Chapter 81: Encountering Huang Weiwei

Halfway through the journey, I decided to call my aunt first.

My aunt asked me, "Have you made up your mind?"

I asked curiously, "Made up my mind about what?"

My aunt laughed, teasing me over the phone, "You brat, you didn't take Xue Bing to get a room last night, did you?"

I said in exasperation, "Comrade Jiang Xiaoyue, I am a cadre, not a brat."

My aunt laughed so hard on the phone that she was trembling, saying, "I'll just call you a brat, so what? Even if you become the President of the State, I'm still your aunt, you know that?"

My aunt always acted like the boss in front of me, using her status as an elder to suppress me in everything. Although she would show the tenderness of a little woman when no one was around, as long as there were outsiders present, she wouldn't take me seriously at all.

"What should I do?" I told my aunt that Meizhu wanted to invite everyone to dinner that evening. Meizhu didn't yet know that I had brought Xue Bing home. I knew this young girl had a crush on me; she was as clear and transparent as a lake, and she wouldn't pay any attention to the dead branches and fallen leaves on the surface of the lake.

"What do you mean, what should you do? Don't worry about it, I'll arrange it. You just bring Xue Bing along." My aunt hung up the phone.

With my aunt taking charge, even if there were an army of thousands, I would see it as nothing. My aunt was an incredibly clever woman; if I hadn't gone to get a room for Xue Bing last night, could she not know what had happened?

I waved down a motorcycle taxi. Just as I sat down, a man selling discs came over, pulled me aside, took a few discs out of his satchel, and called out, "Big brother, want to buy a few?"

I shook my head and said, "It's not that I don't want to buy them, I don't have a VCD player, so even if I bought them, I'd have nowhere to play them." The little man selling discs took out a card, pointed to a line on it, and told me, "Big brother, if you want to buy a VCD player, look for me. The price is very cheap, half of the current market price."

I stared at him and said, "They're fake, right?"

He got anxious and insisted on pulling me off the bike, saying he would take me to see the goods right now. They were all brought over from Shenzhen, without paying tariffs. If I wanted them, he would give me an even bigger discount on top of the half-price, as long as I advertised for him.

The motorcycle taxi driver became interested, turned his head, and said, "Brother, I'll go take a look too."

The disc seller rolled his eyes and said, "You don't need to go look. I can see this big brother is a cadre. Which cadre's home doesn't have a VCD player nowadays?"

The motorcycle taxi driver got angry and shouted, "Are you looking down on people, damn it? If you don't want me to go, don't even think about taking this big brother with you. Let go!" After saying this, he started the motorcycle and released the clutch slightly, almost knocking the disc seller over.

The disc seller wouldn't let it go, grabbed the driver by the collar, and insisted he apologize. Seeing that the two of them wouldn't be able to settle this quickly, I simply swung my leg over and got off the bike, walking away leisurely.

Seeing that the business he had in his grasp was slipping away, the driver also got anxious, grabbed the disc seller by the collar in return, and the two of them started pushing and shoving, followed by throwing punches.

The motorcycle taxi driver was tall and big; with one punch, he made the disc seller's nose bleed. The disc seller wiped it with his hand, then started howling like a slaughtered pig. He stopped grabbing the driver's clothes, threw himself onto the motorcycle, and shouted, "He's killing someone! He's killing someone!"

His shouting attracted a crowd of onlookers, who began to criticize the motorcycle taxi driver for bullying people. The motorcycle taxi driver was full of grievances; seeing me, he pulled me over and wanted me to say a fair word.

Seeing that they wouldn't be able to end this scene, I had no choice but to smooth things over and say, "Neither of you should argue anymore. Let's just all three of us go together. If it's a good deal, we'll do the business. How about that?"

The disc seller immediately beamed with joy and accused the motorcycle taxi driver, saying, "Look at that, look at that. A cadre is a cadre. Unlike you, who only knows how to drive a motorcycle taxi."

The motorcycle taxi driver retorted, "I at least have a motorcycle to drive. What about you? Besides selling pornographic discs, what else can you do? It's just a scam to cheat people."

Seeing that the two of them were about to argue again, I said, "If you keep arguing, I'm not going."

The two of them immediately fell silent. The disc seller obediently sat behind me, waiting for the motorcycle taxi driver to start the bike and leave.

The onlookers saw that there was no more excitement and dispersed like birds and beasts with a roar. Just as I was about to leave, I heard someone call me, "Is that Chen Feng?"

Following the voice, I looked over and saw a girl in a pure white dress smiling slightly at me. I looked closely, and wasn't this Huang Weiwei?

I quickly got off the back of the motorcycle, and the driver asked me, "Big brother, are we still going or not?"

Huang Weiwei answered for him, "Going where? We're not going."

She looked righteous, dressed fashionably and elegantly, with a beautiful, faint smile on her face, and she was elegantly carrying a small bag, making people afraid to look her straight in the eye.

The motorcycle taxi driver didn't dare to speak, turned to the disc seller and said, "Why haven't you gotten off yet? Don't you see the big brother has a beauty looking for him?"

The disc seller hesitated for a long time, not wanting to get off. Finally, seeing that I really had no intention of going, he jumped off with infinite regret, walked up to me, handed me a business card, and said, "Big brother, if you need anything, just page me." After saying this, he patted the pager hanging on his waist and left.

I walked over to Huang Weiwei and said, "Long time no see."

Huang Weiwei smiled mockingly and said, "Yeah, you're busy, after all."

I quickly denied it and asked, "Why are you here?"

Huang Weiwei tilted her head and looked at me, saying, "Why can't I be here? This is the main street; am I not allowed to walk here?"

I touched the back of my head and said embarrassedly, "You should have a car to get around. A minister's daughter, and you're walking?"

Huang Weiwei glanced at me and said, "Do you think we're all high-ranking officials? I'm not some high-level cadre, so where would I get a car?"

It turned out she was on her way home from work and had to cross the pedestrian crossing to the other side to catch a bus. She just happened to see a crowd of people watching the excitement, took a casual look herself, felt I looked familiar, remembered I was Chen Feng from Suxi Township, and stood there waiting for the crowd to disperse before greeting me.

Standing on the side of the street, we said a few words, and people passing by couldn't help but take a look at us. It wasn't strange; Huang Weiwei was naturally beautiful, dressed appropriately and elegantly, and had an air of righteousness about her that made people afraid to offend her. As for me, I was 175 centimeters tall; although I didn't look very tall, my build was somewhat sturdy, which could hold the scene.

Huang Weiwei felt a bit uncomfortable being watched like this, so she invited me to a coffee shop to sit for a while.

There weren't many coffee shops in Hengyue City, but they were all decorated very luxuriously. I had only been to one once when I was in college, and I felt a heartache over the price of dozens of yuan for a cup of coffee, so I didn't dare to set foot in one. Now that a beauty had invited me, not going would make me look cheap. Remembering the 200,000-yuan bankbook in my pocket, my courage grew, and I took Huang Weiwei into the Old Tree Coffee Shop.

Huang Weiwei ordered two cups of coffee whose names I couldn't pronounce, saying that if I was afraid of the bitterness, I could add some sugar. She didn't add any herself because she liked that kind of bitter taste. Since the beauty didn't add sugar, I, as a man, certainly couldn't either. I picked up the cup and took a sip; a rich fragrance mixed with a hint of bitterness rushed straight to my throat. I frowned, and she saw it, pursed her lips and smiled, picked up a sugar packet from in front of me, tore it open, poured half of it in, and said, "Stir it."

After Huang Weiwei finished her studies at the Municipal Party School, the organization originally arranged for her to serve as the Deputy Secretary of the Youth League Committee in Chunshan County to gain experience. Huang Weiwei firmly refused to listen to her father's arrangements, saying that she was a girl, didn't want to be an official, and just wanted to live a quiet life.

Minister Huang Shan had no choice but to arrange for her to go to the Women's Federation and hold a nominal position. In his spare time, he would instill some ideas into her, saying that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for a girl to pursue a career in politics, and that women in foreign countries even became presidents. Even in China, there had been a female emperor in history.

Minister Huang Shan couldn't bear to scold, let alone hit, this only precious daughter of his. Since she wouldn't go, he had to settle for the next best thing, asking her in a roundabout way if she had anyone suitable to recommend, which was actually a way of probing whether his daughter had a sweetheart. How could Huang Weiwei not understand her father's intentions? And since she really couldn't think of anyone suitable, she just casually said that Huang Qishan was a pretty good person and the organization could consider promoting him.

Thus, Huang Qishan hit the jackpot and went to Chunshan County to become the Secretary of the Youth League Committee. After Guo Wei found out about this, he went to Huang Weiwei's house several times, and finally threw out a sad sentence: "If I stay in the Municipal Policy Research Office, I won't have the face to come see you in the future."

Huang Weiwei didn't agree with his words. Guo Wei was a proud and arrogant person who had originally thought the position of Chunshan County Youth League Secretary was his for the taking. Who would have thought that Huang Qishan would appear out of nowhere? Minister Huang Shan's arrangement had deep meaning; the position of Chunshan County Youth League Secretary was prepared for his future son-in-law.

Huang Qishan had been in office for several months, but Guo Wei hadn't moved an inch. Since he couldn't take back the harsh words he had originally thrown in front of Huang Weiwei, he had no choice but to patiently wait and not go looking for her. In his view, he was Huang Weiwei's prospective boyfriend, and she couldn't not help him.

Huang Weiwei smiled weakly when she got to this point, elegantly picked up her cup and took a small sip, saying, "Huang Qishan, that person, thinks he's some kind of big shot just because he went to Chunshan County. He comes to our house every weekend, it's so annoying."

I smiled and said, "Secretary Qishan is quite good. He organized a Youth Commando team as soon as he got to Chunshan. Besides, he's your boyfriend, how can it be annoying?"

Huang Weiwei blushed and said, "Chen Feng, what nonsense are you talking about!"

I deliberately looked surprised and said, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Of course you did."

"What did I get wrong?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

I gave a meaningful "Oh" and said, "Indeed! Your boyfriend is Guo Wei, after all."

"Nonsense!" She made a gesture to hit me.

I didn't dodge, stared into her eyes, and said, "So, neither of them is your boyfriend?"

"No!" Huang Weiwei shook her head firmly.

I nodded thoughtfully. To me, Huang Weiwei was a swan, and I was a toad crouching in a pile of rubble; I had no inappropriate thoughts about her.

"What are you nodding for?"

"I wasn't nodding."

"I saw you nodding."

"I really wasn't."

Huang Weiwei laughed and said, "Chen Feng, you're actually quite interesting. My mom has even asked about you several times."

I asked in surprise, "What does your mom ask about me for?"

Huang Weiwei smiled and said, "She said you, this rural cadre, have forgotten about her old lady."

I said with emotion, "You know, I'm in Suxi Township and rarely return to the city. That's why I haven't visited her. I'll definitely go pay her a visit another day."

Huang Weiwei said, "There's no time like the present. Why don't we just go back together now and have dinner at my house?"

I looked at the sky, which was already late; twilight was pouring in through the window, and the music flowing throughout the room gave rise to a thick sense of sadness from the tips of my hair.

I said, "Weiwei, if you're not busy, I happen to have an appointment for dinner tonight. Why don't we go together?"

Huang Weiwei smiled slightly and said, "Who do you have an appointment with? Is it convenient? I'd better not go."

I said readily, "There's no one else, just my aunt and a few of her friends. It's absolutely convenient."

She nodded in agreement and got up to go to the restroom.

I took out my phone, ready to call my aunt. Just as I was about to dial, my aunt's call came in, asking where I was.

I told her I would be there soon and that I was bringing her a surprise.

My aunt didn't say anything and hung up the phone.

I saw Huang Weiwei coming out of the restroom, quickly called the waiter to pay the bill, helped her pick up her small bag, went out to hail a taxi, and headed toward the Linyin Hotel.

Sitting in the car, I suddenly remembered Xue Bing and immediately felt regret. ===== CHAPTER 82 =====