Me! A high-ranking official!

Zhou Qingyan stared intently at him, her chest heaving slightly. She had to admit that although his words were far-fetched, they hit the nail on the head. If that sudden, extravagant purchase hadn't broken up the villagers' alliance that day, her situation would have been extremely passive.

This man not only possesses extremely ruthless methods, but also a silver tongue that can turn black into white; he hides his true nature far too well.

Zhou Qingyan closed his eyes, rubbed his throbbing temples, and his tone softened a bit, but it still carried a deep sense of apprehension: "Him, you're too bold. Cao Wenting has treated you like a good-for-nothing her whole life. She's really blind."

"People are always forced to do things," he replied casually.

Zhou Qingyan opened her eyes again, her gaze falling on her still flat but occasionally churning stomach. A hint of despair flashed in her eyes: "Since you're so clever, so good at breaking the deadlock..." Zhou Qingyan gritted her teeth, her voice revealing a rare vulnerability and helplessness: "Then tell me, how do I solve this problem in my stomach?!"

"We can't go back to Linshui County, and we can't go to Huai'an County! The hospitals in the city are full of acquaintances!" Zhou Qingyan gripped the edge of her trench coat tightly. "If you can't handle him, when the pregnancy progresses further, we'll both be crushed in this political earthquake!"

He was silent.

He gripped the steering wheel while his mind raced.

This is indeed a dead end, and for a young, unmarried female county party secretary, it is more fatal than any charge of corruption.

The air inside the carriage seemed to freeze.

He glanced cautiously at the back seat through the rearview mirror. Zhou Qingyan had his arms crossed, his face so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water. His phoenix eyes were fixed on the poplar forest rushing past the window, his chest heaving slightly, clearly indicating that he was suppressing his anger with great difficulty.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to ease the tension, but swallowed the words back.

For an unmarried female county party secretary, the matter of abortion is already an immense embarrassment and humiliation. Today, with Zhou Hai's interference, even her last bit of psychological defense has been breached. Zhou Qingyan's emotions are definitely on the verge of exploding at any moment.

At this point, whatever he says is wrong, and the more he says, the more he adds fuel to the fire.

He wisely shut his mouth, gripped the steering wheel firmly with both hands, and drove the car smoothly and steadily, even slowly rolling over speed bumps, as if afraid of bumping the ancestor in the back seat.

The provincial highway stretches for over 100 kilometers, a journey of more than two hours. The entire car is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The only sounds are the low whooshing of the air conditioning vents and the steady roar of the engine.

Until the car crossed the county boundary and entered the territory of Linshui County.

He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that Zhou Qingyan was still motionless in the same position. He coughed and cautiously said, "Secretary Zhou, we're about two kilometers from the county town. I'll get out by the roadside, and you can drive back yourself?"

Zhou Qingyan didn't speak, but just grunted through his nose.

He wisely parked the car at the same desolate county border he had visited before. The place was in the middle of nowhere, with cornfields as tall as a person on both sides of the road, and not a soul in sight. It couldn't be more suitable.

He turned off the engine, removed the key, gently placed it on the passenger seat, and then got out of the car.

Zhou Qingyan got out of the back seat expressionlessly, walked around to the driver's seat, got into the car, and didn't look at him once from beginning to end.

The car windows were closed, and the engine was running.

He stood by the roadside, watching the black sedan kick up a cloud of dust and speed away, not even leaving him a second's taillights behind.

"Hey……"

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.

This woman has quite a temper.

However, he understood. He had failed to get an abortion twice in a row, and his subordinates even caught him red-handed the second time. Anyone would have gone crazy in his shoes. The fact that Zhou Qingyan didn't yell at him on the spot showed how well-mannered he was.

After finishing his cigarette, he waited by the roadside for more than ten minutes before he could hail a beat-up taxi that had come from the countryside to the city.

"Driver, to Yuepeng Hotel."

"Okay."

Back at the hotel, it was already past one in the afternoon. He washed his face, put the whole day's troubles behind him, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep within two minutes.

I slept exceptionally soundly, without even a single dream.

When he was awakened by a series of urgent cell phone rings, the sunlight outside the window had already become somewhat softer.

He groggily reached for his phone and saw it was 2:03 PM.

Two words appeared on the screen: Liu Tao.

"Feed?" He yawned, his voice a little hoarse.

"Jianguo! Help!" On the other end of the phone, Liu Tao's voice was urgent and panicked, almost on the verge of crying, with a noisy shouting and the crisp sound of breaking glass in the background.

He was instantly wide awake and sat bolt upright in bed: "Taozi, what's wrong? Where are you?"

"I'm in the supermarket!" Liu Tao's voice trembled. "Jianguo, those villagers from Xiaozhai Village who sold me houses somehow recognized me! They say I lied to them and they want to beat me to death! Now twenty or thirty people are blocking me at the supermarket entrance, smashing windows and cursing. There's a crowd gathered outside watching the commotion. Li Gan is trying to hold them off alone at the gate, but he can't stop them!"

His mind went blank.

broken!

Previously, Liu Tao drove a rented Maybach, dressed in a bespoke suit, and impersonated a wealthy businessman from out of town to Xiaozhai Village to buy houses with money. His performance was flawless, and the villagers were completely shocked by his promise of a 14 million yuan balance and cash purchase at twice the market price. That's why the alliance broke down, and three villagers who urgently needed money sold their houses to him immediately.

But now, Liu Tao runs a supermarket in the county town and is exposed by people who know him. The villagers who sold their houses immediately realized that he was not some big boss from out of town, but just a small shop owner in the county town!

What's worse is that most of the villagers who didn't sell their houses stubbornly refused to sell because they firmly believed that even big capital from other places was coming to snatch up these dilapidated houses, and that the prices would definitely skyrocket in the future. But now they suddenly discovered that the so-called big boss was just a fake identity. Is it possible that someone in the county colluded with them to deliberately put on this show so that they wouldn't sell their houses?

Those villagers who had previously signed agreements with the county and received demolition compensation were even more panicked. They had initially thought that Liu Tao's massive spending on acquisitions would lead to a surge in house prices, but many still chose to sign agreements with the county and receive basic compensation. Now they realized they had been cheated; the houses couldn't actually be sold for that price, and the agreements they had already signed couldn't be reversed. The anger of being treated like fools was enough to make them rush up and bite people!