Chapter 881

Zhao Desan pulled the quilt over himself and had just closed his eyes when he suddenly opened them again in alert. He threw off the quilt, got out of bed, and went to open the door to take a look. Discovering that Sister Su's car was already gone, he locked the door, returned to the bedroom, picked up his phone, and called Zhao Xue. He learned that Zhao Xue's mother was nearly recovered and that they planned to send her back to her hometown in Yuyang within the next two days to enjoy her remaining years in peace. Since he had time today, Zhao Desan said he would go to the hospital to visit them in a while. Hearing that he was coming, Zhao Xue's voice was clearly pleasantly surprised as she said, "Really? Then come over. My mom said she wants to see you too; she wants to say a few words to you."

"Oh? Auntie wants to talk to me? Say what?" Zhao Desan asked with a chuckle, feeling a bit puzzled.

"I... I don't know either. You can ask my mom when you get here," Zhao Xue said, feeling a bit shy. In truth, she knew in her heart that her mother had told her more than once that this boy, Zhao Desan, was a good person and a man worth relying on, and that she should seize the opportunity to hold onto his heart.

"Alright then, I won't say more for now. I'll be there in a while, we'll chat when I arrive."

After hanging up, Zhao Desan went to the bathroom to wash up. He shaved his beard in front of the mirror, changed into a set of casual clothes, and walked out the door whistling, feeling quite pleased with himself.

While waiting for a taxi at the back gate of the residential complex, Zhao Desan bought a basket of fruit before getting into the car and heading toward the hospital. In the car, the thought of Zhao Xue, who radiated a sense of justice, filled him with an urgent desire to see her. He peered anxiously out the window, watching the streetscape rapidly recede and shrink.

While waiting for a red light at an intersection, Zhao Desan's eyes suddenly widened as he stared at a certain spot across the intersection, his face full of astonishment. Following the direction of his gaze, there was a black Audi with Yuyang City license plates. The driver was a glamorous woman who looked to be under forty, sporting a trendy shoulder-length bob, and in the passenger seat sat a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

Sister Lan? Why would she be in Xijing? Zhao Desan muttered to himself. To confirm he hadn't seen wrong, he checked the license plate number several times: He B7555. Yes, it was her. Zhao Desan confirmed he hadn't misidentified her. Although Sister Lan kept a low profile by driving an Audi A6, the license plate was quite flashy. Furthermore, she had told Zhao Desan that this plate had a special meaning: 7555 represented her birthday—she was born on the Dragon Boat Festival in 1975—which was why she had bought that specific plate.

Just as he was certain that the woman with the shorter hair driving the car was indeed Ma Lan, the red light turned green, and the car started moving forward. "Driver, can you pull over?" Perhaps it was because he hadn't seen Sister Lan in so long, or perhaps it was because he saw a woman sitting in Sister Lan's car, but Zhao Desan wanted to go up and question her.

The driver said, "I can't stop here."

As the two cars brushed past each other, he finally saw Sister Lan clearly inside. She was wearing a white trench coat and had a trendy shoulder-length bob; it was as if she were aging in reverse. Not only did she not look a day older than she had two years ago, but she actually appeared even younger and more beautiful, like a young married woman in her early thirties. She radiated a charming aura, laughing and talking with the man in the passenger seat as she drove; it was clear their relationship was very close.

Zhao Desan's eyes were fixed firmly on the Audi, his head turning bit by bit as they passed, until Ma Lan's car drove away and disappeared from his sight. Because he was in a hurry to see Zhao Xue at the hospital, and because he felt a sudden sense of disgust toward Ma Lan, he prepared to take out his phone to call her. However, after dialing the number, he hesitated for a moment before putting the phone away.

It turned out Zhao Desan hadn't been wrong; the car was Ma Lan's, and the short-haired woman driving was indeed Ma Lan. As for the middle-aged man in the passenger seat, he was Liu Jianguo, the former director of the Yuyang Municipal Party Committee Office. Many years ago, when Ma Lan had just graduated and been assigned to the Municipal Party Committee Office, she had been forcibly taken by Liu Jianguo. With his help, after Ma Lan resigned from the office, she had entered the coal industry and had been sailing smoothly ever since.

Her reason for coming to Xijing City this time was partly because she had been too busy negotiating coal supply deals for several large thermal power plants over the past few months to keep in touch with her daughter, Seeing Tingting, and she wanted to come to Xijing to see her. The other reason was to take the opportunity to scout the Xijing real estate industry, preparing to follow in the footsteps of the Lin family at the right moment and get into real estate development in Xijing as well. She had spent the entire day yesterday with her daughter Seeing Tingting, but before dinner, Seeing Tingting's boyfriend had called, and Seeing Tingting had left under a pretext. Ma Lan had sat alone in her hotel room for a while, considering that if she wanted to get involved in the real estate industry in Xijing, she had to first establish connections with the leaders of the various departments related to real estate development in the city. To establish these connections, she needed a guide. Thinking about this in her hotel room, she suddenly remembered Liu Jianguo, who had been promoted from director of the Yuyang Municipal Government Office to director of the Xijing Municipal Government Office during the 26th meeting of the 11th Standing Committee of the Hexi Provincial People's Congress. Thus, holding the mindset of giving it a try, she dialed the mobile number he had used when he was in Yuyang. Fortunately, these government leaders generally did not change their mobile numbers easily when transferring to new work locations in order to maintain their network of connections, so the call went through.

Ever since Ma Lan had gradually become successful in the coal business, her contact with Liu Jianguo had decreased. Later, after she hooked up with Yu Haiping, the vice mayor in charge of the coal industry, she basically stopped contacting Liu Jianguo altogether. Liu Jianguo had also deleted the number of this female subordinate he had once taken for himself while cleaning out his contacts. When he received this call from an unfamiliar number, he didn't know it was Ma Lan. Moreover, he was currently drinking with a group of leaders from the Municipal Party Committee who were slightly lower in rank than himself. Leaning back in his chair, smoking a cigarette, he put on airs and asked in a loud voice, "Who is this?"

Hearing Liu Jianguo's voice, Ma Lan smiled and said in a coquettish tone, "Director Liu, do you know who I am?"

"You... who are you?" Hearing that the person on the other end was a woman with a very coquettish voice, the fifty-year-old Liu Jianguo became interested and immediately said with a chuckle.

"Director Liu, take a guess." As a former subordinate whose body he had once taken, Ma Lan knew this man was lecherous, so she deliberately used a very coquettish tone.

"Is it Little Wang? Little Wang from Dream Paris?" Liu Jianguo said with a chuckle. Dream Paris was a high-end bath center in Xijing City, and Little Wang was their top star. Every time Liu Jianguo went to Dream Paris to bathe, he would tirelessly request Little Wang to serve him.

"What Little Wang? It's me, Ma Lan, Little Ren." Ma Lan reported her name in a coquettish tone tinged with complaint.

Liu Jianguo immediately said with pleasant surprise, "It's Ma Lan! You... how did you think to call me? I heard your coal business in Yuyang is booming; how do you still have time to call me?" ===== CHAPTER 882 =====