Chapter 357: Xiao Mi and Xiao Xi

It was one day before New Year's Eve. There were hardly any people left in the County Party Committee building; everyone was busy preparing for the New Year. Regardless of whether their mood was good or bad, the New Year had to be celebrated.

People in a good mood hoped for an even better mood after the New Year, while those in a bad mood hoped that celebrating the New Year would bring them a good mood.

I packed up simply, carried the New Year goods I had prepared for my mother, and went downstairs to go home.

Yesterday, I had arranged all the work properly. Yu Wei didn't need to drive for me during the New Year, and Zhu Hua Yu didn't need to come to work, so they could spend the New Year happily and peacefully. My arrangements made them both overjoyed; after all, they were still young and liked the liveliness of the New Year.

As soon as the door opened, I saw Lao Mo carrying a large cardboard box on his shoulder, puffing and panting as he came upstairs.

Lao Mo looked up and saw me, a smile squeezing out of his face: "County Magistrate Chen, haven't you returned to the city yet?"

"I'm leaving now," I said, waving the New Year goods in my hand, watching Lao Mo climb up step by step with great interest. He threw the cardboard box at his feet, his wrinkled face turning the color of a pig's liver.

"What good things have you prepared?" Lao Mo leaned over to look at what was in my hand.

"A little tea oil and dried mushrooms," I said. "My mother likes tea oil; she says it makes the cooking fragrant."

"If your mother likes tea oil, isn't that a small matter? From now on, leave this to me," Lao Mo said, patting his chest. "I won't lie to you, County Magistrate, I've been in Chunshan County for decades and have made a name for myself. Getting some food and drink is no big problem."

"I understand. Lao Mo, you have power in your hands," I teased him.

Lao Mo thought I was being malicious, and his face turned gray immediately. He said sheepishly, "I have no power! It's just that I'm well-liked, well-liked."

I laughed and said, "Lao Mo, you can fool others, but can you fool me? In that place of yours, even birds can't fly out, let alone the living people locked inside. In your own little territory, isn't everything decided by you? Whether to loosen or tighten, it all depends on your word. Offending you is like offending the King of Hell."

Lao Mo was teased by me and became nervous. He patted his own head and said, "County Magistrate, it's the New Year, talking about the King of Hell—how unlucky."

I was just about to retort when I heard a "clatter" of a door opening behind me, followed by Li Lian's surprised cry: "Lao Mo, you still remember how to come home?"

Lao Mo smiled ingratiatingly: "Isn't it because I'm busy?"

"You're the only one busy in the whole county! You're busier than the Premier. Don't you see that every family is lively, but our house is cold and quiet; it doesn't look like the New Year at all." Li Lian scolded her husband without any regard, as if I didn't exist.

"Let's talk at home, talk at home. Alright." Lao Mo pushed his wife and turned back to me: "County Magistrate Chen, do you want a leg of wild sheep? It was just hunted last night, very fresh."

I shook my head, looked at the couple, and said, "I won't take it. It's just my mother at home, and she's a vegetarian. Or, when I come back, I can eat at your place."

Lao Mo agreed repeatedly and urged his wife to help move the cardboard box into the house.

I walked downstairs, listening to the sound of firecrackers coming from afar, thinking of my mother waiting for me at home, and couldn't help but quicken my pace.

I didn't drive the county car; I drove the car my aunt gave me.

I hadn't had a chance to drive for a while, and my hands had long been itching.

Just as I started the car, my phone rang—it was Guan Peishan calling, asking me to go to his house.

The old Secretary had invited me, so I didn't dare to be slow. After warming up the car for a while, I drove toward his house.

On the way, I received another call from Xiao Mi, saying that she wasn't returning to Guangdong this year and wanted to take the opportunity of the Spring Festival to travel to Hainan, asking if I wanted to go with her.

I refused directly without even thinking. If I went traveling with Xiao Mi, what would the outcome be if it got out?

Xiao Mi said, "Our Chairwoman is going too."

I hesitated for a moment but still refused. My aunt was going, so my uncle would naturally go too; they were a couple, so what would it be if I went with Xiao Mi? Besides, in Hengyue City, there was still Huang Weiwei waiting for me.

"Forget it if you're not going!" Xiao Mi hung up the phone angrily.

I smiled, threw the phone aside, and focused on driving.

After Guan Peishan retired from the position of County Party Secretary, he moved his home out of the County Party Committee building. He now had a home in both Hengyue City and Chunshan County. After his wife was investigated by the Discipline Inspection Commission, she moved to Hengyue City. Now in Chunshan County, he lived alone in a residential building developed by Boss Liang Tianxing, in a three-bedroom suite.

The residential building developed by Liang Tianxing used property management, and my car was stopped at the gate by security.

The security guards didn't recognize me, a Deputy County Magistrate; they were all people Liang Tianxing had recruited from other places. Liang Tianxing had a habit of never using locals from Chunshan County; even the cleaning workers were hired from outside.

I took out my phone and called Guan Peishan, saying I had arrived and was at the gate of the residential area.

Guan Peishan told me to wait and said he would send someone to pick me up.

I handed a cigarette to the security guard. The guard looked at my cigarette, a look of disdain appearing on his face. He took a "Black Furong" out of his own pocket, flicked one out, put it in his mouth, lit it proudly, and took a deep puff.

I looked at my own cigarette—a "Yellow Furong." Although they were from the same mother, their status was very different.

The "Yellow Furong" I was smoking now was a brand I changed to after becoming County Magistrate. Before that, I had been smoking "Fine Baisha" for six years. It was only because my aunt, Zhu Hua Yu, and Huang Qishan said so that I changed to the current brand.

In fact, the price of a cigarette doesn't represent anything. I was born in Hengyue City and grew up in Hengyue City, so I knew the habits of the people in Hengyue City very well. A person from Hengyue City with only ten yuan in their pocket would take eight yuan to buy a pack of Fine Baisha, one yuan to polish their shoes, and one yuan to buy a pack of betel nut to chew.

But as a County Magistrate, smoking Fine Baisha really didn't look right. My own image wasn't important, but I represented Chunshan County.

The security guard looked at my license plate and said, "Your car is from the city, right?"

I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Here to deliver gifts?" he asked bluntly.

I shook my head.

"Then what are you here for?" The security guard stared at me strangely, as if I were a bad person. He scrutinized me for a long time before saying, "Do you know what kind of people live in this residential area?"

I still shook my head.

The security guard proudly told me, "The richest and most powerful people in all of Chunshan County live here."

I smiled noncommittally. At the very least, I knew that the most powerful person now was Secretary Liu Qimeng, but Secretary Liu didn't live here.

"Don't believe me if you don't want to!" The security guard rolled his eyes at me and raised his voice: "Did you call someone to pick you up? If no one comes to pick you up, I won't let you in."

"Just wait, someone will come to pick me up," I said to the security guard, hearing the sound of a car horn behind me. I turned around and saw Director Yi from the County Power Supply Bureau.

Director Yi didn't notice me and roared impatiently at the security guard: "What are you doing? The car is blocking the road, and you don't know how to clear it?"

The security guard was scolded by him and hurriedly nodded and bowed, kicking my car tire and cursing: "I told you to move and you didn't, are you blind? Blocking the leader's car, get out of the way quickly."

I accompanied him with a smile and hurriedly started the car to move aside.

Director Yi's car slid past my car. Just as it reached the guard booth, I saw his car window roll down, and a pack of "Black Furong" cigarettes was thrown out to the security guard.

"Keep your eyes open in the future. Don't talk nonsense. If there's another thing like this, I'll tell your Boss Liang." A woman's voice came from Director Yi's car; I reckoned it was his wife or someone like that.

After Director Yi's car left, I saw a woman coming out of the courtyard gracefully. Even on such a cloudy day, she was wearing a pair of sunglasses. A bright silk scarf covered everything below her eyes, making it impossible to see any part of her face.

The woman stopped and looked around.

I was looking at her curiously when her eyes turned to my car, and then she swayed over.

She stopped by my car, looked at me carefully, and laughed, "Can't recognize me?"

I looked at her hesitantly; her voice sounded very familiar. But I really didn't know where I had seen her before. Her face was covered by a silk scarf, and even if I had heaven-reaching abilities, I couldn't recognize her.

"It's me!" She pulled down the silk scarf and then covered it up again.

In that fleeting glance, I recognized her as Lin Xiaoxi.

"Why is it you?" I asked in surprise.

"Why wouldn't it be me?" Lin Xiaoxi's eyes smiled at me.

"I didn't expect it," I asked, "Are you here to pick me up?"

"Still don't believe it?" she giggled, "Let's go, the old man is getting impatient."

She didn't get into my car and walked back into the residential area gracefully. I drove behind her and saw the security guard running over again. Before I could speak, Lin Xiaoxi gave a light reprimand, took out a card I couldn't see clearly from her pocket, and waved it under the security guard's nose. I saw the security guard's face full of smiles, his waist suddenly collapsing as if it had gone soft.

Guan Peishan was the only one in his house, and the room seemed cold and lifeless.

His house was luxuriously decorated, with a large leather sofa in the living room and a magnificent crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The floor was all imported wood, and a snow-white, fluffy carpet was spread in the middle, which didn't look cheap at all.

He curled his whole body into the sofa, and hearing me enter, he asked lazily: "You're here."

I stepped forward, stood respectfully in front of his sofa, and asked softly: "Old Secretary, are you looking for me?"

Guan Peishan let out an "Um" and pointed to the sofa opposite for me to sit.

Lin Xiaoxi followed into the room, tiptoeing like a cat, sat down next to Guan Peishan, and looked at me with a smile.

"You two already know each other!" Guan Peishan said, "I won't introduce you. Xiao Xi is the daughter of my old comrade-in-arms. Little County Magistrate Chen doesn't know, right?"

I shook my head earnestly.

"It's good that you don't know! That way you will make the right judgment. Don't let outside rumors take precedence," he coughed and said, "I invited you here today because there is a matter I must trouble you with."

"Please speak," I said, my attitude sincere, listening attentively.

"Actually, it's no big deal. You see, the New Year is coming, and I have to pay my respects to the leaders. In the past, I did this myself, and I never let anyone else interfere. Even the gifts necessary for the visits were arranged by people I personally designated. Now that I've retired from the position of County Party Secretary, but I'm still the head of the Chunshan County Economic Leading Group. However, visiting leaders in my current capacity seems a bit unconventional. After all, I'm not even a member of the Chunshan County Standing Committee anymore!" Guan Peishan coughed again, and I seemed to hear a mouthful of thick phlegm gurgling in his throat.

"Chunshan County is an old revolutionary base area with a thin foundation and insufficient resources. Agriculture has no land, and industry has no projects. In the past, it was a national poverty-stricken county, wearing that hat for decades, and only took it off a few years ago. Once the hat was taken off, problems arose. In the past, the state allocated a few million every year, but after taking off the hat, not a single cent was allocated, and we even had to pay taxes. This matter, I entrusted it to Old Liu. Our Old Liu has an air of scholarly elegance, and now it's good—the poverty-stricken county hat is off, and Old Liu has been promoted. But who suffers? Isn't it the more than 800,000 common people of Chunshan County?" He coughed violently, his body twisting in the sofa.

Lin Xiaoxi hurriedly handed him a cup of water and said softly, "Drink some water, drink some water and you'll feel better."

Guan Peishan smiled, took the water cup from Lin Xiaoxi's hand, drank a mouthful, and said, "If it weren't for Xiao Xi coming to take care of me, these old bones of mine would have long since entered the yellow earth."

He laughed out loud, his laughter piercing through the glass and spreading in all directions. ===== CHAPTER 358 =====