Chapter 248: Don't play with fire! Those who play with fire will burn themselves

Just as dawn broke, I opened my phone and saw a call from an unfamiliar number. I pressed to answer, and the voice on the other end was also unfamiliar, so I asked impatiently, "Who is this?"

"Is this Town Mayor Chen? Sorry to disturb your rest," the person on the phone apologized repeatedly. "I'm Engineer Zhou from the County Mineral Bureau. Where are you?"

I scrambled out of bed and held the receiver, saying, "Oh, Engineer Zhou, it's so early."

Engineer Zhou was clearly very excited, speaking a bit incoherently: "County Magistrate Liu gave instructions last night that we must accompany you to Laoyingzui in Suxi Town. I heard Professor Xu from the provincial level is here; I wanted to come over and see him last night. Did you know? Professor Xu is my teacher."

I said "Oh" and recalled that Professor Xu had once mentioned wanting the Chief Engineer of the County Mineral Bureau to go along for the survey. I hadn't expected them to be teacher and student.

"Town Mayor Chen, is there really gold at Laoyingzui?" He was actually chatting with me on the phone.

"Whether there is or not isn't up to me. That's why we invited you experts to survey it, isn't it?" I didn't have much of a favorable impression of this enthusiastic Engineer Zhou anymore. As the Chief Engineer of the County Mineral Bureau, shouldn't you have a clear idea of the distribution of mineral resources in the county? You should be more familiar with what minerals Chunshan County has and their reserves than you are with your own fingers. How could you ask a layman like me such a moronic question?

My lukewarm attitude was clearly felt by him. He changed his tone and said, "Town Mayor Chen, I'll come over to your place now. We'll have breakfast together, and then we'll set off."

I told him I was at the County Committee Guesthouse, hung up, and hurriedly washed up. I opened the door to go find Professor Xu and Huang Weiwei.

Just as I stepped out, I saw Professor Xu walking in from outside, his face glowing with health. Following behind him was Xue Bing, dressed in sportswear. The two were chatting and laughing as they approached.

Seeing me, Professor Xu greeted me first: "Little Town Mayor Chen, you're up! The morning in your Chunshan County is truly wonderful." He sighed, stretching his arms with lingering enjoyment: "Living in a place like this, living another ten years or so is absolutely no problem."

Professor Xu had clearly been out for a morning workout, but Xue Bing—that person who loved to sleep in—following behind him to exercise? This was a case of the sun rising in the west; it was mind-boggling.

I knew Xue Bing's personality too well. Because she loved to sleep in, I had once teased her, saying that after she had children, she would definitely have a spare tire around her waist. Xue Bing had never taken my teasing to heart; she slept in as much as she always did. But the Xue Bing standing before me now, wearing a white sportswear set with sky-blue stripes over her slender, curvaceous body, displayed infinite youthful vitality and a beauty that invited reverie.

"Professor Xu, if you like Chunshan County, just stay here. The people of Chunshan County need you," I said, glancing at Xue Bing. Her gaze happened to meet mine, and the moment our eyes touched, they pulled apart as if electrocuted.

"This young lady is quite good!" Professor Xu pulled Xue Bing over and said, "Young people who get up early to exercise like her are rare these days. Look at the provincial capital; young ladies like her are still hugging their pillows and dreaming at this hour. They wouldn't get up until the sun hits their bottoms."

Xue Bing smiled embarrassedly and said, "Professor Xu, I've only been exercising for a short while, less than two months, I should say. It was a coincidence this morning that I happened to run into you, so I just learned a bit from you."

"Exercise doesn't have a fixed form or standard. Everyone has their own preferred way, but as long as you exercise, all roads lead to the same destination," Professor Xu said, smiling as he held Xue Bing's hand. "I just like young people with vitality. If a person doesn't have a strong physique, how can they do their job well?"

Xue Bing, being held by the hand by Professor Xu and enjoying his fatherly warmth, actually couldn't bear to pull away. She let him lead her, walking side-by-side like a grandfather leading his granddaughter.

I followed behind them, accompanying them with a smile: "Professor Xu is right. From now on, I must also strengthen my exercise; I must train myself into a Bruce Lee."

"Bruce Lee died young," Xue Bing said out of the blue. "Are you still going to learn from him?"

I spat and said, "It's early in the morning, say something auspicious."

Xue Bing turned back, smiled sweetly, and said, "You're an atheist, and you still care about this?"

I couldn't say anything more, so I took out my phone to call Guo Wei.

Passing by Huang Weiwei's room, Xue Bing stopped and apologized to Professor Xu: "Professor Xu, I won't go to your room. I'll accompany you to Laoyingzui later."

Professor Xu was overjoyed, saying "Good, good, good" repeatedly. He turned to instruct me: "Town Mayor Chen, I didn't expect your Suxi Town to have talent like Teacher Xue."

I looked at him, bewildered, but Professor Xu didn't explain and walked straight into his room.

The corridor of the County Committee Guesthouse was empty; everyone else was still enjoying the gentleness of their dreams under their quilts.

I knocked on Huang Weiwei's door. Xue Bing opened it, pointed at the still-sleeping Huang Weiwei, and held a finger to her lips.

I knew this gesture all too well! Every time I went to her school to find her, whenever she saw me while teaching, she would always hold a finger to her lips.

I lowered my voice: "Time to get up; there's still a lot to do today."

"Let her sleep a little longer," Xue Bing said with immense understanding. "She chatted with me all night last night and only fell asleep just before dawn."

"Chatted all night? What did you talk about? For so long? You didn't sleep either?" I asked in surprise.

"I couldn't sleep," Xue Bing said, lowering her head and avoiding my gaze.

I couldn't probe any further. The two women in the room were both people I loved; I couldn't ask one about the other in front of her. But could I continue to love like this? Love cannot be shared; shared love is actually a form of harm. I didn't want to hurt anyone, especially a woman!

Huang Weiwei stirred on the bed, one leg stretching out from under the quilt, resting white and bare on top of it, drawing my gaze and making it hard to look away.

Xue Bing turned her face away and reached out to pull the quilt, covering her leg.

This small action of hers made me blush. I quickly withdrew my gaze, preparing to retreat.

"You're both up?" Huang Weiwei seemed to have just woken up. She looked at us with sleepy eyes, chuckled, and said, "Why are you all standing there? Sit down."

I smiled awkwardly: "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," she said. She threw off the quilt, her two white, bare thighs exposed, picked up her pants from the nightstand, put them on, and went straight to the bathroom.

Huang Weiwei doing this in front of us—I understood very well that she was doing it on purpose. This woman, with whom I had only reached the kissing stage, had never exposed her body to me like this before. She was trying to tell Xue Bing that we no longer had the slightest barrier, that we had completely bared our bodies and souls.

How could the bright and intelligent Xue Bing not understand Huang Weiwei's move? She smiled bitterly, pursed her lips, and said, "Aren't you going out yet? We need to change clothes."

I had no choice but to retreat. I happened to see Guo Wei wearing a jacket, looking for a waiter to get a razor.

Guo Wei clearly slept well; full of energy, he was unshaven, one pant leg rolled up to his knee while the other hung over his foot. This man, who had always been fastidious, after living in Suxi for over a year, almost showed no trace of the glorious government official he once was.

Seeing me, Guo Wei touched his chin and said, "Chen Feng, do you have a razor? This damn guesthouse doesn't even have one."

The waiter pushing the cleaning cart said aggrievedly, "We aren't a five-star hotel; how could we have such things prepared?"

I waved my hand generously at the waiter and said, "It's not your fault; you aren't the boss." Turning to Guo Wei, I said, "I happen to have a new one, an electric one. You take it and use it."

There were indeed two electric shavers in my bag, one given by my aunt and one by Meizhu. I had never used the one Meizhu gave me; the packaging hadn't even been opened.

Guo Wei ran to my room to shave, asking me while he did so, "Chen Feng, do you really think there's a gold mine at Laoyingzui?"

"I can't be sure," I said. "We'll know after the survey."

"Is your water plant still being built?" Guo Wei touched his smooth chin and smiled contentedly: "High-tech stuff is good; it didn't leave half a hair, even pulled out the roots of the stubble. Comfortable."

"If there's really a gold mine, why build a damn water plant? I'll open a gold mine," I said with a grin. "Party Secretary Guo, if you like it, I'll give it to you."

Guo Wei examined the electric shaver in his hand and said embarrassedly, "That wouldn't be right; this thing isn't cheap, at least a thousand or eight hundred."

"It's fine. Never mind a thousand or eight hundred, even if it were ten thousand, as long as our Party Secretary Guo likes it, I, Old Chen, will absolutely give it to you."

"You're being insincere, aren't you?" Guo Wei teased me: "You kid, you're monopolizing two beauties, why didn't you think of giving them away? You want to bribe me with a broken shaver? You think too little of me."

Guo Wei's words were definitely not a joke; he had always been brooding over my relationship with Huang Weiwei.

I pretended not to understand his words and said generously, "Whoever you fancy, just take them. Just like this shaver, Old Chen won't feel a thing."

"Cut the crap!" Guo Wei's expression changed, and he cursed: "You think they are like shavers, that you can give them away if you want? I'm warning you, Chen Feng, Town Mayor Chen, don't play with fire! Those who play with fire will burn themselves."

Seeing how serious he was, I pretended to be relaxed: "I'm not afraid; don't I have you as the fire brigade behind me?"

"Get lost!" Guo Wei punched me and said sternly, "What's wrong with you? How did you manage to get both of them to come, and even sleep in the same room? Aren't you afraid of being exposed?"

"Some things, I can't control either," I said with a bitter smile. Seeing someone outside the door peeking in, I shouted sternly, "Who are you looking for?"

The person outside entered—a man about forty years old, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, smiling at me with a refined air, revealing a set of white teeth: "Is this Town Mayor Chen?" ===== CHAPTER 249 =====