The provincial capital in August lives up to its nickname 'furnace' with unbearable heat.
It's hot and dry in the north, and hot and humid here. Although the sun is bright and dazzling, and the heat is scorching, it seems like you can wring water out of the air.
On days like these, you feel a sense of superiority when you sit in an air-conditioned car and look at the pedestrians outside under the scorching sun, or when you are on an unairconditioned bus next to people fanning themselves with things.
If there is a beautiful girl in the passenger seat, and she is gentle and caring, your sense of happiness will be overwhelming.
But if it all comes too easily, you won't cherish it very much. For example, Ma Jiwei doesn't feel bursting with happiness right now. He feels annoyed.
The girl next to him is also irritated, cooing, 'Jiwei, how much longer do we have to wait? Why don't you go and check in front? No, forget it. Look at the heat, the road surface seems to be softened by the sun. Look, look, that section of the road surface, it's like the air is all distorted,'
This girl, Ma Dashao has been lingering with her at the resort outside the city for three days, and he is a little tired of her. Now, he is only half-listening to what she says. 'Damn it, it's not the city centre, and it's not rush hour. It's already two green lights, but why is there still no movement in front of us?'
It so happens that the car in front of him is a big bus, and he can't see anything happening at the intersection. He can only hear the sound of horns honking from there.
He guessed that there must have been a car jumping the queue, causing the traffic to come to a standstill.
The passengers on the bus in front of him were even more anxious than he was. Some were sweating, anxiously sticking their heads out the windows to look ahead, before sitting back down again, cursing.
Fortunately, when the fifth green light came on, three traffic police officers arrived on motorcycles, one of them with a policeman in a black hat. Ma Jiwai also noticed that a police car with flashing lights was slowly following behind.
When the seventh red light came on, the traffic finally slowly started to move. Ma Jiwai slowly moved forward about one parking space and saw a car turning right at the intersection ahead. It was an extended vehicle!
There were more than one, and the one following was the same. Needless to say, these two cars must be one of the culprits that caused the traffic jam earlier.
Like Americans, Chinese people like long and big cars. The girl next to him was stunned, 'Who is this, with such a big entourage, two cars at once,'
Compared to those two cars, Ma Jiwai also felt that his BMW, which was considered quite good, immediately became a small fry. So he said a little testily, 'What's the big deal? Maybe it's a used car that the wedding company got somewhere.'
As soon as he finished speaking, he was slapped in the face by the actions of the police.
Among the three traffic police motorcycles that had just arrived, one was now waiting in front of the two extended cars, looking absolutely set on clearing the way.
Ma Jiwai, a middle-aged man who had connections in both the government and the business world, and was considered a typical 'second generation', felt a little heat on his face and said resentfully, 'I don't know which one is the spendthrift,'
his sister, who was quite obedient, agreed, "Exactly, what's there to be arrogant about?'
Then Ma Jiwai slapped himself in the face.
The window of the car behind them rolled down, and a young man smiled and waved at the policeman by the roadside, and said something. Judging from the shape of his lips, it sounded like "thank you'.
The policeman with the pot belly under the tree by the roadside, who had taken off his hat to fan himself, immediately smiled as sweetly as if he had eaten a catty of honey, nodding diligently. Ma Jiwai noticed his police rank, two bars and two four-cornered stars, a second-level police inspector.
The second-level police inspector had such a good attitude, so it seems that the people in the car really have some status. Who is it?
He immediately looked again at the person next to the nearly closed window, and thought he looked familiar. After the motorcycles in the two cars leading the way had gone, he finally remembered, 'It's him, he can still be a bit of a show-off,'
'Ah, what?' The girl was a little slow to respond. This man next to her had always been proud and aloof, and this was the first time since they started dating that she had heard him say something so submissive.
'It's nothing,' Ma Jiwei also turned right at the intersection and followed him. He could guess where Feng Yiping was going.
'Aren't you going to Sweet Sweet to eat? Why are you going this way?'
'Don't you want a good seat at the concert in October? It's just in time to go find him,'
'You mean, the person just now was the boss of Jiasheng, no, the boss's son?' Thinking of the young face just now, the girl corrected herself.
Of the two cars, naturally, the six of Feng Yiping and their friends were in one, and the three Musketeers were in the other. In the car in front, Huang Jingping and her sister and Zheng Jiayi were sitting.
'I feel that the time before the traffic lights is the most precious, more precious than the time we spent taking our exams in high school and college. Every second counts,' Xiao Zhijie said.
'Yes, we were trying to grab those few seconds, but it ended up delaying us for more than ten minutes,' Wang Changning said, holding a stemmed glass in his hand. It looked very stylish, except that it was filled with cola, not red wine.
'It was so hot, so I guess everyone's temper was a bit higher,' Feng Yiping said with a smile.
If it weren't for the high level of the drivers of these two cars, they would have just crashed into the car that suddenly changed lanes.
'Temper at intersections, beware that you won't have time to lose your temper in the future,' Xiao Zhijie still seemed a little angry.
'I don't think that's what you're angry about. Don't worry, Qiuling is waiting at the hotel, you'll be at most 20 minutes late to meet her,' Wang Changning said with a smile.
Xiao Zhijie immediately retorted, 'You're no different, are you?'
In the car, Zheng Jiayi stretched, 'Finally here. No matter how good the car is, after sitting in it for more than ten hours, it's still uncomfortable,'
Huang Jingping patted her waist, "Yes, it's a good thing we stayed for a night in the middle, otherwise it would have been really tough,'
Huang Qinping, who was lying on her stomach looking out of the window, turned her head and smiled at Zheng Jiayi and said, "Zheng Jiejie, isn't your family in the provincial capital? Where are you getting off?'
Huang Jingping tapped her sister, 'We're going to have lunch together at noon,'
'Yes, I also want to go to Yiping's hotel and have a look,' Zheng Jiayi has been practicing for some time.
During the month or so she had been in the capital, Huang Qinping had been somewhat hostile towards her since they first met, often pretending to be innocent as a child to stab her with a few words.
As a university student, she of course didn't want to argue with a junior high school student, so the result was often that the daughter of the mayor at university would often lose out to the daughter of the deputy mayor at junior high school.
Later, Zheng Jiayi gained some experience and did what she was supposed to do no matter what Huang Qinping said, which instead often made Huang Qinping angry.
Looking from Yanjiang Avenue, the Jiasheng Holiday Hotel is no longer the same as it was before the New Year when I went to the capital. The exterior decoration is complete, and the surrounding roads and landscaping have been finished. You can no longer see large and small construction vehicles and piles of various materials. Anyone who doesn't know the details would think that the hotel has already been put into use.
In fact, it's almost the same. Starting in the middle of next month, it will be soft opened. Now the interior decoration has also been completed. According to plan, these days, they are placing furniture and appliances in the guest rooms.
As soon as the car arrived at the hotel entrance, Zhang Qiuling and Yu Lian ran out, and Xiao Zhijie and Wang Changning hurried over with smiles on their faces. 'No tutoring today?'
'I took leave,'
'Not working today?'
'I took a day off,'
They were all saying very insipid things. The feelings of separation were all in the eyes they met and the hands they held.
Behind them, Xiao Sheng and Xu Bin came out smiling, Mei Yiliang put his hands on his nephew's shoulders, looked around, nodded, 'District Chief Sun is here too, go say hello to him,'
'Sister, is this big hotel all owned by Brother Yiping?' Huang Xinping asked.
Huang Jingping nodded.
'So if I come here in the future, can I stay here?'
'Yes, just ask for me then,' Xu Bin came over, 'or shall I show everyone around?'
'Mr Xu, this is Zheng Jiayi, the daughter of our mayor,' Huang Jingping took Zheng Jiayi's hand, who was also visiting for the first time, and introduced her to Xu Bin.
'Hello Zheng, I've heard a lot about you, and I often hear Yiping talk about you,' Xu Bin said politely, as he naturally did not dare to neglect the daughter of the mayor of the boss's hometown.
But he didn't know that his words were just a little bit impolite.
Accompanied by his secretary, District Chief Sun was also walking towards the exit at this time. Feng Yiping smiled and extended his hand, saying, 'Hello, District Chief Sun, it's been a long time!'
'Yes, it's been a long time, so I came here especially to greet you today,' said District Chief Sun, shaking Feng Yiping's hand vigorously.