Chapter 9: One Slap Does Not Make a Sound (Part 1)

  The county party committee meeting was in full swing, while in another corner of the county town, the Nightclub was also booming.

  On the dimly lit stage of a bar, multicolored lights spinning around, amidst deafening music, a man wearing a floral shirt used all his might to shout hoarsely "You don't have to say too much, you know it yourself, what we want to do, don't worry about many things and don't be sad, after all one day you will understand me~~~"

  "This is Hei Bao's "No Place to Hide", at that time China's rock music was in its golden age, and heavy metal music filled the air."

  Qijie sat in the far corner of a yellow soft sofa, holding a cup of orange-yellow drink, smiling and watching the singer on stage who was shouting with a red face and thick neck. Under her red windbreaker, her delicate high-heeled black boots tapped on the deep red floor in rhythm with the music.

  On the other side of the round tea table, Li Xiaocui opened a can of Coke with a "pop" and poured the red-black liquid into her mouth. She looked at Qi Jie with a mixture of emotions, still feeling dizzy after more than a month. How did Tang Yi become the county party secretary? Li Xiaocui wasn't unaware that he would have a bright future, but his rocket-like rise to power was truly astonishing.

  However, Li Xiaocui no longer dared to mention Tang Yi to Qijie. When she called Qijie to verify the news, Qijie directly said: "The new county party secretary Tang Yi? I don't know him, my friend Xiao Yi is a student." Li Xiaocui understood and never mentioned Tang Yi again. The Tang Yi on TV was indeed different from the one Li Xiaocui knew, wearing black-rimmed glasses, he looked mature and had a scholarly air about him, very much like an academic leader.

  Li Xiaocui didn't like this deafening metal music, glanced at the watch on her wrist, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon, turned to Qijie and said loudly: "Qijie, let's go eat!"

  "Huh?" The music was too loud, Qijie didn't hear her clearly. At this time the music slowly stopped, and the bar erupted in warm applause, the male singer smiled and bowed, Li Xiaolu let out a breath of relief, she really couldn't stand staying in such a noisy environment any longer, and loudly repeated what she had just said to Qijie again.

  Qijie nodded slightly, picked up the exquisite LV handbag on the table, and prepared to go out. At that time, LV had not yet opened a branch in China, let alone Yanshan, even in Yanjing, it was only available in foreign trade stores. Qijie's handbag was naturally given by Tang Yi. When Li Xiaoliu and Yao Xiaohong saw it, they had the same reaction, admiring it lovingly, and after being amazed by its beauty, they asked her where she bought it, how much it cost, etc., all of which Qijie evaded.

  Qijie had just stood up, and her eyebrows were already furrowed. Li Xiaocui followed her line of sight and saw that the male singer who had just taken his bow was being held by a girl's arm on the side of the stage. The two were intimately chatting about something. The girl was probably in her early twenties, looked quite pretty, with big wavy hair, a colorful bat-wing shirt, and jeans. It was the most avant-garde rebellious girl image at that time. However, if Tang Yi saw it, he would definitely laugh and think it was too outdated, pursuing trends without knowing how to create his own image.

  Li Xiaocui's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Qijie had fallen in love with someone else and was now infatuated with the singer. She secretly cursed her luck, thinking to herself "Sister, you'd better not play with fire, or else when Tang Shuji sets his evil intentions on me again, who will I complain to?"

  But Qijie's next sentence dispelled Li Xiaolu's doubts: "The girl over there seems to be Junzi's girlfriend, let's go take a look." Li Xiaolu breathed a sigh of relief at the same time and was somewhat resentful of herself for being stupid. Even if Qijie was someone who had a roving eye, she wouldn't have taken a liking to a singer performing in a bar, would she? He was just an actor from the county song and dance troupe, with a monthly salary of only a few hundred yuan, which was barely enough to make ends meet. Now that he was singing in a bar, he could earn some extra money on the side, but compared to Tang Yi, he was several rungs lower on the social ladder.

  The singer and the girl sat down in the seats next to the stage, the girl saw Qi Jie and Li Xiaolu walking over, was taken aback for a moment, her face looked unnatural, but still smiled and greeted: "Sister Qi, you came alone? Why didn't you bring your boyfriend?"

  The singer saw Qijie's eyes light up and stood up with a smile on his face: "Hong Na, is this your friend?"

  Qijie didn't take the singer's outstretched hand and said to the girl, "Xiao Na, didn't you come with Junzi?"

  The girl's name is Li Hongna, she is Junzi's childhood sweetheart and girlfriend. Like Junzi, she loves to hang out on the streets, and naturally, she is also a regular at the nightclub. However, Qi Jie rarely comes here, so they haven't met before.

  Recently, Junzi seems to have changed his ways, going to work every day like a good boy. Li Hongna was born to have fun, but without Junzi by her side, she got to know the nightclub singer Hu Kai through friends. Hu Kai sings well and knows how to make girls happy, so Li Hongna quite likes playing with him.

  As for Hu Kai, he has become a regular at the nightclub, gradually becoming the main attraction of the night scene, performing over ten times a month, earning thousands of yuan. After being poor all his life, now that he has some money, he's a bit extravagant. Moreover, many young women and girls like to drink and chat with him, making him feel extremely good about himself.

  Qizhi said something about Junzi, Hu Kai curled his lips. He had heard of Junzi, Li Hongna's boyfriend, a temporary worker at the Public Security Bureau. If he wanted to intervene in this kind of person's girlfriend before, he would have to think twice, but now who is he? The pillar of Ye Menglong, what place is Ye Menglong? That's where the head of the Public Security Bureau and the section chief came to speak politely, it's said that Manager Yao and Director Chen of the Public Security Bureau had a special relationship, so naturally, the pillar of Ye Menglong would not put the temporary worker of the Public Security Bureau in his eyes.

  "Hu Ge, she is Qi Jun's sister." Li Hongna introduced both parties, "Qi Jie, this is Hu Kai."

  When he heard that the stunning beauty in front of him was Qi Jun's sister, Hu Kai immediately smiled and said: "Ah, so you're Miss Qi. I'm just a regular friend of Hong Na's, please take a seat." He elegantly offered his seat to Qi Jie. After seeing Qi Jie, he couldn't help but compare her to Li Hong Na, who suddenly didn't seem as beautiful anymore. Looking at Qi Jie's stunning appearance, demeanor, and temperament, which was even more captivating than the refined movie stars on screen, Hu Kai's confidence instantly soared, and he quickly set his sights on pursuing Qi Jie. To avoid any misunderstanding, he promptly distanced himself from Li Hong Na, lest the beauty think she was his brother's love rival.

  Li Hongna let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, Qi Jie, I just like listening to Hu Ge's songs, I guess you could say I'm a fan." In fact, she still liked Qi Jun, and being with Hu Kai was just because Qi Jun had been busy lately and hadn't had time to accompany her, so she felt bored. Of course, she and Hu Kai didn't have any substantial physical contact either.

  Qijie nodded and sat down with Li Xiaocui, while Hu Kai called the waiter to bring drinks. Qijie ignored Hu Kai's busy movements and turned to Li Hongna: "Xiaona, I haven't seen you come home lately, is everything okay between you and Junzi? Did he do something wrong? Tell me and I'll scold him." Qijie knew that although Li Hongna was a bit crazy, she was actually a kind girl, otherwise she wouldn't have taken care of her and Qijun's affairs.

  Mentioning Qi Jun, Li Hongna felt a wave of annoyance, using a straw to stir the ice cubes in her cup, and hesitated: "Sis, I... never mind, forget it."

  Qijie smiled and said, "Forget it, just say what you want to say, I'll make the decision for you." As she spoke, she took Li Hongna's cup in front of her and smiled, "Don't interrupt, it's not Junzi."

  Li Hongna's face turned red, and she said: "Sister, I'll just say it straight out. I think Junzi doesn't like me anymore. Lately, when I try to find him, he always ignores me, saying he's busy with work, busy with work. Isn't that just an excuse? He's so busy that he doesn't even have time to accompany his girlfriend?"

  Qijie smiled and thought to herself, "This soldier is also like this. Even if you're a down-to-earth person, you don't have to neglect your girlfriend." But Qijie couldn't tell her the whole story, so she avoided the main point and laughed: "Xiaona, you're wronging Junzi. He's busy, why is he busy? Isn't it all for you? He's working hard to get a promotion, think about it, do you want a kid who can play with you all day or a reliable man?"

  Li Hongna furrowed her brow and thought for a long time before saying, "I want him to play with me!" which made Li Xiaocui, who had been silent the whole time, burst out laughing.

  Qijie hadn't finished speaking, but Hu Kai had already brought over the drinks and personally opened a can for her, placing it in front of her. "Miss Qiji, please." He was the epitome of a gentleman.

  "Miss Qi, you two don't seem to be regulars here." Hu Kai sat down and smiled as he chatted with Qi Jie and Li Xiaocui.

  Qijie was thinking about how to get rid of Li Hongna, and didn't have the heart to deal with him. She hummed in agreement, but Li Xiaocui smiled and said: "You're wrong, we come here often."

  Hu Kai's face was filled with astonishment, and he exclaimed in a somewhat exaggerated tone: "No way! How could I have not noticed these two beautiful women before? My eyes should be dug out and fed to the dogs!" Li Xiaocui couldn't help but giggle at his words, saying: "You're really good at talking."

  Hu Kai shook his head repeatedly and said, "It's not that I'm good at talking, but what I say is all true." He saw that Qi Jie was ignoring him, so he turned his eyes and had an idea. He turned to Qi Jie and said, "Miss Qi, when it comes to relationships between men and women, having some disagreements is a small matter and very common. Don't worry, I'll advise Hong Na later." Then he said to Li Hong Na, "Hong Na, you often mention Junzi when we're together. If you really like him, you should cherish him. It's okay to throw a tantrum, but don't be unreasonable, or you might regret it later."

  Li Hongna glared at him with a bad temper, thinking to herself that this person was being unreasonable. She had often advised herself to break up with Junzi, but now he was saying the same thing in front of Qi Jie, and she didn't know what kind of trick he was trying to pull.

  Qijie listened to Hu Kai speaking on behalf of Junzi, and smiled at him with gratitude. The charming smile like a sea peach made Hu Kai's heart beat wildly, his heart felt like it had been scratched by a cat, itching unbearably, thinking that this little woman was too seductive, if he could sleep with her for one night, he would be willing to live a few years less.