Chapter 384 Never look back
It's almost Qingming Festival and it's going to rain.

On this gloomy night, a Santana was speeding along Xiang-Jiangxi Avenue.

After getting out of Hongshan, Ma Shi and his old partner from many years ago, Xiao Wu, who had just come out of the call center, drove all the way through the Nanling Mountains and roared along the Luoxiao Mountains.

They are going to find Zhao Shiming’s old lover Li Cuiyun!

Or maybe he couldn't ask her to look for him, because Ma Shi knew very well where Li Cuiyun was and what she was doing.

When Zhao Shiming got into trouble, Li Cuiyun, who noticed something was wrong, hid herself.

Ma Shi, who was responsible for exposing Zhao Shiming's past, had already found Li Cuiyun. This woman had a deep connection with Zhao Shiming and had a lot of dirty stuff. But when Zhang Yunqi was helping Zhao Jianqiang fight for the control of Senhai Group, Zhao Jianqiang was thinking about the overall situation and balancing the relationship between all parties, and did not make a move to defeat the opponent.

Of course, this alone will ensure immortality.

Under such circumstances, if he made a big move, it would be easy to be countered by a huge force, affecting Yang Jiarong's grand plan of reforming state-owned enterprises. Therefore, at that time, he only took some simple evidence, such as Zhao Shiming opened a shell company outside and sold Senhai Group's power projects at a low price, to force the other party to withdraw his hand from Senhai. Zhao Jianqiang got what he wanted, and the overall situation was stable and harmonious. So when Li Cuiyun escaped, Ma Shi did not take action, but just sent someone to locate her.

Whenever you need it, take it.

Now is that “anytime” moment.

Ma Shi has followed Zhang Yunqi for so many years and has experienced many situations. His sense of smell is also pretty good. He can already feel the undercurrent surging beneath the ground of Jiangchuan and the crises lurking everywhere.

Thinking of this, Ma Shi glanced at Xiao Wu, who had become taciturn after coming out from the co-pilot seat. This old partner was tall and thin, with thin cheeks and unshaven beard. He had a cigarette in his mouth and was quietly looking out the window at the solemn night.

The boss doesn't owe anyone in his life, but he owes this person.

Ma Shi stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and the Santana split the silent night with stars, followed the Luoxiao Mountains, waded across the narrow cliffs on the side of an unnamed mountain, and headed north.

In the night, that car seemed like a life that could only move forward and not backward, with no way to turn back.

＊＊＊＊＊＊
Other members of the Zhang family are not aware of the undercurrent. Wang Guibing, who knows the truth best, thinks that Zhang Yunqi has done too much for his family and shouldered too much responsibility. Except for Zhang's mother and father, who have been poor all their lives and still maintain thriftiness, everyone else is immersed in a rich and hopeful life.

This statement may not be correct. Their lives can no longer be described as affluent, but rather luxurious. They should have nannies to serve them when they enter the house and be surrounded by people when they go out. Even the fifth child of the Zhang family, Xiaoxiao, is always popular in the elementary school campus, and she is definitely a big sister.

Zhang Qiulan was the first member of the Zhang family to move into the luxurious villa area of ​​Shuixie Yundu.

Duan Yongping is still the head of Xiaobawang, and he will leave in August this year. In the past few years, with the popularity of Xiaobawang products, Lianzhong, which has monopolized the agency of the province, has made a lot of money. Zhang Qiulan, who holds a lot of Lianzhong shares and serves as deputy general manager, has become very wealthy. The dividend income brought by her husband Niu Fen's shareholding in Liansheng Group is also amazing.

Zhang Qiulan now has a high-class nanny when she comes home, a highly educated secretary when she goes out, drives a luxury car called Duke, wears two sets of brand-name clothes every day, and sits at the dinner table in the evening, usually with well-known figures. In Lianzhong Company, her voice is no lower than that of General Manager Yu Lin.

On this day in April 1995, the housewife who once wore old coarse linen clothes and sold handheld game consoles on the street with her brother Yunqi under the scorching sun; the weak-willed woman who was cheated of 4 yuan by a convenience store owner and who Zhang Yunqi took her to ask for the money back and who turned around and pleaded for the store owner, have all disappeared in the time scale that will never look back.

Compared with Zhang Qiulan, the eldest brother Zhang Yunfeng is more low-key.

Because the current development momentum of Zhangji Catering, which he runs, is far behind Zhang Yunqi's two core companies, Liansheng and Lianzhong, and he naturally does not have as much wealth as Qiulan, who is already the richest woman in Jiangchuan City. However, his younger brother did not neglect him. Not only did he connect the Longjingyuan supply chain to him, he also actively planned the chain franchise business of Zhangji Catering and jointly promoted the city's first large-scale tourist night market with the city.

This big project directly made Zhangji Catering a big hit in the city. A street vendor rectification order in the city made the store in Yuxianli very popular! Zhangji Catering's office was crowded with people. The big bosses who opened restaurants, dance halls, and game halls took bundles of RMB and stuffed them into Zhang Yunfeng's pocket, just asking him to nod his head.

This once simple farmer experienced the taste of power for the first time and felt a little proud of it.

As for his wife Xiaonan, after visiting the big villa of her sister Qiulan, she felt that the three-bedroom apartment given by her brother Zhang Yunqi was too small. Although she would not say it out loud, she still wanted to change to a bigger one; the grade of Santana was no longer suitable for the current Zhang family, and it was time to upgrade.

This woman didn't despise him. On the contrary, she was very grateful for everything Yunqi had done for her and her husband. She had a gentle personality and was very filial to her parents-in-law. It was just that life was afraid of comparison, and women's lives were even more afraid of comparison.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with these things and ideas. Life is short, and if you earn money honestly, you should spend it well.

This poor family, which had become rich three years ago, seemed to have reached its peak thanks to Zhang Yunqi, and had become the most watched family in Jiangchuan City.

However, amidst the singing, laughter and crowds, this family seems to have lost the things that were at the beginning, those things that cannot be explained, those things under the blue sky and white clouds of Yunxi Village, those things rooted in the thick soil of Jiangjunling, those things that should have flowed forever in the Crescent River and in their blood.

***

In the provincial capital of Lijin, there is a girl who remains true to her original aspiration.

Ji Ling has been in a good mood recently. She took part in the school entrance examination for Fine Arts at the Art Department of Xiangnan Normal University.

The Art Department of Xiangnan Normal University was formed in 61 by merging the Fine Arts and Music Departments of Xiangnan Art College. It was the predecessor of the Fine Arts College of Xiangnan Normal University. It was the best in Xiangnan. But her mother didn't like it and wanted her to go to China and the United States.

Her mother needed this face, so when she was playing mahjong with a group of noble ladies who still had bound feet in their mentality, she would brag about how outstanding her daughter was.

Ji Ling would also babble: "Mom, you are already so beautiful, don't expect me to paint your face in this life. I can't get into the Central American University, and I can't get in. Your daughter is so useless that she wants to go to the countryside to be an art teacher, to be with children, with blue sky and white clouds, wow, how wonderful!"

Her mother Zhang Jing had no way to deal with her.

On this day, Ji Ling returned home after strolling outside.

When I entered the room, my father Ji Zhong was sitting on the sofa reading the Chunjiang Morning News. I didn’t know what news he was reading, but his forehead was wrinkled into a “川” shape.

Ji Ling walked over quietly, but when she was halfway there, Ji Zhong closed the newspaper and put it on the sofa, then covered it with a pillow as if it was unnecessary: ​​"Are you back?"

Ji Ling pouted, threw away her backpack, fell on the leather sofa, and rolled her eyes: "Comrade Ji, how did my mother fall in love with you in the first place? You are not interesting at all."

Ji Zhong picked up the teacup and took a sip: "Who do you think is interesting?"

Ji Ling held up his delicate cheek and thought for a long time: "Uh uh uh... I won't tell you this."

At this time, the little nanny brought the food to the table.

While eating, Ji Zhong suddenly asked Ji Ling again: "It's going to be Qingming Festival soon, do you want to go to Jiangchuan with me?"

Ji Ling bit his chopsticks and thought for a while: "I just finished my exam. I will go to the Friendship Store with my friends tomorrow, and go out by myself the day after tomorrow."

Ji Dian nodded and said nothing more.

After dinner, the nanny cleaned up the dishes. Zhang Jing had to work overtime to review and revise an important document. Ji Zhong had to travel five or six hours at night to return to Jiangchuan and had no time to rest. He packed up, said goodbye to his wife and left.

Ji Ling saw him out the door and returned to the sofa to flip through the picture album.

Zhang Jing is now the president of Lijin Urban Cooperative Bank. Tomorrow he will make a report to the city about the Urban Cooperative Bank's support for Lijin City's unified financial services, joint investment promotion and economic development.

There are many issues involved here, the core of which is the reduction and merger of local financial institutions in the districts below. When it comes to mergers, it is bound to involve conflicts of interest from all aspects.

Thinking of this, Zhang Jing couldn't help but press his temples.

At this time, Zhang Jing heard her daughter Ji Ling's voice on the phone outside: "Dad! I'm going to Jiangchuan tonight. Your car is waiting for me at Liugongling. I'll hail a taxi and rush over right away!"

Zhang Jing was stunned. When she came out of the study, she only saw Ji Ling pushing the door and leaving.

There was no looking back.

I didn’t bring my schoolbag.

She didn't even say goodbye to her mother.

This was something that had never happened before. Every time Ji Ling went to Jiangchuan, she would hug her mother and cling to her for a long time.

Zhang Jing frowned and looked at a newspaper on the coffee table. It was the "Chunjiang Morning Post".

Under the light of the crystal lamp, on the exposed page of the newspaper, there was a sensational headline: "Jiangchuan million-dollar kidnapping case! The family of Zhang Yunqi, a famous young entrepreneur in Jiangchuan City, was kidnapped, and the ransom was as high as one million yuan!"

******
(End of this chapter)