Chapter 321 Zhang Jingan

Chapter 321: Zhang Jing'an

Secretary Zhao hung up the phone and said with a chuckle to Zhang Jing'an, "You and Director Su are both doers with vision. With the two of you working together, I feel much more at ease."

Secretary Zhao liked what he saw in this young man—he was cultured and mild-mannered, had served in the military, could treat wounded soldiers and crack cases, and carried himself with a straight-arrow bearing that exuded integrity and responsibility.

As someone who'd met his share of people, Secretary Zhao hadn’t encountered someone he couldn’t fault for a long time. If he had to name a weakness, it would be that Zhang Jing'an was still too young and had a face that turned heads, especially his eyes, which were too damn soft when he smiled.

Truthfully, Secretary Zhao had been even more worried than Su Taotao about the possibility of an unreliable person being dropped in from headquarters. If that happened, not only would he be caught in the middle, but if that person resorted to bureaucratic practices and ran the place into the ground, all their hard work would go to waste.

When he first met Zhang Jing'an, he did a double take—he had never seen such a young and handsome secretary. After their conversation, half his concerns melted away.

Then it occurred to him that he had also never seen a young and beautiful female factory director like Su Taotao. The two of them working together would be easy on the eyes.

Zhang Jing'an smiled faintly, pulled out a smoke, and asked Secretary Zhao, "Do you mind?"

Secretary Zhao did a double take before shaking his head. "Not at all."

He hadn’t expected Zhang Jing'an to be the smoking type.

"Would you like one?"

Secretary Zhao waved his hand. "No, no."

"During battlefield rescues, we often went dozens of hours without sleep. Everyone relied on cigarettes to stay alert. That’s how I got hooked, though it’s not heavy."

Zhang Jing'an wasn't married to it when it came to smoking.

But seeing Secretary Zhao’s increasingly affectionate gaze, he felt compelled to show some rough edges to cut the tension.

He wasn’t exactly a good person.

At least not in the traditional sense.

Zhang Jing'an lit a cigarette, half-closed his eyes, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Seeing his world-weary act, Secretary Zhao began to second-guess his first impression, though he maintained an understanding expression.

"Understandable. You’re all heroes. You’ve worked hard."

Zhang Jing'an chuckled, tapped his ash, and said nothing more.

"By the way, there’s something I’m quite curious about. I don’t know if it’s appropriate to ask," Secretary Zhao said, unable to contain his curiosity about why Zhang Jing'an had chosen to get 'banished' to their small town.

Zhang Jing'an smiled gently. "Why I was willing to come here, right?"

Secretary Zhao nodded. "Let’s speak frankly. Anyone would prefer to stay in a big city, and your original position was already quite good."

This move was practically professional hara-kiri.

Zhang Jing'an replied, "I suffered lung and heart injuries before and still have some aftereffects. I thought coming to the warmest southern region might do me some good—maybe even work magic.

This opportunity came up, so I applied."

Secretary Zhao had considered countless possibilities, but this one never crossed his mind.

She could only humor him with a smile, "Yes, our weather here is like summer all year round—great for your health."

Zhang Jing'an stubbed out his cigarette and stood up. "I'll head back to pack my things first. Tomorrow, I'll go with you."

Secretary Zhao said, "We'll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning."

Zhang Jing'an nodded. "Thanks."

It wasn’t until he left the office that Secretary Zhao remembered—if he had lasting damage to his lungs and heart from his injuries, why was he still smoking?

On one hand, he talked about recuperating, yet on the other, he smoked. Talk about mixed signals.

Secretary Zhao mull over it for a moment and realized Zhang Jing'an was full of contradictions. He wasn’t as polished and mild-mannered as first impressions suggested.

Oh well. He was here now, no use overanalyzing it. At least he wasn’t a paper-pusher or hothead.

His only hope now was that Zhang Jing'an and Su Taotao could coexist peacefully and that the factory would thrive.

Zhang Jing'an stepped outside, gazing thoughtfully at the vast blue sky.

In his past life, by this time, she should have already left Qinglian Village, returned to S City, and settled down with Xu Jiadong.

But in this life, not only had she not divorced the man from Qinglian Village, she had even followed him here to open this factory, with no signs of leaving.

Indeed, this life was completely different from the last. When he saw her in Qinglian Village before, he had already noticed she was nothing like her former self.

If there was another difference in this life, it was that he hadn’t married Xu Jialian, that status-obsessed woman.

After dying once on the battlefield and returning with memories of his past life, he had resolved to sever all ties with the Xu family—the farther from that toxic bunch, the better.

Life wasn’t long. In his past life, weighed down by Xu Jialian, he hadn’t lived much at all.

He came here for two reasons. First, he didn’t want to live the same scripted life as before, only to be disgusted by Xu Jialian again.

Second, he wanted to find out whether Su Taotao, like him, remembered everything from their past life—why she hadn’t divorced the man from Qinglian Village, why she hadn’t returned to the city to marry Xu Jiadong, why she had cut all ties with the Xu family.

Zhang Jing'an withdrew his gaze and gave a wry chuckle, thinking he might be overcomplicating things.

In his past life, Su Taotao and Xu Jialian had been two peas in a pod—both self-serving, both social climbers, both happy to cheat on their husbands.

Even their looks were the trouble-in-heels kind of beauty.

Su Taotao had even made a play for him once.

He couldn’t remember if he had fallen for her. After all, lookers like that were rare.

Probably not. He couldn’t stand Xu Jialian—how could he have fallen for a woman of the same type, even if she was more beautiful and more dangerous?

So why had he sought her out in this life? Maybe after living two lifetimes, he had stopped caring about life or death, and the days felt too lonely. He just wanted something to prove to himself he was still breathing.

Otherwise, what's the point of it all?

Zhang Jing'an thought of Su Taotao’s each little smile, the tenderness in her eyes when she looked at her child.

She didn’t even place him now.

Well, at this point in their past lives, they hadn't had much to do with each other.

And he had changed quite a bit too—it made sense she wouldn’t recognize him.

His stale existence was finally getting shaken up. He was looking forward to it.

See you tomorrow, Su Taotao.

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