Chapter 34 (2/2)

Lee Wei ignored Chairman Zhao’s

inner turmoil and stood up to stretch lazily.

“Alright, now that this case is

closed, Se Cai, I’m going to need those materials.”

She slapped Se Cai on his

shoulder before carrying her bag and walked out the door.

“O…okay.”

Se Cai said somewhat dumbly. He

picked his reporter ID and made to follow.

Manager Wei caught him by his

arm and whispered, “Xiao Se, nicely done there. Why didn’t you tell me the

reporter you saved yesterday was her?”

“I know she’s a reporter from

the province station, but I really didn’t know she had such an impressive

background! Who would have thought a young woman like her has a similar executive

ranking as Commissioner Sai!”

Se Cai whispered in return,

disbelief coursing through his voice.

“Never mind, because now you

know.”

Manager Wei pushed Se Cai towards

the door but not before adding, “I believe she has a good impression of you.

She’s here today just for you so I’ll give you a special day off but remember

to keep our guest of honor happy and satisfied!”

Se Cai was still digesting what

Manager Wei meant by ‘happy and satisfied’ when he was forced out the door.

“Wait… don’t tell me Manager Wei

wants me to surrender my body?”

“Alright, all the material’s

inside here.”

Se Cai took out the USB and

pa.s.sed it to Lee Wei.

“You’re done so fast?”

Lee Wei exclaimed as she looked

at her silver CK watch.

“All my material is already in

my hard-disk so I only needed to copy them.”

Se Cai smiled.  His computer science background compelled him

to keep his digital data in a structured order. His biggest pet peeve was an

unused folder clogging his window.

“It’s still early. The special

on County S is almost done, we’re only lacking a few street shots.”

Lee Wei pulled her bag and added

as an afterthought, “Actually, I haven’t really walked around this place even

though I’ve been here for almost a week.”

“A small place like County S

pales in comparison to the province city but I understand the need to take the

street shots… How about this, I’ll help you take some using our equipment since

you doesn’t seem to have yours.”

Se Cai offered. Manager Wei did

order him to keep Lee Wei happy and satisfied. Plus, that was the least he

could do because Lee Wei did practically save his entire career.

Using Lee Wei’s name, Se Cai

commissioned a car, a Sony EX1R camera and a tripod stand.

“Superintendent Lee, I must

thank you again. It is because of you that the people at the station allow me

to take this mobile that is usually reserved for Manager Wei!”

Se Cai joked. After a whole

morning together, Se Cai realized even though Lee Wei was a high ranking

personnel, she didn’t act like one. She talked easily with him and everyone

else.

“Stop calling me superintendent,

use Sister Wei instead.”

Lee Wei feigned offense before

breaking out in laughter, “To tell the truth, most of the times I don’t feel like

a superintendent, I’m still that happy-go-lucky reporter.”

Se Cai wanted to enquire how did

she reach such a position at her young age but he felt that was an insensitive

subject to broach so he changed the topic.

“Thank you again for arriving at

my aid earlier today if not I’m sure my fate would end up worse than being

suspended,” Se Cai said.

“Since no one is around, I’ll

let you in on a secret.”

Lee Wei continued in a serious

tone, “I was ready to leave yesterday but Sai Wu came to me before I managed to

do so. He knew w.a.n.g Run Fa would mean you harm so he asked me to lend you my

aid.”

“What? It was him who approached

you?”

Se Cai stopped the car by the

side of the road and exclaimed in shock.

But how could this be? Even

though Sai Wu did owe him a favor but how could he have known w.a.n.g Run Fa was

out to get him that day?

[I should have done this earlier but here is glossary for

the Chinese government’s executive structure, it’ll help understand the story

better. Nation > Province > State > County > Munic.i.p.al, and each

comes with a main and a deputy, ie. Deputy State > Main County, so on and so

forth. Media workers in China are part of the government so they fit into this

structure as well. Here are the positions of the characters mentioned in the

story thus far: Lee Wei, Sai Wu = Deputy County; Chairman Zhao, Xu Jing Song,

Manager Wei = Munic.i.p.al. It’s unfortunate that the place name and these

position name overlaps but I’ll try to be as clear as I can be.]

</legal>

<script>