Chapter 25: A Morning at Peak Consulting (Seeking collections, follow-up reads, and monthly tickets)

"Clang, clang—"

Aside from the sharp-eared little fox, no one else could hear Gao Feng's furious cursing. However, the sound of him kicking the metal rolling shutter door could be heard all along the street, including inside the Sixi Teahouse.

Whenever there was a spectacle to be seen, families in the teahouse enjoying tea and pastries would instinctively glance over, wanting to see what was happening on the street. Unfortunately, Gao Feng had already retreated to his newly purchased Porsche, which still bore temporary license plates, and was frantically making calls, ordering all his employees to return to base.

Yu Xueqing held Ansheng while standing on the windowsill with her parents, gazing out, but they saw nothing. However, when Yu Zhenghong caught sight of the sign for Gao Feng’s Consulting Firm, he snorted, his expression turning sour. Meanwhile, the corners of Ansheng's mouth turned up slightly, and a strange smile appeared on Chen Fengshui’s face. Clearly, both of them knew exactly who the guy kicking the shutter door had been.

After watching for a while and seeing nothing of interest, everyone returned to their seats to order food.

"Ying ying ying—"

Ansheng leaned close to Yu Xueqing, his eyes scanning the menu. Having experienced the morning tea culture of the Xiadong and Xianan regions in his past life, he knew that while it was ostensibly about drinking tea and eating pastries, for the local people, it was actually a family-oriented social activity.

Ansheng loved to feast in the morning, but he had always been somewhat resistant to the culture of morning tea. Anyone who had done business in the Xiadong and Xianan regions knew that the locals were extremely pragmatic. To what extent? Well, for small business, everyone worked together and profited together; giving up a little bit of margin was fine. They didn't engage in empty talk. But if a deal involved a larger sum—especially with individual business owners—you had to bring your family along to a meal.

They wouldn't just look at you; they would look at your family, and children were the primary objects of observation. Adults could be hypocritical, but children were hard to mask, and one could discern the character of the adults from the child's upbringing. They were wary of bachelors, and towards lone wolves, they were extremely guarded. If the whole family was involved, the deal was solid. If you tried to run, you’d vanish without a trace.

Ansheng had experienced these business-related morning teas before and found the partners' genealogical-investigation-style scrutiny incredibly annoying. *I’m just here to do a damn job, my own meals and rent are enough of a burden; getting married and having kids would just be adding unnecessary stress to an already joyless life.*

Ansheng used to loathe these morning tea business meetings. But now...

"Ying ying ying—"

*Ah Qing, hurry! The shrimp dumplings are almost gone!*

Ansheng propped his front paws on the table, stood up on his hind legs, and pointed urgently at the shrimp dumplings on the table. A steamer basket only held three, and even though they had ordered three baskets, only two had arrived so far. Ansheng’s strategy was to strike first; after devouring the two baskets currently on the table, he would be ready to seize the next.

"Little An, don't rush..."

Yu Xueqing replied vaguely, chewing on a char siu bao. She picked up her chopsticks and placed a shrimp dumpling onto Ansheng’s plate.

*Into my mouth it goes!*

Ansheng looked delighted, tucking in with gusto. One bite, and he knew the dim sum at the Sixi Teahouse was just average, pre-made stuff. But free food was always delicious. Just like his old colleague in his past life, who had once said with profound solemnity: "I don't smoke Lotus cigarettes because they have a metaphysical quality. If you buy them yourself, you can never get the lotus fragrance out of them..." Saying this, he tore open a pack of Lotus cigarettes that Ansheng had intended to give to a client.

All the colleagues in the office sighed; free things were indeed the most fragrant. Then... the office had cigarettes but no lighter, a room full of monkeys chattering, trying to find something to light them with. But Ansheng knew they just loved the "tease" of having cigarettes but no flame.

***

Compared to the happy, feasting atmosphere inside the Sixi Teahouse, Gao Feng’s Wisdom Consulting Firm was shrouded in gloom.

After the locksmith removed the lock, what met their eyes was a lobby in total disarray. The water bar behind the frosted glass partition and the public area looked like a battlefield. Gao Feng felt his heart stop; he didn't even dare to imagine the state of the second and third floors.

"Holy shit! My Red Label Geisha coffee beans!"

Gao Feng was shocked, but the dozen or so employees felt their hearts sink just as much. The company had a water bar, but it didn't provide drinks; employees had to bring their own. An employee ran crying toward the bar behind the glass partition. He saw a familiar coffee bag—and a large pot of soil. The company’s "money tree" was gone, and the pot was filled with Red Label coffee beans.

"Damn it! My tea canister is full of milk!" Another employee ran to the bar, seeing his tea canister intact, and felt a moment of relief. However, the second he picked it up, he felt the weight was all wrong. It felt like... it had liquid inside.

Liquid... that was fine. Even if someone had poured water in, he could at least boil tea eggs. But when he pried the lid open and saw the sweet milk inside, he was struck dumb. *My god... two thousand three hundred per catty tea, and someone used it to make milk tea!*

"Thud, thud, thud..." The man staggered back, leaning against the bar, his eyes bloodshot, gasping for air. His monthly salary was only four thousand; this tea had been meant as a gift, and now it was just milk tea.

Seeing the tragedy on the first floor, the consultants who worked primarily on the second floor rushed upstairs. The computer screens were neatly arranged, seemingly unharmed. But when they looked closer, all the peripherals—keyboards and mice—were either smashed on the floor or hanging in mid-air like elderly men hanging themselves. Potted plants, documents, and water cups on the desks had all been knocked over.

"My ledgers! Waaaah—" The accountant returned to her office, feeling a flicker of hope when she saw some things were intact. But when she touched the ledger and felt something sticky, her heart sank. It felt exactly like... something a boyfriend might produce. She forced back her nausea and tried to flip open the ledger. As she did, the entire book stuck together. Her look of disgust faded as she realized what the sticky substance was, and her face turned deathly pale. She tried to pry it open.

Glue... it was filled with white glue! All the company’s financial ledgers were filled with glue!

"Waaaah—" The accountant’s wailing was deafening, echoing through the street.

"Bang—"

Just as the accountant and cashier were crying their eyes out, a muffled thud came from the office, and the whole building shook. A burly man lay motionless in the restroom, yellow liquid seeping from his crotch. He had been in such a rush to get to the company that he’d held his first morning pee in his bladder. He’d walked into the restroom, his foot slipped, his bladder suffered a violent impact, and the dam could no longer hold. There was hand soap on the restroom floor... it was incredibly slippery.

Hearing the commotion, the other colleagues instinctively rushed to the restroom to see what had happened. Then, the "Calabash Brothers" rescue mission began. Amidst a series of muffled thuds, someone finally noticed that the puddle in front of the restroom was a suspicious shade of yellow.

"Damn it! The hand soap smells like urine!"

"There’s piss in the water! Wuu wuu wuu—" one person, who had fallen face-first, screamed hysterically in front of the restroom, his voice filled with tears.

Gao Feng, expressionless, walked with heavy steps toward the third-floor office. The door to his office... had been pried open.

"Fuck..." Gao Feng muttered under his breath, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.