Chapter 219: Love Brain

’It’s better not to set one’s sights too high,’ she thought. ’It’s too easy to fail.’

One hundred million US Dollars was nothing to scoff at.

It was more than enough to support the entire Lin Province.

Besides, she still had her transaction volume from the Spring Trade Fair, plus her regular collaborations with foreigners. Her factories were much wealthier than one might think.

Xie Changning had a plan, so the leader didn’t press the issue.

One hundred million! They would be the national champions at this year’s Autumn Trade Fair! ’Sweet!’

The meeting lasted nearly two hours. The main agenda was to assign personnel for the Autumn Trade Fair. Of course, during the meeting, Xie Changning also raised a request for a team of translators for the Lin Province commercial delegation.

She couldn’t possibly handle it all by herself. She could barely manage her own booth, let alone help the other factories.

The leader took this issue very seriously.

Almost as soon as the meeting ended, he had his secretary urgently dispatch ten translators to join the delegation.

Translators were in short supply these days. All the best ones were assigned to the leadership committees, and it was nearly impossible to find exceptionally skilled translators elsewhere.

Among these ten translators, only three were trilingual.

The rest only knew English.

Still, it would be enough to handle most situations.

It was better than nothing.

Once the translators were confirmed for the delegation, Xie Changyi could finally relax. She had submitted a report to the leader about this, but after reading it, he had apparently gotten so busy that he’d completely forgotten about it!

’Otherwise, he wouldn’t have rushed to deal with it right after the meeting.’

’Something that should have been handled long ago was only being dealt with now!’

After the meeting, people filed out of the conference room one by one. The top leader, however, remained seated. He said he had something to discuss with his secretary.

So, after almost everyone had left, he finally tucked his fountain pen into the breast pocket of his Mao suit.

He put away his notebook and looked at the secretary who had just walked in from outside. "Xiao Liu, is there something you ought to confess to me?"

"Leader, what are you talking about?"

Xiao Liu looked completely bewildered.

The leader didn’t beat around the bush. He stood up and looked at Xiao Liu, his expression cold. "The matter of the translators. I recall assigning it to you. Why didn’t you handle it?"

This was not a mistake Xiao Liu should have made.

But it had happened, and he needed an explanation.

Xiao Liu’s eyelashes trembled. He parted his lips. "I... I got busy and forgot. I never thought it would cause such a mess. I’m willing to accept my punishment."

"I recall you have a girlfriend who was studying abroad. She came back recently?"

"...Leader, this is all my fault. I was being selfish. Please, punish me!"

The moment his girlfriend was mentioned, Xiao Liu couldn’t stay calm any longer.

He knew the leader wouldn’t bring up his girlfriend for no reason.

’He must know what I’ve been up to recently. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be calling me out like this.’

"North China is in a critical phase of development right now. You’re a promising young man, so I’ll be reassigning you there. Work hard."

A look of despair flashed in Xiao Liu’s eyes.

He knew the leader was already going easy on him, out of consideration for his many years of service.

Anyone else would have been taken away for investigation long ago.

In the end, he had betrayed the leader’s trust and disappointed him.

"Yes, I understand."

Only after Xiao Liu agreed did the leader pick up his things and return to his office.

Xiao Liu followed the leader out, then went to his own desk to pack his things, preparing to leave as soon as possible.

Seeing Xiao Liu packing, a flicker of reluctance crossed the leader’s eyes.

Xiao Liu was an excellent secretary. He had been by the leader’s side for many years, and the leader had long grown accustomed to having him around.

But this time, driven by his own selfish motives, Xiao Liu had gone too far!

His girlfriend hadn’t even passed the political background check; there was no way she could be assigned a job here!

At this thought, the leader sighed, lowered his head to focus on his work, and pushed the issue of Xiao Liu from his mind.

After leaving the conference room, Xie Changning frowned and turned to her sister. "Sis—"

"We’ll talk when we get back."

Since Xie Changning had come alone this time, Xie Changyi took her back to her own place.

After reuniting with her younger sister, one of the first things Xie Changyi did was get rid of her small bed.

She had specially commissioned a carpenter to build a large, two-meter-wide bed. That way, her sister wouldn’t have to stay at the guesthouse every time she visited.

And now, her big bed was finally assembled!

"I..."

"I replaced my bed. We sisters haven’t had a proper chat since we found each other again. This is the perfect chance for us to share some secrets."

The carpenter Xie Changyi found was a very famous one.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had to wait so long for it.

Hearing Xie Changyi say this, Xie Changning finally broke into a smile. "I was just thinking that you didn’t have a place for me to sleep. If I came over and had nowhere to stay, you’d feel so guilty."

"You’ve really gotten comfortable with me, learning to be such a smart-mouth!"

Xie Changyi hadn’t let Xie Changning speak because there was a driver in the car.

Even if the driver had been with her for many years, she wouldn’t expose too much in front of him.

Of course, she had also misunderstood what Xie Changning was about to say.

Xie Changning had intended to say that she hadn’t brought any toiletries and wanted to grab some from Xie Changyi’s place before heading to the guesthouse. But before she could, Xie Changyi cut her off.

When they got back upstairs to the apartment, Xie Changyi finally asked Xie Changning.

"What were you trying to say?"

"I was trying to say that I didn’t bring anything with me this time, so I wanted to grab some stuff from your place before going to the guesthouse."

"...And here I thought you were going to talk about what happened at the meeting!"

Xie Changyi was speechless.

She had been on edge from the atmosphere at today’s meeting. She’d noticed something was off with the leader’s secretary, Xiao Liu, and had been mulling it over, so she subconsciously assumed her sister wanted to talk about him too.

She never expected her sister was talking about something else entirely!

"How could I talk about that in the car? There are too many traitors lying low these days, some for many years..." Xie Changning then told Xie Changyi about the recent incident involving a traitor she had encountered.

Xie Changyi was frightened just hearing about it.

"It’s a good thing your husband is so sharp. Otherwise, who knows what kind of danger you might have been in." Just hearing about it was terrifying!

Xie Changning didn’t deny Yue Yihan’s contribution.

"I could tell. The issue with the translators wasn’t that the leader forgot, but that his subordinate failed to do it."

"Mhm. The leader’s secretary, Xiao Liu, has a girlfriend. She’s been trying to get a job in our unit recently, but she didn’t pass the political background check. Xiao Liu has been running around, looking into it..."

Xie Changyi didn’t say the rest, but Xie Changning could guess.

Xiao Liu was so focused on helping his girlfriend that he’d forgotten about his work duties.

"It’s also worth mentioning that his girlfriend studied abroad."

Xie Changning raised an eyebrow. "No wonder."

’So that’s what was strange,’ she thought. ’It was a targeted play. He wanted his girlfriend to make a name for herself at the Autumn Trade Fair, and that’s why he was working so hard to get her hired.’