Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Qian Xiaohong took a glance at Lan Yutong through the door crack, and was suddenly shocked. She then felt a sour nose and tears flowed down. She turned around and ran back to Lan Jingqiu's office quickly. As soon as she entered the room, she fell on the desk and cried uncontrollably.

  She had just gone out and turned back to cry so sadly, Lan Jingqiu, Du Gu Zhong and others were very puzzled. Everyone looked at each other, Zhang Er's monk couldn't understand what was going on. Lu Xiaoying walked up curiously and patted her shoulder, asking: "Hey, what's wrong? Can't find a place to throw trash and cry?"

  Qian Xiaohong sobbed for a while before standing up straight and letting out a long sigh, saying: "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm moved."

  "Moved?" Several people looked even more strangely at Qian Xiaohong, staring with wide eyes.

  "It's like this," Qian Xiaohong said, "just now Lan Yutong didn't go buy a boxed lunch? When he came back with one less box, we all thought he was eating something that wasn't suitable for his taste, and were somewhat angry in our hearts. Just now I went out to throw away the trash, and saw Lan Yutong sneaking into an empty office, out of curiosity, I quietly followed him, wanting to see if Lan Yutong was secretly eating something good. When I reached the door of that office, from the crack in the door, oh my god, you guys guess what I saw?"

  "Is Lan Yutong gnawing on a chicken leg?" said Lu Xiaoying.

  "Roasting a whole sheep?" Duke Zhong opened his eyes wide and said.

  "Are you stir-frying lobster?" Lan Jing asked tentatively.

  "No!" Qian Xiaohong sat on the sofa and said, "He is gnawing sweet potatoes."

  "Steal sweet potatoes?" Everyone was unbelieving, as if their ears had misheard what Qian Xiaohong said, and they all looked at her with a skeptical expression.

  Qian Xiaohong nodded, then looked at the disbelieving faces of several people. She grabbed Lan Jingqiu's sleeve and led everyone to Lan Yutong's office, where he was hiding at the time. With a push of the door, they saw Lan Yutong eating sweet potatoes with big mouthfuls. He might have swallowed too hastily, so he choked and couldn't breathe. Especially when people pushed open the door and startled him, the sweet potato in his throat almost choked him to death. He hurriedly held up his water glass and drank a few sips, then looked at them awkwardly and said, "What brought you here? Sorry, I was secretly eating this delicious thing."

  "Do you think it's delicious?" Lan Jingqiu's throat was slightly choked, and the tears in his eyes rushed against his eye sockets, but he held back.

  "Of course, it's very sweet." Lan Yutong put down the sweet potato in her hand and looked at everyone very unnaturally.

  "You're lying!" Lu Xiao Ying finally couldn't control her emotions, she cried out and said, "You just don't want to spend the money."

  Qian Xiaohong also said: "A box of rice is 10 yuan, a roasted sweet potato is 2 yuan. You can't even bear to spend 10 yuan now, what's the point?"

  His worries were seen, Lan Yutong took a deep breath, then remained silent for a moment. Afterwards, he looked up at everyone and his eyes welled up with tears. He said: "I lost my father's company, now I need money urgently, how can I still be extravagant? Besides, you are just employees, but you all used your hard-earned salaries to help me without expecting anything in return. I am truly touched in my heart. Thinking about my past reckless life, I understand now that as long as there is true feeling, even eating these sweet potatoes is happiness. It feels like the sweet potatoes taste sweeter now. So now, I don't think the difficulties ahead are that big because no matter what, they will be solved eventually as long as we work together with one heart. Seeing all of you, I feel like my past days were truly lived in vain."

  Lan Jingqiu listened intently, and the words his son was saying now made him feel comforted from the bottom of his heart. His son's current understanding of life was something he himself had not fully grasped until today. Now, seeing his son becoming more and more sensible, even if he were to die immediately - no, because he was already dead, it should be said that even if he were to turn to dust, he would be content.

  The most precious thing in life is to know how to return after getting lost; a person's greatest happiness lies in experiencing true human emotions.

  Lan Yutong's words moved everyone present to tears, but they were happy tears, tears of satisfaction.

  Having cried, several people hugged each other, and they must let the Lan's Group return to its former glory, even more glorious than before.

  The bright lights shone brightly, and it was also nighttime. Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying were in the apartment, carefully dressing up. Qian Xiaohong wore a snow-white cheongsam with a sable fur cape draped over her shoulders, looking elegant and beautiful. Lu Xiaoying wore a low-cut pink pleated long dress with gold trim, revealing her smooth white skin like sheep's fat, which was even more radiant in the cold night, making her face look lovely and intoxicating.

  A luxurious Mercedes-Benz sedan pulled up to the entrance of Zhongyi Nightclub, where a pair of tall, red lanterns hung on either side of the high gate. The words "Zhongyi Nightclub" were emblazoned in bold letters above the door, shining brightly under the light. Two handsome young men, dressed in red security uniforms, stood guard on either side of the entrance. Inside the grand hall, two rows of beautiful girls, each around 17 or 18 years old and wearing red cheongsam dresses, stood at attention. As the Mercedes-Benz pulled up to the entrance with Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying inside, one of the young men in uniform hastily stepped down from his post, opened the car door, and greeted them with a bow, saying "Welcome!" The elegant Lu Xiaoying and Qian Xiaohong emerged from the car, and the young man who had spoken earlier rushed ahead to push open the large doors, bowing again as he waited for the two women to enter.

  Upon entering the hall, two rows of hostesses greeted us with their uniquely professional and sweet voices, saying: "Welcome."

  Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying giggled, twisting their waists and swinging their plump buttocks as they walked towards the front desk like ghosts.

  "Excuse me," Qian Xiaohong pulled out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from her bag, lit one up and took a deep drag, the red lips lightly holding the cigarette holder, slowly exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. After this series of actions perfectly ended, she lazily said, "Has Liu Daqi, Director Liu arrived?"

  The front desk service lady nodded repeatedly and said: "Have you two made an appointment?"

  "Of course!" Qian Xiaohong slowly spat out a string of cigarette smoke again.

  "He and several old men are in room six," said the waiter.

  "Thank you!" Lu Xiao Ying smiled slightly and the two of them headed towards room 6 with their waists twisted together.

  The nightclub was resplendent in the light of the hall, but the private rooms and corridors were extremely dim. Walking in the corridor, it seemed that this nightclub was very strange. If it weren't for the occasional bursts of wolf-like singing coming from the private rooms on either side, they would have thought they had returned to the underworld again.

  As they walked to the sixth private room, a loud roar came from inside. The two of them could tell that the voice belonged to Liu Da-kui, the wealthy and boorish man with a big head and ears, who was scolding someone inside.

  Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying gently pushed open the door, and Lu Xiaoying said in a stifled voice: "Aiyo, I heard Liu Ge's voice from far away, who made our Liu Ge angry."

  The room was equally dim, with a waitress in a purple cheongsam standing inside, her head bowed and holding a tray with both hands, like a servant standing in front of the tea table. It seemed that they had heard Liu Da-kui scolding this poor waitress at the door.

  Look again in the private room, there are several rough men sitting on the leather sofa, one of them is holding a microphone in front of the TV screen and singing "Stupid Kid" with a wild voice.

  The men heard Lu Xiao Ying's voice and couldn't help but turn their heads to look, seeing two elegant women walking in. Liu Da Kui rubbed his bald head and stood up to take a closer look, and upon seeing that it was Qian Xiao Hong and Lu Xiao Ying, he hastily waved his hand for the poor waiter to leave, then burst out laughing coarsely, saying: "Ah, I thought two fairy maidens had descended from heaven! It turns out it's our Miss Qian and Miss Lu. Long time no see, you two are still so beautiful and captivating. Come over and sit down quickly." He stretched out his hand to pull Qian Xiao Hong's hand, arranging for the two of them to sit beside him.

  Other men also looked at Lu Xiaoying and Qian Xiaohong with a flirtatious gaze, smiling and saying: "Liu Ge, when did you get to know the two beauties? Why didn't you introduce them?"

  Qian Xiaohong glanced around the room, and from her experience of accompanying clients for drinks over this period, she knew that these were all wealthy businessmen. She hastily picked up a glass of wine from the table, which belonged to who-knows-who, raised it high and said: "What beauty? You gentlemen are just joking! I'm Qian Xiaohong, and this is my best friend. It's fate that we meet you gentlemen here today. Let me toast each of you gentlemen with a glass!"

  Those men also hastily picked up their wine glasses, bent over and handed the glasses to Qian Xiaohong for a toast, then downed them in one gulp.

  A man poured wine into a glass for Qian Hong and said: "Beautiful girl, Huang Chang'an toasts you."

  Qian Xiaohong raised her wine glass and proactively came forward saying: "Thank you!" Then she tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp.

  After drinking a few cups of wine, Qian Xiaohong said: "We two are bored, come to the nightclub to relax our minds. Originally, I was looking for the restroom and didn't want to hear Liu Ge's voice, so I opened the door and came in to take a look, not disturbing you all."

  "Look what you're saying," Liu Da-kui said, rubbing his head, "I'm thrilled to be able to drink with two beautiful girls, how could I be a disturbance?"

  "Oh my," Lu Xiaoying placed a jade-like hand on Liu Daqi's shoulder, speaking in a playful and charming tone, "Liu, what you said sounds so good, but after we last met, you didn't come to find us again. You even called us beautiful girls?" She finished speaking, pouting her mouth, pretending to be angry.

  Liu Da-kui's large hand gently stroked Lu Xiao-ying's arm, with a sly smile on his face. "Can't blame me, you know. Last time when we signed the contract with your company, General Manager Chou said later that we should cancel the order and cooperate with Bai Hu Company instead. I didn't agree at first, but Bai Hu Company offered a better price than Lan Shi Group. As businessmen, of course, making money is our priority. So we had to terminate our cooperation with Lan Shi Group, and since you two are from Lan Shi Group, it's inconvenient for us to contact you."

  "Business is business, but morality comes first," Qian Xiaohong said. "I wonder where Liu Ge has gone wrong. The company belongs to the company, and personal relationships belong to personal relationships. I'm afraid that Liu Ge's words are just an excuse."

  "Really," Liu Da-kui stretched out his mouth and kissed Lu Xiao-ying's powdered face, "how could I lie in front of two great beauties."

  Lu Xiaoying turned her face away, pretending to look up and smile, saying: "Since you haven't forgotten us, that's good. However, Liu Dage and the White Fox company cooperating is too sudden. We're friends after all, even if we cancel our subscription, shouldn't we at least give each other a heads up? So little sister will fine you one cup." Lu Xiaoying held her wine glass to Liu Daqi's mouth.

  Those men also shouted on the side: "Right! Drink it down!"

  Qian Xiaohong saw the atmosphere was right and also held up a cup of wine to say to them: "You can't just talk about others, several big brothers also have to be penalized with a cup."

  "Why?" the men asked in unison.

  "None of you helped Little Sister," Qian Xiaohong said.

  "How can I help?" a man asked.

  "Little sister came to Haizheng City for the first time, unfamiliar with the place, working at Lan's Group, originally wanted to make a name for herself, met Liu Dage, thought that signing a contract with him would allow her to develop in the company, didn't expect Liu Dage to change his mind halfway. My beautiful dream was shattered from then on," said Qian Xiaohong.

  "What does your company produce?" a man asked.

  "Right!" said another one too.

  "Cosmetics are also produced, some food like instant noodles, of course, the main production is still cosmetics," said Qian Xiaohong.

  "We are all in the cosmetics business, we can cooperate in the future." said a man wearing glasses.

  "What about Liu?" Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying stared at him with their eyes.

  "This... this," Liu Da-kui rubbed his bald head hesitantly.

  "What's the hesitation?" the bespectacled man bellowed, "It's settled then. The White Fox Company was founded by Chou Xiaoqian anyway. He had you breach the contract with the Lan Group, so you can breach it again."

  "Good!" Liu Da-kui held up a cup of wine and drank it down in one gulp, saying, "I'll work with Lan again from now on, no changes. Unless I stop doing business or do some other kind of business."

  When they heard this, Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiao Ying exchanged a glance, both thinking that the matter had already succeeded halfway. If they could just get these people to go out for something to eat and strengthen their acquaintance, then signing with Lan Shi Group would be almost certain.