Chapter 33: Beautiful Teacher Xue Bing

While the leaders were busy dreaming their grand dreams at the hotel, I sat face-to-face with Meizhu in a private room at a teahouse called "Yayuan."

I spoke bluntly to Xi Meizhu: "The company in Suxi Township is hanging up a public sign. If we hang up a public sign but do private business, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Xi Meizhu looked at me hesitantly, not understanding what I was trying to say.

I patiently explained: "No one puts their heart into public affairs. We might as well contract it out."

Meizhu didn't understand my thinking at all; she stared at me with her round eyes, unmoving.

I felt bored and stood up to leave.

She followed me honestly, without saying a word.

I said: "Why don't you come home with me tomorrow? You've been in the city for so many days, you haven't gone back to see Mom and Dad."

In truth, I wanted to go back and ask my mother. Before the Liberation, my maternal grandmother's family owned five pharmacies; my mother had the blood of a businessperson flowing in her veins since she was born.

Xi Meizhu agreed with my idea. She bought some gifts, and after dawn, we returned home together.

My mother was the same as always, holding Meizhu's hand and asking about this and that. It was as if Meizhu were already her daughter-in-law-to-be, and she felt it was entirely necessary to learn about her son's situation from her.

I sat in the courtyard with my father, smoking; he was still smoking his old dry tobacco, while I continued to smoke my fine Baisha cigarettes.

I repeated to my father what I had said to Xi Meizhu.

My father didn't speak for a long time; he looked at me, then looked at me again, sighed, picked up his small stool, and went straight into the house.

My father is an honest man; he carried a gun and fought in wars when he was young, and now that he is old, he ignores worldly affairs. Moreover, having fought for half his life, my father knows nothing about doing business.

I went to find my mother to talk about this, but she seemed to have suddenly gone deaf and ignored every word I said.

If Mother didn't speak, it meant she rejected my idea. I felt angry and called Meizhu to go back to the company.

Xi Meizhu, however, acted as if she had eaten a leopard's gall; she gave me a sidelong glance and ignored me.

My mother walked out and said quite dramatically: "If you want to leave, you leave! Meizhu is staying here to eat!"

I looked at Meizhu; she actually looked full of happiness, ignoring me, and reached out to carefully smooth out the wrinkles on my mother's clothes.

I said: "We're going back to the company to eat."

"Eat right here at home." My mother scolded me decisively: "Feng, look at you, you've been in the city for so long and haven't come home to see us. Your father and I are both old, and old people want grandchildren. Tell me, when are you going to give me a grandson?"

I smiled bitterly and said: "Mom, I don't even have a wife, how could I have a grandson for you?"

"Not having a wife is your own business. Did I give birth to you just to have to find you a wife too?" My mother looked at Xi Meizhu with affection: "You need to keep your eyes open when choosing a wife; a good wife is one who can bear children and feed the pigs and dogs."

I looked at Meizhu and said: "What era is this? You're still on about that. Mom, you're being annoying today."

My mother looked very displeased and ordered me: "Raising children is for old age; if you don't bring back a daughter-in-law this year, don't you ever come back."

I was filled with sorrow; my mother had gone silly wanting a grandson, thinking that finding a daughter-in-law was as simple as buying chickens or ducks at the market.

"Don't worry, Auntie, our Manager Chen will definitely complete the task this year." Xi Meizhu gave me a cheeky glance; her taking charge made my mother full of joy and further solidified the idea that we would eat a meal at home.

Standing in the courtyard, I was stuck. Just then, my cell phone rang; it was Pan Xiaoqin, saying a female teacher from the township had come looking for me.

I hung up the phone and said to my mother with a sense of relief: "There's a guest at the company. I have to go back."

Xi Meizhu let go of my mother's hand and said: "I'll go back too!"

I said: "You should just stay here and help my mother cook."

I said: "She's at my house helping my mother cook."

Pan Xiaoqin was busy doing business, and there were many customers coming and going. Seeing me enter, a few people who knew me smiled at me kindly and politely offered me cigarettes.

Xue Bing was helping Pan Xiaoqin greet customers; seeing me enter, she generously reached out her hand and said: "The big manager is busy, huh!"

I also politely reached out, shook her hand, and said: "What busy? Just aimlessly busy!"

Xiaoqin took a moment to say from the side: "Our manager has big things to do now, how could he not be busy?"

Xue Bing looked at me in surprise. I smiled and said: "Don't listen to her, what does she know? What big things do I have? I can't even do small things well, let alone big ones?" I laughed it off and led her to sit in the small room.

Xue Bing said: "I haven't eaten yet!"

I felt this female teacher was truly super cute! I said: "We'll go eat together in a bit; coming to the company is like coming home, you won't go hungry."

Seeing that it was getting late and there weren't many customers left, I instructed Xiaoqin to prepare to close up.

Xiaoqin looked at me for a long time and asked: "Where's Meizhu?"

I said, "I'm helping my mother cook at home."

Everyone stopped mentioning her. After closing the door, we went to a famous food stall, ordered a few dishes, and called for three bottles of beer.

People from our Suxi Township, regardless of gender, like to drink a few cups before a meal. And their tolerance for alcohol is not necessarily low. Three small bottles of beer were just a piece of cake for them.

During the meal, we made some small talk. Xue Bing didn't mention the purpose of her visit, and I played dumb, only urging them to drink.

It was past eight o'clock when we finished eating, and Meizhu called, asking me to pick her up.

I said on the phone: "Don't come back tonight; we have a guest, so just make do at my house for the night."

After hanging up, I led the two beautiful women back to the company. ===== CHAPTER 34 =====