Chapter 71: The Slick Young Man from a Small Town
Le You and Xu Jianqiang had said they would only drive Sui Jing and the others there before leaving, but when they arrived at Fuyuan Restaurant, they happened to find Zhou Jun and several police colleagues downstairs with Yuan Wenhai.
Zhou Jun had met Sun Feifei and Le You before, so naturally he warmly insisted that Le You and Xu Jianqiang stay as well.
More than a month had passed, and both Yuan Wenhai and Zhou Jun had recovered from their injuries and returned to duty.
This time, not only had Yuan Wenhai been transferred to Yunshe as station chief, Zhou Jun had also been promoted.
In the police force, promotions depended not only on major achievements, but also seniority.
Although Zhou Jun had not jumped straight into a deputy captain position, he was still young. To replace Yuan Wenhai and become squad leader of Criminal Investigation Team Three ahead of most of his peers in the remote corner of Shishan County clearly showed he had no shallow background.
Xiao Liang didn’t have a deep impression of Zhou Jun. In his previous life, after being cleared and released, he had eaten with Zhou Jun twice because of Yuan Wenhai, and also because he had once helped at the car crash scene. After that, they had no further contact.
After Yuan Wenhai was pushed out of the force, he rarely mentioned this former subordinate and apprentice, let alone maintained any relationship with him.
Zhou Jun had joined the police force only four years earlier and looked two or three years younger than Le You. Perhaps because of his family background, he was smooth in dealing with people, though not yet truly seasoned.
Zhou Jun had never met Xu Jianqiang before either, but when Le You introduced him as the real boss behind Fanhua Construction—and mentioned that Fanhua was planning a major project in Shishan County—Zhou Jun warmly and firmly seated Xu Jianqiang in the guest of honor’s seat.
The second and third guest seats went, in order, to Le You and Sun Feifei.
Zhou Jun then cleverly arranged Yuan Wenhai as the principal host, seated between Xu Jianqiang and Le You. Zhou Jun himself sat to Xu Jianqiang’s right as deputy host and apologized to Xiao Liang with a smile.
“It’s rare for me to have the chance to treat President Xu and Brother Le to drinks today, so I’ll have to slightly wrong you, Officer Xiao. I’ll make it up to you with a few extra toasts later. If not for your help back then, I might not be sitting here in one piece today.”
If everyone had simply sat wherever, Xiao Liang would have just enjoyed a few drinks with Yuan Wenhai and caught up.
But since Zhou Jun emphasized table etiquette so heavily, then clearly his status as a lifesaver couldn’t compare to Xu Jianqiang, whom Zhou Jun was meeting for the first time, nor to Le You and Sun Feifei.
So Xiao Liang merely smiled and joked, “Officer Zhou even specially arranged for Officer Sui to sit beside me, and you still think I’m being wronged? Were you planning to seat her on my lap?”
Sui Jing’s almond eyes immediately glared at him.
“Joking, joking. I promise I won’t provoke you again today,” Xiao Liang said quickly, raising his hands in surrender.
“Xu Wen, switch seats with me.” Unhappy, Sui Jing directly swapped seats with a colleague beside her, deciding not to bother with Xiao Liang for the rest of the night.
“Look what you’ve done. You upset Sui Jing. You’d better punish yourself with a drink later,” Yuan Wenhai said.
“Of course, of course…”
Xiao Liang laughed and punished himself with one glass at the start of the banquet. Then he toasted Yuan Wenhai twice separately before setting his glass aside and listening as Yuan Wenhai and the others chatted about the strange cases the police force had encountered over the years.
Everyone in the county criminal investigation team knew his story. After three beers, if Xiao Liang didn’t want to drink more, no one pressed him.
Le You looked down on him from the bottom of his heart and considered himself superior, but he also didn’t want to pick trouble at the table and leave Sui Jing with the impression that he was narrow-minded.
Xu Jianqiang could hold his liquor, but knew restraint. Yuan Wenhai deliberately controlled his drinking as well. The banquet ended at eight o’clock.
Given the complicated situation in Shishan County and Yunshe, Xiao Liang wanted to find a place to drink tea with Yuan Wenhai alone.
To avoid the others, after the meal ended, the two went to the restroom together, then smoked a cigarette outside before heading downstairs. Unexpectedly, when they came out near the staircase, Xu Jianqiang was still sitting in the hotel lobby.
“President Xu, you haven’t left?” Xiao Liang asked in surprise.
“I called two drivers to bring the cars over, so there are two cars in Shishan. One driver took Le You’s car to send Sui Jing and Sun Feifei back to the city first. I figured you’d also be returning to the city tonight,” Xu Jianqiang said. He had been waiting in the lobby intending to take Xiao Liang back with him. Looking at Xiao Liang and Yuan Wenhai, he asked, “You two aren’t going somewhere else to drink, are you?”
“Not drinking. It’s rare for me to meet Captain Yuan, so we were thinking of finding a place for tea. If President Xu isn’t in a hurry to go back, why don’t you join us?”
From details Le You and Sun Feifei had unintentionally revealed at the table, Xiao Liang judged that Xu Jianqiang’s family background was probably even stronger than the Le family, which had a deputy mayor behind it. It was just that Xu Jianqiang had chosen to start a company in Dongzhou and needed the help of the local Le family, so he had brought Le You in as a partner.
Yet Xu Jianqiang didn’t carry much of the foul temper common to second-generation elites. He was thoughtful in how he handled people and things. If there was a chance, Xiao Liang didn’t mind staying in contact with him.
“Sure,” Xu Jianqiang said. “There’s nothing much to do if I go back now. Tea would be perfect to sober up.”
There was a teahouse on the same street. Xu Jianqiang told the driver to bring the car near the teahouse, and the three of them walked over. But as soon as they stepped out of the hotel, they saw Sui Jing pulling Sun Feifei toward them.
“Oh? Didn’t you leave for the city by car? Why are you back?” Xiao Liang asked in surprise.
“You said something like that to me today. You think I’ll let you off so easily? You’re so young—how did you learn to talk so slick?” Sui Jing glared at him with her dark, bright eyes, looking as if she wanted to kick him flying.
After the banquet ended and Zhou Jun paid the bill, everyone else had gone downstairs. Xiao Liang and Yuan Wenhai, however, had dawdled. Sui Jing guessed they were planning to find somewhere else for tea or drinks.
She and Sun Feifei had gotten into Le You’s car, but after a short while she found an excuse to get out, intending to come back and intercept Xiao Liang and Yuan Wenhai. She hadn’t expected Xu Jianqiang to still be there too.
Curious, Sui Jing asked, “Why hasn’t President Xu left either? Were you planning to take advantage of the wine and seek out the spring scenery of a small town? Careful, I might tell Sister Yayun on you one day.”
“I’m going to drink tea with Captain Yuan and Officer Xiao. You can’t frame me,” Xu Jianqiang said with a smile. “Coming with us?”
“Drink tea with three crafty old foxes? How boring would that be?” Sui Jing complained repeatedly.
Although Shishan’s economy was behind in 1994, teahouses, dance halls, arcades, video halls, chess rooms, and other leisure venues were all available. Ambiguously lit Wenzhou hair salons had also begun appearing in the deeper alleys of the county town.
Of course, the teahouse conditions couldn’t compare with those of ten or twenty years later. The main hall held a dozen square tables. At this hour, most customers were playing cards under creaking ceiling fans, making the place noisy.
Xiao Liang and the others sat outside at a small riverside table. Dim streetlight filtered through willow branches. They ordered a pot of tea, five cups, a plate of melon seeds, and a plate of five-spice peanuts. The total was only ten yuan.
“Does Officer Xiao plan to stay in grassroots work from now on?” Xu Jianqiang asked Xiao Liang curiously.
At dinner, they had talked about Xiao Yujun’s case and about how Xiao Liang had helped Yuan Wenhai and Zhou Jun at the crash scene before fleeing. They also mentioned how Yuan Wenhai and Sui Jing later helped uncover the truth. But neither Yuan Wenhai nor Sui Jing would treat more detailed facts as casual dinner conversation.
Xu Jianqiang felt that what he had heard at the table still wasn’t enough to explain why Yuan Wenhai and Sui Jing valued Xiao Liang so much.
“I’m still quite undecided myself. That’s exactly what I wanted to ask Captain Yuan about,” Xiao Liang said with a smile. “I’ve just taken unpaid leave from my original unit. As for what I’ll do next, I’m still somewhat lost.”
Xiao Liang was willing to maintain contact with Xu Jianqiang, but not to bare his heart right after meeting him.
“Oh? What’s the deal with you becoming deputy director of the juice factory?” Sui Jing had heard before that Xiao Liang had been transferred to Nanting Lake Juice Factory, but hadn’t had the chance to ask for details. “Are you planning to work in enterprises from now on?”
“Nanting Lake Juice Factory is in pretty bad shape. For me, that might not be a bad opportunity. Of course, right now it’s just an idea. Whether anything will come of it, I don’t know yet. But there’s no rush. I only took unpaid leave. If I can’t accomplish anything, I can still apply to return to my original post.”
Xiao Liang laughed it off. “Besides, deputy director sounds more impressive than clerk, doesn’t it?”
“A village-run factory. How impressive.” Sui Jing assumed he was bantering with her and said disdainfully, “If you ask me, you might as well follow President Xu. You’d have a much better chance making something of yourself at Fanhua Construction than at a village factory.”
Sui Jing knew village-run enterprises were heavily restricted. As an ordinary manager, it was practically like dancing in shackles. Even if he achieved something, someone could pluck the fruit from him at any moment.
Since she said this, Xu Jianqiang had to respond.
“Sui Jing is right. Our company is especially short of managers who understand grassroots conditions. If Officer Xiao is willing to come, I’d welcome him anytime.”
“Real estate isn’t easy this year, is it?” Xiao Liang looked at Xu Jianqiang and asked with a smile.
The Hainan property bubble had burst this year, leaving countless second-generation elites with direct lines to the highest levels suffering badly and unable to withdraw cleanly.
No matter how strong Xu Jianqiang’s background was, since he had come to Dongzhou to develop and still needed the local Le family’s help, Xiao Liang believed Fanhua Construction’s situation this year couldn’t be that comfortable.
Of course, Xiao Liang had no intention of joining Fanhua Construction. But to win Xu Jianqiang’s respect, he needed to show something real.
Otherwise, he didn’t believe Yuan Wenhai and Sui Jing’s regard for him alone would be enough to hold Xu Jianqiang’s interest for long.
