55: Chapter 55 An unexpected encounter with the school beauty, Senior Ranran!

Ten-plus minutes later.

"Secretary Bai, please help me escort Little Shen out."

The voice of Sha Ruijin came from the reception room.

Secretary Bai responded, pushed open the door, and entered, ready to take Shen Wang away.

Shen Wang turned his head and waved at Sha Ruijin: "Uncle Sha, please don't bother seeing me out. I'll come visit you again when I have time."

Sha Ruijin smiled and said: "Secretary Bai, add Little Shen's contact information. Next time, don't come here; just go directly to my home."

"Yes, yes, alright!"

Shen Wang hurriedly agreed, added Secretary Bai's contact information, and then left under the escort of Secretary Bai.

No one knew exactly what Shen Wang and Sha Ruijin had talked about during those short ten-plus minutes.

But clearly, judging by Sha Ruijin's arrangement for Shen Wang to "go directly to my home" next time, the result of this meeting was far better than expected.

After Shen Wang left, silence returned to the small conference room.

Sha Ruijin was alone, his gaze falling once again on the opened apprenticeship petition on the coffee table, his face still wearing that expression of unreadable stoicism.

But if one observed carefully, one would notice a tiny, upward curve at the corner of his mouth.

"Heh, an interesting young man."

In fact, Shen Wang hadn't said anything too complicated inside.

Following his prepared script, he claimed that while cleaning out old items in his family's ancestral home, he had accidentally discovered this letter tucked inside an old book.

At first, he had no idea who the "Sha Zhenjiang" mentioned in the letter was, until a while ago when an old colleague happened to talk about the revolutionary family history of the Province, and he realized that this Sha Zhenjiang was actually the uncle of Secretary Sha.

So, after struggling with it for a long time, he finally decided to come over to try and build a connection.

Shen Wang was very blunt; he had come to build a connection.

This statement was mostly false, with only a sliver of truth; the connection-building was real, but everything else was fake.

Sha Ruijin neither said he believed it nor that he didn't, his attitude noncommittal.

However, he did have Shen Wang leave the apprenticeship petition, saying he planned to have someone authenticate it.

Sha Ruijin was also very direct; having reached his position, facing a young man like Shen Wang, there was often no need to beat around the bush.

He did indeed need to find someone to authenticate this apprenticeship petition.

But not to authenticate its authenticity!

But to "authenticate" it as real!

Authenticity... was that important?

What was truly important was... that it had the signature of the Brigade Commander on it!

Therefore, this apprenticeship petition... had to be real!

And it could only be real!

Having reached his current position, the political legacy and influence that Sha Zhenjiang could provide were already negligible.

In fact, if not for him reaching this position, Sha Zhenjiang's name might not even have appeared on the internet!

At the end of the day, Sha Zhenjiang was just one of the countless ordinary old revolutionaries from those turbulent times.

Furthermore, he had passed away early and hadn't left behind any prominent achievements or extensive connections.

But—

The Brigade Commander was different!

What kind of figure was that?

If Sha Zhenjiang could be linked to the Brigade Commander, then he, Sha Ruijin...

...

After coming out of the reception room, Shen Wang prepared to leave.

Secretary Bai had not said a word or asked about anything from beginning to end.

The two walked on in tacit understanding.

Suddenly—

"Junior Shen Wang?"

A very pleasant voice sounded behind Shen Wang.

"Ranran... Senior?"

Shen Wang turned his head and discovered it was the university's campus belle, Senior Qin Ran.

Qin Ran rolled her eyes at Shen Wang: "You can either call me Senior Qin Ran or call me Ranran, please do not combine those two terms, thank you!"

The internet was so advanced, and Qin Ran wasn't ignorant of everything.

Shen Wang smiled: "Alright, Ranran... Senior."

Qin Ran rolled her eyes at Shen Wang again, then stopped paying attention to him and turned to greet Secretary Bai.

"Director Bai!"

Secretary Bai nodded.

Qin Ran, the flower of the Provincial Party Committee Compound; of course he knew her.

Secretary Bai looked at Qin Ran, then looked at Shen Wang.

"Mr. Shen, I will escort you up to here."

"Little Qin, please help me escort Mr. Shen out!"

By rights, Secretary Bai should have escorted Shen Wang all the way out of the compound gate.

He should even have watched him leave.

This was etiquette!

But at this moment, Secretary Bai knew clearly that Shen Wang definitely did not want him present.

After speaking, Secretary Bai nodded to acknowledge Shen Wang, then turned and left decisively, without any hesitation.

This caught both Shen Wang and Qin Ran off guard.

Shen Wang instantly understood Secretary Bai's intention—

This was creating space for him and Qin Ran to be alone, and it was also an unspoken "gesture of goodwill" and "facilitation."

This ability to read the room and handle matters with such finesse; he was worthy of being a top secretary!

And the shock in Qin Ran's heart was even greater!

She knew Secretary Bai's status and weight all too well!

As Secretary Sha's personal top secretary, Secretary Bai was definitely one of the heavyweight figures in the political circles of the Province; ordinary department-level cadres had to be respectful when they saw him.

Personally escorting a guest was already an extremely high level of etiquette!

Yet at this moment, he had actively avoided suspicion and left just because she appeared?

Just what kind of background did this Shen Wang have?

Watching Secretary Bai's receding figure, Qin Ran suppressed the raging waves in her heart, her beautiful eyes landing back on Shen Wang.

"Not bad, Junior! You're hiding your true colors! To actually have Director Bai personally escort you, and be so... 'considerate'?"

"Hurry up and confess, are you some kind of hidden super second-generation heir? Here on an incognito visit to experience life?"

In Qin Ran's eyes, there was a dense fire of gossip.

She was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and still just a small staff member.

If she didn't look decent, Secretary Bai probably wouldn't even know her surname.

Shen Wang looked at Qin Ran's curious-baby expression and couldn't help but smile.

This senior was a prominent figure back in university; good grades, strong abilities, high attractiveness, and the dream goddess of countless boys.

Unexpectedly, after not seeing her for a few years, she was doing quite well within the system.

"I'm no second-generation heir."

Shen Wang shrugged and casually made up a reason.

"It's you, Senior, who's impressive; you've actually come to the Provincial Party Committee to be an official!"

"Cut the crap! I was just borrowed here!"

Qin Ran rolled her eyes at him, but her lips carried a smile.

This was the Provincial Party Committee, after all; could just anyone get in?

Even to be borrowed here had taken an immense amount of effort!

The two chatted along the way, recalling some interesting university stories, and teased each other a few times; the atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant.

Soon they arrived at the compound gate.

"I'm off, Senior Ran Ran, let's keep in touch!"

"Mm, take care on the road." Qin Ran nodded.

Shen Wang waved his hand, turned, and merged into the flow of people and sea of cars outside the gate.

Qin Ran stood at the gate but did not leave immediately.

She watched Shen Wang's gradually receding figure, her eyes carrying a complex and unreadable meaning.

Curiosity, inquiry, a faint trace of interest, and... a certain intuition.

This junior, who hadn't been particularly prominent in school, could walk into this Provincial Party Committee Compound, could startle Secretary Bai into personally escorting him, and could be so calm and composed...

Her sixth sense told her, something was wrong!

Perhaps her opportunity to stay in the Provincial Party Committee lay with this junior!

...

Returning to his rental apartment, Shen Wang rubbed his face.

Today's meeting with Sha Ruijin had gone even smoother than imagined.

In fact, the moment the Brigade Commander's name appeared, Shen Wang had already guessed the result.

Old Sha... might need that apprenticeship petition even more than he did!

This was also why he dared to go straight to the Provincial Party Committee!

Then, Shen Wang opened the system panel, looked at the 30,000-plus military merit points on it, and muttered:

"It's time to redeem some good things for the Eighth Route Army..."