Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  “When the time comes, I’ll get the auntie to skin the chicken.”

  Qiao Nan was rather picky when it came to food, especially when it came to boiling chicken soup. She insisted on the chicken being skinned. Something about the fat on the chicken skin being hard to digest and not being good for the body.

  She refused to drink it otherwise and was especially careful when feeding the three children too. Under the leadership of Qiao Nan, the Zhai family also unconsciously adopted this habit. So when he talked about chicken soup today, Zhai Sheng provided additional explanations, which satisfied Qiao Nan.

  “Brother Zhai, I’m sleepy.”

  “Just sleep if you’re sleepy.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “.……” It was rare for Zhai Sheng to have to coax Qiao Nan as though he were coaxing his children. “Don’t be scared. Just go to sleep. I won’t leave. I’ll be with you forever. You still have us. You still have the three children.”

  \r \r \r

  Zhai Sheng’s coaxing was unskilled and unfamiliar, yet reassuring and gentle at the same time. And so, Qiao Nan yawned and gradually got sleepier. After finding a comfortable position in Zhai Sheng’s embrace, she quickly fell asleep.

  Just as Zhai Sheng had said, when Qiao Nan returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the next day, she found out that chaos had indeed broken out.

  “Minister He, you can actually give more work to us. We’ve been in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for quite a while. We are quite capable. It’s just that we lack opportunities to show our talents. Minister He, please do not go out of your way to take care of us just because we’ve been in this department for a short time. We need more practice to grow and develop.”

  “That’s right, Minister He. As long as you are willing to give us the opportunity, we’ll definitely be able to prove ourselves. All our seniors in the department are so busy every day. We are the only ones who have so much free time. We’re really quite ashamed about that. Minister He, please train us more.”

  Xu Xinming and Li Dawei had already entered He Yi’s office bright and early and eagerly begged He Yi to give them more opportunities to show their worth.

  Especially Li Dawei’s words which could be easily mistaken.

  What did he mean by having no opportunities to prove his worth in the past? Was he not hinting that Qiao Nan was afraid that Li Dawei was more capable than her and would surpass her? Was that why she suppressed Li Dawei in the first place? To prevent him from getting ahead of her?

  These two newbies who had only been in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for just over a year dared to attack their senior with their words? Was it the end of the world?

  He Yi’s eyebrows were already twitching. These two ‘newbies’ clearly thought he was a fool. He was not going to stand by and watch and rely on logic instead of relations if someone pointed out Qiao Nan’s faults, even if everyone in the department now knew that Qiao Nan was his junior.

  It was hilarious how Xu Xinming and Li Dawei were so confident and thought that everything would progress according to their plan.

  “Minister, it’s rare that newbies have such down-to-earth ideas. I think they’re pretty good. But these newbies are no longer newbies. They’ve been here for a year. It’s just as well that we take this chance to see how much our colleagues Xu and Li have improved since they joined our department. You know, it always used to be like this. Comrades Xu and Li should not be exceptions. After being in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a year, they haven’t even gotten better. They’re still totally green.”

  Qiao Nan knocked and entered He Yi’s office after getting his approval. “Moreover, since our minister has already assigned everyone their own work, I think it will be better for everyone to focus on their own work instead of helping each other so as to improve our efficiency. We should be responsible for our own tasks. If we try harder in some things and do more work, we’ll gradually get used to them and they won’t seem so difficult anymore.”

  The tasks were now entirely separated. If anything went wrong with Xu Xinming and Li Dawei, there would be no one to push the blame to. More importantly, Xu Xinming and Li Dawei would have to faithfully take up that responsibility.

  As veterans who had been in this department for a year, leaving aside the fact that it might merit demerits, it was embarrassing that they still made mistakes in the most simple of tasks.

  It was rare for Xu Xinming and Li Dawei to ‘take so much initiative’. As a senior who had guided them, Qiao Nan wanted to satisfy their desires. She wanted very much to raise all her limbs in support of her colleagues’ ideas.

  Work?

  She would give as much as Xu Xinming and Li Dawei wanted. If she gave any less, she would count it as her loss.

  “Deal.” Before Xu Xinming and Li Dawei could return to their senses, He Yi made his decision. Before these two entered the department, even though there had been no hard and fast rules, the working conditions had been just like what Qiao Nan mentioned. There had been no such thing as not finishing or not doing well and having someone else come to help.

  So it could be said that these two new colleagues ruined the atmosphere in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by making such a rule compulsory so that everyone would be clear of their roles and responsibilities. At this time, He Yi was firm with Xu Xinming and Li Dawei.

  If the two of them wanted to stay in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then Xu Xinming and Li Dawei would take over all the manual labor and chores. He would treat it as though he had raised two slackers. As long as it concerned official matters and had to do with the state, Xu Xinming and Li Dawei would not even get to touch them.

  With such an idea, if Xu Xinming and Li Dawei were still unwilling to leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on their own accord, He Yi would be left with only one choice. He would be forced to find a big fault or tons of small mistakes made by Xu Xinming and Li Dawei. Then, with the accumulation of all these mistakes, no one could say anything if he were to arrange them in unimportant positions.

  He Yi and Qiao Nan had already decided how to chase Xu Xinming and Li Dawei out of the department. In the past, these two were just lazy. But now, they were true scumbags who wanted to make some trouble in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  In the face of such a change in Xu Xinming and Li Dawei, the whole Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not welcome them, even Deng Wenchang, who was usually not in accord.

  It was rather funny to talk about it. It was exactly because of the appearance of Xu Xinming and Li Dawei that Deng Wenchang had become rejected by the entire department. But with these two newbies, everyone realized that it could only get worse. With them around, Deng Wenchang was not all that useless or annoying in comparison.