0095 095 The sky is most beautiful when it is just before it gets dark.
In previous years, as soon as July arrived, Qi Shuyao would put everything else aside and only think about how to prepare for her birthday this year.
In recent years, however, she has forgotten about celebrating her birthday. Now, sitting at her desk, she can't even remember how old she is.
She didn't step into the school gates again after less than half a semester of university, and lost contact with all her classmates. When she got her old phone back from Qi Yu and looked through her WeChat Moments, she found that most of her classmates had already graduated.
If you think about it, she's only twenty years old. How come her life has progressed to this point? According to traditional procedures, she could retire now.
Just like their lives now, it seems like there are crises everywhere, like enemies coming from all directions, but life is still peaceful, and they can still pour tea, drink water, pick flowers, and tease birds.
She and Qi Yu returned to normal and went back to their old ways, but they never returned to Yangcheng.
The Akhal-Teke horse she missed so much was also brought to Jingyang. Uncle Sui, who gave her the horse, had treated them to dinner and drinks a few days ago. Both of them ran casinos. Guan Xiang is now insane in prison, while he is still carefree. In fact, because of Guan Xiang's arrest, his business has expanded a lot. I heard that He Benran was also released by his father and often goes to Uncle Sui's place to play.
The more I look at this enormous city of Jingyang, the more it seems like a joke.
Qi Shuyao didn't hold a birthday party this year either. Only Qi Yu and Sister Xiaolan were with her at home. Although friends from all over the world still sent her all kinds of gifts, they no longer stirred any waves in her heart. Her birthdays year after year became just a routine. Many friends exchanged gifts, but there was no longer any communication.
But she never expected that the biggest birthday gift this year would be a stepmother from Su Changce.
When she heard this outlandish news, she wasn't even angry, but she couldn't sit still. She immediately led her horse to run around the back mountain twice, her clothes soaked with sweat. The horse even gave up and ran back home. Sister Xiaolan waved to her from the second-floor window, holding the cell phone that had been used to call her.
Qi Shuyao ran home, rushed into the air-conditioned room, leaned against the cool marble pillar, and answered the phone.
She has been chatting with Song Yusheng a lot lately, but they don't meet. Song Yusheng has become famous. Although she offended many people by being given resources when she first debuted, she still became famous in a great way. Everyone is happy, except for her boss who is hiding behind her.
Su Shaojin was acting crazy everywhere, but unfortunately Song Yusheng ignored him and often relayed his crazy antics to Qi Shuyao. In a daze, it seemed as if they had returned to their childhood.
However, Song Yusheng was clearly in low spirits today, and her voice was listless.
"What's wrong with you? Did Su Shaojin cause trouble again?"
“My mother died last week. My father is still acting crazy and doesn’t recognize anyone, but I saw him crying at night, holding the silk scarf that my mother used to wear.”
"This...this is so sudden."
“It’s not sudden, it’s normal. Her health has always been poor, and it got worse after we went abroad. Actually, the fact that she’s still alive is a miracle.”
"So, will you still act in the future?"
“Yes, my life shouldn’t be like this. I worked so hard in the first half of my life, not to make movies for others to see. I used to think that way too, but now, I think I’ve discovered what this path can bring me.”
"What are you going to do? Don't do anything stupid."
"What can I do? No matter how much I try, the most I can do is marry a rich but brainless man. I'm lucky."
"I heard Su Shaojin got engaged. Are you going to try and steal him away? If you succeed, you might become my aunt-in-law."
"I don't want to marry him, I just want to make him suffer. He's already suffering a lot, seeing me kissing different men every day. I just don't know what he's being so dramatic about, haha..."
She suddenly burst out laughing as she was talking, leaving Qi Shuyao completely bewildered.
"why are you laughing?"
“I suddenly had an idea, but you definitely won’t agree to it.”
"What?"
Hearing her laugh, Qi Shuyao's voice carried a hint of amusement, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.
“If I marry your dad, his sister will be useless, and I can also drive Su Shaojin crazy. You won’t have to worry about having a stepmother. Isn’t that a win-win situation?”
"...Haha, how clever of you! I think it's a good idea."
When Qi Yu got home and opened the door, he heard laughter coming from upstairs. He carried the cake upstairs, and when he reached the bottom of the stairs, Qi Shuyao poked her little head out and shouted at him.
"Dad, why don't you marry Sheng Sheng first? That would probably infuriate the Shen family."
A woman's voice was laughing on the phone. Xiao Lan was also laughing behind the curtains. Qi Shuyao was so happy that she lay down on the floor and sprawled out. Qi Yu put the cake on the ground, walked over and gave her messy little head a good rub.
Upon hearing the sounds from this side, Song Yusheng hung up the phone. The remaining three members of the Qi family simply blew out the candles and divided the cake on the second floor, and her twentieth birthday passed just like that.
Perhaps Su Changce will send his daughter over tomorrow and say some disgusting things, but no one cares. The candlelight flickers on the cake and reflects on the white wall.
It was getting dark, but not completely dark yet. She stood halfway up the mountain from the villa and looked down. The nearby mountains had darkened, leaving only black outlines. The clouds in the distance, however, emitted a dark blue light, as if the ocean had been turned upside down in the sky. The sky and mountains were red, still flashing with the last rays of the sunset. The whole world was painted into an endless oil painting, a scene that no human could paint.
Between heaven and earth, there was a golden expanse, the place where immortals would appear in the TV shows of my childhood. And if these mortals could cross that golden river, they might become immortals too.
If you can't see behind you, don't look back. Keep looking forward, and you won't be afraid.
After twenty years of wrangling, the redevelopment of Xiaobei District has finally been put on the agenda, with various projects fiercely bidding for contracts. Qi Yu, who has not yet stepped down as the director of the Jingyang Land Management Bureau, has been busy sorting out the work.
Even though so many leaders who violated laws and regulations have fallen from grace, there are still too many reckless people wielding their power. Most of them are timid and back down after being reprimanded a few times. But there is one group that is particularly bold.
In the northern part of Jingyang, there is a province called Tihuang, which is well-known for its export of grassroots workers. In previous years, the leaders were worried about the loss of talent in the province. In recent years, they have followed the trend and taken the lead in developing engineering contracting. In this reconstruction of Xiaobei District, they are the main force at the forefront.
Even after the secretary of Xiaobei District came over and cried to Qi Yu that he had returned all the money they had sent, he still seemed full of confidence.
Nighttime at the Xuan Sha Hall.
The shop's reputation had already spread, and Tu Mi no longer needed to go out and greet customers, but she still preferred to sit behind the large bar, watching all sorts of people; this was the most comfortable place for her.
She's been in a bad mood lately. Why did they have to wait until her shop was thriving to start major renovations in this area? Who knows which leader might have a brain fart and demolish the whole street to build a smooth, large plaza?
A waiter in the lobby rushed towards her, panting, carrying a tray.
"What's going on? Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't I tell you not to do this?"
"No, boss, the customer at table B03 insists that you go over there. He looked like he had ill intentions."
Tu Mi looked towards B03, where the guests were also staring at her. After their eyes met, they raised their glasses and swirled them.
"A new face? Are you new here?"
"Judging from their accent, they're not locals, but I can't quite place them either."
"Okay, I'll go take a look."
The bartender raised his hand to stop her, but she blocked it.
"It's alright. Have Da Yang and the other two come over here for a walk. You can go back to your work."
Tu Mi walked to Area B, hugged two familiar beauties for a while, and then went to B03. The man sitting at the table was alone and didn't look fierce.
After a round of polite conversation and back-and-forth exchanges, the man leaned closer to the rose bush and lowered his voice.
"Is the boss a local from Jingyang?"
"What's wrong? Why are you only going to restaurants run by locals?"
"You're joking. I'm new here and just wanted to find someone familiar with Jingyang to show me around."
"Oh, I see. You want locals to guide you around, right? This kind of service is very popular now. You can post a detailed request online and find the right person."
"But I think the boss is a perfect fit."
"You can see so much from just one glance at me?"
The man smiled, tilted his head back and downed the drink in his hand, not forgetting to leave a word of praise.
"The wine at the owner's place is very good, I'll come again next time."
His figure disappeared outside the door. Tu Mi leaned back in her chair and frowned, feeling like she had seen this person somewhere before.
She was very efficient; she immediately went back to the front desk, retrieved the surveillance footage, and sent Qi Shuyao a high-resolution frontal photo of the man.
"Dad, have you seen this person before?"
Qi Shuyao then sent the picture to Qi Yu. She held the phone and looked at it for a long time, confirming that she did not recognize the face.
Qi Yu replied after a long time, also saying he had no recollection of it.
She put away her phone, raised her glass to the woman next to her, clinked glasses, and continued their previous conversation.
"Why haven't you been painting lately? Of all the paintings my mom bought, I like your style the most; that's art."
"What art is more commercial and mercenary than this?"
"Hey, the way artists think is just different from us businessmen. I think the most direct way to measure whether something or someone is useful is its value. Even if many treasures are called priceless, they'll just rot in our hands if we can't sell them. Even if we keep them as treasures, they won't produce offspring or generate money. They're just useless things."
"Yeah, it's better to be realistic."
"Right, I think so too. Although my mom has a lot of business sense, some of the things she says are true, even if they're blunt. These businessmen only have eyes for money. They rush to wherever there's money, risking their lives for it. My mom is like that. Recently, she's hooked up with some leader, supposedly the daughter of a provincial or ministerial-level leader, and she's really powerful. Now she's focused on that and doesn't even bother with the excitement. I told her she's really going to great lengths. I was just saying, you're here today, aren't you? As the daughter of a vice president, you're much more powerful than the daughter of some provincial leader."
"Maybe they have real power, unlike me, an idle person, whose words don't carry much weight."
"That's true, but even if Vice President Qi were standing right in front of me today, I wouldn't dare to speak to him."
"He really is quite scary."
The woman beside her finally quieted down, giving Qi Shuyao a little time to process what kind of banquet it was and what the person next to her did. It didn't matter. It was just an ordinary social occasion where she met a talkative person she had met a few times before and could barely be considered a friend.
When the banquet ended, she stood at the door waiting for the driver to come over. The woman was already drunk and was holding her friend's hand, talking loudly incoherently in her hometown dialect. Qi Shuyao, having nothing better to do, listened to a few words. At first, she didn't realize what was going on, but after the car had driven out of the street, she suddenly remembered that the woman's family was in the construction materials business.
The phone rang right afterward in my bag; it was that old phone, that familiar friend.
Xiang Zhiyu's signature accent rang out from the other end, accompanied by loud background music. She covered one ear, struggling to make out his words.
"You've arrived in Jingyang? When?"
"It arrived yesterday! It arrived last night!"
What kind of event is this?
“I’m fine. I came with my dad. He’s probably getting old and feeling spiritually empty lately, so he insisted on finding a religion to follow. He’s been struggling at home for more than half a year, and finally came to Jingyang to attend a religious gathering.”
"The father is diligently cultivating his spiritual practice, while the son is out partying. You two are really something."
“What should I do? I have to help him balance things out, otherwise he’ll be so focused on doing good deeds that he’ll run out of good karma.”
"You are such a kind person."
"My sister really knows me. Oh, by the way, I've been abroad for the past few years and haven't been back much. I forgot to ask, have you found that woman in prison?"
"...No, I don't know where they went."
"Who is this person with such great power, doing this so quietly? That's interesting. Also, is there some kind of development project in Jingyang? I heard from my dad that our company has also put out a tender."
"ah?"
"But that's not the point. The main reason I came here is to attend Su Shaojin's wedding. We all came together in our diapers, and he's already getting married before we've even sewed up our pants. That's really not very friendly."
As the car was driving along the road, the power suddenly went out, and the world went completely dark in an instant. This was something that hadn't happened in Jingyang City for a very long time.
Cars on the road were grumbling and honking, but Qi Shuyao sat quietly in the car, not even moving her hand that was holding her phone.
The call ended automatically, and the signal was lost for a full five seconds in half of Jingyang.
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