Chapter Six: Steal an Early Moment

  In fact, the greatest gain from studying and training in official circles is not how much knowledge you acquire, but rather that you can take the opportunity to get to know many people and expand your social circle. Therefore, there is no such thing as self-study after dinner, and it's common for leaders of this county to invite district officials to drink or for directors to invite county magistrates to sing songs at social gatherings. As a young and beautiful female deputy county head, Fan Yiyuan receives many invitations of this kind, and even when she is having dinner with Fei Chai and his wife, several groups of people come over to chat her up. Each time, Fan Yiyuan introduces Fei Chai to them, and everyone says, "Teacher Fei should come along too."

  Fei Chi smiled and nodded at each of them, but did not explicitly agree, because he knew that these people were not genuinely inviting him. Later, after finishing dinner, Fan Yiyen said: "Teacher Fei, later you and your wife will take my car, okay?"

  You Qian is actually a playful person, and she looks pretty, so she's still very popular when going out to play. Also wants to touch the bottom of Fan Yiyen, just about to agree, but heard Fei Chai say: "I won't go, I have to prepare lessons tonight."

  Youqian listened, felt a bit disappointed, but then thought about it and said: "Then you're not going, I won't go either. I'll stay in the room with you." She didn't need to say this, but once she did, it revealed that she was a woman who loved to have fun. Originally, there was no reason for her to attend the gathering, and even the firewood was just a free ride for her. If one section was missing, there was really no reason to go again.

  But Fan Yiyen deliberately put on a serious face and said, "Teacher Fei, this is where you're wrong. We understand that you don't want to prepare lessons, but you can't let our teacher's wife accompany you too."

  Fei Chai smiled and said: "I didn't tie her up with a rope."

  "You don't know, when my husband is reading a book, even if you just walk around beside him, it's not allowed."

  Fan Yiyen listened and pretended to be angry, saying: "Teacher Fei, you are really getting more and more outrageous. Just because our Shifu's wife is virtuous, you bully and torment her."

  "What nonsense."

  "Then I can take the teacher's wife away tonight? Don't be jealous."

  Fei Chai said: "What's good about taking me away?"

  Fan Yiyen raised her cup and said: "It's settled then, Master will follow me later!"

  You Qian wanted to go and have fun, but when it came down to it, she was still a bit hesitant. She glanced at Fei Chai from the corner of her eye, and saw that he had also raised his cup, so she let out a sigh of relief and raised her own cup as well. The three of them clinked cups together, and this matter was thus settled.

  After dinner, Fan Yiyen took Yu Qian and a group of officials to have fun. Fei Chai excused himself again, citing the need to prepare lessons, but only reminded Yu Qian not to drink too much wine and to come back early. However, he was interrupted by Fan Yiyen who said: "Oh my, you're as nagging as an old lady! Are you worried that I'll sell your wife into prostitution?"

  Since she said so, Fei Chai really had nothing to remind her of, and could only smile and wave goodbye to everyone, returning to the room to prepare lessons.

  Actually, there's nothing much to prepare for this lesson. Although Fei Chai has been working in the Nanquan area for many years, his previous knowledge foundation is solid, and after a quick review in his mind, he can recall the geography, geological structure, and mineral resources of the Nanquan area like the back of his hand. However, he also noticed that these bureaucrats are not here to learn, and their geographical knowledge is probably stuck at the junior high school level. Even Fan Yiyin, an "intern" who has never caught his eye, has become an expert cadre. The level of these bureaucrats can't be any higher than this. So, this training session is just a formality, and its main purpose is to exchange friendships and find more friends in the official circle. Therefore, when teaching these people, one must simplify the lesson, avoid too much theory, and make it interesting. In short, you just need to tell the county magistrate of a certain county what minerals are under his county, how much reserves there are, whether they can be mined, and how many years they can be mined with current mining technology. However, Fei Chai is unwilling to say this, which would actually be a move that cuts off the financial road for future generations. So, Fei Chai decided to focus on making it interesting. After returning to his room, he simply wrote a lecture note, spending only one or two hours, and then lay in bed, reviewing it in his mind, feeling that it was almost done.

  The lesson preparation was finished, and the phone rang again. It turned out to be Director Shen Xing of the office, saying that Director Zhu had something urgent tonight and couldn't get away, so he entrusted him to ask if there was anything else needed or not, and whether to come out for a drink. Fei Chai hurriedly thanked him and used the lesson preparation as an excuse to brush it off. Shen Xing didn't press the matter either, just said "then I won't disturb you" and hung up the phone.

  He didn't need to prepare lessons anymore, so he turned on the TV and randomly picked up a book to flip through. As he flipped through it, he started to feel drowsy, and before he knew it, his eyes were closed. He only woke up when a warm, soft body with a hint of alcohol scent snuggled into his arms and wriggled around. In a daze, they did some things, just like eating a box of wine-filled chocolates, and then fell asleep again, feeling content.

  Her body and mind were comfortable, she had a good sleep, and Fei Chai got up early the next day. After washing up and coming out to take a look, You Qianxiang's shoulders were half exposed, sleeping very sweetly. He went forward to cover her with a quilt, and gently kissed her cheek, saying: "Dear, it's time to get up and have breakfast."

  Youqian murmured in agreement and coquettishly said: "No, you go downstairs and help me get a small flower roll up here."

  "Hey, that's a buffet, you can eat but not take away, how am I supposed to get some for you?"

  "Then I won't eat." Yu Qian buried her head, turned over and fell asleep again.

  Fei Chai shook her and said: "Don't sleep, or I'll get you a room service, it's a five-star hotel after all."

  Yu Qian turned back and asked: "Will it work?"

  Fei Chai smiled and said: "Why can't it be done? At most we'll just pay for it ourselves, and won't bother anyone else."

  "You'd better forget it, we can't afford to throw our own money in."

  Fei Chai scratched his face and said: "Alright then, I'll help you steal a flower roll."

  "Thank you, dear husband." Yu Qian was instantly satisfied and held Fei Chai's mouth with both hands, giving him a gentle kiss.

  However, Fei Chai was indeed not suitable for doing such a thing. He went downstairs to the restaurant to eat and looked for opportunities to steal buns while eating. There were several good opportunities, but he couldn't make up his mind to take action. Just as the breakfast time was about to pass, he took advantage of an opportunity to sneak in front of the pastry table and stretched out his hand. Suddenly, he heard a low, crisp voice next to him say: "Teacher Fei is stealing things."

  Fei Chai was startled and broke out in a cold sweat, turning his head to see Fan Yiyen covering her mouth and laughing: "What's wrong? Is the master's wife not getting out of bed?"

  Fei Chai's face was already burning with embarrassment, and he stuttered: "Uh-huh, that...heh-heh, yeah."

  Fan Yiyen nudged him with her shoulder and said ambiguously, "Teacher Fei, even if you two have been separated for many years as a married couple, you can't treat your wife like this. Women are human too, be more considerate."

  Fei Chai, although in the wilderness team, a group of big men often made some jokes below the belt, but the opposite sex so openly said such indecent words, it was the first time, and his face turned even redder. Just as he didn't know what to do, Fan Yiy an's slender hand lightly probed, two small sesame seed buns had already arrived in his hands, then she winked at him and said: "I'll go feed your teacher outside." Then she walked away with a swing of her hips.

  Fei Chai watched her walk away, then shook his head and picked up another flower roll. But when he picked it up, he realized that he was already full, and Yu Qian had Fan Yiyan's help anyway, so why did he need to pick up a flower roll? However, since he had already taken it out, it wasn't good to put it back, so he could only force himself to eat it. After finishing, he rubbed his stomach and left the dining hall.

  He walked out of the restaurant, looking around and thinking that if he couldn't find Fan Yiyen, he might as well go buy some breakfast to bring back, or else he wouldn't be able to explain himself to his wife. Just then, Fan Yiyen smiled and came in from outside, slapping a small plastic bag into Fei Chai's hand and saying: "I went out and bought you another bag of yogurt, so you won't choke my teacher's mother."

  Fei Chai wanted to say a word of thanks, but unexpectedly didn't know what to say again. Fan Yiyen gave him a push and said: "Go quickly, don't keep the master's wife waiting."

  Fei Chai sneaked back into the room like a thief, saw You Qian still hadn't gotten up, and laughed saying: "I've stolen all the flower buns back for you, why haven't you gotten up yet?"

  You Qian stretched and said in a coquettish tone: "A five-star hotel, I'm going to sleep a lot."

  Fei Chai put breakfast on the table and jumped onto the bed to pull her, saying: "Get up and eat, go brush your teeth, and then sleep after eating."

  Yu Qian's body leaned forward and said: "No, you feed me."

  Fei Chai had no choice but to go get Er Hai again, and hurriedly brought over the flower-shaped pastry, breaking it into pieces and feeding them to her mouth, saying: "I can only feed you a few bites, I have to go to class."

  "You go ahead, I just want you to know that... Ah... and there's yogurt too, the food is not bad."

  Fei Chai smiled and said: "Where is it? This was bought by Fan Yiyen."

  "Her?"

  Fei Chai said: "Yes, the flower scroll was also stolen by him for me, I didn't dare to take it several times."

  "You're really something! I was wondering how my husband learned to steal things. He's finally grown up!"

  Fei Chai said: "It seems like stealing things is a talent."

  You Qian smiled and snatched the flower roll, saying: "Alright, I'll eat it myself, you go to class, behave yourself!"

  Fei Chai smiled and lightly kissed his wife's face again before taking the lecture notes and leaving the door.

  As soon as I went out, I met Shen Xing, who smiled and said: "I was just about to invite you."

  Fei Chai also smiled and said: "We are all colleagues, I just arrived, no need to be so polite."

  Shen Xing turned around and walked alongside Fei Chai: "I'm not respecting you, I respect talent, knowledge, haha."

  Although the joke was not funny at all, Fei Chi still followed along and laughed. As they walked, Shen Xing introduced the situation of the meeting, saying that today a director from the Municipal Science and Technology Commission would be coming, and he would need to say a few words first, then Director Wei would introduce Fei Chi's situation, and finally Fei Chi would give his lecture. Upon hearing this, Fei Chi's bookworm temperament emerged again, and a joke slipped out: "Haha, if the two leaders get addicted to giving speeches, I won't even need to give my lecture." Although jokes like this were very common among technical personnel, Shen Xing apparently wasn't from a technical background and didn't understand it at all. Not only did he not realize it was a joke, but he also misunderstood Fei Chi's dissatisfaction with the leaders speaking first, and said seriously: "No way, no way, our main focus this time is still on learning through lectures."

  Fei Chai took a look at him and didn't hear that it was a joke, knowing that this person wasn't on the same wavelength as him. He secretly made a mental note - looks like he needs to keep his distance from people like this in the future, they just don't click.