Just after eight in the evening.
The dance had already been going on for most of the night.
One song... three songs... five songs...
After dancing that number with Xie Huilan, Dong Xuebin had surprisingly never gotten a break. First Hu Silian, then Luo Haiting, then a female Civil Affairs Bureau cadre in her forties, then a female employee from the county Guest House in her thirties. Next, a young girl from the County Cultural Troupe worked up the courage to invite Dong Xuebin. When he agreed, many more women from the Cultural Troupe came asking him to dance. After seven or eight songs in a row, even Dong Xuebin, with his decent stamina, was exhausted and sweating heavily.
Dong Xuebin had always been tolerant toward women, so he had been too embarrassed to refuse.
Everyone at the dance discovered just how popular Director Dong was.
Especially among the older female cadres—why did it seem like they had all danced with Dong Xuebin?
It was not hard to understand. Dong Xuebin was a legendary figure in Yantai County, and his age alone gave him an advantage. The people around him were all old cadres in their forties or even fifties, while among the male cadres, Dong Xuebin was the youngest, barely in his twenties and in the prime of his youth. Compared with those older comrades who could not dance well, who would not prefer dancing with a young man? It was pleasing to the eye, too.
Luo Haiting was just as popular. First, there was her still-charming beauty and practiced dancing; second, she never turned anyone down. Whoever invited her, she accepted. So rather than getting rebuffed by Xie Huilan or Hu Silian, many cadres chose Director Luo instead. Dong Xuebin was quite satisfied. The Investment Bureau comrades really