"It's not hard for me, it's the children who really have it hard," Tang Yumeng said with a smile.

"Please, come inside... let's sit in the meeting room," the principal said with a smile: "I've already had it cleaned up, and the venue arranged. The school's more than ten teachers and I are all waiting to hear your guidance."

"Guidance is too strong a word. Let's just sit down and have a chat," Tang Yumeng nodded.

Then, under the adoration of numerous teachers and a bunch of media journalists, Tang Yumeng entered the meeting room. Yet the children, who had stood in the bitter cold for more than half an hour, were ushered back to their classrooms by their teachers after only a few minutes of welcome ceremony.

The meeting room was not very large; it usually served as a multimedia classroom for the children, the only multi-functional classroom in the school and the only one with a modern feel. There was a demonstration computer and a projector in this classroom, and that was it.

It was a tiered classroom with more than fifty chairs. Media journalists rushed to secure advantageous positions and set up their cameras and gear.

The principal stood at the podium, looking excitedly at everyone. Below him, aside from the dozens of journalists, there were just over ten teachers of the school and three principals. The principal started to speak, mostly expressing gratitude towards the City Committee, the municipal government, and the care from all sectors of society...

After a barely passionate speech, Tang Yumeng took the stage. Her speeches were always very brief and to the point. At the end, she received warm applause.

Forty minutes later, everyone gathered on the school playground, and the children were brought out. There, Tang Yumeng started playing games with the children—first kicking shuttlecocks, then hopscotch, followed by the game of Eagle Catches Chicks.

Lin Chuan watched with great enthusiasm, having never seen such an innocent and playful side to Tang Yumeng. He always thought Tang Yumeng was graceful, dignified, and unable to let go of her pride. Unexpectedly, when faced with these children, she immediately became childlike, putting aside her graceful and distinguished image and becoming an endearing girl next door.

After playing for a good while, the children were very happy and excited, and Tang Yumeng's cheeks were rosy with joy.

The journalists on the side were eagerly filming, for they had never seen a city secretary let down her dignity to such an extent to wholeheartedly and joyfully play with these ten-year-old children. Perhaps this would make for great news and valuable footage.

Tang Yumeng did not stay for lunch but left at noon. Upon her departure, there was also the always anticipated activity for the children.

For this occasion, Tang Yumeng made a personal donation of CNY 50,000 to purchase over two hundred sets of backpacks and stationery to distribute to the children. The children were overjoyed, and Tang Yumeng, along with Xiao Xue and Lin Chuan, personally handed out these backpacks and stationery to each child.

"Who would've thought Secretary Tang had such a big heart."

"Not just a big heart, but also a youthful spirit that never ages," a female journalist said with a laugh.

After all the backpacks and stationery were distributed, the visit to Hope Primary School in Jiangdong District came to an end, and the children reluctantly bid farewell to Tang Yumeng.

The principal respectfully saw everyone off and waited until the vehicles carrying Tang Yumeng and others had left before the school gates slowly closed.

"Principal, Secretary Tang really is a good person," said a female teacher excitedly.

"Yes!" The principal nodded and said, "She promised that next year she'll send some more teachers to the school. By then, your teaching workload will be reduced considerably."

"That's great." The teachers nodded in agreement.

"By the way, gather up the children's backpacks and stationery," the principal added.

"Huh?" The female teacher was taken aback and said, "Why? These are New Year gifts from Secretary Tang to the children."

"Don't they all have backpacks and stationery?" The principal said with a smile, "Collecting them is to make more rational and effective use of these things. In the future, they can be donated to impoverished children, lightening the load on their families. Understand?"

The group of teachers was momentarily stunned.

Afterwards, the principal departed and once back in his office, he immediately dialed a supplier's phone number.

"Hey, Principal Liu, what can I do for you?" The supplier quickly asked with a chuckle.

"I've got another batch of good-quality children's backpacks and stationery, with a total value of CNY 60,000. How much will you take them for?" Principal Liu asked, with a hint of greed on his face.

"Good-quality? Are you sure they're genuine?" The supplier eagerly inquired.

"One hundred percent genuine," Principal Liu nodded.

"If they're genuine and brand new, I'll take them for CNY 30,000," the supplier hurriedly said.

"Aren't you being too greedy?" Principal Liu widened his eyes and said, "These goods are worth more than CNY 60,000 in the market. You're taking them at half price?"

"Old Liu, you know the economy is not doing well, right?" The supplier said awkwardly, "I can offer CNY 30,000 out of consideration for our relationship."

"CNY 50,000," Principal Liu huffed, "I won't sell for less."

"You..." the supplier said helplessly, "Keep the fifty thousand for yourself, I can only give you forty-five thousand at most."

"Alright, deal," Principal Liu nodded, satisfied with the forty-five thousand as a substantial income. Staying in this godforsaken backwater, there was hardly any under-the-table income, only at the end of the year would the City Committee allocate a small amount of funds, from which he could skim very little. Of course, occasionally volunteers or good Samaritans would send over some items or some cash, from which he could pocket a bit more.

No sooner had he hung up the phone than a female teacher rushed in frantically, shouting, "Principal, it's bad, really bad."

"What happened?" Principal Liu frowned.

"Your... your Mercedes has been... smashed," the female teacher anxiously said.

"What?!" Principal Liu was shocked and angrily demanded, "Which bastard did this?"

"I don't know," the female teacher hurriedly shook her head, "Right after we took away the backpacks from the kids, someone smashed a hole in your car window."

Principal Liu rushed out immediately. He had spent over four hundred thousand CNY on his Mercedes, treating it as his precious, often having students who made mistakes clean it for him, hence his car was always spick-and-span. Now, to have it vandalized, he was absolutely livid. When Principal Liu arrived at the scene, sure enough, the side window was smashed, shards of glass strewn everywhere, and a fist-sized rock sat on the passenger seat.

"Damn it, investigate, I must find out who did this," Principal Liu was furious.

Replacing such a window glass would cost at least a few thousand CNY. Principal Liu was fuming, with anger nowhere to vent. But after investigating for a long time, there was no clue who did it. With over two hundred students in the school, you couldn't possibly round them all up, right?

"Principal, this... it seems we won't be able to find out who did it," the teacher helplessly said.

"Damn it," Principal Liu slammed the table and angrily ordered, "Go, announce that for the final exam, everyone needs to pay a material fee of twenty CNY, and they must pay it in full by five o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Those who don't pay will not be permitted to take the final exam."

"But... isn't the City Committee responsible for covering the cost of the exam materials?" the teacher asked in surprise.

"Just go do it," the principal snapped, "Do you still want your job or not?"

"Yes, yes, yes," the teacher quickly nodded.

After the teacher left, Principal Liu did the math: twenty CNY per student, over two hundred students, that's four to five thousand. That's more than enough to replace a piece of window glass, and there would even be a thousand or two left for fuel.

.........

Tang Yumeng was feeling tired; she leaned back in her seat, listening to her favorite music playing in the car. Xiao Xue was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Xiao Xue, how much did Secretary Tang spend this time?" Lin Chuan asked curiously.

"A bit over fifty thousand," Xiao Xue glanced at Lin Chuan and said, "Don't get the wrong idea, it's Secretary Tang's own money. Before getting into politics, Secretary Tang had her own overseas company which was very profitable and is still running, making millions of US Dollars a year."

"Rich lady, wow," Lin Chuan was amazed.

"Can you not overreact like that?" Xiao Xue glared at Lin Chuan and continued, "Moreover, Secretary Tang has her own investments, but all outside the country. Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom... she has property investments in several countries. I've even been there."

"Really?" Lin Chuan was astonished, "I've heard that properties in the UK are really expensive, even more so than in Beijing."

"Exactly," Xiao Xue giggled, "Secretary Tang owns a villa in the suburbs of London. It was just five hundred thousand British pounds a few years ago, and now it's appreciated to two million pounds, which means it's now worth over twenty million CNY."

"Wow, seriously." Listening to this, Lin Chuan felt his blood pumping, "So Secretary Tang is a real rich lady, then?"

"Don't put it in such an ugly way," Xiao Xue gave Lin Chuan a glance, "Secretary Tang is a strategic investor. She has a keen eye for investment."

"Then why bother becoming an official?" Lin Chuan huffed, "If it were me, I would have been traveling around the world by now."

"I don't know," Xiao Xue shrugged, "Maybe it's a personal hobby, she's been in the business world for too long and now finds politics appealing."

"Makes sense," Lin Chuan nodded.

Tang Yumeng heard every bit of their conversation without interrupting. It wasn't anything shameful. She had no business activities in China, all her business was conducted overseas, which did not violate any regulations for party and government officials.

After the car arrived at the City Committee, Tang Yumeng and Xiao Xue got out, and Lin Chuan parked the car in a spot. Then he handed the keys over to Xiao Xue.

"Let's have lunch together, my treat," Tang Yumeng offered with a smile.

"Sure, sure," Xiao Xue nodded excitedly, "If Secretary Tang is treating, I won't hold back. I want to eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant."

[You guys were awesome yesterday, so two additional chapters today. Please continue to vote and reward so I can keep updating more. Thanks to the rewarding readers: Huang Hengxing, Someone Else Said Handsome, Unreachable, Never Leave and Never Forsake, Time Slipping Away Unstoppably... and the rest. Thank you. ]

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