Chapter Thirty-One: Classmate Reunion

  Chen Gong was in the know, and his tone was somewhat forceful. "Sister Jia, I'm aware that you've profited from this in town, and it's not just 700,000 yuan. Sometimes, one can't be too greedy, or things will get out of hand. When everyone gets into a mess, the judicial authorities have to intervene, which doesn't benefit anyone." Chen Gong wanted to intimidate her first, and the best outcome would be for Jia Shufang to retreat in defeat.

  Jia Shufang didn't know if she had eaten gunpowder or something, but her attitude became even more intense. One moment she said that Chen Gong, as a leader, actually threatened the masses, and the next moment she said that officials would do anything for money, no matter how shameful. In short, it was all about money, and not just 700,000 yuan. Based on the interest over these dozen or so years, they wanted at least 2 million yuan. Otherwise, they would make a big deal out of this and pointed at Chen Gong's head, saying that he was a huge corrupt official.

  Chen Gong had always disliked Jia Shufang, but he didn't expect her to be so thick-skinned. Chen Gong's anger rose, and he raised his voice, "I'm telling you, don't take the money and still try to stir up trouble. I know your business clearly, and the road construction project you did had an extra 700,000 yuan in costs. Don't fabricate things here."

  Jia Shufang was like a madwoman, splashing the tea water directly on Chen Gong's body, soaking his clothes completely. Fortunately, the water temperature had already dropped.

  Chen Gong had never seen such an unreasonable woman, he pulled her out of the office door and left a sentence, you can go wherever you want to sue, it's okay to go to Beijing to sue. There were many people in the corridor, none of whom had ever seen Chen Gong get so angry, they pointed at Jia Shufang from afar and whispered to each other.

  Jia Shufang sat on the ground crying and shouting, "The town head has beaten people, the town head has beaten people, come see, this is the parent official of the masses."

  Chen Gong felt uncomfortable listening to it, and really didn't know how to deal with her. If he said she wanted to occupy state-owned assets, there was no evidence, and the truth seemed to be on her side, which made him puzzled.

  The office door opened again, and Chen Gong stepped out, ordering a staff member in the corridor, "You! Immediately call two security personnel to come up and take this madman away. He is not allowed to enter the government building again!"

  Chen Gong sat in his office chair, panting heavily. This woman was too reckless, intentionally looking for trouble. If handled poorly, it could affect the town government's image and possibly implicate Li Jiangtao as well. But if Chen Gong were to settle this with money, who would foot the bill for the 2 million yuan loss - the government or himself? The more he thought about it, the more Chen Gong felt that this matter seemed to be targeting him, after all, nothing had happened with Jia Shufang in over a decade.

  It's really depressing, Chen Gong contacted Wei Shuqin and said to choose a time to play for a day, relax, Wei Shuqin set it at this weekend, saying that there is an elementary school classmate gathering, all of whom are people who haven't seen each other for over a decade, and don't know how they got every classmate's phone number.

  Over the weekend, Chen Gong came alone to Fuhai to attend Wei Shuqin's alumni reunion.

  Wei Shuqin reminded him, "Chen Gong, this time at the alumni reunion your task is to pretend to be my boyfriend, don't mess it up."

  Chen Gong thought that he would be exposed sooner or later, and had already considered Wei Shuqin as his girlfriend. Today was just a matter of being taken out by Wei Shuqin for the first time.

  On the way, Wei Shuqin told Chen Gong that since there are many problems with male and female relationships among classmates nowadays, this class reunion is only for female classmates. Yes, in today's society, wives are tasteless, lovers are too tiring, prostitutes are too expensive, so why not have a class reunion to separate couples one by one.

  There weren't many people, just over a dozen girls, all of whom were accompanied by their boyfriends or husbands. A 25-year-old woman like Wei Shuqin was in the prime of her youth. In total, four tables of people sat inside an extra-large private room.

  Wei Shuqin was thinking back and quietly introducing to Chen Gong, that one used to be the class beauty, now she's so ugly. This one used to be the ugliest and most bullied in the class, she even took my things, our grudge is as deep as the ocean. Now she's actually so beautiful, not with those protruding ears and expression, it's really hard to believe it's the same person...

  Chen Gong listened to Wei Shuqin's introduction and also sighed in his heart, "Wow, Shuqin, how were you in class?" Chen Gong saw that Wei Shuqin lowered her head without answering, so he asked loudly to the classmates at the table.

  That original ugly girl, now possibly because she grew up to be beautiful, spoke first. "Wei Shuqin is the class learning committee member, with a very proud temper. Originally cute, now transformed into a stunning beauty. That Chen... Gong or something, you're quite lucky. Right, you're so young, should have just entered society, what unit do you work at? My boyfriend works in the Fuhai City District, An Du District Education Bureau, probably about to be promoted to deputy director or something, anyway a small official, if there's anything useful in the future, give a shout."

  "In the countryside." Chen Gong replied with a smile.

  That woman thought Chen Gong was a young and inexperienced guy, just a small town official, so she looked down on him. She deliberately called the deputy director a minor official to belittle the women at the table. The original ugly woman succeeded, two female classmates and their boyfriends slightly lowered their heads.

  It just so happened that the table also started toasting, a man stood up, "Come on, I'll treat all of you classmates to a drink, representing my girlfriend, to express gratitude for everyone's care during our school days! Come on, let's drink, this meal is on me, everyone eat and drink as they please." After hearing this, Chen Gong thought it was very funny, just elementary school classmates, what's the need for thanks and gratitude.

  At another table, a female classmate's husband was also present to show his face. He answered the phone, "Hello, it's me. Okay, okay, what? The mayor is coming for an inspection? Alright, I'll stay up all night if I have to and get the draft done. That way, our leader can report to the mayor." After hanging up the phone, judging from his tone, he seemed like a clerk who writes drafts in an office, but his expression was as if he himself was going to meet the mayor, which was quite impressive.

  In about half an hour, business cards were all over each table. There were deputy managers, regional managers, sales managers, and they all seemed to be promoting something.

  At this time, Wei Shuqin noticed a woman in the corner, "It's her." Wei Shuqin muttered to herself.

  Chen Gong looked in that direction, "Who is it, Shu Qin?"

  Listening to Wei Shuqin's introduction, the woman with a bit of messy hair, poor complexion, and a thoughtful expression was their class leader. She was originally an excellent student who loved music and helping others, had good grades, and wasn't arrogant, but it seemed like she was having a tough time and was alone.

  Just then, a couple who were drinking sat down at another table next to Wei Shuqin, so she invited the old classmate to sit beside her. It turned out that the old classmate was worried about his child's kindergarten, private kindergartens were too expensive, and public ones were too few, but they had already lined up for two years later, this reality was really outrageous.

  During this time, she and her husband have been worried, running around, but still haven't settled down yet.

  An hour later, Chen Gong was also forced to drink some wine, especially the man of that ugly woman, who kept pouring wine for Chen Gong and even arrogantly let Chen Gong finish it while he drank at his own pace.

  The table was almost empty, with only a few dishes left. Everyone had eaten and drunk their fill. Chen Gong looked around for the person who had earlier offered to pay the bill, but he was nowhere to be found. He also couldn't find that person's girlfriend. It seemed like they had both slipped away unnoticed.

  It seems that no one wants to pay the bill, especially the female classmates who agreed on the AA system earlier. When they heard that man say he would take care of it, none of them wanted to take out their money. Now, among the four tables, only the boyfriend of the "ugly girl" is still energetic, possibly having drunk a lot, loudly saying, "Damn it, that guy has no money but pretends to be rich, I'll take care of it."

  The waiter handed him the bill, he took a look and frowned, apparently the cash on him was not enough either. He immediately pulled out his phone, dialed a string of numbers, and said: "Hello, buddy, didn't you say that your friend's kid couldn't get into kindergarten? I'll try to figure something out, tell him to come over right away..." Everyone listened to the sound of him making the call, thinking to themselves, he really has a way.

  Twenty minutes later, someone knocked on the door of the compartment. The door was opened and the old class leader beside Wei Shuqin looked at the person who came in and almost fainted. Wei Shuqin supported her, "What's wrong, Class Leader?"

  The man who just came in looked at the person Wei Shuqin was supporting and said, "Wife, what are you doing here?"

  Chen Gong listened and felt it was unbelievable, the one who came to pay the bill was actually their class monitor's husband!!

  After a series of introductions, the man found out that the one who had called him over was his wife's classmate's boyfriend. Ah, what a small world!

  The old class leader, for the sake of the child's affairs, can't care about face now. "You are my old classmate's boyfriend, everyone is familiar with each other, today's meal money we will give, as long as we can solve the problem of going to kindergarten, it doesn't matter."

  The man working at the Education Bureau might also be embarrassed and had a bit too much to drink, "No need, no need, this is embarrassing, I didn't know it was like that. To be honest, I'm not very confident either, just trying my luck." It seems who gave the money is still an unknown number.

  Chen Gong was very happy today, as Wei Shuqin's boyfriend made an appearance, and said "Waiter, bring the bill over, I'll pay, can I use a credit card?" The waiter led Chen Gong to the cashier.

  Spent 4,100 yuan! When Chen Gong painfully walked back to the package room, he saw that the situation had changed again. The man from the Education Bureau lowered his head and said, "Ah, two of you, I've tried my best, but we really can't get the quota. You think about it and see if there's another way."

  Good people always have a bottom line, for the sake of Wei Shuqin's face in front of many years of classmates, Chen Gong still maintained his relationship with Zhang Mingzhang, the director of the Municipal Education Bureau, and walked forward, "You are preparing to go to which district, which kindergarten, I will also try to see if I can help you."

  "The ugly girl" felt uncomfortable on the side, a small town office worker, who can help someone in the rich coastal city, is simply a joke, her boyfriend who has always been mysterious and elusive still hasn't figured it out.

  "Hello, Director Zhang, I'm Chen Gong. I'd like to ask a favor of you. It's about my good friend's kid who is going to kindergarten soon...". Chen Gong asked for their kindergarten information and then dialed the number to Zhang Mingzhang.

  "The ugly girl" was convinced in her heart that he must be pretending, and would definitely say it couldn't be done after a while.

  "Alright, thank you Director Zhang." Chen Gong hung up the phone. "Okay, tomorrow you go find Director Wu of Andu District Education Bureau, he'll take you there, no problem."

  "The ugly girl" boyfriend was surprised for a while, that Director Wu is their deputy director, and it just so happens that he is the person in charge of his department's office. Is rural work so powerful now? He immediately walked up front and said, "Brother Chen, I presume? Who are you looking for help from that can get Director Wu to come out personally?"

  Qian lightly mentioned, "Director Zhang Mingzhang of Fuhai Education Bureau." The man seemed to know Director Zhang, so he should make friends with him. He proactively stretched out his right hand, "Huang Qiang, Brother Chen, may I ask which town you are in and what position you hold? When I have time, I'll come find you for a chat."

  At this time when he could have saved face, Chen Gong directly took down the two words "acting for", Town Mayor!

  Several tables of people who were still clear-headed looked at them with admiring glances, and Wei Shuqin also felt particularly proud. After some small talk, she took Chen Gong's arm and left the restaurant.