Xiamei Highway is bounded by Meixi Bridge, although the western section is also a suburban area, with mixed residential buildings, but it was earlier divided into the urban area, and street lights were erected on both sides.

When the car crosses the Meixi Bridge, you can see two rows of street lamps, like two necklaces leaning slightly to the north, but most of the area, except for the dotted home lights, falls into a deeper night; Behind him was even darker, only a brilliant light in the direction of the steel mill, showing an unusually bright prosperity.

After leaving Meixi Town, Zhou Xiaobai was silent most of the time, because he had been educated overseas for a long time, he sometimes did not agree with his father's business philosophy, and when the father and son were together, they rarely spoke.

The driver of the Zhou family is very accustomed to the atmosphere between the father and son of the Zhou family, and he just drove the car silently, if anyone saw this situation, he thought that the car was equipped with a muffler. The silence lasted until the Zhou family's compound in the west of Cuihu was not broken, but no one felt that anything was wrong.

Except for the villas of the Standing Committee in the northwest corner of the lake and the old western-style buildings on the south bank of the lake, there are no villa areas around the lake. On the contrary, due to the lag of urban construction, there are still large areas of old-fashioned houses along the shore of Cuihu Lake that are not crowded here.

The Zhou family is located deep in the narrow alleys on the east bank of the Green Lake, and its appearance is no different from the courtyard of an ordinary house. However, the two-story courtyard was previously a public rental house crowded together by five families, and now this courtyard has been bought by the Zhou family, and it has become a quiet and quiet residence.

This courtyard is usually inhabited by Zhou Yanbin and his wife, the old lady of the Zhou family, the nanny, and the driver; Zhou Zhibai does not want to be restrained, and has another place to live in Donghua, so the driver naturally sends Zhou Yanbin home first.

Although the alley can accommodate cars to enter, it is very inconvenient, Zhou Yanbin usually gets off at the mouth of the alley, and the driver has long been used to parking the car at the mouth of the alley.

Zhou Yanbin didn't get off the train in a hurry, the driver knew that he had something to say to Zhou Zhibai, so he got off the station and smoked by the alley.

Looking at the dim lights in the alley, Zhou Yanbin looked at his son's silent face through the rearview mirror, knowing that he still couldn't get rid of the sense of rejection of Shen Huai in his heart, and said: "In the early years, I rode a tricycle and walked through the alleys to collect rags, and you also had grievances in your heart. Other people's parents are either workers, teachers, or government officials, but your parents are shabby, doing what others see as 'dirty work', and it is normal for you to be young and feel wronged. But after so many years of education abroad, how do you feel when you look back on this past?"

"I was able to go abroad to study, and it was all earned by you, Dad. Now Pengyue's main business is also scrap trade, if you want to say that you are Donghua's 'tattered king', I am Donghua's 'little tattered king'," seeing his father mention the past, Zhou Zhibai also sighed very emotionally, and said, "Without the dirty work and tiring work that my father did in his early years, there would be no my present and Pengyue's present." Even if there are some things that I don't approve of you, I will be grateful to you and respect you for the rest of my life......"

"......" Zhou Yanbin couldn't help laughing when he saw that his son was still talking to him with such reservations, and said, "The dirty work I did back then didn't give people an understanding, and you felt wronged when you were young;

"......" Zhou Zhibai didn't expect his father to suddenly bring up this topic, and he couldn't figure out what his father meant for a while.

"On the surface, Shen Huai is arrogant, does not pay attention to the rules, and even unscrupulously breaks the rules, biting everywhere like a mad dog," Zhou Yanbin said, "But think about it, if it weren't for Shen Huai's actions, would Meixi Town and Meigang have such a good development environment." But I also understand your feelings, Peng Yue has not bowed his head over the years, and he is forced to choose to cooperate with such a nobody, and he will not feel good in his heart......"

"I'm not so irrational. Zhou Zhibai argued, and suddenly found that there was no way to tell his father about the matter between his sister and Shen Huai, so he could only remain silent.

"My initial impression of Shen Huai was also vague and incomprehensible," Zhou Yanbin said earnestly, "However, what do you think of the management of Chu Yiliang, Zhu Li, Yang Haipeng and Mei Gang?"

"The level of competence and professionalism is very high. Zhou Zhibai has little contact with Chu Yiliang, Zhu Li, and Yang Haipeng, but he has business dealings with Mei Gang, and has a lot of contact with Zhao Dong, Wang Kangsheng, Qian Wenhui and others, even if he still can't suppress his disgust for Shen Huai in his heart, he has to say something fairly.

"Look at people and look at their kind," Zhou Yanbin said, "These people can be used by Shen Huai, it can be said that they are obedient, on the one hand, it shows that Shen Huai's means of controlling people are very powerful, and on the other hand, it also shows that he does have the ability to convince people." Of course, Pengyue can't trust others unreservedly, but in comparison, we can't find a better collaborator than Shen Huai at this stage. ”

"I don't like Shen Huai, but I'm not a high-spirited child, I still know what to do. Zhou Zhibai didn't expect his father's evaluation of Shen Huai to be so high, and he was a little unconvinced, but he wouldn't say anything angry.

"I don't say this to teach you a lesson," Zhou Yanbin said, "I went to Meixi Town today, and only those of us who have experienced it like this will have the feeling that everything is hard-won, and sometimes 'dirty work' must be done by someone." I won't be involved in how to cooperate, but this time we have to show some sincerity, even if we suffer some losses, it doesn't hurt......"

"I see. Zhou Zhibai nodded, got out of the car to help his father open the car door, and watched him walk into the depths of the alley into the yard before turning around and sitting in the car.

The prosperity of the urban area is always beyond the reach of the suburbs, and Zhou Zhibai took the car back to his residence in the Xipi Gate of the Development Zone.

This is a rare villa real estate in Donghua City, Zhou Zhibai is unwilling to be restrained, he usually lives here when he goes home, he asked the driver to stop the car at the gate of the community, and walked to the community alone. Zhou Zhibai did not go directly to his residence, but turned to the north corner of Building No. 2, stood in the shade of a tree, lit a cigarette and smoked it, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart:

The Zhou family's choice to cooperate with Shen Huai can be said to be a choice made step by step when they were forced into a dead end that they could not choose.

The first time Chen Mingde died suddenly due to illness, his second uncle was forced to trade with Shen Huai in order to alleviate the possible serious consequences of this incident for the Zhou family, and Shen Huai was able to be airdropped to Meixi Town as the deputy secretary in charge of the economy and take over the Meixi Iron and Steel Plant.

The second time, Shen Huai directly threatened Pengyue's scrap business to scrap steel, forcing the Zhou family to support him in the equity restructuring of Meixi Iron and Steel Plant.

Even if the interests of the Zhou family were not damaged because of Shen Huai these two times, this feeling of being led by the nose and not being able to grasp the initiative is uncomfortable.

This time, the Zhou family seemed to have a choice and could refuse to participate in the bridge construction plan on the southern route, but they had to consider the consequences of the decline in their relationship after refusing, and in fact they had no choice.

However, after the confrontation with the emperor last night, it can also make people see more clearly that Shen Huai's background is tough enough to openly argue with Tan Qiping, the secretary of the municipal party committee, which also makes the Zhou family feel better when they repeatedly choose to cooperate passively - people are always easy to succumb to the strong. But no matter what, if you lead the nose, you won't feel comfortable.

Even aside from the relationship between his sister and Shen Huai, Zhou Zhibai is not a person who is willing to lead others by the nose, and Shen Huai's rampage style makes him even more disliked.

Just listening to his father's words, Zhou Zhibai reflected a little.

Even if he disagrees with his father's views on many things and thinks that his father is too conservative, he has to admit that in many things, his father, who has just graduated from junior high school, sees more than him.

If it is said that all Shen Huai's external actions are to win a better development environment for Meixi Town and Meigang, Zhou Zhibai has to admit that Shen Huai has done a very good job so far.

Although Zhou Zhibai was never willing to lag behind others and never thought that he was inferior to others, he could only admit convincingly that he replaced Shen Huai to preside over Meigang last autumn, and it was impossible to do better.

It's not that I can't see and see, how can Meigang develop, it's purely theoretical, Zhou Zhibai doesn't think that he is inferior to others, and the key is to see that he may not be able to do it;

After the autumn of last year, everyone knew that Meigang had reached the point where it would die if it was not rectified, but except for Shen Huai, who could sweep away all resistance and make Meigang so sharp and quickly carry out production rectification?

Zhou Zhibai also knew that the equity restructuring would be of great benefit to Meigang, but under the existing political and economic conditions in China, he did not feel that he had the ability to promote Meigang to become the first pilot enterprise of equity restructuring in Donghua City.

Zhou Zhibai also knows that when the production capacity of steel enterprises reaches a certain scale, the constraints on the cost control of steel enterprises will become great, but he does not think that he has the courage to invest heavily in the construction of freight terminals when the annual output of Meigang has just exceeded 100,000 tons?

Even if you think of and decide to do this thing, if you can't win the support of the majority of the people and suppress the voices of opponents, you will never be able to do it.

At this time, looking back calmly, Shen Huai's style of being arrogant, uncompromising, unscrupulous in breaking the rules, and even daring to argue with the secretary of the municipal party committee is the most fundamental guarantee for Meixi Town and Meigang to get to this point.

Zhou Zhibai smoked a cigarette, couldn't help but take a long breath, and wanted to spit out the depression in his heart, when a woman came out of the darkness, gently hugged his neck from behind, and asked, "What are you thinking, I've never seen you smoke?"

"People have very depressed things, for example, you don't like a person, but you have to admit that he is better than you, so you also need to smoke a cigarette occasionally to relieve your depressed mood," Zhou Zhibai turned his head, gently stroked the woman's smooth face, fascinated by her charming eyes, and talked to her with a smile, "Come and sleep with me tonight, okay?"