Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Director Li didn't even glance at Wang Jianye and Li Yuejin, who were slumped in the mud.

He strode across the blood and grime on the ground and headed towards Zhao Shanhe on the steps.

Zhao Shanhe also came down the steps at the right time, and casually took out a box of Marlboro cigarettes from his trench coat pocket, took one out and handed it to him.

"My dear Shanhe, it's been quite a while since we last met."

Director Li accepted the cigarette with remarkable ease, and the two men clasped hands tightly.

The coldness on his face instantly turned into a familiar smile like that of an old friend reuniting: "Since we parted ways at the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse last time, you've really made a name for yourself."

"Director, you flatter me. It's all thanks to the leadership's guidance and support."

Zhao Shanhe smiled, struck a match, and, shielding the cigarette from the wind, leaned over to light it for Director Li. His tone was warm and friendly: "It seems Director Li is even more charming than before! In the middle of the night, with a blizzard raging outside, why did you personally bring such a large entourage?"

"What kind of demeanor is this? You're so worried about the city's foreign trade targets that you can't sleep at night."

Director Li took a deep drag of his cigarette, sighed, and pointed at Zhao Shanhe with the finger holding the cigarette between his fingers. His tone was a mix of reproach and affection: "You still have the nerve to ask? It was Boss Jin who gave me that urgent message!"

He exhaled a puff of smoke and patted Zhao Shanhe's arm heavily: "Old Jin was jumping up and down on the phone, saying that you, in order to resolutely implement our municipal party committee's instruction to stop buying hides at high prices, stopped the business, and as a result, the uninformed farmers blocked your door!"

Director Li took a half step closer, lowered his voice, and spoke with genuine sincerity: "Shanhe, you're taking a dangerous step for me, for our Foreign Trade Bureau! Old Jin said hundreds of people with homemade guns surrounded your house, and my heart was in my throat. If something really happened, how could I, Old Li, face you?"

"Don't worry, Director Li, I know what I'm doing."

Zhao Shanhe flicked his cigarette ash and, seizing the opportunity, added emotional appeal: "Since the city has issued an official document, I, Zhao Shanhe, would rather sell everything I own than lead the way in breaking the rules. Maintaining stability is the duty of us ordinary citizens."

"Hahaha! Good lad, I admire your awareness and sense of responsibility!"

Director Li let out a hearty laugh, his gaze towards Zhao Shanhe growing increasingly satisfied and appreciative.

Immediately afterwards, he turned around and glanced at Wang and Li, who were being escorted into a police car in the distance. His expression instantly turned extremely sorrowful and guilty.

"But I really didn't expect that our own cadre ranks would be so rotten."

Director Li turned to Zhao Shanhe, looking at him with utmost seriousness, and said sincerely, "Not only did you fail to help appease the masses, but you also brought workers to take advantage of the chaos. I'm sorry you and your sister-in-law were frightened. Today, on behalf of the Municipal Party Committee, I must sincerely apologize to you."

"Director Li, you're being too polite."

Zhao Shanhe quickly waved his hand: "Now that you've personally come to oversee things, this cancer has been removed, and the trouble is completely over."

Director Li tapped his cigarette in mid-air, about to speak, "With your words, I feel more at ease entrusting the rest of the matter to you..."

Before Director Li could finish speaking, a chaotic commotion suddenly broke out outside the crowd's defensive line not far away.

"Let me through... I need to see the leader, I need to kowtow to Boss Zhao and confess my sins..."

Old Ba, along with several hunters covered in snow, hunched over and shivering, tried to make their way towards the jeep.

"What are you doing! Go back!"

The armed police officers guarding the perimeter reacted instantly. More than a dozen riot shields slammed onto the snow with a "bang," and their rifle butts swept across, directly blocking Lao Ba and his men outside.

Old Ba was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost knelt on the ground, but he still held tightly to a tattered burlap sack covered in mud.

Director Li frowned upon hearing the noise and turned to look.

When he saw the old farmers shivering in the snow and wind, their lips turning purple from the cold, a complex look flashed in his eyes.

"Put the weapon away."

Director Li waved to the armed police, strode over, and asked in a tone that carried the authority and accusation of a high-ranking official: "Are you the ones who surrounded Zhao Shanhe's house tonight with homemade guns?"

Seeing the top leader personally asking questions, Old Batou and several hunters scrambled through the gaps in the shields and knelt down directly in front of Director Li and Zhao Shanhe.

"Slap! Slap!"

Old Ba didn't dare to say a word. He raised his calloused hand and slapped his own frostbitten face twice hard, drawing blood from the corner of his mouth instantly.

"Boss! Boss Zhao! We deserve to die! We confess!"

Old Ba, ignoring the ice shards and blood on his face, spoke in a hoarse voice, trembling with extreme fear and a sob: "We're all illiterate country bumpkins! We were fooled by those bastards, Bearded Man and Liu Laizi! That's why we did something as heinous as surrounding Boss Zhao's house with guns—something that could get us killed!"

He kowtowed frantically while trembling as he untied the rope from the tattered sack in his arms and flung the opening wide.

The beam of light from the searchlight shone down.

Inside the sack were rows of perfectly pelted, glossy, top-quality gray squirrel skins.

Even in the wind and snow, it still gleams with a rich, high-end sheen.

"Boss, we really just want to make some money, we don't want to kill anyone!"

Old Ba raised his deeply lined face, his cloudy old eyes filled with desperate pleading: "We don't understand anything about the big picture of foreign trade. We just want to exchange these hides for some money. My son and I spent a lot of hard work in the deep mountains and forests to get so many hides. At least we can make some money, otherwise we'll lose everything this winter."

Old Ba wiped away his tears, his humility reaching its core: "I only beg the government to be lenient, and I beg Boss Zhao to have mercy and buy this batch of goods at the original price of five cents. Just give us a way to survive, let us earn some money to buy cornmeal, so that our wives and children don't starve to death this winter. We'd accept being imprisoned!"

He suddenly dropped to the ground in the snow and kowtowed heavily, tears mingling with blood as they splashed onto the ice: "Thank you to the government! Thank you, Boss Zhao, for giving me a way to live!"

Seeing Old Ba's miserable state, the more than one hundred fierce hunters who had just been holding guns and acting recklessly suddenly seemed to have their last bit of courage drained away, and they all knelt down in the icy snow.

"We confess! Please, leaders, give us a way out!"

"Please, Boss Zhao, take the hides! We're really out of rice to cook!"

The heartbreaking cries of over a hundred people confessing their guilt and pleading echoed through the raging snowy night, striking the eardrums of everyone present.

Director Li, with the Marlboro cigarette he'd just taken two puffs of, froze on the spot.

His brows were furrowed tightly, and his face looked extremely pale.

A cold wind blew, carrying snowflakes from the ground, making his fingers holding the cigarette tremble uncontrollably.