Lin Sui stared at him, looking at him with the same gaze one would give to a shameless woman. Her heart skipped a beat. Did I make a move on you? You tell me!
It was far worse than that!
Off to the side, Luo Feifei’s eyes went wider than Lin Sui’s. Oh my god — did I just hear something I shouldn’t have?
She immediately pricked up her ears even higher.
Lin Sui blinked, utterly baffled. Huh?
“Wait, Secretary Zhou! You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t just say anything! I can’t be held responsible for that kind of claim!”
Zhou Chiye’s eyes darkened. “If you get drunk, does that mean you don’t have to take responsibility? If that were the case, half the people in this world would never answer for their actions.”
Seeing her best friend act as if she planned to seduce someone and then abandon them, Luo Feifei couldn’t help but chime in: “Well, of course you should take responsibility! Look at how handsome he is — I’d want to take responsibility if I were you!”
Lin Sui shot her a sharp look. “Hey, go stand over there for a minute. I need to talk properly with Secretary Zhou.”
Luo Feifei had no choice but to sit back down, wishing she had a bag of sunflower seeds to munch on while watching the drama unfold.
“I really did drink too much that night,” Lin Sui said in a calm, reasonable tone. “But I’ve always had good manners when drunk. I doubt I did anything out of line — and besides, it all happened right outside my front door.”
Zhou Chiye looked at her, let out a soft chuckle, and stopped beating around the bush.
“You said farming isn’t profitable, and opening a shoe factory won’t work either. But developing bamboo and livestock industries holds great promise. We can sell locally and even export to earn foreign currency.” He spoke with the confidence of someone mapping out a nation’s future.
“Phew — you scared me half to death! So that’s why you introduced those people to me,” Lin Sui said, realization dawning. No wonder he suddenly became so helpful!
“Did you think I had nothing better to do with my time?” Zhou Chiye replied, admitting that dealing with Lin Sui was no easy task.
“Look, Secretary Zhou — even if I mentioned those ideas, I was just throwing out suggestions. I never said I would actually run the business!”
In her past life, she had built her fortune in footwear, then later moved into auto parts and supplies — fields she knew inside and out. Why would she abandon what she was good at to learn something completely new? That would just wear herself out for no reason!
“Comrade Lin Sui!” Zhou Chiye straightened up, his tone growing serious. “That night, you spoke of this industry as if it was the greatest thing since sliced bread — I assumed you were already an expert! Seeing you heartbroken and jobless, I wanted to point you toward a promising path, give you a fresh start. How can you turn back now?”
“I suppose I should thank you, then?”
“Of course you should! Look at me — running back and forth, using all my connections to find partners for you. There can’t be many village secretaries who would go this far for someone!” He looked as if he’d been wronged, yet spoke with unshakable self-righteousness.
Is every village secretary this domineering? Lin Sui wondered. Did I even ask him to find those people in the first place? Her jaw was practically twitching from frustration.
“Tell me, Secretary Zhou — do village officials have performance targets they need to meet?”
Zhou Chiye frowned. “Performance targets? What are you talking about?”
Lin Sui just smiled faintly. “Alright then — let me ask this instead: If I take the lead in setting up a bamboo processing factory, what kind of support can I expect from you?”
“What kind of support are you looking for?”
“So long as it doesn’t violate policy or rules, I can help you apply for government project grants and subsidies.”
Lin Sui smiled again. “But… I don’t have any money.”
“Hey, big shot — you’re the one running the factory. Profits and losses are your responsibility. Raising capital is something you’ll have to figure out yourself.”
Lin Sui gave him a withering look. “Easy for you to say when it’s not your money on the line!”
As she spoke, her eyes drifted involuntarily down to his waist — and she suddenly remembered the firm, solid feel of it when she’d accidentally bumped into him before. What a fine waistline…
Zhou Chiye felt his throat tighten and his lower back tingle under her bold, unguarded gaze. Then a thought crossed his mind, and he smirked. “Money doesn’t just fall from the sky — you have to find ways to make it work. You’re bold enough to pretend to be my niece’s classmate; surely this isn’t too much of a challenge for you?”
“Are you still going on about that?” Lin Sui huffed.
Zhou Chiye placed his hands on his hips, looking just a little bit shameless. “And let’s not forget, Comrade Lin — that night, I saved your life. That counts for something, doesn’t it?”
I never took him for this type of person! Lin Sui’s eyes went wide. “Wait a minute — who was it that told my grandmother that ‘saving someone’s life isn’t such a big deal’?”
She truly did have her own plans, and now it felt like everything was being thrown off balance.
“And there’s another very, very important reason,” she added. “I made a vow.”
“A vow?” Zhou Chiye looked confused.
“I swore before the statue of the Bodhisattva at my grandmother’s house that I would leave this place, Cuizhuxiang Village, and never look back.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Zhou Chiye said. “You just said we could export products to the whole world — that is leaving and going further!”
Lin Sui shook her head. “No. My vow means I will not stay here in Cuizhuxiang to work or live.”
“And what happens if you break your vow?”
“If I go back on my word, I’ll never marry — I’ll end up an old maid forever.”
Zhou Chiye didn’t laugh at her. He respected every person’s beliefs, no matter how unusual they might seem to others. He grew solemn. “Comrade Lin Sui, what you would be doing is contributing to Cuizhuxiang’s economy and improving the lives of its people. The Bodhisattva would never hold that against you.”
He softened his tone a little. “Besides — you’re decent-looking, lively, and sharp-witted, even if you don’t have a high education. You can cook well too. Why would you end up alone?”
Lin Sui never knew she had so many strengths — though the way he listed them sounded a little forced. Her expression turned serious again. “But what if I still do? Can you guarantee I’ll definitely get married?”
Zhou Chiye almost smiled. “Do you think anyone can give you a guarantee like that?”
“Exactly,” she said.
Suddenly, Zhou Chiye’s expression grew far more serious, as if he were truly considering how to solve this problem for her. His eyes deepened like still pools.
Lin Sui stared at him, caught off guard.
Then he spoke, slowly and clearly: “If you’re really that worried about ending up alone… I could marry you.”
It felt as if Lin Sui had been struck by lightning. Every hair on her head seemed to stand on end, and her mouth fell open wide enough to fit two eggs.
“Secretary Zhou! Are you the one who got drunk this time?!”
“Do you think I’m as careless as you?” Zhou Chiye’s voice grew more stern.
Lin Sui’s mind spun into confusion, and she rambled without thinking. “Wait — isn’t your family pushing you to get married? Besides… I’m only twenty. I don’t have to rush into marriage just yet.”
“When do you want to get married, then?”
“How should I know?” she blurted. “Maybe… next year, for example. Just saying.”
Zhou Chiye looked straight at her. “Then we could get engaged first.”
It seemed he really was under pressure from his family to settle down.
“But I’m just a village girl,” Lin Sui said. “Won’t your family object?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. I can handle it.”
Seeing her lower her head and fall into deep thought, looking troubled, Zhou Chiye’s gaze grew more intense.
Lin Sui lifted her head suddenly. “Do you dare swear to it?”
Then, unexpectedly, she burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Did you actually believe me?!”
Zhou Chiye’s face went completely blank, then darkened instantly. “You think this is funny?”
He turned to leave.
But Lin Sui wasn’t entirely joking. She had lit three sticks of incense and sworn before the statue of Guanyin at her grandmother’s house. In her eyes, those relatives who favored sons over daughters, looked down on others, and took advantage of people in trouble — they weren’t worth her loyalty.
In her previous life, on the very day her grandmother passed away, those same relatives had tried to seize her family’s land. It was only years later, after she’d become wealthy and built connections, that she managed to get the land back. That was also one of the reasons she’d never returned to help her hometown’s economy in her past life.
She had brought up the vow today for two other reasons as well: first, to test exactly how much real support Zhou Chiye would offer for the bamboo factory; and second, because in this life, she planned to adopt the orphaned boy, Xiao Rong.