Chen Bin imdiately shared his idea.
"Our Qingshi County lacks a symbolic landmark. Why not have soone carve the shape of Qingshi Mountain onto a huge rock, and then you write the three characters ’Qingshi County’ on it? That way, it’ll be preserved for generations."
Wang Jun nodded, clearly very satisfied with the idea.
"Alright, let’s do it your way. But I better start practicing my calligraphy; otherwise, it’ll be embarrassing if my writing turns out horrible."
After making the decision, Wang Jun brought it up during the county party committee eting.
He even went out of his way to credit the idea to Yang Lin.
When everyone raised their hands in approval, Yang Lin was visibly pleased.
After all, ever since Wang Jun assud office, everyone said that Qingshi County belonged to Wang Jun.
Having offended Wang Jun in the past, Yang Lin felt he was dood to have a hard ti.
After thinking it over, Yang Lin ca up with the statue idea as a way to curry favor with Wang Jun.
Now that Wang Jun had chosen a compromise and even ntioned it to everyone,
the ssage was quite clear—there wasn’t much of a feud between them.
Once the decision was finalized, Yang Lin imdiately invited two of the best sculptors from Yanxi Province to personally co to Qingshi County to select the stone material.
From then on, every day after work, Wang Jun started holing up in his dorm to practice calligraphy.
After dinner that night, with nothing else to do, Chen Bin suddenly rembered he hadn’t visited He Chaoping’s ho this week.
He took a cab there and rang the doorbell. Not long after, He Beibei opened the door.
Walking into the living room and noticing there was no sign of Zheng Najiao, Chen Bin couldn’t help but ask,
"Where’s your mom?"
He Beibei casually replied, "She got a call just now and went out. She’ll probably be back soon."
As they talked, the two of them walked into the room together.
Just as Chen Bin sat down on a chair, He Beibei suddenly turned her head and stared at him intently.
"I heard from my dad that you broke up with your girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend?"
Chen Bin was montarily stunned before recalling what had happened between him and Xie Chujing.
He nodded lightly, "Yeah, that’s right. What about it?"
"Why did you two break up?"
"We just didn’t feel compatible, so we broke up. Why does there have to be a reason?"
"Then what about us?"
"What?"
"I an, do you like ?"
As she asked the question, He Beibei’s face instantly turned pink.
But she stubbornly kept her eyes locked on Chen Bin’s.
Looking at her innocent and charming face, Chen Bin nodded.
"Of course I like you!"
In his eyes, a kid like He Beibei had no idea what liking soone really ant.
So he casually brushed the topic aside with a perfunctory reply.
But to his surprise, He Beibei didn’t take it that way. She tightly gripped the edges of her clothes, her breathing growing rapid.
"Actually... I like you too."
Ruffling her hair, Chen Bin chuckled and said,
"If you like , then study hard and get into a good university soday."
Feeling Chen Bin’s touch, He Beibei’s mind beca a chaotic ss.
She quickly lowered her head, not daring to et his eyes.
She never expected her very first confession since childhood to succeed so easily.
Her heroic big brother actually liked her too!
At that mont, Beibei even started wondering if Chen Bin’s breakup with Xie Chujing might have had sothing to do with her.
If that were the case, wouldn’t that make her a howrecker?
Shaking her head, Beibei felt a mix of excitent and conflict.
She didn’t want to be a howrecker, but she also didn’t want to part from her heroic brother.
For the next while, Chen Bin found himself puzzled.
Whether they were discussing a problem or chatting, Beibei seed completely distracted.
Just as his frustration peaked, the phone suddenly rang.
Noticing it was a call from He Chaoping, Chen Bin quickly answered.
Surprisingly, the voice on the other end belonged to Zheng Najiao.
"Secretary Chen, Old He just finished a social engagent and accidentally fell, hitting his head. After being sent to the hospital, the doctor said he’d need to be hospitalized for a few days for observation. Would you mind watching over Beibei for a few days?"
Chen Bin imdiately responded, "Is he seriously hurt? Should I go see him?"
"No need! It’s probably just a short hospital stay, but soone needs to stay by his side. Beibei doesn’t feel safe sleeping alone at night, so could you help us out by looking after her for a few days? Sorry for the trouble."
Chen Bin understood that, since the He family had moved from Tianhe City to Tianhai, they didn’t have any close acquaintances around.
The only person they were relatively familiar with was himself.
Since Zheng Najiao had asked so earnestly, he could only reluctantly agree.
"Sure, I’m at your house tutoring Beibei right now. I’ll pass the phone to her."
"Alright!"
With that, Chen Bin handed the phone to Beibei.
"It’s your mom."
She dumbly took the phone, responding to her mother’s arrangents with a few "mmhmm"s and saying little else.
It took a while before Beibei finally snapped back to her usual self.
With a playful huff, she turned to Chen Bin, once again her mischievous self.
"You better take good care of ! If I end up starving and losing weight, I’ll tell my parents it’s all your fault!"
Chen Bin shook his head with a helpless laugh.
"How did you suddenly turn into a freeloader?"
"Yup, I’m freeloading off you. What’re you gonna do about it?"
Kids sotis act this way—the more they care about soone, the more they like to tease them.
It’s their way of drawing attention to themselves.
But Chen Bin didn’t realize this at all. Instead, he responded seriously,
"You little brat, you’d better behave. Your mom said that if you don’t, I’m allowed to punish you."
Beibei pouted, her face full of defiance.
"Punish ? Go ahead! I dare you to try!"
Seeing that intimidation wouldn’t work, Chen Bin decided to change tactics.
With a gentler tone, he said, "How about this? I’ll treat you to a midnight snack if you behave. Deal?"
Beibei’s eyes lit up, and she imdiately nodded.
"Deal! But I want fried chicken!"
Without further ado, Chen Bin ordered takeout.
When it ca ti to enter the address, he handed her the phone.
After entering it, she claid she didn’t like the flavor and wanted to change it.
"Fine, just hurry up. Once it’s done, get back to your howork!"
After the order was placed, Beibei finally went back to normal.
She even picked up the pace with her howork.
One wrote, while the other explained—the atmosphere was relatively harmonious.
Not long after, the fried chicken arrived.
Chen Bin opened the box and froze.
"Oh my god, why is it so spicy?!"
"Well, I love super spicy food! Here, this drumstick is for you."
Beibei didn’t seem fazed at all and even offered him so in a show of goodwill.
Seeing her act so considerate, Chen Bin felt a swell of pride.
Kids are just kids—a bit of fried chicken, and they’re happy. What a bargain!
After eating for a while, both of their faces were flushed from the spiciness.
Beibei grabbed a box of milk and started drinking it by herself.
Chen Bin, sucking in sharp breaths, asked, "Is there more? Can you get one? This is way too spicy!"
"Sure, I’ll grab one for you."
When Beibei ca back, she had a glass of ice water in hand.
"Sorry, there was only one box of milk left. Here, have this instead."
Chen Bin didn’t think twice, taking the glass and drinking deeply.
The ice water soothed the burn instantly.
Beibei took the cup back and smiled sweetly.
"I’ll go refill it."
Chen Bin nodded, praising her for being so sensible.
What he didn’t realize was that, as soon as Beibei turned away, a mischievous, impish smile spread across her face...
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