"I have to admit, you have a very smart mind."
Bai Zhe complimented him casually, which made Chen Ping smile sheepishly.
Then Bai Zhe glanced at a van parked in front of the door, and turned around and said: "Okay, you can go to the town to report to me tomorrow, but let's talk ugly up front. The salary is currently only 500, so it counts as mine. How about a private car driver?"
Chen Ping rubbed his hands, nodded and smiled: "Okay, as long as there is food to eat, Mayor Bai, I will fight wherever you point me."
"Haha, okay, I'm very satisfied with your energy."
Bai Zhe looked back at Lao Wang and said to Chen Ping: "As the saying goes, a prodigal son never pays for his return. As long as you are willing to follow me and work hard, I can't guarantee your success in the future, but at least it will make your life more comfortable than others."
"Mayor Bai's words put my heart at ease, and I will be with you from now on."
"Okay, then we won't disturb you. No need to send you off. Let's go back quickly."
After saying that, he got on Xiao Mulan and carried Xiao Li, and gradually disappeared into the night under Chen Ping's distant gaze.
Looking at Bai Zhe's leaving figure, Chen Ping murmured: "A person who can earn 830,000 yuan per trip without even blinking an eye has to ride a small motorcycle to come to the office. What have I seen?" It’s called low-key.”
He looked at his van and said casually: "Tomorrow I will drive this van as Mayor Bai's car."
Old Chen came up and said, "That's superficial. I don't even care about a Rolls-Royce. How can I ride in a shabby car like yours?"
Chen Ping scratched his head and said, "That doesn't matter, I recognize him anyway."
…
"Sister Rui, Xiao Li, Lao Wang, it's getting late, you all should go back. I can go back by myself on my bicycle, so there's no need to send them away."
"Bai Zhe, can you really ride a bike on such a dark road?"
Bai Zhe waved his hand: "Don't worry, it's okay."
At the gate of the town government, the three people insisted on sending Bai Zhe back, but Bai Zhe insisted on persuading them to go back.
Lao Wang and Dong Xiaorui couldn't resist, so they had to give up, bid farewell to Bai Zhe and Li Ke, and walked in the other direction.
Under the streetlight, only Li Ke was left by his side.
"Brother Zhe, you'd better park your bike inside, we'll ride my car back, and you'll ride back to pick me up tomorrow, how about it?"
"Hey, this is a solution."
After being reminded by Xiao Li, Bai Zhe felt that this method was indeed feasible.
After all, Xiao Li also lives on the edge of the county town, so it's easy to say.
So after Bai Zhe put his car in the parking shed, he picked up Xiao Li again and started to drive home.
It was already mid-March, and although the evening wind was no longer strong, it was still a little chilly.
Li Ke rested his head on Bai Zhe's back and held Bai Zhe's waist tightly with his hands.
The bursts of warmth coming from his back let Bai Zhe know that this little girl was greedily enjoying the short-term happiness again.
[Let all trivial matters go with the wind. Cherishing the present is the most fortunate thing. 】
"Xiao Li, what happened that night between you and Li Li?"
Bai Zhe asked the biggest question in his mind, just to pass the awkward atmosphere.
Li Ke leaned on Bai Zhe's back and shook his head, saying nothing.
[I don’t want to say it, but I can guarantee that I love you purely and without any professional interests. 】
Bai Zhe smiled. He knew that this girl was probably thinking wrongly. He had never suspected her in this way.
[Okay, I won’t ask if I don’t want to talk. 】
"Then you can tell me about your family situation. That's okay."
Li Ke's information unit has it, but Bai Zhe doesn't like to inquire about other people's private affairs.
I just know that Li Ke comes from a single-parent family. He was assigned to a work unit right after graduating from college. He is only 25 years old now.
"Brother Zhe, actually my mother's surname is not Li, it's my father's surname."
"What about your father? Where did he go?"
"my dad……"
Li Ke paused. The memory of her father was a few silhouettes in her limited childhood memory.
"I don't know either, but I'm sure he's not dead."
Bai Zhe frowned and asked, "Since he's not dead, why doesn't he come and recognize you mother and daughter?"
"Maybe he also has his own unspeakable secrets." Li Ke murmured.
Then he slowly said: "My mother is a very virtuous woman. She has taken great care of me since I can remember. She once said that women are the greatest in the world. If you stick to the obsessions in your heart, you can be alone. lifetime."
Bai Zhe deeply believed in what Li Ke said.
"Yes, every mother is very great. Women are soft by nature, but mothers are strong. I agree with your mother's view."
Li Ke looked up at the back of Bai Zhe's head and asked, "Brother Zhe, can you tell me why my father is so heartless? He can abandon his mother and me and ignore us for decades?"
Bai Zhe could only respond to this question with a wry smile: "Yeah, maybe like you said, he has his own unspeakable secrets."
"But at least he gave my mother a message? He left without even saying a word."
Bai Zhe also felt sad for Li Ke's life experience, and could only reluctantly comfort him: "That's not necessarily true. Maybe he is paying attention to you in a corner that you don't know, but you just don't know."
Then he sighed deeply and said: "Actually, it's not easy for a man. In addition to family, career, and responsibilities, many times he can't even take care of himself, but he still thinks about others. I understand this very well. "
"What do you feel? Are you talking about Lingzhou's Secretary Qin?"
This is a thorn in Li Ke's heart, but it is also the most difficult knot for Bai Zhe to let go of at the moment.
Bai Zhe couldn't deny it: "There is her, but there are others."
Li Ke comforted him: "Brother Zhe, in fact, you can marry Secretary Qin. After all, she comes from a prominent family. This way you can save at least thirty years of hard work."
Bai Zhe immediately asked Li Ke: "Then why don't you agree to Li Li's proposal?"
When Li Ke heard this, he blushed and defended: "I am different from you. I am a woman after all. I don't want to be like my mother, who was abandoned by a man and suffered for the rest of my life."
"Both of us are from the same place in the world. In fact, we are the same. Although I am a man, I still cannot hold my head high in front of Qin Shuya's family background. We all want to live with dignity."
Li Ke nodded: "Yes, live with dignity."
Immediately, the two of them were relatively speechless, each thinking about their own thoughts.
Soon, we arrived at the entrance of Li Ke's courtyard.
Bai Zhe saw that this was a farmer's house on the outskirts of the county. It had a small yard and was squeezed in the middle of all the two-story buildings. It was a tile-roofed house built in the 1980s.
"Brother Zhe, go in and have a drink before leaving."
Before Bai Zhe could speak, he heard a shout from the yard.
"Ke'er, why are you getting off work so late today?"
Then Bai Zhe saw a middle-aged woman in her forties who still combed her hair meticulously walking out of the yard.
She was wearing a dark red cardigan, a pair of dark high-waisted shaping pants, and a pair of white sneakers. Her spotless appearance gave people a very approachable and energetic impression.
Li Ke rushed over and said, "Mom, the unit worked overtime today, so I came a little late. This is our leader. I'm afraid of the dark when walking at night, so Mayor Bai came here to see me off."
Bai Zhe smiled politely and nodded at Li's mother: "Hello, Auntie, I will feel relieved after you send Li Ke home. I will go back now, and I will pick her up to go to work tomorrow."
"Is this your leader? He looks so handsome. He's already at your doorstep. Get out of the car and go sit inside."
Mother Li quickly went up and took Bai Zhe's hand.
She has a light natural fragrance on her body, which smells very good.
Bai Zhe looked at Li Xie awkwardly and smiled.
Li Ke was afraid that his mother would be too enthusiastic and frighten Bai Zhe, so he quickly stopped her and said, "Oh mom, our leader is in a hurry to go home so late."
Mother Li turned to Li Ke and said, "You are such an ignorant child, and the leader cares so much about you, why don't you even let him drink the water?"
"Okay, it's better to obey your orders than to be respectful. I'll just go in and sit down."
Bai Zhe had no choice but to park the car and follow Mother Li's warm invitation to the upper room.
The home is not big, with floors and a set of sofas and a coffee table in the main room. As soon as Bai Zhe entered the house, he smelled the faint fragrance in the house, and saw a long row of potted plants placed in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows. The furnishings in the house felt particularly warm.
It is not difficult to see that Mrs. Li is definitely a delicate middle-aged woman. She keeps her small home in order without any blind spots.
Lifting his eyes, a group of artistic photos caught Bai Zhe's attention, so he stepped forward to pick them up and look at them carefully.
There is a photo above, which is a photo of a young man and a very beautiful woman. In front of them, a half-year-old baby is lying in front of them with an innocent smile.
Mother Li came out with hot water and put it gently on the coffee table. Then she walked to Bai Zhe's side and noticed the photo.
She sighed softly and said: "Li Ke was still young at that time. After her father said goodbye in a hurry when she was three years old, he never came back to see her again. Thinking about it, it has been more than 20 years, but it is just painful. This child has been without a father since he was a child."
[Li Simin, I will never forget this name. 】
Bai Zhe looked up at this old house and said, "Have you always lived here?"
Mother Li sat down slowly and said, "No, I live here because of Li Ke. I have changed my household registration three times before. My natal family is from Xinxian County. My parents died early and I haven't been back to see them for a long time."
Xinxian County is also a small county on the border with Lingzhou. It falls under the jurisdiction of Xinzhou City next door and is 200 kilometers away from Wenwu County.
This is not difficult to understand. It is estimated that Li Simin, as mentioned by Li’s mother, would not be able to find them...
etc!
【Li Simin? 】
Bai Zhe looked at Mother Li in surprise.
"Are you sure Li Ke's father's name is Li Simin?"
Mother Li laughed and said, "That can still be fake. I can't forget his name even if I have Alzheimer's disease."
After saying this, Mother Li was stunned, looked at Bai Zhe and asked, "Why do you know him?"
Then Bai Zhe knew that he might have been rash and shouldn't have directly spoken out what he heard from her.
But there really was a Li Simin in his memory, and he was a big shot.
