One person said: The essence of Wuhou Qimen lies not in Qimen, but in Wuhou.

Xu San was poked by his finger and took a small step back, but his expression remained much calmer than Xu Si's.

He took off his glasses, wiped the spittle off the lenses with the corner of his shirt, put his nose back on, and analyzed in the rational tone typical of an academic: "Can you calm down? This isn't our company entrance, it's the entrance to the World Society. What's done is done, and shouting yourself hoarse won't change anything."

You know your baby well—you know better than anyone how stubborn she can be. How could I possibly stop her? She's already gone in, that's a fact. The problem we need to solve now isn't 'whose fault it is,' but 'what to do next.'

"What can we do? Good question! Heavens above, I wish I could ask the same thing!"

Xu Si ripped open his collar, his voice instantly rising, "Yesterday, Chairman Zhao and Director Zhuge personally gave the order, and I swore I wouldn't act on my own. And what happened? In the time it takes to take a piss, the baby barged in! What do we do now? The two big leaders are on their way—you tell me what to do!"

He glared at Xu San, his chest heaving like a bellows.

Xu San patted his shoulder calmly, his tone as still as calm as a lake: "Xu Si, don't worry. How about this, you wait outside and report to the leader later, while I go in to explain the situation to Feng Zhenghao. I believe he understands the consequences and won't be too forceful."

Xu Si looked at Xu San's calm, almost cold-blooded face and suddenly clapped.

His applause was loud and slow, one clap at a time, particularly jarring on the relatively quiet roadside in the morning.

He clapped his hands and said in a sarcastic tone, "Good, good, good, good—good! Good! Good! Xu San, Xu San, you can't sleep well unless you play me to death, huh?"

He held up three fingers and started counting them off one by one: "First, Zhang Chulan ran away, and I failed to manage my subordinates properly—that's dereliction of duty. Then Bao Bao barged into the Tianxia Society without permission, and I failed to manage the temporary workers properly—that's dereliction of duty again. Now you're telling me you're going in to explain things to Feng Zhenghao—isn't that tipping someone off? If this were during the War of Resistance Against Japan, that would be traitor, spy, collaborator! That would be court-martial, punishable by death!"

Xu San frowned.

He pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting a white light, his voice tinged with confusion and indignation: "What does this mean? How did it become tipping someone off? I just went in to explain the situation to Feng Zhenghao to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts—what's wrong with the procedure?"

Xu Si looked at his older brother with the same look he had toward an idiot.

He took a deep breath and said in a tone that suggested he was exasperated but had to explain properly, "Still don't understand? Let me break it down for you—this was originally a small problem. It could be a big deal, or it could be a small one. Zhang Chulan has a labor contract with the company, it's in black and white, protected by law. No matter how rich or powerful Feng Zhenghao is, even with a market value of 300 billion, he wouldn't dare to go head-to-head with the company—who's behind the company? The state. As long as our company takes a firm stance and sends people to demand his return, Feng Zhenghao can't do anything about it. I can handle this myself."

He slapped his thigh hard, his voice rising half an octave: "And what happened? Some bastard leaked it to headquarters! Last night, Chairman Zhao called me and said that Director Zhuge already knows! Director Zhuge—dual superiors, the Party Committee Inspection Office—he knows about this! It's obvious, these two big leaders want to use this to meet with Feng Zhenghao, or rather, to give him a warning."

Of course, we can't give them advance notice! We want to catch them completely off guard! If you go in now and say, "Hello Mr. Feng, this is Xu San from 'All-Knowing,' our company's baby accidentally wandered in. Please don't misunderstand..."—what else is that but tipping them off? Don't you understand? You wear glasses, trying to act all cultured—is your brain made of mush?!

Xu San stood there, his lips moved, but he didn't say a word.

His face flushed from white to red, then faded back to white. Behind his glasses, his eyes held a mixture of shock, shame, and a sense of absurdity that "I actually got taught a lesson by Xu Si."

He had lived for nearly forty years, and this was the first time he had been so thoroughly insulted by his carefree younger brother that he couldn't even lift his head—and the worst part was, he was absolutely right.

Getting them all right is the most infuriating thing.

He was silent for several seconds, then pushed up his glasses and said in a resigned, clearly unsure tone, "So what do you suggest we do now? The baby's already inside, they might already be fighting."

Xu Si took out another cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

This time he didn't light it yet, just held it in his mouth, letting the cigarette hang from the corner of his lips, like an outlet for his pent-up emotions.

He looked at the towering World Society building before him and said in a calm tone that only comes with utter despair, "What else can we do? All we can do now is wait—wait for the leaders to come, wait for the report, wait to be criticized. You, me, the two of us, just stand here now, don't go anywhere, don't do anything. When Director Zhuge and Chairman Zhao arrive, I'll go up and report the situation, and you stand behind me and nod. That's the only thing we can do. As for Bao Bao—how big a hole she can make inside is up to Feng Zhenghao's luck."

Just then, a security guard at the entrance of the Tianxiahui Group noticed them.

The security guard was wearing a dark blue uniform, a peaked cap, a black rubber baton at his waist, and shiny black leather shoes.

He walked out of the guard post, gripping the handle of a police baton, and strode towards Xu Si and Xu San with an air of "this is my territory," followed by two young security guards dressed similarly.

"Hey! You two—what are you doing?"

The lead security guard had a loud voice, his tone carrying the arrogance and vigilance typical of lower-level managers. "Sneaking around like that, shouting at the entrance of our Tianxiahui Group—don't you have any manners? This is Tianxiahui Group, not a vegetable market! Get out of here, get out of here!"

Xu Si, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, slowly turned around.

His eyes were narrowed to slits, and a creepy smile played on his lips.

He'd been through a lot today—he was scared by his boss, angered by his own brother, tricked by a college student, and even stuck on the Fifth Ring Road riding a shared bike. He didn't sleep a wink all night, and now even a security guard dares to yell at him.

Xu Si, the head of the North China region, may not be the highest-ranking official in the company, but he is a figure that half of the supernatural world would avoid.

He endured everything he could today, but now he doesn't want to endure it anymore.

He angrily spat the unlit cigarette from his mouth onto the ground, gritted his teeth, rubbed his fists together, and walked step by step toward the security guard.

The pace was slow, but each step was firm, as if measuring the length of that breath.

The lead security guard paused for a moment, then subconsciously took a half step back, gripping his baton even tighter.