Chapter 533: The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain

"What's wrong?!"

Gu Ning was lying in the bedroom; hearing Li Xuewu's hiss from the study, she crawled up in one go.

The photo frame's surface was glass; Gu Ning thought it was a bit dangerous when she looked at it just now, and the first thing she thought of was Li Xuewu being cut by the glass.

Opening the bedroom door and seeing Li Xuewu squatting on the ground with his hands behind his back, Gu Ning guessed it must be it.

She grabbed the medical kit from the cabinet in the small living room and ran to Li Xuewu's side, but when she knelt by Li Xuewu's side to look at his hands, she found that Li Xuewu was perfectly fine.

"You!"

Looking at this bad guy's wicked smile, Gu Ning knew she had been tricked and scolded, wanting to stand up.

But Li Xuewu stood up first, holding the photo in his hand and saying: "I was surprised that this photo fell to the ground; didn't expect you to care about me so much."

"Who cares about you?"

Gu Ning was helped up by Li Xuewu, but then pushed Li Xuewu's hand away and went to put the medical kit away angrily.

Li Xuewu stood in the study and smiled, saying to Gu Ning who was about to enter the bedroom again: "Come help; I can't piece this photo together no matter what, and Mom will laugh at us both when she comes."

Gu Ning wanted to enter the bedroom and ignore this annoying ghost, but thinking that her mother and sister-in-law were coming, they would definitely look at the photo frame, so she had to sigh and go to the bedroom.

Li Xuewu saw that Gu Ning didn't pay attention to him and entered the bedroom again, thinking he had made this girl angry.

But when he continued to work, he heard movement beside him.

Only to see Gu Ning take a stack of photos and put them on the table; they were the ones taken when they went for a spring outing last time.

"I'll piece it."

Gu Ning walked to Li Xuewu's side and stood, took the photos from Li Xuewu's hand, and bent down to adjust the photos.

Li Xuewu smiled, knowing this girl was thin-skinned and didn't dare to tease her anymore, turned around and moved a box to continue tidying up.

Gu Ning focused on piecing the photos, Li Xuewu focused on tidying up things, and for a while, neither of them spoke.

The sound of Fu Zhidong's playfulness could still be heard from downstairs; this was Zhou Ya Mei playing with her son in the courtyard.

Gu Ning pieced them together while looking at the people in the photos, thinking about the scene at that time.

"Clatter~"

When Li Xuewu picked up the box, the bottom collapsed, and the things in the box scattered all over the floor, making Gu Ning look over.

"What's that?"

Gu Ning went over to help, squatted down and picked up a few small boxes, which still had some weight in her hand.

"Military merit medals."

Li Xuewu smiled at Gu Ning indifferently, and then continued to tidy up the small objects on the floor.

Gu Ning opened one to look; it was a second-class one; she wasn't unfamiliar with this thing, but the box it was in wasn't the original one.

"You re-matched the box?"

"Hehe, threw the box away when I came back because it took up space."

Li Xuewu took these boxes and placed them at the bottom of the box, explaining: "It's convenient to just use a cloth bag."

After putting these boxes away, Li Xuewu placed things on top, smiled at Gu Ning who was looking at him, and said: "My grandma looked down on that cloth bag and made me one like this."

"You don't care about these?"

Gu Ning looked at the free-spirited Li Xuewu, was infected by this smile, and also laughed.

While standing up, she said to Li Xuewu: "My brother treasured his first one very much."

"How could that be? These are also my treasures."

Li Xuewu tidied up the box and stuffed it into the cabinet under the bookshelf, then turned to Gu Ning and said: "They represent past honors; because they are treasures, they are cherished."

After walking a few steps to the desk, he said to Gu Ning again: "But their only role is for me to show off to my grandchildren when I'm old, can't walk, and can't coax the naughty ones, hehe."

Gu Ning was moved by what Li Xuewu said, and also... anyway, her heart was very complicated.

Li Xuewu saw Gu Ning's appearance and added with a smile: "But don't even think about the children's generation; don't even think about it, so I have to hide them well."

Gu Ning pursed her lips and said: "It's getting late; you should go back."

Li Xuewu looked at his watch and said: "Indeed, well then, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Gu Ning stood in the small living room and watched Li Xuewu go downstairs; her heart was not calm.

Until Li Xuewu drove the car out of the small courtyard, he could still see a figure flashing by the window when he turned back to look at the second floor.

It was almost ten o'clock when he arrived at the courtyard; after parking the car, he saw his mother coming out of the inverted-seat room.

"No need to rush."

Li Xuewu said to his mother while entering the courtyard: "There are still several days left."

"If I didn't tell you to wait, could you be this late?"

Liu Yin looked at her son and said: "Didn't I tell you to come back early?"

Li Xuewu looked at the time again, then looked at his mother's back walking towards the hanging flower gate, and smiled helplessly.

Clearly, his mother had been working for so long over here just to wait for him; it really implicated the few people in the inverted-seat room to suffer along with her.

His mother-in-law didn't guard against him, but he didn't expect his mother to guard so fiercely.

"Mom~"

Li Xuewu followed his mother like a sheep, coaxing: "There's still a lot of work over there; you guys always have to have some preparation if you go over."

"What preparation?"

Liu Yin saw that only the living room was still lit in the house, thinking that everyone in the family was resting, so she didn't enter the house to talk.

Standing in the courtyard at this time, she scolded her son: "We're just going over to help; are you still being polite with your mom?"

"That's what's said."

Li Xuewu curled his lips, thinking of Gu Ning's unyielding appearance, and explained: "But we always want to leave a good impression on you guys."

"You have too many thoughts."

Liu Yin naturally couldn't talk about her daughter-in-law, so she scolded her son and waved for Li Xuewu to go back to sleep.

Li Xuewu watched his mother enter the house, curled his lips, and walked towards the back.

Just as he passed the moon gate, he heard footsteps behind him; looking back, it was Yu Li.

Li Xuewu raised his eyebrows and didn't speak, walking towards home.

After Yu Li followed him into the house, he teased with a smile: "Didn't you say you weren't coming tonight?"

"Get lost, I'm talking to you about something serious."

Yu Li said while helping Li Xuewu prepare bath water, talking about Yu Haitang coming over tonight.

She also told Li Xuewu about the situation of her sister who didn't save her heart.

After finishing, she leaned against the kitchen door and looked at Li Xuewu, asking: "What do you plan to do?"

"What do you mean what do I plan to do?"

Li Xuewu didn't care at all, took the bath towel and underwear into the bathroom, and after coming out, stood at the door looking at Yu Li and asked back: "I can't hide out of Beijing, can I?"

Yu Li curled her lips and said: "I think she's stuck in a dead end; she's been like this since she was a child."

"And it's not my fault."

Li Xuewu waved his hand and said: "If being handsome and talented counts as a mistake."

Yu Li looked at Li Xuewu who was going to the inner room to change clothes and curled her lips; this person couldn't say three serious sentences, and two unserious ones came early.

"How about you talk to her?"

"Talk about what?"

Li Xuewu's helpless voice came from the inner room: "Talk about love? If you can accept it, that's fine."

After changing into pajamas, Li Xuewu walked out, looked at Yu Li provocatively and said: "But she also has to be able to accept my principle of only talking about love and not getting married."

"You're just a little hooligan."

Yu Li scolded Li Xuewu, and seeing that the water in the bath was ready, she walked back to the kitchen and closed the water valve.

Li Xuewu shook his head indifferently and said: "Otherwise, what?"

He made a helpless gesture to Yu Li, and then walked into the bathroom while throwing off his clothes.

"Should I go and tell her, I have a..."

"Ah~!"

Yu Li rushed into the bathroom in anger and pinched Li Xuewu, who had already entered the bath.

"You only know how to mess around!"

"You're talking about me?"

Yu Li was exhausted and still hadn't communicated well with Li Xuewu on how to handle her sister's problem.

It wasn't that Yu Li cared so much about this sister, nor was it that the relationship between the two was so good, but it was the relationship between relatives at this time.

If her sister really made some unpleasantness with Li Xuewu, it wouldn't look good for her here either.

Li Xuewu didn't expect this Yu Haitang to be so persistent about him.

Li Xuewu, who had already put on his pajamas, sat on the sofa drinking hot tea, while Yu Li leaned lazily on the other sofa.

Don't misunderstand; it's only past ten o'clock, and nothing happened.

"I can't talk to her."

Li Xuewu said calmly: "Because she doesn't have this qualification, and I don't have this identity; I won't admit anything, and whatever she does is up to her."

Yu Li supported her forehead with her hand; her crossed legs were still a bit weak, but leaning against the sofa back was fine.

"She won't give up, given her personality of not listening to advice."

"Sister Yu?"

As the two were talking, a questioning voice came from the door; Li Xuewu heard it sounded like Yushui's.

"I'm here."

Yu Li looked at Li Xuewu, and then responded.

Yushui heard Yu Li respond, pushed the door and walked in, looking a bit cautious and careful, as if she was very afraid of seeing something.

Because the window of the outer door was nailed with a gauze curtain of the same style as the white curtain, one could only see if the light was on from the outside.

It was precisely because the light in the living room was on that Yushui dared to knock on the door.

However, what made her breathe a sigh of relief was that everything in the living room was normal, including Yu Li and Li Xuewu.

Seeing Li Xuewu calmly holding a teacup, and Yu Li also leaning on the sofa normally, Yushui said embarrassedly: "Seeing you hadn't gone back, they asked me to look for you."

Yu Li smiled and nodded, signaled in Li Xuewu's direction, and explained: "Talking about Haitang's matter."

"Oh?"

Yushui, of course, knew about Yu Haitang's situation; seeing Yu Li say so, she also knew Li Xuewu must have known, and at this time, she also looked at Li Xuewu.

Li Xuewu put down the teacup, signaled to Yushui, and said: "Why are you looking at me like that? As if I did something wrong."

Yushui didn't take the bait; she was an outsider, so naturally, she didn't know whether Li Xuewu and Yu Haitang had anything.

Or rather, Yu Haitang was wishful thinking, but who can say clearly about such things as feelings?

In her view, if Li Xuewu hadn't given Yu Haitang any wrong hints, then this contradiction was a bit abnormal.

Yu Li waved her hand beside her and said: "You're her classmate; help me think about how to persuade her."

Yushui looked at Li Xuewu and sat next to Yu Li on the sofa.

When sitting down, she secretly glanced at the wall clock; it was past ten o'clock, did they have to talk at this time?

Yu Li also wanted to go back early, but every time Yu Haitang came, she felt great pressure.

She wanted to handle the matter with Li Xuewu tonight, so seeing Yushui come, she didn't rush back.

"That..."

Yushui saw that neither Li Xuewu nor the two spoke, and said hesitantly: "Haitang isn't... anyway, it's only this month left, isn't it?"

"I don't care."

Li Xuewu smiled and said: "If this kind of thing can also make me think, then I shouldn't do anything else."

Yu Li curled her lips; she knew Li Xuewu would be like this.

Yu Haitang's frequent visits these past few days had already made people in the courtyard start gossiping, especially Yu Haitang's move of heading straight to the backyard today.

She was already having a hard enough time in this courtyard; adding another Yu Haitang, if it really made a scene, she might as well move early.

Yushui also understood Yu Li's situation a bit, looked at Li Xuewu and said: "You are all colleagues in the factory; isn't it better to talk it out?"

"Do you think it's playing mahjong? Open it if you want to open it."

Li Xuewu said with a smile: "She has been to my office three times; from the second time on, I hinted that it wasn't suitable, and today she confessed to me at Tuanjie Lake in front of the guesthouse, and I also rejected her very clearly."

After explaining to the two, Li Xuewu spread his hands and said: "Can't just say no directly, right? Doesn't she know I'm getting married?"

Li Xuewu stood up, walked to the coffee table, looked at Yu Li on the sofa, and said: "You should tell her that making things difficult for a man who is about to get married is a very impolite behavior."

After speaking, he went to the inner room; one Yu Haitang wasn't worth him wasting his rest time.

Yu Li stood up helplessly, looked at Yushui beside her, and asked: "Do you think she can figure it out herself?"

Yushui curled her lips; although she wasn't as close to Yu Haitang as Yu Li, she knew Yu Haitang quite well.

Looking at the direction of the inner room, Yushui hesitated for a moment and said: "Unless he is no longer a deputy director."

Yu Li covered her face with both hands and shook her head slightly, saying: "I knew it."

Yushui knew what Yu Li meant; this was knowing that Yu Haitang was aiming for Li Xuewu's position.

Yu Li hadn't been embarrassed to say it before, also thinking about saving face for her sister and saving face for herself.

But now Yushui said it so bluntly, telling Yu Li that Yu Haitang was stuck in a dead end.

It would have been fine if there hadn't been previous regrets and misses; because of the two misunderstandings of the child and the report letter, Yu Haitang had already determined that this was another test for her in life.

It would have been fine if no one stopped her; now that someone is stopping her, it's like an ox stubbornly rushing forward, deliberately pretending not to see the cause and effect that can be seen by looking up.

It wasn't good for the two of them to sit here at Li Xuewu's place; looking at the inner room, Yu Li supported the sofa and stood up, saying: "Don't pay attention to her if she comes again; I'll tell the person on duty at the gatehouse not to let her in."

Yushui didn't expect Yu Li to be so ruthless; this was directly slapping Yu Haitang in the face; wouldn't it make a scene, and in the end, Yu Li would be the one without face.

But this was a matter between sisters, so she didn't say anything.

Following Yu Li out of Li Xuewu's room, they met Qin Jingru, who was "flying" back with a crutch, on the way back.

This girl had also been living in the courtyard for some days; her foot injury was almost healed, and the chicken-raising business had also improved, seemingly less annoying than when she first came.

However, whether it was Yu Li or Yushui, although they lived in the same courtyard and saw each other every day, their relationship with her wasn't great, and neither side had spoken much.

Letting Qin Jingru enter the courtyard gate first, Yushui looked back and said: "I heard before that this one was also aiming for him."

Yu Li didn't look back, responded in a low voice, and said casually: "All have hearts higher than the sky, but lives thinner than paper."

"Why is he so good, one after another."

Yushui curled her lips and said: "Before they started working, everyone said he was a little hooligan with no future; now that he's a cadre, he's become a hot commodity."

"How about you?"

Yu Li looked at Yushui with a smile and asked: "Do you like someone like him? Excluding the cadre status."

"His heart is like a hornet's nest."

Yushui didn't answer this question directly, but commented on Li Xuewu's personality.

Yu Li smiled and didn't care about Yushui's attitude; she didn't think Yushui would have anything with Li Xuewu.

Li Xuewu didn't touch someone like Yu Haitang, let alone Sha Zhu's sister.

However, to tell the truth, Yushui is indeed better-looking than Yu Haitang; Yu Haitang is too heroic.

At this time, although everyone says it's good for girls to be heroic, after all, they can hold up half the sky, and big hands are good for work.

But who wouldn't want to find a good-looking and gentle wife?

Diliya and Xilin were already asleep; when Yu Li and the others entered the room, they hadn't woken up.

Yu Li didn't know if the two people who told her to find her just now were the meaning of both, or Yushui's own meaning.

"Morning."

"Morning."

"Ate yet?"

"Going to work."

The courtyard in the morning has more atmosphere than at night; after all, it's a day for work and school, and every woman is urging her man and children to eat quickly so they can catch the time.

Because he had to go down to inspect today, Li Xuewu specially wore a coat, afraid of the hard wind on the mountain.

Passing the middle courtyard, he met Third Uncle squatting on the ground wiping his bicycle; Li Xuewu smiled and was about to pass.

But Yan Fugui had already seen Li Xuewu with the corner of his eye.

At this time, Yan Fugui turned around somewhat pretentiously, as if he had accidentally seen Li Xuewu, and smiled at Li Xuewu who was walking over: "Yo, you're early today."

"Forget it."

He had long seen that this Third Uncle was deliberately waiting for him; the bicycle was almost wiped of its paint, yet he was still holding a rag and gesturing here.

"Something up?"

Li Xuewu raised his eyebrows and signaled towards the inverted-seat room: "I'm really busy in the morning; if you have something to say, don't go in circles, just say it directly."

"Alright~"

Yan Fugui also knew how to lower his face; being pointed out by Li Xuewu, he didn't feel ashamed.

Perhaps it was because his face was thicker, perhaps it was because his face was a bit dark from the sun, so the blush wasn't visible.

"Third Uncle wants to ask you for a favor."

"Tell me."

Li Xuewu gestured, while greeting the neighbors passing by the front courtyard.

Yan Fugui knew Li Xuewu was really busy in the morning, so he said directly: "Look, the eldest daughter-in-law is pregnant; you know that, right?"

"Is that so~"

Li Xuewu had an expression of "I really didn't know," cupped his hands and said: "Congratulations."

Yan Fugui raised his head slightly and squinted one eye to look at Li Xuewu, thinking, you can really pretend.

However, he had a favor to ask, and he had received the Li family's kindness, so he didn't care about Li Xuewu's teasing.

"Happy, happy."

Yan Fugui perfunctorily replied twice, and continued to explain: "Look, the eldest daughter-in-law is pregnant; our family now has the old, the weak, the sick, and the pregnant, and there's no one to stand up and support the door; look at this...?"

Looking at Third Uncle's difficult expression, the wrinkles on his face could pinch a fly to death.

Li Xuewu nodded, understandingly asked: "Need someone to stand up and support the door? Need a man to support the household?"

"Hey~"

Yan Fugui nodded, with an expression of "you still understand me"; seeing Li Xuewu understood, he smiled and said: "Look, we are all neighbors living here, and your dad and I are both... right, look...?"

"Easy to say, easy to say, haha."

Li Xuewu laughed twice, smiled and said: "Look at you, you said it yourself, we are neighbors living here, what's so embarrassing about such a small matter? Said not to let you go in circles, yet you're still like this."

"Isn't this troubling you again!"

Yan Fugui patted Li Xuewu's arm somewhat embarrassedly and said: "Third Uncle remembers your kindness."

"Hehe, alright, I know what you mean."

Li Xuewu nodded with a smile, blinked at Third Uncle, with an expression of understanding, and said while walking towards the hanging flower gate: "Alright, I'll go talk about this."

Seeing Li Xuewu agree so readily, Yan Fugui was secretly happy, thinking that he didn't know what he had to give to transfer the eldest back; didn't expect his face to be so big.

Hi! If he had known Li Xuewu was so righteous, why would he have had conflicts before?

This distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor; if they had gotten along well earlier, would it have been easier

Wouldn't it be much more convenient to ask Li Xuewu for help with these matters at home?

Yan Fugui stood by his car at the entrance of the courtyard, watching Li Xuewu's retreating figure with a mix of regret and gratification.

What a good man, what a good cadre!

Li Xuewu, who took serving the people as his goal and helping others as his pursuit, walked past the moon gate and shouted toward Lao Biaozi, who was talking inside the screen wall: "Biaozi!"

"Hey, Brother Wu, what's up?"

Seeing Li Xuewu calling from the entrance, Lao Biaozi brought a few of his boys over to the screen wall to respond.

Li Xuewu pointed at the Third Master, who was standing in the front courtyard watching them, and instructed Lao Biaozi and the others: "The Third Master says his family is full of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the pregnant, making life very inconvenient, and they don't have any strong laborers to handle things."

Lao Biaozi was a bit confused by Brother Wu's words. He looked at the Third Master, who was equally bewildered by Brother Wu's words, and then looked back at the righteous-looking Brother Wu.

This... Brother Wu isn't cooking up another bad idea, is he?

"Ahem~"

Li Xuewu said to Lao Biaozi and the others who were looking at him: "We are all neighbors, and you are all young men. You should exercise subjective initiative regarding the families in the courtyard who are in difficulty."

Li Xuewu lectured them, pointing at Lao Biaozi, and said: "You are the person in charge of the West Seeing Seeing He Yuan. You must take the lead. In your spare time, go to the Third Master's house more often to see if there's anything you can help with. Does this really need the Third Master to come and tell me to tell you?"

Yan Fugui: "..."

Lao Biaozi: "..."

The Thirteen Guardians: "..."

After finishing his lecture, Li Xuewu turned around, waved his hand at the dumbfounded Third Master, and said with a smile: "Alright, I've already arranged it. You don't need to be polite."

Yan Fugui stared straight at the brat standing outside the moon gate, listening to his words... so he actually had to say thank you?

He should have known long ago that this brat wouldn't be easy to deal with. His gratitude just now felt like he'd eaten dog shit.

Li Xuewu finished greeting the Third Master with a smile, winked his left eye at Lao Biaozi, who was making faces at him, and stepped into the screen wall.

"Li Xuewu!"

Yan Fugui felt his head buzzing. Seeing that the brat was about to leave, he hurriedly chased after him for two steps.

Lao Biaozi stood outside the moon gate and laughed at the Third Master, whose face was changing colors as he approached: "Third Master, you're really not being proper here."

Before Yan Fugui, who hadn't even stood still yet, could figure out what Li Wenbiao meant, he heard Lao Biaozi laugh: "With our relationship, if you have something to say, just say it. Is it worth making my Brother Wu say a word?"

"You!..."

Seeing Lao Biaozi, who was in cahoots with Li Xuewu, Yan Fugui knew he wouldn't be able to take advantage of them.

Not only could he not take advantage, but it looked like he had tried to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice.

He couldn't out-talk these young people, and he didn't dare to get truly angry for fear that the blood vessels in his brain wouldn't be able to take it, so he just flicked his sleeves and turned to go home.

"Hehehe."

Lao Biaozi stood at the entrance and looked toward the Third Master's house. Ever since Brother Wu teased him with those two sentences yesterday, he always felt that the child in Ge Shuqin's belly had his bloodline.

It wasn't that he wanted to take any responsibility, but this... this kind of behavior was just a bit stimulating... hehehe.

Li Xuewu, of course, didn't have X-ray vision, nor did he have Lao Biaozi's bad taste for guessing blind boxes. Dragging Lao Biaozi to tease the Third Master was simply because he didn't want to help with this favor.

Not to mention the reason why Yan Jiecheng went to the training ground, the Security Division was a "one radish, one hole" situation; there was no reason to give him a green light.

If everyone transferred back because their wives were pregnant, there wouldn't be anyone left at the training ground.

The Third Master was only in his forties now. Being able to go to work meant he could still handle things; he didn't look as miserable and difficult as he described.

Life in the city didn't require heavy labor like in the countryside. You didn't have to carry things on your shoulders or lift things with your hands. What did they need a big young man at home for?

Li Xuewu admired the Third Master's optimistic and positive attitude toward life, and he also approved of his "Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains" spirit in dealing with family conflicts, so he learned from the Heavenly God and sent immortals to the Foolish Old Man's house to help them give birth...

"You're so rotten you're smoking."

Xi Lin still remembered her grudge against Li Xuewu. Seeing Li Xuewu enter the room with a wicked smile, she stood at the kitchen door and curled her lip in sarcasm.

"Hey, is there something wrong with helping others?"

Li Xuewu raised an eyebrow at Xi Lin and said: "In these ten miles and eight villages, who doesn't know I'm famously kind-hearted? I can't stand seeing people tell me about their difficulties. If there's a problem, solve it~"

"Heh~"

Xi Lin sneered and said: "You're really kind-hearted. Even the famously stingy person in this courtyard can't take advantage of you."

"Yo, you've integrated quite quickly."

Li Xuewu smiled at Xi Lin and said: "Do you want me to help you be kind-hearted too and solve your personal problems?"

"Get lost."

Xi Lin knew she couldn't out-talk this person, but she just couldn't help but bicker with him.

He Yuzhu and the others in the room were watching the fun. Seeing Xi Lin being so angry that her eyes were wide, they all snickered.

Li Xuewu walked into the east room laughing and asked the people at the table: "Who is so wicked? How did you teach her this Northeast slang?"

"Hahaha~"

Li Xuewu didn't go to the steel mill in the morning because he knew Li Huai De was about to make a move, so he avoided it as much as he could.

He was busy at the Security Brigade until after ten o'clock, but was visited by the Huang siblings.

"If you're idle, just be idle. Why come here to show off?"

Seeing Huang Gan and Wang Zheng enter, Li Xuewu stood up with a smile and teased Huang Gan.

Wang Xiaoqin also saw Huang Gan and the others from the window and came over from the office.

"Director Huang is idle, why is Wang Zheng idle too?"

"Sister Wang, I finally got a break from my shift, and I was dragged here by him."

Wang Zheng entered Li Xuewu's office, looked around, and couldn't help but click her tongue: "It really is an independent office. This office is huge."

"Want it? I'll give it to you."

Li Xuewu smiled and invited them to sit. Sha Qizhi had already brewed tea and brought it over.

Huang Gan had been here before, so he wasn't very curious. At this time, many office locations were occupied mansions of wealthy families from the old society.

Wang Zheng was envious of the spacious office, but she wasn't interested in this kind of imperial architectural style.

After they sat down, Li Xuewu took a sip of tea and asked: "Wang Zheng is resting, are you resting too?"

"Hi, I'm resting whenever."

Huang Gan responded indifferently, then crossed his legs and looked at Li Xuewu with a smile: "I've been here several times and haven't seen you. Today is truly rare."

Li Xuewu took out a cigarette case and offered cigarettes to Huang Gan and Wang Xiaoqin, then smiled: "I work in two places, what's so rare about that? It's you, actually."

Taking the opportunity to light Huang Gan's cigarette, Li Xuewu asked: "If you have nothing to do, why aren't you staring at your unit? Why do you keep running over here?"

"Hehe, do you think this is some kind of treasure land?"

Huang Gan took a puff of his cigarette, curled his lip, and said: "If it weren't for you guys stuffing people into my place, would I come here?"

"Then what about today?"

Li Xuewu gestured toward Wang Zheng and said: "Did you bring someone to smash the place?"

"Hahaha."

Huang Gan laughed and said: "If I were really here to smash the place, I wouldn't have brought her along."

Wang Zheng was very unimpressed by her cousin's description. She raised her eyebrows at Li Xuewu and said: "My brother said you started a paper mill with him?"

"I express regret at your choice of words."

Li Xuewu said with slight dissatisfaction: "How can you call it 'started'?"

Wang Zheng rolled her eyes, glared at her cousin who also looked amused, and then looked at Li Xuewu and asked: "How do you plan to handle that paper?"

Li Xuewu didn't answer the question, but looked at Huang Gan and said: "Is this how our little sister chats?"

"Now you know my suffering."

Huang Gan made a helpless expression at Li Xuewu.

Wang Zheng raised her eyebrows at Li Xuewu and asked: "If we don't chat about this, what should we chat about? Should we chat about the Central Ballet Troupe's performance?"

"Hey! Hey!"

Li Xuewu interrupted: "When your brother gave me the tickets, I didn't know they were for you."

"Your attitude of betraying friends is truly firm~"

Huang Gan said with dissatisfaction: "I have sufficient reason to suspect you are disloyal to the organization."

"The organization also teaches me to be honest and trustworthy!"

Li Xuewu retorted: "If I had known I was taking our little sister to see a show, I wouldn't have accepted your tickets even if I died."

"Forget it~"

Wang Zheng didn't accept Li Xuewu's performance at all; the traces of acting were too obvious.

"Under the torture of my sister-in-law, Huang Gan, who betrayed the organization, has already confessed everything. It's too late for you to want to confess now; I won't forgive you."

As she spoke, Wang Zheng stood up and walked around the office, then walked to Li Xuewu's side and said: "Unless you promise me five tons of paper."

"Whoa~~~"

Li Xuewu shook his cigarette butt into the ashtray, turned his head forty-five degrees to look at Wang Zheng, and said: "As expected of a girl from the Wang family, your speech is truly grand. Units are measured in tons."

Li Xuewu wasn't talking nonsense about the "Wang family." When Huang Gan chatted with Li Xuewu, he said that his cousin's family had been wealthy for generations, with their ancestral home in Sanjin.

Wang Zheng's father was also a foreign student who graduated from a prestigious university; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to enter the judicial unit.

Wang Zheng twisted her mouth and said indifferently to Li Xuewu's mockery: "Anyway, I already know, so there's no reason to go back empty-handed."

"Hehe, are you being a rascal?"

Li Xuewu tapped the sofa armrest seriously and said fiercely to Wang Zheng: "Do you know what place this is?"

Wang Zheng walked to Wang Xiaoqin's side and leaned on the sofa armrest, looking at Li Xuewu with disdain: "What place? A lower-level agency?"

"I..."

Li Xuewu looked speechlessly at the little girl from the Public Security Ministry opposite him, turned his head to Huang Gan, and said: "Aren't you going to manage her? She's looking down on me!"

Huang Gan twisted his mouth and said: "How can I manage her? My place is also a lower-level agency."

"Stunned, aren't you~"

Wang Xiaoqin smiled and chimed in: "You forced the leader from the Ministry to reveal their identity, now you're stunned, take it~"

Li Xuewu looked at Wang Zheng, who looked like a little duck, and asked with amusement: "Let's get this straight first, there's no 'ton' business."

After speaking, he waved his hand, stopping Wang Zheng from speaking, flicked the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray, and said: "First tell me what you need this paper for."

Wang Zheng also knew that pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth required a reasonable excuse.

At the very least, she had to have the right attitude. If it were easy to get, she wouldn't have had to go back and forth with her brother.

"Actually, it's for my dad's side."

Wang Zheng walked back to the sofa and sat down, explaining to Li Xuewu: "The judicial side received a task to sort through judicial cases from recent years. I don't know the specifics, but they urgently need a lot of document paper."

"Is it the Legal Code?"

Li Xuewu didn't know much about judicial work, but if they were in such a hurry for paper at this time, it could only be the Legal Code that had been discussed many times.

Actually, the Legal Code wasn't designed all at once in 1979; work on it had already started in 1954.

It was just that it had been constantly revised, changed, and discussed; after all, the adaptability of law is lagging.

This year was very special; a lot of work was quietly being rushed forward, as if they were in a hurry to catch up on progress.

Li Xuewu didn't wait for Wang Zheng to answer, and asked again: "But even if you need a lot of paper, you don't need a small workshop like your brother's, right?"

Wang Zheng sighed helplessly and said: "The Ministry's paper quota has been cut. I don't know the reason, my dad didn't say, and it's the same for our unit."

Li Xuewu nodded knowingly. He could probably guess the reason, but he couldn't discuss it here.

Just looking at the recent rhetoric in the newspapers and the various new political texts, he knew it was very sensitive.

"I can't promise you this here."

Li Xuewu thought for a moment and said seriously to Wang Zheng: "Including your brother and me, this matter cannot be handled this way."

"But..."

Wang Zheng wanted to say more, but was stopped by Huang Gan.

Huang Gan waved his hand, signaling his cousin not to worry, turned to Li Xuewu, and said: "When I went home on Sunday, I talked to Youfang about your wedding date. My mom heard it and said she had met Gu Ning's mother, and was thinking about when you two would have time to come over to the house for a visit."

"Hehe, does this count as me borrowing my mother-in-law's light?"

Li Xuewu chuckled and made a joke, effectively moving past the previous question.

"Let's make it for the weekend."

Regardless of whether Huang Gan's mother really knew his mother-in-law, Li Xuewu had to accept this invitation.

It wasn't that he wanted to climb any social ladder, but he had to give Huang Gan this face.

The two had a good relationship, getting along better than average friends, and this person was worth associating with; both sides had the intention of being buddies.

Li Xuewu didn't pay much attention to what Wang Zheng said today; after all, she was young, and sometimes even if she pretended to be mature, she couldn't avoid exposing childish remarks.

Li Xuewu didn't want to get involved in karma, and he didn't want to take advantage of things in such an unclear way.

If he wanted to put in the effort, there had to be a proper attitude. Whether the surname was Wang or Huang, Li Xuewu wouldn't respond if the younger generation of the family came forward to speak.

Don't look at his young age; the current network of relationships was built by his own hands.

If Huang Gan or Wang Zheng's elders didn't value Li Xuewu's network, or the potential of this network, such a "small matter" wouldn't have found its way to Li Xuewu.

And they wouldn't have let the two of them come to discuss the paper mill during working hours.

Li Xuewu wanted to have a good relationship with them, but there was no need to follow their lead in everything.

If they really couldn't get along, Li Xuewu could cut off the connection at any time, because at any given time, his network was a spider-web structure, the kind where they were eight poles away from him.

The four of them drank tea for a while and chatted about things in their respective units. Li Xuewu looked at the time and suggested taking them out for a tour.

The others didn't think Li Xuewu wanted to take them out for sightseeing or fun; there must be something going on.

When they arrived at the entrance of the large mansion in Dongsi by car, they were shocked by the bustling construction site inside.

They were shocked by the grandeur of the mansion, and also by the number and professionalism of the construction workers in the courtyard.

Carved beams and painted rafters were a technical job; Li Xuewu was setting up a club, not an archaeological site.

So, he gave Master Dou a whole year for the renovation here and provided a generous budget.

With such a large investment, Li Xuewu's expectations were naturally very high.

"How is it?"

Li Xuewu stood at the entrance of the flower hall, gestured to the others with a smile, and asked: "Is this venue I prepared enough for a club?"

"Damn, were your ancestors also wealthy tycoons?"