In front of Yingwang International Building, Xiong Wenbin said a few words to Su Kai that had nothing to do with the pain, and they parted ways back to their residences.

  Everyone ate very unhappily and ended early. When passing through Huayuanjiao New Village, Xiong Wenbin raised his hand to look at the plum blossom watch he bought when he got married. It was only 7:30, and he sighed lightly in his heart: Less than half an hour at Yingwang International, but it made people feel like a whole day of suffering.

  Zhou Ming knew his father-in-law's rules and never discussed anything on the road, only silently falling half a step behind, following behind his father-in-law. The new village had streetlights and lights shining from the windows of homes, making the moonlight seem pale in comparison.

  Entering the office building, I felt my way up the dark stairs, and through the window, I saw a light on inside. I could hear Xiong Danni and her mother talking, but their voices were indistinct, and I couldn't make out what they were saying.

  The window next door is dark, and it has been half a year since Shen Hua moved out. The municipal government hasn't taken back the room, and it's still empty.

  The door creaked open, and Xiong Danni, who was sitting at the table weaving a needle and thread, looked up to see her father and husband walking in. She asked in surprise, "Didn't you say Shen Hua invited us out for dinner? How did it end so early? Why is Zhou Ming back with Dad? Weren't you supposed to be accompanying Secretary Su to a business banquet?"

  "It's over early," Xiong Wenbin responded casually, and then said, "You go to the room with your mom, I'll talk to Zhou Ming for a bit..."

  The tube house was simple, and Xiong Wenbin's home was a two-room unit. The two rooms were: one where Xiong Wenbin slept with his wife, and the other was the boudoir of their young daughter, Xiong Dailing; apart from the cramped living room cum dining room, there was no separate study that could be used for receiving guests and conversation.

  Xiong Danni suddenly realized that the atmosphere was not right, and asked: "What's wrong, what happened?" But seeing her dad had no response, she could only follow her mom into the inner room.

  Xiong Wenbin sat down, patted his pocket, and found no cigarettes. He had quit smoking for many years, only carrying some with him when he had to attend social gatherings. He stood up and went into the bedroom to unwrap a cigarette, then spent half a day looking for matches before finally lighting it.

  "Don't mind Su Kuiwen's thoughts, you go find Shen Huai to apologize in two days." Xiong Wenbin said in a low voice.

  Zhou Ming remained silent and didn't utter a word.

  Xiong Wenbin saw Zhou Ming replace resistance with silence and let out a long sigh in his heart.

  Although he knew that some words were too heavy and would cause discord between the two, he was afraid that Zhou Ming would make an even bigger mistake in the future. He said: "You are gradually being trusted in the Municipal Planning Commission and will soon take on a leadership position. Once you have power and status, it's inevitable that you'll become complacent and lose sight of the road ahead. For now, it seems that you're not suitable for the position of Director of the Planning Commission Office. I'll notify the organization department to cancel your appraisal..."

  "Why? Zhou Ming has been struggling in the unit for so many years, if he doesn't get promoted to deputy director, when will it be? Monkey year, horse month?" Xiong Danni, who was eavesdropping in the bedroom, couldn't help but come out and defend her husband.

  The eldest daughter's arm was bent outward, and Xiong Wenbin was also very helpless. The twists and complexities inside couldn't be explained clearly to the eldest daughter.

  "I admit I was a bit too proud and careless today, not being cautious enough. It doesn't matter if I go to apologize, but Shen Huai didn't say a word and took my dad away to show off, and later on, he even put on that kind of attitude, which is even more arrogant than Tan Secretary's. He almost treated me and Su Kaiwen like his grandsons. Apologizing and making amends isn't difficult for me, but if Su Kaiwen finds out, what will he think?" Zhou Ming heard that Xiong Wenbin was going to notify the organization department to cancel this promotion, and he also got a bit flustered, which is why he couldn't help but defend himself.

  "What exactly happened? What did Zhou Ming do to Shen Hua?" Xiong Danni couldn't help but ask.

  "I was having dinner with Su Kaiwen at Yingwang, and later found out that Shen Huai and Zhao Dong, Yang Haipeng also came to Yingwang for dinner. We were lazy and didn't walk a few more steps to say hello, just made a phone call and said one sentence. He then showed off by pulling my dad over to show us who's boss, forcing us to go over and apologize with our heads down. And in front of everyone at the table, he even scolded Yingwang's CEO like he was his grandson..." Zhou Ming said.

  "What's the big deal, how did it become like this?" Xiong Danni suddenly heard her husband say so, and also felt that Shen Huai was making a fuss over nothing. She couldn't help but complain to her husband, "You're really something, you know Shen Huai is someone who cares about face, why didn't you just walk a few more steps?"

  "You don't understand, Su Kui has a knot in her heart, I'm stuck in the middle, what can I do?" Zhou Ming also had grievances in his heart, these words were for his wife, but he said them to his father-in-law.

  Su Kui sees Shen Huai as a threat, water and fire cannot be mixed, he wants to step on him; can he have his own leeway between Su Kui and Shen Huai?

  "If you can't swallow your pride, I'll go apologize to Shen Huai tomorrow," Xiong Danni said. "Now that things have gotten to this point, do we still want the shares of Penghai Trading? Regardless of how Su Kaiting and Shen Huai are as opponents, we can't be the ones to come out and play the villain..."

  "What's going on with Penghai Trade's shares?" Xiong Wenbin's face sank, it was the first time he had heard of shares, and he turned to his wife Bai Suimei, asking "Do you know about this?"

  Bai Su Mei did not expect her daughter and son-in-law to quarrel, and the matter was blown out. Knowing that she couldn't hide it anymore, she said: "When Hai Peng founded the company, he lacked funds, so Danni borrowed tens of thousands from the credit union to invest in shares..." She lightly mentioned the matter of investing in Hai Peng Trade to her husband.

  "How dare you! You're so bold as to defy the heavens!" Xiong Wenbin was furious, his hands and feet trembling with rage as he slammed his hand on the table, scolding his daughter and son-in-law.

  "Yang Haipeng's funds for steel trading were also borrowed from the credit union with Shen Hua's help; he did it, why can't we?" Xiong Danni argued back in a rare stern tone to her father.

  "Some things can be said clearly, some things cannot be said," Xiong Wenbin glanced at his son-in-law Zhou Ming, with unspeakable disappointment, and didn't know how he had become so eager for quick success and instant benefits after working in the government agency for several years. He said, "Anyway, you guys hurry up and withdraw your shares, pay back the loan..."

  "...Xiong Danni was reluctant to withdraw from Penghai Trading, pouting and saying, "We didn't break the law or violate any rules; I'll go apologize to Shen Huai tomorrow, isn't that enough?"

  "This is not something that can be solved with an apology," Xiong Wenbin said. "An apology just makes everyone look better on the surface."

  "Dad, it's true that he introduced you to Secretary Tan, but he can't always use this to bully you," Zhou Ming said again. "And Shen Hua today, in front of Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai, spoke to you like that about Su Kai, what does he mean by this? If Secretary Tan finds out about this, I don't believe he'll let him off." Zhou Ming said another sentence with discontent.

  "You also know that Shen Hua's reaction was too extreme, but do you think Shen Hua is trying to intimidate you? Xiong Wenbin hated the fact that he couldn't get through to him. He didn't want to directly expose the underlying interests, but if he didn't make it clear, he wouldn't be able to straighten out Zhou Ming's twisted personality. He still didn't want to become enemies with his son-in-law. 'If Shen Hua did this on purpose today, if he was intentionally showing off in front of me, or even intentionally doing it for Secretary Tan to see, what do you think?'"

  "He's just a town party secretary, what makes him think he can give the municipal party secretary attitude?" Zhou Ming said with some change in his expression.

  "You'd better think twice, if you weren't so arrogant and forgetful, there are some things you should be able to see without me reminding you," Xiong Wenbin lit another cigarette and said with a bitter tone, "Shen Huai hosted a dinner at the British Royal today, and originally it had nothing to do with Zhou Yu or Zhou Zhi Bai and me. But after I arrived at the British Royal, Shen Huai proposed that he wanted to make Mei Xi Steel Factory reach the scale of a municipal steel factory within three years. Regardless of how much of this plan is true, as long as he can say it out loud in front of me and the Zhou family with a straight face, then it's not something you can give him attitude about..."

  Zhou Ming lit a cigarette for himself and remained silent for a long time.

  Xiong Danni asked in surprise: "Shen Huai, is this to draw a clear line with Tang Secretary and side with Wu Haifeng?" She had also been exposed to officialdom from a young age and knew some things, knowing that Shen Huai's behavior of relying on the "second master" was a major taboo in officialdom.

  Xiong Wenbin shook his head and said, "I don't know what's going on either, it shouldn't be that simple. Besides, Secretary Tan won't tell me everything. But one thing is certain: even if Secretary Tan doesn't like Shen Hua, he won't use the city party secretary's hat to suppress him. Even if Shen Hua gets close to Wu Haifeng and Zhou Jia, Secretary Tan won't interfere..."

  As Zhou Ming raised his head, as if he had understood something, Xiong Wenbin continued to say to him,

  "If you think Shen Huai is just showing off today, then you've underestimated him. Today, he's doing it for me and you to see, as well as for Su Kaiwen to hear; secondly, he's doing it for the Zhou family siblings and Wu Haifeng behind them..."

  Seeing Zhou Ming's ugly face, Xiong Wenbin didn't say more unpleasant words like "Young Master is arrogant and the family slave is unlucky", but continued: "Shen Huai today is taking advantage of the situation, but it's also you who gave him this opportunity. If Secretary Tan finds out about this matter, I can tell you clearly that the blame won't fall on Su Kaiwen's head or Shen Huai's head, it will only make Secretary Tan have a bad impression of you, and maybe I'll be implicated too..."

  Zhou Ming listened as his father-in-law carefully analyzed the pros and cons with him, his face also turning somewhat pale.

  Xiong Wenbin waved his hand and said to Zhou Ming and Dai Ni, "You go back and think about it carefully, I'm a bit tired too..." Then he walked back to the bedroom, lit another cigarette, but couldn't hide his disappointment with his son-in-law Zhou Ming. Bai Suimei sent her daughter and son-in-law out the door, closed the door and came back, saw Xiong Wenbin unusually smoking several cigarettes in a row, and asked, "Is the matter really that serious?"

  "After all, I am just Tan Qiping's housekeeper. Tan Qiping thinks I'm capable, so I have the status I have today; if Tan Qiping thinks I'm not capable, then I'm nothing..." Xiong Wenbin smiled bitterly.

  "Why did Shen Huai suddenly target you?" asked Bai Su Mei.

  "Shen Huai isn't targeting anyone, he's just unwilling to be marginalized, unwilling to be suppressed in Meixi Town," Xiong Wenbin sighed, "Whoever stands in his way, he'll turn against them. Even Tan Qiping might not be able to control him, but Zhou Ming doesn't know what's at stake."

  "Can't even Secretary Tan keep him down?" asked Bai Su Mei.

  "Hmm," said Xiong Wenbin, nodding his head. "Shen Huai is confident that he can turn Meixi Steel Factory into a municipal steel factory within three years. Don't look at his youth, don't look at him being just a township party secretary - this kind of person isn't someone who can be easily suppressed by others. Even Tan Qiping wouldn't be able to do it. If Tan Qiping tries to hold him down and not let him stand out, he will only end up driving him away from Donghua. After he leaves Donghua, he will still be a major figure; unlike us, who would become like a dead snake after leaving Donghua..."