Chapter 31

Many years later, Xu Junran still remembered the woman he saw that day.

This was a very distinctive woman. She was tall, with a face shaped like a melon seed, and eyebrows that arched like willow leaves. To put it in more adult terms, the eight characters "full bosom, slender waist, beautiful face, and charming appearance" described her perfectly.

Xu Junran, having lived two lives and seen many beautiful women, would place her beauty among the top three.

"Big Sister, why did you come out?" Yuan Xiaoyue walked past Xu Junran and greeted the woman.

Xu Junran was taken aback: "Yuan Xiaoyue's sister?"

He then heard Yuan Xiaoyue say to the woman, "Big Sister, this is Brother Xu from our unit. He graduated from Jinghua University."

After that, she turned to introduce her to Xu Junran: "Brother Xu, this is my cousin, Lin Yuqing."

Xu Junran nodded and looked at Lin Yuqing: "Cousin, hello."

Lin Yuqing was clearly around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, so he decided to follow Yuan Xiaoyue's lead and call her "cousin."

However, Lin Yuqing's personality was quite different from Yuan Xiaoyue's introverted nature. She smiled at Xu Junran in a very open and friendly manner: "Little Xu, right? Come often, and I'll give you a discount."

Xu Junran smiled and nodded, then took a closer look at the woman in front of him. She was in her twenties, with her hair styled in a bun, a hairstyle typically worn by married women, which made her look very mature. Even with his extremely critical eye, Lin Yuqing was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her beauty was neither the youthful and charming kind nor the deliberately seductive type; rather, she had a presence that could make every man's eyes fixate on her.

A temptress!

This word suddenly popped into Xu Junran's mind. It seemed that no other words could describe the woman in front of him. She gave off the feeling of being a temptress who could bring out the deepest desires in a man.

Moreover, Lin Yuqing had a great figure. She was tall, about 1.7 meters, and because it was summer, she was wearing a white blouse with small red dots and a bow, which gave her a very elegant look. The social norms of the time meant that women couldn't expose their skin, so Xu Junran could only judge from her face that she must have very fair skin. Even so, she still had a breathtaking beauty.

Fortunately, Xu Junran was a seasoned person. After a brief moment of being captivated, he smiled at Lin Yuqing: "Alright, I'll be a bother to you, Cousin Lin."

Lin Yuqing smiled: "Come inside, don't stand outside."

Xu Junran and Yuan Xiaoyue nodded and followed Lin Yuqing into her small restaurant.

The restaurant was not large. For Xu Junran, who had seen many grand hotels and restaurants in his previous life, this place didn't even compare to the small street stalls that sold spicy skewers and fried snacks. However, in the current context, Xu Junran knew that opening a restaurant like this was a significant risk for Lin Yuqing.

In the early 1980s, China's economy was transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy. Restaurants, which were clearly privately owned, were often criticized. Some people believed this was a capitalist path, while others saw it as a way for people to make a living. In a small place like Wude County, the conservative forces were particularly strong. Xu Junran knew that if he hadn't been reborn, within a year, the private small restaurants and shops in Wude County would be shut down by the county committee, with the reason being that they violated national regulations on industrial and commercial development.

In reality, this was just a minor investigation, not even a full-fledged campaign.

The real reason these private businesses were targeted was that someone in the county had their eyes on the position of Secretary Yan Wangsong and hoped to use this issue to bring him down.

And Lin Yuqing and others were just collateral damage.

"Little Xu, you sit down first, I'll go cook a few dishes," Lin Yuqing smiled and walked to the kitchen, leaving Yuan Xiaoyue and Xu Junran in the small restaurant.

"Brother Xu, thank you. I haven't had the chance to thank you for what happened yesterday, and now I'm causing you trouble again," Yuan Xiaoyue poured Xu Junran a glass of water with a guilty look and then said to him shyly.

Xu Junran shook his head: "It's no problem, I don't mind, don't worry about it."

Tang Wenying and his wife would take a while to arrive, so Xu Junran didn't mind chatting with Yuan Xiaoyue a bit more.

Yuan Xiaoyue's expression changed slightly, but she still asked in a low voice: "If you become the deputy secretary of the commune in Lijia Town, will you no longer live in the county?"

Xu Junran was taken aback, then nodded and smiled: "Naturally, if I work at the grassroots level, I won't live in the county committee."

After a pause, he asked Yuan Xiaoyue: "Comrade Xiaoyue, how long have you been working in the county committee office?"

Yuan Xiaoyue replied: "If you count this year, it's been a year and a half. I was transferred from the propaganda department to our office last spring."

Xu Junran then remembered that during his four years of university, he had never returned to Wude County. The round-trip travel expenses were simply too expensive, almost like being robbed. For a poor student like him, who could only afford two steamed buns a day, the only companions he had during the long nights were books and knowledge. These books and knowledge were the only things that wouldn't betray him and were the foundation of his hope for a better future.

So, despite being known as the top talent in the Chinese department at Jinghua University, he didn't socialize much, didn't write poetry, and spent most of his time studying in the library. Even when his girlfriend was taken by someone else, he only realized it when he was about to graduate.

Xu Junran knew nothing about the current situation in Wude County, except for the vague memories from his previous life. To understand Wude County better, he needed to gather information and listen to others. So when Yuan Xiaoyue mentioned that she had only been in the Wude County Committee for a year and a half, Xu Junran looked puzzled.

"Hehe, Brother Xu, you're really funny. There are still things you don't know?"

Xu Junran smiled: "I'm not a fortune-teller, how could I know your specific situation?"

Then he asked Yuan Xiaoyue: "By the way, do you know how many state-owned enterprises are currently operating in our county?"

Yuan Xiaoyue frowned and thought for a long time, blinking her eyes, before finally saying uncertainly: "There are about four or five. But apart from the brewery, which is under the county's jurisdiction, the rest are directly under the city's administration and not under our Wude County. These enterprises are said to be quite difficult to deal with because their direct departments are the various bureaus in the city, and they usually don't pay much attention to the county committee and government. Or perhaps because they are state-owned enterprises, they feel they have a certain status and don't take the officials in the government seriously."

Xu Junran nodded thoughtfully, and his expression gradually became serious.

(Happy Lantern Festival, wishing everyone a happy holiday. Thank you to Wei Quan for the support. I also recommend a book, Book ID 2383081, titled "Warm Spring." It's about a woman who is reborn into the Xue family and remains a lowly maid. Despite the intrigues among the maids and the scheming within the Xue family, she remains determined. She makes pastries, prepares medicinal dishes, and brews medicinal wine, taking steady steps toward a happy life, seeking peace and warmth. It's a well-written book, and you can add it to your collection.)

The link is below:

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