Night fell.
The night sky was silent.
Only the occasional faint chirp of insects and birds drifted in from outside the window.
At home, Dong Xuebin was still sleeping soundly when a sudden phone ringtone burst into his ear, startling him awake.
Ring ring ring.
Ring ring ring.
Who was calling?
Calling in the middle of the night?
Dong Xuebin was too sleepy. His eyes closed again as he reached out and fumbled around, only managing to grab his phone after several tries. He pressed the answer button.
"Hello, who is this?"
"It's me."
"Uh, County Chief Jiang."
"Were you asleep? Then never mind."
"Don't say that. What is it? Go ahead."
"It's nothing. Go back to sleep. I won't disturb your rest."
"Listen to you, being so polite with me. I'm not sleepy anymore—I've already slept half the day."
Hearing County Chief Jiang's voice, Dong Xuebin woke up a little more. He glanced at the time on his phone and realized it was already one in the morning. Earlier, he had been grumbling inwardly about whoever was disturbing him in the middle of the night, but once he saw that it was Jiang Fangfang, all his complaints vanished. People were sometimes like that. If a colleague or another official had woken Dong Xuebin, his tone definitely would not have been pleasant. After all, it was the middle of the night. Even if it had been something serious, he would not have been happy about it, and if he could put it off, he would. He could always come up with an excuse. But the person on the other end was Jiang Fangfang. Well, even if there was no serious business, Dong Xuebin was in a good mood. Sleep? He would have been fine even if he did not sleep