Chapter 499: Minister Huang Asked for Leave on My Behalf

No sooner had we stepped into the house than her mother, Chen Yazhi, called, asking where we were in a fuss.

I stammered, not daring to speak clearly; I knew the temper of my mother-in-law, Chen Yazhi. On the surface, she looked refined and gentle, the kind of person who would be afraid of stepping on an ant while walking, but once she flew into a rage, she was fiercer than a tiger. No wonder people describe women as tigresses; a so-called tigress is someone who acts without regard for the consequences.

Huang Weiwei snatched the phone from my hand and said with a face full of happiness, "Mom, we've returned home."

"Home?" I heard a voice that was practically roaring from the receiver: "Return to which home? Where is your home?"

Huang Weiwei glanced at me and said in a low voice, "We returned to our own home."

"Weiwei, you get back here to me right now!" I could tell from her voice that her face must have been livid: "I'm telling you, before the wedding is officially held, that is not your home."

"Mom!" Huang Weiwei called out, drawing out the sound: "We just got home, we aren't going."

"You dare!" Immediately, the buzzing sound of a disconnected call came from the receiver.

I took the phone from her hand, hung it up, and asked tentatively, "Weiwei, how about we just go back to your mom's place?"

Huang Weiwei glared at me and asked contemptuously, "You have that little bit of guts?"

I smiled falsely and said, "It's not that I'm cowardly; I just don't want to make the elder angry."

"You aren't afraid of me being angry?"

"You're my wife, you won't be angry with me." I stroked her back to comfort her and said, "Wife, your mom's temper is not to be trifled with. I don't want to offend my mother-in-law."

Huang Weiwei pursed her lips and smiled lightly: "Chen Feng, I don't know if these words of yours are true or false, but what I want to tell you is, think it over yourself, think clearly. As long as we go back, it will definitely delay you from reporting to the provincial level. If your future is ruined, won't you blame me?"

My heart skipped a beat, but I still bluffed with a smile: "It's fine, wife. With you, I have the world. Forget about what future or destiny; you are my future, and marrying you is my fate."

This is a man's "wall-painting" technique—telling lies with eyes wide open—and I have practiced it to perfection now.

Huang Weiwei was indeed filled with joy by what I said, but after laughing, she still didn't want to go home. I knew her psychology; in her view, a man is the sky, and a career is the man's earth. A woman is just a small flower on that earth. When a woman loves a man, she doesn't just love the person; she must also love his career and his prospects.

A man without a career is worth nothing. Only when a man's career is stable will he put his heart into loving his woman. Love is not bread or water; those who talk about love on an empty stomach are either fools or saints.

The key is, can there be such a thing as a "love saint" in this world?

Of course, I didn't want to go back to her house either. But I couldn't let her see my true thoughts. If I only urged her to go back, kept pushing her, she would only become more rebellious. Only if she firmed up her own mind not to go back would the responsibility not be on me, and Chen Yazhi wouldn't be able to blame me.

After a round of "wall-painting," Huang Weiwei firmed up her decision. She even turned off both our cell phones and unplugged the landline. After doing all this, she lay lazily on the sofa and said, "Hubby, I want to take a bath."

I ran into the bathroom, overjoyed, to draw the water for her, then took a loose maternity robe from the bedroom closet and helped her into the bathroom.

Huang Weiwei told me to put the things down and leave, but I lingered shamelessly and said, "Wife, let me help you take off your clothes."

She blushed as soon as she heard this and pushed me toward the door, saying as she pushed, "No, I don't want to, no."

Although we had already been intimate, and she was carrying my son in her belly, she was always shy about undressing in front of me. She always had the heart of a shy young girl, and it was precisely this shyness that made me addicted and unable to extricate myself.

After leaving the bathroom, I caught sight of the two cell phones placed side by side on the table. My heart skipped a beat—what if a call came in?

I picked up my phone and turned it on. As soon as it powered up, my aunt's call came in, and she started by saying, "Thank heavens, you little ancestor, you finally turned your phone on."

I hurriedly explained, "Aunt, it ran out of power just now, I was changing the battery."

"Keep making things up!" my aunt said crossly: "Little Feng, you get to Minister Huang's house right now."

"What's wrong?" I asked, hesitating.

"Don't ask so much for now, you need to come over immediately. I'm telling you, your mother is here too."

A boom went off in my head. I truly admired Chen Yazhi's methods. I had used Huang Weiwei as my trump card to suppress her, and she had actually invited my mother, pressing down on me like a great mountain until I couldn't breathe.

I could disregard Chen Yazhi's feelings, but I couldn't disregard my mother's mood. If she lost face, I wouldn't be able to live in the future.

"Aunt, I'm coming over right now," I said, then clutched the receiver and shouted toward the bathroom: "Weiwei, Weiwei, you need to hurry."

Her lazy, coquettish voice came from the bathroom: "Hubby, I want to soak a bit longer."

I couldn't care about anything else, pushed the door open, and walked in.

Huang Weiwei was startled and instinctively grabbed a bath towel to cover her body.

I glanced at her slightly protruding belly; I could even see blue veins winding like earthworms on her fair skin.

Our bathroom was equipped with a very large bathtub, which Qian Youyu had bought from the provincial capital and given to me. When Qian Youyu gave me the tub, he had smiled lecherously, saying this tub was best for a "mandarin duck bath." It was a pity that after we installed the tub, we had never soaked in it together.

When I came in, she was sitting on the edge of the tub wiping her lower legs; her whole body had clearly just come out of the water, and foam and glistening water droplets could still be seen on her skin.

"Get out!" She flushed red and covered her chest tightly.

I walked over with a lecherous grin, tore away her bath towel in one motion, and said with claws bared: "I'm going to eat you up."

She gave a startled cry and threw her whole body into my embrace.

Holding her, I felt warm and comfortable inside. After being intimate for a while, I whispered in her ear: "Wife, we must go back to your mom's house now."

She looked at me in surprise and asked: "What's wrong? Didn't I say we weren't going back?"

"It won't work, right now at your house, it's not just your mom, my mother and aunt are there too!"

She cried out in shock and stared at me, asking: "Chen Feng, what kind of trick are you playing?"

I shook my head with a bitter smile and said: "It's not me playing tricks, it's our mom."

Huang Weiwei said angrily: "My mom, she always likes to force people to do things they don't want to."

I hurriedly helped her wipe her body, scrambled to help her put on her clothes, and almost half-carried her out of the house.

Less than three hours after returning from her house, we had to slink back again. Chen Yazhi is an old ginger; the older the ginger, the spicier it gets!

She must have understood that I was using Huang Weiwei as a shield; how could she not seize my vital point and invite my mother?

Just as we turned back into her house, Minister Huang Shan followed us home.

I was just rejoicing that I had returned a few minutes before him; if Minister Huang knew I had secretly run off with his daughter, given his personality, it would be a miracle if he didn't tear me apart.

Minister Huang Shan had always been very stern in front of me. For these past few years, I had been trembling whenever I spoke to him, not daring to say a single wrong word. He had spent his whole life doing organizational work; in the entire Hengyue region, who dared to speak loudly in front of him, and whose promotion didn't have to pass through his hands?

Whenever an official was promoted or demoted, no one could bypass the Organization Department.

The Organization Department is the core of a machine. Every single part on this machine must pass through the Organization Department's review and inspection before it can be installed.

Minister Huang Shan is the core of this core. As a member of the Municipal Party Committee and a senior Organization Minister, his prestige is no less than that of Municipal Party Secretary Chen. It even exceeds that of my cousin-in-law, He Zhi.

"Little Chen, I've already asked for leave for you," he said with a faint smile, then greeted my mother cordially: "In-law, you've had a hard trip."

My mother wanted to stand up in fear and trepidation; other than his cousin, my mother had never had contact with anyone else like Minister Huang Shan, such a high-ranking official. In my mother's heart, an official is a supreme altar of a god.

Minister Huang Shan beckoned for my mother to sit, then said to my aunt, "Little Jiang, is the project going smoothly?"

My aunt replied with a fawning smile, "Thank you, Minister Huang, everything is well."

Minister Huang Shan said with a kind smile, "We are all family, no need for formalities. It was just a small favor."

It turned out that my uncle's road and bridge company had taken on another major project: the approach bridge construction for the cross-river bridge in Hengyue City, with a total cost no less than building an entire bridge. My aunt had personally visited Minister Huang to put in a good word to secure this project, yet I had been kept completely in the dark about all of it.

My aunt smiled while quietly kicking me. I didn't understand what she meant, and she glared at me, saying, "Xiao Feng, why haven't you thanked your father yet? Didn't you hear that your father has already arranged your leave at the provincial level?"

I did not doubt Minister Huang Shan's capabilities at all; within the great machine of the Central Province's Organization Department, Minister Huang Shan held a pivotal position. After all, Hengyue City was the second-largest urban area in Central Province, and without Hengyue City, Central Province would be like a cripple.

Given his connections and status, getting me leave was a simple task, not to mention that I was his son-in-law. A son-in-law handling a major life event and requesting a few days of leave was a perfectly grand and justifiable reason! Moreover, it was only human nature.

Director Chen Yazhi had not given me a pleasant look since I walked through the door, and I didn't dare to try and get close to her, avoiding her gaze and looking as if I were living in constant fear.