Break out of the courtyard

"Xiao Bei!" Tang Ming, who was sitting on the sofa in the Zhang family's living room talking to Old Hua, saw his grandson come out of the stairwell and hurriedly asked, "Is your dad still not done with his work?"

"No!" Zhang Bei looked at the people on the sofa and quickly walked out, adding, "My dad only had time to come up during lunch."

Seeing that Zhang Bei had reached the villa's entrance in just a few words, Tang Ming couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Bei, why are you in such a hurry to go out?"

"A guy from the US has arrived. I'll go check it out at the entrance of the complex." After saying this, Zhang Bei disappeared through the gate.

His words only made things worse, as neither Elder Hua nor Director Wang had paid any attention to Zhang Bei's behavior.

As a result, the moment the words "American" were uttered, Mr. Hua and Director Wang became alert.

The Zhang family has a bad relationship with the Americans, yet Zhang Bei not only left the underground laboratory for the sake of an American, but also went to the entrance of the residential area himself, which inevitably made Elder Hua and Director Wang think too much.

You should know that they had been here for more than an hour, and only Tang Xin greeted them at the beginning. After that, Tang Ming accompanied them, and then Tang Xin left.

As for Zhang Heping, after Tang Xin asked them "Is there anything important?", there was no further news.

The main purpose of Hua Lao and Director Wang's visit was to explain the reasons for arranging Yan Qun's group, so as to avoid any rift with Zhang Heping.

However, this is far from as simple as a direct apology. Once you start explaining, it becomes a series of lies trying to justify yourself.

Therefore, Zhang Heping did not want to see them, nor did he have time to see them.

The American person Zhang Bei met at this time was not sent by the American embassy in Hong Kong, but rather a liaison in Hong Kong for the financial group behind Little K.

His purpose in coming here was not to inform the Bu family of their unexpected misfortune, because Little Bu was still alive and far from meeting the expectations of those conglomerates, so they were not in a hurry to find Zhang Heping to fulfill their promises.

After arriving at the entrance of the residential area, Zhang Bei did not go out. Instead, he had his bodyguards search the American man before letting him in.

The consortium liaison was a tall, thin, blond man in his fifties. He walked up to Zhang Bei, extended his right hand, and said in fluent Mandarin, "Mr. Zhang Bei, on behalf of the Weiss family, I extend my greetings to you and your father! You can call me Nathan!"

Zhang Bei, wearing his third-generation gold-rimmed glasses, wasn't afraid of the other party's close-range attack, but he still didn't shake hands with the other party. Instead, he coldly asked, "My dad doesn't have time right now. If you have something to say, you can tell me."

The American man named Nathan wasn't angry. Instead, he smiled and looked at the bodyguard next to him, saying, "Could you please hand over the briefcase I brought to Mr. Zhang Bei?"

The bodyguard approached Zhang Bei, pointed to a black briefcase next to a security guard at the entrance of the residential area, and whispered, "We just checked it. The briefcase has no hidden compartments. Inside is a bunch of paper documents, all in English and mathematical symbols that we can't understand."

Zhang Bei nodded and quietly gestured for the bodyguard to bring the box over.

A moment later, a young bodyguard brought over a black briefcase, placed it on the ground, opened it, took out a stack of papers, shook them to show that there was no powder inside, and then handed them to Zhang Bei with both hands.

Zhang Bei studied in Hong Kong Island and had also learned the English language, so when he saw the word "Star Gate" on the paper, his eyes lit up.

However, he didn't know much about stargates. He simply glanced at the two pages of information and then looked at the American man opposite him again, asking, "What do you mean by this?"

"We are about to conduct our first stargate opening experiment. If Mr. Zhang is interested after reading this information, we would like to invite him to the United States to witness this groundbreaking experiment in person."

Zhang Bei's first reaction was to refuse!

However, this matter must be decided by his father.

Even though he felt it was dangerous to go to the United States, and guessed that his father was unlikely to agree, he couldn't make a decision on behalf of his father.

The reason he came out was because this American was unwilling to hand over the briefcase directly; he insisted on meeting Zhang Heping or his family members to personally deliver the items.

"I'll give the documents to my father. If he wants to go, he'll call you!" Zhang Bei rolled the folded documents into a cylinder and casually asked, "Is there anything else?"

"That's all for now, goodbye!" The blond old man, Nathan, turned around briskly and walked straight out of the residential area.

Zhang Bei didn't try to stop him at all, and turned to walk towards the villa with a roll of documents in his hand.

The young bodyguard behind was about to ask what to do with the briefcase on the ground when a middle-aged bodyguard picked it up, beckoned the young bodyguard away, and told him to go over and open the briefcase for a thorough inspection to see if there were any listening devices or similar items hidden inside, so that they could take precautions against such things next time.

In the Zhang family's living room, Elder Hua and Director Wang saw that Zhang Bei had returned with a roll of white paper not long after he went out. Although they were very puzzled, they did not show it on the spot.

Tang Ming, standing nearby, was quite understanding and asked the question on their behalf, "Xiao Bei, when you went out to meet the Americans, were you carrying that roll of stuff?"

"Hmm!" Zhang Bei said casually, "The Americans are preparing to conduct their first stargate opening experiment and want to invite my dad to the US to observe."

"no!"

"No!"

Director Wang and Elder Hua both denied it, and then Director Wang said urgently, "You should know very well what kind of people the Americans are. If your father goes to the United States, he will probably be placed under house arrest there!"

Zhang Bei's lips curled up. He naturally knew that going there was dangerous. The reason he told them so casually was just to be on the safe side, in case his father wanted to go to the United States, so that more people could help dissuade him.

However, his efforts were clearly in vain.

Zhang Heping took the scroll of documents, glanced at it, and then threw it into the trash can.

Although this document is thick, it also explains the principle of stargate teleportation, only with some additional calculation formulas. It overlaps with the document sent by the head of the US embassy in Hong Kong last time. Keep one copy for when you're just idling.

So Zhang Heping chose the document from last time, which was only a few pages long, because it was convenient to carry around when he was logged off.

Because of the fact that the American sent the information, when Mr. Hua and Director Wang went out for a buffet with Zhang Heping, they had a pre-existing topic to discuss.

Today is November 3rd, the last day of the monthly gathering of wealthy wives from Heping Real Estate, so the number of attendees has actually increased, making it even more lively than the previous two days.

Unfortunately, Zhang Heping and his group seemed completely oblivious to the lively atmosphere, and the atmosphere around them was rather somber.

When Hua pointed out that it was dangerous for Zhang Heping to go to the United States now, and that various problems might arise, citing Qian Zhongshu's difficult return to China as an example, after a long explanation, Zhang Heping simply replied, "I have no plans to go to the United States for the time being."

Zhang Heping's single sentence effectively killed the discussion about the United States.

Director Wang knew that Zhang Heping was straightforward, so she mentioned the explanation she had thought about all night and discussed with Elder Hua this morning.

However, after Director Wang gave his explanation, Zhang Heping's response was even simpler: he just hummed in agreement, thus letting the matter drop.

Faced with this situation, Director Wang didn't say much, because she sensed that Zhang Heping didn't want to pursue the matter. If she continued to press him for a statement, it would easily escalate the conflict. Zhang Heping's lack of reaction made Elder Hua and Director Wang feel uneasy, as if their relationship with Zhang Heping had become somewhat distant.

Although Zhang Pandi was sitting to the side, she simply sat there quietly eating, without interrupting or needing to.

Because her brother Zhang Heping didn't harbor any resentment, and had already explained things to her last night, it's just that Director Wang and the others were caught up in the situation and didn't see the underlying logic behind Zhang Heping's decision to kick people out.

Since the power grid incident, the Peace Group has reduced its investments in mainland China, avoided open confrontation with Japan and the US, and begun to expand extensively overseas. This has made it inevitable that their spies planted in the Umbrella Corporation will be removed.

In particular, after Zhang Nan and Zhang Nian were attacked in Hong Kong, Zhang Heping felt even more annoyed by those mainland informants.

Therefore, Zhang Heping had been waiting for an opportunity to forcefully drive people away without turning against them.

Then, the opportunity arose yesterday!
To prevent veterans from the mainland from entering the management level, Wei Chunqiao had been keeping an eye on Yan Qun and his group for a long time. Yesterday, he just happened to run into Hua Lao's matter.

After receiving Wei Chunqiao's written report, Zhang Heping felt that if they were to expel them now, Hua Lao and his group would be even more in the wrong, so he went along with it and facilitated the matter.

From the moment Yan Qun and his group joined the company, to when Zhang Heping transferred them to the Shenzhen branch of the company that acted as a protective umbrella, everything was under his control. It wasn't as complicated as Director Wang and the others had imagined.

"Take whatever you like, I'm going to get back to my experiments!" Zhang Heping wiped his mouth with a tissue, got up and left.

Director Wang glanced at Elder Hua, and seeing that the other party did not speak up to stop him, he then stopped calling out to Zhang Heping.

The group had been silent for five or six minutes, and Wang Sumei hadn't thought of a suitable topic to ease the tension. Now, when she called Zhang Heping back, she didn't know what to say.

As soon as Zhang Heping left, Zhang Pandi picked up a tissue to wipe her mouth and said, "There's nothing for me to do here. I'll go say hello to those Hong Kong businesswomen and ask them if they have any plans to invest in the mainland recently."

Old Hua nodded slightly, without saying anything more.

Director Wang stood up, pulled Zhang Pandi aside and whispered a few words to her before letting her leave.

After returning to the plastic table next to Elder Hua, Director Wang Sumei said, "I just asked Pandi to keep an eye on Heping's reaction, so as not to cause any rift."

"I'm thinking..." Old Hua frowned, leaning back in his plastic chair, looking at the rich ladies, young masters, and young ladies in front of him, and said in a deep voice, "Is it because Heping developed the third generation of brain-computer interface that they decided to eliminate the people in the Goose Flock? Or is it because I skipped you and didn't contact the person in charge of the Goose Flock according to the procedure?"

“None of that matters anymore!” Director Wang let out a long sigh of relief and continued, “Since He Ping is not pursuing this matter, there’s no need for us to dwell on it.”

"With his stubborn nature, the more you go against him, the more he'll challenge you!"

"No! This is very important!" Old Hua shook his head. "If it's because of the third-generation brain-computer interface, he might be trying to prevent the Flock of Geese from stealing his technical data!"

"If it's because of me..."

"Mr. Hua!" Director Wang looked at the other person with a deep frown and said very seriously, "If we keep dwelling on this matter after it's over, then it really will be our fault!"

"Sigh..." Old Hua looked at the juice in his glass and suddenly thought of switching to Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) to drown his sorrows.

After seeing that Elder Hua was no longer dwelling on the matter, Wang Sumei turned her attention to Tang Xin, Zhang Bei, Zhang Long, and Zhang Hu.

"Mom, my stomach hurts! Ouch... I'm going to go see Dad!"

"Ouch, my stomach hurts too, I'm going to the bathroom."

"Mom, I'll go keep an eye on those two for you, so they don't disappear!"

……

Capital, north bank of Houhai Lake.

Zhang Zhaodi and Chang Sheng, unusually, did not eat in the cafeteria, but instead drove a long way home to eat lunch.

"Director Du confirmed through his connections that a tax-sharing system is indeed in the works, with national and local taxes to be separated." Chang Sheng said, then asked again with a hint of doubt:

"Weren't you doing quite well at your company? Why are you still so hung up on the tax authorities?"

“Our department has recently transferred in two more second-level inspectors!” Zhang Zhaodi frowned. “Two deputy directors and four second-level inspectors, none of them are over 53 years old. Do you think I have any chance of being promoted over there within the next seven years?”

Chang Sheng glanced at his father-in-law Zhang Bing and hesitated before saying, "Actually, there's something I've been wanting to ask, but I'm afraid it might upset you and He Ping."

Zhang Zhaodi put down her chopsticks and said seriously, "Get to the point. Lao San and I aren't as petty as you think!"

"Um..." Chang Sheng put down his chopsticks, thought for a moment, and said, "You and your second sister both want to work hard for promotions in the next few years, but have you ever thought about what you can bring to Xiao Wen, Xiao Le, and Xiao Yi after you get promoted?"

Whether the Lifespan 120 drug will lead to delayed retirement is still uncertain.

"Let's start by calculating based on your retirement age of 55. Before 2003, if you two sisters hadn't helped Xiaowen and Xiaole get into the system, no matter how high your official positions were, they would still only be civil servants."

Zhang Zhaodi brushed a stray hair from her forehead, glanced at her third son Chang Xing and his wife Tan Ying beside her, frowned, and picked up her bowl and chopsticks. "Eat first!"

Chang Sheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that although Zhang Zhaodi's expression was not good, she was not angry as he had imagined.

He kept thinking that the three siblings were too simplistic; they didn't even consider the current situation of their own children—banks, tobacco companies, train stations, schools, newspapers…

After the meal, Zhang Zhaodi did not immediately call Zhang Pandi and Zhang Heping to tell them what Chang Sheng had said. Instead, she asked her parents where they planned to spend the Spring Festival this year.

Ma Xiuzhen looked at her granddaughter-in-law Tan Ying, whose belly was not yet showing and who was washing dishes at the stove, and said with a smile, "Xiao Ying has never been to Hong Kong Island. I was just discussing with her yesterday about taking her and her parents to Hong Kong Island for the Spring Festival this year."

As Ma Xiuzhen spoke, she raised her voice and asked Tan Ying, "Xiao Ying, have you asked your parents if they want to come to Hong Kong Island with us for the Lunar New Year?"

While wiping her hands on her apron, Tan Ying smiled and came over to answer, "I asked, and my parents said that as long as my third uncle doesn't mind us being a hassle, he'll listen to my grandparents' arrangements!"

“Then let’s go to Hong Kong Island for the Lunar New Year!” Ma Xiuzhen said with a smile. “I heard from the neighborhood committee that starting this year, fireworks and firecrackers are no longer allowed in the capital.”

"If we don't set off fireworks and firecrackers during the Spring Festival, it's all so quiet and deserted, where's the festive spirit? Don't you think so?"

...(End of chapter)