Chapter 2

Lin Xi's first thought was to chase out now and return the convenience bag to Niu Quanbao. Even if the other party had already left, he could directly find the machinery factory. If it weren't for his nearly two decades of experience in the business world from his previous life, Lin Xi would have definitely done so. But now, he wouldn't be so rash.

Niu Quanbao's actions were very unusual. In his previous life, his father had actually fallen because of this matter. When he connected the dots, Lin Xi realized this was a conspiracy, a deliberate plot against his father.

In his previous life, Lin Xi didn't pay much attention to his father's work, so he wasn't very familiar with the details. He only knew that his father and the county party secretary, Zhu Lianshan, didn't get along. Whether Zhu was behind this, Lin Xi couldn't confirm, but the factory manager of the machinery plant was definitely a puppet. There must be a powerful hand manipulating him to act this way.

In this situation, if he returned the two cartons of cigarettes, the opponent would certainly come up with other tricks, which would be hard to guard against. Of course, he couldn't leave the cigarettes in his father's office either; that would fall right into the opponent's trap.

After some thought, Lin Xi decided to hand over the two cartons of cigarettes to the disciplinary committee. Since the matter was significant, he decided to directly hand them over to the city's disciplinary committee secretary, Cao Weiguo.

The reason Lin Xi made this decision was that he had some understanding of Cao Weiguo from his previous life. Cao Weiguo was known for his integrity and had a lot of prestige in the disciplinary committee system. He eventually became the deputy secretary of the Jiangnan Provincial Disciplinary Committee and the director of the Supervision Department, earning the nickname "the cold-faced Bao Gong of the Jiangnan officialdom."

After making up his mind, Lin Xi went to his father's office in the inner room to find the city's unified communication directory and then called the city disciplinary committee secretary's office.

When the call was answered, a stern voice came through: "This is Cao Weiguo. Who is this?"

Hearing this voice, Lin Xi, who had lived two lives, felt a bit nervous. The head of the city disciplinary committee indeed had an aura that ordinary officials couldn't match.

After calming down, Lin Xi introduced himself and said that he had something very important to hand over.

Cao Weiguo was somewhat surprised when he heard this. After some thought, he said, "Comrade Lin Xi, we have a working group at the Qingyuan Machinery Factory. You can find Comrade Ma Changfu there and hand over the item directly to him."

"Secretary Cao, besides handing over the item, I also have something I want to report to you in person," Lin Xi insisted. Since this matter concerned his father's future, he didn't dare to trust anyone else except Cao Weiguo.

After hearing this, Cao Weiguo thought for a moment and said, "I have a meeting now. How about this: I'll wait for you in my office at 1:30 PM."

Hearing this, Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief, thanked Secretary Cao, and hung up the phone.

Lin Xi looked at the wall clock in his father's office; the hour hand was already pointing to eleven. He didn't dare to delay and picked up the black plastic bag, preparing to head out. Just then, the phone in the inner office suddenly rang, and Lin Xi had to turn around to answer it.

"Hello, who are you looking for?" Lin Xi asked politely.

Before he could finish speaking, a clear female voice came through, "Hehe, after a few days as the county magistrate's secretary, you don't recognize people anymore. I'm looking for you, Secretary Lin."

"Who is this?" Lin Xi felt the voice was familiar but couldn't confirm the identity.

"Pig! It's Hao Xinyan. Humph, you can't even recognize my voice," the voice on the other end was indignant.

Hao Xinyan?

When he thought of this name, Lin Xi immediately pictured a beautiful girl in his mind. She was about 1.7 meters tall, with a delicate face, big eyes, and very fair skin, looking like a porcelain doll. Besides being beautiful, Hao Xinyan gave off a cold and aloof impression, as if she was keeping people at a distance.

Lin Xi couldn't imagine why she would call him at this time, so he asked, "It's Hao Xinyan, hello. Is there something you need?"

"Are you on drugs? Why are you talking so strangely?" Hao Xinyan said on the other end, "Forget it, I won't talk to you. It's my birthday today, and I'm inviting you to dinner at 6:30 PM. Meet me at the mall entrance. My aunt is here, I have to go. Bye!"

Lin Xi was about to speak when he heard the busy signal, indicating that the other party had hung up. He put down the receiver and turned to leave. Although he was curious about Hao Xinyan's call, Lin Xi had more important things to do and couldn't afford to dwell on it.

Although Qingyuan was only 20 kilometers from Minzhou, the old bus took a full hour to arrive. By the time Lin Xi reached the city disciplinary committee, it was already past 12:30 PM. He didn't go in directly but ate a bowl of noodles at a stall around the corner. He then went inside around 1:00 PM.

At 1:20 PM, Lin Xi saw a middle-aged man with dark skin and a thick beard walking towards him, followed by a young man in his mid-thirties.

Seeing this, Lin Xi immediately went forward and asked with a smile, "Excuse me, are you Secretary Cao?"

"I'm Cao Weiguo. You must be Lin Xi. This is Deputy Director Liu Gang of the First Supervision Room of the City Disciplinary Committee," Cao Weiguo said while shaking Lin Xi's hand and introducing the young man behind him.

After Lin Xi shook hands with Liu Gang, Cao Weiguo said, "Let's go inside and talk."

Cao Weiguo led Lin Xi to the reception area and had Liu Gang bring over three cups of water. Cao Weiguo looked at Lin Xi and said with a smile, "Comrade Lin Xi, tell me what's going on."

Lin Xi nodded at Cao Weiguo and Liu Gang and then recounted how Niu Quanbao had come to his father's office to give a gift.

After listening to Lin Xi, Cao Weiguo and Liu Gang both showed signs of disappointment. The joint investigation team from the city disciplinary committee, public security, and safety supervision departments had been in Qingyuan County for a week but had found no leads. They had hoped Lin Xi would bring some related information, but it turned out to be just two cartons of cigarettes, which seemed like a trivial matter.

Despite this, Cao Weiguo still praised Lin Xi, saying that it was commendable for a high school student to have such awareness. However, his face clearly showed disappointment.

Lin Xi noticed their reaction and, after they finished speaking, said, "Secretary Cao, these two cartons of cigarettes are a bit unusual. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come all the way to Minzhou to trouble you."

"Oh, how are they unusual?" Cao Weiguo asked calmly.

Hearing this, Lin Xi took out the two cartons of cigarettes and pointed out the unusual creases to Cao Weiguo and Liu Gang.

Seeing the faint creases, Cao Weiguo and Liu Gang exchanged glances. As seasoned disciplinary committee members, they knew exactly what these unusual creases meant.

"Director Liu, open the cigarettes. I want to see what's inside," Cao Weiguo said angrily.

PS: There will be another update tonight. Please follow!