Chapter 1: The Story Behind Liu Fei

  Liuhe County is less than 400 kilometers away from Chengdu. By train, it takes about six hours or more.

  These days, going out is not like ten or more years later, with airplanes, high-speed rails, buses, and private cars diverting traffic. Now, for long-distance travel, trains are the main choice, especially on busy transportation lines like the Beijing-Guangzhou line. The number of passengers is overwhelming, and incidents where people are trampled to death or injured in stampedes often occur at train stations across the country.

  The train stopped at Hekou Station for eight minutes. Yang Jie and Liu Fei walked directly out of the station entrance to the platform, so they had plenty of time to board the train.

  After getting on the bus and finding your seat, put down your luggage, say goodbye to Chen Yinglong and Li Yuan through the window, and only after they leave do you see a dense crowd of people rushing from afar.

  Comfortably sitting on the lower berth of the sleeping car, looking out the window at the crowded, bustling crowd carrying large and small bags wanting to get on the train.

  Yang Jie said with a lingering fear: "How can there be so many people going north during the summer vacation? Even a second-class station like Xunhe is crowded, let alone a first-class station like Changyang. If we had squeezed in with them all the way, I'm afraid you would have been offended."

  Liu Fei glanced at Yang Jie, although she had been quiet for most of the journey, but whether it was buying tickets or boarding the train, everything had gone smoothly thanks to Yang Jie. She didn't say anything out loud, but in her heart, she was still very grateful to him. "Even if you want someone to be grateful to you, there's no need to say it out loud!"

  "Haha! I'm not trying to make you grateful, it's just that this experience of rushing for the train is something I've had enough of in these few years!" Yang Jie attended university in Yenching, which was nearly two thousand kilometers away from his hometown of Weihui County. Every winter and summer break was the most painful time for him.

  Although summer vacation is not as crowded as winter vacation, there are few trains with air conditioning these days. In the winter, when it's crowded, people can still warm each other up, but in the summer, when it's crowded, being packed into a cramped and narrow train car like a steamer basket is just like taking a sauna, and it lasts for dozens of hours at a time - that kind of suffering is truly unforgettable.

  "How long does it take to get from Yanjing to Huahe County by train?" Liu Fei asked curiously after Yang Jie said that.

  "Nearly 40 hours, one day and two nights, sometimes I couldn't even get a seat ticket and had to stand all the way back. Thinking about it now still makes my heart ache!" Yang Jie said with a look of nostalgia, shaking his head in dismay.

  While they were talking, more and more people got on the bus.

  This train is a provincial train, starting from Xinyang Railway Station and ending at Rongcheng Railway Station. The first stop after departing from the starting station is Yonghe Railway Station. This carriage is reserved for sleeper cars for various stations in Changyang City, and not many people get on the train in Yonghe County.

  The empty sleeper car, compared to the crowded hard-seat car, was like heaven and earth. Yang Jie saw that the train had already departed, looked at Liu Fei, "This trip takes more than six hours, do you want to rest for a while?"

  "Never mind, this berth doesn't look very clean anyway. It's just a few hours, I'll just sit and it will pass." Liu Fei said as she got up and took out quite a bit of snacks from the luggage on the berth.

  "Liu Fei, have you always been so cold? In the literature and art troupe, don't we often go to different places to perform? Can you really do it like this?" Yang Jie looked at Liu Fei who had spoken a few words to him before falling silent again, and he truly felt awkward.

  People who have taken trains know that if you just sit there, time is hard to pass.

  Especially in the 90s, when there were no mobile phones, tablets or laptops, people basically passed the time by chatting with fellow travelers they didn't know, talking about strange and interesting things from all over the world, discussing current events, politics, celebrity gossip, and before you knew it, the time had passed.

  Like this, Yang Jie and Liu Fei sat face to face, staring at each other with wide eyes, silently sitting for more than six hours, Yang Jie really couldn't bear it.

  Looking at Yang Jie's curious face, Liu Fei thought for a moment and said quietly: "Do you want to pry into my past or just sit there bored looking for something to talk about?"

  "We all have!" Yang Jie replied frankly.

  "In fact, the cultural troupe is not as pure as you think. Those who stand out in the cultural troupe, apart from having a good appearance and figure, which one doesn't have a backer?" Liu Fei cracked sunflower seeds, her pretty face turned towards the car window, her eyes listlessly gazing at the scenery outside, seemingly reminiscing about past events.

  "Not to mention the art troupe, even in the student union of the school, aren't there people who are scheming and vying for power? You used to be a lead dancer in the art troupe, according to what you said, don't you have a powerful backer with a deep background?" Yang Jie saw Liu Fei say one sentence, then started to fall silent again, smiled slightly, and quietly asked about Liu Fei's situation.

  Before leaving, Chen Yuan and Gu Zhongyi both reminded Yang Jie to be careful not to provoke Liu Fei. It was precisely because of their warnings that Yang Jie's heart became filled with curiosity.

  Curiosity killed the cat. The more curious Yang Jie became, the more he wanted to know about the story behind this stunning beauty, and the more he wanted to know about the man behind Liu Fei, who was it exactly.

  "Rely on the mountain? If I really wanted to rely on it, how could I be transferred to the Foreign Affairs Office to sit on a cold bench? The leader of the Literature and Art Troupe, if not unexpectedly, can become the head of the Literature and Art Troupe, and then become the deputy director of the County Cultural Bureau as a cadre. But when it comes to my generation of leaders, I was promoted in secret and transferred to work at the County Party Committee Office. Do you think I have a backer if this is the case?" Liu Fei seemed to be stimulated by Yang Jie's words and self-mockingly asked back without hesitation.

  Yang Jie heard that there was something behind Liu Fei's words, it seemed that the person who had made up her mind had not succeeded, precisely because she did not agree, so she would be transferred to the county committee office.

  Ordinary people think that working in the county committee office is much better than being in the cultural work team.

  As Liu Fei said, the leading dancers of the cultural troupe can all become team leaders and be promoted to deputy positions in the Cultural Bureau.

  So Liu Fei was transferred to the county party committee office, not a promotion for her, but a real demotion, making her a song and dance troupe leader who could hardly stand out, only able to work in a cold department like foreign affairs until she retired.

  "Who has such great power to transfer people from the cultural troupe to the county committee office?"

  "Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee's Propaganda Department Liao Fanwu!" Liu Fei said it lightly, but to Yang Jie's ears, it was no different from a thunderclap.

  Liao Fanwu is a member of the municipal party committee, and he actually used his brains to think about Liu Fei. Since the cultural troupe belongs to the propaganda department, Changyang City only has two troupes, and Qujiang County occupies one of them. As the leader of the Qujiang County Cultural Troupe, Liu Fei's personal conditions are undoubtedly the best choice.

  Liu Fei's beauty, good figure, and excellent temperament made her a natural fit as the lead dancer. Her singing and dancing skills were naturally not low, which caught the attention of the municipal party committee leaders. It was only natural that they would want to recruit her, but what surprised Yang Jie was that the municipal party committee secretary wanted to take her in as his mistress.

  As Liu Fei said, if she is willing to submit to Liao Fanwu, with the municipal party committee member as her backer, it can be predicted that within two years, Liu Fei will be promoted to deputy director of the county cultural bureau as the head of the literary and art troupe. At that time, after some operation, she can easily go to work in the city, and her future is bright.

  Ke Liu Fei refused Liao Fan Wu, disdainful of using such a method to exchange for a future within reach.

  Liu Fei's integrity and noble character, as well as her refusal to bow down to those in power, earned Yang Jie's deep admiration.

  Looking at Liu Fei, who was pretending to be calm but had a hint of sadness in her eyes, Yang Jie smiled and comforted her: "Actually coming to the county committee office isn't a bad thing, I believe working here will prove your ability even more."

  From now on, follow me with confidence and we'll use our solid achievements to slap those who want to see us fail in the face. Let them see that with real skills, we can also have a day when we stand out from the crowd. When that day comes, we'll let him go to the cultural troupe to be the lead dancer, while we watch him perform from below the stage.

  "Ah!"

  Listening to Yang Jie's words, Zhan Yan couldn't help but smile happily, a genuine smile that seemed to bring out the charm of "a glance and a smile can captivate a thousand hearts", making Yang Jie, who was sitting across from him, stare blankly.

  Liu Fei, who had never revealed her heart to outsiders, felt a sense of relief after expressing the bitterness that had been pent up in her heart. Seeing Yang Jie staring at her blankly, she couldn't help but say with a pout: "Don't stare at me like that, or I won't talk to you anymore."

  Yang Jie looked at Liu Fei's pouting face and couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for her. He thought about how she was alone in Xunhe, shouldering the many pressures that Liao Fanwu had placed on her, without even a friend to confide in, let alone family members who were all far away from Xunhe. It was truly unknown how she had managed to get through these days by herself.

  Recommend two urban finished books:

  "[bookid=2428884,bookname='Urban Ancient Witch'] and [bookid=1167613,bookname='Rebirth of the Desire for Immortality'] Hope you like it! Thank you for your support!"