Chapter 525: The Deceiving Little Girl
Although Yang Jiarong had been transferred to Jiangchuan for some time, Zhang Yunqi had no plans to visit him.

He estimated that there wouldn't be too many people who wanted to pay their respects at this time. A new official has three major things to do upon taking office, and no one wants his butt to be cooked like a roast chicken, so there was no need for him to join in the fun. The gift of the 10,000-acre large lotus shrimp base project in Qiaoku Town was enough to make Yang Jiarong smile from ear to ear.

In fact, the project in Qiaokou Town was originally introduced by Mayor Lu Feng in the middle of last year. Seeing that the business environment in Lijin City was so bad and Lu Feng was not strong enough to deal with Qiao Zhiwu, Zhang Yunqi suspended the project.

Now Zhang Yunqi has bypassed Lu Feng and teamed up with Yang Jiarong to push this project. Lu Feng must know about this and he must have scolded him in the office a long time ago. However, Lu Feng has been dissatisfied with him for a long time, so let him do whatever he wants.

Chu Jian stayed in Lizhen for two days.

During these two days, in addition to calling Wang Jingshan over and spending two hours discussing in detail the arrangements for the advancement of the Qiaoku Town project, Zhang Yunqi spent the rest of the time accompanying Chu Jian.

He took her to climb Lushan Mountain in early spring, and listened to the wind blowing through the maple forest at Yuelu Academy.

He took her to Orange Island, a place she had always wanted to go but had never been to. On the bank of the Xiangjiang River, they imagined eagles flying in the sky, fish swimming in the shallows, and all kinds of creatures competing for freedom in the frosty sky.

It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time.

However, the reluctance to leave was always lingering in her heart. When she went to bed at night, she would snuggle tightly in his arms and would not let go for a moment.

The night before she was to fly to the capital to attend Peking University, Zhang Yunqi planned to take her to stroll along the Qingwu Pedestrian Street.

Before leaving, Chu Jian suddenly said, "Should we call Ji Ling?" After a pause, she pursed her lips and said, "She didn't go back to her hometown during the Chinese New Year. Now she's in Lijin. Wouldn't it be bad if we don't meet her? She will definitely miss me over the phone."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said yes.

He called Ji Ling, who was very happy and asked to meet him at the Taiping Street intersection of Qingwu Pedestrian Street.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yunqi and Chu Jian went to Qingwu Street.

Qingwu Pedestrian Street is located at the junction of Hedong Old Town and Hexi Development Zone. It has a unique geographical location and is the most prosperous area in Lijin City.

The pedestrian street starts from Furongsimenkou in the north and ends at Nanmenkou in the south. It is 838 meters long and 23-26 meters wide. However, compared with the modernization and internet celebrity of Qingwu Pedestrian Street in later generations, this street is full of the old atmosphere of the 90s. The road surface is still the traditional cement road with densely packed electric poles on both sides. The taxis on the road are Xiali Tuo, and the most common vehicles on the streets are still bicycles.

At that time, the nearly 10,000-square-meter Huang Xing Square, the landmark building of Qingwu Pedestrian Street, had not yet been built, and the bronze statue of Huang Xing standing at the entrance of Qingwu Pedestrian Street to witness the changes of the city over the years naturally had not yet been built. Zhang Yunqi remembered that when young people, especially college students, made appointments to play, the most common thing they said was:
"Meet where?"

"Meet you under the bronze statue of Huang Xing!"

Zhang Yunqi, Chu Jian and Ji Ling met at the intersection of Taiping Street.

It took him about twenty minutes to reach Jiefang West Road and he parked his Mercedes at the entrance of the street.

As soon as they got off the car, they heard Ji Ling's voice. They turned around and saw Ji Ling walking towards them with his hands behind his back, his steps brisk. He wore a black baseball cap upside down on his head. His facial features were delicate, like freshly glazed celadon. The most beautiful thing about him were his eyes, which were very big, with clear black and white.

Chu Jian smiled and waved, "Ji Ling, you came early?"

"Well, it's boring to celebrate the New Year in the city, so I went shopping with Sister Lin before." Ji Ling took Chujian's arm, her little face full of intimacy, as if they were meeting old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time. In fact, they had just met on New Year's Day, and Ji Ling even slept with Chujian for two nights.

Chu Jian tilted his head and said, "Sister Lin Shiyu? I haven't seen her for a long time. Where is she?"

"She's already gone back. She has a date. Today is Valentine's Day. She insisted on taking me out to buy clothes this afternoon." Ji Ling said slowly, "Are you going back to Peking University tomorrow?"

"How do you know?" Chu Jian was a little surprised.

"He said it." Ji Ling turned his head and stared at Zhang Yunqi and smiled.

"It's windy outside." Zhang Yunqi said, "Shall we find a place to eat and chat?"

Chu Jian nodded and said yes.

Ji Ling said, "I want to eat steamed chicken with vinegar." Then he said to Chu Jian, "Have you ever eaten steamed chicken with vinegar? It's a specialty of Lijin. I'll take you to try it."

When we first met, we smiled and said yes.

As they talked, the two girls walked in front arm in arm. The atmosphere was harmonious, and they chatted about topics that Zhang Yunqi was not interested in at all or could not get a word in about. They rarely spoke when they first met, and even if they did, they spoke in soft voices.

Ji Ling is different. She is a girl who does whatever she wants and says whatever she wants. She is very opinionated about anything and anyone.

Zhang Yunqi followed behind the two girls.

As soon as Ji Ling arrived, he snatched away his chance to speak, and now he has nothing to do at all.

Zhang Yunqi lit a cigarette and strolled slowly behind. There were a lot of couples holding hands on the street, their expressions full of sweetness. He didn't know that today was Valentine's Day until Ji Ling mentioned it.

He is not interested in this stuff at all. The fundamental reason why there are so many festivals in the future is that the rapid development of the market economy in the 1990s has pushed out the trap of female consumerism. Why are there no young girls accompanying men to worship their ancestors during the Qingming Festival?
We should also celebrate Qixi Festival.

Zhang Yunqi took two puffs of his cigarette and walked deeper into the alley. There were messy fruit stalls and various grocery stores on the street. An old lady was sitting idly in the gradually darkening night. She held a cattail leaf fan in her hand all year round, no matter how cold it was, and gently fanned her wrinkled breasts hidden under her blue cloth shirt.

There is a row of neat bungalows next to it that have been converted into hair salons. Some gorgeously dressed girls are sitting inside. The smiles on their faces are so cheap and yet so sincere. I don't know if they are getting a haircut or doing something else.

He loves these streets full of human life.

After passing Qinglou Street, we entered the narrow Taiping Lane. On one side is the gate and high wall of Jia Yi's former residence. The blue bricks are thick and old, especially neat, majestic and kind, and the sky is a line. Beautiful women often take photos with this place as the background.

When passing Jia Yi's former residence and passing the small ancient road, Zhang Yunqi saw a large-scale demolition going on in the alley. At the entrance of the alley stood a large sign with a row of red characters on it: "Qingwu South Road Pedestrian Commercial Street Project Demolition Command Center."

Zhang Yunqi looked at the situation and realized that the demolition and reconstruction work of the Qingwu Pedestrian Street project had begun.

As the first of the ten major investment promotion projects in Lijin City, the future commercial value of this project can be measured in hundreds of billions. But only Zhang Yunqi can see this clearly at the moment.

Every time he thought about this, he felt uncomfortable. From the perspective of personal gain, it was impossible for him not to be tempted, especially when he thought about Liu Mingde's character. This swindling Hong Kong businessman was trying to get something for nothing, and the risk factor was incredibly high.

The reason for this is that now all places in the country are scrambling to attract foreign investment... The core reason is of course that it can bring huge investments, quickly increase the local GDP, and add a lot of local achievements, so that many foreign investors who are just filling in the gaps can take advantage of it. After passing the small ancient road and entering the center of the pedestrian street, the streets are bustling, with crowds of people, bright street lights, and the hawking of street vendors, full of the atmosphere of fireworks.

Ji Ling brought Chu Jian to a specialty Hunan restaurant called Xiangchun Restaurant on the left side of the street. It had the style of Lao Lijin streets and a nice taste.

Zhang Yunqi bought three cups of coffee outside and the food was soon served. There was steamed chicken with vinegar, steamed meat patties, secret goose meat on the grill, eel with basil and Sichuan beans, sour cabbage and vermicelli, etc. The price was not expensive and the taste was delicious. The only drawback was that it was not spicy enough, but Chu Jian and Ji Ling were not girls who could eat spicy food.

While eating, Chu Jian said he wanted to go to the movies.

Ji Ling said, "There's a movie called Almost a Love Story starring Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung coming out, let's go watch it together later."

When I first met you, I smiled and said yes.

Zhang Yunqi, who was eating next to them, did not express any opinion. Of course, his opinion did not seem important in front of these two ladies.

In fact, he had watched "Comrades: Almost a Love Story" many years ago. At that time, he had graduated from a technical secondary school and was working in a state-owned factory in Lizhen. He was in love with a girl who was a quality inspector in the factory. The girl was petite, had beautiful pigtails, and was very skillful. It was probably at this time that the two of them watched "Comrades: Almost a Love Story". Decades have passed, and only a vague outline of the plot remains in his mind. The feeling after watching it was exactly the same as his feeling after breaking up with the girl with pigtails: making love is easy, but true love is hard.

Both girls ate very slowly, and it was almost eight o'clock before they finished their dinner.

Zhang Yunqi asked the waiter to pay the bill, and the three of them took their coffee and went out to the cinema.

It was the prime time of the night, and Qingwu Pedestrian Street was even more lively, with bright lights and a constant stream of people. The streets were full of young men and women. Zhang Yunqi, Chu Jian, and Ji Ling walked through the crowd and when they were near the cinema, he suddenly stopped. Chu Jian, who was talking to Ji Ling, turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhang Yunqi unexpectedly saw his female classmate Liu Ying.

This girl is from their department. She is not very pretty and her family background should be very ordinary, but she has a good personality and seems to be from Lijin. Under the street lights that are gradually lit up, she is carrying a basket and selling flowers to the couples coming and going at the entrance of the cinema.

Zhang Yunqi had never felt this before, but now he suddenly felt that this girl was quite good. She was young, a student at a prestigious university, and she had the idea and action to support herself.

He glanced at Chu Jian and Ji Ling in front of him and was about to walk over to say hello to Liu Ying, but at this moment, three or four ragged and skinny little girls suddenly rushed over, surrounded the three of them, and said in a very sweet voice with a somewhat pitiful expression: "Big brother, big brother, buy a bouquet of roses for sister."

Chu Jian and Ji Ling both turned their gazes to Zhang Yunqi. Ji Ling's eyes curved with a smile.

Liu Ying, who was not far away, also heard the noise and was about to come over, but when she saw Zhang Yunqi, she was stunned and stopped.

Zhang Yunqi looked at the little girls in front of him who were only eight or nine years old. He reached out and took a rose from the basket and took a look at it. It was fake, it was a Chinese rose.

The appearance and characteristics of these two flowers are very similar, and most of the idiots who buy flowers for girls will not notice the subtle differences between the two flowers. For example, the thorns of roses are larger and fewer, while the thorns of roses are many and dense, so it is very easy to mistake the two for real.

It is unlikely that these poor little girls would think of this crooked way to get rich, which means that there is someone controlling them behind the scenes. This is a small gray industrial chain.

Zhang Yunqi put the fake roses into the basket, looked at the little girl in front of him and asked, "Have you ever seen someone buy roses for two girls?"

The little girl immediately said in a crisp voice: "There are seven or eight."

Another little girl next to him added, "Big brother, you are so handsome, you can like more and buy more roses."

This straightforward flattery made Zhang Yunqi feel comfortable all over, but they didn't seem to realize that their words were heard by Chu Jian and Ji Ling. Even if the elder brother bought flowers, who would want them?

When I first saw them, I didn't pay much attention to the innocent words of the little girls. I just looked at their ragged and thin appearance, and I couldn't help but think of my own childhood.

Ji Ling put his hands in his pockets, looked at Zhang Yunqi, and said nothing.

What else can Zhang Yunqi do?

He said, "Give me all your roses."

Liu Ying, who had been paying attention to the situation not far away, saw this scene and immediately came over and said, "Zhang Yunqi, you must not buy their flowers."

Zhang Yunqi immediately waved his hand to stop Liu Ying from speaking: "I want all yours too."

Liu Ying didn't seem to understand what Zhang Yunqi meant, and instead thought that Zhang Yunqi had misunderstood her. After all, Zhang Yunqi was her classmate, a very good boy in every aspect, so she quickly explained, "You misunderstood. I told you not to buy these children's flowers, not because I wanted you to buy my flowers, but because their flowers are fake, using roses as substitutes, and you'll be fooled if you buy them!"

Chu Jian and Ji Ling were both stunned.

One of these two girls comes from a wealthy family, and the other is full of idealism. They have never seen such tricks before, that even such a young girl has learned to cheat people on the streets.

A few little girls were exposed by their peers for selling fake goods. Their dry little faces turned red. Without even saying anything, they just ran away. So fast that not even their traces could be seen.

Zhang Yunqi looked at Liu Ying. Although it was just a trivial matter, he was still moved by his classmate's righteous words and said, "Thank you for your reminder. Sell all your roses to me."

Liu Ying blushed, looking at Zhang Yunqi's expression, still thinking that this boy misunderstood her, and said: "You seem to have known that the flowers of those little girls are fake, but you still want to buy them? That's right, they are so young, so late and so cold, they look so pitiful, and you are a rich man and don't mind this little money, just do a good deed to make yourself feel good, I misunderstood, I'm sorry! But I really didn't expose them just for you to buy my flowers. I won't sell you the flowers."

After saying that, Liu Ying turned around and left with the flower basket.

After hearing these words, Zhang Yunqi felt that one should not judge a person by his appearance. Everyone is a living being, the protagonist of his own life, and has his own ideas, which others will never truly understand, even Liu Ying, a girl who looks like an ugly duckling and is invisible in school.

He stretched out his hand and called out Liu Ying.

Liu Ying stopped and turned around to ask, "What?"

Zhang Yunqi said: "You don't have to sell me flowers, but you shouldn't sell flowers here either. It's very dangerous."

Liu Ying was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

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(End of this chapter)