Chapter 112
Qiao Wei also had something to say.
“Why is it you?” she asked.
Huang Zengyue stood with his hands in his pockets, watching her for a moment, then turned around, refusing to answer the question.
Qiao Wei stood up and grabbed his arm.
As long as a person is alive and breathing, it is natural to develop various feelings, whether deep or shallow, for the people around them.
Friendship, trust, dependency, liking, hating, suspicion—there are all kinds, good or bad.
Over the past year and a half of working together, even someone like Qiao Wei had gradually lowered her guard and begun to trust Huang Zengyue.
Of course, it was also possible that Secretary Meng’s trust in Huang Zengyue had influenced her.
People are always accustomed to trusting the judgment of the stronger party.
In the officialdom, it was clear that Secretary Meng’s experience and methods were far superior to Qiao Wei’s. After spending a long time together, Qiao Wei had gradually grown accustomed to trusting Secretary Meng’s judgment.
Not to mention the cooperation, communication, mutual assistance, and trust between her and Huang Zengyue.
From any perspective, this kind of betrayal was infuriating.
Huang Zengyue turned his head to look at her.
Qiao Wei gritted her teeth. “He valued you the most.”
Because he valued him, he granted him power. How was Huang Zengyue able to get so much done? It was because Secretary Meng let him share in his power.
Qiao Wei only needed to share a tiny bit to easily arrange for Gangzi to enter the technical school. Since Huang Zengyue shared much more, his personal gains were naturally greater as well.
Spectacle lenses could not hide a person’s gaze.
There was a hint of sarcasm in Huang Zengyue’s eyes and at the corners of his mouth.
“Valued me so much?” he said. “Then why wouldn’t he marry his daughter to me?”
Qiao Wei let go of his arm in shock.
“You…” she said. “Aren’t you and your wife…”
Huang Zengyue and his wife were not only high school classmates but also childhood sweethearts. One was a writer, and the other was an artist.
Whenever he mentioned his family or his spouse, he would always, as if it were second nature, make sure to praise his wife a sentence or two.
Qiao Wei’s impression of them as a couple had always been that they were very loving and had a great relationship.
“The three of us were all classmates,” Huang Zengyue said, answering her confusion. “There were only two high schools in the county. She is Meng Zuoyi’s third daughter, and she was in the same class as us.”
But Qiao Wei had become well-integrated into this era, and she asked, “Did you and she establish a romantic relationship?”
Dating at this time was not like it was in later generations. In big cities like Beijing or Shanghai, there might be a few instances of true free love. But in small counties and towns, a man and a woman could not begin a relationship without an introducer or the consent of both sets of parents.
Sure enough, Huang Zengyue paused before saying, “I had an agreement with her. She was going to ask her father, and as long as her father agreed, we could make our relationship official.”
Qiao Wei asked, “Did the Secretary break you two up?”
This matter, this past event, was known only to the two people involved. Even his wife didn’t know about it.
Because as Qiao Wei understood, young men and women could not start dating without a formal introducer or parental consent.
Huang Zengyue and “her” had, in fact, never officially established a relationship. In this era, interactions between men and women were not that open.
The two could not date openly and rarely acted alone.
What was called love was when handing out homework assignments, he would hold onto it, she would hold onto it, and they would wait a second longer before letting go.
It was across a crowd, him on one side of the classroom and her on the other, their eyes meeting in the air.
None of this could be known by others.
Near graduation, she promised him that she would go home and tell her father she liked a boy, and get her father to agree to them establishing a relationship.
But when he saw her again, she had changed her mind.
She followed her father’s arrangements, went to work in Lin City, followed her father’s arrangements to meet a suitable person, established a relationship, and married half a year later.
Secretary Meng’s three daughters all married in Lin City, and all married up.
When the youngest daughter came to express her feelings to her father, her father did not approve.
At that age, she was naturally a bit naive, and the youngest daughter begged her father, telling him that the boy was truly very talented.
But his family was far inferior to hers.
Secretary Meng said, “Then prepare yourself mentally. In the future, when Dad is gone, you must visit your sisters’ homes frequently. Don’t go empty-handed; bring gifts every time. Be observant; when it comes to your brothers-in-law and their families, bow when you should bow, serve tea when you should serve tea, and don’t be afraid to say nice things when the time comes.”
“When asking for favors, you must have the attitude of someone asking for a favor.”
The youngest daughter was stunned. “Why would I need to ask for favors?”
Her father looked at her with pity. “By marrying a wife from your background, his brothers, his uncles, his nephews—who among them won’t come to you when they need to transfer jobs or get their children into school?”
“Go look at what those people outside our door are like. Look often, and start learning now.”
There were often people lingering outside their door.
They would stand at the door with smiling faces, bowing deeply, holding out gifts, but not only could they not enter the door, even the gifts could not enter.
Even so, they dared not reduce the smiles on their faces in the slightest.
“This is also a skill,” Dad said. “You have to learn it, and you must learn it now. If you choose such a person, from now on, you must learn to bow to people and smile like that.”
Her father easily broke down the youngest daughter’s defenses.
Children from cadre families were naturally exposed to more from a young age than those from ordinary families.
Her naivety faded away quickly.
She chose to follow her father’s arrangements—to meet, to date, to marry—and walked the same path as her sisters.
Qiao Wei simply didn’t know how to evaluate this matter.
“You call this breaking you up? It was just the ambiguous phase of a high schooler’s hazy crush. When you reach a certain age, you don’t need to break it up; it naturally disperses.”
“You, Huang Zengyue, you are already a father of three children!”
“That was how many years ago!”
Huang Zengyue, however, said, “You don’t understand.”
He touched his chest. “There is a thorn, always stuck right here.”
You were abandoned.
You were rejected.
“I’ll only ask you this: does the Secretary know about this?” Qiao Wei asked. “I mean, does he know that the person his daughter mentioned was you?”
The muscles in Huang Zengyue’s cheeks twitched slightly.
“She arranged my job for me,” he said. “We both understood without saying it.”
A romantic relationship had never been established. She said she had considered it and felt it was not suitable.
He did not pester her; everyone was very calm, without losing composure or becoming hysterical.
It looked peaceful and friendly.
Perhaps they couldn’t start a romance, but they were, after all, classmates and friends—not quite lovers, but more than friends.
She introduced him to her father.
No one broke the silence. The gentle and calm young man had talent and knew when to advance or retreat; the deep and seasoned leader had an eye for recognizing talent.
Especially in the eyes of a man like Meng Zuoyi, what was love? Love was an introducer arranging a meeting, a three-day deadline for an answer, and getting to know each other over several months of interaction.
It wasn’t some ethereal ambiguity. How could love be more important than a man’s career and ambition?
An outstanding man would certainly not take the hazy affection from the youthful atmosphere of his teenage years too seriously. When an opportunity presented itself, a man should, of course, choose the opportunity.
He appreciated his talent and steady personality, and he gave him opportunities.
When his performance satisfied him, he began to promote him.
A young man with an ordinary family background but ambition was destined to rely on him.
Even Huang Zengyue admitted that although that thorn had always been hidden in the bottom of his heart, if there were no other path to take, he would, of course, lower his head, bend his waist, and loyally follow this man.
Perhaps he would follow him for a lifetime; perhaps when that man retired and he was still in his prime, he would still have to carry gifts and visit his old leader from time to time.
That thorn only occasionally stung him in the dead of night when no one was around, lying awake and thinking, “Am I worse than others? Why was I the one abandoned?”
But when you are powerless to flip the table, what can you do? Endure it.
There was no other road to take.
…Who would have thought that as the winds of change blew, a road would appear?
Shanghai set an example for the whole country.
Huang Zengyue saw it clearly; another path that originally didn’t exist at all had appeared out of thin air.
Subordinates overthrowing superiors.
The person who was abandoned could turn the tables and stomp back.
The thorn buried deep in his heart could finally be pulled out.
“I am no worse than anyone else.”
Qiao Wei watched Huang Zengyue’s departing back, feeling powerless.
She rubbed her face hard and returned to the office.
By this time, there was no real work left to do.
The office was in disarray. Secretary Meng’s office door was wide open, and the inside had been tossed to the point of being unwatchable.
Everyone just habitually stayed in the office, because other than here, they didn’t know where else to go.
Seeing Qiao Wei return, everyone seemed to have found a pillar of support and came over to ask, “Qiao Wei, what should we do now?”
Qiao Wei glanced at Huang Zengyue’s empty desk.
She opened her drawer, took out the tea leaves, and said, “Let’s drink tea.”
Everyone looked at each other, but it seemed… really… there was nothing else to do but drink tea.
Forget it, let’s drink tea.
With an hour left before getting off work, Qiao Wei packed up her desk and put on her satchel. “I’m leaving. See you tomorrow.”
Since she had left, everyone followed suit, and one by one, they slipped away.
The office was suddenly empty.
No one was in charge at all.
Who was in charge?
Everyone had to look after themselves.
When Qiao Wei returned to the town, the moment she got off the bus, she saw several teenagers in green military uniforms running past on the street, all wearing red armbands.
Qiao Wei stared at the backs of those teenagers as they disappeared into the distance.
She took Yan Xiang home.
Returning so early today, who would have thought there would be people at home? Yan Lei was actually already home, and Secretary Gao, Town Mayor Xie, and Director Fang from the town were all there too.
Seeing her, the men in the courtyard all stood up.
“Qiao Wei, why are you back so early! What is the situation in the county right now?” they asked in quick succession. “How is Secretary Meng?”
It was evident they had already received the news.
Only Yan Lei said, “Drink some water first.”
The men sheepishly stopped talking.
Qiao Wei told Yan Xiang to go into the room to play, took the tea mug Yan Lei handed her, and drank half a mug of water.
Yan Lei took the mug and said, “We have all received the news. Secretary Meng was arrested last night. The Division Commander asked me to come back and wait for you to see what news you had.”
Secretary Gao and the others were also waiting eagerly. They had also received the news but didn’t know what the situation really was like today.
This was when the benefit of having someone in the county showed—Qiao Wei could bring back first-hand news, fresh and hot.
Qiao Wei told everyone about the situation in the county today.
None of the men in the courtyard were naive. Everyone knew that Secretary Meng’s platform had collapsed.
After all, this wave of the movement had spread from the provincial capital to the cities, and then to the counties. This situation had already played out many times in the provincial capital and the cities.
Even now, in the small town, there was an undercurrent of restlessness. Everyone was feeling insecure.
Qiao Wei thought of the teenage boys and girls with red armbands she had seen across the street when she got off the bus earlier.
She raised her eyes. “Xiahekou must remain stable. The military families are all here. If the town is unstable, the hearts of the military families will also be unsettled.”
She didn’t go deeper.
But Yan Lei understood.
If everything around them was in chaos, people’s hearts could easily follow suit.
With so many people in the Military District, the base was large; if a few people with ideas stood up, they might be able to incite something.
The Military Unit absolutely could not be in chaos.
And first and foremost, Xiahekou could not be allowed to fall into chaos.
The husband and wife exchanged a look and both stood up. “Let’s go, Secretary, Town Mayor, Director,” Yan Lei said. “Let’s go see the Division Commander.”
