Me! A high-ranking official!

Before he finished speaking, he had already opened the car door, and with a deep engine roar, the SUV shot into the night like an arrow.

Throughout the journey, he kept thinking about the news headline, which was shocking and the content was even more chilling.

Zhou Qingyan's mother is none other than Xu Mu, the current mayor of Beicang City!

The report included several extremely gruesome photos of the scene. On the highway back to Beicang City, Xu Mu's car was violently rear-ended by a heavy truck. The enormous impact pushed the sturdy car against the steel guardrail at the edge of the highway. The car body was deformed under this terrible impact and was almost crushed into a pile of twisted scrap metal.

The press release was brief: one person died and one was injured in the car. The deceased was Xu Mu's personal driver, and the injured person was Xu Mu himself. They have been rushed to Xinyang People's Hospital, which is near the accident site, for emergency treatment.

What truly chilled him to the bone was the seemingly insignificant sentence at the end of the report: the truck driver, apparently in a state of extreme panic after the crash, got out of the truck to check the situation and was struck and killed instantly by a speeding vehicle from behind.

"This is definitely not an ordinary traffic accident!" Four words instantly flashed through his mind: murder to cover it up!

Being within the system, he has an extremely keen political sense. Based on the information he learned from Zhou Qingyan, Xu Mu is currently in the most crucial period of his political career. If he takes this step, he is very likely to be promoted to a deputy provincial-level official, and may even have a chance to challenge for the position of a regional governor in the future.

However, the competition for this position is extremely fierce. It is said that there are about three people in the province who meet the requirements and have a chance to compete for this position, including Xu Mu. The open and covert struggles between them have reached the final stage of a heated competition.

At this critical juncture, Xu Mu was suddenly involved in such a serious car accident. The truck rear-ending him was already suspicious, and then the driver who caused the accident was "coincidentally" hit and killed by another vehicle the moment he got out to check... Everything happened so smoothly and so tragically that even a blind person could see that someone had definitely done something behind the scenes to physically eliminate Xu Mu, a powerful competitor! Even the dead truck driver was clearly used as a sacrifice to cover up the crime.

He took a deep breath, and after driving a few hundred meters, he slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a stop on the side of the road.

"Wait a minute, what am I going to do there?" He asked himself, his hands on the steering wheel and his brow furrowed.

Who is Xu Mu? He is the mayor of a city! Now that such a serious political incident and safety accident have occurred, not only Xinyang City, but probably even the provincial party committee has been alarmed. The hospital must be under heavy security now, and top experts and provincial and municipal leaders have probably rushed there long ago.

And what about himself? He was merely a nominal son-in-law whom the Zhou family had temporarily found to quell the turmoil. This absurd marriage had not even been made public. What was his status in the marriage?

Even if he actually got to the ward door, what would the Zhou family members who knew the situation think of him? They would probably just think he was a sycophant, that he wanted to take this opportunity to curry favor and show his loyalty, and that he would inevitably be ridiculed. What's more, this afternoon at the municipal party committee guesthouse, this mother and daughter had made a fool of him and left him hanging all afternoon.

"Screw it!" He shook his head, giving a self-deprecating laugh. "I don't owe the Zhou family anything. I'm not getting involved in this mess!"

Having figured this out, he felt completely relieved. However, out of basic humanitarianism and the sentimentality of that thin marriage certificate, he still picked up his phone and sent Zhou Qingyan a WeChat message: "I saw the news. How's the situation over there? If there's anything I can do to help, just call me anytime."

After sending the message, he tossed his phone onto the passenger seat. He knew that after such a sudden and drastic change, Zhou Qingyan must be in a state of extreme panic, grief, and busyness, and wouldn't have time to reply to her nominal husband's message.

Just as he was about to turn back to the village.

"Ding!"

The phone screen suddenly lit up.

He picked up his phone in surprise, and it really was Zhou Qingyan's reply. It was just four concise words, but it carried her usual coldness: "Minor injury, nothing serious."

He was stunned, hardly believing his eyes. Such a big thing, Zhou Qingyan not only had time to reply to him, but the content was actually "minor injury"?

He couldn't help but click on the news report again, zooming in on the horrific photo of the car being crushed into a pancake and looking at it over and over. The car was shattered like that, the professional driver died on the spot, and Xu Mu, who was sitting in the back seat, only suffered minor injuries.

"This woman is really lucky, her luck is unbelievable..." He clicked his tongue inwardly, but now that he had confirmed that Xu Mu was not in any danger, he was completely relieved. As for the bloodshed behind this political assassination, that was not something a small village cadre like him could worry about.

Without hesitation, he turned the steering wheel, made a U-turn, and headed towards Luojia Village.

After a long night bus ride, it was already past 10 p.m. when we finally arrived back at the Luojia Village Committee compound.

The courtyard was quiet, but light shone from the house next door. He had just parked his car when the door of the prefab house opened. Li Gan was still awake and was chatting with his sister Li Xiuxiu in the main room. As soon as he heard the car, Li Gan immediately put on his clothes and came out to greet them.

"Brother Zhao, you're finally back!" Li Gan greeted him with a simple, honest smile.

He took out the car keys, smiled, and glanced at the brother and sister: "It's so late, why aren't you resting yet?"

"Xiuxiu slept too much during the day and can't sleep now, so I'm chatting with her for a while." Li Gan said, glancing behind him, "Brother Zhao, have you had dinner in the county? There are some pancakes and hot porridge I just made in the pot, I'll go heat them up and bring them over for you!"

"No need to bother, I had barbecue with friends in the county, and I'm still full." He waved his hand, turned to look at Li Xiuxiu, whose complexion had improved considerably, and asked with concern, "Xiuxiu, how was your first day in the village? Are you getting used to this prefab house?"

Li Xiuxiu nodded obediently, looking at him gratefully: "Brother Jianguo, it's great. The bedding is all new, and there's not a draft in the room. It's much warmer than our old dilapidated brick house."

"That's good. Focus on getting better." He smiled and nodded.

Li Gan seemed to remember something, and suddenly slapped his thigh, excitedly saying, "Oh right, Brother Zhao, I almost forgot to report something important to you! Luo Ming came to see you this afternoon about that teaching job, and Uncle Luo Duomi agreed right away!"

"Oh? You agreed?" His eyes lit up; this was the best news he had heard all day.

"That's right!" Li Gan grinned. "Luo Ming said that when Grandpa Luo heard it was for a tutoring class in the village, he was so excited he kept slapping his thigh, saying that the money didn't matter, as long as he could teach the village kids a few more words, his old bones wouldn't have lived in vain! Zhu Yan was also very efficient; this afternoon she led a few villagers to clean Luo Xinniu's old house inside and out, and even covered the broken windows with plastic sheeting. I went to town this afternoon and also picked up more than a dozen sets of old desks and chairs, and arranged them all neatly!"