0109 118 Spring brings life, autumn brings death
The words came out of his mouth, surprising even himself; he had just said what he was thinking.
But he also felt ashamed of himself, and that phone call before going to the hospital might have been the apple Satan offered in the Garden of Eden.
At that moment, Li Qingshan answered the phone, said a few words, and handed it to Ling Xingzhi, saying, "It's a call from Committee Member Ling."
Ling Xingzhi frowned and answered the phone, "Dad, what's wrong?"
As they talked, the two walked out, and Li Qingshan opened the car door and Ling Xingzhi got in.
"Has Wei Luochen gotten into trouble again? Why is the Wei family facing so many problems lately?"
“Wei Luochen isn’t feeling well right now, she’ll be fine after a few days of recuperation in Kunming,” Ling Xingzhi explained for her. “What happened to the Wei family? Did their business run into trouble, or was there a personnel reshuffle?”
Ling Qingyun sighed, "Ye Lifeng is currently investigating Ye Rouxin's death. He's gone mad and doesn't know when he'll stop. The Wei family has been dragged into it."
Ling Xingzhi pursed his lips, remained silent, and looked out the car window.
Ling Qingyun's words echoed in his ears yet seemed distant: "What do you think of Empress Wang?"
Ling Xingzhi frowned. "Empress Wang? Empress Wang of Emperor Gaozong of Tang?"
"Um."
Ling Xingzhi lowered his head. "Father, I am not Li Zhi, and she is not Empress Wang."
Ling Qingyun laughed, "Who you are is not important, what I want to see is the result."
"Does it have to be this way?"
Ling Qingyun sighed slightly, speaking vaguely, "The choice is yours, not mine."
Ling Xingzhi raised his head and closed his eyes.
He still said it.
Upon hearing this, Wei Luochen felt as if her blood had frozen. Two or three seconds later, her blood flowed backward, rushing wildly and straight into her brain.
"Ling Xingzhi, what do you mean?" She felt she had misheard him, and her hands fell limply to her sides.
Ling Xingzhi turned around, head down, his bangs obscuring his emotions, and said again, "Let's get a divorce."
Without even thinking, Wei Luochen pressed, "Is it because of Zhou Xiye?"
"It has nothing to do with her."
"Smack—"
A sharp pain in his cheek caused Ling Xingzhi to turn his head to the side.
"I won't get a divorce! I won't get a divorce!" Wei Luochen clenched his fists, glaring fiercely at Ling Xingzhi through gritted teeth. "Why do you want a divorce? Have you fallen in love with someone else? It's either Zhou Xiye or someone else. You didn't divorce for Kong Lingqi, and now you're doing this for..."
Ling Xingzhi took a deep breath, turned to look at Wei Luochen, whose face was contorted, and said, "Calm down, Wei Luochen, let's have a proper talk."
"How do you want to talk! How do you want to talk! Talk about your scandals or hush money?" Wei Luochen was so agitated that tears streamed down his face. He turned around, grabbed the blanket from the hospital bed, and threw it on the ground. The ward, which had just been cleaned, was once again a mess because of Wei Luochen.
Picking up a stool, Wei Luochen walked to the mirror and smashed it down hard, shattering her reflection into pieces. There was no going back. Wei Luochen threw the stool aside and searched for anything she could destroy.
Ling Xingzhi stood helplessly to the side, watching Wei Luochen vent his emotions. Seeing Wei Luochen acting like a madman, Ling Xingzhi didn't know if he had done the right thing. He had never expected this day to come. Was the divorce really for Zhou Xiye? Ling Xingzhi could say with absolute certainty that it wasn't for her.
Zhou Xiye was right; he had feelings for her—intelligent, brave, resourceful…she was like a gem, destined to shine. He believed no one disliked her. But the thought of actually divorcing his wife for her was something he had never considered.
Just as he was lost in thought, Wei Luochen snatched the lighter from Ling Xingzhi's hand and set the bed sheet on fire.
"Wei Luochen, what are you doing!" Ling Xingzhi grabbed Wei Luochen, but the doorway was already blocked by a chair and the flames. She threw the lighter into the fire, and an explosion rang out. Ling Xingzhi, still holding her, opened the window and prepared to jump out.
As the fire spread, the flames in Wei Luochen's eyes gradually died out.
As he jumped, Wei Luochen hugged Ling Xingzhi's neck tightly, closed his eyes, and let his tears drift away in the wind.
"Ling Xingzhi, let's die together..."
Crazy and bizarre.
Soon, news of the argument between the mayor and his wife spread throughout Kunming, and the story of Wei Luochen setting fire to the hospital became the talk of the town. Fire trucks and police cars arrived, but only the couple knew what had really happened.
When Qiao Senxi reported this to Zhou Xiye, she was watering the flowers. After Qiao Senxi finished speaking, the only sound in the room was the running water. Zhou Xiye smiled, straightened up, and said, "Even an upright official finds it hard to settle family disputes, and Mayor Ling is no exception." Zhou Xiye put down the watering can, took out two tissues to wipe her hands, and asked, "Is Mayor Ling injured?"
"I have minor burns on my back. There was more than one lighter in the room. After one exploded, the other exploded as well."
Zhou Xiye nodded, threw the crumpled paper into the trash can, and muttered something Qiao Senxi couldn't understand, "I wonder if there's any good spot left on my back..." After saying that, he looked up at Qiao Senxi, "Did you inform Mayor Ling about today's entrepreneurs' symposium?"
Josen nodded. "I spoke to his secretary."
Zhou Xiye sat down in the chair. "Then let him recover. There's no need to rush his work. I'll work with him, so I'll naturally share the burden... Let him recover before he comes back to work." Zhou Xiye didn't want Ling Xingzhi to have his hands in Kunming's economic sector. Since Ling Xingzhi was injured, Zhou Xiye had benefited from his misfortune.
Furthermore, Zhou Xiye is meeting today with leading companies in Kunming's tourism-related service industries, the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau, and Cheng Yun, the vice president in charge of content promotion at Douyin (TikTok), whom she most wants to meet. To develop Kunming, the tourism industry must be revitalized; it's the fastest way to revive the economy. If Ling Xingzhi meets with Cheng Yun, the implications are unclear. After all, Ling Xingzhi's father, Ling Qingyun, wants to suppress internet upstarts and control them through government means. If Ling Xingzhi meets with Cheng Yun, won't news spread suggesting other underlying meanings, leading to speculation?
Moreover, Cheng Yun and her team didn't have a good impression of Ling Xingzhi, unlike Zhou Xiye, who was different from Ling Xingzhi. But like them, she was a self-made person.
Cheng Yun arrived as invited, bringing her team. Before the formal meeting began, Zhou Xiye and Cheng Yun's team met in advance. Inside the meeting room, Zhou Xiye and Cheng Yun sat on the sofa in the center, teacups on a nearby tea cabinet. On either side, Qiao Senxi sat on one side, and Cheng Yun's three assistants sat on the other.
Zhou Xiye got straight to the point, without beating around the bush, "The reason I invited President Cheng this time is not for anything else, but to talk about promoting and publicizing Kunming."
This was a vague and difficult question to answer. Cheng Yun smiled. She was wearing a white suit and looked very beautiful and refreshing. "Secretary Zhou, if you've ever watched Douyin, you'll know that we're currently promoting the beautiful scenery of Yunnan. Whether it's Yunnan songs derived from the Yunnan dialect or memes about Yunnan mushrooms, everything is promoting Yunnan. So what you mean... I don't quite understand."
Zhou Xiye nodded. "I saw it all, and I also saw the report they gave me. However, I'm thinking now, could we make this content more in-depth? You see, poisonous mushrooms are not a good or positive direction. This is interesting, too much entertainment, and the public opinion will definitely change in the future. This is not a good entry point."
Cheng Yun straightened her back, intently watching Zhou Xiye, sizing up the young municipal party secretary before her. Zhou Xiye was genuinely surprised to see them; after all, the government rarely acts as the driving force behind internet celebrities, and sometimes, a single order is enough for them to cooperate fully.
Zhou Xiye paused, looked at Cheng Yun's tense back, and smiled. "President Cheng, there's no need to be so nervous. You can relax a bit. If you're so tense now, will you have the energy to hold the meeting later?" She then picked up her teacup and placed it in her palm. "So I think, since this topic isn't suitable, we can create one. The purpose of today's meeting, my general idea is, is to vigorously develop Kunming's agritourism, create an integrated entertainment and leisure tourism center, and coordinate with various aspects of the tourism industry to create diverse content."
At this point, Cheng Yun roughly understood what Zhou Xiye meant: to combine the physical and virtual worlds so that every aspect of the tourism industry could be implemented.
Before Cheng Yun could speak, Zhou Xiye continued, "Take agritainment for example. Kunming's specialty flowers and fruits can be picked by guests. At the same time, you can also give agricultural products some space on your Douyin store and make good use of the current live streaming e-commerce."
Zhou Xiye's meaning was fully conveyed, and the next step was to discuss the specific details of the project. Cheng Yun wholeheartedly agreed with Zhou Xiye's idea; indeed, young people were more receptive to new things than the older officials. "Secretary Zhou, I understand. In addition to boosting tourism and agricultural product sales here, we can also launch the next Ding Zhen."
Cheng Yun said with great certainty, "The best way to bring Kunming into the public eye is to hold a music festival. Look at the whole country, everyone is recovering their economy. Tourism has hit new highs during the May Day and National Day holidays, and special forces-style tourism is also gradually increasing. How to attract them is a key point. With a music festival, there will be internet celebrities, which can be considered a celebrity effect, a viral marketing. This can not only boost the local economy, but also make people repeat visits to Kunming without them even realizing it..."
Zhou Xiye completely agreed with Cheng Yun's proposal and told her that the government would fully support her and would not get in her way.
After meeting with her alone, Zhou Xiye took Cheng Yun to a large meeting. On the one hand, he expressed his intentions, and on the other hand, as a private enterprise, he met directly with Douyin officials, avoiding redundant government agencies and greatly reducing their efficiency and costs.
At the end of the meeting, Zhou Xiye specifically raised suggestions to the officials from the Culture and Tourism Bureau and the Radio and Television Bureau, suggesting that there should be more TV dramas about Kunming, Yunnan. He pointed out that the Tangshan government funded the production of "Aftershock," and the Kunming government could also fund its own dramas.
Two flowers bloom, each representing one.
Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. The Ling and Wei families, far away in Beijing, received the news. Ling Qingyun learned about the incident almost the night Ling Xingzhi had his accident. His already serious face darkened further, and he made two phone calls from his office in Zhongnanhai.
Meanwhile, Wei Luochen's parents flew to Kunming overnight. Wei Tingyuan and his wife rushed to the hospital as soon as they got off the plane. When they entered, they saw Wei Luochen standing in front of a computer with his arms crossed, the screen displaying photos.
She was actually working!
Wei Tingyuan was furious and took a few quick steps. Wei Luoche turned around, a cigarette still dangling from his mouth, and when he saw his parents, he forced a smile, "You're here?"
"Where is Ling Xingzhi?" Wei Tingyuan was very angry.
Wei Luochen raised his chin. "Inside."
"Ling Xingzhi is injured and you're working here?!" Wei's mother scolded, her eyes blazing with the smoke from her mouth.
Wei Luochen took the cigarette out of his mouth, held it between his fingers, and said with a hint of sarcasm, "What else can I do? Go to his bedside and cry?"
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