Chapter 111

In the main office, Huang Juan said to the two of them: "I still can't help but criticize you both. Although there is freedom to love and freedom to break up, people are not objects—you can't just take them when you want and discard them when you don't. It's fine for you to be happy; that is your freedom, and no one can interfere. But humans are social animals, and this world doesn't just consist of the two of you. No matter how happy or blissful you are, it's best to be restrained and not overly provoke the other party."

Wang Xiaomin frowned: "So Brother Zhendong and I have to be sneaky when we get married and live our lives from now on?"

Ren Xiaocui said coolly: "Who told you both to be unable to stick to your original intentions and go off to date others? Otherwise, wouldn't it have been a happy ending for everyone once the misunderstanding was cleared up?"

Wang Xiaomin's joy seemed to have been doused by a basin of cold water, leaving her chilled to the bone.

Her smile stiffened on her face, and she turned her head to look at Gu Zhendong, on the verge of tears.

Gu Zhendong gripped Wang Xiaomin's hand, a flash of guilt crossing his eyes. It was all his fault; if he had only insisted on asking for the truth back then, wouldn't all these misunderstandings have been avoided?

But for a neighborhood office cadre to speak like that was just too harsh.

Still, the other party was a neighborhood cadre, and it certainly wouldn't be good to sour the relationship.

Because he still had to register his marriage with Xiaomin that afternoon.

Suppressing his anger, he said: "Our attitude might have been problematic; we will change."

Having said that, he took Wang Xiaomin's hand and strode out of the neighborhood office.

The few people looked at each other, and Ren Xiaocui said: "What a scene. Comparing it to Qiao Ge—how inexplicable."

"Qiao Ge is nothing like her. If it's over, it's over—making such a fuss about dying is so unsightly!"

"Exactly, it's not the same thing at all."

"If you ask me, Gu Zhendong and Wang Xiaomin aren't much better. Although there is freedom to love, you can't just do whatever you want. If everyone were like them, dating when they feel like it and breaking up when they don't, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

"That's right, they have no sense of commitment, let alone responsibility."

"They take pride in what should be shameful!"

Huang Juan stopped them: "Alright, stop discussing it. Don't make snide remarks when they come to register this afternoon."

That was a given; they still had that much decency.

Meanwhile, Comrade Zhou Li had already taken Lu Qiaoge by bus to the district government's comprehensive office.

The reconciliation of accounts went smoothly, with no discrepancies between the goods received and delivered.

Lu Qiaoge looked at the document on the table, her eyes flickering. It was the document approved by the city for the district to establish a retail outlet for purchasing handicrafts.

Jiangcheng is located in the north. To be honest, in terms of historical depth and craft heritage, Jiangcheng is not as good as the south.

The Long Kingdom's foreign exchange reserves are still very low, so there is currently an initiative to promote the imitation of cultural relics to generate foreign exchange for the country.

And in Jiangcheng, perhaps because she is inexperienced and hasn't been out much, she doesn't know where such a cultural relic imitation counter exists.

Moreover, she doesn't have the talent in this area, so it probably wouldn't be easy to pursue a high-end export route.

However, she isn't interested in cultural relics, but if she really wanted to sign a handicraft purchase agreement with the district, it wouldn't be impossible.

But the clerk was busy as a bee. It was currently the time for reconciling accounts, and there were quite a few clerks from other neighborhood offices queuing up behind them waiting to do the same.

Once they were finished, the clerk didn't even look up and just shouted for the next person.

There was simply no time to try to build a rapport.

As Lu Qiaoge followed Comrade Zhou Li out, she heard a hurried, chirping sound coming from the windowsill.

【Su Hongmei, Su Hongmei, hurry home! Your mother-in-law locked your daughter in the room and went to the backyard to gossip and eat melon seeds with someone.】

【Your daughter is hungry; she went to rummage through the cupboard, and it tipped over. She's been crushed inside.】

【Hurry back and save her!】

Lu Qiaoge stopped in her tracks instantly. Her gaze turned to a sparrow outside the window, startled into flight by a male comrade opening the window. It wasn't large, but it seemed exceptionally agile.

It was currently perched on a branch of the large tree outside, chirping incessantly.

Such chirping was very normal.

Lu Qiaoge's expression changed. She wanted to contact the clerk, this Su Hongmei.

But she really didn't want to do it this way.

Being crushed by a cupboard—whether it's a big child or a small one, something bad will happen.

Lu Qiaoge didn't want to see that happen.

But since she had heard the sparrow's alarm, what could she do?

Another point was that if she ran to Su Hongmei's house to save someone for no reason—and it wasn't even the military family compound—they didn't know each other. What would be her excuse?

All these thoughts passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Qiaoge felt a bit anxious; the difficulty of this matter was quite high.

But knowing that a human life might be at stake, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

Over there, Su Hongmei was still busy.

These few days at the end and beginning of the month were her busiest.

The sparrow on the big tree was still chirping nervously: 【Hurry home, don't you want your daughter anymore?】

Lu Qiaoge quietly dropped her work permit in a corner of the office.

Walking out of the district government's comprehensive office, Lu Qiaoge suddenly rummaged through her bag and said: "Comrade Zhou Li, wait for me a moment. I think I dropped my work permit in the office."

Without waiting for Comrade Zhou Li to respond, Lu Qiaoge hurried toward the office building.

The comprehensive office was a large room, converted from a former conference room.

It was right at the end of the second-floor corridor.

It was a place with a constant flow of people coming to handle business.

Lu Qiaoge called out in her heart: "Little sparrow, little sparrow, you just said Su Hongmei's daughter was crushed by a cupboard, right?"

The little sparrow, which had been calling out for Su Hongmei in vain, was stunned.

Just like all the little creatures Lu Qiaoge communicated with, it was first dazed, then followed by excited chirping, and then it reacted with joy, flying toward the source of the voice.

The comprehensive office was on the second floor. Lu Qiaoge stood at the corner of the stairs, facing the window outside which was the large elm tree. The little sparrow flew over from the tree and landed tremblingly on the windowsill.

【You... you can understand what I'm saying?】

Lu Qiaoge nodded affirmatively, reached out to stroke the sparrow's little head, and quickly began to ask questions.

The little girl was four years old, hadn't started preschool yet, and was being looked after by the girl's grandmother.

When the little sparrow flew over to report the news, it heard the little girl crying loudly.

Lu Qiaoge breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as she was alive, that was good. She said in her heart: "I'll go notify Su Hongmei. You take care of yourself."

Sparrows are very dangerous nowadays.

Besides their natural predators, humans also want to eat them.

Sparrow meat is delicious; before they were protected, it was once a delicacy in restaurants.

After giving the instruction, Lu Qiaoge turned and walked quickly toward the end of the corridor.

The little sparrow dazed for a moment, then spread its wings and flew toward a part of the city.

It was very smart and knew how to avoid danger.

Lu Qiaoge walked very fast. She entered the room, picked up the work permit from the corner, and put it into her bag. The people queuing nearby initially thought Lu Qiaoge was trying to cut in line, but seeing her pick up the work permit, they realized it had been dropped there.