Who let him in?

For a moment, things were rather awkward, feeling much like swallowing a lump of aged dog shit flavored with 1982 Lafite.

Could he really have kept up the act, towering over Qin Xiaozhou with a harsh reprimand: "Tell your boss to get here right now, this very instant!"

Instead, he quickly changed his tune with a smile: "Forget it, let's just leave it at that for today. I'm tired anyway."

Then, as if thinking of something else, he looked at Qin Xiaozhou with an extremely amiable attitude: "Xiao Qin, your salary probably isn't very high, is it?"

Qin Xiaozhou replied, "It's alright. President Chai said he'd give us a bonus once this project is completed."

"A bonus? How much would that be?"

"Two hundred thousand?"

Qin Xiaozhou gave a bitter, self-deprecating shake of his head. "Working for others, how could we ever get that much money."

"So, one hundred thousand then?"

"No."

"Then do you know how much money your boss will make off this business deal?"

"This... none of us have ever thought about it. After all, President Chai leads us, and it's not easy for him either..."

"Alright." Ms. Bai seemed to have made up her mind. She exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "As for Sister Bai here, my temper is admittedly a bit rough."

"It can't be helped. To survive in a world dominated by men, you have to be even more masculine than the men."

"Sister Bai has seen how well you've performed lately. How about this, get in the car and come out to dinner with Sister Bai."

"But President Chai is still..."

"You don't even have the freedom to grab a meal? Didn't your company assign you specifically to liaise with me?"

"Sister Bai..."

"I don't say things twice. Think carefully about the consequences." Ms. Bai's face darkened, leaving no room for argument, and she rolled up the car window.

Qin Xiaozhou fell into a state of extreme inner conflict.

Finally, grinding his teeth, he dashed back to the entrance, gave some instructions to Lord Long's men at the door, and got into Ms. Bai's car.

The car quickly sped away.

Inside, Chai Jin was not affected in the slightest by the appearance of such an unwelcome person.

After some final arrangements,

he summoned Liu Qingwen, Old Huang, and the others.

They held a brief consultation on the spot, after which it was decided that Su Wenbin would personally accompany the first batch of cargo on the train.

Chai Jin would depart for the north a day in advance.

His first stop was the capital, mainly to ensure that the dedicated transport train was waiting there.

His second stop was Manzhouli, to guarantee smooth passage through the customs checkpoint.

The current wave of surging speculators had already monopolized the dedicated trains heading to Russia and the Manzhouli border crossing.

He needed to go ahead of time to secure these two critical bottlenecks.

Otherwise, where on earth would they store so much cargo once it arrived in the capital?

Liu Qingwen and the others had no objections.

As soon as the first trainload of goods was dispatched, they would immediately begin gathering cargo for the second train.

Such a massive volume of supplies could not possibly be transported in just a day or two, or a car or two.

It was estimated that following the entire process, even with non-stop shipping day and night, it would still take half a year to complete.

Having made these arrangements, Chai Jin checked the time. "Where's Xiao Qin? Why hasn't he arrived yet? We've been waiting for him to eat."

The people in the makeshift office looked at one another in bewilderment; no one knew what was going on.

Zhang Yinglong went outside to inquire.

When he came back in, he said, "No need to wait. Xiao Qin went off to dinner with that woman."

"Chai Jin, you really ought to groom this Xiao Qin properly. He has the patience to endure humiliation—he's the only one who could put up with that woman's personality."

Fang Yi smiled bitterly. "It's truly thanks to Xiao Qin when it comes to Ms. Bai, otherwise our relationship would have fallen apart long ago."

Of course, Chai Jin didn't care whether their relationship fell apart or not; otherwise, he wouldn't have rebuffed her earlier without sparing an ounce of face.

Still, he figured that letting Qin Xiaozhou go through some trials wasn't a bad thing.

Once he had dealt with all sorts of eccentric characters, he would be able to handle himself smoothly in social settings from then on.

He stood up and said, "Let's go. Time to eat."

Old Huang eagerly rubbed his belly. "I've been so hungry my stomach is sticking to my spine."

Laughing, the group walked out together.

The next day,

Chai Jin was summoned by someone from Shenzhen Airlines.

It was a phone call from Kong Yinxiang.

Upon arrival, Kong brought out the contract they had previously signed.

Looking somewhat embarrassed, he explained that after internal discussions, they felt that renting the aircraft purely based on rental fees was somewhat disadvantageous to them.

However, since they didn't have that much capital on hand, they still preferred to purchase it via installment payments.

Chai Jin was naturally more than happy to hear this, as it would instantly free up the capital in his hands.

There would no longer be any need to go running around looking for bank loans.

Consequently, a new contract was swiftly drawn up and signed.

They also discussed the progress of the transactions between themselves and the Russians.

After leaving Kong Yinxiang's office, Chai Jin headed to the restroom.

When he finished, he was washing his hands at the sink.

A man beside him was cupping water to wash his face.

A few seconds later, the two of them raised their heads at the same time.

Both were momentarily stunned.

Neither of them had expected to run into each other here.

The middle-aged man standing next to him was none other than Shen Jiannan, the mid-level airline executive who held a deep prejudice against Chai Jin.

Without overthinking it, Chai Jin instinctively smiled and said, "Hello, Director Shen. I didn't expect us to meet again."

Shen Jiannan frowned. "You surely haven't given up yet, still dreaming about reselling airplanes?"

Only a few top executives were aware of the contract between Shenzhen Airlines and Chai Jin.

Shen Jiannan's rank was not high enough to touch executive-level deals, so he was largely in the dark.

Seeing that this fellow still looked at him with the exact same hostility as their previous encounter, Chai Jin was genuinely baffled.

After all, I was introduced by my old brother Cai!

How on earth did things end up making us look like sworn enemies?

Shaking his head, he had no desire to press his warm face against someone's cold backside.

He straightened his fringe in the mirror, pulled a paper towel from the dispenser, and smiled. "Man proposes, God disposes. As long as you set your mind to it, nothing is impossible."

"Director Shen, wouldn't you say that's true?"

Shen Jiannan furrowed his brow. "You are truly delusional."

"Not everyone is Mou Qizhong. Don't take yourself too seriously."

"This is a core office area of our organization. I don't care who invited you in here, but I must ask you to leave immediately."

Hearing this, Ji Yuan's expression turned somewhat ugly.

He readied himself to retort.

Chai Jin patted him on the shoulder to cut him off. "Let's go. There's no point."

Ji Yuan glared fiercely at Shen Jiannan before following behind Chai Jin as they left.

Shen Jiannan spat behind their backs. "If you ever manage to successfully copy Mou Qizhong, I'll eat the essence of this entire restroom seasoned with spices and soup!"

He muttered to himself as he stepped out of the restroom.

Just then, a young woman happened to walk past, and Shen Jiannan immediately called out to her, "Xiao Li, make sure to instruct the guards later not just anyone is allowed in. This is a core office area. What would happen if confidential information leaked out?"

The young woman, dressed like a flight attendant, looked completely bewildered. "Director Shen, there aren't any unauthorized visitors coming in."

Shen Jiannan had no patience for nonsense and pointed toward the retreating figures of Chai Jin and his companion. "Aren't those two? You even let monks wander in—do you think everyone else is blind?"

Xiao Li cast a curious glance in that direction and recognized them.

She hurriedly began to explain, "Director Shen, those two are..."

"What Kong or no Kong! Young people nowadays lack humility; whenever they make a mistake, they always look for excuses and try to pass the buck."

"Let me tell you, that kind of habit and atmosphere is truly terrible!"

Indignant, Shen Jiannan waved his hand dismissively and strode away.