A creaking sound, and the door which hadn't been tightly closed was pushed open from outside.

  Xiong Wenbin and Zhao Dong were playing chess, Xiong Dailing stood behind her father to massage his back, while Xiong Wenbin's wife Bai Suimei held a rolling pin in her hand, standing at the kitchen door talking.

  They saw Shen Huai's door wasn't locked and just barged in, all looking at him with some curiosity.

  "Secretary Shen, is there something?" Bai Su Mei asked in puzzlement.

  Although Shen Huai also lived in the tube building, he was very disdainful of others. Bai Su Mei initially greeted this young man with a nod when she first met him, but after three or four times of being ignored, she developed an aversion to him; moreover, this young man's life was not decent.

  It had been half a year since they last exchanged greetings, so when he suddenly pushed open the door and walked in, Bai Su Mei couldn't help but feel surprised.

  Xiong Wenbin also found it strange, but he just turned his head to glance at Shen Huai and continued to move his chess pieces calmly.

  Zhao Dong was not as calm as Xiong Wenbin, they had just been chatting about Chen Mingde's sudden death from illness, and Shen Hua's previous fight with Ge Yongqiu's nephew at the municipal steel plant.

  This is probably the most talked-about thing in Donghua City for the past four or five days.

  Zhao Dong still had Shen Hua's phone number in his ticket holder, but they were also unclear about the more detailed situation. However, thinking that Chen Mingde died of illness, Shen Hua no longer had a backer, and if he didn't leave Donghua, there might not be good days to spend in the municipal government.

  A person cannot survive in isolation, especially when holding public office, and must have their own circle.

  Shen Hua couldn't just wait for Xiong Wenbin and Zhao Dong to come and accept him, knowing they wouldn't have a good impression of him. Changing this impression would be too difficult and would take time, so he decided to take the initiative and charge into their circle.

  Facing the doubts of a room full of people, Shen Hua smiled and said: "Director Xiong and Section Chief Zhao are playing chess!" He walked over with a thick face, leaned in to look at the chessboard, and said, "Section Chief Zhao's situation doesn't look good. You're not Director Xiong's match. How about I play a game with Director Xiong?"

  Zhao Dong originally had a somewhat good impression of Shen Hua, but after hearing him say that, the good impression shattered with a "pop".

  His chess skills are far inferior to Xiong Wenbin's, and he is well aware of it. In this entire building, no one can surpass Xiong Wenbin's chess skills, and even he has to sit down and let Xiong Wenbin slaughter him just to satisfy his chess addiction. However, Shen Hua, an outsider who doesn't know the rules, suddenly bursts in and says something like that, which is too abrupt and impolite.

  However, Zhao Dong is a humble person. Even if he's not pleased in his heart, he won't overreact. Seeing Shen Hui wanting to play chess with Xiong Wenbin, he thought it would be good for Director Xiong to take him down a peg, so he stood up and gave up his seat: "Secretary Shen wants to play chess? Okay, you come..."

  Xiong Dailing had never met Shen Huan before, and just heard her father mention this matter to Zhao Dong. She didn't have a good or bad impression of him in her heart. Seeing him being so rude as to drive Zhao Dong off the chessboard, she thought: What an arrogant guy!

  Xiong Dailing was too lazy to watch chess again, turned around and went into the kitchen to help her mother cook.

  Shen Huai's performance was quite strange, but Xiong Wenbin's face was calm as still water, wanting to reposition the chess pieces.

  "Let's continue," Shen Huan said with a smile, "Director Zhao's chess is not too weak either, both rooks and knights are still there."

  Presumptuous! Too presumptuous!

  Zhao Dong was secretly amused, his chess game had just begun, but he had already lost a cannon and disrupted the formation, even if Shen Hui had Hai Wen's professional-level chess skills, it would be difficult to reverse the disadvantage.

  Xiong Wenbin also did not make a sound.

  Shen Hua looked at the chessboard for a while, picked up the horse that had crossed the river, and jumped back two squares.

  This move alone made Xiong Wenbin secretly moved, arrogant is a bit arrogant, but it's just some qualifications for being arrogant.

  The blink of an eye, not only can see who will move first from the chess situation, but also quickly think out countermeasures to adjust and retract the unfavorable chess situation, this one move shows that his chess strength is indeed not weak.

  Shen Hui and Xiong Wenbin's sons fell quickly, the chariots crossed, the horses jumped, the soldiers marched, and the cannons flew. In the blink of an eye, they had fallen to a residual position.

  Zhao Dong saw that Shen Hua was able to play his stinky chess opening, and by the endgame, he had only one less pawn than Xiong Wenbin. He secretly felt that Shen Hua's chess skills were not necessarily weaker than Lao Xiong, and his arrogance was justified.

  Zhao Dong is that kind of person. Whoever is stronger than him, even if they are a bit arrogant, he won't find it hard to accept. He pulled over a chair and sat down to watch the chess game, completely absorbed in it.

  Xiong Dailing walked out of the kitchen and saw Shen Huai look up at her, asking: "Time to eat?" Then he turned his head and said to his father, "I lost this game of chess. After dinner, I'll play another game with Director Xiong..."

  I've seen shameless people before, but I've never seen anyone as shameless as this.

  Xiong Daling walked out of the kitchen to take a look, thinking that Shen Huan would go back after finishing his chess game, and they could have dinner together. But she didn't expect Shen Huan not to decline politely, but instead treated himself as a guest directly.

  Bai Su Mei had never seen anyone so shameless, but since Shen Huai had already said so, she couldn't drive him away. She could only walk out and arrange: "Let's eat first, after eating we can play chess, there's still time..."

  "I'll go back first, you guys set up." Shen Huan stood up and went back to his own room.

  Xiong Dailing collected the chess pieces with a bad temper and asked her father in a low voice: "Have you ever seen anyone so shameless?"

  Everyone was speechless and lost their smile, it's really unseen how shameless this is, but somehow it feels strange and not particularly annoying. Shen Huan's behavior was like that of a familiar neighbor who had been in contact for half a year, temporarily taking advantage of the convenience to have dinner here, nothing big deal.

  Looking at Xiong Dailing pouting, somewhat unhappy, Zhao Dong smiled and said: "I'm afraid Secretary Shen heard from somewhere that Teacher Bai's cooking skills are good!"

  Bai Su Mei just smiled and let her little daughter help bring out the bowls and plates.

  Shen Hua came over again soon, changed into a coat, and held two bottles of wine in his hand, saying: "I'm not good at drinking, but I heard that Director Xiong and Section Chief Zhao are both good drinkers. I don't know if the two bottles of wine left in my house will be enough..."

  The little girl came back, and Zhao Dong also came to visit, so Bai Su Mei specially made a good dish, and also rolled out a pot of wide noodles, which was a home-cooked meal.

  Before, he also joked with Shen Hua that Shen Hua took advantage of his family's free meal, but unexpectedly, Shen Hua brought two bottles of Maotai, and the cost of this wine alone was much more expensive than the dishes.

  Shen Huai ignored others' daze, took the wine bottle and went to the table, rolled up his sleeves, first opened a bottle of Maotai, and the pungent aroma filled the room.

  Even Xiong Dailing, who usually gets dizzy from the smell of wine, praised: "This is really good wine!"

  Zhao Dong had also drunk Maotai a few times before, but he had never seen such a strong and fragrant Maotai. Curious, he took the bottle from him and looked at it, finding no big difference with ordinary Maotai. He asked Xiong Wenbin: "Director Xiong, have you ever seen this kind of Maotai?"

  Xiong Wenbin took a glance at the wine bottle, didn't reach out to take it, shook his head and said: "Rarely seen."

  "It was also Mayor Chen who brought back a few bottles of special wine from his last trip to Yanjing; Mayor Chen had quit drinking and asked me to keep them for him, I secretly drank two bottles, didn't think...” Shen Huai said up to here, couldn't help but feel some sadness, speaking of Chen Mingde's treatment of him was really not bad.

  Xiong Wenbin and others did not have any feelings about Chen Mingde's sudden death, but for the sake of good wine, they also followed suit in silence.

  Shen Huai asked Zhao Dong again: "By the way, Director Zhao, what about Sun Haiwen's sister's case? Was there any result from the Municipal Steel Plant?"

  In the past four days, he secretly went to Mei Creek Town again to see Xiao Li, just looking at his sister from afar and returning to the city without making an excuse to ask about the handling of the accident.

  If Chen Mingde were still alive, he could have directly ordered the municipal steel factory to provide corresponding compensation. Now that Chen Mingde has passed away due to illness, Shen Huai thinks that Ge Yongqiu and his nephew are probably eager to avenge themselves on him, so the investigation into the accidental fall will naturally be shelved.

  "It was also thanks to Secretary Shen that he vetoed the investigation conclusion that day, and later Director Xiong also spoke up, and the steel factory agreed to pay for Little Li's living expenses and tuition until she started working..." Zhao Dong said.

  It's not about the money, the so-called living expenses are only one or two hundred a month. Shen Hua is more worried that Xiao Lei and Chen Dan will get entangled with the municipal steel factory over compensation, and end up losing out.

  After hearing that the matter had been resolved with the help of Xiong Wenbin, Shen Hua also put his mind at ease and said, "It's good this way..." He didn't even take a stand to express gratitude to Xiong Wenbin.

  "It's better to have Xiaolei come and live here," thought Bai Suimei, thinking of the little girl being left alone in Meixi Town, wiping away tears as she spoke, "Dai Ling will be going off to university soon and won't be coming back often... it's like having another daughter..."

  "What nonsense, Little Li has uncles and aunts in Meixi Town, what makes you think you can be her mother?" Xiong Wenbin retorted to his wife, furrowed his brow for a moment, then said to Zhao Dong, "When you go see Little Li next time, ask her if she wants to come to the city to attend school. This way, she can board at school on weekdays and return to Meixi or stay here on weekends..."

  Zhao Dong hadn't spoken yet, when Xiong Dailing hastily said: "What's the point of getting Zhao Dong involved? I'm not going back to school tomorrow either, I'll go to Mei Xi Town to see Xiao Li. I'll just ask her directly."

  "Right, I'm going to Mei Xi tomorrow too..." Shen Huai thought that through Xiong Wenbin and Zhao Dong, he could indirectly increase his closeness with Xiao Li without being too abrupt. When he heard Xiong Dailing say she was going to visit Xiao Li tomorrow, he didn't think much and said they should go together.

  "I wouldn't dare to trouble Secretary Shen with such a trivial matter." Xiong Dailing gave Shen Huai a sideways glance, unimpressed by his sudden enthusiasm. She had seen this kind of enthusiasm many times before, and Shen Huai was no exception.

  Shen Huai couldn't help but want to slap himself, as the young girl was going to Mei Xi Town, he closely followed her to join in on the fun. Wasn't he intentionally trying to provoke her into thinking more? He could only pretend to be calm and explain for himself, to the obviously confused Xiong Wenbin, saying: "I might have to go work in Mei Xi Town soon, so I thought I'd go familiarize myself with the situation first." It's not convenient to discuss these matters, come on, let's drink first, after drinking we can still play a game of chess with Director Xiong.

  Zhao Dong's eyes widened when Shen Huan told him he was going to work in Meixi Town, his curiosity was piqued, but he didn't dare ask further.

  Two bottles of Maotai were also given to Xiong Wenbin's lover, and the three people drank six liang of wine each, finishing quickly.

  After playing another game of chess, Shen Hua quickly checkmated Xiong Wenbin's old general in the endgame. He pushed the chess pieces away and stood up, laughing: "It's so late now, I won't disturb you all anymore..."

  Xiong Dailing didn't hide her glance at the wall clock, hinting that it was already so late.

  Shen Huai smiled inwardly and ignored Xiong Dailing's defiant expression, pushing the door open to leave first.

  Shen Hua walked out, and Zhao Dong suppressed his curiosity for a whole night before finally blurting out: "Chen Mingde just passed away, isn't the city being too quick to take action against Shen Hua?"

  Shen Hua went down to Meixi Town, and Zhao Dong naturally thought he was being kicked out of the municipal government as a counterattack.

  Thinking of Shen Hua's imposing manner when he punched Zhou Dazui at the municipal steel plant a few days ago, Zhao Dong secretly licked his tongue, feeling that the situation had turned around really quickly.

  "Maybe not," Xiong Wenbin shook his head, but after thinking about it again, he couldn't figure it out either, so he didn't say anything else. "He came to Donghua with Chen Mingde, and should have been able to return to the provincial city, but it's quite strange that he stayed in Donghua..."

  Zhao Dong was unfamiliar with Shen Hua before. He really got to know Shen Hua from the time when Shen Hua started beating up Zhou Dazui at the Municipal Steel Factory.

  One disagreement would lead to a big fight, which was not Zhao Dong's style. However, seeing Zhou Dàmǒu punch Shen Huai made him feel relieved and pleased. Moreover, Shen Huai had indeed helped them greatly, so he still had good feelings towards Shen Huai.

  Today Shen Hua started to make a scene, his shamelessness left people speechless, but the subsequent drinking was very lively. Except for Xiong Dailing being a bit temperamental, everyone else didn't seem to have any issues.

  Even if they gave Shen Huan a discount for dinner, they still got to drink good wine that they hadn't had the chance to drink before, and it was still a great deal. The key is that Xiong Wenbin also satisfied his chess addiction. Thinking of this, Zhao Dong said: "This Secretary Shen's chess skills are really not weak, it's been a long time since I've seen Director Xiong lose; if he stayed in the city, Director Xiong could find a chess partner..."

  Xiong Wenbin burst out laughing and played chess with relish, but it wasn't about winning or losing.

  Xiong Wenbin had little contact with Shen Huai before, and heard that his style was not correct. Usually, it was just a nod when meeting under the eaves, indeed a personality that looked down on others. But looking at his enthusiasm today, he suddenly felt that this young man was hard to figure out.

  "Was it Dai Ling's idea?" Bai Su Mei was a little wary of Shen Huai's sudden enthusiasm today, and said in a low voice, "Besides, Secretary Shen's style is not very upright..." Shen Huai's unorthodox style wasn't something Bai Su Mei had heard about, but rather something she had seen with her own eyes - several times, there were women who didn't seem quite right entering and exiting the house next door.

  Bai Su Mei felt more and more suspicious, fearing that Shen Huai would shift his attention to Dai Ling. Normally, Shen Huai was too lazy to even glance at them, but today when Dai Ling returned, he acted like a thief, earlier saying he wanted to accompany Dai Ling to Meixi Town.

  "Mom, what are you talking about?" Xiong Dailing saw them dragging the conversation to herself and became unhappy. "Whether he is upright or not has nothing to do with me, I don't even look up to him."

  "You have high aspirations," said Bai Su Mei, giving her young daughter a glance. "Remember, no dating allowed while in school, and after graduation, you'll return to Donghua to work. Don't think that just because your wings have grown, you can fly."

  "Who said anything about dating?" Xiong Dailing retorted.