Volume 2 Chapter 19 Inside the County Government Office

  Although it was just past five o'clock, the sky had already darkened, and the streetlights on several main roads in Yanshan lit up one by one, with their orange-yellow glow evoking a longing for home.

  As Li Baozi passed by a public phone booth, he made a call and came back with a smile: "Today my buddy is treating us to dinner, let's go to Ye Menglong for a meal."

  Dazhou is a conservative person and thinks that going to a dance hall isn't something a decent person would do. He opposed it, saying: "You're 34 years old, what's the point of going there?"

  Sister Chen also chimed in: "I heard that's a high-end bar, we can just fill our stomachs there, they don't serve food either!"

  Xiao Li, however, jumped up excitedly. He was envious of those who could enter the bar and consume. Unfortunately, he was just a small clerk in the company and didn't have the qualifications to go in and out of that kind of place with the director or department head. He said with a pout: "Li Ge is inviting us to broaden our horizons, but you guys don't appreciate it. If you're not going, I'll go with Li Ge."

  Li Pangzi chuckled a few times: "Zhou Ge, Chen Jie, that place is often visited by county leaders for leisure and entertainment, it's not some kind of evil or heresy. Look at you two frowning, your old brains need to change! Besides, they have all kinds of snacks there, I guarantee you'll eat well and drink well." He then turned his head to ask Lin Laoshi for his opinion: "Lin Laoshi, what do you think?"

  Mr. Lin adjusted his glasses and smiled: "Well, you've splurged today. I've been wanting to check out that bar for a while now, but I've heard the threshold is too high, so I haven't dared to go in."

  Li Baozi smiled at Da Zhou and Chen Jie: "Teacher Lin has spoken, you have no objections now, right?"

  From start to finish, no one asked for Tang Yi's opinion, after all, Tang Yi was the youngest. However, Tang Yi didn't forget to promote to Ye Mengxuan: "Actually, this bar is open to the public, if you just go in and sing a song, have a drink, the consumption is not high, the minimum consumption is only 20 yuan per person..." Before he finished speaking, Xiao Li had already rolled her eyes: "Alright, alright, little Tang, it's like you've been there before."

  Tang Yi smiled and stopped talking.

  One midnight, very far away, a few people walked for about an hour. When they saw the neon sign of Midnight flickering, Li Baozi panted heavily and said: "Damn it, I'm really old. Walking a few steps makes me feel like I'm going to die."

  Xiao Li chuckled and said: "Brother Li, you're a big shot, don't you usually have a car?"

  Li Pangzi chuckled: "You little guy, but you really hit the nail on the head. In a while, my wife will also come, she's using the car." Little Li exclaimed: "Auntie is coming too?"

  "Sister-in-law is still young, just a few years younger than you." Li Baozi saw Xiao Li's surprised expression and smiled complacently, mysteriously telling several people: "Everyone, please keep this secret for now, don't spread it around, the little girl who will arrive later is my mistress."

  With a loud snort, a hint of disdain appeared at the corner of his eyes, and he muttered to himself, "Who are you to be so famous? Still keeping secrets?"

  Xiao Li, however, was filled with envy. In that era, having a mistress represented success for men, and the newly rich loved to show off their mistresses at social gatherings. It wasn't until the new century that the aristocratic class gained more depth and no longer followed such clichés.

  Tang Yi smiled to himself, it seemed that he had indeed encountered a big spender from Yan Shan. Li wasn't all talk, it seemed he had some real skills.

  A few people entered the dimly lit night, Li Baozi probably came often, the waitress recognized him and smiled as she led the way: "Mr. Li, please this way." She led Li Baozi, Tang Yi and a few others to a spacious area in the corner, where there was a large glass coffee table surrounded by a yellow long sofa and several yellow single sofas, enough for ten or so people to sit.

  Li Baozi invited everyone to sit down, ordered beer and snacks, and specially ordered high-furnace buns for Lin Laoshi and Chen Jie. This kind of bun is a specialty of Yanshan, with crispy skin and meat filling that can be eaten as a meal. Chen Jie straightforwardly asked for a cup of hot beer, while Lin Laoshi was more reserved and only asked for a can of Jianlibao.

  A few people chatted and laughed, of course, basically Li Baozi was talking nonsense, others listened, Tang Yi didn't interrupt much, leisurely drinking beer, thinking about how to find an excuse to slip away. Occasionally listening to Li Baozi bragging was also a fun thing, but after a long time it became a kind of torture. Tang Yi also saw Yao Xiaohong chatting with guests at another table, Yao Xiaohong naturally saw him too, seeing that the people around him were unfamiliar, she didn't come over to greet him, only winking at Tang Yi.

  Before long, Li Pangzi's little honey also rushed over. She was a 18 or 19-year-old girl, surnamed Li, who looked quite decent. As soon as she arrived, she stuck to Li Pangzi and coquettishly said sweet nothings, her voice sugary and charming. Seeing her hugging Li Pangzi's barrel-like waist, Tang Yi felt a sense of awkwardness in his heart.

  Dazhou and Sister Chen probably won't be able to see this either, the two of them chatted idly together, ignoring the commotion over here, while Little Li looked on with envy.

  Tang Yi was really bored, so he made an excuse to go to the restroom, planning to come back and say he threw up to slip away. Just as he turned into the corridor leading to the restroom, he bumped into a soft and fragrant body. He lifted his head to see a girl with a batwing shirt, jeans, and a big afro hairstyle staring at him with wide eyes, scolding: "Don't you have eyes? Can't you watch where you're going? Or are you deliberately trying to be a pervert?"

  Tang Yi felt a wave of annoyance, thinking to himself how he had become a rascal the moment he entered this restroom. He furrowed his brow and said, "Sorry." As he flashed past her and walked inside, he heard the girl muttering, "Why do even the elegant and refined gentlemen come to this place..."

  When Tang Yi came back from the restroom, he heard Li Baozi speaking with great enthusiasm: "Look, didn't our county just get a huge investment from South Korea? I'm working on it now. Our construction team isn't big, but we have to win at least a few projects, right?"

  Xiao Li Yan's nod: "Then Brother Li can make a big fortune again." Li Pangzi burst out laughing.

  Tang Yi was stunned. Didn't they just sign the letter of intent with Daxing Electronics yesterday? How did the news spread so quickly today? Li is quite well-informed, isn't he?

  Tang Yi slowed down and sat down with a smile: "Brother Li, where did you get the news from? Is it reliable?"

  Li Baozi smiled mysteriously: "You don't need to care about this, anyway the news is not fake." Little Li looked at Tang Yi with disdain: "Can Brother Li fabricate false information? Besides, even if you say who told Brother Li, would you recognize him?"

  Li Baozi's little honey actually thinks Tang Yi is quite pleasing to the eye, and hearing Little Li mock Tang Yi, she smiles and interrupts: "Tang Ge, your leather jacket material is really fine, isn't it expensive? I haven't seen this brand before, but as they say, a famous brand doesn't necessarily mean good quality. Look at Li Ge's jacket, he spent over 600 on it, but how come the material looks worse than yours?"

  Tang Yi's leather jacket was from Germany's HUGO BOSS, priced at over $2,000. At that time, few people in the country recognized it, let alone in this remote small county town.

  Tang Yi smiled and said, "Isn't this just wearing a name tag now?" Just as he was thinking of how to get around Li Bao's words, he saw Li Bao's face gradually darkening. Following his gaze, he saw a table not far away where several men and women were clinking glasses and laughing together. Li Bao's fierce glare was fixed on one of the men with an extraordinary demeanor. The man had a pale complexion, slicked-back hair, and wore a suit and leather shoes, exuding an air of elegance.

  Li Pangzi grunted and put down his beer mug heavily on the table: "Isn't it true that enemies always meet! How did he also come?"

  Xiao Mi hurriedly asked: "Li Ge, who is he?"

  Li Pangzi scolded with a hum: "A little white face, County Committee Secretary Yao's relative. This guy is really not a good thing. You say he comes to Yanshan, but why does his nephew follow? He openly helps his nephew do business, and isn't afraid of being poked in the back. Now everyone in the circle calls this kid 'Yao Ye Nei'."

  Tang Yi listened to Old Yao and paid attention, smiling and asking: "What business is he doing?"

  Li Pangzi glared at Yao Yanei and said, "Fellow practitioners are enemies. What do you think he does? His nephew has ruined so many of my businesses since his mother's old Yao took office just two months ago. Many deals that were previously agreed upon have been snatched away by him."

  Tang Yi had an idea in his mind, they were all doing construction work.

  Li Baozi suddenly sneered again: "You guys don't look at him now jumping around happily, this time building a new city district he may not necessarily be able to get any benefits." He said mysteriously and lowered his voice to several people: "Do you know? The third-in-command Tang Secretary, I heard that he is not on the same road as Old Yao. This negotiation with South Korea was all planned by Tang Secretary himself. Of course, when it comes to building a new city district, Tang Secretary's words carry weight. If he finds out that Old Yao's nephew wants to take over the project, can you give it to him?"

  Tang Yixin felt a pang in his heart, thinking that although the news from the folk was true or false, it spread quickly. He and Lao Yao had only clashed a few times at the Standing Committee meeting, but by the time their conflict escalated, the rumors had already been exaggerated and distorted.

  But Li Pangzi couldn't help but say with a hint of schadenfreude, "This time I'll see how this kid dies. Tomorrow when I'm drinking with Secretary Tang, I'll stab him a few more times."

  Tang Yi was stunned, while Little Li was very quick-witted and immediately picked up on the tone of voice, laughing and saying: "So Brother Li's backing is Secretary Tang."

  Li Baozi neither confirmed nor denied it, his thick index finger wiggling slightly, with an inscrutable expression: "Shh, pay attention to secrecy, pay attention to secrecy."

  Xiao Li nodded reassuringly: "Don't worry, Brother Li, I won't tell anyone about this."

  Mr. Lin and Old Gao Chen left, despite Li Bao's repeated attempts to persuade them to stay. After seeing them out the door, he returned and said to Tang Yi and Xiao Li, "Come on, let's have some fun! Who'll sing a song?" But before he finished speaking, his face darkened again. Tang Yi turned around to see Yao Nei stumbling over, clearly having had too much to drink. He plopped down beside Li Bao, threw an arm around his shoulders, and boomed out a laugh: "Hey, isn't this my buddy Li? What's with the little honey you've brought along?" He leered at Tang Yi: "Tsk, tsk, not bad-looking, but your skin is a bit rough."

  Li Baozi pushed him away with a flick of his wrist, furrowing his brow and saying: "Yao Nei, I didn't invite you, did I?" He felt a surge of annoyance in his heart. Originally, he had brought Dai Daxue to show off and make an impression, but unexpectedly ran into Yao Nei. For the past two months, things hadn't been going smoothly for him, with several projects being snatched away by Yao Nei. Li Baozi knew that his connections weren't as strong as others, so he could only try to tolerate it. Who would have thought that this kid would come over and provoke him on purpose? Wasn't this making things difficult for him?

  Yao Nei smiled secretly and called himself Yao Nei, which didn't make Li Pangzi unhappy, but rather somewhat pleased.

  "Brother Li, when it comes to choosing women, my taste is better than yours." As he spoke, he beckoned to the woman at his table, a stunning beauty with a slender waist sashayed over. Tang Yi took a closer look and couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. He had thought that this official had good taste, but this woman wasn't even as beautiful as Li's mistress. She was just skilled at dressing up and applying makeup, who knows what she'd be like without it.

  "Li Ge, this is my girlfriend Xiao Yan. How about it? Introduce me to your friend?" The woman with Yao Nei also seemed to have seen many such scenes and smiled as she greeted Li Pangzi, Tang Yi, and Little Li.

  Listening to these two "big shots" engaging in a hollow and boring argument, Tang Yi couldn't help but feel a bit bored. He stretched his waist, but didn't expect to see Yao Xiaohong coming down from the second floor with a girl by her side. The two were chatting intimately, and upon closer inspection, wasn't that girl the one with the explosive hairstyle he bumped into outside the restroom? Tang Yi couldn't help but laugh silently, Yao Xiaohong really knew all sorts of people, this ancient woman could even get along famously in this era.

  "Hey, you two, tell me, is Little Swallow pretty or is Li Ge's woman pretty?" High official laughed and asked Tang Yi and Xiao Li. The woman called Little Swallow seemed to be used to this situation, her face didn't change color, she smiled and looked at Tang Yi and Xiao Li, even puffed out her own high chest. Li Baozi's mistress's face wasn't looking good, how could they do this, it was like treating them as commodities!

  Yao Nei saw that Tang Yi and Little Li were not speaking, so he urged: "Don't be afraid, speak the truth, but you're not allowed to take sides for your brother Li!" In his heart, however, he was gloating, thinking: "Li Baozi, I'm going to make you lose face in front of your friend, let's see if you dare to compete with me again!"

  Xiao Li wanted to fawn over Li Baozi, but when he heard that this official was the county party secretary's nephew, he didn't dare offend him and could only nod and say: "They're all good-looking, they're all good-looking..." Li Baozi hadn't expected Xiao Li to be so spineless and his face turned red with anger.

  Yao Nei laughed loudly: "You're Li Baozi's buddy, since you said that, it means you admit our family's Yan Yan is a bit more beautiful!" And then asked Tang Yi with a smile: "What do you think?"

  Tang Yi really thought this person was boring enough, seeing Li Baozi's little honey get angry and pale, he smiled and said: "Although I am Li Ge's friend, but I have to tell the truth, Xiao Yan is still more beautiful." Yao Wai Nei burst out laughing, but then heard Tang Yi continue: "Xiao Yan should be more beautiful than Little Sister Li 20 years later." Yao Wai Nei's laughter stopped abruptly, and he started coughing loudly, with a embarrassed face, Xiao Yan hurriedly patted his back.

  Li Baozi's little honey also surnamed Li, in this atmosphere, Tang Yi called the other Xiaoyan, calling her Little Sister Li showed respect for her, Little Li couldn't help but look at Tang Yi with gratitude, thinking that Brother Tang is a good person, I heard he has no job, I'll think of ways to help him out later.

  Li Baozi smiled and patted Tang Yi's shoulder, thinking this kid is quite considerate.

  Yao Nei stopped coughing for a long time, staring at Tang Yi and said: "You little boy, have you even grown up yet? You haven't even touched a woman before, right? And you're also looking at women, what's the point of that?"

  Tang Yi's face sank, this guy was indeed a rogue official, and he started scolding as soon as they disagreed.

  "Who says my brother has never been with a woman?" A clear and crisp girl's voice suddenly sounded from behind Tang Yi, turning around to see that the explosive head was standing behind him. On either side of the explosive head stood two girls, both seventeen or eighteen years old. One was beautiful and lovely, while the other was lively and pure. The round-faced beauty wore a red sweater, jeans skirt, and black cotton stockings, while the melon-seed-faced purity wore a light-colored denim outfit. The explosive head pointed at Tang Yi and said, "This is my brother." The two girls cheered and sat down on either side of Tang Yi, who was stunned. He saw the explosive head introduce them to him, pointing at the round-faced lovely girl and saying, "Brother, you call her Little Five." Then he pointed at the pure girl and said, "She's called Juanzi."

  Tang Yi frowned, where did this group of wild girls come from? Just as he was about to chase them away, a fragrant breeze floated over, and the explosive head leaned in close to his ear, saying in an extremely low voice: "Brother, I'm Xiaozhu's girlfriend, Xiao Na."

  Tang Yi stared at the smiling afro in astonishment. He had heard Qijie mention that Junzi had a girlfriend like this, and it was said that she was quite crazy and playful. Apparently, it wasn't false.

  Xiao Wu and Juanzi, one pouring wine for Tang Yi, the other picking up a pastry to feed into Tang Yi's mouth, giggling: "Brother, eat this!" "Brother, I'll drink a cup with you." They were being very affectionate.

  Tang Yi saw that they were Junzi's girlfriend's friends, and it wouldn't be good to drive them away. Not giving face to the explosive head was fine, but he had to give some face to Junzi. After all, if the explosive head thought he looked down on Junzi, it would be bad.

  Baozha Tou smiled and said to Tang Yi, "Brother, they've been wanting to meet you for a long time. You guys play, I'll go find Xiao Hong Jie to sit for a while." With that, he turned his head and left.

  Li Baozi, Yao Nei and Little Li were all staring with their eyes wide open, looking at the two pretty little girls who seemed to be vying for favor and playing coquettishly with Tang Yi. They were all confused in their minds, not knowing what was going on.

  Tang Yi was somewhat angry, listening to Li Hongna's meaning she told the two girls her identity, they were still entwining around her, who did she think she was?

  At this time, Juanzi handed a piece of pastry to Tang Yi's mouth and smiled: "Brother, do you want me to feed you with my mouth?"

  Tang Yi's face sank: "Put it down! If you say something else that makes no sense, get out of here!" He restrained himself from saying "get out", after all, he had to give some face to Junzi's girlfriend.

  Xiao Wu and Juanzi exchanged a glance, both sticking out their tongues, thinking that it was no wonder he was the county party secretary, with such great prestige. They felt a bit intimidated in their hearts, but they were also very curious about Tang Yi and didn't want to leave just like that. The two of them exchanged a look, and then became much more well-behaved, no longer rubbing against Tang Yi's body, only smiling and talking to him, curiously sizing him up. After all, they were young and had grown up on the streets, so they weren't afraid of the title of county party secretary. Especially since the county party secretary in front of them was someone they had always been enthusiastically discussing, probably in their hearts, Tang Yi as a county party secretary was like those pop stars, belonging to the idol type, rather than a symbol of power.

  Yao was furious, just saying that he had never seen a woman before, and then two little girls came to stick to him. Isn't this slapping me in the face? Especially these two girls are quite pretty, and Tang Yi scolded them with a dark face, but they not only didn't get angry, but also immediately became like obedient kittens, quietly adding twelve times more care to accompany the little white face to speak, as if they were afraid of this little white face.

  Tang Yi said, "You two sit down on either side of me and stay put!" Although no one recognized him, he was afraid of running into someone with ulterior motives. Drinking and chatting with others wasn't a big deal, but being surrounded by two little girls, one on each side, was not proper, especially since these two girls weren't even his friends, probably just streetwise sisters who hung out together. If word got out, it wouldn't look good.

  Xiao Wu and Juanzi both got up obediently, but then they started arguing with each other again, sitting next to Tang Yi's seat. The two of them were bumping into each other, making Tang Yi laugh silently. He didn't dislike these two naive little girls, and looking at them reminded him of his own youthful and arrogant years. Suddenly, he let out a sigh in his heart, having entered the officialdom for less than a year, his state of mind had already become old.

  Tang Yi thought the two little girls were funny, but Yao Nei couldn't sit still, staring at Tang Yi with wide eyes: "Hey, you little brat, are you trying to pull the wool over my eyes? Bringing two little girls here to put on a show?"

  Xiao Wu and Juanzi were afraid of Tang Yi, but they weren't afraid of Yao Nei. When Yao Nei mocked their idol and scolded them as "maidservants", they immediately turned around, one cursing: "You little brat, pretending to be a good boy? Get out!" The other cursed: "Call me maidservant again and I'll castrate you!"

  Swallow got up and scolded: "You two little..." Before she finished, Little Five grabbed her hair and slapped her face twice.

  Yao Nei quickly stood up, but was pulled back by Li Pangzi, who was smiling and saying "calm down, calm down". In his heart, he thought that he couldn't let the two young girls take advantage of him.

  The commotion brought the security service lady rushing over to mediate, pulling them apart. By the time Yao Xiaohong hurried down from the second floor, they had already been separated. Yanzi was crying and covering her red and swollen face, her hair disheveled. Yao's mother-in-law was furious, wanting to hit Wuzi and Juanzi, but was held back by Li Baozi.

  Tang Yi frowned and took a few steps back, lest he be seen by someone with ulterior motives. When Juanzi and Wuzi looked over, Tang Yi gave them a signal, and the two little girls were quite clever, not pursuing him further to avoid drawing attention from the crowd. However, both of them had an innocent look on their faces as they smiled warmly at him, making Tang Yi shudder with laughter. The transformation from being a gentle girl to a shrew and then back to a gentle girl was really too fast for anyone to accept.

  Yao Nei saw Yao Xiaohong and pointed at Juanzi and Xiao Wu, shouting loudly: "Manager Yao, quickly call the police to catch them!"

  Yao Xiaohong furrowed her brow, walked to Yao Ya's side, and whispered a few words in his ear. Yao Ya's expression changed instantly, and the way he looked at Xiao Wu and Juanzi was no longer so fierce. Then, Yao Xiaohong smiled and said to Juanzi and Xiao Wu: "Hurry up, you two, Xiao Na is waiting for you."

  Jiānzi and Xiǎo Wǔ slipped out of the crowd, giggling, and when they reached Táng Yì's side, they whispered in unison: "Brother, I'll find you later to drink tea."

  Tang Yi smiled wryly and nodded, and the two little girls ran away happily.

  The waiters and security guards arranged the seats, cleaned up the mess on the floor, and Yao Xiaohong didn't look at Tang Yi from start to finish, which made Tang Yi somewhat admire her ability to pretend to be stupid.

  Two women stirred up trouble, and Li Baozi unexpectedly took the upper hand. He smiled and pulled Yao Nei down to sit, while Yao Nei looked at the crying woman with annoyance and scolded: "Go home and cry, you're useless." Turning his face to size up Tang Yi, he asked: "You're surnamed Tang, right? Are you a relative of Du's family?"

  "What's Duju?"

  Yao Nei laughed: "Don't pretend to be stupid with me, Manager Yao has already told me that those two little girls are Director Du's nieces. They're so close to you and helping you save face, doesn't that mean you're related to Director Du?"