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

  "It's none of your business." Mei Wenxi's words were completely different from her gentle tone when talking to Yang Zongbao.

  "It's really cold to me." Yu Tiernan didn't think much of it.

  "Let's go and talk." Mei Wenxi suddenly suggested, looking at Yang Zongbao who had already closed his eyes.

  Yu Tienan shrugged indifferently.

  Mei Wenxi helped Yang Zongbao tidy up his bedding and then followed Yu Tiennan out of the room.

  The old man didn't know where he went, only Mei Wenxin and Yu Tiennan stood in the yard. The weather was still quite cold, Mei Wenxin, because she wasn't wearing a coat, covered her mouth with her hands to breathe out. Her pale face hadn't recovered from past experiences yet.

  "When you called me, I was startled. Yu Tie Nan lit a cigarette: "But what's your relationship with Yang Zongbao? I remember that your situation hasn't been very good lately."

  "You didn't used to smoke." Mei waved the cigarette smoke in the air with a cold and gentle smile: "Yang Zongbao asked for your grandfather by name before he fell down."

  Mei Wenxin said so, which is a reasonable explanation.

  "People are always changing, and I'm no exception. Zhang Lanfeng is unhappy with you because of your actions towards Yang Zongbao. You should explain yourself."

  "Really? I'm going back." Mei Wenxin said without much sincerity.

  "You've really changed a lot, you weren't like this before," said Yu Tiennan.

  "If you've gone through what I have and still maintained your original personality, then you'll gain my genuine respect."

  "Let's make things clear with Zhang Lanfeng, otherwise the conflict between him and Yang Zongbao will only get worse. He thinks Yang Zongbao stole his love."

  "I can, but he and I often see the same thing."

  Mei Wen's last words made Yu Tie Nan think for a moment, but he didn't understand.

  Just as Yu Tie Nan was sighing, Old Master walked in carrying a birdcage.

  "Grandpa, what are you doing?" Yu Tie Nan saw that the old man's basket had a few limp snakes inside.

  "Slippery snake." The old man carried a cage to one corner of the yard.

  "This snake is all gray. Isn't it hibernating? Why did it wake up?" Yu Tiernan estimated that he had pierced the old man's lie.

  "I think they're all too fat, let them exercise a bit."

  Yu Tie Nan let out a sigh and spared the old man from his obvious lie: "Where are you sleeping tonight?"

  "The floor over there."

  "Grandpa, it's winter now." Yu Tiernan called out.

  "I know."

  "I am your own grandson."

  "I know, sleeping there won't kill anyone." The old man would absolutely not let the snake give up his position to Yu Tie Nan.

  "Whatever." Yu Tie Nan had failed and with a dejected expression was about to go make his bed.

  "Wait."

  The old man stopped him: "Take a cold shower first."

  "Grandpa, it's only a few degrees outside, you want me to take a cold shower?" Yu Tie Nan finally couldn't help but shout out.

  "Nonsense, this is exactly the time I want, I don't want the Yu family to have no descendants. Now, a cold shower every day, you understand." The old man gave his grandson a lewd wink: "One pillar holds up the sky."

  Helpless, a moment later, the yard was filled with Yu Tie's mournful howls.

  "Don't worry, one day I'll protect you." Mei Wenxin grasped Yang Zongbao's hand, but was suddenly startled by a scream from the courtyard and let go of his hand.

  ……

  In Yang's residence, the old lady stood in front of the window, with two elderly men kneeling behind her, namely the butler and Uncle Mei.

  The room was very dim, and the old lady's brazier was burning incense. No one made a sound, and there was a dead silence. Finally, the old lady brought the brazier to her bosom and said, "Where did Zongbao go?"

  "The old master of the Yu family's house." The butler replied.

  "Which Yu family?" The old lady asked.

  "That's the one who plays with snakes." Mei Shu replied, bowing his upper body to the ground.

  "Oh, then my grandson won't have any problem. That old man is quite skilled, he used to be the imperial physician of the municipal government before he started playing with snakes." The old lady's tone became much lighter.

  Feeling the relaxation in the old lady's tone, Uncle Mei finally straightened up his body.

  "Madam, those two children..." Mei Shu was about to say something but stopped himself.

  "Never mind, kids don't understand, just teach them a lesson."

  The old lady's unexpected magnanimity.

  Mei Shu and the general manager looked at each other, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

  "Don't think too much, I mean what I say." The old lady didn't turn around, but Mei Shu and the manager's actions were all reflected in the window glass. The darkness outside made the window glass a mirror, making it easy to know what people behind were doing.

  "Thank you, old lady." The manager thanked the old lady first.

  "Wait, I mean lesson learned, got it?"

  "Yes, I understand." The manager gritted his teeth and said.

  "Manager, do you still remember how you got your name? After Yang Zongbao's grandfather passed away, you went to the temple to hang a plaque. I suppose now I can no longer order you around." The old lady spoke in an even tone.

  But that made the housekeeper's heart ring with alarm: "Of course not. Madam, please don't say such things. I'm just going to the temple to pray for good fortune for the master."

  "Those excuses of yours might fool a child, but what's the use in deceiving an old woman like me? I'm no longer able to control you, and even when my own grandson was beaten by the servants, I still have to consider your feelings." The old lady spoke very slowly: "I am a widow, with no strength to bind a chicken. Even if you were to ride on my neck and defecate, what could I do?" After finishing speaking, the old lady finally turned around, staring at the two kneeling people.

  "We were wrong. But since both children have been quite loyal to their respective masters, let's give them another chance, shall we?"

  "No matter how the outside world changes, our Yang family will not change. An era of equality for all will never appear in our Yang family. People are born unequal, and although the environment has relaxed a lot now, you are like shadows protecting the hierarchy of the Yang family, this has never changed. The only thing that has changed is that your education for the children has completely gone off track. Do you still remember what your original name was? Uncle Mei, do you still know how you came to the Yang family? These are not important, my requirement for you is just one point: the affairs of the Yang family come before others or other things. Today, you did not achieve this, so should I give you what you need?"

  “……”

  The two finally realized that the old lady was really angry this time. In recent years, the Yang family had treated Mei Shu and the general manager as if they were elderly people, almost in a semi-retired state, with hardly anything to do except for the occasional instructions from the old lady. However, after this incident, the two finally understood that no matter how time changed, the original sale contract was still valid today.

  "What does the old lady want us to do?" asked Uncle Mei with increasing respect.

  "How is Zongbao?" The old lady deliberately changed the subject.

  "What can I say?" Mei Shu carefully chose his words: "Very much like Master."

  "What are you kneeling for? Get up quickly, I was just momentarily anxious." The old lady said with her mouth, but there was no movement at all.

  Zong Guan and Mei Shu stared at each other in dismay, then stood up one after another.

  "What about the green cow and the black branch?" asked the manager.

  "It's all just a child's play, why are you guys making such a big deal out of it?" The old lady suddenly made a one hundred and eighty degree turn.

  "Yes."

  "Go down and rest, it's been noisy for half a night, everyone is tired, let's disperse."

  Manager Mei Shu came out with a cold sweat all over his body.

  "No matter how many years have passed, we are still like this, haha." Mei Shu self-deprecatingly said.

  "But this time those two kids are fine, it's worth it." The manager couldn't help but light a cigarette: "But you're really clever, saying Yang Zongbao is like an old man, making the old lady happy, or else we wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed."

  "I didn't tell a lie." Mei Shu put his hands into opposite sleeves.

  "What?" The manager was choked by a mouthful of smoke.

  "What I'm saying is true, Yang Zongbao really does look like the old master. It makes me feel a bit hot-blooded, and I can't help but want to kill him." Mei Shu's hands in his sleeves rubbed against each other several times, exuding a murderous aura.

  "Old Mei, calm down, don't be so excited. We're old now. If it's really like what Old Master said, I'm afraid many people will follow in his footsteps and suffer. You didn't say it, but I've come to realize that Yang Zongbao's pretentiousness is just like Old Master's. When we first met Old Master, who wouldn't have thought he was a good man? It wasn't until later when he deceived us into selling ourselves that we woke up too late." The steward self-mocked.

  "Mind your own business next time, life and death are destined, wealth and honor are in heaven. You can only save them once, not twice." Mei Shu said and parted ways with the manager.

  "It's really devoid of human touch. I'd better go find those idle descendants to play with." The manager thought for a moment and disappeared into the night.

  A faint sound of chanting scriptures came from inside Yang's residence.

  Yang Zongbao couldn't move, so he had to ask for leave from the hospital. Fortunately, during this period, the hospital was still investigating Yang Zongbao's alleged medical accident, and they weren't in a hurry to let him return to work. The school semester started, but Yang Zongbao's condition didn't allow him to attend classes. So every day he could only lie on his bed pretending to be dead. Fortunately, Old Master Yu was a chatterbox, and every day he would tease the disabled person who had difficulty moving.

  "Yang family's young master, this girl is really good to you." Mr. Yu from the Yu family ate chicken and drank wine in front of Yang Zongbao's sickbed, intentionally tormenting him with his own desires for food and drink, while Yang Zongbao could only have bland food.

  "Nothing... nothing..." Mei Wenxin's face immediately turned bright red with praise.

  "What's there to be shy about? This kid has been seen through by you long ago, what's there to be embarrassed about?" Old Master Yu's jokes were getting increasingly off-color.

  "Grandpa, I'm going out."

  Mei Wenxin finished speaking and ran out to lean against the corridor, panting rapidly. What Old Master Yu said earlier was not that simple. Mainly because every man has a certain time in the morning when he is supporting the sky, and sometimes he had encountered several awkward situations while serving Yang Zongbao's physiological needs, coincidentally being seen by that old scoundrel once, so this old master stirred up a hornet's nest, and early in the morning, he was waiting for the show to begin in Yang Zongbao's room. What's hateful is that Yang Zongbao completely pretended not to know, as if nothing had happened. Only he felt embarrassed.

  ……

  "Yang's little girl, although she has a bit of a worldly air about her, is genuinely kind to you. Just look at how she washed your clothes and treated ours as if they didn't exist." The old man pretended to be a bit jealous.

  "Oh." Yang Zongbao neither admitted nor denied it, and only responded with an ambiguous "oh".

  "You're really no fun, it's not interesting without a first time. But I heard from Tie Nan that you seem to have gotten into some trouble?"

  "It's okay."

  "I'm telling you, can't you just say a few more words? But I understand that things haven't been going well for you lately, so I'll tolerate it. The old man took a bite of chicken leg and continued: "Your external injuries aren't a problem, but the internal ones are. It's not those vague and intangible things that I'm talking about, but rather the kind of internal injury that Western doctors can't detect - your body's blood circulation and regenerative abilities have decreased somewhat. But consider yourself lucky, I actually have a way to deal with it." Seeing Yang Zongbao's disdainful expression, Mr. Yu hastily added: