I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

After chatting with He Qiuzhu for a while, Shen Kang called Ma Liang to inform the two of He Qiuzhu's appointment as team leader.

After giving the notification, Shen Kang went to find Qian Ming'en. But as soon as he opened the door and before he could even step out, Ye Jintong and Ma Liang rushed to the door, their eyes filled with a strange excitement, as if... they wanted to watch a show.

"What are you doing?" Shen Kang asked calmly.

The two of them discreetly looked Shen Kang up and down.

Ye Jintong chuckled dryly, "It's nothing. Boss, you're the person I respect most. If you call and summon us, we'll definitely be there immediately." As she spoke, she pushed past Shen Kang and walked into the room.

Shen Kang bumped his back against the wall after being pushed by her. He thought to himself, "You really respect me as your boss, huh? You just pushed me aside, didn't you?"

Then he turned around and followed Ma Liang inside, following Ye Jintong in, wanting to see what she was up to.

Upon entering the room, Ye Jintong's gaze immediately fell upon the bed.

Seeing that the bed was neat and clean, just like when she first moved in, without any signs of being moved, Ye Jintong looked disappointed. It was like rushing to a market to see a grand opera, only to find that the troupe had something to do and couldn't come.

"You two are still too green." Shen Kang thought to himself, then spoke up, "I was just informing you, how did it become a summons? Alright, I have something to do, I'm leaving now."

After saying that, he didn't linger with the two of them any longer, turned around and left the room to find Qian Ming'en.

As soon as Shen Kang left, Ye Jintong couldn't wait to sit down on the sofa next to He Qiuzhu and asked gossipily, "Qiuzhu, what were you two doing here for so long?"

Ma Liang also pulled up a chair and sat down, which was just as nice.

He Qiuzhu felt a little guilty, but looked at the TV with a cool expression: "Watch TV."

Ye Jintong asked, "Have you two been watching TV the whole time?"

He Qiuzhu hummed in agreement.

Ye Jintong stared intently at He Qiuzhu's face, but all she saw was a stunningly beautiful, aloof face with clear, unwavering eyes, without a single flaw.

This puzzled her greatly: Were these two really so bored that they watched TV for so long?

Meanwhile, after Shen Kang and Qian Ming'en met up, they went to find the competition organizers.

Upon entering the room, before even speaking, Shen Kang sensed something amiss:

When they arrived earlier, the three members of the competition team focused their attention on Qian Ming'en, while Shen Kang was just a follower.

But now, the three people in the competition team are focusing more on Shen Kang.

That was all; the three members of the competition team did not perform any further.

After it was confirmed that He Qiuzhu would replace Shen Kang as the team captain for Yang University of Science and Technology, they worked with Qian Ming'en to complete the formalities.

Shen Kang had nothing to do for the time being, so he thought for a moment and simply smiled and greeted Huang Anyong, who was also sitting on the bed next to him: "Hello, Teacher Huang."

"Hello," Huang Anyong mumbled in response.

"Is Teacher Huang a judge for the provincial competition again this time?"

"Um."

"That's impressive. Professor Xiao is out of the running; he won't be a contender in the provincial competition."

"I'm free, but Lao Xiao is too busy."

After chatting with Huang Anyong for a while, Shen Kang was certain that something he didn't know about had happened.

When I last met Huang Anyong at the city-level competition, he was quite at ease and said a lot of strange things, but now he's much more restrained and doesn't say anything strange anymore...

The competition organizers were very efficient and quickly completed the process of changing the team captain for Yangke University.

Shen Kang then left with Qian Ming'en.

Qian Ming'en went straight back to his room to rest. On his way to his room, Shen Kang pondered what had happened that made the competition organizers and Huang Anyong act strangely.

However, with so little information, he couldn't figure anything out after walking into the room, so he simply stopped thinking about it—anyway, judging from Huang Anyong's reaction, it was a good thing for them, so that was fine.

Back in his room, everyone was there, so Shen Kang took out his laptop and started preparing for the competition. The main issue was that He Qiuzhu would be the main presenter tomorrow, and she could just read the PowerPoint presentation. However, Shen Kang was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle the Q&A session with the judges.

So Shen Kang put himself in the shoes of the judges, started guessing the questions, anticipating the questions the judges might ask about their project, and then devised answers and told He Qiuzhu how to respond.

It's like the exam prediction session before the college entrance exam.

He Qiuzhu is very well-behaved and takes notes very seriously.

Ye Jintong, always quick to complain, wailed, "No, boss, Qiu Zhu is the main speaker tomorrow! Why are you dragging the two of us here to listen? I want to go out and have fun. If this drags on any longer, the whole afternoon will be gone!"

Shen Kang retorted directly: "You are also part of the team. It's better to know this than to be unprepared, and you can complement each other when the time comes."

His main concern was that He Qiuzhu wouldn't be able to handle the situation, so Ye Jintong and Ma Liang could also learn together and help out.

Ye Jintong and Ma Liang had no choice but to listen.

……

General Manager Sun Hongjun doesn't have fixed working hours. He usually arrives at the hotel at 6:30 in the morning and leaves at 9:00 in the evening. Although the hours are long, he can arrange his time freely in between, so it's not too tiring.

Shen Kang came today. He originally planned to extend his working hours until 12 o'clock to make sure there was nothing else to do before leaving.

But maybe we can leave earlier.

Sun Hongjun sat in the monitoring room, watching the images on the screen.

It's already past 9 p.m.

Starting in the afternoon, Shen Kang and his team stayed in their room, only coming out for dinner before returning to their room. It seemed they were actively preparing for the competition.

"Next, it should be the end of preparations, time to wash up and go to bed, nothing else will happen..."

Just as Sun Hongjun was thinking this, someone knocked on the door.

"Enter."

After Sun Hongjun called out, the people outside came in.

"What..." Sun Hongjun hadn't finished speaking when he caught sight of the person who had come in and jumped up.

The newcomer was dressed in a beige suit, with her hair styled in a bun. She had exquisite features and flawless makeup; it was Zhou Man.

A woman followed behind him; it was Ding Ling.

"President Zhou?!"

Sun Hongjun greeted him with a surprised expression.

Zhou Man walked over with a smile, "I've been getting familiar with the situation at the branch offices lately, so I've booked a room at your hotel for the next couple of days." She then jokingly added, "You're quite an interesting general manager, not sitting in your office, but instead working in the monitoring room."

Sun Hongjun immediately adjusted his expression and smiled, "Hotel affairs are quite complicated. As the general manager, I have to pay attention to positions such as catering, guest rooms, and security, and I often go to various departments for inspections. Today, it's the turn of the security department."

Meanwhile, I was thinking, "How about getting familiar with the branch office?" And what a coincidence, they just happened to book this hotel for the next couple of days?

You can't fool a three-year-old with something like that.

Zhou Man came here today, definitely because of Shen Kang!

This made Sun Hongjun think to himself: It seems that this Shen Kang really is no ordinary person. President Zhou not only changed his hotel for him, but also made a special trip for him. Who knows, Shen Kang might really be President Zhou's son!

Of course, these thoughts could only be kept in one's mind; they couldn't be spoken aloud, nor could they be shown in any way...

at the same time

In Shen Kang's room, his last-minute, intensive preparation for the competition finally came to an end.

Ye Jintong breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pulled He Qiuzhu away.

Shen Kang was about to wash up and go to bed when he noticed that Ma Liang walked to the door but didn't leave. Instead, he closed the door and then turned back.

This made Shen Kang sit down again, no longer in a hurry to wash up. "What's wrong, Ma Liang?"

Ma Liang chuckled, sat down on the sofa next to Shen Kang, grabbed a bottle of mineral water, and handed it to Shen Kang: "Boss, you must be thirsty after talking for so long, have some water."

Shen Kang was a little puzzled, so he took the water and drank a couple of sips.

Ma Liang continued, "Boss, aren't you going to the meeting next door tomorrow afternoon? If we happen to draw lots for tomorrow morning, will you be the main speaker or will He Qiuzhu be the main speaker?"

Shen Kang said, "She was the one who gave the presentation. The application was submitted and approved, so she's the team leader now."

Ma Liang nodded and added, "Then we still hope we draw a morning number tomorrow. If you're there, we'll be even more confident..."

Ma Liang rambled on and on, rambling on about all sorts of random things, and it was impossible to tell what he was trying to say.

As the conversation went on, it even touched on interpersonal relationships. "...Boss, do you know the general manager of this hotel too?"

Good guy.

Looking at Ma Liang's current state of trying hard to hide his true feelings while also being restless, Shen Kang felt as if he were looking at a stallion in heat, and finally understood what Ma Liang was trying to say.

"What a coincidence," Shen Kang said. "If you had asked me during the day, I might not have recognized you, but now that you're asking, I really do."

That's all for now. I'll stop here and watch with great interest as Ma Liang looks hesitant and restless, thinking how amusing it is to see a college student in heat like this, haha.

After waiting a while, seeing that Shen Kang didn't continue, Ma Liang had no choice but to grit his teeth and finish the story himself, asking, "Boss, did he say he wanted to invite you to get a foot massage, like he did last time in Huawan District?"

Shen Kang stopped teasing him and said, "No, not at all. But he's a pretty easy person to talk to. If you want to get a foot massage, I can give him a call, and he'll definitely be willing to take you."

Ma Liang gave an awkward smile, "I don't want to go... I just don't care whether he wants to invite you to wash his feet or not."

Shen Kang nodded, expressionless. "Oh, I see. Then no."

After saying that, he fell silent.

Ma Liang also remained silent.

The room fell silent for a moment, with no sound coming from any direction.

Finally, Ma Liang couldn't hold back any longer. "Actually, I was thinking, it's only a little past 9 o'clock now. I usually go to bed in the early hours of the morning, so I can't fall asleep at this hour... Boss, why don't you give him a call?"

Shen Kang's expression changed, and he smiled. "You should have said so earlier. Okay, I'll give him a call. But let's make it clear first, you two go, I'm not going."

"OK."

So Shen Kang took out his phone and called Sun Hongjun.

……

When the radio waves arrived, Sun Hongjun was in the monitoring room, explaining part of the hotel's security system to Zhou Man.

After the introduction, Zhou Man nodded, expressing her satisfaction with the hotel's security system.

Sun Hongjun then said, "President Zhou, it's getting late. You must be tired from your journey. Why don't you go and rest? We can visit the other departments tomorrow."

"Alright."

Just as the two were about to leave the monitoring room, Sun Hongjun's phone rang.

Sun Hongjun took it out and glanced at it. If it was an unimportant call, he was prepared to hang up first and call back later.

But when he saw the caller ID number, he paused for a moment, quickly went through his thoughts, and immediately said, "Mr. Zhou, it's Shen Kang calling."

Shen Kang?

They've changed hotels already, and this kid met Sun Hongjun on his very first day here? Did he approach Sun Hongjun, or did Sun Hongjun approach him? ...

Zhou Man had many thoughts flashing through her mind, but she remained calm and said, "Answer it." She then added, "Put it on speakerphone."

Sun Hongjun nodded, then answered the phone, put it on speakerphone, and said "feed".

Shen Kang's voice also rang out in the room.

"Mr. Sun, are you free tonight?"

Are you free tonight?

Sun Hongjun glanced at Zhou Man, unable to discern anything, then after a moment's thought, replied with a smile, "You have time? Is there something you need?"

Shen Kang's voice continued to echo in the room, "I just wanted to ask if you know of any foot massage places around here? You know what I mean."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Meanwhile, in Shen Kang's room

Seeing that there was no response from Sun Hongjun after he asked, Shen Kang was a little puzzled.

Is the signal bad?

Just as he was about to "feed" a couple more times to check if the signal was bad, a familiar voice rang out in the receiver.

"Shen Kang!"

"..."

Shen Kang was having a hard time keeping up.

Logically speaking, he's already in his thirties, and he's thick-skinned, so even if someone overhears him asking this kind of question, it shouldn't seem strange.

But for some reason, when he heard Zhou Man's voice coming from the receiver, he was startled and extremely embarrassed, as if...

He was taking off his pants in the room when his mother opened the door and saw him.

Shen Kang didn't know why he came up with such a nonsensical analogy, since he didn't have a mother at all.

But he didn't care anymore, gave a dry laugh, and said, "Good evening, Mr. Zhou... Would you believe me if I said I was asking for a friend?"

This side of the monitoring room

Zhou Man had already taken Sun Hongjun's phone and asked Ding Ling and Sun Hongjun to leave first—family scandals should not be aired in public.

Hearing Shen Kang's words, Zhou Man was furious. "Do you think I'd believe that?"

She didn't know why she was so angry.

Logically speaking, Shen Kang was just one of her "partners," and since he was a mature businessman, it wasn't surprising that he wanted to do such a thing; she should have thought it was perfectly normal.

But Zhou Man was furious. Not only furious, but also sad and heartbroken. All sorts of emotions were mixed up, quite complicated, and in the end, it turned into a long sigh.

"Sigh... Shen Kang, I know you're mature in your thinking, but you've only just turned 18, a time when you're full of energy, so I can understand having these thoughts. But I hope you know that the right thing to do is to seriously date a girlfriend and achieve a union of soul and body, not to do this kind of thing. This kind of thing will only make you feel emptier and emptier, and it's not clean either. You don't even know if the other person has any diseases..."

Shen Kang listened silently on the other end.

If it were according to his usual way of interacting with Zhou Man, he would have given a perfunctory "uh-huh, uh-huh" at this moment. But now, listening to Zhou Man's earnest advice on the other end of the phone, he couldn't be perfunctory. He just listened quietly, experiencing a feeling that he, as an orphan, had never had before.

Shen Kang waited until Zhou Man finished speaking before speaking, "President Zhou, I completely agree with your idea. But what I just said is also true. It wasn't me; I was asking on behalf of a friend."

"……real?"

"You'll see when you come over."

After finishing the call, Shen Kang took the phone away from his ear.

Ma Liang, who was standing nearby, was already impatient and asked, "What's going on? How come there's another General Manager Zhou? Didn't you say that General Manager was General Manager Sun? Did General Manager Sun actually agree to invite us to a foot massage?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Kang quickly corrected the error in his words: "What 'we'? It's just you going alone, don't frame me!"

After saying that, he sighed, "Old Ma, you really are... I really am... sigh..."

Ma Liang was completely baffled.

However, Ma Liang was more concerned about something else: "Boss, did General Manager Sun actually agree?"

Shen Kang felt that Ma Liang was a real talent. He was clearly a smart person, but when he was driven by lust, his brain slowed down. He couldn't even understand a word from the phone call he had just heard.

But this is a good thing! If Ma Liang were still smart at this moment, he might have secretly slipped away.

"Perhaps," Shen Kang said noncommittally, "Anyway, don't leave yet, just stay here."

Ma Liang was delighted: "Will President Sun be here soon?"

Shen Kang thought to himself, "You little rascal, I thought your brain was just slowing down, but now it's working like lightning. You could immediately guess that President Sun was coming from just sitting there." Sure enough, every man's brain works incredibly fast when it comes to doing *that*, and at times like these, they're even more Einstein-like than Einstein himself.

Thinking this through, Shen Kang continued vaguely, "Probably."...

After practicing Tai Chi with Ma Liang for a while, the electronic door opening sounded, and then the door opened, and a woman rushed in—it was Zhou Man.

Through Zhou Man's side, you can see that Ding Ling and Sun Hongjun have arrived, but they didn't come in. They just stood outside, one on the left and one on the right, like her two henchmen.