Chapter 653: If you are here, the sky is here

When I arrived in the provincial capital, if I didn't go to Xu Mengda's club, I felt like I had lost something, empty and uncomfortable.

Xu Mengda's club was still not open for business. Some things in the club had already been moved out, and judging by the setup, it was about to be renovated.

As soon as I stepped inside, I ran into Duanmu Jiuming from the Provincial Organization Department.

He saw me at a glance and shouted in surprise, "Chen Feng, why are you here?"

I asked, "Is Brother Xu here?"

Duanmu looked back and said, "No, he hasn't been here for a while. You see, the club is being renovated to become Teacher Xue's studio." He sized me up and continued, "However, Teacher Xue is here. Do you want to go in?"

I laughed heartily, "Since I'm already here, of course I want to go in and take a look."

Duanmu didn't go in, saying he was just delivering the renovation design drawings and had to rush back to work. He said he would come over to accompany me for dinner in the evening and would invite Xu Mengda and Teacher Xue to go to a restaurant in the suburbs that specialized in local cuisine.

Duanmu left in a hurry. I paced at the door for a while, then held my head high and walked in.

Xue Bing's hair was tied back with a white handkerchief with orchid patterns, and she was wearing a long white dress that reached the floor. She was sitting in front of a floor lamp, focused on the drawings on the table.

She didn't notice me coming in, so without raising her head, she said, "Master, pack them securely; these things are to be sent to the countryside."

I coughed lightly. Hearing the sound, she looked up and saw me, smiled lightly, and said, "Why is it you?"

I said, "It's me."

"Did you get the money?" she asked, lowering her head to look at the drawings again. Seeing that I didn't answer, she looked up again and greeted me, "Find a place to sit wherever you like. It's a bit messy here; some things need to be packed and sent to the countryside."

"Sent to the countryside?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yes!" She pointed to the high-end furniture filling the room, "This place is being renovated. Mengda said he wanted to decorate it to look like a scholarly family, so all these past luxury items are no longer wanted. They were going to be thrown away, but Duanmu said he wanted to take them to his hometown in the countryside, so he called people to pack them up. I thought you were the person Duanmu called."

I scanned the room full of luxury furniture, thinking that Xu Mengda was throwing them away just like that, and I felt a real sense of regret and heartache. Most of the furniture in Xu Mengda's club was bought from Southeast Asian countries and made of precious wood. Things like yellow rosewood and golden nanmu were rarely seen on the market. A single piece of furniture could be worth a month's salary for an ordinary cadre, let alone common people.

Xu Mengda didn't feel the heartache because he was too rich. For someone who controlled the advertising rights for the entire provincial television station, his net worth couldn't be described by numbers. Moreover, Xu Mengda didn't just have a say in the television station; among all the media in the province, which one didn't have a piece of Xu Mengda's influence?

That wasn't enough; in recent years, his outdoor advertising had also become very large. No one dared to touch the most prominent outdoor billboards in all the cities except Xu Mengda. If it weren't for the trouble caused by the advertisements along the highways, the value of the billboards along the dozens of highways in the province would be an astronomical figure.

There was a story here about Xu Mengda's highway billboards.

It wasn't strange that Xu Mengda could secure the advertising billboards along the highways. What was strange was that for Xu Mengda's outdoor advertising company, other companies didn't dare to take on certain ads, but his company would fulfill any request.

An underwear company wanted to advertise along the highway. They talked to many places, but no one dared to take it because the advertising images provided by the underwear company were too sultry. When it reached Xu Mengda's outdoor advertising company, it was just one sentence: as long as you can afford the price, there is nothing that can't be done.

Sure enough, not long after, beautiful and sultry underwear models appeared on all the billboards along the highways in Central Province. Logically speaking, sultry models were easy on the eyes, which was a pleasant thing for drivers on the highway. But everything had its flip side. As a result, a serious car accident occurred on the highway—an eighteen-vehicle pileup, and ten people died on the spot.

After the investigation into the cause of the accident, it turned out to be the billboards along the road.

A driver had been mesmerized by the underwear models all the way, and while looking at a model, he accidentally crashed into the car in front. Because the speed was too fast and there was a thin mist on the road, visibility wasn't very good, and the cars behind crashed into each other like a string of fish.

Because so many people died and the case was serious, it alarmed the Provincial Party Committee. The Provincial Party Committee immediately sent Vice Provincial Governor Lin, who was in charge of political and legal work, to preside over the investigation. After investigating, Vice Provincial Governor Lin gave an order to dismantle all billboards along the highways and arrest the parties involved for prosecution.

The matter blew up, and Xu Mengda was also worried. He wanted to go and pull strings with Vice Provincial Governor Lin, but he didn't expect that before he could even start, his ears were filled with news that Vice Provincial Governor Lin was impartial and incorruptible. He inquired and found that this person was indeed extraordinary, belonging to the iron-faced and selfless type.

With orders from superiors, subordinates didn't dare not to execute them. Overnight, all outdoor advertisements along the highways in Central Province were removed. Removing the advertisements wasn't the end of it; according to Vice Provincial Governor Lin's requirements, even the frames had to be dismantled.

But many people knew these billboards were Xu Mengda's. Xu Mengda wasn't much, but Xu Mengda's father, Xu Da, was a figure. There wasn't a single cadre in Central Province, big or small, who didn't respect him. This was because Elder Xu Da was not only senior in experience but also famous nationwide in the propaganda system.

Elder Xu Da had spent his whole life in Central Province, having served under eight Provincial Party Secretaries and ten Provincial Governors. He was supposed to go to Beijing, but the old man couldn't bear to leave Central Province, preferring to sit in one position for his whole life rather than go to Beijing to see a new world.

Vice Provincial Governor Lin wanted to dismantle them and even held an on-site office. Despite their thousand-fold reluctance, the subordinates didn't dare to contradict Vice Provincial Governor Lin to his face. Moreover, he was in the midst of his righteous indignation, and if things went wrong, they would be implicated. So the subordinates began to drag their feet. A job that could dismantle one frame a day hadn't even dismantled a single steel beam after three days. At this rate, with over a thousand outdoor billboards along the highways in the province, it would take until the year of the monkey to finish.

Vice Provincial Governor Lin slowly began to feel the seriousness of the matter. He knew that without catching the boss behind the scenes, this matter would never end. So he gave another order: arrest the boss of the billboards.

Vice Provincial Governor Lin was in charge of political and legal work and had unlimited resources at his disposal. But even the wisest man makes a mistake. Xu Mengda had been operating in the business and official circles for so many years, and his connections were spread in every corner.

As soon as Vice Provincial Governor Lin's order was spoken, the news reached his ears.

How could Xu Mengda sit and wait for death? He bought a plane ticket to Beijing, found a key figure, and made a phone call directly to Vice Provincial Governor Lin's mobile phone. Only then did the matter come to an end.

No one was arrested, and the billboards weren't dismantled. But from then on, the billboards along the highways had nothing to do with Xu Mengda.

I'll leave the story here for now and tell the rest later.

Back to Xue Bing: upon my arrival, besides being slightly surprised, her first question was whether I had gotten the money.

I asked tentatively, "Brother Xu isn't here?"

Xue Bing smiled lightly, "I am here."

I said with a smile, "I have something to discuss with Brother Xu."

"So, you can't tell me, you must tell Xu Mengda?"

I smiled noncommittally. Although Elder Xu Da's approval was signed by her, without a Xu Mengda, would Elder Xu have signed that word?

"Not necessarily," I said, "You being here is the same."

Xue Bing sighed lightly and looked around, "You can say whatever you want. The surveillance has been removed. Now, here, besides you and me, there is no third thing that breathes."

I laughed, "Not necessarily; mosquitoes breathe too."

Xue Bing's face sank, and she lowered her head and stopped talking. After a long time, she said leisurely, "Chen Feng, I really can't see through you. A person like you, only Huang Weiwei can accommodate you. If it were any other woman, you wouldn't be this carefree."

I smiled faintly, "Am I carefree?"

"You know it in your heart."

"I don't know."

"If you don't know, then think about it carefully. One day you will understand."

I had nothing more to say. Xue Bing was now Xu Mengda's fiancée. Even if I had the guts of the heavens, I wouldn't dare to play ambiguously with her. Although she was once my woman, things were different now, and the world had changed.

"Brother Xu isn't here, I'll go first," I said, turning to leave.

"Don't you have a word to say to me?"

"No!" I answered her decisively.

"Go then!" Xue Bing continued to look at her renovation drawings, but I could tell she was distracted. After all, we were once intimate lovers. During all those days in Suxi Township, I even doubted how long I could have lasted if it weren't for her!

Walking to the door, I looked back and found Xue Bing looking at me, and my heart stirred, feeling a faint pain.

"The old man's words are worth a thousand gold," Xue Bing said softly, "If you are well, I will be at peace."

I felt a wave of discomfort, but I couldn't express it in words.

"Go!" Xue Bing waved her hand, "Chen Feng, in the past, I thought that if you were here, the sky was here. Today, I still think so."

I turned around, not daring to look at her again, but my eyes were already filled with tears. Losing Xue Bing, I didn't know if it was a success or a failure in life. But I understood that losing her, I had lost true love!

Coming out of the elevator, I wiped away the deep tears, ready to set off against the wind.

After only a few steps, my phone rang.

The call was from Gan Lu, saying she had already arrived in Beijing.

I said, "Rest well, congratulations on getting things done."

Gan Lu laughed on the phone and asked me, "Chen Feng, do you want money?"

"What money?" I asked.

"Anyway, it's the country's money; it would be a waste not to take it."

"Do I have a chance?"

"Opportunities are fought for by people."

"How much?" I asked tentatively.

"There used to be a saying: how bold you are, how much the land produces. In other words, how bold you are, how much money you can take." After Gan Lu finished, she hurriedly added, "I have to go, hanging up."

Immediately, a busy signal came from the phone.

"Fuck!" I cursed. ===== CHAPTER 654 =====