harleyscars Chapter 76 Teacher, have you saved enough for your retirement in Hong Kong?
Chapter 76 Teacher, have you saved enough for your retirement in Hong Kong?
The Provincial Party Committee compound, Building No. 1, family quarters.
The Gao family home was unusually quiet tonight, even somewhat deserted. Wu Huifen had sent the nanny away early in the morning and personally cooked a table full of dishes. Braised pork, steamed fish, and a plate of hairy crabs were all dishes that Qi Tongwei used to love to eat when he was in college.
Gao Yuliang sat on the sofa, holding the copy of the "Handong Daily" he hadn't finished reading, but his eyes were fixed on the clock on the wall.
It's exactly 7 o'clock.
"Old Gao, stop looking. Tongwei is punctual. If he says he'll be here at seven, he'll be here at seven." Wu Huifen took off her apron and tidied her hair in front of the mirror. She had put on light makeup today, wanting to look more approachable, like a kind teacher's wife.
Gao Yuliang took off his glasses and wiped them, his tone somewhat somber: "Tonight's dinner isn't going to be good. Qi Tongwei is like a wild horse that's broken free; I might not be able to rein him in."
"We have to try to stop him, even if we can't." Wu Huifen came over and straightened his shirt collar. "You're his teacher; a teacher for a day is a father for life. I don't believe he can really forget all our past friendship. As long as he's willing to give in, the Zhao family..."
"Ding-dong."
Doorbell rang.
Gao Yuliang took a deep breath, and his face quickly put on his usual refined and amiable smile. He stood up and went to open the door himself.
"Here he comes, Tongwei, come in quickly..."
Gao Yuliang opened the door, but before he could finish speaking, something seemed to be stuck in his throat, preventing him from speaking.
The person standing at the door was indeed Qi Tongwei.
But he didn't come alone.
Qi Tongwei was wearing a casual suit without a tie, looking very relaxed. The person linking his arm was an excessively young girl.
This girl is too eye-catching.
She wore a black motorcycle leather jacket with an extremely daring cut, designed to perfectly hug her body's curves. The zipper was only pulled up to below her chest, revealing a large expanse of fair and delicate skin and her deep collarbones. Her two full breasts, barely contained by the tight leather jacket, seemed ready to burst out, rising and falling slightly with her breath. Her deep cleavage was practically challenging the limits of a man's visual perception.
Her lower body was covered by a pair of tight leather pants in the same color, which perfectly outlined her two long, straight thighs without an ounce of fat, and her buttocks were round and perky, extending all the way into her thick-soled Martin boots with rivets.
Her face was adorned with exquisite smoky makeup, and her long, purple-streaked hair was casually draped over her shoulders, exuding a wild, flamboyant, and even aggressive beauty. This beauty was incongruous with the serious and somber atmosphere of the provincial party committee compound, yet it was captivating.
The most crucial thing is that Gao Yuliang recognizes this face.
Ye Cunxin, the little princess of the Ye family in the capital, who was rescued by Qi Tongwei at the border.
"Secretary Gao, won't you invite us in for a seat?" Ye Cunxin took off her sunglasses, her almond-shaped eyes slightly upturned, a half-smile playing on her lips. "Or perhaps, you didn't include me in this meal?"
Gao Yuliang's hand froze on the doorknob for only half a second before he quickly regained his composure.
"Not at all, Miss Ye's presence is an honor to our humble abode." Gao Yuliang stepped aside and gestured for her to enter. "Tongwei, you didn't even tell me beforehand, so I could have asked your teacher's wife to prepare an extra pair of chopsticks."
Qi Tongwei smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "I just happened to be passing by, and Cunxin said she wanted to try your wife's cooking, so I brought her along. You don't mind, do you, teacher?"
"I don't mind, of course I don't mind," Gao Yuliang said with a dry laugh, ushering the two into the house.
Wu Huifen came out of the kitchen when she heard the noise and was stunned when she saw Ye Cunxin's outfit. Especially when she saw the exaggerated curves of her figure under the tight leather clothes, her womanly instincts made her feel uncomfortable, but it was quickly replaced by fear.
The Ye family has arrived.
This is a protest.
The group took their seats. The atmosphere at the dinner table was somewhat awkward.
Gao Yuliang took out a bottle of his treasured Moutai and was about to pour some for Qi Tongwei.
"Teacher, I won't drink," Qi Tongwei said, covering the glass with his hand. "I drove here, and the bureau is busy lately, so I'm on call at any time."
Gao Yuliang's hand froze in mid-air, then he chuckled self-deprecatingly: "That's true, you're the police chief, you have a lot of responsibility. Well then, have some tea."
He poured himself a glass of wine, took a sip, put down the glass, and looked at Qi Tongwei with a somewhat unfocused gaze.
"Tongwei, it's been over a decade in the blink of an eye. I still remember when you were studying at Han University, you loved coming over to my house for braised pork. You were only this tall back then..." Gao Yuliang gestured, "You were so innocent back then, single-mindedly thinking about serving your country."
Qi Tongwei leaned back in his chair, watching Gao Yuliang perform.
"Teacher, you have a good memory," Qi Tongwei said calmly. "I still remember you teaching us to be upright and incorruptible, to be defenders of the rule of law. You said that the law is the bottom line, and no one can cross it."
Gao Yuliang's facial muscles twitched slightly.
"Yes, it's easy to have good intentions at the beginning, but hard to stick to them." Gao Yuliang sighed, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "In officialdom, one is often not in control of one's own destiny. Sometimes, for the sake of the greater good, one has to make some compromises. Tongwei, you're a bureau chief now, you should be able to understand your teacher's difficulties."
"Difficulties?" Qi Tongwei picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of braised pork, and put it in his mouth. "Teacher, are your difficulties due to pressure from the Zhao family, or the debts you incur outside?"
That was too impulsive.
The air on the table suddenly froze.
Wu Huifen quickly smoothed things over: "Oh, let's eat, let's eat, why are we talking about work? Tongwei, try this fish, it's fresh from today."
Ye Cunxin, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
She held a crab leg in her hand, not eating it, just twirling it around. Her long, slender fingers, painted with black nail polish, created a striking visual contrast with the red crab shell.
"Aunt Wu," Ye Cunxin blinked her big eyes, looking at Wu Huifen with an innocent expression, "this fish is indeed quite good. But I've heard that some people don't like to eat fish, they prefer to live off women. Oh no, I mean they prefer 'Little Phoenix' (a type of herbal tea)."
"Clang!"
Gao Yuliang's wine glass wobbled, spilling a few drops of wine onto the tablecloth.
Wu Huifen's face turned pale instantly.
"Miss Ye, you can't make jokes like that." Gao Yuliang put on a stern face, adopting the airs of a deputy secretary of the provincial party committee. "This is the Gao family home; you need to be mindful of your words."
"Sense of propriety?" Ye Cunxin tossed the crab leg onto the table and leaned forward.
The collar of the leather jacket opened even wider because of this movement, and the deep cleavage was right in front of Gao Yuliang's eyes, giving off a sense of oppression.
"Secretary Gao, I grew up in a military compound and didn't get much education, so I don't know anything about propriety," Ye Cunxin said with a grin. "I'm just curious. A couple of days ago, I was shopping in Hong Kong and passed by a postpartum care center. I heard it's the best in Hong Kong."
"The nurses there gossiped with me, saying that a high-ranking official from the mainland surnamed Gao was keeping a mistress there, and they already had a child together. I think that lady's name was... Gao Xiaofeng?"