Chapter 1380 - 1379: Northern Guests

Chapter 1380: Chapter 1379: Northern Guests

This mission is an undercover mission. And the place for this undercover task is not a criminal organization, but a village town, and Jiang Cheng will be the head of the technology team and concurrently the head of the Well Bureau!

Who would have thought, at such a young age, I could become the boss! Heh, maybe I should have some fun for a couple of days first. Jiang Cheng thought this way.

However, according to the information provided by Li Shengli, this mission is extremely challenging.

According to the data, Jiang Cheng is about to be assigned to a village named Gui Village, located in the southwestern part of the Hua Family district. The economy is underdeveloped, and the infrastructure lags behind. But Gui Village is rampant with coal mining, with various small and large private coal mines popping up continuously, and the local authorities have failed to completely prohibit it. It is suspected that someone in the Zhai Mansion is behind this. Many people have been sent for investigation, but they all ended up dead, so it’s too risky to send ordinary people again. Thus, Jiang Cheng was sent to investigate.

Naturally, Jiang Cheng’s team of five people have all been strategically placed in different departments of Gui Village for mutual support and to facilitate their operations.

The role of the head of the technology team is just a secondary identity, a cover for Jiang Cheng to settle down there.

Mount Da was placed in charge of the Special Well Brigade, Counting Sheep was sent to the business team as the deputy boss, and since Ning Jing and Zhang Mengmeng are female, they were arranged with administrative roles within the Zhai Mansion.

Jiang Cheng and the other four met briefly, deciding to sneak in quietly. All five of them were savvy enough to understand that such rampant activity despite strict regional orders could only mean there was powerful backing behind it, so they decided to first quietly arrive at Gui Village and investigate the situation further.

The next day, the team packed up and set off together.

They chose to travel by train for several reasons. First, trains were crowded and it was not easy for them to be monitored. Second, the locals at Gui Village would never expect the new head of the technology team would take the train directly over, catching them by surprise.

After boarding the train, each of them had altered their appearance, as Jiang Cheng had required. After all, Ning Jing and Zhang Mengmeng’s appearances were too conspicuous, and so to avoid trouble during the journey, changing their looks was better. Comparatively, Ning Jing and Zhang Mengmeng were quite resentful.

But Zhang Mengmeng’s curiosity clearly overshadowed her resentment. It was her first time on a train, and she was touching and looking at everything like a country bumpkin visiting the city, which the other four found quite amusing.

The train traveled for two days and nights before finally reaching Gui Village station amidst the sound of the train whistle.

Jiang Cheng and the others got off the train, deciding to first find a hotel to stay in. Gui Village wasn’t big, rather quite small, but it had many surrounding townships and a complicated terrain, which was why the area’s economy struggled to develop. Walking down the street, Jiang Cheng looked at the old houses and narrow streets of the village, feeling somewhat affected. It was surprising that, in this era, the economic disparity in the Hua Family district remained so wide.

After wandering for over two hours, they finally found a hotel not far from Zhai Mansion.

From the outside, the hotel looked rather shabby, with only about four or five floors. Most of the paint on the outer walls had come off, revealing the red alkali beneath. Cracks spread across the wall, seemingly ready to burst apart at any moment.

Can this place even accommodate people? Zhang Mengmeng was quite concerned. "Let’s just tough it out for a few days until we take office; then we can buy a place to stay." Jiang Cheng said, given his current financial situation, buying a house wasn’t a big deal.

Alright then, Zhang Mengmeng said rather reluctantly.

Fortunately, the interior of the hotel was fairly clean and barely livable, which made the two girls breathe a sigh of relief.

The five people rented four rooms, one for each of the men, and one shared by the two girls. Just as they finished the procedures and were about to go upstairs, several burly men barged in straight past the reception, which seemed used to seeing such scenes, and continued its work.

Soon, the group came down, but this time dragging a man along.

The man’s hair was disheveled, his face bruised, indicating he had been subjected to violence even in such a short period. He was struggling, shouting, "Let me go! Let me go! There’s justice in the world!"

The burly men showed no mercy, forcefully dragging and carrying him into a van at the entrance, then drove off swiftly.

Jiang Cheng immediately realized that this man was trying to file a complaint. In the Hua Family district, it was all too common for locals treated unjustly by local law enforcement to try to appeal to Yanbang. Of course, the local authorities would not allow such a thing to happen, so they would have people specially ambush the roads to Yanbang, catching and sending back anyone who dared to appeal, then keep them under surveillance.

Jiang Cheng had heard about it before, but this was his first time witnessing it, and it made him deeply upset.

Especially in such small village towns, only a few people’s interests were ever really valued.

Having never had a chance before, now that there was such an opportunity, he was determined to change this situation. Jiang Cheng thought to himself.

The group stayed in their respective rooms for a day. By evening, they set out together to look for a place for dinner.

Gui Village was even more desolate at night. Unlike Wu Mansion, where people only began their nightlife in the evening, the night in Wu Mansion was very bustling. Whereas here, not only were there few people on the streets, even the shops were closing one by one, making it almost like an empty city.

After searching for a long time, they finally found a shop selling meat pies in a small alley.

The five of them hadn’t eaten much all day and were starving. Jiang Cheng and the others sat down at an empty table and called, "Boss, give us two pounds of meat pies."

"Your meat pies are coming!" The shop owner’s wife lifted the curtain from the kitchen and came out.

Soon, two plates of Gui Village’s meat pies were brought out. Jiang Cheng rubbed his hands together and picked up a piece, taking a big bite, quickly followed by Mount Da and Counting Sheep.

Seeing the three of them enjoying the food so much, Zhang Mengmeng and Ning Jing picked up a piece each, took a bite, and suddenly widened their eyes, saying, "Wow! It’s delicious!"

Zhang Mengmeng mumbled with her mouth full, "Thin crust and lots of meat, the texture is soft, and the meat is fresh and tender. I really like it!"

About ten minutes later, the five had almost finished eating. Then the owner’s wife came over with three bowls of porridge, "Young fellows, here’s your purple rice porridge."

Jiang Cheng nodded, "Is this complimentary?" The owner’s wife replied, "Yes."

Seeing the customers were almost done eating, the owner’s wife sat down on an empty seat next to Jiang Cheng, "Judging by your accents, you all are not locals, you’re probably from the north, right?"

Jiang Cheng grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth, then replied, "I’m from the Northeast, but later my whole family moved to Wu Mansion, so my accent has changed a lot."