Chapter 26: Lend a Hand

  Tang Yi sat on the long sofa in his office, lit a small panda cigarette, and lazily blew out smoke rings. In his mind, he replayed the scenes of the past few days. Recently, there had been subtle changes in personnel relationships within the county committee. More standing committee members were inviting him to dinner, while fewer were accompanying Old Yao. The heads of various departments in the county committee seemed unusually reserved when they saw him, unlike their previous warm greetings. It was as if they had always looked down on him with a lack of respect, perhaps thinking he was too naive back then.

  Tang Yi smiled, but inadvertently saw the cigarette box on the coffee table and immediately furrowed his brow. On the cigarette box was written a line of small words in pen: "Smoking is harmful to health". A white shadow floated into Tang Yi's eyes, his thoughts became disordered, and his originally calm mood suddenly turned bad. He didn't know when she had written it, maybe it was that day after playing video games, she went back to her own home again. The suitcase was still placed in the living room. This wasn't a big deal, but what made him angry was that all the cigarettes under the coffee table had been opened by her, and each cigarette box had this line of words written on it with a pen. In this era, the government had not yet stipulated that domestic cigarettes must have such text clearly marked in a conspicuous position. Ning Xiaomei's behavior was not considered excessive.

  Didn't you know that cigarettes wrapped in plastic will get moldy after a few days? Tang Yi sighed, those few cigarettes were wasted for nothing. What's even more infuriating was that her presence seemed to have left marks everywhere in his life, making Tang Yi clench his teeth in anger every day.

  He pinched out the cigarette butt, and Tang Yi was about to make a cup of tea to calm his bad mood. The door was knocked, and Secretary Tao walked in with a smile: "You sit down, I'll help you make a cup." However, when he picked up the thermos, it felt light, as if there was no hot water left, and he furrowed his brow: "No tea to drink!"

  Director Tao smiled and said, "If you can't drink, then don't drink, don't get angry. This little Li, I think his secretary is not qualified, let's change him in a few days, you choose one from the secretariat yourself. Come sit down, I have something to tell you." He patted the long sofa.

  Tang Yi walked over and sat down, smiling: "It doesn't matter, can't blame Little Li either. Although they don't have much power, in reality they are busier than us. The script we hold in our hands, a few hundred words that take only a few minutes to read, might be the result of someone's hard work for several days." Then asked: "What's up?"

  Secretary Tao's face was full of praise: "It's still Secretary Tang who is considerate of his subordinates, no wonder everyone praises you behind your back." Tang Yi humbly replied a few words, but in his heart, he was pondering the possible hidden information in every word of Secretary Tao.

  Secretary Tao said, "I didn't look for you for anything big, it's just that in a few days it's my wife's birthday, she wants to make it lively, and I don't know anyone here in Yan Shan. How about this, you bring your girlfriend, and we two can take the opportunity to have a drink and chat?"

  Tang Yixin said, "Which girlfriend do you want me to bring?" I currently have two girlfriends. One is beautiful and elegant in Hainan, you can't see her. The other one isn't a big hero, but also not a little white, if you see her, she'll definitely scare you to death. With a smile on his face, he said, "Alright, for sister-in-law's birthday, we must make it lively and exciting. I arrived in Yanshan a year earlier than Secretary Tao, so I might be a bit more familiar with the people here. Let me arrange it for you."

  Secretary Tao smiled and said: "Then it's settled." Before he had even finished speaking, the phone on his desk rang. Secretary Tao joked: "Look at how busy you are! I haven't been as busy as you with this one move of my hand."

  Tang Yi frowned, this remark is a bit not good, unintentionally revealing words can better reflect people's true emotions, it seems that Secretary Tao has hatred for himself in his heart, on the surface he is easing relations, but who knows what he is planning in his heart.

  The phone call was made by the gatekeeper of the county committee's compound, and Old Li smiled and asked: "Secretary Tang, there are two female soldiers who claim to be your girlfriend's comrades-in-arms, they insist on coming in to see you."

  Tang Yi's head was a bit bigger, but why did someone always remind himself that he had such an extraordinary girlfriend?

  "Let them in." Tang Yi sighed and Tao Secretary saw that he had something on his mind, so he smiled and bid farewell.

  Before long, footsteps sounded outside, and then the door was pushed open. Two female soldiers came in. Tang Yi still remembered them. The tall and thin female soldier in front was the one who had caught her own class leader before, and the round-faced female soldier behind was that country girl.

  "Please sit down!" Tang Yi had already sat behind his desk and pointed at the long sofa, indicating for the two female soldiers to take a seat.

  He originally thought it was just a coincidence, but when he saw Tang Yi's aura, he was taken aback. Was this really the same person as that young master who had clashed with him? The difference in temperament was too great?

  Sitting on the long sofa again, he was obviously a big shorter than Tang Yi. The decoration of this office is indeed particular, making you look up to the leader, and Cheng Ran's momentum is even weaker. As for the round-faced female soldier, she didn't need to say anything, shrinking in the sofa, her posture was straight, as if listening to the leader's lecture like a little soldier.

  "Want some tea?" Tang Yi asked casually while holding a pen as if reviewing documents.

  "No trouble at all." Cheng Ran's voice had clearly softened, "Yes, yes, that's right. Coach told me before she went back to Beijing that you're her boyfriend, if there's anything, I can ask for your help..." He was actually stuttering a bit as he spoke.

  Tang Yigang doodled with his pen and said casually, "Yeah, go ahead, what's up." It wasn't that he wanted to pretend, but rather he didn't want to get entangled in any relationships with these female soldiers. Moreover, he had heard that Ning Xiaomei was spreading rumors about her relationship with him everywhere, even telling the other soldiers that they could come find him if they needed anything. This made him so angry that his teeth itched, but then he heard that Ning Xiaomei had returned to Beijing, which made him feel a little relieved that he wouldn't have to see her for the time being, which was good.

  "Yes, that's right. We were just stopped at the Shitunzi toll station and our vehicle was detained by the traffic authorities. The staff at the toll station said our vehicle was overloaded and we would be fined. Actually, it's a military vehicle, but we didn't hang the military plate..."

  "Don't need to explain."

  Cheng Ran was somewhat anxious as soon as he heard it: "Tang, Secretary Tang, what I said is true. If you don't believe me, you can ask...ask our leaders. That's really a military vehicle and cannot be handled with the overload standards for civilian vehicles..."

  Tang Yi ignored her, picked up the phone, looked at the directory under the glass of his office desk, and dialed the Transportation Bureau's number. "Director Gao, it's Tang Yi."

  "Hello, hello. Yes, that's right. A friend of mine had his car towed in Shitouzi. The license plate number is..." He looked up at Cheng Ran, who quickly recited the license plate number. Tang Yi repeated it into the phone, "Right, okay, thank you."

  "Hang up the phone and said to Cheng Ran: 'Let's go now, is there anything else?'"

  Cheng Ran and the round-faced female soldier were both stunned, was it just that simple? No need to explain anything about the military vehicle, just one sentence "it's my friend's car" and they could be let go immediately? Just now, the two of them had been trying to persuade with all their might, even threatening to call the military district, but were ignored.

  He couldn't help but sigh, thinking of how he had pinched his neck and scolded him as a rascal that day. Now looking at him, gentle and elegant, with an inexplicable aura, did this look like a rascal?

  He wanted to apologize for what happened last time, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to say it, as if he had only relented because someone else had helped him out.

  Cheng Ran and the round-faced female soldier bid farewell, and before leaving, Cheng Ran remembered something, took out a piece of paper and handed it to Tang Yi, saying: "Secretary Tang, this is Coach Ning's mobile phone number in Beijing. She said you can call this number if you need anything."

  Tang Yi took it, didn't even look at it and stuffed it into his pants pocket. He stood up to see them off out of the office, saw the round-faced female soldier curiously sizing him up, and smiled: "Hey, little guy, have you made progress recently? Are you still going to the men's restroom to catch perverts?"

  The round-faced female soldier saw Tang Yi looking at her and hastily lowered her head, saying "No, I won't do it again."

  Tang Yi burst out laughing and turned back into the house. Cheng Ran rolled her eyes, this man was indeed true to his nature! How could Coach Ning become his girlfriend? Cheng Ran couldn't understand no matter how hard she tried, why the person in her mind who was sacred and inviolable, like a god, would get involved with such a flirtatious man.