Update at 12 o'clock; seeking red tickets and collection

  "Clang, clang, clang" Sun Yalin walked over in her high heels, looking at Shen Hua and Yang Haipeng standing in front of the bathroom talking, furrowing her eyebrows, her eyes scanning back and forth across their faces as if trying to uncover some sort of secret. She asked: "What are you two big men doing sneaking around here? President Yang is treating us today, are we going to eat or not? I'm starving..."

  Shen Huai only then realized that his cousin Sun Ya Lin had been waiting in the private room for a while, probably also getting impatient, and had temporarily left.

  Shen Hua had dinner with Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng, either on time or whoever was busy first wouldn't say that they would wait for one person to drag the banquet until eight o'clock without starting.

  Besides, Shen Huai had something urgent to attend to and had already made arrangements with Yang Haipeng and Sun Yalin in advance. Su Kaiwen still put on such an act, which seemed polite and courteous on the surface but was actually just a cold and distant rejection as well as a controlling attitude that surpassed ordinary people. Shen Huai thought it would be strange if Sun Yalin had the patience to humor him.

  Thinking of Sun Ya Lin as her natural ally, Shen Huai smiled to herself, but she didn't think of dragging Sun Ya Lin into something that would make Su Kai Wen lose face, and she had to take care of Tan Qi Ping's dignity.

  At the same time, Shen Hua also secretly warned himself: Tan Qiping may not give him any more strong support from now on, and he should be more restrained in everything; and thinking that even in Donghua, it was really unnecessary to hang himself on Tan Qiping's tree, the key was still to have his own foundation, so that he wouldn't have to look at others' faces...

  Shen Huai walked back to the private room with Yang Haipeng and Sun Yalin, and saw Tan Jingjing whispering to Su Kainan, laughing with a flushed face, and even playfully pinching Su Kainan's ear, knowing that Tan Jingjing and Su Kainan were not just ordinary friends.

  Shen Huai knew that Tan Jingjing and Xiong Dailing were of the same age, only twenty years old during the New Year, while Su Kainan looked like he was twenty-six or seven years old. This shows that when Tan Qiping served as the deputy head of the provincial party committee's organization department in the provincial capital, Su Kainan had a close relationship with the Tan family.

  Shen Huai thought to himself: What kind of person in the province has the surname Su?

  Zhao Dong inquired with a glance, and Shen Hui just slightly nodded his head, indicating that everything was fine.

  Su Kai heard and stood up, enthusiastically pulling Shen Huai to sit beside him. Shen Huai smiled and sat down, seeing Zhou Ming also gathering inside chatting and laughing, asking: "What are you talking about, so lively?"

  "Dai Ling and Jing Jing's school was off the day before yesterday, so they agreed to take Secretary Su's car back to Donghua. On the way, they met a group of cyclists returning home. Hundreds of bicycles were riding together along the national highway, magnificent and impressive. The news had already reported it the day before yesterday, but I didn't expect Dai Ling and Secretary Su to have taken photos as well. Once the photos are developed, you must bring them over for me to see..." Zhou Ming said.

  Shen Huai glanced at Xiong Dailing, who smiled innocently and shallowly, possibly excited about the encounter on Donghua Road, or happy about her newly started and short-lived friendship with Tan Jingjing, unaware of Zhou Ming's intention to deliberately show off this information.

  Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng both looked at the things in their hands, no one responded to Zhou Ming's words; Xiong Danni seemed to have also realized that her husband was showing off a bit, and she gently pulled on Zhou Ming's clothes under the table.

  Sun Yalin's sharp eyes swept across the people at the table, then she turned her head to whisper in his ear: "Your situation seems to be not quite right!"

  Sun Ya Lin leaned in close, speaking almost directly into his ear with a faint scent of perfume, Shen Hua thought it strange: wasn't Sun Ya Lin supposed to be interested in women, why was she wearing perfume?

  Shen Huai glanced at Sun Ya Lin, seeing the smug smile on her face, and knew that she was the kind of person who would take pleasure in others' misfortune, and there was no point in arguing with her.

  Sun Yalin grew up in a big family and was particularly sensitive to such things, while Zhou Ming was eager to show off. Shen Hui thought that before he came over, Zhou Ming had probably intentionally or unintentionally leaked the news of his marginalization by Tan Qiping to Yang Haipeng and Zhao Dong.

  Some things are obvious: Xiong Daling has been in contact with Tan Jingjing in the provincial city, and Zhou Ming has also called Su Kai his brother. But he, Tan Qiping's former confidant, only found out about these things today. Isn't it clear what happened?

  Perhaps Zhou Ming had only been in contact with Su Kai for two or three days earlier, but even one day earlier would have made a completely different meaning: this involved the intimate ranking of everyone in the entire circle...

  Shen Hua's power comes from two sources: one is his official position as the Party Secretary of Meixi Town; the other is the trust and reliance placed in him by Municipal Party Secretary Tan Qiping, which is a crucial implicit power in China's official circles.

  But Shen Huai was able to do so many things in Meixi Town before, and even forced Gao Tianhe to bow his head, fundamentally because of the implicit power given to him by Tan Qiping.

  The potential power that each person can get by relying on Tan Qiping is ultimately determined by the intimacy ranking of the entire circle.

  Shen Huai kept a warm and attentive smile on his face, leaned over to whisper to Sun Yalin: "These past few days, in order to help Yi Xin Bank attract more clients, I've been so busy that I haven't had time to think about tea or food. You're being quite heartless, aren't you?"

  "What's wrong with you, have you grown a conscience? Look at the girls who've been ruined by you over the years. Even if you had a conscience, it would be too late for them now!" Sun Ya Lin gave Shen Huai a sideways glance and asked, "What exactly happened?"

  "Let's talk after dinner..." Shen Huai said.

  Looking at Shen Hua and Sun Ya Lin constantly whispering to each other, Zhou Ming raised his voice in discontent: "What secret do you two have that needs to be discussed by biting your ears for so long? It's really piqued our curiosity! If there's something good, share it with everyone!"

  "I've seen Shen Hua ruin those young women and girls over the years. Zhou Dake, you'd better keep a close eye on your wife and sister-in-law, Shen Hua is a sly fox who can't be trusted..." Sun Yalin said.

  Shen Huai was drinking tea when he didn't expect Sun Ya Lin to speak so harshly, a mouthful of tea choked his throat and eyes, just in time to lower his head slightly, spitting tea stains all over his body and the edge of the table.

  Yang Haipeng, Zhao Dong and Xiao Mingxia held back their smiles and turned their faces away.

  Zhou Ming scolded Sun Ya Lin with a sentence, and she was neither smiling nor not smiling, her face was awkwardly stuck there.

  It was Xiong Danni and Xiong Daling who were left with flushed faces, as if they had been caught having an illicit affair with Shen Hua. Sun Yalin's joke was a bit over the top, but they couldn't get angry because Sun Yalin simply didn't care about their opinions...

  Sun Ya Lin bared her teeth, and Su Kai also knew that she was not to be trifled with. Originally wanting to speak up for Zhou Ming, he now shut his mouth and remained silent.

  "Alright, don't go too far." Shen Huai warned Sun Ya Lin in a low voice, also afraid that she would speak sharply and make everyone disperse unhappily. Sun Ya Lin was unbridled and uninhibited, even if it were Tan Qiping, she might not necessarily want to look at his face and act accordingly, let alone look at Zhou Ming or Su Kaiwen's face when speaking, but this wouldn't be a good thing for him, at least on the surface everyone still had to maintain unity.

  Dishes were continuously served, and after eating for half an hour, Shen Hua went out to answer a phone call. Deputy Secretary Li Feng reported that the county had just issued a notice to prevent snow disasters, and other towns had already experienced house collapses...

  Shen Hua looked at the snowflakes outside the window and thought that Meixi Town should be fine, but other towns and areas of Donghua might not be so lucky.

  Shen Hua returned to the private room, Zhao Dong asked him: "Is it about disaster prevention? I still need to coordinate with Old Xu and Old Wang at the factory..."

  The steel mill is fine, except for a few weak points such as the bicycle shed and the power supply being interrupted due to the snowstorm. There aren't many places that need disaster prevention measures. Wang Kangsheng and Xu Wendao have already been arranged to keep watch at night. However, Zhao Dong didn't like the atmosphere at today's banquet and is looking for an excuse to leave early.

  Shen Huai Shun said, "The county just issued a disaster warning, this snow is rare in decades; I also want to go back to the town to take a look," he said to Su Kaiwen, "Sorry, today let Hai Peng and Zhou Ming accompany you, another day we'll find you to accompany Jingjing again."

  "It's okay, it's okay, work is important, everyone can understand." Su Kai said with a polite tone.

  Shen Huai saw Su Kuiwen's face revealing an inexplicable hypocrisy, and he didn't like him from the bottom of his heart, but he didn't say anything. Along with Zhao Dong and Xiao Mingxia, the three of them left Zhu Xi Hotel first.

  Xiao Mingxia had already gotten used to living with Zhao Dong in the steel factory dormitory, and Shen Hui also wanted to go to the steel factory first to take a look at the disaster situation. The three of them walked south along the street against the wind and snow.

  The street was covered with a thick layer of snow, and the north wind howled as it blew, the snow grains hitting my face painfully.

  Before long, Sun Yalin's phone call came over: "What's going on? I've been racking my brains for half a day at the dinner table, and I don't want to be tortured by curiosity all night."

  "We're on the road, won't you wait until I get home to call?" Shen Hua let Zhao Dong and Xiao Mingxia go ahead, he pinched his phone between his face and neck, talking to Sun Ya Lin: "What could it be? The Sun family kicked me out, the Song family doesn't welcome me either. I thought of turning over a new leaf and showing off in front of Tan Qiping, but I'm afraid old accounts will be dug up..."

  "What was I saying, I thought you'd done something else that's outrageous and hateful," Sun Yalin said on the phone without mercy, "But as I said, this is what you deserve. Have you ever thought about Xiaotang's situation over the past few years? Have you asked how Xiaotang has been doing over the past few years? I'm so angry I could stab you twice..."

  Listening to Cousin Sun Yalin's ruthless words, Shen Huai curled his lips. This should have been someone else's sin, but at this moment, a clear and beautiful girl's face flashed through his mind, causing Shen Huai's heart to ache inexplicably.

  Sun Yalin probably also thought of being angry and hung up the phone decisively.

  Listening to the "beep beep" empty sound on the other end of the phone, Shen Huan was also dazed for a moment: In the past, he thought that the sins of the previous Shen Huan were added to his head and had to be paid as a price. Now he felt that these were debts that the previous Shen Huan must repay before him.

  Tan Qiping is not a simple-minded person, nor is he someone who doesn't think much. Even if he has reached the point where his own "birth father" is disgusted and hateful towards him, can you still expect Tan Qiping to be on guard against him?

  Shen Hua put his mobile phone into the pocket of his jacket. He wasn't too worried about the "ugly affair" being exposed, but within their small circle, it would be difficult to shake off the label of "low moral character". Then where would his future path lead?

  It's probably necessary to create a new world outside of Tan Qiping's circle.

  Shen Huai thought again, what would Xiong Wenbin's attitude be? Tan Qiping didn't know the details, and naturally Xiong Wenbin wouldn't know either, but Tan Qiping's change in attitude was something that Xiong Wenbin should have been the first to sense.

  Listening to what Zhou Ming said, Su Kai learned that Dong Hua had come just two or three days ago. In these two or three days, Shen Huai did not take the initiative to call Xiong Wenbin, but Xiong Wenbin also did not take the initiative to call him...

  Thinking of this, Shen Huai also couldn't help but let out a light sigh: Xiong Wenbin has indeed become more realistic.