Chapter 1: A Future Full of Hope

  The weather in July is at its hottest stage of the year. The scorching sun, the sweltering heat, and the outdoor temperature are enough to hatch eggs. In the distance, the asphalt road surface emits a faint mist of water vapor. The sultry weather makes people feel drowsy, but at the same time, it's hard to avoid feeling restless.

  Zhongzhou City, located in the central mainland, is a typical inland area. However, Zhongzhou City's geographical location is not much worse than that of coastal areas. As the saying goes, "靠山吃山，靠水吃水" (relying on mountains for food and relying on water for food). Although Zhongzhou City does not have the advantages of coastal areas, fortunately, the intersection of major railway arteries is located in Zhongzhou City.

  Zhongzhou City has successively been awarded the titles of "Historical and Cultural Famous City of China", "Excellent Tourism City of China", "National Sanitary City", "National Garden City", "National Science and Technology Progress Demonstration City", "National Greening Model City" and "National Civilized City".

  Helpless people who are busy outside, most of them choose to take an air-conditioned bus, or directly hail a taxi. On such a hot day, they still have to rush back and forth outside, which is already a very hard thing to do, so how can they make themselves suffer even more?

  Wang Lin is an ordinary civil servant in the district government office, with a relatively low rank, just an ordinary clerk in the office. He even got this position at a great cost. After a one-year probationary period, Wang Lin, who had performed well and had extremely strong work ability, was expected to be converted to a regular employee, which was almost a certainty.

  Just at the critical moment, just before the formal appointment, a parachute candidate suddenly appeared and wanted to snatch Wang Lin's title. As for the specific identity of the parachute candidate, Wang Lin was not very clear. Wang Lin only knew that the parachute candidate was coming to replace his position, in other words, replacing Wang Lin's name with that person's name, this year's probationary period would be as if Wang Lin had never existed, all performances, leadership evaluations and so on would be transferred to that person.

  Just graduated, Wang Lin, who was in high spirits, would not admit defeat so easily. After returning home, Wang Lin gathered almost all the family's property and finally got through to the heavens after begging his grandfather and grandmother, thus preserving his title. Of course, if this paratrooper hadn't appeared, it would have been relatively easy for Wang Lin to convert to a regular position, and he wouldn't have had to spend a single penny. At the same time, another probationary civil servant who entered the unit with Wang Lin could only silently accept all of this. After receiving a compensation payment, another colleague could only choose to start again from scratch.

  At this moment, what kind of certificate is it when taking the civil service examination, whether it is the real person or not, is simply not important. In the eyes of those leaders, these are just a formality. As long as you have some real power in your hands, you don't need to be a big official, just take care of it seriously and you can get it done. If you want to become an official who can hold his head high, all you need to do is open your mouth and you can get it done.

  After entering the unit for a year, Wang Lin finally saw through everything in the world. The class struggle was indeed terrifying. Fortunately, Wang Lin's education from an early age was also different from others, and perhaps it could be said that Wang Lin had a certain temperament. When others met the department head, their voices seemed to tremble with fear, but Wang Lin was as if no one was there, completely indifferent.

  This should have been a normal working hour, Wang Lin received the call and hastily had a good talk with his leader, asking for half a day off. The caller was Wang Lin's girlfriend Zhang Ran, they were university classmates, started dating from freshman year, until now, their relationship has lasted for five years.

  Zhang Ran was not originally from Zhongzhou City. After graduating, she naturally returned to her hometown of Yizhou City. Yizhou City is not too far from Zhongzhou City, and the drive takes less than two hours. On weekends, Wang Lin would often run to Yizhou to play for a couple of days. Wang Lin and Zhang Ran, who had been in love for five years, no longer had that desperate feeling. Wang Lin now felt like he was carrying a heavy burden on his back. He chose to take the civil service exam just for his girlfriend Zhang Ran.

  Zhang Ran's parents are civil servants, and from what Zhang Ran says, they seem to be some kind of leader. As for their specific positions and ranks, Wang Lin knows nothing about them. Since Zhang Ran doesn't want to say more, Wang Lin won't pry into it either. However, Zhang Ran did mention that her parents want her to find a civil servant husband in the future. Just because of this, Wang Lin has decided to take the civil service exam without considering his family's opinions.

  What made Wang Lin depressed was that his parents, as soon as they heard the news that their son wanted to take the civil service exam, immediately opposed it without saying a word, and didn't even give a reason. Other people's parents would be overjoyed if their children passed the civil service exam, but his own parents were against it. Wang Lin asked why, but his parents wouldn't explain, and he couldn't figure out the reason.

  However, Wang Lin still secretly signed up for the civil service exam. If it weren't for that one thing before his transfer, perhaps Wang Lin's parents wouldn't have known that he had become a civil servant yet. What Wang Lin didn't know was that since the day he was recruited as a civil servant, his parents had already known everything, they just never mentioned it.

  Leaving the district government building, a heat wave swept in, and a burst of hot sweat suddenly appeared on my forehead. There were occasional pedestrians on the street, but not many. The sultry weather made everyone reluctant to stay under the sun for more than a minute, even if it was just walking, they had to walk under the shade of trees.

  "This damn weather, when can it rain again?" Wang Lin quickly walked to the bus stop and stood under a tree shade, stretching out his middle finger towards the sky, without any demeanor of a public official. However, this sentence was muttered in Wang Lin's heart, as a party member since his junior year, no matter how arrogant he was, he dared not curse the heavens in the street. Although Wang Lin never believed in superstitions and did not have the awareness that cursing the heavens would bring heavenly punishment, as a party member, Wang Lin still had to have the most basic quality. And the action of stretching out his middle finger was also modified by Wang Lin, so that from an outsider's perspective, Wang Lin seemed to be just standing there playing with leaves.

  I don't know what Zhang Ran is thinking, in the past when they dated, Zhang Ran never chose to go out at this time. Either they would go out in the morning and stroll around until it got hot, then they would stay in a movie theater or somewhere else until the weather cooled down a bit before continuing. This kind of weather, Wang Lin can still adapt to, but Zhang Ran's delicate skin might get sunburned.

  No matter what, since it was his girlfriend's summons, even if it were a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, Wang Lin would dare to go down and take a walk. Not to mention the trivial matter of rushing on the road under the scorching sun in front of him. For this girlfriend, Wang Lin was extremely fond of her, truly holding her in his hands as if she were fragile, and holding her in his mouth as if she would melt away. As long as it was something Zhang Yan said, no matter how difficult or not, Wang Lin would think of ways to accomplish it. Of course, there were some particularly difficult things that Zhang Yan wouldn't tell Wang Lin about. How much ability did Wang Lin have? Others didn't know, but his girlfriend of several years should be clear about it, shouldn't she?

  After waiting for about five minutes, the bus finally arrived, and Wang Lin hastily got on. Since it wasn't rush hour, he was the only one at the stop, so he didn't need to give up his seat to anyone. After swiping his card, Wang Lin looked around inside the bus and found a decent number of empty seats. He randomly picked a spot near an air conditioning vent and plopped himself down, finally feeling some coolness.

  "It's still better with air-conditioned trains, damn it, whoever invented air-conditioned trains should get a Nobel Prize!" Wang Lin thought to himself.

  The place where Wang Lin had agreed to meet Zhang Ran was not too far away, and the bus ride took just over 20 minutes. As he gazed out at the scenery passing by outside the window, before he knew it they had arrived at their destination. He slowly got off the bus, and with a hint of reluctance turned back to take one last look at the vehicle. How come he had never noticed how cool the air-conditioned bus was before?

  A wave of heat suddenly came, pulling Wang Lin back from his fantasy to reality. This damn weather really has a feeling of ice and fire in two extremes. It was cool just now, but it's hot like ants on a pot in an instant. In such hot weather, I don't know how the ancients survived in that era without air conditioning or fans.

  He shook his head hard, forcing himself not to think too much. He thought about how he was only 23 years old and already a formal government official. Although it was just an ordinary civil servant position, this was enough to show that Wang Lin's potential was not small. What can be said is that except for the last time when he was transferred to a regular position through some unconventional means, everything else was achieved through his own efforts.

  Think about my previous state, when I was in school, I had a girlfriend and spent money recklessly, often ending up hungry. If it weren't for the selfless help of my good friend Long Yuhui, maybe by now I would have been lying dead on the streets. But once you become a civil servant and secure this position, you'll never have to worry about food and drink again.

  Making a bit more progress, and later on, my wife and children will follow suit and not have to worry about food and drink. Such is life, what more can one ask for? At this moment, Wang Lin had a feeling of floating in his heart, with a self-satisfied look on his face. The only thing left to do now was to figure out how to persuade Zhang Ran's parents to agree to their marriage. Now that work has stabilized and there is a steady income, it's also time to discuss some matters related to getting married.

  On the side of Wang Lin's family, it is naturally not necessary to say much. The two elders are not people who like to interfere in other people's business. They also take a rather indifferent view of Wang Lin's marriage problem. As long as Wang Lin himself likes it, they will not make any demands or deliberately set up obstacles for him.

  Wang Lin looked up and glanced at the front, Jin Bi Lan Tian, a top-level coffee shop in the entire high-tech zone, with a very impressive consumption situation. On ordinary days, bosses of nearby companies and high-ranking officials would often come here to have a small drink. For some reason, whenever Wang Lin saw the four characters "Jin Bi Lan Tian", he would subconsciously think of another four characters, "Jin Bi Lian Tian". It's all about money!

  Wang Lin had already seen Zhang Yan sitting in a more obvious card seat near the street, as if guiding Wang Lin's direction.

  PS: Haha, I'm back again, brothers! It's been half a year since I left, and now I'm finally back home. Don't hide your recommendations and collections anymore, give them to me quickly! It's been half a year since I've had any, so let's just make up for a month first. O(∩_∩)O haha~