Marry a female star at a bargain price

Lin Xiao failed to reach an agreement in the county.

When he went upstairs, he found County Head Wan Zhilong and several deputy county heads in charge of departments such as organization, publicity, and culture and tourism in the conference room.

They deliberately ignored Lin Xiao's calls.

When Mayor Lin stormed into the county compound, all the leaders were stunned.

If it were an ordinary cadre who had caused trouble and dared to disregard his rank and force his way into the county to demand an explanation, County Chief Wan would have smashed his teacup and yelled at him out long ago.

But Lin Xiao is no ordinary cadre; he is exceptional.

Wan Zhilong silently repeated "stay calm" a hundred times in his mind before forcing a smile and welcoming Lin Xiao into the conference room.

Lin Xiao's attitude was still very humble.

After all, we're here today to ask for a favor, so we should be more humble in the first place.

However, the premise of adopting a humble attitude is to obtain the desired result.

If he can't get what he wants, Mayor Lin wouldn't mind putting on airs as the mayor's son-in-law, a popular town mayor, and the official spokesperson for the provincial culture and tourism.

So, at the beginning, Lin Xiao sincerely apologized to the county leadership team and made a self-criticism on behalf of Deputy Mayor Dong Jianhui. Correspondingly, as the top leader of Xingguang Town, he also bears an unshirkable responsibility for improper supervision in this public opinion incident, so he also made a self-criticism.

Seeing his humble attitude, Wan Zhilong's previously slumped spine straightened up again.

However, before the county head of Wanxian could speak...

Lin Xiao smiled and made a request: "County Chief, leaders, the organization has now relaxed the rules regarding cadres holding concurrent positions. Besides, Old Dong's family is indeed in financial difficulty, and the tourist only suffered minor scratches in this traffic accident. So, in my opinion, we should just let this matter slide and avoid making a big deal out of it. We should appease the tourist and show a responsible attitude... right?"

His two sentences left the group of leaders completely bewildered.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one said anything. Their eyes clearly showed the same question: Little brother, have you forgotten something?
After a long pause, the deputy county head in charge of organization finally asked, "Mayor Lin... what should be done with Dong Jianhui?"

Lin Xiao blinked his big, innocent eyes.

"How to deal with what?"

"Of course he should be disciplined! His violation of regulations by holding a part-time job wouldn't normally be a big deal, but now, during the rising stage of Mashan County's cultural tourism industry, he has caused a huge uproar online by hitting a tourist. Now all netizens are waiting to see how Mashan County will react. With the public in such a state of uproar, if we don't take action against Dong Jianhui, wouldn't that be considered malicious cover-up?"

"cover?!"

Lin Xiao laughed, "County Chief Liu, isn't that a bit much? Dong Jianhui didn't kill anyone or commit arson, so why are you accusing him of covering it up? This is, at the very least, a traffic accident. He should pay compensation and apologize as appropriate. Just because Dong Jianhui is a cadre doesn't mean we should escalate the punishment. As for his part-time job, even if it's not compliant, it's the National Day holiday, and Dong Jianhui driving a ride-hailing car didn't affect his work. That's a fact. Even if he's to be punished, he should be treated leniently. Why are we being punished so harshly?"

Lin Xiao smiled and took a deep breath, saying, "I understand that leaders need to consider responding to online concerns! But as a government department, it still needs to exercise its credibility and decisiveness. It can't be completely swayed by public opinion. Otherwise, what's the point of having so many leaders and cadres sitting in this huge county-level compound? They might as well just do live broadcasts every day and let netizens decide how to govern!"

His words, though spoken in a calm tone, were full of authority, and directly caused the leaders to turn pale.

This scene is absolutely horrible.

A mere town mayor dared to lecture a group of department-level leaders, and none of them dared to utter a word in rebuttal.

It is simply the opposite of Tiangang!

After a long pause, Wan Zhilong finally responded with a dark face: "How the county handles its officials is the county's business. Even if you are Dong Jianhui's direct superior, you shouldn't interfere in the county's personnel decisions. Besides, the reason Dong Jianhui's matter has blown up so much is largely because of your, Mayor Lin's, fame. Otherwise, the trending topics on Weibo wouldn't have avoided mentioning Dong Jianhui's name and instead labeled him as your subordinate, Lin Xiao. So, you'd better avoid suspicion this time. If what you said today gets out, not to mention how Dong Jianhui will be dealt with, your future reputation and job will be in trouble... Mayor Lin, I'm saying this for your own good, so please don't blame me for meddling!"

After he finished speaking, Wan Zhilong's cheeks twitched, but he didn't smile.

Lin Xiao instantly understood that County Chief Wan was determined not to help, choosing to put aside his own family ties to quell the situation, hoping for a smooth career and peace of mind!

With things having come to this point, Lin Xiao said no more.

After sincerely thanking them, they left immediately.

It wasn't that he was cowardly or unwilling to argue his case; rather, he knew that ever since he insisted on abandoning local developers and bringing in Yizhou's Dijin Group to take over the project during the village and town merger, he, this powerful dragon, and the local bullies in Mashan County had already formed an irreconcilable feud.

Even if he has now made Xingguang Town famous, its navel orange picking gardens and cultural tourism industry a hit, he has also brought Mashan County and Yizhou City along with it.

But Wan Zhilong couldn't gain any real benefit from it.

To put it bluntly, everyone in the country knows that this is Lin Xiao's achievement, and no one else could have stolen a single penny.

On a larger scale, Lin Xiao's traffic generation and development strategy has an impact not only on Mashan County, but also on the entire Yizhou City and even the entire Nanzhou Province.

If credit is to be claimed, Mayor Han Haijun could easily add several entries to his own record of achievements, and the province's economic, cultural and tourism, publicity, and even organizational departments could also find ways to embellish their respective roles.

The county leaders, who were Lin Xiao's superiors, were completely unable to benefit from this matter.

In fact, because Lin Xiao's personal brilliance was so strong, everyone knew that he had single-handedly driven the development of the entire Mashan County.

That would lead to the economic growth points promoted by county leaders in their work being inadvertently and rounded up, all of which would be attributed to Mayor Lin Xiao.

From this perspective, Lin Xiao was indeed unkind.

But even if it's unethical, things have already come to this, and the county leaders' achievements for the year and even the next few years have simply vanished.

Compared to this...

The smaller projects in Phases 2 and 3 of Xincun Garden are hardly worth mentioning.

The conflict between Lin Xiao and the county was already too deep to be reconciled. Even when things were peaceful, the higher-ups would secretly try to trip him up. Now that they had openly taken advantage of his weaknesses, they would not let him off so easily.

The leaders were just hoping to see Lin Xiao suffer a major setback!

Such an opposing relationship.

Lin Xiao didn't need to waste any more words or bend his back to try to soften his stance and say nice things, because it was completely useless.

Instead of wasting time on them, it's better to go directly to your father-in-law.

Given the magnitude of Dong Jianhui's incident, according to the procedures for handling public opinion events, Mashan County has lost the authority to deal with this matter. At the very least, Yizhou City should propose a solution and response, which would then be approved by the province.

In this case, Mashan County at most played a role in offering suggestions and advice, and nothing more.

Lin Xiao had actually anticipated the county leaders' attitude before he came today.

The reason he still came was because he and Lao Dong had already made a mistake, and he couldn't directly report to higher authorities and give others grounds for criticism.

Therefore, the necessary procedures still need to be followed.

Now that the procedures were complete, it was time for him to show off his privileges, so as soon as he left the compound, he called his father-in-law, Han Haijun.

Again, no one answered the phone.

Lin Xiao put down the phone, looked at the clear blue sky, and suddenly felt a little melancholy.

Of course, it only lasted for a moment.

The next moment, he regrouped and decided to go to Dong Jianhui's house first to ask Old Dong about the situation in person.

After making the decision, he let Lin Yu and Liang Tian get out of the car and go home on their own.

The two young people knew that something serious had happened, so they obediently followed the instructions without any complaints.

At the entrance of the government compound.

Liang Tian and Lin Yu watched Lin Xiao's car drive away, both teenagers looking somewhat bewildered.

Wait until the rear of the car disappears from sight.

They looked away, then suddenly met eyes, and a hint of awkwardness rose again.

Liang Tian rolled her eyes and glanced away, while Lin Yu scratched the back of his head.

"Where to now...?" Lin Yu asked.

"Let's go back to school!" Liang Tian said.

"Back to school?"

Lin Yu was a little surprised, "It's only the 5th, and you're already going back?"

Liang Tian rolled her eyes even more dramatically, inexplicably feeling a surge of anger.

She thought to herself, "Being with you, this blockhead, makes even the most fun things lose their fun. You never say a word, it's so boring!"

Liang Tian recalled the probing she had done before the full moon last night.

She grew angrier the more she thought about it, and waved her hand to leave: "This is your hometown, you can stay as long as you want, but I'm going home!"

These words were inexplicable, leaving Lin Yu completely bewildered.

Even though he was slow-witted, he knew Liang Tian was angry, so he didn't dare say another word and could only obediently follow behind.

After buying her train ticket, Liang Tian took her luggage and headed straight to the high-speed rail station.

When Aunt Liu Liyun asked, she only said that tickets back to Jingzhou are cheap now, but will be crowded and expensive on the 7th or 8th.

Liu Liyun thought it made sense, so she personally drove her to the high-speed rail station.

Lin Yu, carrying a backpack, followed silently behind.

Liang Tian glanced at the back seat out of the corner of her eye, and her mood inexplicably improved.

Upon arriving at the station, the two entered the station one after the other.

Because the tickets were purchased separately, the seats were not consecutive, but they happened to be diagonally opposite each other in the same carriage.

Lin Yu was positioned so that he could see half of Liang Tian's head.

He stared at that half-head, looking worried the whole way.

Forty minutes later, we arrived in Ninghai, the provincial capital.

Then I went to the airport to catch a flight back to Jingzhou.

The two bought their plane tickets together. This time, Lin Yu was smarter and placed the order himself while waiting to board the high-speed train, then sent the ticket information to Ms. Liang.

Ms. Liang replied with a chubby girl's arrogant emoji.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the two young people finally boarded the plane and headed straight for Jingzhou.

Since Miss Liang Tian finally agreed to let Lin Yu help her carry her backpack after going through security, Lin Yu thought he could talk to her about why she was angry.

As a result, once I boarded the plane...

Before she could even speak, Liang Tian pulled out a steam eye mask and earplugs from her bag, put them on, and went to sleep happily.

This feels more like being at home than flying on an airplane.

Lin Yu choked so much his throat swelled up.

He came from a rural area and had only flown a few times, so even though he had over 100,000 yuan in his bank account, he was still very reserved in the air.

After the plane stabilized, the flight attendants began serving snacks and drinks.

When he got to Lin Yu's table, he wanted a Coke, but he noticed the flight attendant's Coke bottle was empty. Even though he saw unopened Coke bottles under the trolley, he blushed and said, "Water...water, please!"

Then he drank a glass of water, but it didn't quench his thirst, and he was too embarrassed to ask for a second glass.

The plane landed at 6 p.m.

Liang Tian woke up stretching, having had a very comfortable sleep, and all her anger from last night had dissipated.

I came out of the airport.

Liang Tian wanted to go home, while Lin Yu wanted to go to school; they were going in completely opposite directions.

Liang Tian took her schoolbag and said, "I'm leaving, bye-bye!"

Lin Yu waved subconsciously, and only after Liang Tian had taken two steps did he call out to her as if possessed.

"Sweet...sweet?"

"Um?!"

Liang Tian frowned and turned around. This was the first time Lin Yu had called her that, and she felt a little shy for some reason.

Lin Yu walked over: "Are you... are you hungry?"

Liang Tian said helplessly, "Of course I'm hungry, otherwise why would I be in such a hurry to go home!"

Lin Yu scratched his head: "Then... I'll treat you to dinner..."

Liang Tian was taken aback, and subconsciously pursed her lips, thinking: Silly boy, has he finally figured it out?

He was secretly overjoyed, but his face remained aloof.

"you please?"

"Okay, it's my treat!"

"Then I want to eat hot pot!"

"Hot pot, um, let's have hot pot!"

"Where to eat?"

"Huh?!" Lin Yu was completely dumbfounded.

Liang Tian sighed, deciding it was pointless to ask that question.

"Alright, come with me, you can pay!"

"it is good!"

Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief and obediently followed Liang Tian. They first went to the subway station to take the subway. After two stops, they came out, turned and wandered around for more than ten minutes before finally finding a hot pot restaurant with a very narrow doorway in a bustling alley.

Stepping inside reveals a whole new world.

It was lunchtime, and it was also a holiday, so the restaurant was very lively.

Fortunately, the store was big enough, and there was just one empty seat, which the two of them managed to find.

"It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early!"

Liang Tian quickly sat down, picked up the menu and scribbled down the selections. After finishing, she handed it to Lin Yu, saying, "I've ordered. Now, see what you want to eat?"

Lin Yu shook his head immediately: "You order, I'll eat whatever you order..."

Liang Tian didn't seem to care, and quickly selected a bunch more items before placing her order.

The waiter took the order and left.

Seeing that the older woman's expression had finally improved, Lin Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and asked her, "Sweetie, didn't you say you were going to have a great time in Nanzhou? Why did you rush back after only two days?"

Liang Tian shrugged and said, "I wanted to have some fun, but my sister and brother-in-law both have things to do. I can't help them much by being there, except to cause them trouble. It's better to come back!"

Lin Yu nodded.

Liang Tian continued, "There are still two days left of the holiday, so you can go sightseeing with your classmates. You didn't go to many places during the summer vacation, and now that you're back in school, there's military training. You probably haven't visited many tourist attractions yet, right?"

Lin Yu nodded again, but then said somewhat awkwardly, "I... don't like going out either, so let's forget it!"

Liang Tian stared wide-eyed in disbelief, as if she couldn't understand why someone wouldn't like to go out and play.

"Why? Do you think Jingzhou isn't fun?"

"no no!"

"You're too lazy to do any planning? That's easy! I'll take you there. I know lots of tips and tricks for getting around Jingzhou!"

Liang Tian looked smug, clearly quite adept and experienced at hosting friends from out of town.

However, Lin Yu shook his head and chuckled, "It's not that... I just don't like going out!"

Liang Tian was even more confused.

"How could that be? Didn't you like Jingzhou, which is why you applied to this school?"

"Uh...yes, yes!"

Lin Yu nodded in agreement, but then laughed, "But after actually arriving, I realized... Jingzhou is really too big, too prosperous, so prosperous... it's a little scary!"

Liang Tian frowned, completely bewildered.

It's just a city, what's there to be afraid of? It's just a little bigger and more populated than other cities, but frankly, it's nothing special—just houses, parks, subways, streets, roads, and overpasses.

Afraid? Afraid of what? Afraid that the police officers on duty at the entrance of the scenic area will suddenly pin you to the ground?
You didn't bring anything you shouldn't have, so what are you afraid of?
Liang Tian couldn't understand it at all.

Lin Yu didn't intend to explain further.

Just then, the hot pot base arrived, and the ordered side dishes also started to come out one after another.

The waiter brought an extra serving of duck blood to the table and said with a smile, "Today is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Couples dining together will receive a complimentary serving of duck blood. Please enjoy your meal!"

The sudden appearance of a "couple" startled both of them, making them blush and their hearts race.

Lin Yu hurriedly tried to explain, "Sigh, we don't..."

Liang Tian quickly added, "Thank you! I'll give you a good review after I finish eating!"

The waiter thanked him and left.

Lin Yu's face turned bright red, and he didn't dare to look at Liang Tian at all. Liang Tian, ​​however, acted as if nothing had happened, humming a little tune as she turned the spicy side of the hot pot to her side.

Seeing that she didn't seem to care at all, Lin Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He has no idea.

Under the table, Liang Tian's hands were already clenched and sweaty.

The two finished their hotpot meal in a strange yet familiar atmosphere, chatting about ordinary things at school and at home, as if they were deliberately avoiding certain topics.

Lin Yu paid the money.

It was already past eight o'clock when I came out.

Liang Tian could have shopped around some more, but the thought of how the guy instinctively denied it when the salesperson said they were a couple made her furious.

So even though I was full, I was still in a bad mood.

"I've finished eating, I'm going home!" she said.

"Oh!" Lin Yu replied expressionlessly.

"Oh?! That's it?" Liang Tian put her hands on her hips, her anger level already soaring.

"Then...what else do we need to do?"

Lin Yu was speechless.

These words immediately ignited Liang Tian's anger to the limit, and she promptly flicked him hard on the forehead.

"Ah!" Lin Yu cried out in pain.

"You stupid Lin Yu, you stinking Lin Yu! You're so stupid you could die!!!"

After stomping her feet and cursing, Liang Tian turned around angrily and left, quickly disappearing into the bustling alleyways teeming with tourists.

Lin Yu took a long time to come to his senses, completely unable to understand why she was still angry even though he had already treated her to hotpot as an apology.

"Girls' thoughts are really hard to guess!"

Lin Yu gave up and planned to go back to school.

Looking around, I had no idea where I was, or even which direction the subway station was in.

He took out his phone to try and navigate, only to find it was switched off. The last 1% of battery was used up immediately after he paid the bill at the hot pot restaurant.

Lin Yu was momentarily at a loss.

After standing there for a while, he decided to just wander around and figure out where the subway station was.

Just then, a couple who were visiting Jingzhou passed by him.

The girl exclaimed with delight, "As expected of Jingzhou, it's so grand and sophisticated! Even a small alley is so lively and bustling, full of hidden wonders!"

The boy's eyes sparkled, and he nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes!"

Lin Yu looked up and glanced around.

The ancient trees on both sides of the alley were covered with warm yellow fairy lights, and the office buildings in the distance stood tall and brightly lit. The night sky was dyed silvery white by the dazzling lights, and even the round moon seemed less bright.

Lin Yu felt a sense of unfamiliarity he had never experienced before.

The roads here are interconnected, and the subway system is intricately networked.

In the shopping malls here, a single item can cost half a year's living expenses for someone from my hometown. And the skyscrapers here seem to pierce the sky with ease.

This place is bustling, dazzling, and dreamlike; everything is wonderful.

The only downside is that you can't see the stars here.

"Big cities are just like that!"

Lin Yu mentally reviewed the situation, sighed, and continued walking towards the subway station. (End of Chapter)