Xie Hai’s forehead broke out in a sweat as he heard Ye Longlin’s words. His tone was calm, but the calmer he sounded, the more Xie Hai felt the gravity of the situation. He didn’t know what had happened here, nor did he know who Zhang Chunxiu was, the person his secretary had mentioned. All he knew was that this situation had blown up. It had completely blown up!
“Mr. Ye, I’m not clear about the situation here. Could you wait for me to inquire before giving you a detailed answer?” Xie Hai took a deep breath and slowly spoke. He didn’t understand the root of the problem, so he could only make a judgment after investigating.
“Suit yourself.” Ye Longlin took out a cigarette and said nonchalantly. After thinking for a moment, he put the cigarette back and walked over to Zhang Chunxiu.
“Aunt Zhang, this is my boyfriend. Don’t worry, we will take care of this. No matter who is behind it, someone will pay the price, and your daughter can have her name cleared. However, Auntie, to put it bluntly, have you considered burying your daughter? After all, your daughter has already… it’s been so many days, hasn’t it?”
As Ye Longlin walked over, Mu Hanqi signaled him to be quiet and began to comfort Zhang Chunxiu. Zhang Chunxiu’s tears fell again as she spoke, “My daughter was very sensible and well-behaved, *wu wu wu*, she’s still studying, a third-year student at Guodu University. She had a bright future, *wu wu wu*, my daughter.”
The three most tragic events in life are losing a father in childhood, a wife in middle age, and a child in old age. Zhang Chunxiu had experienced the latter two. Her husband, like her, had little education and could only work as a sanitation worker. After work, he would help clean houses, and upon returning, they would do some mending and patching work together. Although it was tiring, their daily life was content because they had a sensible daughter. Their daughter often said that when she earned money in the future, she would buy a big house and let her parents live there. They would smile and agree.
But ideals are ultimately ideals, and reality is ultimately reality. One day, while Zhang Chunxiu and her husband were at work, a BMW suddenly crashed into them. Not only her husband but many others also died. Numerous people on the pedestrian crossing were affected. The official report later stated that the BMW driver had gone bankrupt, owed tens of millions, and in a moment of despair, had driven into them. This meant she could not receive any compensation. She could only grit her teeth and swallow her misfortune, with no recourse. Now, her daughter had also encountered such a tragedy. How could she bear it? She was already a person with a bitter fate; why did fate have to be so cruel to her!
“Heaven is unfair!” Mu Hanqi and Ye Longlin fell silent. For a wife and mother, these two events were undoubtedly devastating, shattering her pillars of support. If she hadn’t been seeking justice for her daughter, she might have joined her daughter and husband already.
Ye Longlin couldn’t resist lighting a cigarette. Standing at the door, he looked down at the many citizens below and sighed slightly, saying nothing. Meanwhile, Xie Hai, who was understanding the truth of the matter, and the director of the petition bureau next to him, had grim expressions.
“You know about this, don’t you?” Xie Hai asked Chu Jianguo with a grim expression, his eyes filled with a warning. It was clear that after this incident, neither of them would be able to remain in their positions, let alone be promoted. In a system, the goal is not to achieve great merit but to avoid mistakes. Many people thought this way, leading to inaction and apathy.
“Yes, I know,” Chu Jianguo replied helplessly, lowering his gaze. How could he, as the director, not know about such a major incident occurring here? But the problem was, he didn’t want to get involved, fearing he would be implicated.
“You’re worried about the Li family’s retaliation, but aren’t you afraid of the people above watching? I can tell you clearly, it’s fortunate that nothing outrageous has happened yet. If things had escalated, you would all be dead by now! This is Guodu, the capital, under the emperor’s feet. Implicating one person can implicate many. You can’t bear the consequences. You should have reported it upwards. What happens in the end has nothing to do with you! Do you know who this young man is? I can tell you explicitly, he is the former head of the military! Although he has retired, think about it in this era, what does the head of the military represent? Don’t you understand? Even if he has retired, it would only take a word from him to kill you. Moreover, the Ten Elder Families… they have already wiped out two families!”
Lin Ziying’s face instantly turned ashen. No one had expected this young man to have such great influence, nor could anyone have imagined he was so formidable. He was so formidable that even the mayor dared not cross him.
“Mr. Ye, I have understood the course of events. Please rest assured, we will provide Zhang Chunxiu with a satisfactory explanation. Regarding Lin Ziying’s inaction and dereliction of duty in this matter, I am aware. She is hereby dismissed from her position, and Chu Jianguo, for his management failures, will be demoted from director to deputy director. Do you find this satisfactory?” Xie Hai hurried over and said respectfully. Zhang Chunxiu was also greatly shocked. She had seen this person on television – the mayor of Guodu! Such a figure was so respectful to this young man; who exactly was this young man?
Ye Longlin said nothing. As he was leaving, he said to Zhang Chunxiu, “Aunt Zhang, don’t worry, I will handle this. In the next few days, please go back and bury your daughter. In five days, I will come to pick you up, and we will go get revenge together.” Five days later was the Li family’s engagement ceremony. He would take Zhang Chunxiu to watch the spectacle, and they would surely be very happy.
“I believe you.” He completely ignored Xie Hai and did not even regard him as important. Lin Ziying beside him stared blankly, unable to believe she was actually dismissed. This was like falling from heaven to hell. She couldn’t believe what she heard and quickly ran over, asking resentfully, “Mayor, why, why dismiss me? I only made this one mistake. Don’t my past contributions count? Can’t they offset my mistakes?”
Xie Hai snorted coldly, unwilling to pay attention to this woman. She was simply unreasonable. Were these words something she should say, and to Ye Longlin at that? Now, not only would he not be promoted, but after this incident, the organization would definitely assess him. It was troublesome.
...
On the small path. Mu Hanqi was in low spirits, mainly because this incident had touched a girl’s soft heart. Her husband was gone, and her daughter was gone too. Her life’s beliefs had suddenly collapsed. What should she do in the future? In fact, such incidents were not uncommon in Great Xia. After years of crackdowns, such events had become rare, but they still occurred in some places. After all, the population base of Great Xia was too large, making it difficult to predict where such incidents might happen. Moreover, such matters were impossible to eradicate completely.
“Life in this world is sometimes like this, there’s no way around it. If one could choose, who would want to be an ordinary person? No one wants to see such things happen, but since they have happened, we must resolve them. So, didn’t you ask me to resolve it?” Ye Longlin intertwined his fingers with Mu Hanqi’s and, seeing her low spirits, reached out and tickled her nose. Mu Hanqi pouted, saying dejectedly, “I was just thinking, what if our daughter encounters such a situation in the future? After seeing Aunt Zhang today, I truly understood the responsibilities and mission of a mother. Or rather, I suddenly understood why my mother opposed me marrying you back then.”
Ye Longlin smiled helplessly, “What are you thinking about all day? Stop thinking about those unnecessary things. Instead of thinking about this, why don’t you consider the wedding...” Speaking of this, Ye Longlin suddenly stopped and said no more. This matter had not yet been arranged in his schedule. He intended to consider marriage after all these matters were resolved and everything was in order. But he didn’t know when these matters would be resolved or when they would end. A wedding was a once-in-a-lifetime event. He believed this little girl must have been thinking about it already, right?
“Hey, Woodhead, what were you saying? What wedding?” Mu Hanqi pretended to be ignorant and quickly asked, her eyes narrowing into crescent moons.
Ye Longlin shook his head, “Did I say anything? You misheard. What wedding?”
“You definitely said something. Hurry up, tell me what surprise you’ve prepared!”
At the same time, outside the small courtyard. Yuan Gang, Xuan Niao, and Xuan Wu had been standing there for almost an hour. The small courtyard was locked. They could climb over, but what would the boss say when he returned?
“The boss must have taken the sister-in-law out for a meal. Should we go eat first and then come back to wait here? Xuan Wu, I mean, can you have a little backbone? It’s just a woman, is it worth it?” Yuan Gang looked quite bored. It seemed he was prepared to wait here indefinitely.
“You guys go ahead. I’ll wait here for the boss to return. You eat quickly and come back. I’ll text you.”