Chapter 29: Sharp Tongues in Casual Conversation

  Wen Huaiming didn't know that Li Shengli had opened a restaurant until he received his phone call on the evening of the 30th. Although he was puzzled about where Li got the capital, he didn't ask much and agreed to attend the opening ceremony on the 11th. Ding Mei couldn't leave because the agricultural machinery factory was doing its third-quarter financial settlement, so she had Wen Huaiming represent her to congratulate Li on his grand opening. Unexpectedly, early in the morning, Wen received a call from the municipal party committee's secretariat and immediately rushed over, only finding out what happened after arriving at the city.

  Originally, Xu Fuyan was going to visit the old cadres in Qingzhou and the family members of provincial and municipal officials from Qingzhou during the National Day holiday on behalf of the Municipal Party Committee. When he didn't see Wen Huiming, he scolded Meng Shan, the deputy secretary-general who arranged the list, and had the secretariat call to inform Wen Huiming to attend. Wen Huiming was grateful in his heart, this matter originally had nothing to do with him, but it was Xu Fuyan's intention to promote him, being able to interact with these people more would be beneficial for his official career.

  After finishing the tasks in the morning, on the way back to the municipal party committee, Wen Huaming was called up by a No. 1 car and discussed the Qinghua Factory issue. Xu Fuyan asked Wen Huaming if he was going home or having lunch at the municipal party committee. As it happened that the vehicle fleet passed through Bayi Road, Wen Huaming said that his relatives were opening their business today and got off the bus here, and would rush to the city in the afternoon without delaying the departure time.

  The fleet stopped in front of the Qinghe Soy Milk Shop, and Wen Huaming was about to get off when he suddenly heard Xu Fuyan exclaiming. Without saying a word, he pushed open the door and came down. The people on the three cars behind were immediately flustered, not knowing what had happened, and rushed to follow. Yang Guangsheng, the secretary-general of the municipal party committee, held back Wen Huaming for a few steps and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

  Wen Huiming pointed at Xu Yao, who was standing at the door wearing a small cheongsam and smiling to welcome guests. He shook his head with a bitter smile and turned around to settle accounts with Wen Yan again! Yang Guangsheng was also surprised when he saw this, wondering who had invited this little ancestor to be the doorman? Looking at Xu Fuyan's back, the doubt in his eyes grew even more, could it be that the boss of this house had a deep relationship with Secretary Xu? But this setup was too small...

  A group of people came around from the other side, Wen Qiang and others did not see, when they passed behind them, they just heard Wei Gang's last curse, Xu Fuyan stopped in his tracks, furrowed his brow.

  Wen Qian didn't know who was talking behind him, but Wei Gang's face suddenly turned extremely awkward, just like the color of a donkey's skin when it was locked in an iron cage and scalded to death during a donkey meat feast. From his forehead to his neck, he turned bright red. Wen Qian stood very close to him, even able to see the fine ripples on his neatly pressed pants.

  He's shaking!

  It only took one sentence to scare Wei Gang, the arrogant and insolent deputy director of the agricultural machinery factory, into such a state. In Qingzhou, it's really rare to see someone like him. Wen Ze turned around, looked at Xu Fuyan and said quietly: "Secretary Xu, hello!"

  This was Wen Jiabao's first close encounter with the famous Hebei Provincial Secretary, Xu Fuxian. In his early forties, Xu had the unique passion and vitality of officials in this era. His forehead was full, his nose bridge was straight, his eyes were bright and spirited, and his figure was slightly stout but not fat, which made him look like a steady and stable guardian. After the reform and opening-up went through the initial surge in the early 1980s, the setbacks at the end of the 1980s, and the nationwide debate triggered in the early 1990s, people's thinking became highly unified, that is, to reform domestically, open up externally, revitalize the economy, and improve people's livelihood. It was also during this period that a large number of officials emerged who dared to think and act, had a sense of responsibility and courage, leading regional economies and even China's economy to unprecedented heights.

  Merits and demerits, successes and failures, gains and losses, cannot be ignored because of the various problems that arose later, nor can they negate the contributions and courage of this generation.

  Xu Fuyan was apparently surprised and asked kindly: "Does the little friend know me?"

  Since Wen Jie had the awareness of helping Zuo Yu Xi to make a connection, he couldn't really give Xu Fu Yan the impression that he was too young and inexperienced. Just as Wen Huai Ming took a step forward to speak, Wen Jie intercepted his words and said: "At the award ceremony for the top ten outstanding Communist Youth League members in the city last time, I had the honor of being on stage and listening to Secretary Xu's speech, which left a deep impression on me, so I recognized you."

  These words would be useless if spoken by an adult, but coming from a young boy's mouth, not only did they not sound like flattery, but also made Xu Fuyan burst out laughing and turn to his secretary Zhang Fang saying: "It seems that your last speech draft was well-written, even the kids liked listening to it."

  Yang Guangsheng patted Zhang Fang's shoulder and said, "I've always said you're the number one writer in Qingzhou, but you're always humble. Now there's no need to be modest anymore!"

  In his thirties, wearing a pair of thick glasses, Zhang Fan looked like a bookworm and hurriedly became modest: "Secretary-General, you're joking again. Who dares to say that their writing skills are strong in front of Director Wen? Don't tease me..."

  Wei Gang was naturally humble, but a group of people were trying to make fun of Xu Fuyang, and they actually left Wei Gang out in the cold, without anyone mediating or helping him save face. It wasn't until Meng Shanshui saw how embarrassed he was that she stepped in, her face stern as she scolded: "Director Wei, what's wrong with you? Can't you apologize to Director Wen right away? You're a grown man, why are you competing with a child?" Ah, with just one sentence, the intentional humiliation of Wen Huaiming earlier was transformed into an unintentional slight against him.

  Wen Huiming was fed up to death, but still had to put on a smiling face and say: "That's right, Old Wei, my family's Wen Cheng is impolite, you as his uncle should teach him a lesson, why are you scolding me instead? Be careful tonight when I go to your house and drink all your Maotai!"

  Yang Guangsheng whispered to Xu Fuyan, "This is Vice Director Wei of the Agricultural Machinery Factory. He has taken over from Zhang Changqing and is in charge of the factory's work now. He is a young cadre who is highly regarded by the city."

  Xu Fuyan didn't respond, and Li Gang didn't care. He smiled at Wen Chan and said: "So you're the young master of the Wen family. All those who can go on stage to receive awards are little heroes. What good deed have you done?"

  Wen Cheng was really fed up with his patronizing tone, so he changed his mind and replied: "Actually, it's nothing much, just foiled a jewelry store robbery with a friend, not worth mentioning."

  "Oh?" Xu Fuyan seemed to remember something and asked again: "What's your friend's name?"

  "Xu Yao!"

  Xu Fuyan was stunned, but Yang Guangsheng, Meng Shanshui, Zhang Fang, and the municipal committee staff behind him were all shocked. Wei Gang even stumbled and almost fell over before managing to steady himself. It wasn't until then that they remembered there had indeed been such an incident two months prior, but at the time, Wen Jian's role had been intentionally downplayed, and he hadn't given any media interviews afterwards. As a result, not only did the general public not know his name, but they also didn't see any footage of him. Of course, how big is the municipal committee? The elderly people all knew that it was Wen's son who had caught the robber with Xu Yao, but they didn't think that Wen Huiming would have a relationship with Xu Fuyan at the time. The most likely explanation was that Wen Jian had coincidentally lent a hand, as reported. Moreover, since Xu Fuyan never mentioned the incident again, everyone's attention was diverted, and the matter was dropped after it happened, with no one paying any further attention to it.

  Actually, Xu Fuyan was wronged. When Director Zhao Xinchuan came to report to him in person, he focused on Xu Yao and only mentioned Wen Qian twice without even mentioning his name. Later, it was still Xu Yao who told the story in detail, and after being afraid, Xu Fuyan also asked Xu Yao to bring Wen Qian back home for a meal to show gratitude, but Xu Yao didn't want Wen Qian to know her identity, so she found an excuse to get past it. At that time, Xu Fuyan was busy with internal and external troubles, day and night, and forgot about the matter after a few days.

  So, people like Meng Shanshui who knew Wen Chao didn't know the inside story, while Xu Fuyan who knew the truth didn't know Wen Chao. And Yang Guangsheng and Zhang Fang didn't know either the inside story or Wen Chao, which led to today's shocking scene.

  Xu Fuyan glanced at Wen Huiming, then looked at Xu Yao who was smiling and greeting customers at the door. A surge of anger rose to his head, but he asked calmly: "Has this Xu Yao told you what her father does?"

  Wen Huiming's heart almost jumped out when he saw Xu Fuyan's gaze. Without a doubt, Xu Fuyan must be suspicious of his role in the interactions between Wen Chang and Xu Yao, especially since he had never mentioned the jewelry store in front of him. If you think about it positively, it means that he doesn't take advantage of kindness and separates public and private matters clearly; but if you think about it negatively, is he pretending not to know and waiting for an opportunity? Maybe he even instigated his son to curry favor with Xu Yao, which would be despicable.

  With Xu Fuyuan's city and heart machine honed in the officialdom, how many dirty things he has seen for climbing up without choosing means, what will he think of?

  The answer is self-evident!

  But it's a misunderstanding, Wen Huaiming felt a bit wronged in his heart. He had indeed known about Xu Ya's identity beforehand, but he really hadn't mentioned a word to Wen Qian. The two people's interactions were purely natural. According to Wen Huaiming's plan, now that their relationship with Xu Fuyan was in the honeymoon phase, if they found an appropriate opportunity to bring it up themselves, not only would it not cause his displeasure, but it might even add a spoonful of oil to the honey.

  But now that Xufu Yan has discovered this, the nature of things has completely changed. Especially today, Xu Yao was even dragged by Wen Qing to do the welcoming ceremony, humbling herself as the secretary's wife, what about her relationship with Wen Qing?

  A father who feels deceived is not scary, but a municipal party secretary who feels deceived, if Wen Jiabao answers this question poorly, the situation that the father and son have worked hard to build will collapse instantly.

  To accompany you is like accompanying a tiger, on the road of officialdom, there are great honors and glories, great wealth and nobility, great power and influence, but also great terrors!

  (I don't ask for votes to avoid offending everyone, but the desire for votes burning deep in my heart cannot be interrupted. There is still one day left on the new book chart, kneeling down to beg for recommendations and collections)