"Xixi, my family did you wrong. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been put through."

Li Jiansheng’s attitude was sincere, and he repeatedly apologized to Lin Ruoxi.

Xue Rui observed for a long while. That kind of remorse, heartache, and helplessness couldn’t be faked.

Moreover, Li Jiansheng had promised to pay any amount of compensation requested, as long as it was within his means.

Even though he hadn’t started it, his wife had. He willingly took the blame.

In truth, Xue Rui had initially just used the threat of cutting down the orchard as a pretext to get justice for Lin Ruoxi.

If the other party had been stubborn, he would have stopped holding back and simply played hardball to the very end.

As for the land, he’d sublease it if he could. If not, it didn’t matter. After all, he’d bought the land at a high price specifically to help Lin Ruoxi in the first place.

But now, Li Jiansheng was being too sincere. You could tell at a glance he was a simple, honest man who’d been screwed over by his own wife.

This, in turn, put Xue Rui in a somewhat difficult position.

Asking for too much wouldn’t look good; it would be like extortion, kicking a man when he’s down. Li Jiansheng’s thickly callused hands were a clear sign that he made his living through manual labor.

He had no intention of burning his bridges with this family. After all, Lin Ruoxi still owned land and a residential plot in the village.

But asking for too little rent wouldn’t be right either; it would make Lin Ruoxi seem like an easy target.

The main problem was that he didn’t know Zhang Guihua’s family income, so he couldn’t gauge the right amount to ask for.

"Jiansheng, the harvest was good this year. How about we just go with the normal land rent, factor in Xixi’s wages, and then add some extra compensation on top."

Village Chief Hua spoke up.

"Okay, I’ll defer to Secretary Hua’s judgment."

Xue Rui suddenly became very agreeable, adopting an attitude of deferring completely to Village Chief Hua.

Village Chief Hua puffed out his chest and asked, "What do you say?"

"Whatever the village chief says..."

Ultimately, the issues of the land and compensation between the two families were settled under the guidance of Village Chief Hua.

Xue Rui was a bit surprised as he held the 100,000 in cash.

He and Li Jiansheng had signed a ten-year contract for ten thousand a year.

He hadn’t been the one to negotiate the price—Village Chief Hua had, and both parties had agreed to it.

What’s more, Li Jiansheng had simply gone home for a moment and returned with 100,000 in cash, no fuss, no delay.

’Is growing apples really this profitable?’ Xue Rui marveled to himself.

One hundred thousand in cash. Minus the thirty thousand previously given to Zhang Guihua, that meant Li Jiansheng’s family had at least another seventy thousand in cash at home.

In 2012, forget a village—even in a city, very few families could produce 100,000 in cash on the spot.

"The prices were good this year, and the fruit harvesters paid in full up front," Li Jiansheng said with a simple, honest smile.

Xue Rui nodded. ’So, this hundred thousand isn’t too great a burden for Li Jiansheng’s family after all.’

And Li Jiansheng, far from resenting Xue Rui for the hundred thousand, was actually eager to hand over the money, as if afraid Xue Rui would go back on the deal.

Zhang Guihua, however, looked like her heart was bleeding. She sat by the door, glaring resentfully at Xue Rui.

When no one was looking, Xue Rui deliberately flashed the cash in Zhang Guihua’s direction, as if showing off. It angered her so much that she whipped her head around and stormed back into the house.

"Xue Rui, Li Jiansheng wants to treat you to a meal. Do you have time?" Village Chief Hua asked with a chuckle.

He had wanted to build a connection with Xue Rui anyway, and now that Li Jiansheng had made the offer, it would save him the expense.

After all, what was not to like about using someone else’s money to build his own connections? It cost him nothing.

"That won’t be necessary. I’m planning to leave with Xixi today. Besides, there are a few things I need to discuss with Secretary Hua in private," Xue Rui replied with a smile, declining the offer.

Seeing how things were, Li Jiansheng had no choice but to head home to appease his wretched wife.

When he’d gone home to get the money just now, Zhang Guihua had actually clawed at him, leaving bloody scratches on his arm.

With no one around, Xue Rui opened the trunk of his BMW.

As expected, inside were more than a dozen cartons of cigarettes and several bottles of Maotai.

"Dad, cigarettes and liquor are bad for you. I’ll help you get rid of them," Xue Rui said with a cheeky grin.

He found an opaque burlap sack at Lin Ruoxi’s house and packed two bottles of liquor and two cartons of cigarettes inside.

"It’s just some cheap local specialties. Please, take them."

Xue Rui crumpled the sack and shoved it into Village Chief Hua’s hands. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Hey, I can’t accept this, I really can’t. You’re a guest in our village, and as your host, I haven’t even treated you to a meal yet. How could I possibly take something from you?"

"You can’t look at it that way. If Secretary Hua hadn’t stepped in today, I wouldn’t have known what to do!"

...

Xue Rui greatly played up Village Chief Hua’s role in the matter.

Village Chief Hua was happy to hear it. During the final negotiations, Xue Rui’s act of letting him take the lead had given him plenty of face, ensuring he didn’t look bad in front of the other villagers.

When word of this got out, his prestige would rise to a new level.

After a bit of performative pushing and shoving, Village Chief Hua accepted Xue Rui’s shabby-looking burlap sack.

In reality, one could vaguely see the contents through a tear in the sack.

That, and a casual touch, made it obvious to anyone what was inside.

Two cartons of expensive, high-end cigarettes, plus liquor.

"Secretary Hua, Xixi grew up here, after all. Her household registration is still in the village, so I’ll have to trouble you to look out for her interests in the future."

Xue Rui said, seizing the opportune moment.

’This was his real goal.’ He had no way to change Lin Ruoxi’s household registration for her.

’Besides, there was no need to change it. A rural household registration was better than a city one anyway.’

’Things like land and residential plots, you either have them from birth or you don’t.’

’But in the future, Lin Ruoxi wouldn’t be living in the village, and he wasn’t from Hua Village himself. He wouldn’t be the first to know if something happened there.’

’The best solution was to get on the village chief’s good side.’

’After all, as the saying goes, the king is easy to see, but the minions are hard to deal with.’

’As the man in charge on the ground, without Village Chief Hua’s approval, many simple matters could become very complicated.’

’But if he kept Lin Ruoxi’s interests in mind, many things would get done properly without Xue Rui even having to ask.’

In the end, Xue Rui refused Village Chief Hua’s dinner invitation, and the chief headed home with a look of disappointment on his face.

Walking home carrying the burlap sack, Village Chief Hua was in an exceptionally good mood. Not only had he bolstered his prestige today, but he’d also scored a nice gift for free.

His impression of Xue Rui was excellent. The young man was not only cultured and resourceful, but he also had the perfect attitude when asking for a favor.

Coupled with Xue Rui’s impressive family background, he thought there might be a time in the future when this young man could be useful.

As for Xue Rui’s request, it was nothing to him at all.

...

"Xiaorui, where did you learn all this stuff?" Ren Jun couldn’t help but ask.

This nephew of his was just like his mother—a sly old fox who’d been navigating the world for years.

He refused to be taken advantage of in the slightest, yet when it came to important matters, his execution was flawless.

Xue Rui had a meticulous plan from the start, and he handled these seemingly thorny issues with effortless ease.

From beginning to end, Xue Rui maintained an air of breezy indifference.

He hadn’t argued with anyone, hadn’t even uttered a single curse word, yet he had forced the other party to bow their heads and admit they were wrong.

Even the way he wrapped things up was just so perfectly executed.

To be honest, Ren Jun felt that if he had been the one to handle this mess, he could never have done it as well as Xue Rui.

"My dad taught me."

Xue Rui thought about it. ’Maybe I picked it up through osmosis...’

"My brother-in-law?" Ren Jun thought for a moment. ’Now that I think about it, that’s probably right.’

Xue Rui didn’t just look like a young Xie Jianfeng; his way of doing things was pretty much the same, too.

He still remembered the first time Xie Jianfeng had come to their house. He’d brought a huge pile of snacks to bribe his future little brother-in-law, who was still in elementary school at the time...

"This is your compensation from Zhang Guihua."

Xue Rui took fifty thousand from the hundred thousand and gave the rest to Lin Ruoxi.