20 years of restarting life

Chapter 3736 Lin Xiaojie's Abnormality
"This money is a subsidy from the cultural and tourism group to the teachers. It shouldn't conflict with the salaries, bonuses, and subsidies that the county should be giving to the teachers. Nor should it lead to delays in paying the teachers' salaries. Otherwise, the cultural and tourism group's original intention to do a good deed will end up being worse off than not doing it at all."

Zhao Chang'an's words made Wu Yudong, Qiao Zhanhai, and Xiang Juan blush.

Just like what Qiao Zhanhai just said so confidently, that he hadn't paid Lin Xiaojie and the other teachers' salaries for three months, how could they not feel ashamed when compared to Zhao Chang'an's demands?

"President Zhao, you can rest assured about this. If I, Wu Yudong, can't even do this, then you can come to my office and slap me in the face!"

Wu Yudong immediately responded, saying to Xiang Juan, "I'll talk to Lao Gao and the others tomorrow. No matter how difficult the finances are, the teachers' salaries cannot be delayed. You should also go and get this sorted out as soon as possible."

"Okay, Secretary Wu."

Xiang Juan understood the meaning behind Wu Yudong's words: if the reissue was uniformly issued throughout the county, then there was no need for her to make a special trip to the Education Bureau.

The Lunar New Year is not yet over, and the county is short of money everywhere. Nearly 4,000 teachers in kindergartens, primary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and vocational schools throughout the county are generally owed three or four months' salary.

If the county were to make up the difference all at once, even excluding the five or six hundred privately-run teachers with very low salaries, it would still require more than six million yuan. Where would the county finance department find so much money to pay the teachers' salaries for these three months?

So we could only go there quietly and pay the back wages owed to the teachers in Qiaojiashan Town first. As for the teachers in other towns and counties, we could only wait.

Qiaojiashan Town Kindergarten is relatively small, with only a dozen or so employees. Their salaries have always been paid in full by the town every month. The remaining public and private teachers in the primary, junior high, and senior high schools number less than 300. The salaries of the dozens of private teachers are only one or two hundred yuan a month, which is shared by the town and the village. The total amount of salaries for the remaining two hundred or so tenured teachers for three months is less than 400,000 yuan.

Although this amount of money is not small, the county finance department can definitely squeeze it out as long as Wu Yudong gives the word.

After speaking with Xiang Juan, Wu Yudong said to Zhao Chang'an, "I suggest that you, General Manager Zhao, talk to your cultural tourism group about doing some promotion in the five southern townships of Pengzhou. Our local townships will also cooperate, and we will strive to achieve the goal of reclaiming 10,000 mu of wasteland this year."

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Xiang Yong drove, Zhao Chang'an sat in the passenger seat, and Qiao Yan, holding the child, and Lin Xiaojie sat in the back.

Fan Chufei didn't like the taste of monkey wine, so she only drank a little fruit beer at noon and followed behind in her car.

From Shuangqiao Town, west of Qiaojiashan Town, there is a mountain road that crosses the Dabie Mountains and enters Hubei Province, which can save 60 to 70 kilometers compared to taking the national highway.

However, the mountain road was slow, so it didn't actually save much time. But Lin Xiaojie had mentioned that the scenery along that road was particularly beautiful, especially the section from the southern Dabie Mountains into Hubei Province. On one side were high mountains, and on the other side were cliffs. South of the cliffs was a vast plain with towns, rivers, and lakes. Ye Yiyi wanted to see it, but Zhao Chang'an had been drinking and wasn't fit to drive, so Xiang Yong drove and Lin Xiaojie gave directions.

"I really don't know what you're doing following me here. I'll be back tonight, won't I?"

The mountain road wound its way southward, and every now and then, villagers would pull donkey carts loaded with mountain goods, making the narrow road quite troublesome. Qiao Yan complained that her husband's driving was too shaky, but fortunately, the child felt it was more like a cradle and fell asleep.

Xiang Yong didn't want his wife to come along, but she insisted. At this moment, he saw his wife complaining again about how shaky his driving was, and he couldn't help but grumble. "What are we doing back here tonight? Tell me, in all the years we've been married, where have we ever gone on a trip? We've barely even been to the city."

Qiao Yan retorted to Xiang Yong, then smiled and said to Zhao Chang'an, "Mr. Zhao, you have no idea. Before I married him, I worked in Zhengzhou. Although the salary wasn't high, I had a group of girlfriends living together, and we were happy every day. Every weekend we would go shopping, watch movies, visit parks, and even travel to nearby cities and tourist attractions. After I married him, I took over the town's canteen, and then the town's tea plantation. I haven't left the mountain town for four or five years. When I chat with my girlfriends, I realize I'm almost like a wild man from the mountains. There are so many things I don't understand, and I've never heard of many new terms."

"Isn't that for making money? Running a hotel is not like other businesses where you have to be on call all year round without a break. Besides, wasn't it your idea to open a hotel?"

Xiang Yong was clearly indignant: "And the tea plantation, I never wanted to contract it, but now it's all my fault."

Zhao Chang'an realized that this man, who was twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and three or four years older than him, was a simple-minded person who acted impulsively.

However, he felt that Qiao Yan's insistence on coming along wasn't necessarily because she wanted to visit Jiangcheng. Lin Xiaojie, who was sitting in the back of the car wearing a slit cheongsam and a white faux fur shawl, was definitely a factor in that.

At noon, when Zhao Chang'an was talking to Xiang Yong in the private room, he noticed that Xiang Yong's eyes kept unconsciously looking towards Lin Xiaojie. Even if others in the room saw it, they would assume that Xiang Yong couldn't withstand Zhao Chang'an's imposing gaze. Only Zhao Chang'an himself knew that his gentle gaze did not actually put any psychological pressure on Xiang Yong.

The reason I couldn't help but lean over there was because there was a very beautiful female teacher sitting there.

Even as the car swayed along the way, Xiang Yong couldn't help but glance at Lin Xiaojie more than a dozen times through the rearview mirror.

Since Zhao Chang'an was able to discover it, then Qiao Yan, being such a shrewd woman, must have discovered it as well.

If they manage to come back tonight and walk this mountain road, which is deserted for dozens of miles at night, Lin Xiaojie is dressed so alluringly. If Xiang Yong were to break his mind and force himself on her, regardless of what happens afterward, Lin Xiaojie would most likely be forced to have sex with him at that time.

This can be seen from the fact that Ye Yiyi suggested taking this route and having Lin Xiaojie lead the way, and Xiang Yong volunteered to drive.

The correct way would have been for Wu Yudong's driver to drive, but Zhao Chang'an didn't have a good impression of Wu Yudong's driver either. He had heard from Yu Chaofei that the guy was a lecher.

However, Qiao Yan, Xiang Yong, and even Wu Yudong's driver were all overthinking it. No matter who took him to Jiangcheng today, he would never let Lin Xiaojie walk alone at night with a man like that.

Zhao Jing suffered the consequences of this incident. She had no suspicion of her husband, Zhong Yuanqiang, and his sister, Zhao Juan, hauling timber and bamboo together. As a result, Zhong Yuanqiang took advantage of a trip to the mountains to haul bamboo and raped Zhao Juan in the middle of the night. In the end, Zhao Jing caught them red-handed at home.

Zhao Chang'an had sensed something was off about Lin Xiaojie since he saw her that morning. Given his understanding of her, he would never have agreed to her wearing such a revealing cheongsam. But now, not only did she wear it, she didn't even suggest changing into the cheongsam at the nearby school dormitory when giving directions. Instead, she continued to flaunt her graceful figure in the car.

She had a "what's the use" attitude, and in this situation, her resistance to men, especially young men with some ability, would be very low, which Zhao Chang'an couldn't help but consider.

(End of this chapter)