ly counted. The taller one took out a small note counter from his pocket, carefully examining each bundle of notes—checking some notes in every package. After their inspection, they exchanged nods bef...Chapter 365: Taking Over the Special Fund

"Master Xiao, these are your calligraphy works. They have been framed up. Please take a look!" The elderly man gathered his thoughts and suppressed his shock as he handed the long box in his hand to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu took the box, opened it, and had a look. Although Xiao Yu didn't know much about framing techniques, the way this old man framed them gave him a feeling of comfort and naturalness when they were seen.

Xiao Yu nodded in satisfaction after looking at the work and said, "Thank you, Uncle Ge!"

"Haha! It's an honor for me to be able to frame this piece," Elder Ge chuckled.

After chatting casually for a while, as the sky darkened, Rong Bao Zhai was about to close. Xiao Yu and company left Rong Bao Zhai. After Teacher Cai and Teacher Bai came out, they called Teacher Mao and told him that Xiao Yu was here.

After finding a restaurant, soon enough, Teacher Mao also arrived. They chatted while eating. After dinner, Xiao Yu and Yun Xi left the restaurant and returned to their villa.

Just when Xiao Yu and company were about to walk into the entrance of the villa complex, several people were waiting at the gate. When Xiao Yu saw these people standing at the door, he stopped his car and got out with Yun Xi.

"Uncle!"

"Doctor Xiao, hello,"

When Xiao Yu and Yun Xi just got off the car, those who were standing at the entrance all greeted him enthusiastically.

These people standing at the door were precisely Bai Jing and the thirty-something man with her from this morning. Behind them was a trembling old cadre from the ancient department.

Xiao Yu's brows furrowed slightly when he saw these people, but soon relaxed and said, "Bai Jing, you two please come inside."

After speaking, Xiao Yu returned to his car and drove towards the villa. The security guards here had already recognized him, so they didn't intercept him. These three also got into their respective cars, following behind Xiao Yu's car into the villa.

At the villa entrance, Song Hushan and Zhang Dahai were squatting by the entrance of Xiao Yu’s villa smoking cigarettes. Seeing that Xiao Yu's car was approaching, they stood up from the ground.

As soon as Xiao Yu's car stopped, the three cars that had been following it also came to a halt.

Zhang Dahai and Song Hushan glanced at the three cars behind Xiao Yu’s before getting up to approach his vehicle without uttering a word.

"Big Brother, Uncle Song!"

"Brother Dahei, Uncle Song..."

Xiao Yu and Yun Xi got out of their car and greeted Zhang Dahai and Song Hushan as they approached.

"Third brother, Sister-in-law. Where were you heading" Zhang Dahai asked after looking at the three cars behind them and their occupants.

“We went for a spin around琉璃廠.” Xiao Yu replied to Zhang Dahai, then suddenly remembered how Zhang Dahai had appeared at his villa’s entrance. He added: “By the way, Big Brother, when did you come back”

"I just arrived in Beijing this afternoon," Zhang Dahai said.

Following that, Xiao Yu led Zhang Dahai and Bai Jing and others into the villa. Though it belonged to Song Hushan, they would not enter without Xiao Yu’s permission now that he was living there, even though Song Hushan had a key to the house in his car.

Bai Jing, Director Li, and Chief Gu followed Zhang Dahai and Song Hushan into the villa. Bai Jing knew both men were powerful figures and thus walked very cautiously behind them.

Director Li, who had previously held his head up high, now slightly bent down as he entered the house. He might not have met Song Hushan before, but back when he followed the minister, he had seen this Song Hushan. And it was because Xiao Yu knew him that Minister Li promoted Bai Jing.

He never would've thought Xiao Yu’s relationship with Song Hushan and his group would be so close. If they weren't on an equal footing, how could such important people have willingly waited at his doorstep

They arrived in the living room where Xiao Yu had everyone sit down. Yun Xi poured each person a glass of water before sitting beside Xiao Yu.

The chief, who was arrogant when he was working at the Ministry of Health, looked at this villa and the slightly nervous Director Li as they sat down. If he didn't understand that there was something special about Xiao Yu and his group by now, then he shouldn’t have been working in a government office.

"Damn it! Since you guys are acquainted, why not just skip all the formalities If you had Director Li give a heads up, there wouldn’t have been so many issues," Chief Gu muttered to himself as he looked at Xiao Yu and Yun Xi sitting on the sofa.

"Xiao Yu, why did you think of going to the Lihushi Factory today" Song Hushan asked Xiao Yu. Ever since they found out that Xiao Yu is their eldest brother's son, their care for him has been meticulous; they even wish they could know whenever he goes to the toilet.

"Hehe, I originally wanted to go to Lihushi Factory to look for a birthday gift for my grandpa, but didn't find anything suitable. So instead, I wrote this calligraphy piece!" Xiao Yu chuckled and replied.

When Song Hushan heard what Xiao Yu said, he nodded with a smile on his face. Then he did not speak further because there were many outsiders around them.

The director Li who was holding a cup of water nearly spilled it when he heard what Xiao Yu had said; his heart pounded fiercely as he knew that the birthday celebration for Mr. Song's grandfather would be happening tomorrow and Deputy Minister Li, in charge of the Health Department, would personally take on the responsibility of leading the health support team.

Due to the grand scale of this event—many old revolutionary figures, retired leaders, as well as current leaders would attend—it was unprecedented. Although it was a secret matter, Director Li had been preparing for it for over a month already and knew all about it.

The director naturally knew about some conversations between Li Hanbo and Deputy Minister Li regarding Xiao Yu; also, the matter concerning Bai Jing was handled by him. Thus, he understood that Xiao Yu was so highly favored by Deputy Minister Li because of his relationship with Song Hushan.

However, he never thought that Xiao Yu would be invited to attend Mr. Song's grandfather’s birthday banquet. Who could participate in such an event Even the deputy minister at a full ministerial level could only do so as the leader of the health support team. It was easy to imagine who else might attend.

At this moment, Director Li was even more respectful and humble when talking to them.

Song Hushan and his group ceased talking after that; Xiao Yu then looked at Bai Jing, guessing the reason why she came here.

"Uncle Shi [Shifu], these are the materials Yunxi requested today. I’ve prepared a new copy for you to check!" Seeing that Xiao Yu was looking at them, Bai Jing took out some materials from her bag and gave it to Yunxi.

Yunxi glanced at Xiao Yu, who nodded in agreement; only then did she take the materials from Bai Jing’s hand and started flipping through them. In no time, she had finished reading it; when she saw that the amount was fifty million yuan [Note: 五千萬 = 50 million], she was momentarily stunned. But she quickly recovered and said, "Thank you, Sister Jing!"

"Yunxi, don’t call me like this! You are Uncle Shi’s girlfriend; I can't bear it if you address me so formally!" Upon hearing Yunxi's way of addressing her, Bai Jing hurriedly waved her hands.

"Hehe, Sister Jing, Xiao Yu and I haven’t gotten married yet. We’ll change the way we call each other after our wedding! For now, since you are older than me, let’s just keep calling each other this way!" Yunxi smiled gently at a flustered Bai Jing.

Hearing what Yunxi said, Bai Jing looked somewhat troubled and glanced at Xiao Yu.

"Just call her that for now! We can change it later on," Xiao Yu nodded towards Bai Jing when she looked at him.

Yun Xi handed the materials to Xiao Yu and pointed at the amount stated above. She knew that these people could produce them so quickly because of Xiao Yu's connections, and moreover, the money was half as much again as they had originally requested.

Therefore, this matter would have to be decided by Xiao Yu since she didn't want him to owe anyone a favor for her sake. This matter had nothing much to do with her anyway; she was just an errand girl.

"Doctor Bai, it's like this… The amount of money…" When Xiao Yu saw the amount stated above, he looked up and said in puzzlement.

“Doctor Xiao, here’s what happened. This year, the budget allocated to the Ancient City was originally five million yuan. But as a key defense point for the capital city, the Ancient City's health services were still inadequate. So at a meeting of the ministry, it was decided that another five million yuan would be given to improve the situation in the Ancient City’s health sector. We didn’t expect this mistake to happen. This is entirely our fault!”

Before Doctor Bai could speak, Director Li took over and said.

"Oh!" Xiao Yu nodded after hearing that.

“Uncle Teacher, it’s like this—this five million yuan was allocated by the ministry for health construction in the Ancient City. They were worried that funds would be misappropriated if they handed them over to the Ancient City. So the ministry decided to entrust Yun Xi with monitoring how these funds are used!”

Seeing Xiao Yu nod, Doctor Bai hurriedly told him.

Today was the first time Doctor Bai had ever entered a Minister’s office in her nearly twenty years of working at the Ministry of Health. She had never even seen a Minister up close before. In the office, Minister Li told her about this matter; after thinking it over, she felt that there would be no harm in talking to Yun Xi about it.

Xiao Yu didn’t understand how things worked here, but from what Doctor Bai said, he knew that she wouldn’t do anything to hurt Yun Xi. However, he was concerned that others might use her as a tool, so Xiao Yu turned his gaze towards Song Hushan.

"Come on, Xiao Yu, let me see what these documents are!" When Song Hushan saw that Xiao Yu was looking at him, he knew immediately what Xiao Yu wanted. So he reached out and took the materials from Xiao Yu’s hand.

“Hmm, not bad. If Yun Xi is willing to work hard and isn’t afraid of difficulties, she can try it out. It’s also an opportunity for her to gain experience!” After looking through the documents, Song Hushan said this to Xiao Yu.

After saying that, he thought about it again and explained to Yun Xi what kind of problems she might encounter while controlling the funds. However, Song Hushan emphasized one thing—that if she could manage these funds well, many ordinary people would benefit from it.

Hearing what Song Hushan said, Yun Xi fell into deep thought for a moment before nodding resolutely and saying, “Alright, Sister Jing, I’ll take charge of this money!” (To Be Continued...). You should know who Zhao Lingyun is! Zhao Lingyun is our big brother, so......" Upon hearing Zhang Dahan's words, since he wasn't an outsider, Song Huashan began to explain to him."What Zhao Lingyun...