Power and Wealth

County Party Committee Quarters, Xie Huilans apartment.

People are celebrating Lunar New Year with firecrackers outside. It was so loud until Dong Xuebing cannot hear the TV. He closed the curtains and increased the volume of the TV. After that, Dong Xuebing thought for a second and wore back his shoes.

“Sister Xie, are you done?”

“Haha… I am wearing my clothes. Stop hurrying me.”

A few moments later, the bedroom door opened, and Xie Huilan walks out. “Alright.”

“Eh? Didnt you go and wear your clothes?” Dong Xuebing blinked and asked. “Are you sure you are done?”

“Yes. Lets start.” Xie Huilan sat down gracefully on the leather sofa.

Xie Huilan was about the same as before, and her hair is pinned up into a bun. Her black ladies suit is tight-fitting and showed her figure. Under her suit, she wore a white blouse, and she had put on a pair of black heels. Other than putting on the suits jacket and heels, she did not put on anything else.

Dong Xuebing thought Xie Huilan would put on at least three more layers of clothing. He laughed. “Sister Xie, you are the one who did not put on more clothes. Dont blame me if you lose later.”

Xie Huilan smiles. “We still dont know who will lose.”

“Shall we start?” Dong Xuebing asked. “What do you want to play, and what are the rules?”

“I dont know a lot of card games. How about we play something simple? Lets playPull the cart.”

“No… a game will take too long. It will take a long time before I can take off your…” Dong Xuebing quickly stopped. “This game is too simple and will not show our skills. If we are going to playPull the cart, we should choose the sequence of the cards we draw and not the first card. This way, the game will be based on how well we can remember the cards.”

Xie Huilan laughed and nodded. “Ok.”

“Lets shuffle the cards.” Dong Xuebing rubbed his hands together.

The first game started. Xie Huilan place a card down, followed by Dong Xuebing. She placed another card, and Dong Xuebing place a card down.

Dong Xuebing was very confident initially, as he had played this game since he was young and has lots of experience. Xie Huilan is from a well-to-do family, and she should not have played many card games when she was young. So, Dong Xuebing thought he will win for sure. But after the game started, he realized he was wrong. After both of them had placed all the cards, Xie Huilan showed her amazing memory. Every card she drew from her stack matches the card on the table, and she gets to take away five to six cards from Dong Xuebing.

Dong Xuebing started to sweat.

Dong Xuebing lost the first game.

Xie Huilan laughed. “I said we dont know who the winner will be, right?”

“Dont be so happy first. This is only the first game.” Dong Xuebing replied. “Again! I dont believe I will lose again!”

“Did you forget something?” Xie Huilan laughed as she looks at Dong Xuebings body. “The loser must remove a piece of his clothing.”

Dong Xuebing bends over and slowly took off his shoes.

Xie Huilan said. “Shoes are not counted.”

“Why not? If shoes are not counted, why did you put on that pair of high heels?”

“That is to match my clothing. Even if I lose, I will also not take off my heels.”

Dong Xuebing does not believe her. “Socks?”

Xie Huilan laughed and shook her head. “Shoes are not counted, so does socks.”

Dong Xuebing got mad and pointed at Xie Huilans feet. “You had taken off your stockings before we ate. Why did you put them on? You must be preparing to use them as one of your clothing pieces. If you lost this round, you would take off your shoes or stockings.”

Xie Huilan crossed her legs and laughed. “Have you been looking at my feet all this while?”

“No. I did not!” Dong Xuebing quickly denied.

“Then how did you know about my stockings? The stockings I wore these few days are a very light color. No one will notice if I am wearing stockings unless they purposely look at my feet. Hahaha…” Xie Huilan wriggled her feet and slipped the back of her feet out of her heels. Leaving her heels dangling on her toes. “You even notice when I had taken off my stockings, and when I put them on again.” Xie Huilan seems to be seducing Dong Xuebing by swinging her heels by her toes slowly in front of him.

Dong Xuebing swallowed his saliva and insisted. “Why should I pay attention to your feet? I just saw it unintentionally when you changed into your slippers.”

“Really?” Xie Huilan batted her eyelashes. “Then I must have misunderstood you.”