After they finished their dinner, they returned to their room.
Zhou Rang added a piece of charcoal to 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 thinking about something, was brought back to his senses and 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 may have to go back to Shanghai."
Hearing this, Su Nan stood up suddenly and asked in surprise: "Why so sudden?"
A day ago, Zhou Rang had just returned to the educated youth point after finishing his work in the mountains when Ding Mao informed him that Shang Haoquan, the president of the Xi Society, had something urgent to discuss with him and asked him to go to the Xi Society as soon as he returned.
"What can you ask me for?" Zhou Rang thought about it, but couldn't figure out from his mind whether there was any urgent matter that needed to be dealt with recently.
Ding Mao shrugged and shook his head, looking puzzled: "I don't know either. Just now, Director Shang's subordinates came to the educated youth site in a hurry to look for you. You were not there, so he hurried back to report, and asked me to wait for you here."
Zhou Rang nodded, went back to his room, changed his coat, and went to the company.
In the office of the president of the company, Shang Haoquan paced around the room restlessly, looking out the window from time to time. Finally, his eyes fell on the only telephone in the area on the desk.
Whenever 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, someone knocked on the door. Shang Haoquan immediately came to his senses, took two steps forward and opened the door, revealing Zhou Rang, who looked stunned, outside the door.
"Zhou Zhiqing, come in quickly." Shang Haoquan raised a big smile on his face and enthusiastically pulled Zhou Rang into the house. A closer look revealed that he looked a bit like a flatterer.
Zhou Rang frowned, not knowing what Shang Haoquan was up to.
"Boss, what do you want to talk to me about?"
All the questions in his head were answered in the next second.
Shang Haoquan walked to the phone and dialed a few numbers. After a while, the call seemed to be connected. Shang Haoquan nodded and bowed twice to the other end, then handed the phone to Zhou Rang.
Motioned for him to answer the phone.
Zhou Rang looked at Shang Haoquan strangely, and had a vague guess in his mind, but he subconsciously felt that it was impossible, so he denied the guess.
Even though the phone is thousands of miles away, it is impossible to make a call to this small Red Sun Village.
"Hello?" Zhou Rang asked tentatively.
There was silence on the other end for a long time, and no one spoke. Just when Zhou Rang was wondering if the line was disconnected, a familiar clear voice sounded on the phone the next second.
"Zhou Rang."
Zhou Rang's hands that were supporting the table suddenly clenched, veins on his forehead exposed, 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, so he spoke sternly to stop him.
"What's the matter?" Zhou Rang gritted his teeth and said this, then raised his eyes and glared at Shang Haoquan who was standing by the wall.
Hou Yi shrank his neck, adjusted 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 am in Yunjiang City now. The election meeting is just around the corner and I cannot be absent, so I hope you can go back. I will help you with the train ticket and the certificate of employment."
Yunjiang City is in the neighboring province, no wonder he could call here.
Zhou Rang held the phone tightly and said in a deep voice, "I understand."
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 because of that incident. I had no choice but to do it. 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 instantly.
Shang Haoquan heard the noise, opened the door and walked in.
"I didn't expect that Zhou Zhiqing is actually Secretary Zhou's younger brother. Our Red Sun Society is really lucky to have a talent like you go to the countryside to help build a new countryside."
Shang Haoquan recalled the last time Zhou Rang came to the village to seek his help because of Su Nan's matter. Now he was extremely grateful that he did not have the brains to cover up for 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 out of office as president.
"Watch your mouth." Zhou Rang glanced at Shang Haoquan with a warning in his eyes.
Shang Haoquan was startled by his aura, and quickly promised that he would keep Zhou Rang's identity a secret, then handed over the certificate of resignation that 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 little 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 Xishe community, Zhou Rang first went back to the educated youth center to get money and identification, 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." This man looked older than Zhou Rang, but he still respectfully called him brother. It was also obvious that what he spoke was not the local dialect of Sang'an County, but rather a faint Shanghai accent.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Zhou Rang looked around and whispered to Wang Yong with a frown.
"Okay." Wang Yong immediately closed his stall and followed Zhou Rang out of the black market.
The two of them turned around and entered 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'm going to call my brothers. Let me wait here for a while. You go and cook." Wang Yong brought Zhou Rang into the main room, hurriedly gave his wife some instructions, and left.
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 task now is to arrange the affairs in Sang'an County, and then I can return to Shanghai with peace of mind. I don't know how my mother's illness is.
Why did it happen so suddenly?
She had clearly sent me food and letters some time ago, but there was no mention of her illness in that letter.
Maybe his mother deliberately kept 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 as if an invisible rope was strangled 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.
After all, Zhou Qian would not joke about this matter, so it would be safer for him to go back to Shanghai to take a look in person.
After finishing things here, I will go to Wutong Street to tell Nan Nan and then go back directly.
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