In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

Grandpa Chen stood sideways on the door frame, his hand on the door panel, with a particularly excited expression on his face.

There were two people standing behind him.

Actually, there were more than just two people. Several heads were gathered at the corner on the seventh floor, including Sister Zhao, Sister Liu, and Old Zhou's wife.

The person at the front looked like a cadre in his fifties, wearing a dark blue Zhongshan suit with the buttons neatly fastened and the clothes ironed perfectly flat.

Black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and thick eyebrows accentuated his piercing gaze as he scanned the people in the room.

Behind him was a young man, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, wearing a white shirt tucked into his trousers, with a folder tucked under his arm and a briefcase in his left hand.

The man in the Zhongshan suit walked into the living room and frowned. He was clearly surprised by the mess.

The 12-square-meter living room was littered with teacups, chopsticks, towels, and peanuts. The table was crooked and the air reeked of smoke.

Apart from the thug-looking guy lying on the ground, there were five other people with different expressions standing in the room.

One young man, two workers, and two intellectuals.

He stood still.

His gaze swept over the people standing in the room, finally settling on the youngest, Zhang Yong.

That perspective is from top to bottom.

It wasn't because of his height, but because of the position he was standing in, which naturally made him taller than everyone else present.

The middle-aged man seemed to show a satisfied expression and slightly raised his head.

The man behind him had excellent eyesight. He took a step forward, pulled out a business card from his folder, and handed it to Zhang Yong with both hands.

Lin Xuechang glanced at the business card furtively.

The business card is vertical, with only three columns of text on the front.

Department of Social Education, Ministry of Education.

Technical Education Department.

Tao Weihe.

Lin Xuechang's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

Tao Weihe shifted his gaze from Zhang Yong to the crooked dining table in the center of the living room.

On the table lay the exclusive agreement, the supplementary document, and the unopened manila envelope.

He slowly walked over and tapped the brown paper envelope.

"Have you seen it or not?"

He turned his head and glanced back at Zhang Yong.

That glance was very short.

But Zhang Yong understood immediately: "I haven't seen it yet."

Tao Weihe nodded, put his hands behind his back, and faced Lin Xuechang and the others.

His tone was flat and indifferent, as if he were in an office assigning a task to a subordinate.

"It's alright, I brought another copy. Secretary Wang, please help me pack it up."

As soon as he finished speaking, Secretary Wang, who was standing behind him, quickly put down his bag, helped up the small stool in the living room, and went to the kitchen to fetch a chair.

In the middle of the process, Li Guilan realized what was happening and even swept the floor a few times, picking up the teacup and chopsticks.

Tao Weihe watched the two busy themselves, while he himself was quite casual. He wandered around the room for a bit and straightened Zhang Defa's military medals that were on the cabinet.

"Please sit down. Let's get to know each other first. I'll keep this short."

He pointed at Zhang Yong.

"Zhang Yong, I've heard of you, and I've read your book, so there's no need for me to come again."

"Let's start with you. And who is this?"

Lin Xuechang, whose name was called, opened his mouth slightly.

"Yes...yes, I am—"

"Please sit down."

Tao Weihe raised his chin, gesturing to the stool next to him.

Then he didn't sit down.

Lin Xuechang stammered out his name.

"So, you're the deputy editor-in-chief of 'October,' and you're here to discuss articles with the authors?"

Lin Xuechang felt that the other party was giving him a way out, so he quickly accepted.

"Yes, yes! I'm here to communicate! I arrived just two minutes before you!"

"That's not right, Lin Xuechang. I've been standing at the door for more than two minutes. What did you say last? I heard something like—'A dead end'?"

Lin Xuechang felt a chill in his heart, as if he had chewed on a bitter pill.

Yesterday, Chen Ping also said that Zhang Yong is just the son of a cotton mill worker, with no background whatsoever, and told him to go ahead and do his job without wasting time.

What? A section chief from the Ministry of Education came to visit today! And he even came to my house!

If I had known this would happen, I would never have come!

Tao Weihe stood in the middle of the living room and had his secretary open his briefcase.

The secretary pulled out a document stamped with three red seals, unfolded it, and placed it on the table.

The header of the document contained a line printed in bold:

Approval granted for the compilation and review of the "Practical Science Popularization Series on Industrial and Agricultural Technologies".

The three official seals at the bottom are listed side by side: Department of Social Education of the Ministry of Education, Workers' Publishing House, and Publicity and Education Department of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

Lin Xuechang's gaze fell on the three seals, and his lips trembled.

Tao Weihe's voice rang out unhurriedly.

"Comrade Zhang Wengong was one of the first specially invited authors for this series of books. His name is on the list of editors and reviewers, and I personally approved it."

His gaze pierced through his glasses and landed squarely on Lin Xuechang's face.

"So I just heard it in the hallway—"

"Did you say you wanted to expose Zhang Wengong? To sentence him to death?"

He paused.

"I'd like to hear your reasons."

The living room was silent for a full five seconds.

Those five seconds were barely enough for Lin Xuechang to thoroughly examine the little shrewdness in his mind.

Department of Social Education, Ministry of Education; Division of Technical Education; Tao Weihe.

Three official seals – the Ministry of Education, the Workers' Publishing House, and the Publicity and Education Department of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

His mind was buzzing.

This is not a level that a magazine publishing house can reach.

Let alone a mere deputy editor-in-chief like him, even if Zhou Deqing himself came, he would be half a head shorter standing in front of these three seals.

But having spent over a decade working in the magazine industry, he possessed an extremely keen sense of smell.

Despite the panic, my mind didn't completely stop working.

He jumped up from the stool, forced a smile, took half a step forward, placed his hands down, and bowed.

"Director Tao... Director Tao!"

He cleared his throat, his voice eight tones lower than when he had roared.

"It's all a misunderstanding! I'm here today to discuss the manuscript with Comrade Zhang Yong. It's purely a professional exchange, and things got a bit rushed—please don't take it to heart!"

Tao Weihe didn't look at him.

He lowered his head, picked up the newly printed supplementary agreement on the table, turned one page, then another.

The agreement consists of three pages. The first page contains the penalty clause for breach of contract, the second page contains the clause regarding changes to authorship rights, and the third page contains a statement waiving any further rights.

Tao Weihe finished reading the three pages, closed the book, and put it back on the table.

Then he raised his head and his gaze fell on Lin Xuechang's face.

"Deputy Editor-in-Chief Lin."

"Is this how your magazine operates?"

Lin Xuechang's smile froze on his face; he had forgotten to put the supplementary agreement away!

Tao Weihe reached out and tapped the second page of the agreement.

"The authorship has changed, with Chen Ping becoming the first author and Zhang Yong listed as 'assistant'."

His finger paused on the word 'assist'.

"Why would an author relinquish their authorship rights to another person?"

He didn't raise his voice, but everyone in the living room hunched over.

Lin Xuechang opened his mouth.

"Director Tao, this...this is a suggestion from Professor Chen Ping. He's interested in this topic, and I'm just here on his behalf to discuss it..."

"Entrusted?"

Tao Weihe repeated those two words.

He picked up the agreement, turned to the last page, and pointed to the signature in the lower right corner.

"And the trustee's signature is Lin Xuechang's. It's stamped with the official seal of the editorial department of the October magazine."

He dropped the agreement.

"Deputy Editor-in-Chief Lin, are you aware that you used the magazine's official seal to handle this matter?"

"You've got some nerve!"

......