The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

"So, of all the information I've gathered these past few days, which ones are reliable?"

He Wei spread out the notebook she had kept over the past few days, flipped through it from beginning to end, and looked up at Lin Che.

This was the morning after the private conversation in the tea room.

They haven't had a moment's rest these past few days.

During the day, Lin Che followed Kamau to various departments to handle procedures. In between tasks, Lin Che would always try to strike up a conversation with someone.

While waiting in line, he chatted with the people next to him; while eating, he chatted with the proprietress; and even while waiting for the results at the law firm, he didn't let the lawyer go unnoticed.

They asked mostly trivial questions: how much rain this year, which village has the most cattle and sheep, and whether anyone had ever cleared that piece of land to the north before.

The listener didn't realize they were being asked something, so the speaker just answered casually.

Day by day, I accumulated bits and pieces of conversation, filling several pages with notes.

The two of them didn't rush out today; they stayed in the room and went through all the messages they had received.

On the table were He Wei's compliance notes, Lin Che's work records, and the photocopy of the map left by Old Ao.

There was a fair amount of information, but the truth and the falsehood were mixed together, like a tangled mess of threads.

There are two types.

Lin Che picked up a pen and drew two lines on the paper.

"One type is where several people say this, and the other type is where only one or two people mention it."

He wrote under the first line: Three villages, the government does not block the approval, and there is indeed a mine.

"These are from several mouths, all with the same caliber, there's no mistake."

Take this mine for example. Old Ao said it exists, the partners said it exists, and even the lawyer from the law firm mentioned it in casual conversation.

All three parties say this, and no one is making it up for personal gain, so it's basically true that there's a mineral deposit underground in this area.

He then wrote under the second line: "The company that withdrew its investment, the person you can't avoid."

"These things have only been said by Old Ao, and there is no other corroboration."

Whether it's the withdrawal of investment or that person, it all sounds dramatic, but it all comes down to Old Obama's words.

Words spoken by one person may be embellished or misremembered, so it's impossible to say for sure.

Lin Che listened to these words, took them to heart, but was in no hurry to believe them.

He Wei looked at the two lines of text.

"You mean, the person Old Ao was talking about might be a fake?"

"It's not fake."

Lin Che shook his head.

"It's not confirmed yet."

He put down his pen.

"No matter how truthful a person's words may seem, they are still just a clue."

"For something to become a basis for judgment, there needs to be a second or third unrelated person saying the same thing."

He Wei nodded and wrote those words down.

"Then how do we confirm it?"

"Keep listening, keep asking questions."

Lin Che said, "We can't just ask Old O."

He tapped the table with his pen.

"We need to find a few people who have no connection with Obama and ask them indirectly."

"If you hear the same thing from three unrelated people, it's probably true."

He paused, then summarized his thoughts into a single sentence.

"What one person says is just words, but what three people say is a real matter."

He Wei paused for a moment, then wrote down the sentence.

During her time with Lin Che, her notebook was filled with more than just compliance clauses; it also contained phrases like these.

The principle was simple, but He Wei managed to figure out some of the tricks of the trade.

She's finally figured it out in the last couple of days.

In this unfamiliar place, Lin Che had no power or connections to rely on; he relied entirely on this set of clumsy methods.

Listen to each sentence carefully, compare each point meticulously, and filter out the false from the true.

Back in the country, if he wanted to know something, he could simply make a phone call and someone would deliver the verified information to him.

Once he got here, he had to do everything himself, just like a newcomer to the industry.

But He Wei could tell that he wasn't flustered at all.

The more he was in a situation where he had to start from scratch and measure every step himself, the more at ease he felt.

As they were talking, the cell phone on the table rang; it was Old Ao calling.

He Wei answered the phone, listened for a few minutes, then covered the microphone and relayed the message to Lin Che.

"Old Ao said that the troublesome elder in the village is going to town on business tomorrow."

She said, "They asked if we wanted to meet up on the way."

"See."

Lin Che hardly hesitated.

He Wei then went back and made an appointment with Lao Ao to introduce them, and then hung up the phone.

She was somewhat puzzled.

"The elder has come to the city on personal business. Wouldn't it be a bit too hasty for us to approach him at this time?"

"No rush."

Lin Che said, "Let's take this opportunity to repeat what Old Ao said to us from the elders."

He Wei still had concerns.

That elder was the most difficult one among the three villages, guarding the ancestral graves and refusing to give up an inch of land.

Such people don't have a friendly attitude towards outsiders who come to mine.

If you approach them rashly, they might not even agree to meet you, let alone offer any pleasantries.

Lin Che seemed to sense her worry.

Whether or not you can see it is one thing.

He said, "Whether we show sincerity or not is another matter."

He said, "Besides, what I want to see is not just what he says."

He tapped the tip of his pen on the blank space where his name was on the paper.

"Especially this person."

He said, "Let's see if the elders mention him, and how they mention him. Is it out of fear, hatred, or simply not daring to get involved?"

He Wei understood.

This is what Lin Che meant by "cross".

What Old Ao had already told us once, now had to be sifted through again by the mouth of an elder who was completely unrelated to us.

Lin Che didn't let go of the name he couldn't get to last night; he found another way to reach it.

In the morning, the two of them sorted out the mess of information one by one.

Distinguish between what you hear as noise and what are the crucial facts; categorize them clearly and remember them well.

The bits and pieces I collected a few days ago, which I ran around collecting, have finally been pieced together into a rough outline.

The government is the nominal owner of this land, but the actual owners are those few villages.

The one who truly controls everything is the person whose name has yet to be revealed.

That's not some empty legend; it's a real person with a name and background, someone you can't ignore.

The longer he didn't show up, the more Lin Che felt that this person was the true threshold of this land.

The mines do exist, and money can be made, but there are several hurdles in between, each more difficult than the last.

He Wei mentally sketched out the outline, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this mission was not simple.

After finishing his work, Lin Che put down his pen and leaned back in his chair.

"The information has been mostly sorted out."

He said, "But you can't understand the rest just by sitting in the room and listening."

He Wei raised her head.

"So what's next?"

"Next, we need to go to the scene."

Lin Che's gaze fell on the red circle on the map.

During the few days he spent sitting in the house, he got a pretty good grasp of the local customs, rules, and intricacies of this place.

But there is one thing that you can never find out no matter how much you ask: what is buried underground.

People can lie, but the earth cannot.

Whether a piece of land contains minerals or not was determined hundreds of millions of years ago. No matter how important the person or how deep the water, it cannot change the fact that there are real minerals underground.

"Whether there are minerals underground, where they are, and how much is buried, no one can say for sure."

He pressed his fingertip in the center of the red circle.

"When people arrive at the place, they measure it with their feet and see it with their eyes."

"The exploration permit has not yet been approved."

He Wei offered a reminder.

"We can handle both the permit application and the land inspection without delaying either process."

Lin Che said, "Let's first get a clear understanding of the terrain and landforms. Once the permit is issued, we can immediately begin formal exploration, instead of just waiting around."

He Wei's heart skipped a beat.

Having followed Lin Che for so long, she gradually figured out his temperament.

He trusts data, but he trusts people even more.

No matter how sophisticated the instrument report is, he still has to go to the site in person to see it before he will draw a final conclusion.

"Instruments can measure data, but data is static."

Lin Che seemed to see right through her thoughts.

"How deep the water is in this area, only people can wade through it to find out."

He said, "No matter how accurate a machine is, it can't replace a human being."

He Wei silently wrote those words down in her notebook.

"When are we going?"

She asked.

Lin Che rolled up the map and held it in his hand.

"The sooner the better."