Afternoon.
Three thirty.
Inside the Family Compound.
Jiang Fangfang did not go upstairs. After she and Dong Xuebin sat in the car grinning at each other for a while, she said she still had things to do and drove away. It seemed she was going to her parents' home for dinner that evening.
Only then did Dong Xuebin realize that County Chief Jiang had specifically driven him home. Otherwise, if she was going to her parents' house, there had been no need for her to make the trip back. His heart warmed. Thinking of how Jiang Fangfang had deliberately made Secretary Pu and Deputy Secretary Zhang book their wedding banquets for the same day, he realized that County Chief Jiang had not even told Li Xiaona, the secretary she trusted most. Yet after sending Li Xiaona away, she had told him without reservation. Dong Xuebin could feel Jiang Fangfang's trust in him, and it felt good. That was why he had also told her about deliberately crashing into the Lexus. It was an exchange of trust, perhaps. Otherwise, Dong Xuebin could never have told anyone about something like that. If others gave him an inch of respect, he would return them a mile.
He went upstairs and headed home.
Still lost in thought, Dong Xuebin reached his front door, glanced at the dust on the security door, and reached into his pocket for his keys.
Hm?
Where were his keys?
Why was his pocket empty?
Dong Xuebin froze. Only then did he remember that his suitcase, keys, clothes, and everything else were all in the Land Rover's trunk. He had lent the car to Secretary Pu's family, and with them in a hurry over the wedding, he had not been able to retrieve them at the time. He had completely