The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

After waiting a while longer, the people below the stage still did not make a move.

Director Xie leaned close to Chu Yunfeng's ear and whispered, "Old Chu, how about we just accept these four masters? We can't force them, can we?"

"No way! It's five, and there can't be a single one less."

Chu Yunfeng flatly refused, then turned to Director Xie: "Old Xie, are you trying to back out? Believe it or not..."

"Okay, okay! I'm scared of you!"

Director Xie quickly interrupted him, then called out loudly to the audience, "Since no one wants to go, let's decide by drawing lots as usual."

After speaking, he gestured with his eyes to the clerk standing at the door of the conference room.

The clerk immediately understood and turned to run outside.

While they were waiting for him to return, several young masters in the audience who were still somewhat hesitant started chatting.

"I think going to Director Chu's place would be a good idea, why don't we go too?"

"Are you stupid! Didn't you see the old people in the station haven't moved? If it were a good thing, would it be your turn?"

"Wow, I didn't even realize it until you said so."

The area where the experienced craftsmen were sitting was unusually quiet, with hardly any talking.

Clearly, they had experienced this scenario many times before.

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhiming was nervously wringing his hands.

He looked around and finally couldn't help but ask, "Master, what if I win the lottery?"

"Zhiming, there's no use in worrying."

Sitting behind them, Xu Jie chimed in, "This kind of lottery is almost mandatory. Once you're drawn, your file is transferred there that same day."

"Ah, Uncle-Master, isn't there any way to avoid it?" Zhou Zhiming asked anxiously.

"There is a solution."

Xu Jie paused, then changed the subject, "But people like you and us won't do. Only senior masters at the fourth level or above are qualified to refuse."

Zhou Zhiming's newly emerging hope was extinguished by the following sentence.

"Alright, alright!" Li Kaixin patted his eldest apprentice on the shoulder. "Zhiming, it's not like we're facing life and death, don't look so gloomy."

He understood the station's intention: to retain skilled technicians, otherwise they wouldn't have any decent technicians to offer later on.

"But Master, I don't want to leave you!"

"I haven't drawn it yet, have I?"

Li Kaixin smiled and comforted him, "Besides the master craftsman, there are still more than a dozen others. Your luck certainly isn't that bad."

Zhou Zhiming opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but the clerk had already walked in from the door of the conference room carrying a cardboard box.

He handed the cardboard box to Director Xie and then stepped aside.

Director Xie held up the cardboard box in his hand and said loudly:

"There are more than a dozen slips of paper in this box, only one of which has the word 'transfer' written on it. Whoever draws it will follow Director Chu."

Then, he looked around at the audience and asked, "Does everyone have any objections?"

The craftsmen below fell silent this time.

Just as Director Xie was leaving the stage with the cardboard box, a young worker stood up and raised a question:

"Director Xie, this isn't right. We have over thirty people here, how come there are only a dozen or so slips of paper?"

Seeing that someone was taking the lead, the other craftsmen quickly followed suit.

Director Xie was not angry at being interrupted, and patiently explained:

"Any master craftsman at the station who is at least a level four deputy doesn't need to participate in the lottery. If you have the ability, you don't need to draw either."

Upon hearing this, the young masters below were all speechless.

Deputy Level 4? They just passed the exam for Deputy Level 5; they're still two levels away from Deputy Level 4.

"Alright, if there are no objections, let's begin." Station Chief Zhao spoke up from the stage at this point.

The lottery has officially begun.

Director Xie stepped down from the stage and walked to each of the young mentors, asking them to draw a card.

When passing by Li Kaixin, Director Xie skipped over him.

Zhou Zhiming, standing to the side, was already trembling with nervousness.

Director Xie winked at him and said in a low voice, "Zhiming, feel the top of the box, there's one there."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiming was overjoyed.

He tried to keep his expression calm, and after reaching into the cardboard box, he felt along the inside of the box to find the strip of paper that was taped to his face.

Then he pretended to hesitate for a moment before taking it out.

Seeing this, Director Xie ignored him and continued walking.

Li Kaixin naturally heard everything the two said, but didn't say anything.

Although this has a privileged connotation, isn't that how society is?

On the stage, Chu Yunfeng saw this scene and couldn't help but feel curious.

He pointed at Li Kaixin, then turned and asked, "Old Zhao, why isn't this young master smoking?"

Station Chief Zhao followed the gaze, his expression somewhat strange:

"Old Chu, don't think too much about being happy. He's the apple of our eye at the station."

Chu Yunfeng became interested, guessing that this person must have some extraordinary abilities.

His eyes darted around, and he tentatively asked, "Old Zhao, how about this? I'll trade you two masters for one of my own."

"I won't trade. Even if you bring five more masters, I still won't trade."

Chu Yunfeng's eyes widened, somewhat bewildered: "Old Zhao, why are you so stubborn? You won't take such a good deal—one for two?"

"No way, no way." Station Chief Zhao remained resolute. He paused and added, "If you bring this up again, believe me, I won't give you a single one."

"Old Zhao, you......."

Chu Yunfeng stopped mid-sentence when he saw that Station Chief Zhao didn't seem to be joking.

However, he became even more curious about Li Kaixin.

The drawing of lots continued below the stage.

The remaining young workers took out slips of paper one by one from the box that Director Xie was holding. Some of them opened them and breathed a sigh of relief when they found them blank, while others were too nervous to even look.

Soon Director Xie walked up to the last craftsman.

The young master was already in despair. He was the only one left who hadn't drawn a slip of paper yet, and the slip of paper with the correct tone must be the one he drew.

Seeing that he didn't move, Director Xie immediately urged, "Master Cheng, it's your turn."

"Oh! Okay, Director Xie!" Master Cheng came to his senses and, with trembling hands, took out the last card from the box.

At that moment, all the chefs in the room turned their attention to him, except for the person sitting on the far left of the second row who kept his head down.

Right under everyone's noses, the note was opened.

Master Cheng looked at the contents of the document, initially in disbelief, then burst into laughter: "It wasn't me, it wasn't me! Mine is blank."

After this shout, the masters all looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Blank? What about the note with the corrected characters?"

"Yeah, who got it?"

Upon hearing this, Director Xie set the cardboard box aside, smiled, and glanced around.

"The card with the character '调' (tiao) was drawn a long time ago, but the master just didn't say anything. Whoever drew it, please step forward."

The scene was quiet for a moment, but finally, the person couldn't withstand the pressure and stood up. It was the same master who had been keeping his head down.