Li Meiyu was cooking in the kitchen when she heard the cheerful noise outside. Her father was laughing more today than he usually does in a month. She pressed her ear to the door and heard Secretary Li say, "Aiguo, that's not fair."
Zhao Aiguo's smug voice rang out, "Sounding the chariot and stealing the cannon, Uncle, how many times have I reminded you!"
"You clearly said you'd eat my horse!"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Why are you in such a hurry? How about I give you a free shot?"
"No need, I don't believe it. Watch my little pawn cross the river and outrun the big chariot!"
"Oh my goodness! Uncle! What are you doing? It's already a checkmate!"
"You little devil, so you were letting me win the last few games? I really thought you couldn't play chess!"
Li Meiyu felt nauseous listening to the two people talking. When the dishes were served, there was a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts, braised carp, and a smoked and braised platter.
Secretary Li took out a bottle of Moutai and said, "I'm happy today, so let's have a drink!"
"Yes! Listen to your uncle!"
The two men clinked glasses and exchanged toasts. "Xiao Zhao, are you satisfied with your job?"
"Uncle, I've really wanted to tell you about this for a long time, about that workplace, oh dear!..."
"What's wrong with Xiao Zhao?"
Zhao Aiguo gave Li Meiyu a resentful look and said, "It's nothing. Let's eat, let's not talk about business at home."
Secretary Li glared at Li Meiyu, then spoke for a while before calling Zhao Aiguo to his study. He closed the door, pointed to a chair beside him, and said, "Sit down, tell me! What happened?"
Thinking of his own lifelong happiness, Zhao Aiguo looked at Secretary Li and said, "Then I'll tell you, but please don't scold me and Sister Meiyu!"
"Don't worry, it won't happen!" Seeing that Secretary Li's expression was still normal, he said, "Oh, it's just that, Uncle, you know this person, Lü Xiaozhou, right?"
"Why bring him up out of the blue?" Seeing that Secretary Zhao's expression wasn't very pleasant, she smiled and explained, "No, I just think he's a good person, ambitious and talented..."
Secretary Li said with a gloomy face, "Has Meiyu gotten involved with him again?"
Zhao Aiguo simply let go of everything, since he couldn't stand that lousy job any longer anyway. "Uncle Li, although we haven't met often, based on your character and conduct, I don't believe you're someone who looks down on the rich and powerful. There must be a reason for your disagreement, but shouldn't we observe him a little longer? I think Lü Xiaozhou is a pretty good person. Is there some misunderstanding?"
Secretary Li waved his hand and said, "You've worked in the Organization Department for so long, you must have heard of Ma Renyi, right?"
Zhao Aiguo's face also darkened. He gritted his teeth and said, "That's a beast. He was destined to be a traitor and a sellout. It's only because the policies are better now that we have him. Otherwise, we should arrest him and execute him. He's harmed so many people. I've been going through his files recently, trying to find something to put him in jail!"
He stopped talking at this point, looking at Secretary Li apologetically, and said, "Uncle, please don't mind him! That scoundrel is too hateful! He's killed so many of our good cadres! He's caused so many families to be ruined and destroyed. Killing him ten thousand times wouldn't be enough; he deserves to be torn to pieces!"
Secretary Li shook his head to indicate that it was nothing, and said in a deep voice, "His wife's name is Lü Mei..."
"Oh!" Secretary Li clearly didn't understand. He sighed and said, "Lü Xiaozhou is the son of Lü Mei and Ma Renyi, and he takes his mother's surname. So I won't let your sister Meiyu marry him."
—Dear readers, is my writing really that hard to understand? I think the clues I planted are quite subtle; you can figure them out at a glance. Shouldn't the Li Qiuxiang storyline be revealed soon? So you won't wrongly accuse her like this; after all, I quite like her real-life counterpart.
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