Me! A high-ranking official!

The group's purpose is obvious. They have probably been investigating Zhou Qingyan for a long time without making any substantial progress. They have not been able to find any weaknesses that Zhou Qingyan is trying to hide. Therefore, they have changed their target and want to kidnap him by physical means, torture him severely, and pry out what happened to Zhou Qingyan that night, or even find out the secret of his pregnancy, so that they can kill him in a targeted manner!

Thinking about this, he could no longer sit still.

He wouldn't be afraid of ordinary thugs with his current physical strength, but he must not be careless when facing this kind of terrifying force that will stop at nothing for political struggle.

He grabbed his phone, not caring that it was already past 2 a.m., and dialed Zhou Qingyan's number.

"Beep...beep..."

The phone rang a few times before being answered quickly.

Zhou Qingyan's voice, still groggy but clearly angry and cold, immediately came through the receiver: "What is it in the middle of the night?!"

Completely disregarding Zhou Qingyan's aloof and unfriendly tone, he spoke rapidly, "Secretary Zhou, something's happened! Just now, four or five thugs broke into my dormitory trying to tie me up! I fought them off."

Then, without wasting a single word, he quickly recounted what he had observed about the professionalism of the attackers, the situation at the scene, and his reasoning that they might be trying to break through her defenses because their investigation of her was being obstructed.

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Qingyan's breathing suddenly stopped.

The voice, which had been heavy with sleep, instantly became wide awake, its tone turning icy cold as it bluntly asked a few key questions: "What weapons did they use? What kind of vehicle did they use during their retreat? What were the distinguishing features of the leader?"

He recalled for a moment and answered one by one: "They used a telescopic baton, didn't brandish knives, the car was parked outside the gate and I couldn't see the license plate clearly, it was a dark-colored SUV, the leader was wearing a baseball cap and a mask, I could only see that his eyes were very sinister, and his lower body was very stable when he blocked, he was definitely trained."

Zhou Qingyan hesitated for a moment on the other end of the phone.

"I understand." After a dozen seconds, Zhou Qingyan took a deep breath, his voice regaining its usual composure and decisiveness: "You guessed right, this matter is probably aimed at me, it has nothing to do with you personally. Be careful these next few days and guard against their counterattack."

Zhou Qingyan paused, a chilling murderous intent creeping into his voice: "I will handle this as quickly as possible."

"beep……"

After saying that, Zhou Qingyan hung up the phone decisively.

He put down his phone, stood in the cold, desolate wind, and stared at the gradually blacking-out screen, repeatedly pondering her last two sentences.

Zhou Qingyan said, "I understand," and "I will handle it as soon as possible," her answer was too confident.

This suggests that the female secretary, who had only recently taken office but had been repeatedly targeted, probably already had a clear and highly suspicious target in mind! She just hadn't taken action yet due to timing or some other reason, but tonight's attempted kidnapping of her clearly crossed her final line.

"Now that she has a clear goal, given Zhou Qingyan's decisive and intolerant nature, she will definitely handle it cleanly and efficiently."

He silently put his phone back in his pocket. If she could swiftly and completely eradicate the force behind it, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief and no longer have to be on guard every day.

He woke up on time the next morning.

Despite the harrowing night raid he experienced last night, his body, enhanced by the Treasure Basin, had remarkable resilience, and he didn't appear particularly weak. After washing up, he carefully packed the memorandum of understanding for advance payment that he had signed with Boss Chen yesterday, the photos of the on-site inspection, and the taxi application report from the village into a manila envelope, preparing to submit them all to the county finance bureau today.

Just after 7:30, Liu Zhijun arrived at the village committee carrying a broom and a basin of water.

Just as Liu Zhijun reached the dormitory entrance, he suddenly stopped, his eyes widening in disbelief as he stared at the dilapidated wooden door that was pitifully open, its lock broken and splintered.

"My goodness! Secretary Zhao, what... what happened to the door? Was it burgled last night?!" Liu Zhijun was so frightened that he dropped the broom and rushed into the house to look Zhao Jianguo up and down, afraid that something had happened to him.

He was buttoning his shirt when he heard this. He turned around and glanced at him, then smiled as usual: "What thief? What's there to steal from our village committee? I got up to use the toilet last night, and it was so dark outside that I slipped and bumped into the door. The door is old and the wood is rotten, so it cracked instantly."

"Ouch, are you alright?" Liu Zhijun looked at the mangled door frame with a mixture of disbelief and skepticism, wondering to himself, how much force must have been used to smash the door like that? But seeing that the secretary was unharmed, he had no choice but to believe it.

"It's alright, I'm tough as nails. Zhijun, I have to go to the county later to report on the streetlights and the environmental protection bank. You'll have to trouble yourself with this door today. Go to the village and find a carpenter to buy a new lock and fix it."

"Okay, leave it to me, Secretary, you can go with peace of mind!" Liu Zhijun nodded repeatedly.

After finishing his business in the village, he took out his phone and called the town's Party and government office, easily requesting leave. He then rode his electric scooter to the town, transferred to a bus, and headed straight for the county seat.

Upon arriving in the county, he went straight to the county finance bureau, familiar with the area.

Upon reaching the office of the Agricultural Department, I peeked inside and saw several staff members working with their heads down, but I couldn't spot the department head, Li Xing.

He didn't rush in. Instead, he retreated to the corridor, took out his phone, and sent a WeChat message to Li Xing: "Section Chief Li, I've brought the materials for the Luojia Village lighting project. Are you in your office?"

Less than a minute later, Li Xing replied: "Brother Jianguo, I'm in a meeting with the bureau leaders in the city right now. I can't go back today. Just put the materials in the upper left corner of my desk. I've already told them everything. Don't wait for me."

He looked at the screen, a slight smile playing on his lips. This was the unspoken understanding between those who had sent "local specialties"—everything was understood without words. He replied, "Thank you for your help, brother. Let's get together another day," then pushed open the door and walked into the agricultural department. He nodded politely to the other staff members, placed the heavy brown paper bag steadily on the upper left corner of Li Xing's desk, and turned to leave.

After leaving the Finance Bureau, it was still early. He thought to himself that he had been staying in Luojia Village for a while and hadn't seen Liu Tao and Li Gan for many days. He wondered how the supermarket in the old town was progressing. He strolled over to the crossroads in the old town and before he got close, he heard a series of clanging and banging sounds from an electric drill and the sound of hammering.

Looking up, scaffolding had been erected outside the 300-square-meter shop, and inside, work was in full swing. The messy partition walls had all been broken down, and anti-slip floor tiles were being laid. The overall framework of the spacious and bright supermarket was beginning to take shape.