Chapter 821: It

When Section Chief Inoue saw Ma Zhao walking toward him with long, confident strides, he was momentarily stunned.

But he was an old fox who had cultivated for years; after a half-second freeze, his face instantly bloomed with a smile, and he bowed deeply to Ma Zhao.

“Hello, Mr. Ma, I never expected to meet you here. Are you here for Chinese food?”

“Of course. We don’t know Tokyo at all—these past few days we’ve been eating with your people. But these last two days, we had no choice but to find a hometown restaurant.”

“But you’re hosting guests from the Lantern, shouldn’t you be eating steak? Why are you eating Chinese food too?”

Section Chief Inoue’s smile stiffened; his sixty-degree bow sank even lower. “I’m truly sorry—I’ve been negligent. This is extremely impolite.”

No matter how much Inoue looked down on mainlanders, Ma Zhao was the officially designated project introducer. How could a lowly section chief dare to play favorites? What would happen if the rival side exposed this?

After Liu Muhan translated Inoue’s words, Ma Zhao waved it off generously: “Hey, what’s impolite about it? You’re juggling two groups of guests—it’s only natural you’re overwhelmed.”

“Haha, yes, I am a bit swamped. Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Ma. Please wait a moment, just a moment.”

Section Chief Inoue bowed repeatedly to Ma Zhao, then returned to the Lantern group, whispered to them for a while, and ran back again.

“Mr. Ma, if you don’t mind, you and your team can dine with the Lantern guests today. We’re all in the same industry—I’m sure we’ll find common topics to discuss.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I owe you thanks, Section Chief Inoue. Thank you, thank you!”

Ma Zhao generously forgave Inoue’s rudeness—and secretly gave him a five-star review.

Then everyone entered the restaurant, picked a large room, introduced themselves, and awkwardly chatted while probing each other.

“This is Mr. Charles from the Lantern’s Mitsubishi factory. This is Mr. Ma from Hua’s Capital Light Vehicle Company.”

“Hello hello~”

“Pleasure to meet you~”

“What kind of vehicles does your company produce? We make light trucks and advanced diesel engines.”

At this moment, mainlanders found the Lantern people fascinatingly novel, and the Lantern people were equally intrigued by the mainlanders. Despite the language barrier, with the translator’s help, they somehow managed a strangely “friendly” conversation.

But since Liu Muhan’s colleague Xiao Hu only spoke Japanese, Li Ye was reluctantly pulled in to help translate alongside Liu Muhan.

Yet after a while, he became the center of the awkward chatter.

Because among all the mainlanders present, only Li Ye understood the current global development level of mainstream automakers.

You couldn’t possibly have Ma Zhao discussing the performance specs of the Type 130 with Charles, could you?

“Mr. Li, has Hua really started producing world-class cars now?”

“Of course. Germany’s Volkswagen has been in Hua for three years—their new B-class sedan is already in mass production. Audi has also begun deep cooperation with us; they’ll start building a factory no later than next year.”

“By the way, the Cherokee is also your Lantern project, right? It’s already in mass production too.”

“Volkswagen has entered Hua?”

After hearing Li Ye’s words, Charles grew serious.

Information exchange between East and West was still extremely difficult—he hadn’t even known Germans had entered Hua.

Charles knew perfectly well how massive Hua’s market was. This piece of news, if polished slightly and reported upward, would be a solid achievement.

“Ludwig? Ludwig?”

Charles turned to a colleague and asked in rapid German: “Do you know Volkswagen’s investment situation in Hua?”

Ludwig slowly nodded. “Yes, when I left three years ago, cooperation had already begun. I wrote a report to company leadership, but they never responded.”

“Oh~ You’re a technician—you shouldn’t be writing reports like this. Those bosses never read your reports.”

Charles shook his head in regret—whether it was because Ludwig had stolen his report, or because the company ignored Hua’s market, he couldn’t tell.

But Li Ye became interested in Ludwig.

Because this guy clearly didn’t fit in—since entering the restaurant, the other colleagues had subtly isolated him. If Charles hadn’t called his name, no one would’ve noticed him.

So during the rest of the meal, Li Ye chatted with Ludwig and learned he was a German immigrant who had worked in the U.S. for three years, always in technical roles.

But the man was tight-lipped. Whenever Li Ye tried to ask sensitive questions, he feigned ignorance, claiming he didn’t understand Li Ye’s English.

【Damn, you’ve got a thick Bavarian accent, and you don’t understand my London dialect? Talking to you Germans is just boring.】

After the dishes arrived, the Lantern group fell mostly silent, enthusiastically devouring the Chinese food with loud slurps.

But Xiao Jingen and others were unimpressed: “What the hell is this? Not sour enough, not sweet enough? Is this even real?”

Exactly. Under the banner of Chinese cuisine, making something that’s neither fish nor fowl—isn’t this ruining the reputation of our Chinese food?

“.”

“Stop complaining. They’re treating us to dinner—don’t be picky. Look, everyone else is eating it with relish.”

“.”

Actually, Xiao Jingen and the others didn’t understand. The Japanese knew their guests’ psychology perfectly. Just look at the patrons in this restaurant—mostly white Westerners—and you’d know why this “modified” Chinese food existed.

Eastern and Western culinary cultures differ greatly. Unless you’ve lived long-term in the other’s country, you can’t fully adapt overnight.

Later, food bloggers had tried this abroad: authentic Chinese food couldn’t instantly win over Western palates. After a few meals, they’d still go back to mashed potatoes with salt.

Only after living in Hua long enough, adapting to the local water and soil, could you truly distinguish the spiciness between Sichuan and Hunan cuisine.

Chinese cuisine’s flavor nuances are too refined. You can’t expect a group who eat bread and jam as their main meal to suddenly become food connoisseurs—it’s a high technical hurdle.

………………

“Mr. Ma, we have more activities lined up. Please get in the car.”

“More activities? Forget it, Section Chief Inoue, don’t be so polite.”

“No, no, it’s nothing, it’s only right.”

After dinner, Section Chief Inoue refused to let Ma Zhao and Li Ye and the others leave—he insisted they experience his “sincerity.”

Ma Zhao and the others had no objection—it was an inspection trip after all. The host arranging some activities was normal.

But when Section Chief Inoue led everyone to a street in Shibuya, Li Ye froze.

【You little shorty are testing cadres with THIS? You’re ruthless!】

Li Ye quickly grabbed Ma Zhao, who was at the front, and whispered in his ear: “Manager Ma, I heard the hot spring bath here doesn’t separate men and women.”

Ma Zhao was startled: “What? No separation? Then what about clothes?”

Li Ye sighed: “I don’t know. Want to go in and find out?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Get caught with your pants down, and you’ll never recover.”

Ma Zhao immediately stopped everyone from entering, and told Liu Muhan to explain to Inoue and the others that they’d eaten too much and were sleepy—they needed to return to the hotel and rest.

Section Chief Inoue insisted repeatedly, but Ma Zhao was firm. In the end, he could only arrange a car to take Li Ye and the others back.

But as the car just started moving, Li Ye quickly tapped Ma Zhao’s shoulder.

“Manager Ma, look over there!”

“Where? What? Oh~ damn it~”

At a brothel forty meters away, two men walked out, flushed and smiling.

It was Secretary Guo and Gu Jianqi—who had gone out to visit friends yesterday and hadn’t returned to the group.

“Uncle Ma, stop the car?”

“No. He saw us.”

Ma Zhao glanced out the window a few times, then turned his head back. But a faint sneer and mockery appeared on his face.

Li Ye, meanwhile, was pondering: Was this just Secretary Guo’s personal habit—or had someone deliberately arranged it to catch them in a compromising position?