After drinking two beers, Chen Dan finally came over from elsewhere and sat down. Before sitting down, he returned the gift money in the envelope to everyone and said: "Director Yang, Director Qian, Director Wang, you all take care of the hotel usually, it's good that everyone can come over today to support us, don't be so polite..."

  Shen Huai looked at Chen Dan's rosy face and thought she must have had a lot of wine earlier.

  Although it's business as usual today, there are quite a few people who have come over to set up a banquet and make an appearance. Shen Huan won't go out to entertain them, but Chen Dan can't just sit back and do nothing, so she'll have to go through the motions and show some respect by making a toast.

  Fortunately, everyone seemed to understand and no one made a fuss or disturbed Chen Dan, allowing her to easily slip away.

  Wang Kangsheng was about to get up and give up the seat next to Shen Huai, but Chen Dan had already sat down opposite him, next to Little Li. However, her eyes naturally revealed a hint of flirtatiousness that she couldn't suppress, causing Shen Huai's heart to flutter.

  Chen Dan returned the gift money in an envelope, and others were too embarrassed to open it in front of her; Xiong Dailing was more innocent, seeing the two hundred yuan in the envelope, she coquettishly complained: "Hey, I came over, my dad and mom gave me a task; Chen Dan sister, you're going to get me scolded when I go back home......" She insisted on handing the gift money back to Chen Dan.

  Shen Huai said that he would collect all the gifts worth less than 200 yuan, but Chen Dan thought that Xiong Wenbin was the deputy secretary-general of the municipal party committee, and it wouldn't be good to accept gifts from his family even if it was a normal social courtesy, so she put the gifts in an envelope and returned them together.

  "Are we still giving gifts for dinner today?" Shen Huai asked exaggeratedly, taking the envelope from Xiong Dailing's hand, looked at it, and then took out his wallet. In front of everyone, he pulled out 200 yuan and stuffed it into the envelope, handing it to Chen Dan, "This is Old Bear's and my gift money... you have to accept it." He also said to others, "I'm just this standard, if anyone invites me to drink at their wedding or whatever in the future, don't think my standard is too low!"

  Shen Huai did this, and Chen Dan followed suit; some people at the table didn't understand, but Yang Haipeng, Zhao Dong, Wang Kangsheng, and a few others understood what Shen Huai meant, and they all burst out laughing.

  Sometimes human relationships are like this, if you don't accept a small gift of money, it's hard to get close; once you accept the gift, both parties feel that there is a relationship and won't be so tense.

  Xiong Dailing just wanted to go back and not let her parents worry, seeing Chen Dan accept the gift money as a smooth transaction, happily said that at dusk in Shen Huai's office, she saw that stack of photos, saying:

  "I really didn't expect it, but Shen Hua is actually quite good at taking pictures; my school has a photography club, and they're all so pretentious, but I think they can't compare to Shen Hua," she turned her head to ask Shen Hua, "I'm thinking of taking some more professional photos with my sister another day, would you be willing to be our photographer?"

  “….” Shen Huai thought to agree, his eyes caught Chen Danfei looking over with a hint of playful smile, her face flushing even more, her eyes with an inexplicable charm. He knew she must be thinking about those hidden photos of women again. Shen Huai coughed twice and said to Xiong Danni, “My two brushes won’t take portraits, don’t squeeze me…”

  "You're not just looking for Sister Chandan to be your model, are you?" Xiong Dailing asked.

  "... nonsense, who wants to be his model?" Chen Dan was still thinking about those photos she found at the bottom of the box, and when Xiong Dailing suddenly mentioned her head, she hastily denied it, thinking that she absolutely cannot let Shen Huai have the idea of taking nude photos of her.

  "I can still take pictures of dogs, but taking pictures of people is completely impossible; just spare me..."

  Shen Hua cursed and scolded, Chen Dan gave him a sideways glance, her face flushing deep red, even her ears turned bright red; Xiong Dailing also scolded Shen Hua, saying that a dog's mouth can't spit out ivory, and the matter of taking photos was no longer mentioned.

  They didn't want to make a fool of themselves in front of outsiders, so Shen Hua quickly changed the subject and continued drinking and eating.

  After dinner, Shao Zheng and Qian Wen-hui were responsible for sending off Wang Kang-sheng who had drunk a lot of wine; Xiong Dai-ni and Xiong Dai-ling sisters also drank a lot of wine, but Zhou Ming still wanted to continue gathering with Shen Huai and others, not anxious to return, moved to the riverside card room to play cards and chat.

  Zhou Ming was also very excited today.

  He is currently the deputy director of the Planning Commission Office, and there is no big oil or water, after all, he can't grasp too much real power. However, every now and then, he goes to the lower-level enterprises for meetings, and usually, a sealed envelope is pressed under the meeting materials, so-called "expert fees" are only two or three hundred or three to five hundred, plus other small internal coffers of the Planning Commission, this month, Zhou Ming can also have an extra income of three to four thousand.

  Zhou Ming hadn't thought of an easier way to make money before this.

  According to this month's momentum, Hai Peng Trade can really do 600 million in trade for the year. Xiong Danni's name is under 10% of the shares, and at least 2-3 million in dividends per year. It's obviously not comparable to what he can get by becoming the deputy director of the Planning Commission office, occasionally getting some expert fees and consultant fees.

  Shen Hua stood on the balcony he had chosen, smoking a cigarette. At this moment, the muddy smell floating up from the river was not so heavy, and the air was still relatively fresh.

  As Yang Haipeng and Zhao Dong walked out, Shen Hua handed them two cigarettes to light up. Seeing Yang Haipeng come out with his alligator briefcase still in hand, he knew he hadn't brought the money out and felt uneasy. He directly said to him: "Don't take out the envelope; to be honest, if I really wanted the money, I could make Meixi Steel Factory my own and you'd still have to give me tens of millions every year."

  Yang Haipeng smiled awkwardly, knowing that Shen Huai was telling the truth:

  Just three months ago, the Mei Xi Steel Factory was in a predicament where it couldn't even pay its wages. Shen Hua had Tan Qiping's backing and directly shut down and liquidated the factory, then took over the assets under his personal name without having to spend much - if Shen Hua really wanted to make money, he should have done it this way instead of putting so much thought into pulling the factory out of its predicament before the property rights were transferred.

  Since Shen Huai was unmoved by the Meixi Steel Factory, which had total assets of over 100 million and net assets of 40 million, it's really impossible for him to be moved by the two hundred thousand dollars that were sent over. What he said was not false either.

  Perhaps it was because he had seen too many self-serving bureaucrats, but Yang Haipeng still felt somewhat unsteady in his heart.

  Yang Haipeng's unease, Shen Huai could still feel it, but couldn't explain anything, and simply changed the subject: "You earn your money, clean and honest, do things beautifully, don't worry about others being jealous of you. You earned the money, usually eating and drinking, playing, all spent by yourself, nothing to us, we are also at peace; however, you also shouldn't directly give Zhao Dong any money. If I knew there was such a thing, I would directly kick you out..."

  Zao Dong smiled awkwardly and said: "I'm not that unfamiliar with Hai Peng..."

  Shen Hua smiled and went into the house first. There were some things that he wanted Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng to discuss privately, so they could understand each other better.

  Zhao Dong saw the thick envelope that Yang Haipeng handed to Chen Dan in the evening, and as Shen Hua went in, he smiled and asked: "Boss Yang, how much money did you make this month? You're being so generous!"

  "In these two months, I can get a net profit of about 200,000 yuan." Yang Haipeng also told Zhao Dong the actual number without hiding anything.

  "Alright..." Zhao Dong could roughly guess the number and knew that Penghai Trading's business volume had picked up, which was just this month.

  In the city, there is a new residential area called Tianrun Community on the east side of Gongnong Road. Some houses are for sale outside, with a price of over 700 yuan per square meter. A three-bedroom house with an area of over 80 square meters only costs 600,000 yuan. In 1993, in Donghua City, one could earn tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan per month, which is an unimaginable figure for ordinary people. No wonder Yang Haipeng felt uneasy at heart.

  "You also know that without Secretary Shen's help, there would be no Penghai Trading at all. We can't be too selfish when doing things, right?" Yang Haipeng said.

  "Don't think too much, Secretary Shen has made it clear. If he really wanted to make money, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions would not be in his eyes. He wants to do things, wants to have development in his official career, and if we help him do things beautifully, this is stronger than anything." Zhao Dong almost followed Shen Hua's side all day, and saw more clearly.

  "It's not uncommon to see officials who want to climb up and make money at the same time, it's really a bit uncomfortable," Yang Haipeng smiled awkwardly, then said sincerely, "Secretary Shen, from today on, I'm really convinced by him!" And then he said to Zhao Dong, "By the way, you're going to marry Xiao Mingxia, but you don't have a house yet, let me lend you some money, it's okay, right?"

  "You honestly pay me for this meal, thinking of using money to corrupt me? No way," Zhao Dong smiled and stared at Yang Haipeng, then said, "The steel plant's profits will have a bonus at the end of the year; and another thing, Mingxia's parents agree, we can get married first and live with her family, no need to rush to move out."

  "Unbelievable! How could Mingxia's parents change their nature?" Yang Haipeng asked with an exaggerated expression.

  What happened in Nanyuan that day was a family scandal after all, so Zhao Dong and Shen Huai wouldn't mention it to others, and Yang Haipeng naturally didn't know either.

  Zhao Dong smiled and had to admit that Shen Hua's appearance had brought about tremendous changes for everyone. He seemed to have a golden finger with magical powers, changing the lives of so many people - from Lao Xiong, Zhou Ming, to himself, Yang Haipeng, Chen Dan, and Xiao Li.

  *****************

  Shen Huai walked into the card room and saw Guo Quan and He Yuelian were also there.

  Guo Quan had a drink and came over to say hello before leaving, which is normal; it's just that He Yuelian's persistence is giving people a headache.

  Shen Hua thought for a moment, considering the possibility of letting He Yu Lian take over the reception station. Although her eating habits had been somewhat unpleasant to watch over the past three years, upon closer inspection of the various details at the reception station, he couldn't help but admit that she had some business acumen. Thinking to himself: As the saying goes, "promoting from within doesn't avoid relatives, promoting from outside doesn't avoid enemies", the key is that He Yu Lian wouldn't pose any substantial threat to him, so it might not be a bad idea to try handing over the supply and marketing association to her.

  "Manager He, come over here for a moment?" Thinking of this, Shen Huan called out to He Yuelian and first walked towards the adjacent card room.

  Chen Dan insisted on returning the gift money, and He Yuelian didn't count it on the spot, thinking that all the money had been returned. At that time, she felt a chill in her heart and thought that the matter of taking over the supply and marketing cooperative was over - whether or not to take over the supply and marketing cooperative was secondary, she was more worried about Shen Huai's attitude, which would make it difficult for her to stay in Meixi Town in the future.

  He Ruilian was not reconciled to being kicked out like this, Guo Quan had drunk wine and wanted to come over to say hello to Shen Hui before leaving, she followed him with a dead skin and a swollen face. At this time, Shen Hui called her over to talk alone, and she also went all out...

  Kuo Chuan and the others just pretended not to know; only Xiong Dailin curiously poked her head out, and whispered to her sister: "Who is this girl? I saw her in Shen Huai's office earlier; she really has a nice appearance!"

  Penghai Trading is located in Meixi Town, and Xiong Danni takes the bus to work every day. She has a good understanding of the situation in Meixi Town and knows He Yuelian's identity.

  Putting aside He Yuelian's embarrassing identity, just from the perspective of a woman appreciating another woman, He Yuelian has a charm and allure that ordinary pretty women can't match. It's also hard to imagine that a woman who is almost forty years old still has such charisma.

  Zhou Ming just couldn't help but glance at that woman several times with his eyes, and Xiong Danni was very unhappy in her heart.