Chapter 723: Green to the Point of Glowing with a Thief's Light!

Returning to his office, Tang Ye spent half an hour finishing the revisions to his speech draft.

Fang Chengxin organized a symposium and invited Tang Ye to attend, requesting that he exchange ideas and share relevant experiences regarding the Anthracite Project and the Women's High School donation.

In Tang Ye's view, this could hardly be called sharing experience; it was entirely a show-off meeting.

Tang Ye's methods were inherently impossible to replicate, so he could only say things for the sake of appearances, amounting to nothing more than content about the support of the county's cadres, the recognition of superiors, and the attention of all sectors of society.

However, he had no choice but to attend this show-off meeting.

Although the country now advocates for reducing formalism, in actual work, such phenomena of formalism are unavoidable.

Tang Ye, situated within this torrent, could not help but be swept along by it.

Knock, knock, knock—the office door was knocked.

"County Magistrate Tang, I've finished the work on my hands; I can get off work today, right?" Ma Ran asked Tang Ye for permission.

"Mm, hurry off; if you're a second late, I'll be angry," Tang Ye joked.

"Alright! If you need anything, call me anytime; I'll be there whenever you call." Ma Ran smiled gratefully at Tang Ye.

"Don't worry, I won't disturb you for no reason." Tang Ye feigned impatience and waved at Ma Ran, looking as if he were shooing him away.

Although he knew Ma Ran was someone Qiao Lin had placed by his side, after spending so much time together, Tang Ye was basically satisfied with Ma Ran. Moreover, Ma Ran was quite capable when it came to keeping work confidential, clearly knowing what could be said and what could not.

Tang Ye had quite a bit of confidence in his own personal charisma.

Many people would make a pile of demands on the Liaison Officer by their side, but he felt that as long as a Liaison Officer stayed with him long enough, their abilities would naturally improve, eventually growing to meet his requirements.

After Ma Ran went downstairs, he found his motorcycle, put on his helmet, and started the vehicle.

Passing a flower shop, he went in to buy a bouquet, then rode his motorcycle toward County No. 1 Middle School.

As he neared the school gate, Ma Ran squeezed the brake and stopped slowly by the side of the road.

He saw Huo Xiaowen and Principal Jiang sitting together in the back row of a black sedan, Huo Xiaowen's face full of smiles;

And Principal Jiang acted very gentlemanly, not only letting her get in the car first but also raising his hand to shield her head to prevent her from bumping it against the roof.

Seeing this scene, Ma Ran was so angry his lips trembled.

He truly did not expect that his girlfriend of six years would actually get into a car with the Principal after work.

Any man would understand what this meant!

Ma Ran suppressed his emotions to calm himself, telling himself over and over that perhaps he was overthinking it.

After the sedan turned a corner, the rear of the car disappeared from sight.

Ma Ran gritted his teeth, stepped on the motorcycle's clutch, then stepped on the throttle, and followed.

After driving for about half an hour, the sedan stopped at a place called "Huang's Noodle Restaurant."

Ma Ran saw Huo Xiaowen go up to the second floor of the restaurant; his heart was in a tangle, but in the end, he dialed her number.

Huo Xiaowen received Ma Ran's call and hurried outside the private room.

"Is something the matter?"

"I got off work early today and wanted to meet you; how about I come to the school to pick you up?"

"No need! I have dinner scheduled with some colleagues tonight and am not at school right now! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Huo Xiaowen hurriedly found an excuse.

"I just wanted to give you a surprise!" Ma Ran tried his best to control the urge to curse, "Then when does the dinner end? Send me the address, and I'll come pick you up later!"

Although Huo Xiaowen did not want to lie, today's occasion was truly not suitable for Ma Ran to come—she was worried Ma Ran would misunderstand, and even more afraid of upsetting Director Chen.

"You don't need to pick me up; I'll send you a message after I get back to the dormitory." Huo Xiaowen's tone carried a hint of guilt.

"Alright, then I won't disturb you." Ma Ran suppressed his emotions, telling himself Huo Xiaowen was just attending a normal social engagement, but his heart was still churning with all sorts of bad thoughts.

Because he knew Chen Dongan's character all too well.

Many female teachers in the county who wanted to transfer jobs or get promotions would take the initiative to find Chen Dongan.

Once, when Chen Dongan was drunk, he took out an address book containing the contact information of at least twenty or thirty female teachers, reciting the strengths and weaknesses of each one as if he knew them by heart.

Ma Ran also went upstairs and found a corner seat to sit down; from this position, he could just see the situation inside the private room.

The door to the private room was open, and about a dozen people were sitting inside. Chen Dongan sat in the middle, and Huo Xiaowen sat right next to him, looking like the main guest of honor.

Watching his girlfriend diligently serving this "fat pig" Chen Dongan, Ma Ran felt both humiliated and disgusted.

At the same time, a strong desire for power grew in his heart.

The reason Huo Xiaowen came to attend this social engagement was definitely to curry favor with Chen Dongan; after all, Chen Dongan held the key to her career advancement.

Huo Xiaowen's parents had never given Ma Ran a good look, ultimately because they felt he had no future.

Although Ma Ran was also a civil servant, being a civil servant in Dayu County not only offered no perks, but trying to move up was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

In the eyes of Huo's parents, the two were simply not a match; Huo Xiaowen could definitely find a more outstanding partner, perhaps even one who could help Huo's father's career reach a higher level;

As for Ma Ran pursuing Huo Xiaowen, it was simply because he had his eye on the fact that the Huo family had people in politics and connections in the city.

The reason Ma Ran didn't like going to Huo Xiaowen's house for dinner was that every time he went, he brought good cigarettes and liquor, only to be met with cold shoulders. However, this humiliation became his motivation to work hard.

"What would you like to eat?" the waiter asked, walking over.

"Bring me a bowl of noodles!"

"Sorry, we don't sell noodles here!"

"You don't have noodles, so why is it called a noodle restaurant?"

Ma Ran thought to himself, how is this any different from hanging up a sheep's head but selling dog meat!

"Sir, although our shop is called a 'noodle restaurant,' we specialize in stir-fried dishes; the taste is excellent and unique in Dayu County. You can give it a try!"

"Fine, then order me two stir-fried dishes and a bowl of rice."

Ma Ran ordered two dishes at random, picked up the menu, and found the prices were not cheap.

This price point would be normal in the city, but in Dayu County, where the average income is not high, a single stir-fried vegetable dish cost thirty or forty yuan, almost equivalent to an ordinary person's daily income.

Ordinary people simply couldn't afford to eat here, and those who could were mostly people like Chen Dongan, who either had someone else paying the bill or could sign for it themselves.

Two dishes plus a bowl of rice would cost several dozen yuan.

Expensive!

Truly fucking expensive!

The atmosphere inside the private room was quite lively!

Huo Xiaowen sat beside Chen Dongan.

Chen Dongan was very satisfied with this arrangement.

Ma Ran lowered his head to look at the plate of stir-fried green vegetables on the table, only feeling that the top of his head was glowing with a thief-like green light!