Chapter 448: Chapter 441: My Father Is He Xuewen
Seeing the look of surprise on Zhao Gang’s face, Sisi smiled, picked up her teacup, took a sip of the tea, and then spat out the leaves a short while later. She frowned and said, "The tea leaves in your office are too poor. Next time, I’ll bring you some good tea."
Sisi’s disdainful demeanor not only offended Wu Yun, but even Zhao Gang could not stand it. As revolutionary comrades, shouldn’t we be unafraid of hardship and not covet luxury?
"We don’t fancy your tea leaves; you should just honestly confess to the issue at hand," Wu Yun said indignantly.
This time, Zhao Gang did not stop her. Sisi covered her teacup, not intending to drink any more, and ignored Wu Yun, directing her words straight to Zhao Gang: "Without investigation, there can be no right to speak. It seems that what I’ve said earlier is not at all wrong; the capability of your Disciplinary Office indeed needs improvement!"
Zhao Gang raised his hand to stop Wu Yun, who was again angered, and said with a frown, "What do you mean by that, Mr. He? To my knowledge, Comrade Tian Xinhua came from a farmer’s family, and Mr. He is an urban resident from Shanghai, with a father, He Xuewen, who is an idle drifter. Does this have anything to do with the case?"
"Of course, it’s related. My husband and I don’t need to engage in corruption because we have family support. To put it simply, we are not short of money. Do you understand?" Sisi said.
"Hmph, who would believe such a story? An idle drifter and a peasant, how could they provide for your corrupt lifestyle?" Wu Yun scoffed.
"Do you really look down on peasants that much, Staff Wu?" Sisi glanced at her.
Before Wu Yun could speak, Zhao Gang quickly said, "Mr. He, let’s not change the subject. We’re not looking down on farmers, but you must admit, the income of farmers is not guaranteed and cannot sustain your high-consumption lifestyle."
At this point, Zhao Gang also regretted his previous underestimation of Sisi and was remorseful. He hadn’t expected the young wife of the Deputy Secretary to be so difficult to deal with, taking the initiative from the start, enraging Xiao Yun in just a few words, and completely disrupting his previously established conversational approach.
Sisi let out a coy laugh, "Deputy Director Zhao must be talking about five years ago. Ever since the ’Spring Breeze’ of reform and opening spread across the nation, the living standards of peasants have been rising steadily. Their income is certainly no worse than those of us who are on fixed salaries!"
Sisi didn’t want to waste any more time and directly took out several remittance slips from her bag and placed them on the coffee table. Zhao Gang picked them up and saw that some were for a thousand, some for two thousand, and the highest was even five thousand.
"These are..." Zhao Gang had a guess but still asked.
"They’re living expenses sent by my father and my husband’s uncle. As elders, they worry about us not having enough money here, so they send money over every now and then," Sisi explained.
Wu Yun snatched the remittance slips, quickly totted them up, and reckoned that the total was around ten thousand yuan. She hadn’t expected He Sisi’s family to be so wealthy.
At this moment, her heart was not happy for having clarified the case; instead, she felt that fate was truly unfair. There were so many people who couldn’t afford to eat or dress warmly, yet this He Sisi spent so much money every month, living a corrupt bourgeois lifestyle. It just felt like an injustice to the natural order!
Sisi sneered: I’m spending the money my father earned. What’s it to you!
"Who knows if these remittance slips are real or fake?" Wu Yun suddenly blurted out.
Sisi said coldly, "Staff Wu, you should think before you speak, lest trouble come out of your mouth in the future!"
Then she said to Zhao Gang, "Since Staff Wu doesn’t believe the authenticity of my remittance slips, Deputy Director Zhao can go to the post office to investigate. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now."
"Please wait a moment, Mr. He, I still have a few questions to ask you," Zhao Gang said as he reached out to stop Sisi.
"Then please hurry up, Deputy Director Zhao. My time is very precious," Sisi retorted, using Zhao Gang’s previous words against him.
Hearing Sisi’s words, Zhao Gang’s expression didn’t change at all, his eyebrows didn’t even twitch, which made Sisi admire his composure.
"May I ask what jobs Mr. He’s father and Mr. Tian’s uncle are engaged in?" Zhao Gang asked.
"Is it related to this matter?" Sisi inquired.
"It is." Zhao Gang replied.
"My father, He Xuewen, is the founder of the He Family Wine Company. I bet Deputy Director Zhao has heard of He Family Wine before. As for my husband’s uncle, he is a large breeder locally and also the founder of Sui City Lv Kang Agricultural Products Company. Do you understand now, Deputy Director Zhao?" Sisi answered.
Zhao Gang’s mind was not as calm as his exterior indicated. He was not familiar with Lv Kang Agricultural Products Company, but he knew about He Family Wine. His father and elder brother at home were regular drinkers of He Family Liquor. Unexpectedly, He Sisi’s family was the one producing He Family Wine.
With a wine factory making a huge profit every day, no wonder He Sisi acted like a pampered young lady. To be honest, given her standard of living, she was already quite low-key.
Sisi greatly enjoyed this feeling of ’my dad is so-and-so’, and with a smile, she said: "Also, my husband Tian Xinhua has absolutely no need to commit corruption. To put it more bluntly, the pocket money my father gives me each month is more than my husband’s annual salary. Is it necessary to be greedy for that little bit of money?"
Zhao Gang took a deep breath and finally showed a smile, saying, "I’m sorry, we did not investigate thoroughly. I apologize to you."
Standing up proudly, Sisi said, "Let’s just let this go this time. Can I leave now?"
"Yes, Comrade He is free to go." Zhao Gang also stood up to see Sisi out.
After Sisi left, Wu Yun said unconvinced, "Brother Zhao, just like that, we let He Sisi go?"
"What do you mean let go? She hasn’t done anything wrong. What right do we have to hold her back?" Zhao Gang gave her a glance.
"Just because she says her family is rich, does it mean they are? I could say my dad is the Chairman!" Wu Yun pouted.
Wu Gang furrowed his brow. What was wrong with Xiao Yun? Why did she harbor such strong personal prejudices against He Sisi?
"Does He Sisi have any reason to lie? Besides, those remittance receipts are real, aren’t they? Xiao Yun, I told you from the beginning that you cannot let personal feelings interfere with work. If you still have such strong personal biases, I will request the director to transfer you to work in another department."
Zhao Gang’s words were stern, and Wu Yun’s eyes suddenly reddened, stomp her foot in anger, and ran out of the office.
When Tian Xinhua came home in the evening, Sisi told him about the Disciplinary Committee calling her in today, and also how she handled it. Tian Xinhua hugged her tightly and gave her several kisses, beaming with joy.
"Ah Nan, you’re amazing!"
"Of course, you have no idea how many times I got Wu Yun so fired up today she looked like she was going to jump up. Teasing her was just like teasing a monkey." Sisi shook her head with pride, which invited a passionate kiss from Tian Xinhua.
After laughing and playing for a while, Sisi went to cook dinner. Tian Xinhua squinted his eyes and looked at the embroidered flowers beside the kang; the Disciplinary Committee had also called him in for a chat today, which he breezed through with a few words, of course.
He just didn’t expect Hu Dingkun to be so impatient, taking action in such haste. It seemed he had overestimated Hu Dingkun!