Old people love to use speakerphone, and Xue Rui, who was standing right there, could hear everything perfectly clearly.

He sneered inwardly. ’How could he not see it? They’re deliberately emphasizing "studies law" for my benefit.’

"Oh? A law student, is he? Here, here, let me talk to your son. You’re not making any sense."

Xue Rui sidled up with a grin.

"Who asked you to talk!" Zhang Guihua cursed.

But on the other end of the line, Li Bin spoke up, "Mom, give the phone to that man."

Li Bin had been playing games with his roommates in his dorm when his mother suddenly called. Her first words stunned him.

He knew Zhang Guihua. It was pointless trying to sort things out with her over the phone.

"Fine." Zhang Guihua handed her phone to Xue Rui.

"Hello, this is Li Bin. May I ask what happened?" Li Bin asked calmly.

"Well, fuck me, you’re pretty polite..."

Xue Rui took a considerable amount of time to give him the gist of the situation.

"Oh, right. If you’re going to sue me, you’d better do it soon. And if you can’t handle it yourself, go ahead and get your university professors involved. I’ll be hiring the best lawyers on my end."

After saying his piece, Xue Rui handed the phone back to Zhang Guihua.

"Binbin, what do we do? I can’t count on your father. Our whole family is depending on you," Zhang Guihua cried into the phone.

Li Bin sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Xue Rui had explained everything in detail: how Zhang Guihua had bullied Lin Ruoxi, how she had encroached on someone else’s land without a contract...

’This is such a mess...’ Li Bin’s head began to throb.

He was a law student. He’d seen cases like this before. They were impossible to win. At best, they could file for compensation for the saplings, but the amount would be pathetically small.

Even if he ran himself ragged, he couldn’t do a thing to Xue Rui. The time and effort involved would be completely disproportional to any potential compensation.

And the other party? They had zero costs. All they had to do was sit at home and wait. If they won, nothing happened. If they lost, they’d just pay a little money.

Most importantly, the other party had come prepared. They even knew a little about his university situation...

Even if his professors were willing to help, his family couldn’t afford the cost of such a fight.

While Li Bin was silent on the phone, two pickup trucks rolled into the village.

Several workers in hard hats, their clothes greasy, hopped out of the trucks.

"Master Wang? How are you here so soon?" Ren Jun asked, surprised. He walked over and passed out cigarettes to the workers.

He knew Master Wang from the tree-felling crew; the man had bought a Tibetan Mastiff from him before.

"Heh, we were just felling trees in the next village. We can do your job this afternoon. Want to grab lunch first?"

"And maybe you can take a look at my dog while you’re at it? He hasn’t had much of an appetite lately."

Master Wang took the cigarette and started asking about his dog again.

The villagers could see clearly that the beds of the pickup trucks were loaded with tree-felling equipment—ropes, chainsaws, everything was there.

Zhang Guihua also spotted the professional tools. Realizing the other party was serious, her psychological defenses completely crumbled, and she began to wail.

"Mom! Apologize to Lin Ruoxi, then go find the village chief and ask him to mediate," Li Bin’s voice came through the phone.

It was the only option left. He wasn’t in Hedong City, so he couldn’t negotiate with Xue Rui face-to-face.

Even if he went, it would be useless. The other party’s stance was too firm; there was no room for discussion. The village chief would have to get involved.

He hung up the phone, and the image of Lin Ruoxi appeared in his mind, bringing with it a sharp pang of pain.

’So, my mom really did something like that...’

...

Zhang Guihua was very obedient to her son. She was about to go to the village chief’s house to get him.

But before she could even set off, she saw the village chief walking over.

With such a huge commotion in the village, someone had gone to inform the village chief early on.

Zhang Guihua said through tears, "Chief, it’s this kid! He wants to chop down my orchard! He’s an outsider, and he’s bullying me like this..."

"Let go. What are you wailing about?"

The newcomer was a man in his fifties. He wasn’t tall, but his eyes shone with a sharp, confident light. He shook off Zhang Guihua’s arm with a look of disgust.

He knew there was no point in reasoning with a shrew like her. He needed to talk to the person in charge.

"Who’s the one who wants to chop down Guihua’s orchard?" the man asked, his eyes subconsciously landing on Ren Jun.

Ren Jun’s was the most unfamiliar face, and he didn’t look like a villager. Dressed in a suit, the BMW parked at the entrance must be his, too.

Just then, Xue Rui stepped forward with a smile and politely extended his hand.

The middle-aged man was taken aback for a moment before extending his own hand to shake Xue Rui’s.

"Are you the one in charge here? May I ask your surname?" Xue Rui asked.

"You can drop the formalities. My surname is Hua."

"Secretary Hua? Let’s talk inside."

Xue Rui made an inviting gesture, motioning for Village Chief Hua to come inside to talk.

Village Chief Hua was a bit surprised. The young man before him was far too mature for his age. Despite wearing a school uniform, he gave off the impression of someone accustomed to receiving high-ranking officials.

Moreover, instead of calling him "Village Chief" or "Chief" like the other villagers, he had used his formal title.

"Mm." Village Chief Hua followed Xue Rui into the house just like that.

Once inside, Xue Rui brought him a chair, and then sat down directly opposite Village Chief Hua.

Village Chief Hua was rather surprised. He had assumed the man in the suit was the one in charge, but it turned out to be a kid. The man in the suit, meanwhile, sat silently behind Xue Rui, looking for all the world like a bodyguard.

Xue Rui’s performance today had completely astonished Ren Jun. A situation he couldn’t handle was being managed with total control by Xue Rui.

It gave him the strange feeling that his nephew was even more mature than he was. He recalled the time Xue Rui had forced him to call a designated driver...

’Am I getting old? Am I falling behind the times?’ Ren Jun wondered to himself.

He wasn’t even twenty-five yet, but facing Xue Rui in this state, he felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

...

Before the man across from him could speak, Xue Rui casually asked:

"Secretary Hua, look at this house. I feel like it’s about to collapse. Is it possible to apply for a subsidy for dilapidated housing?"

Village Chief Hua paused. He seemed to recall there really was such a subsidy. He nodded. "I’ll ask about it later."

"Xixi has had a hard life. But I’m very curious—with her family’s circumstances, why isn’t she registered as a poverty-stricken household?" Xue Rui asked, a look of confusion on his face.

He had gone through Lin Ruoxi’s files many times. When it came to her social status, Xue Rui knew Lin Ruoxi’s situation better than anyone.

"There weren’t enough slots. Besides, she never applied," Village Chief Hua said nonchalantly.

’What is this kid digging into this for? Is he questioning me right off the bat?’ he thought.

"Who are you? Why have you come to our village to cause trouble? Threatening to destroy a family’s livelihood right from the start, isn’t that going too far?" Village Chief Hua’s expression turned stern.

Xue Rui sneered inwardly. ’Lin Ruoxi is from Hua Village too. Why didn’t you stand up for her when she was being bullied?’

’And what’s this about "not enough slots"? Was there truly not enough, or did you just not give her one?’

These things always came down to favoritism. A young girl with no one to rely on would naturally be pushed to the very back of the line.

However, he didn’t say this out loud. Nor did he answer Village Chief Hua’s question. Instead, he asked another, "That can’t be right... Is there someone in the village who has it harder than her?"

"Village Chief Hua, if there is a family in a more miserable state than Lin Ruoxi’s, just say the word. See this cash on the table? If there’s a more impoverished family, I’ll donate all of it on the spot."

"This..." Village Chief Hua hadn’t expected Xue Rui to say this.

"That BMW 730 at the entrance is mine. A few tens of thousands of yuan is nothing to me. I just happen to enjoy doing charity."

"Oh, right. Could I take a look at the meeting minutes for selecting the poverty-stricken households? If it’s confidential, then never mind. I’m someone who always follows the rules."

"..." Village Chief Hua wiped his hands on his pants.

"The public notices should be fine to look at, right? Those are available for public inspection."