So, as soon as he arrived in the village, he wandered around carelessly, chatting with people. In the past, he had no reason to force communication with others, but now he was the deputy village chief—he was the deputy village chief!—so grabbing a few people for a chat was easy.

The village chief was a local, surnamed Li, from one of the big families in the village—in fact, it was a common surname in the whole country. He was burly and rough-looking, and it was said he even had some underworld connections.

Honestly, you can’t expect an ostrich to hatch from a chicken coop. In such a tiny mountain village, how could there be any real mafia? At most, he was just a local thug, but still, it couldn’t be denied that this guy was something of a tyrant in the village.

David Thompson didn’t much like Andrew Brooks. Of course, this dislike was something he kept to himself. No matter what, this was an official sent down from above for temporary training. Even if he was just a deputy, if the guy soared to great heights one day, it would be too late to try to cozy up to him then.

In officialdom, there are no secrets. Mr. Thompson had received all of Deputy Brooks’s information almost as soon as he arrived. Like everyone else, he couldn’t figure out the deputy’s background—how could a civil servant with a high school diploma come from an ordinary family?

But not understanding wasn’t a problem. As long as the guy was harmless, David Thompson would never provoke him. Even if, worst-case scenario, the guy had no backing in official circles, he was so young—who could say he wouldn’t rise to power one day?

And as for Andrew Brooks, he was famously uninterested in administrative work; he just liked to chat.

So, the relationship between Mr. Thompson and Deputy Brooks was fairly harmonious. In fact, whenever there was a chance to eat and drink well, he’d make sure to invite him along. After all, such luxurious opportunities were rare in this little mountain village.

Take the current situation, for example: the owner of a private cement factory upstream in Baifengxi had come to invite Mr. Thompson to dinner. Besides the village party secretary, David Thompson also called for Andrew Brooks.

The cement factory owner wasn’t just here for fun. Once his factory started up, he’d make more in a week than Donglinshui earned in a year. He was here on important business.

The factory was about to start production, but the road wasn’t finished yet. Part of the road would have to pass through Donglinshui’s territory, and more importantly, one section would go through some of the village’s scarce arable land. This was a tough issue to handle.

Normally, the villagers would try to stop it. To the cement factory owner, this resistance was just making things difficult. Of course, no one could perfectly judge the right balance here.

David Thompson understood all this perfectly. In fact, it was only happening with his tacit approval. His influence in the village could be described as “overwhelming.” But if someone was offering a meal, why not go and enjoy it?

More importantly, the cement factory owner said that the main guest this time was the township’s Michael BoltonMr. Bolton. Mr. Thompson could ignore anyone else’s face, but he didn’t dare ignore Mr. Bolton.

After a few rounds of drinks and several dishes, seeing the township chief constantly speaking up for the cement factory owner, Mr. Thompson understood that, whether he agreed or not, this matter had to be settled.

“Here’s a carton of cigarettes and five hundred yuan,” the boss, seeing the time was right, smiled and offered the gifts, not caring at all that the township chief was sitting right there. “We’ll need Mr. Thompson to help with the villagers.”

“No problem,” David Thompson, his face flushed from drinking, didn’t even glance at the cigarettes and money. He wanted to reach out, but he had to save face, didn’t he?

He patted his chest and promised, “Leave it to me. Since Mr. Lewis is a friend of Mr. Bolton, it’s just a matter of a word.”

At this point, Andrew Brooks, who had been quietly observing their conversation, spoke up. “Mr. Lewis, if your cement factory goes into production, how much cement can you produce in a year?”

He thought he was just making small talk. He’d been observing and learning for a while, and at this table, he wasn’t really the main character.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lewis didn’t see it that way.

Chapter 8: A Bribe Out of Nowhere

Mr. Lewis valued Andrew Brooks far more than David Thompson.

A thug is still a thug. David Thompson might be the local tyrant of Donglinshui village, but limited by his environment and circumstances, his vision couldn’t be very broad. Like now—a carton of cigarettes, a meal, and five hundred yuan were enough to settle things.

But Andrew Brooks was different.

He was a kid who grew up in Phoenix City, with a much broader outlook and experience than David Thompson. Plus, such a young high school graduate had managed to stand out in the fiercely competitive civil service exam—who would believe he didn’t have some kind of background?

So, the deputy village chief on temporary assignment was always a bit of a mystery to Mr. Lewis.

At the start of the dinner, Andrew Brooks just focused on eating, and Mr. Lewis was happy to play dumb. But now that he’d spoken, Mr. Lewis couldn’t help but shiver inside.

Just listen to the kind of question he asked—“How much cement can your factory produce in a year?”

That was the kind of question a thug like David Thompson would never ask. If Andrew Brooks was asking, he might be planning to calculate the factory’s annual profit.

And if he figured out the annual profit, he’d probably ask for a much bigger cut.