After they finished their dinner together, they went back to the room.
Zhou Rang lit a piece of charcoal for the stove, then sat at the table, watching Su Nan sitting on the bed packing her makeup box.
"Hey, if I'm really good at doing makeup for clients, can I take on some private jobs?" Su Nan suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhou Rang.
Zhou Rang, who was lost in thought, let out a confused "ah".
"What are you thinking about?" Su Nan put down the makeup brush in her hand, frowned, and looked at him who seemed a little absent-minded from the beginning.
Zhou Rang squeezed his palms, smiled, and explained, "I might have to go to Shanghai."
Hearing this, Su Nan stood up suddenly, surprised: "Why so sudden?"
A day ago, Zhou Rang had just finished his work in the mountains and arrived at the educated youth site when he was informed by Yu Mao that the commune director Shang Haoquan wanted to see him about something urgent and asked him to go to the commune immediately after arriving.
"What could you ask me for?" Zhou Rang thought about it, but couldn't find out from his mind whether there was any urgent matter that needed to be dealt with recently.
Ma Mao shrugged and shook his head, looking puzzled. "I don't know either. Just now, President Shang's subordinates came to the educated youth center in a hurry to look for you. You weren't there, so he hurried to report back and asked me to wait here for you."
Zhou Rang nodded, went into the room to change his coat, and went to the commune.
In the commune president's office, Shang Haoquan paced around the room restlessly, glancing out the window from time to time. Finally, his eyes fell on the only telephone in the entire township on the desk.
When Shang Haoquan thought of the phone call just now, his heart felt like it was on fire. He was excited and nervous, and his heart was pounding.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Shang Haoquan immediately came to his senses, took two steps forward and opened the door, revealing Zhou Rang standing outside with a look of surprise on his face.
"Zhou Zhiqing, come in quickly." Shang Haoqun raised a big smile on his face and enthusiastically pulled Zhou Rang into the house. Upon closer inspection, he seemed to have a bit of a flattering attitude.
Zhou Rang frowned, not knowing what Shang Haoquan was up to.
"Boss, what do you want to talk to me about?"
The questions in his head were answered in the next second.
Shang Haoquan walked to the phone, dialed a few numbers, and after a while the call seemed to be connected. Shang Haoquan nodded and bowed to the other end, then handed the phone to Zhou Rang.
Motion him to answer the phone.
Zhou Rang looked at Shang Haoquan strangely, and had a vague guess in his mind, but subconsciously felt that it was impossible, so he denied the guess.
The phone call from thousands of miles away could not reach this small Red Sun Commune.
"Hello?" Zhou Rang asked tentatively.
There was silence on the other end for a long time, and no one spoke. Just when Zhou Rang suspected that the line was disconnected, a familiar clear voice rang on the phone the next second.
"Zhou Rang."
Zhou Rang's hands on the table suddenly clenched, veins on his forehead bulged, and his eyes became cold and angry.
"I have something to say, don't hang up." The person on the other end guessed what he was going to do first, so he spoke sternly to stop him.
"What's the matter?" Zhou Rang said this with gritted teeth, raised his eyes and glared at Shang Haoquan who was standing by the wall.
The latter shrank his neck, straightened the corner of his coat, opened the door tactfully and walked out.
The room returned to silence, and the voice on the phone reached his ears clearly, without missing a word.
"Mother is ill. I'm in Yunjiang City right now. The election meeting is just around the corner, and I can't be absent. So I hope you can go there. I'll help you with the train tickets and travel documents."
Yunjiang City is in the next province, no wonder he could call here.
Zhou Rang held the phone tightly and said in a deep voice: "I know."
There was silence for a moment before he continued in a helpless tone, "Xiao Rang, I'm your elder brother. You can't hold a grudge against me for that incident. I had no choice. There was a misunderstanding."
With a bang, the phone was hung up.
Zhou Rang lowered his head and stared at the phone, his hands clenched tighter and tighter, and finally he punched the wooden table hard, and a crack appeared in an instant.
Shang Haoquan heard the noise, opened the door and rushed in.
"I didn't expect that Zhou Zhiqing is actually Secretary Zhou's younger brother. Our Red Sun Commune is truly fortunate to have a talent like you come to the countryside to help build a new rural area."
Shang Haoquan recalled the last time Zhou Rang came to the commune to ask him for help because of Su Nan's matter. Now he was extremely grateful that he did not have the stupidity to protect Village Chief Xiao.
If he offended Zhou Rang because of this, his career path would be completely blocked. If Secretary Zhou leaked some information to his superiors, he would probably be fired as president.
"Watch your mouth." Zhou Rang glanced at Shang Haoquan with a warning in his eyes.
Shang Haoquan was frightened by his aura, and quickly promised that he would keep Zhou Rang's identity secret, and then handed over the travel certificate he had prepared long ago.
Zhou Rang thanked him, took the file bag, turned around and walked away.
Watching Zhou Rang go away, Shang Haoquan touched his heart and breathed a sigh of relief. Big shots are different. Look at his whole demeanor. He is completely different from these half-baked village officials.
After leaving the commune, Zhou Rang first went to the educated youth point to get money and identity documents, and then turned around and went to the county town.
But he didn't go to Wutong Street, but went straight to the black market.
If Su Nan was present, he would recognize that the person Zhou Rang was looking for in the black market was the man who sold cigarettes and alcohol last time.
"Brother Rang, you're here." The man looked a generation older than Zhou Rang, but he still respectfully called him brother. It was obvious that what he spoke was not the local dialect of Sang'an County, but a faint Shanghai accent.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Zhou Rang looked around, frowned, and whispered to Wang Yong.
"Okay." Wang Yong immediately closed his stall and followed Zhou Rang out of the black market.
The two of them turned around and came into a small alley in the west of the city. At the entrance of the alley sat a middle-aged woman who was picking vegetables. When she saw the two of them, she quickly packed up her things without making a sound and entered the yard before them.
"I'll go and talk to my brothers. Let me wait here for a while, you go and cook." Wang Yong brought Zhou Rang into the main room, hurriedly told his wife something, and went out.
Zhou Rang sat on the chair with an expressionless face, tapping the table with his hands intermittently, gradually falling into deep thought.
The most urgent thing now is to arrange the business in Sang'an County, and then I can go to Shanghai with peace of mind. I don't know how my mother's illness is.
Why is it so sudden?
She had clearly sent me food and letters some time ago, but there was no mention of her illness in that letter.
But maybe his mother deliberately hid it from him so as not to make him worry, or maybe the illness came on too quickly.
Thinking of this, Zhou Rang clenched his palms. He felt like he was being strangled by an invisible rope around his neck. The more he struggled, the tighter the rope became, and the stronger the feeling of suffocation became.
He became panic-stricken, which was unlike him.
Zhou Rang took a few deep breaths, and the expression in his eyes changed several times before finally returning to calm.
In short, Zhou Qian would not joke about this matter, but it would be safer for him to go to Shanghai in person to take a look.
After finishing things here, I will go to Wutong Street to tell Nan Nan, and then set off directly.
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