Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

Chapter 145 Li Hu

"Xiao Rui? What brings you to the county town? Come on, let's go talk over there, it's too crowded here."

"Uncle Li, it's nothing much. I just came to the county town to take care of some business and happened to be passing by your workplace, so I thought I'd drop by and visit you."

Li Hu came out and gestured for Zhou Rui to talk at the nearby shop. The man next to him was not reprimanded for slightly obstructing Zhou Rui and returned to his post as if nothing had happened.

After the two left, the man who had gone in to report took two steps to the side and approached the other man, saying, "You can't do this. It's lucky it's Deputy Captain Li. If it were any other leader, they would probably make things difficult for you if they knew you weren't letting his relatives in."

He offered a friendly reminder, but the man remained unmoved at first, simply saying, "The situation is not good, and he can't explain his purpose. If something happens, it will be even more difficult to explain."

"Hey, you, don't be so rigid. Everyone in the whole bureau knows you're a stubborn person. That's why they transferred you to be my doorman." Li Hu and Zhou Rui were unaware of the content of their conversation. At this moment, they were sitting in the convenience store.

Just like last time, the shop owner went out for some fresh air.

"How's Brother Zhou doing? Things haven't been peaceful lately, one thing after another, and even someone's been brought down, like that guy..."

"I hope no one else has been affected, right? I doubt it. You're the victim; you should be grateful you haven't been asked to pay compensation."

Li Hu started the conversation quite familiarly, without any arrogance befitting his high position. Instead, he spoke to Zhou Rui in a calm and patient manner, like a kind elder.

"Uncle, my dad is doing well. Our family is slowly getting back on track. He's alright. We have to thank him for what happened last time—"

Zhou Rui didn't finish his sentence; some things couldn't be said outright, so he left it at that.

Li Hu smiled slightly, not caring much, "This is the result of your own hard work, no need to be polite."

"I also heard that you contracted a tea plantation and bought tea trees. That's really impressive. I think you were the one who took the lead in doing it?"

"I was just thinking of starting a small business, otherwise I can't just sit around and do nothing." Zhou Rui was very modest and not arrogant at all.

Li Hu nodded with satisfaction, clearly approving of Zhou Rui.

"By the way, you said you came to the county town on business. What is it? Is there anything I can help you with? Just say the word. Brother Zhou and I are old friends. You should have seen him last time."

Li Hu and Zhou Shiwei had a good relationship, just like Zhou Yong'an and Prosecutor Zhou; they were from the same trench.

Although Zhou Rui had lived two lives, to be honest, he knew very little about his family's relationships. It wasn't until this life, after experiencing various encounters, that he gradually uncovered these relationships.

"Uncle, it's like this, a fellow villager from our hometown who is a close friend of mine runs a textile factory and has recently run into some trouble. It's because of that Li Dehua who's been causing trouble. I happen to know some things about it, so I thought I'd come here to see if I could help in any way."

Zhou Rui answered truthfully.

Upon hearing this, Li Hu frowned slightly. He was almost prone to becoming agitated at the mere mention of Li Dehua's name, but since he was in front of Zhou Rui, a junior, he had to control himself.

"It's that bastard again, he's like a persistent ghost. But this time, it seems the person behind him has been investigated. Let's see what he's got to be so arrogant about now, that's right—"

Li Hu clearly had more to say, and Zhou Rui didn't interrupt, quietly waiting for what was to come.

"There's someone behind Li Dehua. I know this person. He works not far away. He's a cautious person, and I've never heard any rumors about him over the years."

"And no one has ever caught him red-handed."

"If you want to fight Li Dehua, you can't avoid this person, you guys—"

Li Hu was a figure in this circle, and he was naturally familiar with other important figures in the county, so his words almost represented the circle's opinion of this person in the Light Industry Bureau.

"Uncle Li, I'm confident now. I waited outside his workplace for a while today, hoping to run into him, but it seems he didn't come to work."

Upon hearing this, Li Hu pondered for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly, "That doesn't make sense. There don't seem to be any meetings today, so why wouldn't he be at work? But I'm not sure, since we're not in the same department."

Li Hu paused for a moment, then continued with great enthusiasm, "Hey, Xiao Ruizi, come tomorrow, and I'll take you to him. The guard at their gate is someone I used to work with; he'll give me that kind of face."

Zhou Rui was overjoyed. Sure enough, having connections makes things much easier!

Zhou Rui knew that it wasn't that he couldn't get through that door; in fact, he could get in if he really wanted to, but the procedures and processes after getting in would be numerous.

Once you've actually completed the formalities and want to find someone, they'll most likely send a "staff member" to keep you occupied, and they generally won't let you get what you want right away.

In later generations, this situation may change slightly, because after you complete the registration procedures, the person who receives you is very likely not a "permanent employee" but a "temporary employee".

For ordinary people, truly solving problems and getting things done is incredibly difficult.

It might take several more days to finally meet that person, but it's different for some people. As long as Li Hu says he'll take them, those so-called "procedures" won't matter.

Zhou Rui had originally planned to go in and look for it himself tomorrow; he had no other choice. Waiting for it to come to him was better than doing nothing at all.

The gains were good.

"Thank you, Uncle Li. I'm confident that once I see him, Li Dehua will be missing an arm."

Seeing Zhou Rui's confident expression, Li Hu didn't say anything more, assuming that Zhou Rui had some clues that he didn't know about.

How could Li Hu not know that person? Over the years, although they were no longer in the same system, he had become more cunning because of Li Dehua, and had secretly tried to collect some things, but to no avail.

The other party is being too cautious.

Zhou Rui also had his guesses, since he had never heard of this person having any blemishes in his previous life. He only knew that this person was named Cui Rudong and was the deputy director of the Light Industry Bureau.

In reality, Li Hu's position was actually lower than the other party's, but he held real power and was also the deputy captain in charge of criminal cases in Juli.

Above him is the battalion commander, a position usually held by a deputy director within the bureau.

Therefore, Zhou Rui had no doubt about Uncle Li Hu's power. The reason why the other party could not find any dirt on Cui Rudong was not because he was not capable enough, but because this matter was just something he did incidentally.

After all, it wouldn't be a good thing if word got out that a deputy captain of the bureau was secretly investigating a leader.