Official title: Refused to stay at the university, started his career in a rural town.

Yang Fan stood downstairs at the faculty building of Handong University, squeezing the Western restaurant prepaid card in his hand repeatedly.

Su Huaishan's words were still echoing in his mind—"Go see him this afternoon, and invite him to dinner tonight."

Meet me? That's easy for you to say.

He looked down at his outfit: a dark gray jacket, a white shirt, and black leather shoes—the standard attire of a county official.

In Ninghe County, this is called simplicity; in Jingzhou, it would be called rustic.

The general office for the electronics department teachers was located on the second floor near the stairwell, with the door ajar.

He raised his hand and knocked three times.

"Please come in."

The sound wasn't loud, but it was clear and crisp.

Yang Fan pushed open the door.

A girl was standing by the window, wearing a light blue dress and white canvas shoes. She turned around when she heard the door open.

Yang Fan's fingers paused for a moment on the doorknob.

A ponytail, an oval face, and delicate features—not the kind of striking beauty that catches the eye at first glance, but the kind of beauty that grows on you the more you look at it.

Her skin wasn't very fair, but it was clean and smooth, like a freshly washed apple. The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, making it look like she was smiling even when she wasn't.

Sunlight streamed in from the window behind her, framing her entire body with a pale golden edge.

Yang Fan's throat was a little dry.

"Are you Teacher Gu? I'm Yang Fan."

Gu Xiaoqian nodded, her smile deepening slightly. "County Chief Yang, Principal Su spoke to me. Please have a seat."

Yang Fan sat down on the sofa, his back ramrod straight. He didn't know where to put his hands. He first put them on his knees, but that felt too formal. He moved them to the sides of his thighs, but that still didn't feel right. Finally, he simply interlaced his fingers in front of him.

Gu Xiaoqian sat down in the chair opposite him, her legs together and slightly turned to the side, the hem of her skirt just covering her knees, and looked up at him.

"You're younger than I thought."

Yang Fan coughed. "You're better than I expected... well, better."

As soon as I said it, I realized it wasn't right. What does "good" mean? What makes it good? You should explain it clearly.

Gu Xiaoqian didn't press for details, but just smiled. The smile wasn't big, but her eyes curved into crescents.

"Principal Su said you are very busy with work."

"It's alright, but the place is poor, there's a lot to do, and I have to run around every day."

"Ninghe County, right? I heard Professor Sun mention it. He said that the administrative service center you set up is quite impressive, and people no longer need to run around to several departments to get things done."

Yang Fan's eyes lit up. "You know?"

"I teach general courses for the Electronic Engineering department, and some of my students are from Ninghe. They talked about you when they came back from their Chinese New Year holiday." Gu Xiaoqian put down her enamel mug.

"They say you're their County Magistrate Yang, and some even call you a smiling tiger."

Yang Fan's lips twitched.

Damn it, which scoundrel is talking about me behind my back?

"That's all just hearsay," Yang Fan said, rubbing his nose.

Gu Xiaoqian tilted her head. "I heard that as soon as you arrived, you followed the clues and took down quite a few officials."

Yang Fan fell silent.

Seeing his frustrated expression, Gu Xiaoqian's smile deepened slightly, but she didn't laugh out loud.

She had a slight smile on her lips, and her eyes were sparkling, as if she were looking at something interesting.

Yang Fan felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. In his life, he had faced the son of a provincial party committee member, the cold face of a municipal discipline inspection secretary, and the face and substance of all the county cadres. None of them had ever made his palms sweat.

But the girl in front of him, with her ponytail and light blue dress, just quietly looked at him, and his palms were sweaty.

"Do you usually act like this?" Gu Xiaoqian asked.

"What?"

"nervous."

Yang Fan took a deep breath. A 29-year-old executive deputy county head was a rare find in the entire province. He was an outstanding alumnus of Handong University. If word got out that he was asked "Are you nervous?" by a girl at a blind date, all the prestige he had accumulated in his official career would be ruined.

"This is my first blind date," Yang Fan confessed.

Gu Xiaoqian nodded, her smile still faint, but the light in her eyes seemed to brighten a little.

Yang Fan stood up. "That night—"

"The Western restaurant, I know it, the one at the back gate of the campus." Gu Xiaoqian walked to the door, turned around, and asked with a smile as sunlight shone on her from behind.

"County Chief Yang, Yang Fan, shall we go?"

Only when he heard that clear, crisp call did Yang Fan realize that it was already dark.

What did I talk about this afternoon? Yang Fan was a little confused.

The Western restaurant was small, with warm yellow lighting and several oil paintings of Parisian street scenes hanging on the walls.

He chose a seat by the window, ordered two glasses of water, and placed the prepaid card Su Huaishan had given him on the table. The waiter brought the menu, which he flipped through. Steak, salad, soup, and dessert.

Yang Fan pushed the menu over, "Take a look and see what you want to eat."

Gu Xiaoqian opened the menu and flipped through it from beginning to end.

"I've never been here before, can you recommend it?"

Yang Fan called the waiter and ordered a filet mignon, a sirloin steak, two bowls of mushroom soup, a Caesar salad, and a French-style baked snail.

The waiter finished taking notes and left. Gu Xiaoqian glanced at Yang Fan. "Do you come here often?"

Yang Fan picked up his water glass and took a sip. "Back in Qingping, I came here once with a friend."

Deep down, I thought that was something from a past life.

Gu Xiaoqian picked up her water glass and used it to cover her mouth. After a while, she put the glass down. "You're quite interesting."

Gu Xiaoqian looked at him, "Are you this... cramped even in the county?"

"No, that won't do. When we have a meeting in the county, I have to say, 'Comrades, today's topic is very important; we must unify our thinking and raise our awareness.'" Yang Fan repeated the sentence with a straight face, then relaxed. "Nobody likes to hear that, but I can't not say it."

"So what kind of words do you consider useful?"

Yang Fan thought for a moment. "When ordinary people tell you, 'County Chief Yang, I've earned a lot more money this year!'—that's the most effective thing to say."

The dishes were served one after another, and the two ate and chatted.

Yang Fan asked her what course she taught, and Gu Xiaoqian said it was Basic Electronic Information, a general course for first-year students.

She said the students were difficult to manage; they would play on their pagers during class and only come to borrow notes before the exam.

Yang Fan said that students in the Electronic Engineering Department could install jammers on their pagers, so that the signal would be cut off as soon as they entered the classroom.

Gu Xiaoqian smiled and said, "You're quite the nouveau riche!"

"And you?" Gu Xiaoqian picked up her fork, twirled a small amount of salad, and asked, "Why did you choose Ninghe? Can't we avoid such a poor place?"

"I applied myself." Yang Fan cut off a piece of steak. "Back then, Qingping was even poorer than Ninghe. When I went there, it cost 200 yuan per person. After three years, it cost 4,800 yuan per person, so I could eat meat every meal."

"You're quite proud."

"good."

"Um?"

Yang Fan coughed. "Yes."

Gu Xiaoqian said, "Professor Sun said that if you find a contract in the archives in Ninghe, you can expose a group of corrupt officials."

Yang Fan put down his knife and fork. "That wasn't my achievement. The data was done by the lab at Han University, and the case was handled by the Discipline Inspection Commission. I just happened to be looking through some old documents and discovered that there was something wrong with them."

"Then why did you insist on digging up that old document?"

Yang Fan opened his mouth.

He couldn't answer that question. If the time traveler had gained supernatural insight, why have buildings been having problems all these years?

"I like going through old files," Yang Fan said. "I always feel like there's something hidden in those papers, good or bad, it's all there."

Gu Xiaoqian didn't ask any more questions and began to slowly deal with the food on the table.

"Why are you staring at me?" Gu Xiaoqian asked without looking up.

Yang Fan quickly looked away, picked up his water glass, and took a big gulp. "It's nothing."

"If the electronics industrial park in Ninghe is built, could you recommend a few graduates?"

Gu Xiaoqian looked up at him. His eyes were still bright and sparkling, with a slightly unsmiling curve. "Are you here for a blind date, or to recruit someone?"

Yang Fan said very seriously, "A blind date!"

Gu Xiaoqian smiled genuinely this time, not just a polite smile, but a smile that revealed her teeth.

After finishing his meal, Yang Fan paid the bill and put away his stored-value card.

The two stepped out of the restaurant; the night breeze carried a slight chill. Gu Xiaoqian pulled her sleeves down a little. Yang Fan noticed and took off his jacket, handing it to her.

"Need not--"

"Put these on, you're from the mountains, you can handle the cold."

The two walked back along the stone-paved path of the old campus.

Gu Xiaoqian's dormitory building is located at the far east end of the campus. It is an old-style three-story building.

"You live here?" Yang Fan looked at the building. "Didn't you move out and share an apartment with the teachers?"

"It's good, it's close to the classroom, so I can sleep in a little longer in the morning." Gu Xiaoqian took off her jacket, folded it neatly, and handed it to him. "Thank you for the jacket."

Yang Fan took it, his fingers touching her knuckles. It was cold. The coolness shot from his fingertips to the back of his head, then sent a tiny electric current through his scalp.

"Then I'm leaving," Gu Xiaoqian said.

"it is good."

Gu Xiaoqian turned and entered the dormitory building. The light in the lobby flickered on, and then her shadow moved up the stairs, one floor at a time.

Yang Fan held the jacket, smelling its fragrance, and stood there motionless in a daze.

The image that kept replaying in his mind was Gu Xiaoqian sitting across from him, tucking a stray hair behind her ear with her index finger while eating tiramisu, a movement so light it seemed like she was doing something perfectly natural.

Yang Fan's Adam's apple bobbed. Then he chuckled.

This girl isn't particularly beautiful, but that feeling of first love is wonderful!

If I really marry her as my wife in this lifetime.

It's straight now!

Yang Fan turned and walked back, his steps nonchalant. He walked out of the school's stone path, then suddenly stopped, staring at Su Huaishan's office.

"Headmaster," he said in that direction, "you're a fucking great guy!"

After taking a couple of steps, he felt that his words didn't carry enough weight, so he cleared his throat and murmured softly.

"Teacher—I am grateful for your kindness and wish to become your godfather!"

After saying that, he chuckled to himself.