On his third day in Shenghai, Xu Tingsheng invited Zhang Xingke out for a meal.

  Zhang Xingke blindly ordered an entire table of dishes, getting whatever was expensive.

  “Don’t feel pained over this,” Zhang Xingke said.

  “I won’t. Luckily, I didn’t choose some high-class place,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “This is all small change to you. You should be preparing the big monies now.”


  “That quickly?”


  “Within half a month, I guess.”


  “Alright. The approximate figure is?”


  “Around 12 million. Is that acceptable for you?”


  “It’s fine.”


  12 million was a sum that was around 6 million lower than would have been required for the acquisition under normal circumstances. Even then, there was still the necessary precondition of Dexin being willing to sell. If there was some competition for it, that would be a whole different story altogether. The price might possibly even double if that was the case.

  Therefore, the matter that Zhang Xingke was handling actually wasn’t simple at all. It wasn’t as simple as making a training institute that was set to collapse fall apart more quickly. He still had to wrack his brains and exert various hoodwinking means in order to steer Dexin’s final destiny.

  How to get it to collapse, what way to make it collapse in and when Xu Tingsheng should swoop in were all things that had to be factored in by him.

  Of course, the sum of 12 million still wasn’t small change at all to Xu Tingsheng. He might have to borrow a bit from Mr Xu for this. He even regretted a little having bought a car too hastily now.

  Still, Dexin was in Shenghai. After having bought it, even if Xu Tingsheng didn’t do anything at all, everything else aside, he would already have a stable inflow of cash just from the property market alone.

  After having finished conversing on this, two began focusing on the meal.

  They didn’t eat in a civilised manner at all for this meal.

  Zhang Xingke was eating with the mindset of taking advantage of Xu Tingsheng paying for the meal whilst also trying to bring something up.

  Xu Tingsheng was concentrating on the meal to feign not hearing Zhang Xingke’s upcoming words and keep from making eye contact, preventing him from being able to broach the issue.

  Zhang Xingke had something he wanted to say, something that he was feeling troubled about.

  Why was this so? It was because what he wanted to say would cause Xu Tingsheng to feel troubled. Therefore, if Xu Tingsheng could stop him from saying it today, he might not think about it again in the future.

  Went all out the first time, weakened the second, drained the third. It was this very principle.

  Finally, neither of them could eat anymore.

  Zhang Xingke dabbed at his mouth with a paper napkin.

  Xu Tingsheng stood up, “I’ll go settle the bill.”


  If Zhang Xingke said ‘wait’, Xu Tingsheng was already prepared to say ‘you’re welcome’.

  However, Zhang Xingke said, “I’d like to ask that you keep Yu Xinlan.”


  He said it as directly as that, cutting straight to the chase.

  “The heck! Can I pretend that I didn’t just hear that?” Xu Tingsheng berated him.

  “You’d already guessed it?” Zhang Xingke asked awkwardly.

  “Duh. Our current connection is Dexin. Regarding Dexin, you won’t even think me troubled in bringing up money. So, other than that woman, what else is there that you might ask of me that could leave you feeling so awkward?”


  Zhang Xingke chuckled.

  Xu Tingsheng inhaled, “You really couldn’t take it?”


  “I’ll probably die on her belly,” Zhang Xingke said, “You’re surely laugh, but I was even thinking about asking her to get a divorce for a period of time, before I’d marry her.”


  A woman who was skilled in obtaining benefits by controlling men definitely wouldn’t possess merely a good figure and good technique. They were mostly also gentle and discerning, considerate and understanding……

  They could even insert themselves fully into the role, playing out a: Wasted half my life, yet the fog is ultimately cleared by you. Visitors ever flash by, yet it is only ever toward you that my heart remains true.

  They were able to let every man feel that he was special.

  “This……is a no-go.”


  Xu Tingsheng dared not keep Yu Xinlan no matter what. It was neither a matter of not wanting to spend the money nor being afraid that he might be unable to resist her temptation. If he kept her there, he would not be able to right Dexin’s work culture. The other employees and management personnel would not think that competence and diligence were the sole route to rising up through the ranks.

  This way, Dexin would be unable to rise even if Hucheng took over.

  Zhang Xingke said, “That’s why I’m begging you.”


  Zhang Xingke could not let any of his words today sound even the least bit threatening to Xu Tingsheng. As Xu Tingsheng had still yet to acquire Dexin, he still needed Zhang Xingke’s help.

  Therefore, it was instead Zhang Xingke who had to take special care, not letting Xu Tingsheng feel that he was requesting this based on the chips in his hand, wanting to control, threaten him.

  That definitely could not happen.

  Therefore, Zhang Xingke was very candid, also speaking of this as a standalone issue rather than lumping it together with the matter of Dexin’s acquisition.

  Therefore, he was ‘begging’.

  This was the epitome of speaking and handling matters. Many would have lost opportunities due to not having been able to grasp this skill well in the past, instead accruing doubt and suspicion, having an eventual falling out with enmity being sowed with the other party.

  Looking from another perspective, the reason Zhang Xingke was doing this was that if he nudged Dexin towards someone else, it might not be as beneficial as him sending it Xu Tingsheng’s way. Also, there was the risk of him being kicked out from things afterwards.

  Zhang Xingke did not just want a sum of money. He desired a chance to exert his means in this domain that he was familiar with. Something someone is concerned about, they do worry about.

  Meanwhile, Xu Tingsheng was magnanimous, also being ‘weak-willed like a woman’. Therefore, Zhang Xingke virtually leaned towards choosing him a hundred percent.

  Therefore, being ‘weak-willed like a woman’ might not actually be entirely a bad thing after all.

  Xu Tingsheng asked, “How much time can you give me to consider?”


  This was actually related to how long Zhang Xingke could properly grasp Dexin’s trajectory. Xu Tingsheng was asking this with how the cooperation between them might ultimately fail in mind.

  Zhang Xingke had not expected that Xu Tingsheng’s resolve was this great.

  “It’s got nothing to do with this. It’s purely a personal request,” Zhang Xingke explained.

  “Can’t you just upkeep her with a sum of money?”


  “Do you think she’s the kind of woman who can be satisfied so easily? I feel that if she has the chance, she’ll definitely think of a way to stomp me underfoot, standing over my head. Then, if there was another chance, she would think of……stomping you underfoot as well……”


  “There would be no end to this process. That’s just the way she is.”


  “She’s actually stronger than us, just that it’s a pity that she’s uncultured, with no background or fortuitous encounters, possessing nothing apart from that body of hers. She’s instead got many things tying her down. Otherwise, she would truly be a bird flying freely, high as the sky’s limit.”


  Zhang Xingke spoke in a very serious manner.

  Xu Tingsheng said, “If you had said ‘the good thing is that’ instead of ‘it’s a pity that’, I would still have tried to persuade you. Now, I’ve found that……”


  “You’ve found that what in blazes? Your heart actually aches for her as well.”


  Zhang Xingke finished Xu Tingsheng’s incomplete sentence for him, admitting to his heart aching for Yu Xinlan.

  “She’s actually pretty pitiful. What fate gave her was simply unfair. She came from the poorest place, without a chance to study, without a chance to choose. She stayed in that village in the middle of nowhere till she was seventeen. Then, she and her elder brother were jointly married to the siblings of another family for convenience’s sake. She thus ended up marrying a retard.”


  “Afterwards, she escaped and did her utmost, eventually succeeding in marrying someone who wasn’t much capable but did have a stable income. He was a teacher, and she felt so satisfied then, feeling like the good times had finally come in her life.”


  “But just a mere half year later, she decided to convince this man to quit his job and come to Shenghai to look for opportunities. She was actually searching for opportunities of her own. She felt dissatisfied, unresigned, unwilling to accept her lot in life……”


  Xu Tingsheng interrupted, “Can’t you pave the way for her in some other area?”


  Zhang Xingke hesitated for a moment before saying, “I’m afraid that I couldn’t bear to do it. The heck, what in the world is wrong with me?”


  Xu Tingsheng felt a headache coming on, “Think it through before coming to look for me again.”


  Zhang Xingke nodded and rose, “I’ll be going back first then. Don’t worry about Dexin’s matter. I’m still not so unbalanced that I can’t handle that.”


  “Alright,” Xu Tingsheng said.