Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Chen Zhenhua finally showed off his talents in front of the leaders, although he was envied by some people, but envy is not necessarily a bad thing, after all, who would envy mediocrity?

  After Mr. Huo's birthday, people returned to their previous lives, Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo went to work as usual, facing busy but seemingly unaccomplished colleagues.

  "Congratulations!" Early that morning, the director called Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo to his office and said with a smile, "After discussion by the bureau's party committee, it has been decided to reward you two. Our police bureau's archives department is still short of two colleagues like you who are capable and meticulous in their work. You will go there now. This is a very good position, several colleagues have asked me to transfer them to the archives department before but I didn't agree. If it weren't for your slightly better performance in these two cases, I wouldn't have considered it either."

  "Where is the case file?" Chen Zhenhua furrowed her brow, somewhat unclear about the director's arrangement. "We hope to work in the criminal police team, investigating cases and catching culprits are what we want to do most."

  "I'm telling you, you're getting a promotion," said the director, lighting up a Zhonghua cigarette and leaning back in his chair as he looked at Huang Aiguo and Chen Zhenhua, who were rumored to be transferred to the archives department. "In the criminal police team, you are just police officers, but in the archives department, you will become officials. Chen Zhenhua is the head of the archives department, and Huang Aiguo is the director."

  "How many people are in the archives department?" Chen Zhenhua asked.

  "Sorry, just the two of you," the director rubbed his head, also looking a bit embarrassed. "I thought those previous ones didn't work carefully, so I sent them to the countryside for training, let them be in charge for a while, taste some hardship, and then consider assisting you later."

  "Can't we just not go?" Huang Aiguo said, "I'd rather be a civilian police officer in the criminal police corps."

  "I'm talking about patriotism," the director said, appearing somewhat impatient. He straightened up and said, "You must obey the arrangements of the organization. Our bureau's party committee has studied your job transfer for several days, and it was carefully considered. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. I have other things to attend to, that's all."

  The two walked out of the director's office dejectedly, returned to their own desk to gather their belongings, and then moved to the file room.

  The office is in a mess, perhaps the director was right, those people might not have done anything before, dust everywhere, files and other documents all over the floor.

  The two of them were busy collecting files on their first day in the archives, and by the end of the day, even a ghost would be exhausted.

  Until late in the evening, Chen Zhenhua and another person finally got off work. Exhausted, Chen Zhenhua dragged his heavy body into a bar, found a relatively dimly lit spot to sit down, ordered a beer, and slowly drank it. Just after finishing one cup, he was about to call the waiter when he saw Ouyang Qing. Ouyang Qing was also sitting in a relatively dim corner, drinking alone, occasionally expressionless, staring at the young men and women shaking wildly under the colorful lights in the center of the bar, their faces illuminated by purple light, each one looking like an evil spirit crawling out of hell.

  "Are you here too?" Chen Zhenhua stood up with a glass of wine and walked to the opposite side of Ouyang Qing, calling the waiter to bring another beer.

  "Didn't expect you'd also like to come here to kill time." Ouyang Qing took a big gulp of wine, then let out a heavy sigh.

  "Is something on your mind?" Chen Zhenhua asked him.

  "No," Ouyang Qing smiled wryly, but he paused for a moment before continuing, "How's your life in the police station?"

  "Damn it," as soon as the police station was mentioned, Chen Zhenhua also downed a cup of wine and then said with hatred, "Promoted!"

  "That's great," Ouyang Qing raised his wine glass, "let's have a drink for his mother's promotion."

  "Good!" Chen Zhenhua raised his wine glass, "Let's have a drink for his mother's promotion." As he said that, he took another big gulp of wine.

  "Zhen Hua," Ouyang Qing stared at the empty wine cup in her hand for a while before speaking, "I know you're determined to crack the case and pursue the truth, but is that really all there is to it? Don't you have any other thoughts?"

  "For example..." Chen Zhenhua looked at Ouyang Qing seriously, he thought that Ouyang Qing should have some troubles, and so did he. The two people met together, why not pour out their hearts to each other, it might be much better this way.

  "When you've worked hard to accomplish something, don't you want to get recognition and praise from others?" Ouyang Qing asked him.

  "Of course," Chen Zhenhua put down his wine glass, leaning back and saying, "Vanity, after all, is something that everyone has to some extent. It's precisely because of vanity that we can become real people, because complete humanity inherently possesses both good and evil."

  "You're right," said Ouyang Qing, "not far from Haichuan City, there is a town called Qianlong Town. The former head of Qianlong Town was recently taken down for corruption. Now our leaders say they want to select one of us young colleagues to go to Qianlong Town as the new head. I'd like to take this opportunity to show off my abilities, but from what the leaders are saying, it seems like the competition won't be small. According to convention, it also seems like we'll have to spend some money. You know that I'm just like you, with tens of millions in hellish currency, but can those ghostly notes be used to bribe them? With my current salary, how can I compete with my colleagues?"

  "Do you really want to be the mayor of this town?" Chen Zhenhua asked.

  Ouyang Qing nodded and said, "I'm not thinking of being an official, you know that. Our current identity is useless even if we become mayors or provincial governors. After all, we don't know how long we can stay in the world of the living. Who knows, maybe tomorrow the King of Hell will call us back? But I've always hoped to be a leader, I want to prove that I have leadership abilities."

  "Since that's the case," Chen Zhenhua thought for a moment and said, "Let's go find Uncle Lan and his family to ask for their help. Hopefully they can provide some financial support for you."

  "It's okay," said Ouyang Qing, nodding her head, "How come I didn't think of them? Let's go now."

  Being able to find someone to help, Ouyang Qing suddenly became cheerful, the worried look on his face instantly swept away, while Chen Zhenhua was still a bit downcast, but for the sake of his friend, he pretended to be very happy, drank the last mouthful of wine, and got up with Ouyang Qing to go find Lan Jingqiu and others.

  The Lan's Group Building, the general manager's office was filled with smoke, the general manager sat on a high-backed chair, scrutinizing Lan Jingqiu with his disgusting gaze, occasionally spitting out thick smoke, which formed into smoke rings floating over his "countryside surrounding the city" head.

  Lan Jingqiu stood like a guilty child in front of the office desk, speechless, but his face still showed a hint of anger.

  "General Manager," he bit his lip and took a deep breath, "why are we bidding on that land in the north of the city?"

  "Lan Jingqiu," the general manager stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, then leaned back in his chair and said, "How the company develops and what decisions are made are matters for the high-level executives. What qualifications or rights do you have as a small sales department manager to question me? Do you still remember that I'm the one who gave you this position as sales department manager?"

  "I know this child is yours," Lan Jingqiu said, "I don't have the qualifications to participate in company decision-making, but as a company employee, it's not wrong to care about the company's prospects, right?! The land in Chengbei is overpriced, and besides, the people living there are all poor citizens. If we give them a low price, they won't be able to afford new houses at all. Do you, a great philanthropist, want to see many poor people struggling without a home? Even if we buy this land, it can only be used for building, but you know the current real estate prospects are not optimistic. We might end up losing money."

  "I don't think about it that much," the general manager said. "Businessmen only care about making money, if they all thought for others, they might as well go to a charity organization. I must get that land in Chengbei."

  "What if the residents collectively refuse to move?" Lan Jingqiu said, "They may not sell either."

  "That's their problem," the general manager said with a cold smile. "The government will move them out."

  "Even so, we can't afford to buy land," Lan Jingqiu said. "Now our company is not in a good situation, the sales of cosmetics are declining sharply, many customers are clamoring for refunds, and the company has been losing money severely for two months. We don't have that much money to speculate on land."

  "Decline in sales is your sales manager's problem," the general manager remained unmoved, even when hearing about the company's losses. He only slightly raised an eyebrow and coldly laughed, saying "Our Lanxi Group brand is worth billions, which bank wouldn't cooperate with us? Even if we mortgage the company, we must find a way to win that land bid. Alright, since you're so concerned about this, doesn't your department have anything else to do?"

  "Ah!" Lan Jingqiu saw that the general manager was unmoved, so he gritted his teeth and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. He returned to his own office, where he lit a cigarette and inhaled fiercely. In his heart, he knew why the general manager wanted to buy land - he had long since seen through the sinister plot of this cunning general manager against the company. Wasn't it just to use the company's name to borrow money from the bank, then transfer the purchased land into his own name? And have the company bear the debt for buying the land, thus gradually draining the company dry.

  "I will never let you destroy the Lan Corporation that I have spent my whole life building!" He muttered to himself, clenching his fists and pounding them heavily on the office desk.

  He stood silently for a moment, then walked to the window, his hands clasped in front of his chest, his eyes gazing out at the cars speeding by on the road in front of the high-rise building. The street was bustling with activity, but he stood there lost in thought, staring blankly into space.

  "Bang! Bang!"

  Just as he was deep in thought, a few soft knocks on the door came from behind him. Dugu Jin walked in and saw Lan Jingqiu's solemn expression, so he asked: "Brother Lan, why are you so depressed? With such a worried look, there must be something troubling you. Can you tell me about it, maybe I can help."

  "You can't help," Lan Jingqiu said with a forced smile. "It would be great if I had a lot of money now."

  "Do you want money?" Dugu Jin smiled and said, "I have some, will three thousand yuan be enough?"

  "It's too much," Lan Jingqiu sighed helplessly, turned around and walked back to his seat, then buried his face in his hands and fell into deep thought.

  Dugu Zhong saw him like this and didn't want to disturb him anymore, so he could only sit silently in the chair in front of his desk.

  He has been in charge of sanitation and toilet cleaning at the Lan's Group since he joined. At first, he was just curious and thought that the toilets were different from those in his life during the Song Dynasty. The toilets they used had to be taken out every day to dump in the wild or designated locations. Now, with just a flush of water, people's feces and urine disappeared, so he was very happy to do such work.

  However, he soon became bored and often slipped away on some pretext or went to Lan Jingqiu's office to sit for a while. If Lan Jingqiu was not there, he would go find Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoqing, anyway these two were specialized in accompanying clients to drink and eat, if the company had no social events they would be idle all day.

  He sat for a while feeling bored, so he got up and quietly walked to the door intending to leave. As he reached out to open the door, he bumped into someone. Chen Zhenhua and Ouyang Qing had arrived.