875 Distant Uncle
Everyone had a good impression of Li Gui. She was a peddler who followed the rules. Even though she had protection from the higher-ups, she did not sell her goods in an aggressive manner in the vicinity. She would just quietly do her business at the entrance of the alley.
The foodstuff that Li Gui sold was also very delicious. They were still eating the popcorn and seeds that Li Gui sold. Qiao Mei had asked Li Gui to give it to them as gifts.
If one gave gifts to win people’s hearts, the returns were usually very quick and obvious. They would send some food to the office every week so that the officers would find them familiar.
“I don’t know, but she looks like she’s from the countryside. She doesn’t look like she’s from this city,” his colleague said.
This served as a reminder to Cao Gang. Li Gui also came from the countryside, so it was possible that the two women knew each other. Cao Gang quickly wrote down a description of Qiao Yu’s general appearance and characteristics, worried that he would forget about these details after a while.
He decided to report this matter to Director Xu tomorrow morning. Director Xu was the one who had instructed them on this matter. If what he thought was true, he would be rewarded greatly!
The next day, Cao Gang went to the government office building to look for Director Xu and quietly told him about what happened last night. As expected, Director Xu praised him profusely and even wanted to treat him to a meal.
“Xiao Cao, you’ve done a good job on this matter. Continue to observe Li Gui’s movements from now on. Tell me if there’s any sign of trouble and don’t let anything slip past your eyes. If anyone causes trouble for her, you must stop them quickly. You must ensure her safety,” Director Xu said sternly.
Cao Gang patted his chest and said, “Director Xu, don’t worry! Leave this matter to me!”
After Cao Gang submitted a simple report, he returned to his workplace. Director Xu and Xia Wen both worked in the same office building and would run into each other during lunch break.
Director Xu was actually Xia Wen’s uncle as he was Xu Lan’s distant cousin. It was not a close familial relationship. Director Xu was the one who took the initiative to look for Xia Wen, so Xia Wen did not say anything. He decided to just acknowledge this uncle for the time being.
“Director Xia! You’re here to eat in the canteen too. Let’s eat together!” Director Xu said enthusiastically to Xia Wen as he held his plate.
Xia Wen nodded and went to a remote corner to eat with Director Xu. Xia Wen ate in silence the entire time.
“Director Xia, so last night, someone went to file a report on the person you told me about. One of my buddies managed to stop it. This is a description of the person’s characteristics. I don’t know if it’d seem familiar to you.” Chief Xu took out the piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Xia Wen.
Xia Wen simply took a few glances and thought that the description of the person seemed familiar, but he could not remember who she was.
“Thank you. You’ve really been a great help,” Xia Wen said gently.
“Then… shall we go out for dinner tonight?” Director Xu whispered.
Xia Wen smiled quietly at Director Xu. Ever since he asked Director Xu to help protect Li Gui in secret, Director Xu would ask him to go out for a meal every few days. Every time, it was Director Xu who paid the bill, but he would bring other officials along on most of the occasions and would always secretly hint to them about his relationship with Xia Wen.
This made Xia Wen feel very troubled. After all, even if he told Xu Lan about this relative, Xu Lan might not even know who he was.
“I still have to go and meet my sister and sister-in-law tonight. My brother has been at the front line all this while and doesn’t have time to come home. Now that my sister-in-law is about to give birth, our focus is on her at all times, as we’re worried about accidents,” Xia Wen said.
“Oh! Congratulations! This is truly the most important thing. Let’s meet again another day,” Director Xu said agitatedly.
After a long silence, Director Xu said, “Then… Director Xia, what do you think about the day after tomorrow? It’s our day off.”
This reasoning made it hard for Xia Wen to turn down the invite. Who would need to deal with work on their day off? Besides, he did not have children yet and did not need to spend time with them.
“Alright, that day is fine,” Xia Wen said resignedly.
Director Xu continued to push his luck and said, “Then do you think… should we ask some other people?”
“I’ll invite Wang Yue and Zhou Chang to come along,” Xia Wen said.
These two people were both young masters from prominent families which were on par with the Xia family. Director Xu had been following Xia Wen around so that he could interact more with people at their level. When the time came, his meteoric rise would be just around the corner!