Chapter 48: Timeline

The June night breeze was gentle. With the car window half rolled down, the wind drifted through Wu Yiyi's silky hair. Her red Accord was driving through Huangyuan County, and the dim, warm streetlights fell upon her face. Sitting in the passenger seat, Li Xiuyuan felt that Wu Yiyi's profile at this moment genuinely made his heart skip a beat.

Yet it was merely for a fleeting second, for Li Xiuyuan was acutely aware of his own circumstances.

"Where do you live?" Wu Yiyi asked.

"Xinhai Gardens, near the intersection of Kaiyuan Street and Xuefu Road," Li Xiuyuan gave his home address.

Wu Yiyi nodded, then inquired further, "That woman... what is she to you?"

It was no fault of Wu Yiyi to be gossipy; under those circumstances just now, anyone with an ounce of sense could see that the relationship between that young woman and Li Xiuyuan was quite extraordinary.

Li Xiuyuan gave a wry smile. "Consider her an ex-girlfriend. It's all in the past now."

"What do you mean by 'consider her'?" Wu Yiyi shot Li Xiuyuan a sideways glance.

"You saw it yourself. She probably prefers not to bring up that chapter of her life. She called us mere college classmates and treats that time as a dark stain on her record," Li Xiuyuan said indifferently.

Just as they stopped at a red light, Wu Yiyi turned her head to look at Li Xiuyuan, asking with curiosity, "And what about you? Do you consider it a dark stain?"

"That was the path I walked. Right or wrong, it was a choice of my own making," Li Xiuyuan replied without a moment's hesitation.

At that instant, Wu Yiyi felt that within Li Xiuyuan's already handsome face, his gaze held an even more vibrant brilliance, possessing an inexplicable allure—the courage of someone who had tasted life's hardships, swallowed every grievance and bitterness deep down, and could still face life with a smile.

The green light turned on, and Wu Yiyi drove Li Xiuyuan to his doorstep. She did not get out of the car. After stepping out, Li Xiuyuan walked around to the driver's side to bid her farewell.

"Sister Yiyi, thank you for today." Li Xiuyuan meant these words with utmost sincerity.

Wu Yiyi smiled and waved her hand. "If you really want to thank me, treat me to a meal sometime."

Having said that, Wu Yiyi did not give Li Xiuyuan another chance to speak, starting the engine and driving away. Li Xiuyuan stood by the roadside, watching her car vanish from his sight. He sighed softly, then turned and walked home.

When he arrived, his parents had not yet gone to sleep. After chatting idly with them for a few moments, he washed up and retreated to his room.

In truth, regarding the attitude Wu Yiyi displayed today, Li Xiuyuan was not a fool; he knew she might hold some romantic interest in him. However, at this stage of his life, Li Xiuyuan had no desire to entertain matters of the heart.

Of course, that was not the primary issue. The main problem was that both of them worked in the County Government Office. If they were to become a couple, it was obvious that one of them would have to leave.

By then, only two scenarios would unfold. In the first scenario, Wu Yiyi's family would oppose the relationship, leaving him entirely at the mercy of others' arrangements—transferring him wherever they saw fit.

The second scenario might be slightly better, with Wu Yiyi's family willing to help and arrange a suitable department for him. Yet even so, it would lack the promising career prospects of staying in the County Government Office.

That feeling of being manipulated, of having one's destiny controlled by others—having spent ten agonizing years in the countryside in his past life, Li Xiuyuan had figured it all out long ago. Given a second chance in this lifetime, his sole objective was to climb upward with every ounce of effort he could muster. Romance? Heh, talking about love for a man in his early twenties was far too extravagant.

Naturally, even knowing they were mismatched, Li Xiuyuan had still agreed to have dinner with Wu Yiyi today primarily to glean some information from her. The current climate within the county administration felt rather peculiar; it was not hard to discern from Wu Yiyi's words that the county leadership might be heading toward a major upheaval.

Such a drastic change was impossible for him not to have heard about in his past life. It was just that by the time he entered the workforce, it was already 2008, so gossip about events from 2005 was mostly hearsay to which he paid little attention. Above all, working down in the countryside meant the flow of information had been far too delayed.

Li Xiuyuan sat at his desk, racking his brain to piece together fragments of memories from his past life. He clearly felt he should have some impression of it, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not recall the details. Pushing through until one o'clock in the morning, Li Xiuyuan finally went to bed.

Early the next morning, as soon as Li Xiuyuan arrived at the office, Wang Zhi tao hurried over. "Xiuyuan, you didn't get enough rest last night, did you?"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes are all bloodshot!" Wang Zhi tao remarked.

Hearing this, Li Xiuyuan nodded. "I had some things to deal with last night."

Soon enough, nearly everyone from the office had arrived, save for Wu Yiyi, the leader's secretary, who was absent. Since it was Friday, no critical tasks were typically scheduled. To everyone's surprise, Qu Hui suddenly appeared at the doorway of the General Affairs Section with a stern expression, announcing that a meeting was to be held.

Qu Hui shut the door of the General Affairs Section and spoke briefly for a little over ten minutes. In those ten minutes, he said nothing of substance, repeatedly emphasizing organizational discipline instead. Some listened to this ten-minute briefing with utter bewilderment—Wang Zhi tao, for instance, had completely failed to grasp what the leader was trying to convey.

Others, however, listened thoughtfully, harboring suspicions and guessing at the underlying implications.

Qu Hui departed immediately after finishing the meeting. Throughout the morning, Li Xiuyuan busied himself with his assigned tasks, primarily processing a municipal document transmitting a provincial directive concerning the construction of new socialist villages.

This document needed to be copied and distributed to all the townships below. As Li Xiuyuan gazed at the paperwork in his hands, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind. New village construction? He remembered that during his previous life in the workforce, Huangyuan County had already successfully built its model new rural villages, and the person who spearheaded this initiative was County Magistrate Yun Yanchang.

Back then, when he had just taken office, he was dispatched by his township government to study at the county's model new rural village. Representatives from various townships had been sent there at the time, though most lacked the actual conditions to build new villages and merely went through the motions to fulfill a requirement.

At the opening ceremony of that study program, the presiding leader delivering the speech was none other than County Magistrate Yun Yanchang, the top official of the county government. During the meeting, Yun Yanchang recounted the history of this new rural development.

He stated that he had begun preparations for this undertaking upon taking office in 2005, officially establishing the project and launching mobilization late that same year, before construction commenced early the following year. It took a full three years of trials before it was finally crowned with success.

Since he had just started working at the time, unlike the seasoned veterans sent from other townships, he had listened quite attentively. His memory of this timeline could not possibly be mistaken... Li Xiuyuan put down the documents in his hands and rapidly leafed through the internal staff directory on his desk.

On the very first page of the directory, it clearly stated: Zheng Yun, Deputy Secretary of the County Party Committee and County Magistrate of the County People's Government.

Right now, it was June 2005. The top official of the county government was County Magistrate Zheng Yun. Yet by the end of the year, the new rural construction project would already be officially established, discounting the preparatory period leading up to it.

This meant that within the next few months, Huangyuan County would welcome a brand-new head of the county government! Moreover, combining this with the current circumstances, this timeline must be extremely imminent—it was highly likely tied to the impending political storm.

Would it be the former deputy magistrate? Li Xiuyuan scanned down the directory. Below Zheng Yun came Executive Deputy Magistrate Gu, followed by several other deputy magistrates, and none of them was named Yun Yanchang. This could only mean one thing: this County Magistrate Yun Yanchang was destined to be parachuted in from elsewhere. What did a leader parachuted in from the outside signify? Li Xiuyuan's heart instantly blazed with fervent ambition!