Sun Wenlei was only fifteen years old, her parents and brother had all passed away prematurely, leaving her alone. She didn't have any special relationship with Chen Dan, so He Yuelian couldn't understand why Chen Dan would keep Sun Wenlei by her side and take on the responsibility of caring for her, especially after cutting ties with her ex-husband's family. Maybe it was because they shared a similar fate?

  “……” Xiao Li often went to the reception station to find Chen Dan, and also frequently met He Yuelian to chat for a few words. However, in her mind, she always had an inexplicable sense of distance from He Yuelian. She didn't expect He Yuelian to be in Shen Huai's office, and was startled, saying "Manager He is also here?"

  "Yes, I'm looking for Secretary Shen about something," He Yuelian smiled and said, "Little Li, you're here to find Secretary Shen to cut the ribbon at the hotel, right?"

  Don't look down on Little Li, who is only 15 years old. Her figure is almost the same as Chen Dan's, just a little thinner. She has a fair and tender face with red lips and white teeth, making her a standard beauty.

  However, He Yuelian's attention was not on Xiao Li, but on the girl Xiao Li had brought in.

  She was about twenty years old, maybe even younger. She wore a pair of white washed jeans that made her legs look slender and long. A white down jacket and a bright red scarf around her neck added to her charm. Her long hair was casually tied up in a ponytail, and the cold air had brought a flush to her cheeks. Her clear eyes sparkled under her long eyelashes, exuding an aura of youthfulness that made He Yuelian feel inexplicably envious.

  Today is the opening of the Zhuxi Hotel, and Xiao Li ran over. He Yuelian naturally guessed that she was here to call Shen Huan to cut the ribbon at the Zhuxi Hotel. Who is this beautiful girl? What's her relationship with Shen Huan?

  She dresses simply, but exudes the elegant and refined quality of a city-bred girl from a well-to-do family. As she walks into the office, she is cautious and careful, but her eyes are constantly darting around, revealing a lively and spirited personality.

  He Yuelian was quite confident in her own appearance, but in front of such a girl, she couldn't help but sadly realize that her youth was fleeting, and for some reason, she felt a bit hostile...

  "Hey, when will Second Miss Bear have time to run to our rural area?"

  When He Mo was guessing the girl's identity, Shen Huai and He Qing walked out of the office in the inner room. Seeing the girl's appearance, they also seemed to be quite surprised.

  Shen Huai saw He Yuelian still hadn't left and asked: "Why is Manager He still here?"

  "Zhu Xi Hotel is having a ribbon-cutting ceremony today, I think Secretary Shen should also go to congratulate after work, so I'll wait for Secretary Shen to go together." He Yuelian was also a person who could entangle others and wouldn't be easily dismissed by Shen Hua's few words.

  "Oh, then it's a waste of Manager He's wait," Shen Huai said, "Although the town has designated Quxi Hotel as the reception place, but on the first day, they ran to eat and drink, which would have a bad influence if seen by the townspeople; I, along with Mayor He and Secretary Du, have decided to decline Quxi Hotel's invitation and not attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony..."

  The Zhuxi Hotel changed its sign, and He Yuelian sent a banner and a flower basket to curry favor. However, she didn't expect that Shen Huai wouldn't give anyone any leeway, so she had nothing to say. From He Qing's face, it was impossible to tell whether Shen Huai's words were true or false, so she could only take her leave and depart first.

  He Qingci wasn't a good person, when he heard Shen Huai call the girl in front of him Miss Er of the Xiong family, he knew she was the second daughter of Xiong Wenbin. Looking at her, he thought she was even more beautiful than her sister, so he just nodded and smiled, beckoning to Guo Quan to follow him out first.

  Watching He Qing She and Guo Quan walk out, Xiong Dai Ling stuck out her tongue and said in a low voice: "I've long heard that you're very powerful in Mei Xi Town. Hurrying to our school's New Year's holiday, just follow my sister over to join the fun, right? Won't it affect your work?"

  Today, the Xixi Hotel officially changed its signboard. Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng came to join in the excitement and brought gifts, including a flower basket and a banner. People such as Xiong Danni, Zhou Ming, and Xiao Mingxia have all rushed over from the city to offer congratulations.

  They just called over and Shen Hua said he would wait until after dinner to go over, but didn't expect Xiong Dailing to come along too.

  "It's all off work." Shen Hua pointed to his watch, asking Xiao Li and Xiong Dailing to sit in his office casually. He rushed to the town without taking a break, and there were two documents on his desk waiting for him to sign.

  Xiong Dailing looked at the stack of photos on the table, about 60 or 70 in total. She curiously leaned over to take a look and saw that the top photo was of a tall and majestic silver ginkgo tree planted in an old courtyard with mottled walls. The lush greenery couldn't hide its age. Xiao Li also leaned over and asked in surprise, "Is this a picture of the silver ginkgo tree at Anlan Temple?"

  Xien Xiong Dai Ling, Xiao Li couldn't help but look curious, Shen Huai pushed the photos forward and asked them to take a seat next to him to look at them, he had to finish reading two documents first.

  Xiong Dailing and Xiao Li sat on the sofa in the corner of the wall, holding a photo and looking at it together.

  They were all countryside photos, and Xiao Li knew they were all taken in Meixi Town.

  Muddy roads after the rain, pedestrians struggling to push their bicycles, thatched roofs and black tiles alternating with patchy courtyard walls. In the crowded streets under the morning sun, there are traditional shops like grain stores and tea houses, the ancient temple of Anlan in Meixi Town which has a history of hundreds of years, children playing by the roadside, factories, the horse stables left from the Japanese invasion period at Meixi Middle School, workers with oil stains on their faces, chimneys emitting black smoke, and murky river water that is almost black. Cement bridges, rural fields, simple cottages, and ridges covered in wild grass...

  Perhaps from a single photo, it's hard to tell how superb the photography technique is, but Xiong Dailing has never seen such a clear and comprehensive realistic rural photo since then.

  She can read the backwardness and poverty of Mei Creek Town from these photos, but also the real rural atmosphere that she cannot touch in the city. Little Li couldn't recognize most of them either, but where he recognized, he would quietly introduce to Xiong Dailing.

  After reading it two or three times, Xiong Dailing also couldn't express the kind of immersive feeling that she had never known before, at least she could confirm that Shen Huai had a delicate mind that she didn't know about.

  It's also funny to say that Xiong Daling only met Shen Huan once when she returned to Donghua, and Shen Huan was like a shameless leech who ran to her house to eat for free, not taking himself as an outsider at all, which made her feel quite disgusted. Later, Shen Huan helped her get rid of a pesky man who wouldn't take no for an answer, and she thought Shen Huan was quite to her liking, but that's about it.

  It was later in school, when she called her mom and sister, that she learned about some of Shen Hua's affairs: such as hitting the mayor's son with a car, becoming the deputy secretary of Mei Creek Town at a young age, introducing her dad to the new municipal party secretary, rectifying the steel factory's production, helping Yang Haipeng establish a steel trading company, and supporting her sister in joining Yang Haipeng's company and holding shares...

  On the one hand, her sister instilled in her an impression that Shen Hua was very powerful; on the other hand, her mother instilled in her an impression that Shen Hua was good in every way, except for being a bit sloppy with his life.

  This New Year's Day holiday, Xiong Dailing returned to Donghua a day in advance. Her father was busy accompanying the municipal party secretary all day, and her mother had to stay overnight at school to supervise students who were studying late into the night. So she followed her sister Xiong Daini to Meixi Town to celebrate the opening of Zhuxi Hotel today.

  Zhou Ming and Xiong Danni rushed over, then called Shen Hua to find out that Shen Hua didn't want the townspeople to have too many associations, so none of the town's leaders, including Shen Hua, would attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

  Xiong Dailing, unlike her conservative sister, is outgoing and has come along today with the intention of seeing what Shen Hua is like as a powerful official, but since Shen Hua didn't show up at night, she pulled Xiao Li to proactively go to the town government.

  Xiong Dailing did not expect that Shen Huai would have such delicate thoughts under all sorts of rumors.

  There are also a few photography enthusiasts in her school, taking landscape and portrait photos that are all beautiful and flawless.

  Perhaps Shen Huai's photography skills are not perfect, and can even be said to be a bit rough, but Xiong Dailing has never seen such an accurate capture of rural life's true scenery, giving her a strong impact, making her feel a kind of sudden burst of vitality from the photos...

  Shen Huai looked at the two documents, signed them, and saw Xiao Li and Xiong Dailing still staring at the photos they took these days, laughing and saying: "What's wrong, a delicate girl who grew up in the city, haven't you seen rural areas before, so fascinated?"

  He didn't know what thoughts Bear Dai Ling had after seeing these photos, he took them to record the good and bad, backward and progressive aspects of Mei Xi Town, as a driving force for him to move forward, to work hard for this land.

  "You wouldn't want to change careers and become a photographer?" Xiong Dailing asked Shen Huai, feeling that there was an inexplicable aura about this person who was only a few years older than her.

  "How is that possible?" Shen Huan stood up and took the photos from Xiao Li's hand, saying, "I have an idea. From now on, in the next few years when I work in Meixi Town, every year I will take my camera to capture every nook and cranny of Meixi Town, recording the trajectory of Meixi Town's development..."

  "Will you sing your own praises in the future?" Xiong Dailing joked.

  "It's okay, I guess." Shen Huan said with a smile. He knew no one would understand his ardent feelings for this land, so he didn't want to explain anything more.

  "But from these photos, I can see that you really have feelings for this place. Without feelings, it's impossible to take such delicate and in-depth shots..." Xiong Dailing expressed her intuitive feeling.

  Shen Huai's heart was slightly moved, his thoughts could be understood by others, it was always a great feeling, unexpectedly Xiong Dailing was usually open-minded and had delicate thoughts.

  "It's not too late, you guys go to the hotel, don't let others wait for you to start...” Shen Huai looked at the darkening sky outside the window and stood up to send Xiong Dailing and Xiao Li away.

  "You'd better go too, after all, we are familiar friends," Xiong Dailing said, "What's the point of being an official? Being an official also needs to eat and fill one's belly. If it doesn't work out, you can also follow the gift..."

  Even if Zhao Dong, Yang Haipeng and Zhou Ming were convinced that there was something between Shen Hua and Chen Dan, no one would deliberately say anything in front of Xiong Dailin. Xiong Dailin's thoughts were also simple, just thinking that Shen Hua and Chen Dan had a normal friendship, so she avoided going over to join the crowd at this time.

  "You go first, I'll sneak out later and enter through the back door. Just have Yang Haipeng call my phone to tell me the suite number."

  At that time, the town built a reception station and a cultural station building, which was already beyond the standard. The entire building area had more than 5,000 square meters, with slightly more than half allocated to the reception station.

  Mei Creek Town has almost no overnight tourists, the hotel's guest room department occupies a small area, and the catering department has only three banquet halls on the first floor, with 20-30 private rooms and card rooms on the second and third floors; The fourth and fifth floors are reserved for the guest room department, but there is a separate entrance hall in the north that takes the elevator up.

  The scale of the hotel is such that even if it were located in the city, it would not be considered small.

  Apart from the dining and guest rooms having their own entrances, the Xuxi Hotel has a side door that leads to the front yard, next to the Cultural Station, which is used for fire evacuation - Shen Huai just didn't want to show his face at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but entering through the side door to drink in the private room was no big deal.