security guard should be the security guard of the ski resort. Seeing Li Xuewu speak, he frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"

Li Xuewu didn't answer but asked, "Where is the person who fired the gun?"

Perhaps seeing Li Xuewu's status was unusual, he pointed to the medical room behind him and said, "The city police team has arrived and is questioning him."

Li Xuewu looked at the few young men, then bypassed the pool of blood at the security guard's feet and headed toward the medical room.

There were already people at the entrance of the medical room, but seeing the security guard in charge didn't stop him, they let Li Xuewu in.

And seeing Li Xuewu enter, those young men were furious, pointing at the security guard and shouting that they wanted to follow in.

Han Zhan listened to the cursing of these people, took the Type 56 he was carrying off his back, held it in his hand, and stood at the entrance.

There, with Han Zhan standing like that, those young men didn't dare to rush forward anymore, except for glaring angrily.

Was it not afraid of accidental discharge when pulling the bolt and leveling the muzzle?

"Are you going to talk or not?"

"If you don't talk, we'll handle you according to the law!"

There were quite a few people in the medical room. Gu Ning and Zhou Wang Yamei were holding the child, sitting on the wooden bench against the wall.

Fu Zhidong was somewhat scared, hiding in his mother's arms and secretly looking over there.

And Qi Delong was handcuffed with both hands, sitting on a stool being guarded by two security guards. Opposite the desk, Nie Liansweng and two others were interrogating him.

Li Xuewu frowned as soon as he entered the room and saw Qi Delong's situation. When Nie Liansweng stood up to greet him, he waved his hand to signal Nie Liansweng not to speak first.

"Let go."

Li Xuewu walked to the desk, his face cold, and said to the two security guards who were pressing Qi Delong.

These two security guards didn't know who Li Xuewu was, how he could be so arrogant.

They weren't in the same system, who cared who you were?

These two security guards pressed down at the same time and glanced at Li Xuewu provocatively.

And Li Xuewu didn't tolerate them, directly took the gun out of his pocket, and racked the slide with his left hand.

Of course, Li Xuewu was a civilized person; he just held the gun in his hand.

His eyes were fixed on the security guards and said, "Last time, let go!"

"Li Chu, listen to me..."

Nie Liansweng saw Li Xuewu's temper was so explosive and he had even drawn his gun, so he wanted to step forward to persuade him.

But before Nie Liansweng's hand touched Li Xuewu, he saw Li Xuewu raise his hand and fire a shot at the two security guards.

"Bang!"

This shot not only startled Nie Liansweng, but even the two people in uniform sitting opposite the desk stood up with pale faces.

And the two security guards who were pressing Qi Delong were scared directly to the ground.

"Damn it! This shot counts as me missing. If your ears are stuffed with donkey hair again, I'll open an eye on your head to serve as an ear."

Li Xuewu shook the gun in his hand and didn't look at the two interrogators who had already drawn their guns and were pointing them at him.

"Are you hurt?"

Nie Liansweng's heart was thumping now. Seeing Li Xuewu had no intention of continuing to fire, he signaled the two security guards who were hesitating whether to continue forward to stand back.

And what surprised everyone in the room was that Li Xuewu's first question was whether his own comrade was hurt.

The people outside were also startled by the gunshot in the room, and no one was noisy anymore, all looking through the glass of the medical room.

Qi Delong raised his head to look at Li Xuewu, shook his head somewhat guiltily, and said, "No, not hurt."

Although he said he wasn't hurt, Li Xuewu still saw the fist mark on Qi Delong's face.

Nie Liansweng walked to Li Xuewu's ear at this time and whispered, "The one who died outside is from the Steel City Steel Mill, and these two are cadres from the Steel Mill Security Section."

Li Xuewu pushed Nie Liansweng away and asked with a frown, "Who allowed you to interrogate him? Do you have the right, or do they have the right?"

As he spoke, he looked contemptuously at the two people standing on the side pointing guns at him and said, "Steel City Steel Mill is nothing."

"Hey! How can you talk like that, comrade?"

Seeing Li Xuewu didn't continue to use his gun, these two people also put their guns down under Nie Liansweng's signal.

But they were very angry at Li Xuewu's words; they had never seen such a low-quality cadre.

"I don't care who you are. Killing our people in Steel City, we have the right to interrogate."

"Go, go, go."

Li Xuewu squinted his eyes and tossed his head at the middle-aged man who was glaring at him, saying, "Where is it cooler, go wait there. Where is this? Is it in your courtyard? Did Steel City Steel Mill open this ski resort?"

After scolding the man who was glaring at him, Li Xuewu turned his head and asked Nie Liansweng with a frown, "Can you handle this matter?"

Nie Liansweng knew what Li Xuewu meant, which was whether he could let Li Xuewu take the person away and handle the follow-up.

"This... Li Chu, you know me... how about I take him back first..."

"Forget it, if I take him back, what the hell do I need you for!"

Li Xuewu waved his hand to stop Nie Liansweng's dilemma, turned his head to the two people in the Steel Mill Security Section, and said, "Don't say I'm bullying you with my status. Nie Liansweng is right here. I don't need him to talk nonsense. Today I will handle the office on the spot."

As he spoke, he patted the gun on the table and said, "See? This is my attitude. I will ask my own people myself. If he made a mistake, I don't need you to do it; I will shoot him now."

As he spoke, he ignored Nie Liansweng's ugly expression and said, "But if it's not our side's fault, then don't blame me for using power to suppress people."

The two people in the Steel Mill Security Section were also seeing such an arrogant person for the first time.

Not to mention their status, directly showing their weapons, and this style was exactly the "protecting the calf" style from the army.

Thinking of the sentence Li Xuewu sprayed at Nie Liansweng just now, "Do you have the right," these two didn't dare to speak anymore.

But they still held their pistols and stood on the side looking at Li Xuewu. They wanted to see how Li Xuewu would handle the office on the spot.

After speaking, Li Xuewu took the key out of his pocket, unlocked the handcuffs for Qi Delong, and threw the handcuffs on the table.

The security guards in the room and the people brought by Nie Liansweng saw Li Xuewu's actions and were about to move.

But seeing Nie Liansweng and the Security Section leader didn't give instructions, they all stood still.

Nie Liansweng didn't move because he knew Li Xuewu's identity and energy, and the two people in the Steel Mill Security Section were because they knew Nie Liansweng's identity. Since he didn't say anything, it meant Li Xuewu couldn't run away.

"Speak, tell the story from beginning to end."

Li Xuewu pushed aside the big Type 54 Qi Delong had placed on the table, took the ashtray, and said to Qi Delong while lighting his cigarette.

Qi Delong received Li Xuewu's order, eased the pain on his face, and began to narrate the process of the matter from the beginning.

Zhou Wang Yamei bringing Gu Ning to ski today was to let Gu Ning relax and relieve her nervous emotions.

So after skiing with Gu Ning once, she loosened Gu Ning's clothes and skied two more times with Gu Ning.

After all, it was the first time playing, so there were always mistakes, and snow fell into their necks and sleeves.

But this time, Gu Ning showed a rare smile, chatting and laughing with Zhou Wang Yamei, and even played in the snow twice.

Just when the two were joking, someone skied from the slope to in front of them, as if unintentionally, and rushed toward them.

Because they were all wearing skis, they couldn't avoid it.

That person rushed toward Zhou Wang Yamei, who was wearing the brightest light.

Gu Ning was also startled, thinking it was just an unavoidable mistake.

But when she went to pull Zhou Wang Yamei, she heard Zhou Wang Yamei's scream: What are you doing!

Seeing that person's hand wasn't honest, Gu Ning also knew this person was doing it on purpose, so she kicked that person's hand away and pulled Zhou Wang Yamei out.

Gu Ning kicked this kick hard, which also caused trouble.

This young man was one of those young people who came to ski with them and met at the entrance of the service office.

"Damn, you dare kick me!"

This young man stood up and slapped Gu Ning, but Gu Ning dodged back, and the slap hit the air.

Seeing the dispute, the group of people gathered around.

Seeing the swelling on their companion's wrist, they surrounded Gu Ning and the two.

Qi Delong, who was standing on the hillside, had long seen the matter here. He grabbed Fu Zhidong, who was still playing with snow, snatched a tire a child was playing with, and sat on the tire with Fu Zhidong and slid down.

Coming for Gu Ning, these people naturally wanted to take advantage. After all, when skiing, who could say if it was intentional?

Qi Delong didn't care about these people. He stopped the tire with his feet in front of them, pushed the crowd away, and wanted to rescue Gu Ning and Zhou Wang Yamei.

Zhou Wang Yamei was panicked and took the child handed over by Qi Delong. Before she could react, she heard a "bang."

Then she saw the young man in front fall to the ground, while the others scattered like birds and beasts.

And Qi Delong also said that the reason he fired was because someone opposite took out a dagger and went for Gu Ning.

Li Xuewu asked, "Was it the one who died outside who held the dagger?"

Qi Delong nodded and said, "Yes!"

Li Xuewu nodded and signaled Qi Delong to continue.

And the subsequent things were normal. Qi Delong brought Zhou Wang Yamei and the others to the service office and let Zhou Wang Yamei go to the medical room first, preparing to call Li Xuewu.

But before he could act, he was stopped by the ski resort's security.

The security at the service office was very cunning, watching both sides and offending neither.

But both sides were treated roughly the same and called for people.

And the service office called the city, so Nie Liansweng received Li Xuewu's call, and then received the leader's order.

Nie Liansweng and the Steel Mill comrades arrived one after another.

When they arrived, the person had already been moved here, and the crowd had surrounded them.

After looking at the deceased, these few entered the room to interrogate Qi Delong.

But Qi Delong remained silent after confirming Zhou Wang Yamei had made the call.

Li Xuewu reached out and pinched Qi Delong's face, looked left and right, and asked, "Who hit you?"

Qi Delong looked at the two security guards behind him, and both of them turned pale and took a step back.

Before Li Xuewu could speak, Nie Liansweng had already stood in front of the two and blocked Li Xuewu's line of sight.

"Handling the case is the priority."

Li Xuewu heard Nie Liansweng's persuasion, turned his head, and asked the two Steel Mill Security Section cadres with a squint, "I've already said what my people said. I know you don't believe it. Now let's ask your people."

Nie Liansweng stopped the two Steel Mill cadres who were about to speak and said to Li Xuewu, "Let me ask."

Li Xuewu turned his head to look at Nie Liansweng and asked with a curl of his lip, not giving any face, "Why didn't you do it earlier?"

After speaking, he ignored Nie Liansweng, took the big Type 54 on the table with his left hand holding the cigarette, and walked to the young man standing at the entrance and fired a shot.

"Bang!"

This young man had been grabbed by the hair and slapped by Han Zhan outside the door. When he entered, he felt somewhat aggrieved seeing his leader, and even more unconvinced seeing Li Xuewu glaring at him.

This time, seeing Li Xuewu firing at the ground, he was already scared, but seeing Li Xuewu fire at the ground, he was scared.

"Kneel!"

This young man felt his legs go soft, especially the aura of this scarred-face man, and after seeing Li Xuewu's cold eyes, he confirmed that if he didn't kneel, this person would really dare to kill him.

"Thump~"

The floor of the medical room was made of broken wood from the mountain, very thick, and kneeling on it would have a very solid, heavy feeling.

This kneeling made Nie Liansweng's face turn green, and the two Steel Mill cadres were even more red with anger.

Li Xuewu raised his right hand slightly, pointed the still-warm muzzle directly at the young man's head, and sent his left hand to his mouth to take a puff of the cigarette.

"I'm asking you now, was that person outside intentionally rushing toward the woman?"

This young man couldn't feel the temperature of the muzzle on his head, but felt it was very cold.

"I... I don't kno..."

"Click."

Before the young man could finish, Li Xuewu pressed the muzzle against the young man's forehead and said, "Answer carefully. This will not only affect your future, but if you dare to commit perjury or cover up, I guarantee you will regret this moment for the rest of your life."

Although the young man couldn't see Li Xuewu's expression, the cold words of the person on top of his head drilled into his ears word by word.

"I... I..."

Li Xuewu squatted down, lifted the young man's forehead with the muzzle, and looked at the young man's dodging eyes, asking, "Listen well, now you just need to nod or shake your head, understand?"

Seeing the young man didn't react, Li Xuewu applied force, and the young man nodded.

"That person was intentionally bumping into the woman over there, right?"

The young man just wanted to raise his head to look at his leader, but felt a pain in his head.

"Damn it, I'm asking you, who are you looking at? Look at him, does he know?"

Li Xuewu swung the gun and hit the young man, then flipped his hand, gripped the muzzle, and swung the gun handle at the young man's head.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Li Xuewu's strength wasn't small, hitting the young man until he covered his head and dodged. The two Steel Mill security cadres were about to point their guns at Li Xuewu.

But with a "clatter," Han Zhan opened the door and walked in with his gun.

54 vs 56, although the difference was only 2, the two in the Steel Mill weren't 2, and very wisely stopped their actions.

The young man on the ground was beaten by Li Xuewu until he couldn't take it anymore. Seeing his leader didn't dare to speak for him, he could only beg for mercy.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! Zhong Shigao did it on purpose! Stop hitting me!"

Although the young man said the person did it on purpose, Li Xuewu hit him even harder.

People outside the window could feel Li Xuewu's ruthlessness, hitting all the bony places.

"Stop hitting! Stop hitting!"

After the young man begged for mercy many times, Li Xuewu stopped, stood up, spat out the cigarette butt in his mouth, and looked at the two Steel Mill people with contempt.

"Call another one in!"

Han Zhan looked at the two Steel Mill security cadres in the room and walked out the door.

Nie Liansweng didn't give Li Xuewu face earlier, and later was shot down by Li Xuewu twice, so he didn't dare to touch Li Xuewu's bad luck now.

After Han Zhan pushed a person in, Li Xuewu beckoned to the person who came in with the small hammer and asked, "Tell me, was that Zhong Shigao intentionally rushing toward the woman over there?"

This young man had already seen his companion's miserable state outside the window, and seeing the visual impact when he entered the room, he was even more shocked.

"Yes!"

Just as Li Xuewu was about to raise his hand, the young man replied very quickly, "He said he wanted to tease the woman over there."

Li Xuewu put down the hand he had raised and signaled him to continue while biting the cigarette butt.

This young man didn't dare to look at his leader's expression, which was about to eat him, and said with his head lowered, "We tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen."

Li Xuewu pointed to the corpse outside and asked, "Did he have a dagger? Did he go for that girl?"

The young man nodded and said, "He did have a dagger. His brother gave it to him to play with, and he even showed it off to us."

Small groups are like this. Don't look at how they are like one person usually, all heroes, very loyal.

But when things happen, they find out they are all heroes of Wagang Village.

Li Xuewu signaled the young man to squat down, then said to Han Zhan at the door, "Bring another one in!"

This time, without Han Zhan doing anything, one of the few who saw Li Xuewu didn't move came out and walked over.

The two Steel Mill security cadres saw Li Xuewu calling another one in. Was this because he didn't think they had lost enough face and wanted to continue slapping their faces?

The two looked at each other, then looked at Nie Liansweng.

Nie Liansweng got their look, took a deep breath, walked over, and said to Li Xuewu, "I think this is enough, right? It's already very clear."

"Is it clear?"

Li Xuewu bit the cigarette, turned his head, squinted his eyes, and looked at Nie Liansweng, asking, "That's not right, is it? I haven't finished asking yet. I think there's still more to ask in this case."

Nie Liansweng's brain was "thumping" with pain. If this case involved these people...

Li Xuewu didn't wait for Nie Liansweng to speak, pointed at Qi Delong, and said, "He has the right to shoot and kill people who attack them while performing secret missions, and also has the right not to answer anyone's questions, and now I want to investigate the problems of these people."

"And!"

Li Xuewu stared at the two Steel Mill security cadres and said with a squint, "I want to know, why did you ask about his identity and purpose?"

"You!"

These two also knew things were bad. This mad dog was going to bite people!

Nie Liansweng was a local person and a third party, so he had to stand up.

"Li Chu, let me say one sentence!"

Seeing Li Xuewu going for those two, Nie Liansweng hugged Li Xuewu and whispered, "I beg you, I will definitely give you an explanation!"

Li Xuewu pushed Nie Liansweng away and asked with contempt, "Are you sure?"

Nie Liansweng nodded and said, "I'm sure!"

Li Xuewu turned his head to look at the two and said, "Don't ask what shouldn't be asked in the future, damn it!"

After speaking, he ignored the two people's flushed faces and turned to walk toward Qi Delong.

Seeing Li Xuewu coming over, Qi Delong stood up directly.

Li Xuewu walked to Qi Delong and slapped him directly.

This not only stunned Qi Delong, but everyone inside and outside the room was stunned.

And Li Xuewu used the M1911 to point at the big Type 54 on the table and said, "Look at your virtue. What is a gun for? Remember, if you dare to hand over your weapon to others again, just get out. I don't raise soft eggs here!"

"Yes!"

Qi Delong tucked the big Type 54 into the holster, turned around, and rushed toward the two security guards who hit him.

Not to mention how strong the two's fighting ability was, just saying how hard Qi Delong was trained by the team members at the Rolling Mill, hitting them was like playing.

Li Xuewu ignored Qi Delong behind him, walked to Gu Ning and Zhou Wang Yamei, and said softly, "Let's go, let's go home."

Gu Ning stood up and took Li Xuewu's hand.

And Zhou Wang Yamei also stood up holding the child, glanced at Li Xuewu, and walked out from the door opened by Han Zhan.

Li Xuewu held Gu Ning's hand while walking out and said to the two Steel Mill security cadres standing on the side, "You guys cultivate this kind of trash? Heh."

Qi Delong beat the two down and followed Li Xuewu out the door.

"Buzz!"

Seeing Li Xuewu lead people out, especially the person who just shot and killed someone, the crowd watching outside all gasped, and then whispered to each other.

Li Xuewu ignored these people and led Gu Ning to the vehicle.

Gu Ning was held by Li Xuewu, looking at Li Xuewu while walking.

Li Xuewu came down from the steps, threw the cigarette butt in his hand, turned his head, and asked Gu Ning, "Is skiing fun?"

Gu Ning looked into Li Xuewu's eyes, nodded, and said, "It's okay."

"Heh."

Li Xuewu smiled, "You can also play on the mountains near Beijing. I'll take you back later."

Gu Ning turned her head to look ahead and said, "Okay."

Han Zhan opened the door, letting Li Xuewu and Gu Ning board the vehicle.

Zhou Wang Yamei was arranged by Qi Delong to board the vehicle she drove.

Han Zhan led the way, started the vehicle, and set off. Qi Delong's vehicle followed, and the two vehicles left the Qianshan Ski Resort under everyone's gaze.

Inside the medical room, Nie Liansweng looked at the young man lying on the ground and the two young men standing at the entrance feeling uncomfortable, and waved his hand to signal them to go out.

He also signaled the two security guards in the room to go out.

These few looked at their leader, and seeing the leader's face was bad, they all went out the door.

"Who is he?"

Steel City is the Steel Mill's boss enterprise, and the Steel Mill's cadres naturally have big tempers.

They really hadn't suffered such a big loss, so the leading cadre naturally wasn't convinced. 【335-235

Li Xuewu stepped down from the stairs, threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, turned his head, and asked Gu Ning, "Is skiing fun?"

Gu Ning looked into Li Xuewu's eyes, nodded, and said, "It's alright."

"Heh heh."

Li Xuewu laughed and said, "You can also ski on the mountains near the capital; I'll take you later."

Gu Ning turned her head to look ahead and said, "Okay."

Han Zhan opened the car door, letting Li Xuewu and Gu Ning get in.

As for Zhou Wang Yamei, she was arranged by Qi Delong to take the car he had driven himself.

Han Zhan took the lead and drove off, with Qi Delong's car following behind; the two vehicles left the Qianshan Ski Resort under the gaze of the crowd.

Inside the medical room, Nie Liansheng looked at the young man lying on the ground and the two young men standing uncomfortably at the door, then waved his hand to signal them to leave.

He also signaled the two security guards in the room to leave.

These few people looked at their leader, and seeing the leader's poor complexion, they all walked out the door.

"Who is he?"

The steel mill is the biggest enterprise in Steel City, and the cadres of the steel mill naturally have big tempers.

They truly had never suffered such a big loss, so the leading cadre was naturally unconvinced.

"Sigh~"

Nie Liansheng let out a sigh and said, "It's better to avoid trouble than to invite it; let it go, they aren't people we can afford to provoke."

The cadre looked at Nie Liansheng with a gloomy expression and said, "If you won't tell me, I can still find their license plate number."

"You dare!"

Nie Liansheng changed his "good guy" attitude, stared at the leading steel mill cadre with triangular eyes, and said, "Don't think that just because I give you face, you don't know your own weight."

As he spoke, he took two steps forward and said to the two of them, "I'll put my words here: if they suffer any mishap in Steel City, I won't be able to get off easy, so I'll kill you two first!"

Where there is someone playing the bad cop, there is naturally someone playing the good cop.

Another cadre from the steel mill grabbed Nie Liansheng's arm and said in a gentle tone, "Old Nie, our relationship hasn't been just a day or two; what kind of person is he exactly? Is it really necessary?"

Nie Liansheng didn't want to offend the two either; one could tell from his attitude of wanting to smooth things over that he also cared about the relationship with the steel mill side.

"I, Nie Liansheng, never deceive friends. That person is truly someone you can't afford to provoke. If you are looking for death, don't drag me into it. I've said all I have to say; you decide for yourselves."

After speaking, he pointed at the corpse outside the door and said, "Assaulting an officer, obstructing official duties, indecency, armed coercion."

Having finished speaking, he opened the door and walked out.

In the car, Li Xuewu kept holding Gu Ning's hand; Gu Ning tried to pull it out, but Li Xuewu persisted, so she let him hold it.

"I remember there's a vegetable market on the way; let's go take a look."

"Okay."

Han Zhan agreed, not looking back, and kept his hands on the steering wheel while looking ahead.

Li Xuewu's actions today truly moved Han Zhan; choosing the right leader is even more important than choosing the right wife.

Qi Delong saw Han Zhan's car turn the corner and followed along.

The two cars parked in front of the vegetable market entrance.

By the time Zhou Wang Yamei got out of the car holding the child, Li Xuewu and Gu Ning were already standing at the entrance waiting for them.

Han Zhan and Qi Delong followed behind, and the five adults plus one child walked into the vegetable market.

There aren't too many things to sell in the winter market, but there is still variety.

Li Xuewu and Gu Ning were just like a young couple passing by the vegetable market after work to buy groceries.

"I'll take some potatoes."

The salesperson rolled her eyes upon hearing Li Xuewu's words and asked unpleasantly, "How much is 'some'?"

"Two jin!"

Zhou Wang Yamei stood behind holding the child, and seeing the two of them stunned at the same time, she quickly stated the specific weight.

Zhou Wang Yamei had figured it out: neither of these two was the type who knew how to cook; buying groceries here was just buying whatever they saw and liked—they were completely just strolling around.

The thick, sour, rotten smell in the air was even felt by Fu Zhidong.

"Mom, Brother and Aunt Gu..."

"Shh!"

Zhou Wang Yamei made a gesture to her son, signaling him to be quiet.

Fu Zhidong stared with wide eyes, looking at his mother in confusion, not knowing why this couldn't be asked.

Li Xuewu, on the other hand, acted like nothing was wrong, wanting to buy a little of everything he saw.

He had said last night that they would buy groceries upon returning, so as soon as they arrived at the guesthouse this morning, he exchanged coupons with the local staff.

National grain coupons were exchanged for vegetable coupons, egg coupons, and fish coupons.

He had originally wanted to buy a large carp, but unfortunately, there weren't any.

However, there was hairtail—very wide hairtail.

"Braised hairtail?"

"Okay."

Whatever Li Xuewu asked, Gu Ning answered "Okay."

Then Zhou Wang Yamei told the salesperson the weight, Li Xuewu handed over the coupons and money, and Han Zhan and Qi Delong—who had a slap mark on his face—competed to carry the items.

After walking a circle, they bought quite a lot, and at the aquatic stall, they even encountered someone selling hashima.

Li Xuewu negotiated with the salesperson to replace the aquatic coupons with national grain coupons.

After a silent communication of "you understand, I understand" between the two, the salesperson turned a blind eye and let Li Xuewu buy all the hashima.

Li Xuewu took one out, gripped it in his hand, and said to Gu Ning with a smile, "This stuff is delicious."

"Mm."

Gu Ning was a bit afraid of this kind of toad and didn't dare to look at the one Li Xuewu had taken out.

Fu Zhidong, however, liked this thing very much; seeing Li Xuewu gripping it in his hand, he stared with wide eyes, watching it carefully and happily.

"Thank you..."

Zhou Wang Yamei took this opportunity to express her gratitude to Li Xuewu.

Li Xuewu shook the hashima in his hand to stop Zhou Wang Yamei from continuing, saying, "I said that in the medical room on purpose to scare them; you don't need to take it to heart. Just live your life well from now on."

"I know."

Zhou Wang Yamei nodded and said, "Not just this time, but I also want to thank you for the care you've always shown my son and me."

Li Xuewu pointed at Gu Ning, who was tilting her head and not daring to look this way, and laughed, "Heh heh, explain to Gu Ning later how I took care of you, otherwise I won't be able to return to the capital."

Gu Ning turned her head to look at Li Xuewu, then immediately turned and walked out of the market.

Li Xuewu smiled, took Fu Zhidong from Zhou Wang Yamei's hands, and signaled to head back.

The group followed Gu Ning's footsteps toward the entrance.

"Brother, can I touch this toad?"

"Call him Uncle!"

Zhou Wang Yamei walked in front, turned her head, and emphasized to her son, who kept forgetting how to address Li Xuewu.

Fu Zhidong hesitated and thought for a while; by the time they reached the car, he hesitantly pointed at the hashima and changed his address to Li Xuewu: "Brother, can I touch this Uncle?"

"Pfft~"

"Pfft~ Hahaha!"

Fu Zhidong stared with wide eyes, not knowing what everyone was laughing at.

Especially his mother, who was laughing the hardest—didn't you tell me to call him Uncle?

Even Gu Ning, standing by the car, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Li Xuewu carried Fu Zhidong into the passenger seat and placed his "Uncle" into his hands.

Fu Zhidong, having gotten his wish, ignored the jokes of his mother and Aunt Gu in the back seat and focused intently on the hashima in his hands.

The motorcade set off again and returned to the villa along the road.

It was as quiet and leisurely as ever here.

Li Xuewu sent Gu Ning and the others back to the room, placed Fu Zhidong—who was holding his "Uncle"—on the sofa, turned to Gu Ning, and said, "It's still early; you guys eat first, then sleep for a while. If I come back for dinner tonight, I'll call you; if there's no call, you guys just eat, don't wait for me."

After speaking, he took Han Zhan and Qi Delong back to the steel mill.

After parking the car, Li Xuewu jumped out, looked at Qi Delong, whose face was swollen, and said, "Go back to your room and apply a hot towel; you can be on duty again tomorrow morning."

"Li Kezhang, I..."

"Stop talking nonsense; if the Li Kezhang tells you to go, just go!"

Han Zhan pushed Qi Delong and told him to go upstairs first.

Li Xuewu saw Qi Delong enter the room, turned his head, narrowed his eyes, and said to Han Zhan, "Investigate the one who died and those two cadres. Don't come back these next few days; just investigate this."

"I understand."

Li Xuewu pointed at the command vehicle and said, "Bring the gear."

"Yes!"

Han Zhan took a Type 56 out of the command vehicle and pulled two "wow-sais" (grenades) out of the trunk.

Having suffered the loss of being besieged last time, he definitely wouldn't let them run away this time.

Li Xuewu watched Han Zhan drive off in the jeep, took one more look at the patrol car, and turned to go upstairs.

On the third floor, as soon as Li Xuewu came up, he saw Yang Zongfang walking out of the interrogation room.

"You're back?"

Seeing the smile on Yang Zongfang's face from far away, Li Xuewu knew everything had gone smoothly.

"Mm, ran into a little trouble, but fortunately it's resolved."

Li Xuewu followed Yang Zongfang to the entrance of the conference room, and they lit cigarettes for each other.

"Let's go; Yang Shuji happens to want to hold a meeting."

When the two entered the conference room, Yang Shuji and the others were already there.

"You're back?"

"Yes."

Li Xuewu had asked Yang Zongfang for leave, but hadn't said what he was going to do. Now that the matter was resolved, he didn't tell Yang Shuji either.

"Let's put our heads together, report on the progress of the case, and discuss the direction of our next steps."

Yang Shuji waved his hand to tell Li Xuewu and Yang Zongfang to sit, then looked at Yang Zongfang and said, "Zongfang, you introduce the situation."

"Yes."

Yang Zongfang placed his notebook on the table and said with a serious expression, "Following the control of Luo Jiaping, Yang Mingsu, Yu Decai, and Luo Cheng on the first day..."

"... and the control of Xiao Changqing and Lu Yazhen on the second day, along with the confessions from the deputy section-level cadres interviewed over these two days, the outline of the case now has a general scope."

"Led by steel mill director Luo Jiaping, assisted by Yang Mingsu in charge of finance, a corrupt group composed of Luo Cheng, Fu Haibo, and others has been substituting inferior goods for quality ones in the steel mill's procurement business."

"They have been creating small cliques and factions within the steel mill, fostering cronies, and abusing their authority."

Yang Zongfang pointed at his notebook and said, "This can be known during the process of interviewing the cadres; the steel mill has been thoroughly corroded by this group."

"Indeed."

Yang Shuji nodded and said seriously, "Even cadres like Xiao Changqing had no choice but to rely on these people's whims and act as living decorations."

"Extremely rampant."

A cadre from the Discipline Inspection Commission said angrily, "People like this should be set as examples and handled severely, letting them stink for ten thousand years."

Yang Shuji waved his hand and said, "We'll talk about that later. For now, let's talk about what to do next. Our time is tight and our task is heavy; if we can't break through these people at the steel mill, it will be even more troublesome when we return to the steel rolling mill."