Chapter 1: The Office's Unspoken Rules...

  "I'm not like you, always thinking of meddling in other people's family affairs. I just do my own job honestly." Bao Guo leaned against the gate, not standing up straight.

  "What did you say?" Lü Qinghou suppressed his anger: "It's still better than some people who voluntarily become slaves."

  "When even a slave has some skills, one must be clear about oneself. I won't foolishly imagine myself turning over to become the master." Bao Guo said as he walked into the door, seemingly intentionally waiting there to mock Lü Qing Hou.

  "Scoundrel......" Lü Qinghou could only vent his anger like this.

  The man in the courtyard was still swinging his racket and saw Bao Guo come in: "Bumped into each other?"

  "Ah, a dog that bites doesn't bark, the one at the door is barking wildly." Bao Guo stepped forward and took the ball bat handed over by the man: "What's the point of keeping him? More trouble."

  "He also chose a stand, just like you, what's there to blame?" The man pulled out another golf club and weighed it in his hand.

  "But..." Baoguo wanted to say.

  "Alright, we're all in this together, let's go our separate ways."

  "But the palm of the hand is a bit thicker." Baoguo muttered quietly.

  "What did you say?" The man turned around abruptly.

  "Ah, nothing much, this cue stick is really good." Bao Guo pretended to admire the cue stick in his hand.

  "Stubborn goods, you also understand this? Alright, let's call the manager to take a look at the store." The man gave in.

  "Eh." Baoguo happily ran up.

  At school, Yang Zongbao was once again summoned to the Anesthesiology Teaching and Research Office.

  "Can't you make things easier for me? You're not tired but I am, and with a student like you, I'll have to live several more years." The instructor stomped his foot in frustration.

  "Teacher, you're not young to begin with." Zhou Yi Xian somewhat looked down on this tutor, too money-minded, eyes widening at the sight of wealth.

  "You..." The counselor didn't expect to be talked back to by Zhou Yi, and before she could catch her breath, her eyes were already red.

  "Alright, what do you want to say, teacher?" Yang Zongbao also couldn't bear it in his heart. Everyone has their own interests and likes to socialize with those who have power and influence. As long as they haven't committed any serious mistakes that harm themselves, they can still tolerate them within their own limits.

  "What was it, what did I want to say?" Yang Yang himself forgot the original intention of calling Yang Zongbao.

  "It doesn't matter, let's go first," said Yang Zongbao.

  "It's nothing." Zhou Yi also followed Yang Zongbao, stumbling along.

  Out of the anesthesiology research office, Yang Zongbao asked Zhou Yi: "Can you drive?"

  "Really? What's wrong with that? It's one of the essential skills for modern humans." Zhou Yi said halfway, looking at Yang Zongbao's expression and hastily changing his words: "Of course, it's not necessary either."

  "Is there a cheap driving school? I want to sign up."

  "The current price is around 4,200 or so, it's all over the streets." Zhou Yi thought for a moment before saying.

  "Too expensive, is there a cheaper one?" Manager Yang thought 4200 was too expensive.

  "Isn't that cheap enough?" Zhou Yi couldn't believe he still thought it was expensive? He had considered his friend's driving school and offered a friendly price.

  "I'll go look for it myself."

  Yang Zongbao said that after finishing, he was ready to return to his apartment. After more than a month of school life, he was completely fed up with attending classes, which were endlessly repetitive and only repeated the basics. The first year of graduate school was like this, re-taking all the university courses again. The only thing that had some new ideas was the old professor's Shakespearean English, which was somewhat interesting.

  "Master, aren't you going to class?" Zhou Yi shouted from behind.

  "Not going, no fun, but you have to go up, your foundation is poor."

  Zhou Yibao sent him away and made a phone call. As soon as the phone was connected, Bao Guo shouted eagerly: "Bao Ge, take the money."

  "Where?" Yang Zongbao didn't waste any words and directly asked for the location, then went over.

  After sitting down in a coffee shop, Bao Guo said hastily: "Brother Bao's ability to make money is not covered."

  "Alright, where's the thing?"

  "This is a gift, the password is your birthday." Baoguo was no longer joking and handed over a deposit slip: "When are you going home to take a look?"

  "Didn't Mrs. Yang make arrangements?" Yang Zongbao counted the zeros on his bankbook, and his mood indeed improved a lot.

  "Are you really waiting for that person to be so kind?" Baoguo snorted.

  "One can't be impolite to others' good intentions." Yang Zongbao put away the deposit book, saying with satisfaction. With money, he also gained some confidence.

  "I'm afraid what I can offer you isn't a very good deal," said Bao Guo. "Besides, why do you have to be so greedy and ask for 10 million? They could come up with even more."

  "You think about it, even if this thing gets blown up, I won't gain anything from it. They're willing to fight and take the hit, even if I appeal, it's just a false accusation against me, not painful or itchy. For them, it might just be a scandal. At most, it would cause some minor damage to their reputation, maybe not even that. So, for a price that doesn't hurt or itch, it's like getting rid of a beggar. But if this thing gets blown up and I don't gain anything from it, isn't that right?" Yang Zongbao had calculated this point very clearly.

  "Brother Bao, your brain is really useful." Bao Guo smiled slightly and took a big gulp of water.

  Yang Zongbao looked at Bao Guo with a profound gaze and said: "Your brain is also very useful, many things are hidden from me."

  "Hey, don't be angry, brother. I'll tell you everything you want to know."

  "Let's start from scratch." Yang Zongbao took a sip of water.

  "Uh, after you left, I knew no one would take care of me. Your grandparents wanted to, but I didn't want to. Can someone like me be a student? So I ran away myself." Baoguo took a puff of his cigarette and blew out a perfect circle before continuing: "Of course, I couldn't stand being controlled, so I ran away. At 12 years old, what did I know? I was struggling everywhere, and later on, I couldn't take it anymore, so I pawned the silver cuff you gave me. Unexpectedly, that man came looking for me. Without saying a word, he beat me up first, and I thought I was going to be beaten to death. Later, I cursed him out, saying 'you were taken away' - he didn't even try to save me." Baoguo's voice grew agitated as he took several fierce puffs of his cigarette: "Later on, for some reason, he suddenly let me go, and I followed him from then on."

  "What a wonderful story." Perhaps outsiders are more intimate with that man than his own flesh and blood.

  "Brother Bao, you're going back, there are a few things to pay attention to. At Shen Rou's place... oh, I mean Yang Furen's place, except for entering the house a bit earlier, there's nothing else to worry about. What you need to pay attention to is that girl raised by Old Ancestor, 8 years older than you, she's Old Ancestor's favorite and the only one recognized as the daughter-in-law left behind by the old lady, precious beyond measure. Gentle and virtuous can't be mentioned in the same breath with her, I've never seen such a ruthless woman in my life. When she's unhappy, even Shen Rou gets scolded." Bao Guo clicked his tongue, full of admiration.

  "Why are all of Madam Yang's children on an equal footing with me?" Yang Zongbao quickly spotted the loophole in Bao Guo's wording.

  "Because technically they are still not husband and wife." Bao Guo said with a mysterious smile.

  "What's the name of that very charismatic young lady?" Yang Zongbao was extremely curious about this woman.

  "Yang Fenghuang's mother was a child bride, personally chosen by the old lady. Unfortunately, she didn't have good fortune and died after giving birth to the child."

  "It's not uncommon for a man to have three wives and four concubines." Yang Zongbao thought to himself with self-mockery. Since the old lady liked that adopted daughter so much, but Yang Fenghua was after all a girl, then Shen Rou could move into that household only because her son Yang Shuo was the eldest son. His own status as a wild child in the middle of nowhere seemed impossible to change now. But never mind, thirty years on this side of the river, thirty years on the other side, at least he had youth.

  "Brother Bao doesn't care what you want, I will help you get it." Bao Guo said seriously.

  "Things given by others, how can they be taken so happily? Besides, I don't even want those things." Yang Zongbao snuggled into the sofa and said comfortably: "I'm doing very well now. With that big house, this bank deposit, I can just hang out in the hospital for the rest of my life, right? Bao Guo, don't worry about me anymore, I'm doing great."

  "Brother Bao......" Bao Guo couldn't believe that Yang Zongbao was so spineless, and suddenly a wave of anger rose up in his heart. He stood up and left immediately.

  Yang Zongbao opened his eyes after Baoguo left, and a gleam of light flashed inside. He called the servant, ordered a pot of Bi Luo Chun tea, and closed his eyes to savor it alone.

  The tea is very bad, and there's almost no good tea in the coffee shop, but it's even more bitter. The glass pot is suitable for brewing green tea, while red tea can only be brewed with a purple sand pot to bring out its flavor. Many people don't understand this and die from ignorance.

  "The Phoenix, that little wild kid is coming back."

  In front of a rural earth house, an old lady in coarse linen clothes was embroidering flowers. Wearing a pair of presbyopic glasses, she moved a small stool to sit on the platform in front of her. Next to her, a woman with a head full of fiery big waves and impossibly fair skin replied: "Oh?"

  "What attitude do you think I should use?" The old lady asked for the woman's opinion.

  "It doesn't matter, those few at home are probably restless. The woman was wearing a suit and shorts, with a short-sleeved shirt on top, and a blade of grass in her mouth, staring at the sky with a vacant expression. Suddenly she came back to herself: "What's it called again?"

  "Yang, Zong, Bao." The old man enunciated each name slowly and clearly.

  "Pfft." The woman suddenly spat it out: "I'm still Mu Guiying, this name is too playful."

  "Don't even say it, this was something Tianming's father thought of when he was still alive." The old lady teased the woman.

  "Why didn't Yang Shuo call out that name?" the woman asked. After all, Old Master had been dead for over 20 years. By rights, it shouldn't have fallen to that young whippersnapper.

  The old man said: "Tianming has three red hairs on his forehead, which are thicker than ordinary hair. His father also has them, but Yang Shuo and Yang Jing don't."

  "I don't either," the woman followed up with.

  "It doesn't matter if you have a relationship or not, as long as it hurts." The old man embroidered flowers on a handkerchief with very simple stitches, a total of five pictures, all embroidered on the handkerchief.

  "A white background with many black lines is unlucky." The woman pouted.

  "This is a marriage for recruiting a son-in-law, your future husband can only be a uxorial." The old man adjusted his old glasses.

  "Why?" the woman asked.

  "It was decided when Father Jia was still alive."

  The woman didn't say anything else, gazing at the small yellow cucumbers on the trellis in front of her, thinking about when she could eat them. The vegetables sold on the big roads now are sprayed with pesticides that can kill mice, but those from her own grandmother's garden are good, non-toxic and harmless, purely natural.

  The school and hospital have finally gotten back on track, and things are no longer as busy as they were at the beginning of the semester. Yang Zongbao has also temporarily relieved himself of his economic burdens. So he can now properly enjoy the big house.

  But after all this fuss, it's suddenly winter vacation, and some people seem to have disappeared from Yang Zongbao's life, while others have appeared as expected.