Chapter 1565: Three Punches

It was only the wind of early February, lacking the gentleness of March. When Yua Mikami graduated from university, she went on a trip to Hokkaido, much like the weather today.

As soon as she stepped off the train, she noticed it was snowing in Steel City—the kind of small, drifting snowflakes.

She couldn't help but think of her current situation; wasn't she, too, just a drifting little snowflake?

"The leader has arranged for the two of you to rest at the Qianshan Sanatorium. He will come to host a banquet for you this evening."

The speaker was Zhang Enyuan, sitting in the passenger seat. He was representing Li Xuewu to pick up guests at the Steel City railway station.

Heikura Heiji sat up straight with great humility and bowed slightly to express his thanks: "Thank you, Mr. Li, for your hospitality, and thank you, Secretary Zhang. You've worked hard."

"You are too kind. It is no trouble at all. Welcome to Steel City," Zhang Enyuan nodded slightly, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant as he said, "Sanhe Stock Company is an old friend of the Red Steel Group and a long-term partner. Our leader attaches great importance to your visit."

"Thank you." Heikura Heiji glanced at Yua Mikami sitting beside him, then said to Zhang Enyuan: "I have met Mr. Li many times in the capital and admire him greatly. This is our first time visiting since he began working in Liaodong. It is truly impolite of us."

"You are too kind." Zhang Enyuan nodded again and said with a smile: "Hearing that you were coming to Steel City, he specifically instructed me to handle the reception work well."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to gesture toward the road directly ahead of the car and introduced: "The Red Steel Group built a hot spring resort sanatorium in Qianshan specifically for the group's employees to recuperate and to host distinguished guests."

After introducing the destination they were about to reach, he emphasized: "You and Ms. Mikami are the first batch of guests our Qianshan Sanatorium has hosted."

"Is that so? What an honor."

Heikura Heiji bowed again with great excitement and said: "Mr. Li is the most capable person I have met since I started working in China. I admire his character greatly and hope to learn from him."

He rested his hands on his knees, leaned forward slightly toward the passenger seat, and said: "If I can meet Mr. Li, this trip will have been worth it."

"You certainly will." Zhang Enyuan knew what he meant by this and nodded affirmatively: "The leader has already booked a banquet at the Qianshan Sanatorium specifically prepared for the two of you. Please do not stand on ceremony."

"Yes! Then I will personally express my gratitude to Mr. Li tonight."

Heikura Heiji spoke excellent Chinese. Aside from his word choice, tone, and expressions—which clearly marked him as a "ghost" (Japanese)—his Mandarin was truly standard.

His excitement was not unrelated to the fact that Li Xuewu's secretary, Zhang Enyuan, had come to pick them up personally. Furthermore, there was the car itself; intelligence reports stated that this Volga M24 was the personal vehicle of Red Steel Group Secretary-General Li Xuewu.

Li Xuewu's secretary and private car coming to pick them up, and even taking them to a mountain resort manor that wasn't fully completed to host a welcome banquet—what did this signify?

He had an ulterior motive for this trip. If he could meet in a relatively private place, it would naturally fulfill his wishes. It seemed this trip held promise.

Just as the two were exchanging pleasantries, Yua Mikami, sitting in the back row, kept looking out the window, appearing somewhat impolite.

Heikura Heiji had already reminded her with his eyes and even touched her quietly with his hand, but it had no effect; Mikami remained unresponsive.

He certainly knew why Mikami was like this. If it hadn't been for the president's specific request, Heikura would definitely have chosen Takahashi to come along; he felt Takahashi was more willing to sacrifice.

For the sake of one's career, one must abandon romantic entanglements. He had always believed the president was right.

A man can live without a woman, but he must have a career, because without a career, a woman will leave you too. But when you have a career, a woman is the reward for your career—the prize that presents you with flowers and applause.

The Japanese mindset is hard to sever from the queue behind their heads; perhaps this is an inevitable phenomenon that society must experience after economic development.

Therefore, since the president named Mikami, he could only bring her to Steel City, even if she wasn't very cooperative.

Fortunately, she was only silent and didn't throw a tantrum or do anything impulsive.

It was also snowing in Qianshan, heavier than the snow at the foot of the mountain. Outside the car window, everything was a vast white, and even the road ahead was white, with only two tire tracks left behind like beans scattered along the way. Mikami's heart was also scattered and shattered like this along the way.

"Is this outfit okay?"

Wang Yajuan walked into the office and, seeing that he was still busy, stopped in front of his desk.

Li Xuewu looked up at her, smiled, and said, "Did you prepare this specially?"

"I have to give you some face, after all."

Wang Yajuan curled her lips and said with feigned reserve, "It's rare for you to invite me to accompany you to a social event. If I don't dress decently, what will happen if people laugh at us? By then, it won't just be me losing face, but the Group's as well."

"Heh—" Li Xuewu chuckled as he listened to her "sophistry" and said, "Then I really have to thank you. Without you here to support my image, I'd truly be making a fool of myself."

"Stop being sarcastic. Isn't this for your own good?" Wang Yajuan walked to the door of his lounge, took a look, and turned back to ask, "Are you just going to wear this?"

"Hmm, huh?" Li Xuewu was reading a document; hearing her ask this, he turned his head to look at her, then looked at his own clothes and asked, "What's wrong? Am I really making a fool of myself?"

"That's not exactly it—" Wang Yajuan walked to his side, leaned in slightly to smell the scent on him, frowned, and said, "Your clothes..."

Before she could finish the sentence, she swallowed it back, waved her hand, and said, "It's fine. Just wear this one. It's so clean it smells like soap."

"What kind of look is that?" Li Xuewu looked at her with amusement and asked, "Is it impossible for me to smell like soap?"

"Ha—" Wang Yajuan's face carried a hint of mockery; unable to hide the disappointment in her eyes, she feigned calmness and said, "I didn't say it was impossible. What right do I have to say anything?"

Li Xuewu twitched his lips, lowered his head to continue working, and said, "And you said not to be sarcastic. Aren't you doing the same thing right now?"

"I'm not being sarcastic; I'm prioritizing harmony." Wang Yajuan glanced at him, her fingers fiddling with the pen case on his desk, and asked as if casually, "Has that Zhou Ya Mei returned?"

"Hmm, who? Oh, no."

Li Xuewu unscrewed his fountain pen to start writing and replied, "She moved to the capital."

"She left the house to you?" Wang Yajuan was quite surprised by this news, her eyes unable to help but light up.

Seeing Li Xuewu nod, she was just about to say something when she thought of the scent on him, and the heart that had just warmed up was doused with a bucket of cold water.

"Then who are you living with now?"

"Hmm—" Li Xuewu paused the pen in his hand while thinking about the content he needed to write.

Only after he had thought it through and started writing did he turn back to answer her question, "Who am I living with? Hmm, it's Qin Huairu's son, Jia Geng. You've met him."

"I haven't met him—" Wang Yajuan looked at him and said, "I've never seen a half-grown boy use soap to wash your clothes. Has he turned into a young lady?"

"Hahaha—" Hearing her say this, Li Xuewu couldn't help but think of that kid Banggeng.

If he really were a young lady, he wouldn't dare let the other party stay at his home; what would that turn into?

"Is there some kind of scent on me?"

He smelled his own sleeve; there was indeed a faint fragrance, but it wasn't the scent of the laundry he usually washed.

In these years, people used laundry soap or soap powder to wash clothes; only those with the means would use scented soap to scrub them again.

Why scrub them again with scented soap? Because they're showing off. Only young men would do such a thing.

Actually, scented soap isn't suitable for washing clothes, but it does leave behind its unique fragrance.

Only young men at the age of looking for a partner would use tooth powder to brush their white sneakers until they were sparkling white, and then scrub their own clothes with scented soap until they were fragrant, all to leave a good impression on the young woman they admired.

Dressing oneself up isn't a unique courtship method for humans; it's everywhere in the natural world. There are even birds that dance to court mates; what's a bit of soap compared to that?

But Li Xuewu is different. His children are already old enough to run errands; how could he possibly be pulling this stunt?

Banggeng is indeed at that age, but his personality is still stuck in the stage of solving all problems with brute force.

His pursuit of a partner is entirely to prove that he has grown up and is no longer the little brat in his mother's eyes.

As for how much interest he has in his own girlfriend, that's really hard to say.

He even washes his own clothes sloppily, let alone washing clothes for Li Xuewu.

Furthermore, Li Xuewu's clothes are rarely washed with Banggeng's help; he isn't without hands himself.

Besides, there's a washing machine at home sent from the office; even if it doesn't wash them perfectly, it's better than scrubbing them by hand.

With a washing machine, Banggeng doesn't even wash his own clothes anymore; who would use scented soap to wash clothes for him?

Yu Li would. Yu Li would use scented soap to wash his clothes because Yu Li feels Li Xuewu is worth it.

In Yu Li's eyes, nothing beautiful seems out of place when it involves Li Xuewu.

"Did you smell it?" Wang Yajuan looked at him and asked, "Is it the scent of first love?"

"First love? My flowers are about to wither, let alone bloom." Li Xuewu looked at her with amusement and said, "Maybe Banggeng dropped the soap into the washing machine. That kid does things on a whim."

"Interesting—" Wang Yajuan glanced at him and said, "I wasn't even digging for the truth."

"Heh, you were just short of digging up my ancestral graves."

Li Xuewu chuckled as he organized the documents on his desk and said, "Do you remember that partner Lao Biaozi used to have? The one with the two braided pigtails."

"Wang Ling? The one whose father worked at the sugar factory and often brought sugar cubes home for her?"

Wang Yajuan certainly remembered. Not knowing what he was going to say, she looked at him in confusion.

"Hmm, that's Wang Ling." Li Xuewu looked at her with a smile and said, "When the two of them were together, Wang Ling followed her father to visit her grandfather's grave. Lao Biaozi snuck behind them and followed. He even secretly knelt down and kowtowed, saying that this counted as meeting the parents, and prayed for her grandfather to bless them so they would stay together forever and never part."

"Didn't they only date for about half a year?"

Wang Yajuan raised her eyebrows and said, "It seems Wang Ling later got together with Ma Zha's older brother."

"Right, I'm talking about Lao Biaozi."

Li Xuewu finished organizing the documents, stood up, walked to the coat rack to put on his overcoat, and continued with a smile, "Later, Wang Ling found a new love and dumped him. Lao Biaozi couldn't take the anger, saying her grandfather didn't keep his word, and begged a few of us to go dig up her grandfather's grave in the middle of the night."

"Ha?!" Wang Yajuan couldn't hold it back; she laughed so hard her saliva flew out.

She slapped Li Xuewu in amusement and chided, "Have you guys ever done anything decent?"

Although she said that, she still pushed his hand away and took the initiative to help him straighten his shirt collar.

"I still have a bit of a bottom line."

Li Xuewu let her help, chuckling as he said, "At the time, after digging up her grandfather's, Lao Biaozi still wasn't satisfied and said he wanted to dig up their family's ancestral graves."

Wang Yajuan glanced at him in amusement and asked, "You stopped him?"

"No, I didn't stop him, but I didn't lend a hand." Li Xuewu nodded earnestly, looking like he truly had a bottom line, and said, "It was all Lao Biaozi doing it by himself. He said it was satisfying."

"You guys weren't afraid of ghosts possessing you."

Wang Yajuan poked him lightly and said, "Even doing such wicked things."

Recalling the events of their childhood, she chose to follow Li Xuewu's lead and didn't bring up the previous topic.

The two of them left the office. Half the lights in the corridor had already been turned off; the remaining half were left for the duty staff of each department. The office building lights stayed on all night.

The new office building of the Metallurgical Plant facing the street had already been completed and was in the decoration stage. It was expected to be occupied after the start of spring, at which point he would change his office location.

Due to the organizational restructuring, perhaps in a year or two, he would have to hand over the position of Metallurgical Plant Director to someone else and focus entirely on the overall work in Liaodong.

"How is Li Wenbiao doing?"

Walking down the stairs, Wang Yajuan was still asking, "I haven't seen him for a long time. What is he doing now?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him for a long time either. I can't even find him."

Li Xuewu was looking after her, walking very slowly. It had been over half an hour since the end-of-work bell rang, and there was basically no one on the stairs.

"Is there a single word of truth in your mouth?"

Wang Yajuan took advantage of the fact that there was no one around to pinch his arm and chided, "You arranged for Li Wenbiao's wife to come to our broadcasting station, yet you say you don't know where he is. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Oh, you're really wronging me here."

Li Xuewu said with a straight face, "He dumped his wife in Steel City and ran off who knows where. I couldn't just watch her bring up the children without doing anything."

"You know my current situation; I'm so busy I don't know which way is up. How would I have the energy to look after them?"

He gestured with his hand and said, "I let them be. They're all adults; can't they take care of themselves?"

"I was just asking, I didn't say anything else." Wang Yajuan glanced at him and said, "It's not like I don't know about your little affairs."

"If you know, why ask—"

Li Xuewu really had something to say; he glared at her with a smile and said, "Be careful of Li Wenbiao taking revenge on you. He could bury you in the wilderness and no one would even know."

"He doesn't have the guts." Wang Yajuan rolled her eyes at him disdainfully and hummed, "He's just relying on you. If your bunch of people didn't have your wickedness and courage, none of you would amount to anything."

"Are you scolding me or them?" Li Xuewu looked at her with amusement. After stepping down the stairs, he saw Zhang Enyuan entering the lobby and asked, "Are the people settled in?"

"Yes, they have already checked in."

While answering Li Xuewu's question, Zhang Enyuan also nodded to Wang Yajuan, who was standing to the side.

Wang Yajuan knew her role; she smiled slightly and didn't interject. Right now, Li Xuewu was the leader.

"Don't make dinner too lavish."

Li Xuewu led the two of them outside and instructed, "It's a waste to feed them anything too good."

Zhang Enyuan didn't dare to respond to this and looked intentionally or unintentionally at Wang Yajuan, who was walking on the other side.

Wang Yajuan, however, reminded him helplessly, "You still have to pay attention to your image. They came from the capital and, after all, represent the Sanhe Corporation."

"It's not like I look down on them."

Li Xuewu stepped down the stairs and turned back to instruct Zhang Enyuan, "They like to eat sashimi. Ask if there are any live fish just caught that can be sliced thinly. Dipping them in a bit of soy sauce counts as a delicacy for them."

"Stop messing around—"

Wang Yajuan rolled her eyes at him. When getting into the car, she wanted to go to the front passenger seat but was invited by Zhang Enyuan to the back row, so she had no choice but to sit beside Li Xuewu.

"Those people from the Sanhe Corporation's Beijing office don't even eat sashimi in the capital. They eat all sorts of things at the International Hotel; they can't get enough of both Western and Chinese food."

"What if they do? Hahaha."

Li Xuewu was, of course, joking, but it also represented his attitude at the moment.

The car headed straight for the Qianshan Sanatorium and Resort, a project initiated by the Red Steel Group last year, which Li Xuewu had personally promoted after coming to work in Liaodong.

Also initiated at the same time was the Steel City campus of the United Hospital, and parts of the completed campus were already in use.

Initiated later was the industrial zone's underground triple-defense project, which was also a commercial project for the industrial zone.

Because resources were mobilized to build industrial plants in preparation for the landing of East German technology, the construction speed of the triple-defense project slowed down, prioritizing support for plant construction.

Although the Liaodong land was still frozen at this time, the Red Steel Group, with its advanced equipment and ample preparations, did not stop construction work.

Li Xuewu had visited the project front lines many times to inspect; he was most concerned about quality, so he kept a very close watch.

The Qianshan Sanatorium was not a project built on wasteland, but one that had annexed a hot spring manor.

It used to be called the Hot Spring Manor and was later abandoned, but after renovation, it possessed both primitive beauty and sufficient sanatorium conditions, making it very flavorful.

When Li Xuewu and the others arrived at the sanatorium, it was still snowing, though it had eased up quite a bit.

The weather forecasting capabilities of these years were quite average, only capable of achieving general early warnings; life and work still relied on temporary responses.

"Secretary-General, the dining table is ready."

The person in charge of the sanatorium knew he was coming and had been waiting in the lobby; seeing the car arrive, he trotted out.

Li Xuewu nodded to him, tightened his overcoat, and asked while walking inside, "What are the guests doing?"

"Still resting in their rooms." The person in charge asked, "Should I go notify them now?"

"Let Comrade Enyuan accompany you."

Li Xuewu turned back to nod to his secretary. After entering the lobby, he stomped his feet and said, "Let's go to the restaurant first and wait for them there."

After the person in charge and Zhang Enyuan responded, they split into two groups. Service staff led Li Xuewu and the other to the restaurant, where a hot soup pot had already been prepared, looking very warm.

It couldn't be anything but warm; a Northeast-style heated brick bed (kang) was set with a kang table, and a large hot pot was nestled in the middle of the table.

"Who thought of this arrangement?"

Wang Yajuan looked at him in amusement and said, "Are we supposed to lie down on the kang and sleep after we've had enough to drink?"

"This is a Northeast specialty." Li Xuewu took off his overcoat and the dark blue jacket he wore on the mountain, explaining with a smile, "It's also been a long time since I've enjoyed this kind of warm kang."

"Don't you sleep on this in the capital?"

Wang Yajuan helped him put away his overcoat, hung it on the wall, and said, "It's just the house in the compound."

"Hmm, when a man reaches a certain age, he should miss the heated kang, especially men."

Li Xuewu didn't avoid Wang Yajuan's gaze; not only did he continue to take off his sweater, but he also unbuttoned his trousers to take off his thermal pants, and right before her surprised eyes, he put on the single-layer trousers he wore on the outside again.

"Don't blame me for not warning you."

He glanced at Wang Yajuan and said with a smile, "Hurry up and take off the thermal pants and cotton-padded pants inside, otherwise you'll be sweating all over after sitting on the kang to eat for a while."

Wang Yajuan glared at him and said, "It's all your fault. Wouldn't it be fine to eat at a regular table? Why do you have to pull this stunt?"

After saying this, she didn't avoid him and started taking off her cotton-padded pants.

She didn't pay attention to Li Xuewu, but Li Xuewu couldn't help but look after her; he took the initiative to go out and find a waiter to ask what kind of wine had been prepared for the evening.

Actually, it was just an excuse to give Wang Yajuan some time.

Wang Yajuan changed her trousers and then came out to call him; the two of them got on the kang to wait.

This restaurant was built extremely well. Sitting on the kang and looking out through the window glass, the warm water vapor rose slowly in the cold air, and the steaming pool looked like a fairyland on earth.

Of course, it wasn't quite like the Queen Mother of the West holding a Peach Banquet; that would be too exaggerated.

"I have to say, this heated kang is comfortable."

Wang Yajuan had only sat for a while before she felt warm underneath. Apart from the fact that sitting cross-legged was a bit difficult, her body had warmed up.

Li Xuewu was different; his two long legs were crossed together, and sitting there wasn't difficult at all.

She had never slept on a heated kang; she had lived in an apartment building assigned by her father's unit since she was a child and had always slept on wooden beds.

Li Xuewu grew up in the compound. Most families from the south would use a combination of a stove and a wooden bed, but the Li family had always used a heated kang for warmth.

Really, if one wasn't used to sitting on a heated kang since childhood, an average person wouldn't be able to cross their legs like this, and even if they were flexible enough to do so, they wouldn't be able to sit for long.

Wang Yajuan was like this. She was a dancer by training; let alone crossing her legs, turning into a spider spirit wouldn't be a problem, but she couldn't do that.

Sitting cross-legged wasn't a very elegant posture for a young woman, so she had to sit with her legs to the side.

"While they haven't arrived yet, why don't you lie down for a while?" Li Xuewu smiled and took a sip of hot tea, suggesting as he saw her happy expression, "Once you lie down, you won't want to get up."

"I think I'll pass." Wang Yajuan touched the quilt on the kang; it really was quite comfortable.

In the Northeast of these years, mats were used more often, and families that could afford mats were considered well-off.

What if there were no mats?

Sleeping directly on the dirt kang meant the lower body was against yellow dirt, and one would wake up in the morning covered in yellow dirt and sand.

Some people might not believe this; after all, life had been hard since liberation, could it really be this bitter?

Let's put it this way: Li Xuewu had seen it with his own eyes. In the years since he returned, less than half of the rural families had mats on their dirt kangs.

In later years, there were diapers and disposable diapers for babies. In these years, where would one find those? The well-off used old clothes, but 99% of rural families used yellow sand to handle the children's bowel movements.

Do you dare to believe it?

For the most basic sleeping conditions, one should have a mattress and a quilt, right?

Li Xuewu went to the Red Star Commune, and Yin Mancang told him that if it weren't for the village becoming wealthy, a family that could find two sets of bedding would be considered a good family.

Families with many children were even more difficult; three children squeezed under one quilt was the best situation. Don't even mention mattresses; they just slept on the kang mat or directly on the yellow dirt kang.

Having a heated kang to sleep on was already good.

For winter, one should have cotton-padded jackets and trousers, right?

The production team only issued that much cotton a year. They were called cotton-padded jackets and trousers, but they were thin and small.

In later years, there was a joke about a novelist writing that a CEO took his girlfriend into a room, took off her cotton trousers, then her thermal pants, then her long johns...

If this were in this era, it wouldn't be that troublesome. Most rural families couldn't afford to wear that many layers of clothes; generally, it was just one pair of cotton trousers, and once those were off, they were bare.

No underwear, no long johns worn next to the skin, just one pair of cotton trousers, only one pair.

Look at the students walking to school on the road; they wouldn't walk against the wind. Why?

Because they were dressed thinly and were leaking wind everywhere, they could only walk backward against the wind to reduce the cold air blowing into their clothes.

In later years, perhaps only the older generation still remembers this situation; young people cannot imagine the hardships of this era.

It was precisely because he understood the hardships of this era that Wang Yajuan noticed the quilt spread on the kang.

This kind of quilt was thicker than a normal quilt, used more cotton, and the fabric was harder.

It was used to insulate against the earthy smell of the dirt kang and also for warmth, making it more comfortable to sit on.

Using a rural yellow dirt kang to entertain foreign businessmen, even for a miser like Li Xuewu, was something he couldn't bring himself to do.

It was just that the sanatorium's hospitality environment was so luxurious that it was a test for the guests being entertained.

If they couldn't create more practical benefits here, they wouldn't have the conditions or qualifications to enjoy such rare treatment.

Gucang Ping'er, who walked into this special restaurant, keenly noticed this point.

Just as Li Xuewu stood up to shake his hand, his gaze swept over the furnishings in the room, and he knew that if this meal didn't go well, he would be in trouble.

After resting all afternoon, Sanyue Yua had regained some spirit.

Seeing that there was another female comrade in the room, her mood relaxed a lot.

"Hello, Mr. Li, we meet again."

After Gucang Ping'er's introduction, Sanyue walked up to Li Xuewu, bowed slightly, and greeted him.

Li Xuewu nodded with a smile, raised his hand to introduce Wang Yajuan beside him, and said, "Welcome. This is Comrade Wang Yajuan, the person in charge of the Metallurgical Plant's Propaganda Section."

"Hello, Mr. Gucang, hello, Ms. Sanyue." Wang Yajuan nodded with a smile and said, "Welcome to Steel City as guests."

"It's an honor, thank you for your hospitality."

The two sides exchanged more pleasantries before, under Li Xuewu's invitation, they got on the kang and knelt before the kang table.

Only then did Wang Yajuan understand Li Xuewu's intention for such an arrangement; he was truly wicked.

Look, Li Xuewu was sitting cross-legged on the east side of the kang table, and kneeling opposite him was Gucang Ping'er.

No one could sit on the edge of the kang. Wang Yajuan looked at Sanyue Yua kneeling beside her, then looked at her own posture with her legs to the side, and it was obvious what was going on.

Li Xuewu was deliberately taking advantage of the other party.

"Don't be reserved. Tonight, we have specially prepared Northeast-style dishes for the two of you."

Li Xuewu introduced with a smile, "Eating Northeast food on a heated kang gives you a more authentic experience."

"Yes, I feel it too."

Gucang Ping'er said with a smile, "It feels like I've come home."

"Ms. Sanyue, are you alright?"

Li Xuewu turned to look at Sanyue Yua and asked, "Would you like me to ask the waiter to bring a kang stool?"

"No, no, this is fine."

Sanyue Yua didn't expect Li Xuewu to ask for her opinion and waved her hand politely.

"Hahaha, I hope you feel at home here." Li Xuewu then turned to look at Gucang Ping'er and said, "Although the latitude of the Northeast is similar to that of Japan, it has a different flavor."

"Even in terms of climate, there is a difference; it's colder here."

By this time, the steam from the hot soup pot had already covered the window glass, and the lights outside looked misty and dreamy.

"Sanyue and I are here for the first time, and we must thank Mr. Li for your hospitality."

Zhang Enyuan helped pour the white liquor, and Gucang was the first to raise his glass to propose a toast.

Li Xuewu smiled, looked at him, and said, "Don't be polite. We are friends. The Red Steel Group and your company have been cooperating for three years. Our relationship is built on the foundation of trust. I am very happy that you could come to Steel City as guests."

Saying this, seeing the two of them raise their glasses, he drank the wine in his cup.

Wang Yajuan was a bit surprised; she didn't expect them to start drinking right away. Her alcohol tolerance was average, but fortunately, the cups were small.

Sanyue performed quite freely; Gucang proposed the first toast, and she followed suit.

At this time, service staff began to serve the dishes. Two cold dishes were served first; these were for accompanying the wine.

There were only four people at the table today. Li Xuewu didn't ask for the opinions of the two ladies and signaled Zhang Enyuan to pour the white liquor for everyone.

Whether to drink or not was their choice, or rather, Sanyue Yua's choice.

As long as she drank, Wang Yajuan would drink.

If she didn't drink, Wang Yajuan wouldn't have to drink either; Li Xuewu wouldn't care if it was just left there.

Now seeing that both of them had followed suit and finished their cups, he also praised them with a smile and invited them to eat the dishes together.

After the cold dishes were served, the hot dishes followed. The wine was warm; one couldn't wait for the heat of the wine to dissipate before the hot dishes were served, as that would be too impolite.

"The scenery here is beautiful."

Gucang Ping'er used a cold dish with a restrained and polite manner, taking the initiative to chat with Li Xuewu.

"When we arrived this afternoon, the manager here invited us to take a tour of the park."

He said with a smile, "It has the flavor of traveling in Hokkaido; I really want to go home."

"Hahaha—" Li Xuewu chuckled and turned to explain to Wang Yajuan, "Hokkaido is the northernmost island of the four Japanese islands, and it's a bit like this place."

Wang Yajuan nodded in understanding, looked at the two of them with a smile, and explained, "I don't know much about this, so please don't take offense."

"Not at all, not at all." Gucang waved his hand politely and said, "We are also here in Steel City for the first time and haven't seen the beautiful scenery of Steel City."

"Then that means you've come to the right place."

Li Xuewu nodded to Zhang Enyuan, signaling that he could leave.

"If you're homesick, come to Steel City more often; it's good to be able to relieve the pain of homesickness."

Zhang Enyuan arranged for the waiters to serve the dishes and prepare the tea and wine before leaving.

He wasn't worried that there would be any problems in the room; the leader wasn't entertaining alone.

Gucang Ping'er had brought people to Steel City, and Li Xuewu had long been prepared; he was the direct executor.

It wasn't just him; even on the train Gucang and the other took to Steel City, there were people from the Group's Confidentiality Section who were already carrying out work at the sanatorium.

Having hunted geese all his life, could he let a goose peck his own eyes?

The room was a bit hot, even hotter than Tokyo; this was the common feeling of Gucang and Sanyue.

The two didn't expect to be eating on a heated kang, and because of the drinking, they soon started sweating.

It was truly unexpected. Wang Yajuan saw Sanyue Yua acting as if she were desperate; as long as Li Xuewu and the other raised their glasses to drink, she would accompany them, and every cup was drained. What was she trying to do? Was she deliberately trying to get drunk?

But since Sanyue drank, she couldn't not drink.

So a bottle of Five-Star Moutai was soon finished, and Li Xuewu was already opening the second bottle.

A bottle of wine for four people wasn't much, but it wasn't little either; divided equally, everyone was sweating.

Of course, Li Xuewu and Wang Yajuan were well-prepared, so they seemed more at ease.

Eating or drinking on a heated kang made the problem of sweating in the crotch the hardest to solve.

Gucang and Sanyue were guests, so how could they be impolite? Their knees had long been aching, but they were still trying hard to persist.

Japanese people are used to kneeling, but they don't sit directly on the ground; this posture is only temporary.

What if they have to kneel and eat?

They have a kind of kneeling stool that can be placed at the back of the legs, with the buttocks resting right on top.

Of course, this wasn't their invention.

Even this kneeling posture was learned from us, including that kind of small stool.

They learned a little bit of the surface and treated it like a treasure for hundreds of years. Li Xuewu was just teaching them how to be human.

After finishing a bottle of wine, he smiled while pouring more and said, "Mr. Gucang, sit comfortably. Ms. Sanyue, the same for you."

The two looked up at him in unison. It wasn't that their knees had the strength to persist until now, but that they had already realized the other party's instructions today had a flavor of "punishment" and "warning."

The more polite he was on the surface, the less they dared to relax themselves. Even though their legs had long been numb, they were still persisting.

"It's alright..."

After the two were stunned for a moment, Gucang Ping'er was still being polite, but Sanyue Yua had already learned from Wang Yajuan and sat down with her body to the side.

Seeing Gucang looking at her in astonishment, as well as the smile on Li Xuewu's face, she lowered her head calmly and said, "Thank you, Mr. Li, I was about to be unable to persist."

This caught Gucang Ping'er off guard, and he could only look at Li Xuewu with a bitter smile, wanting to say something apologetic.

Li Xuewu waved his hand, said to Wang Yajuan, "It's too hot in the room. You two go change into some comfortable clothes. We'll drink slowly and wait for you."

Wang Yajuan was actually fine, but she hadn't taken off her sweater, and now there was sweat on her forehead.

This remark should have been directed more at Sanyue Yua; one could clearly see the expression on Sanyue's face freeze once again.

"Go on, it doesn't matter even if you come back in your pajamas." Li Xuewu looked at the two of them warmly, then looked at Gucang Ping'er and said, "We are friends, right, Mr. Gucang?"

"Thank you, Mr. Li, I am deeply grateful."

Gucang Ping'er knelt there and bowed, saying, "It is truly impolite."

Seeing him say this, Wang Yajuan invited Sanyue Yua to get off the heated kang together. After putting on their shoes, they left the room one after another. The cool air blew into the room, making them even more inclined to change their clothes.

After the two left, Li Xuewu raised a glass, signaled Gucang to change his sitting posture, and said, "From the capital to Steel City, I believe Mr. Gucang must have something important you want to tell me."

"Yes, Mr. Li." Gucang Ping'er had just sat down and now had to kneel to speak.

He deliberated for a moment before looking up at Li Xuewu and saying, "I am very uneasy. I have come to entrust you with the respect I have for you, and with the belief of a desperate fight with no hope of survival."

Saying this, he supported himself with both hands, moved backward, and really knelt down.

Li Xuewu raised his chin slightly and looked at him coldly, asking, "I don't know why Mr. Gucang is doing this."

"Please forgive my offense."

Gucang bowed and then looked up respectfully, saying, "It is my work that was not done well, which affected the cooperation between Sanhe and Red Steel. I am truly sorry for causing you trouble."

"Mr. Gucang, if you put it that way." Li Xuewu sat cross-legged, his upper body straight, like a great mountain pressing down in front of Gucang, "In an occasion like today, isn't it a bit inappropriate?"

"I am very sorry, I have come specifically to apologize." Gucang Ping'er said very sincerely, "My work is to better continue the cooperation between the two sides. It is my dereliction of duty."

"To express my apologies, to express our sincerity, and to make up for the losses, our president has allowed me to sincerely apologize to you."

He bowed again and, when he looked up, said, "You didn't like the car the president brought last time, so he has sent another one to the interior."

"Do you think I refused the last cooperation because I didn't like that car?"

Li Xuewu's expression remained plain, but his tone became more serious.

Gucang Ping'er swallowed his saliva, his face turned pale, and he endured the pressure to say softly, "I believe you support the cooperation between the two sides. Ms. Sanyue is willing to pay the effort to strengthen this cooperation. Please accept this gift."

At this moment, the two who had finished changing clothes were walking to the door. Hearing this inside, Wang Yajuan, who was preparing to open the door, pulled her hand back.

And Sanyue Yua, standing to the side, had long since lowered her head under her gaze, her face deathly pale.

Wang Yajuan was very angry. She thought that the Gucang bringing a woman was to liven up the atmosphere; she didn't expect the atmosphere to be livened up in this way. They were playing quite wildly.

She couldn't go in, couldn't disturb Li Xuewu's conversation, and even more so couldn't bring such a matter out into the open.

At the same time, she also wanted to hear what Li Xuewu had to say. The Sanyue in front of her was indeed very beautiful.

Since even she admitted she was beautiful, it meant that the other party had been arranged to "make an effort" with great confidence.

Bang—

Thud—

She didn't hear Li Xuewu's answer, but they heard an unusual movement inside the room.

It seemed to be...

Sanyue Yua, who was already ashen-faced, suddenly looked up, looking at the door in disbelief.

Turning back, the two outside the door looked at each other and widened their eyes in unison.

"Tell me, what kind of ghost are you playing!"

When Sanyue Yua rushed ahead of Wang Yajuan to open the door, she saw Li Xuewu punching Gucang Ping'er's head, which he was trying to protect, punch after punch, each one landing solidly.

"Mr... Mr. Li, I want to be... a Chinese person..."

Wang Yajuan, standing at the door, was just as dumbfounded as Sanyue Yua.

This is truly... three punches to shatter the Yamato soul, from now on I am a Chinese person?