Card maker? No, I'm a mechanic!

Tianlan City, Card Master Association.

The hall was bustling with noise, and long queues had formed in front of the windows where various services were being processed.

The cacophony of noise even drowned out the calls for numbers.

"Wow, with so many people, the line will be open forever!"

Jiang Zhe stood at the entrance of the association, looking at the scene inside, and couldn't help but sigh.

He was about to obediently take a number when his fingers touched the cold card in his pocket, but his movements suddenly stopped.

Jiang Zhe took out the ID card that symbolized Professor Lin's teaching assistant from his pocket and tentatively walked towards the VIP passage.

"Sir, for regular business, please proceed to... um?"

The receptionist, who had been tilting her head and seemed somewhat nonchalant, was now...

After glancing at the card in Jiang Zhe's hand, his pupils suddenly contracted.

That's an authorization card issued by a professor at Tianlan Academy!

"Oh, so you're Professor Lin's teaching assistant! My apologies!"

The receptionist's attitude immediately changed 180 degrees, and she unconsciously bent her back a little.

"This way, please. We have a special green channel where you can get your application processed immediately without having to queue."

"Tsk tsk, is this the happiness of the privileged class?"

Jiang Zhe was secretly pleased, and then, amidst the envious gazes of everyone in the hall, he swaggered into the VIP room, which was covered with a red carpet.

Less than ten minutes had passed.

The gold-embossed business license was already in Jiang Zhe's hands.

"That's really efficient."

Jiang Zhe walked out of the association in high spirits.

Just as he was about to start selecting a location, a familiar figure caught his attention in the smoking area on the side of the association.

The man was dressed in casual clothes and was squatting next to a trash can, smoking.

"That's... Chen Ming?"

Jiang Zhe narrowed his eyes, somewhat surprised.

In broad daylight, why is this on-site card handler here instead of slacking off at the processing station?

Out of curiosity, he didn't speak up immediately, but quietly crept up behind him.

Just as Chen Ming stubbed out his cigarette and was about to pull out a second one, he was muttering something under his breath.

"Hey!"

Jiang Zhe suddenly slapped him on the shoulder.

Holy crap!

Chen Ming was startled and jumped up, dropping the cigarette pack in his hand.

He turned around abruptly, and then breathed a sigh of relief, patting his chest.

"It's you! You scared me to death! I thought the company boss was going to catch me skipping work."

"So you know it's absenteeism?"

Jiang Zhe bent down to pick up the cigarette pack for him. He teased, "..."

"Aren't you afraid something will happen again if you don't stay at the treatment station?"

"Ah, that's not right."

Chen Ming shook his head, lit another cigarette, and took a deep drag.

"I call this going deep into the grassroots to gather intelligence."

"You know, in our line of work, being well-informed is key to survival."

"So, I set aside one day each week to have dinner with some friends in the underworld."

"And incidentally, to build rapport and gather intelligence, or something."

"Oh? So you've finished eating now?" Jiang Zhe asked curiously. "Did you find out anything?"

"Well..."

Chen Ming frowned and exhaled a smoke ring.

"It's true in some ways, but it's also not true in others."

"What are you babbling about?" Jiang Zhe rolled his eyes upon hearing this.

"Don't rush."

Chen Ming lowered his voice and said mysteriously.

"The first one is about the Fireworks."

"These guys were clamoring just two days ago to buy one of the Lin family's mines."

"I don't know what happened, but there's been no news since this morning."

"Then they went and acquired several small mines in other places."

"I don't know why they're so into mining these days."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhe couldn't help but smile.

"Actually... I did it."

"Huh?" Chen Ming was taken aback, almost dropping his cigarette butt on his pants. "What did you do?"

"I gave the Lin family a solution they couldn't refuse, providing them with a more cost-effective mining method."

Jiang Zhe shrugged and said casually.

"So, naturally, the Flame Workshop had no chance."

Wow, that's awesome, bro!

Chen Ming's eyes widened, and he gave Jiang Zhe a thumbs up.

"You really know how to cause trouble, you even managed to ruin the Fireworks."

"But there's one more thing..."

He then changed the subject, and his expression became somewhat strange.

"What?" Jiang Zhe noticed the change in his tone.

"It's still a company matter."

Chen Ming pointed to the building in the distance that belonged to the branch of the waste card processing company.

"Last time they checked the files, and now that they've finished, they say they're going to secretly develop a new project."

"Just yesterday afternoon, a few of my old buddies were transferred there."

"Where were you transferred to?"

"I don't know, it's completely confidential." Chen Ming frowned. "The strangest thing is that I sent them a message to ask about the situation."

"None of them replied to me; it was like they vanished into thin air."

"you say……"

Chen Ming stroked his chin, his face full of doubt.

"Is the project so lucrative that these bastards want to hog it all without me?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhe couldn't help but frown slightly.

The entire team is out of contact during a mass dispatch... This scenario sounds a bit like the KK campus?

"Alright, it's getting late."

Seeing that Jiang Zhe remained silent, Chen Ming stubbed out his cigarette.

"I can't be away for too long, otherwise it will be hard to explain if something really happens at the treatment station."

"Since you have nothing else to do, I'll head back now."

"Okay, then be careful."

Jiang Zhe nodded, watching Chen Ming get into the old SUV and disappear from sight.

Although I had my doubts, there wasn't much information available at the moment, so there was no point in thinking about it too much.

The most urgent task is to get my little shop up and running.

"Site selection is a technical skill."

Jiang Zhe rubbed his chin, then took out a communication card.

The Lin family has been working hard for so long, they are obviously much more professional than him in the business world.

Communication card connection.

Not long after, they presented several alternative plans.

Jiang Zhe carefully selected each option, eventually focusing his attention on a position that sounded somewhat familiar.

"On the back street of the college? Isn't that pretty close to the barbecue restaurant?"

He was somewhat surprised, and then slapped his thigh.

"This is it!"

It's close to his apartment, there's a lot of foot traffic, and most importantly, it'll be convenient for us to have barbecue in the future.

Once the location was finalized, the rest fell into place.

With the Lin family's assistance, the contract was signed, the shop was transferred, and the interior design was completed...

A series of processes that should have been tedious and time-consuming are proceeding at an astonishing pace.

……

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was the "seedling selection day" that Professor Lin had reminded us of.

As soon as Jiang Zhe arrived at the foot of the laboratory building, he was amused by the scene before him.

The open space in front of the laboratory building was already filled with people.

The most eye-catching figure was Principal Zhou, who was directly in front of them.

He had styled his hair slicked back today and was turning around to speak warmly to the dozen or so young people.

Those young people all looked still very young, with their heads held high and their eyes revealing an undisguised arrogance.

Clearly, these are the "promising talents" carefully selected by the principal.

However, in their blind spot, under the shade of a tree on the side.

Professor Lin was gathered with several other elderly professors with gray hair, pointing and gesturing at the group of spirited students.

The way they were doing it was like... picking out cabbages at the market.

"Ugh, that guy with glasses has such a wandering gaze, he doesn't seem very bright, I don't want him."

"This one's alright, his mental strength is pretty stable, but he's a bit chubby. Old Zhang, do you want him? If not, I'll take him and help out."

"Go away, you actually like that? I've got my eye on that one..."