Volume 1: The Most Natural and Beautiful Town Secretary Chapter 1: Zhuang Zhou Dreams of a Butterfly?

  Tang Yi slowly opened his eyes, his head throbbing painfully, as if someone had hammered iron nails into it one by one. His whole body felt scorching hot, and his throat was so dry that it seemed to be smoking. He couldn't help but let out a weak moan: "Water..." The sound was so faint that he could barely hear it himself.

  "Director Tang, you're awake! That's great......" A clear and crisp voice of a girl came from afar, faintly, as if it was beside his ear, yet also seemed to be from the horizon.

  Tang Yi was completely unaware of what the other person was saying, he only felt the coolness of the utensil touching his lips, and the refreshing water moistening his mouth. He sucked it in like a baby drinking milk, and immediately held the utensil to his mouth, taking big gulps. A wave of coolness spread from his throat all the way down to his abdomen, and the feeling was indescribably comfortable. Tang Yi's mind cleared, and the scene before him gradually became clear. However, when he saw the girl in front of him holding a cup of water and feeding it to him, he couldn't help but be shocked, and exclaimed: "Mom?!..."

  The pretty girl in front of me had a neat short hair, apricot eyes and peach cheeks, almost the same face as her godmother's, only much younger, with finer skin, white cowboy pants tightly wrapped around her body, showing off her elasticity, snow-white high-necked shirt tightly attached to her body, outlining the tempting curves of her chest. Compared to her godmother's charming appearance, she had less coquetry and more pure vitality, but looked exactly like the little beauty in the photo album that her godmother showed her ten years ago.

  "Secretary Tang, what are you saying?" The girl's face turned red, and she took a step back, her hand shaking as she held the cup. Water splashed onto her delicate black leather shoes. The beautiful girl furrowed her brow, putting the cup on the wooden table beside the bed. She turned around, looking at Tang Yi with a confused expression, just like his aunt, her eyes had an inherent allure that was irresistible. Her big eyes seemed to have a mesmerizing power that could captivate one's soul. However, Tang Yi knew she was still a young and innocent girl, not yet a mature woman. He had experienced the full extent of such irresistible charm from his aunt.

  "Director Tang, you're awake, that's good. The fever hasn't gone down yet, so rest for a few more days. What would you like to eat? I'll go get it for you." The pretty girl picked up the brown leather bag on the table, which was quite exquisite but somewhat out of style.

  Tang Yi only then noticed that he seemed to be in a hospital ward, the air was filled with the smell of soda water, and across the wooden table there was a snow-white bed, but it looked empty, no one was living in it.

  Hesitating for a moment, Tang Yi still couldn't help but ask: "Where is this? And... who are you?" Could it be that her godmother's sister had come to take care of her, but she hadn't heard that her godmother had any sisters?

  The girl opened her cherry-like small mouth in surprise, looking at Tang Yi with a lovely expression. "Secretary Tang, you don't recognize me? I'm Chen Ke, and this is...this is the town clinic. Ah, I'll call the doctor over for you. You haven't lost your memory, have you?"

  When he heard the girl say her name was Chen Ke, Tang Yi was stunned for a moment. How could their names be exactly the same as his adoptive mother's? As he stood there in a daze, he didn't hear what she said next. He had too many questions to ask, just like how she called him Secretary Tang, what secretary was he supposed to be? Tang Yi sorted out his confused thoughts and prepared to ask for clarification, but unintentionally turned his head and saw his own reflection in the round mirror on the table. Tang Yi's brain buzzed loudly, as if struck by lightning, and he stood there frozen, unable to move.

  This, is this me? Tang Yi looked at the clear and delicate face in the mirror, a familiar yet strange face. This absolutely wasn't his own face, yet it was so familiar, like someone else's. Ah, got it, remembered now, his adoptive father from over a decade ago, when he first met him, didn't he look just like this?

  Dazedly staring at his own face in the mirror, he didn't know how long he had been stunned until the girl gently pulled on his collar. Tang Yi suddenly came back to himself and turned around to see a hint of fear in the girl's eyes as she asked softly: "What's wrong with you? Are you uncomfortable somewhere? Do you want me to go find a doctor?"

  Tang Yi's gaze fell on the calendar hanging on the wall behind the girl, and the new calendar had a green digit year on the page header, 1991. Tang Yi muttered: "This is a new calendar, this year is... is 1991?" As he spoke, his voice trembled slightly.

  The girl nodded slightly, and Tang Yi suddenly felt like a deflated balloon, collapsing onto the bed. His mind was in turmoil, unsure of what he was thinking, feeling both bewildered and helpless. He had inexplicably traveled back to seventeen years ago, and just as inexplicably become someone else - his six-year-old self's adoptive father, the person he respected most.

  How did this happen, Tang Yi looked at the girl for help, she really was her godmother from over a decade ago, that woman who had always protected and taken care of her like a towering tree. Tang Yi wanted to rush into her arms and cry, in the past whenever she suffered any grievances, she was always the best person to confide in, but today it was the most absurd thing she had experienced since birth. However, Tang Yi knew that now she couldn't do this, she wasn't yet the elegant and composed woman from over a decade later, if she acted like this, she would only scare her.

  "Secretary Tang, are you okay?" Chen Ke saw the gaze of Tang Yi stunned for a moment. The eyes of this young town secretary seemed like those of a wronged child? This was also too unlike his style, muttering in her heart, but not daring to say it out loud.

  "Secretary Tang, you must be strong and adapt to the change. Your godson in heaven wouldn't want you to fall either."

  Tang Yi's eyes widened as he looked at the calendar, "January 7th", January 1991. He had just been adopted by his foster father and was bedridden with a serious illness. Later, his foster father often said that he should have two birthdays, and the day he was critically ill on January 6th should also be his birthday. It seemed that in this world, he was already dead.

  Tang Yi shook his head and said, "I'm fine, you go ahead and take care of your business." His tone was naturally respectful, but he had too many things on his mind, and the things he was thinking about weren't something that his aunt in front of him could solve.

  Chen Ke smiled: "You're fine, that's all. And don't take Secretary Liu's words to heart, Li Wenhe's case wasn't your fault."

  Tang Yi revealed a hint of bitter smile, Li Wen and case? Foster father's eternal pain, would he have to go through it once again himself?

  Chen Ke walked away with small steps, her white cowboy pants tightly wrapped around her buttocks, swaying gently as she walked, even making people imagine the softness of her buttocks. Tang Yi sighed and thought to himself, "Who would have thought that his aunt had such amazing charm over a decade ago?" He shook his head, thinking, "What am I thinking? Still having these foolish thoughts?" No wonder his aunt always scolded him for being aimless and muddle-headed, even on the night he got accepted into graduate school.

  Tang Yi lay on the hospital bed, slowly sorting out his thoughts. More than a decade ago, that was when his adoptive father had just graduated from the party school and became the deputy town head and deputy secretary of Chenjiatun Town. His adoptive mother was the town's secretary, and he himself was an orphan in Chenjiatun, adopted by his adoptive father because they shared the same name. At that time, his adoptive father was young and ambitious, full of vigor and promise, having graduated from the party school and being sent to work at the grassroots level, becoming one of the youngest town heads in Yanshan County, or even Yanqing City. Unfortunately, good times did not last long, and soon he got into trouble because of the Li Wenhe case, while the old patriarch of the family chose to turn a blind eye, letting his adoptive father fight on his own at the grassroots level. However, his adoptive father was not made for that kind of thing, and soon he was beaten black and blue by those old foxes, and in a huff, he left politics, falling out with the old patriarch who felt disappointed in him, and leaving the family. After marrying his adoptive mother, the three of them lived a simple life.

  Who would have thought that in other people's eyes, the foster father is still a member of the Tang family. After the old generation who fought for the country passed away, in the 21st century, China gradually no longer had a true "princeling" party. Politics became more and more democratized, and the old family system either declined or transformed. After the death of the old master of the Tang family, the foster father's second uncle, Tang Wandong, as a representative figure of the Tang family, was investigated for corruption and bribery. It is not clear which link in the chain went wrong, but the foster father was also implicated, allegedly helping Tang Wandong transfer huge sums of money. Even Tang Yi was implicated because some funds had been transferred into an account opened with his ID card. In 2008, on the night when Tang Yi had just been admitted to graduate school, he was interrogated by a special investigation team.

  Tang Yi recalled that cold night, he and his foster parents sat around the stove, drinking and talking, only to find out later that his foster parents had taken a large amount of sleeping pills.

  Tang Yi still remembered his adoptive father's words that shook the ground: "We can't say that all of this was done by Second Uncle, we didn't know anything about it, that would be unfilial to Old Master Tang! I was born a member of the Tang family, and when I die, I'll be a ghost of the Tang family! Repaying the Tang family is the only path for me!"

  Tang Yi did not know that he had chosen such a path of no return, and could not have imagined that his usually timid foster father would have such courage. However, Tang Yi remembered his foster father's grand and stirring expression that day, remembered him loudly singing "A man's ambition is in the four directions" with a heroic demeanor, also remembered his foster mother's gentle smile and soft words, sentence by sentence instructing him to live well from then on, remembered his foster mother's beautiful and sorrowful dance posture, and finally her charming smile at him.

  As he recalled those scenes, Tang Yi suddenly felt the hot blood in his chest burning again. Perhaps it was after his foster father and mother left that his cries to heaven moved it, giving him a chance to be reborn? Or perhaps everything in the past was just an illusion, like Zhuangzi's butterfly dream. Whatever the case, since heaven has given me another chance, I will live my life to the fullest! I want the name Tang Yi to resound throughout the land of Shen Zhou!