Chapter Thirty-Five: Eating Together

  Zhu Zi Chuan had only sat for about ten minutes before he stood up and wanted to leave. Han Yuan Qing didn't know what he was going to do, but he wouldn't say it to his face. What made him even more curious was why Zhu Zi Chuan also called Ye Ping Yu out together.

  Cao Dafu and Yang Leyi naturally did not dare to question Zhu Zichuan's affairs, but felt that the leaders of this region were busy, even drinking and eating could not sit still. Seeing Zhu Zichuan about to leave, they all stood up at the same time and looked towards Ye Pingyu, wondering what Zhu Zichuan wanted him to go out and do together.

  Ye Pingyu realized at this time that Zhu Zi Chuan had called him out to do something, and it was definitely to have dinner with the two young men and women together. It turned out that Zhu Zi Chuan had deliberately arranged for this, just to give him time to go and have dinner together.

  Han Yuanqing followed Zhu Zi Chuan out for a bit, then asked about the situation. Zhu Zi Chuan told him that the big boss was eating on the side and if he wanted to toast him later, he could go over.

  As soon as he heard that Ping Yuanchao was having a meal in the house nearby, Han Yuqing immediately regained his spirits. No wonder Zhu Zishen couldn't sit still. Since this was the case, he would seize the opportunity to go and offer Ping Yuanchao a cup of wine.

  Zhu Zi Chuan took Ye Ping Yu and left, Han Yuan Qing looked at Ye Ping Yu's back, but his mind was racing with thoughts. What is the relationship between Zhu Zi Chuan and Ye Ping Yu? Is it really like he said that they met on the way to Cao Lingzi Township to buy rice? If so, why did he bring Ye Ping Yu to see Ping Yuan Chao?

  Although he was full of doubts, he couldn't figure out why, so he went back to the room and continued to drink with Cao Dafu.

  Ye Pingyu followed behind Zhu Zishen with a nervous heart, he had also heard what the big boss said earlier. Although he hadn't been working for long and didn't fully understand the title of "big boss", he still knew a bit about the situation. As a government official, when Zhu Zishen spoke like that, it definitely wasn't referring to a real big shot in society, and Han Yuanqing wouldn't be so respectful if he heard it. It must be someone with an even higher position than Zhu Zishen.

  "Xiao Ye, there aren't many people inside either, don't be nervous. You've seen those two people earlier, they're both from the capital city to visit your grandfather. And there's also our department's Ping Specialist, he's a very kind and gentle person. Don't be afraid, just calm down a bit when you go in." Seeing Ye Pingyu's slightly tense expression, Zhu Zichuan reminded him.

  Zhu Zi Chuan's words were of course well-intentioned, but this reminder made Ye Ping Yu even more tense. As soon as the three words "Ping Specialist" came out of Zhu Zi Chuan's mouth, he became increasingly nervous. Although he was not familiar with the local leadership, the Qing Yun Daily newspaper subscribed to by his hometown often carried news of leaders' inspection speeches, and he knew that the Commissioner of the Regional Bureau was named Ping Yuan Chao. Since there were no other leaders surnamed Ping in the region, this "Commissioner Ping" must be none other than Ping Yuan Chao himself!

  The head of the regional administrative office, he had never seen such a big official before, didn't know how much bigger than Cao Dafu's official was, and Zhang Mingxun, who made him feel very dignified, was only the deputy secretary of the county party committee, still far from the position of the head of the regional administrative office. The head of the regional administrative office could dismiss him with just one word, now Zhu Zishen wanted to take him to see him, how could he not be nervous?

  Although he felt very nervous in his heart, Zhu Zi Chuan specially entrusted him to keep himself calm and composed. He thought for a moment that the regional commissioner's official position was indeed very grand, but it had nothing to do with him, and he was just coming to eat a meal, what was there to be afraid of? The regional commissioner was also human, not a fierce god or evil spirit, as long as he himself was upright and honest, he didn't need to fear him!

  Ye Pingyu gave himself a pep talk to relieve the psychological pressure, and then came to the package room. Zhuo Zichuan gently pushed open the door and smiled as he walked in, with Ye Pingyu closely following behind him, his heart racing nonstop.

  As I entered the private room, the space suddenly opened up, and I saw that the two young men and women were chatting and laughing with a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man had a square face, and his smile revealed a sense of majesty, looking very tall and majestic, with black hair and full of energy.

  "Boss, I've called Xiao Ye over!" Zhu Zi Chuan led Ye Ping Yu over, smiling as he reported to the middle-aged man, then walked over to the dinner table and let Ye Ping Yu go ahead.

  The middle-aged man stopped talking and smiling, looked at Ye Pingyu for a moment, and said with a smile: "Little Ye, right? Zhi Bing and Xi Yao asked you to come over and have dinner together, sit down!"

  Seeing that the middle-aged man spoke relatively gently, Ye Pingyu's tension in his heart eased a bit, but standing there, he still tensely greeted him with: "Hello, leader!"

  When working below, whenever you see a superior cadre, you must call out "Leader" good. Although he knew that the middle-aged man in front of him should be Commissioner Ping, he still called him "Leader" good, rather than "Commissioner Ping" good.

  A middle-aged man chuckled and took a glance at Ye Pingyu before smilingly saying to the two young men and women, "This Comrade Little Ye looks a bit shy, I wonder what kind of person his grandfather is?"

  The young man immediately smiled and said, "I heard my father say that the old gentleman is very enthusiastic about people. If it weren't for him, my father would have suffered. This time I came to thank him on behalf of my father!"

  After listening to the young man's words, the middle-aged man smiled at Ye Pingyu and said: "Little Ye, don't be nervous, I know you're a cadre working in the countryside, seeing me makes you a bit nervous, but I'm not in charge of you, the secretary of your county or township can take care of you. Don't worry, I won't speak ill of you in front of them, on the contrary, I'll speak well of you, so you shouldn't be nervous anymore, right?"

  He didn't expect the middle-aged man to be so approachable and come to ease his tension, after all, he was a big leader, now talking to him like an ordinary friend, which moved him deeply, and his tense mood immediately dissipated a lot, scratching his head and laughing.

  Seeing this situation, Zhu Zi Chuan said beside him: "Xiao Ye, sit down, I just told you that Commissioner Ping is very easy-going and doesn't need to be nervous, hurry up and sit down!"

  After listening to Zhu Zi Chuan's words, Ye Ping Yu finally sat down next to him, then looked at the middle-aged man and the two young men and women. The waiter brought him tableware, and he hastily adjusted his mood, fiddling with the tableware in front of him.

  Through Zhuozi's introduction, Ye Pingyu learned the names of those two young men and women, and that middle-aged man was naturally Pingyuan Chao, the regional commissioner.

  The young man's name was You Zhi Bing, and the woman's name was Feng Xi Yao. They were siblings, but they had different surnames, which he found very strange. Perhaps the woman took her mother's surname.

  After the introduction, the young man, who was called You Zhi Bing, stood up and toasted him. Ye Ping Yu hastily got to his feet, how could he let someone from the capital toast him? He held his wine cup and said he wanted to toast him instead, but You Zhi Bing smiled and said: "Little Ye, this cup is not for you, it's my dad toasting your grandfather. Your grandfather isn't here today, neither is my dad, so let me represent him in toasting your grandfather!"

  Originally, it meant that Ye Pingyu had no choice but to accept his toast and directly downed a large glass of wine with him. Of course, the wine was good, something he had never drunk before. The dishes on the table were also things he had never eaten before, so after drinking this large glass, he didn't feel dizzy at all.

  A young girl named Feng Xi Yao stood up to toast him after her brother finished, but she held not wine but a drink, smiling sweetly and asking him to help himself. Faced with such a delicate and beautiful girl, Ye Pingyu couldn't say anything, didn't refuse, and directly got up and drank it all in one go.

  Looking at Ye Pingyu drinking, Ping Yuan Chao couldn't help but laugh and said: "Xiao Ye, drink slowly, don't rush!"

  Ye Pingyu felt a bit dizzy after finishing the cup of wine, his head started to feel a little fuzzy, and after hearing Zhu Zishen's words, he quickly sat down.

  After sitting down, everyone started talking about Ye Pingyu's grandfather. Ping Yuan Chao listened and smiled, saying: "Xiao Ye, last time when I went to your village to buy rice, I was lucky to have you show me the way. It seems that you are as willing to help others as your grandfather!"

  As soon as he mentioned this matter, Ye Pingyu hastily humbly said: "Just showing the way, nothing more!"

  Zhu Zi chuckled and said, "Boss, there's something I didn't tell you. Those two bags of rice were actually sent to me by Xiao Ye, but you asked me to charge the old folks for them. So, I secretly put the money in their house. Later, Xiao Ye even called me to return the money!"

  "Is that so?" Ping Yuan couldn't help but laugh, then turned to You Zhi Bing and said: "Zhi Bing, your dad asked me to bring two bags of rice he ate when he jumped the queue, I let Zi Chuan go to the countryside to buy it, and coincidentally met Xiao Ye, and bought it at his house. What a coincidence! It seems that your family has a predestined relationship with Xiao Ye's family?"

  "Haha!" You Zhi Bing also felt it was a good coincidence. Feng Xi Yao listened and looked at Ye Ping Yu with sparkling eyes, feeling that this matter was really coincidental, as if it were destined by fate.

  "Young Master Bai smiled and immediately said: 'Uncle Ping, if you hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot. My dad still wants me to return the money for those two bags of rice to you!'"

  After finishing, pretending to take out money from his pocket, Ping Yuan smiled and said: "You this know-the-soldier, I have an old relationship with your dad, for these one or two bags of rice, can still ask for his money, are you trying to make it difficult for Uncle Ping?"

  You Zhībīng also smiled and put away his hand, then looked at Ye Pingyu and said: "Little Ye, does your family still have rice? We'll take some with us when we leave!"

  Ye Pingyu hastily replied: "The grain and oil company came to collect a lot last time, there's not much left at home, but if you want some, there are still some!"

  Zhu Zi Chuan laughed and said: "Mr. You, if you want this kind of rice now, don't go to Xiao Ye's place to buy it anymore. Our grain and oil company has a lot of it now. When you leave, you can take some more!"

  You Zhībīng laughed and said: "Director Zhu, you misunderstood my meaning. I don't want to bring back that much rice, mainly I just want to let Dad have more nostalgia. Since childhood, bringing rice from Yejia, if my dad knew about it, he would be very happy!"