The orderly atmosphere outside the venue was instantly thrown into disarray after Wang Zhuo’s disturbance.

Soon, management personnel, followed by security guards, cornered Gao Haihe, who was dragging a large banner. Towering and imposing, he held a conspicuous sign, trailed by a bevy of attractive men and women—it was impossible for him not to stand out.

“Put that down, put the sign down now!” The leading woman, sporting an official staff ID badge, pointed angrily at Gao Haihe. “Which company are you with? Who authorized you to do this?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, is it? This is the street, not inside the convention center,” Gao Haihe retorted sharply, annoyed by her attitude.

“You’re tough, just you wait,” the woman sneered twice, pulling out a walkie-talkie and chattering into it.

Gao Haihe immediately felt a chill—damn, the urban management officers are coming.

Just as he was about to make a quick getaway, two burly men seemed to materialize out of thin air. In a flash, they snatched the sign, snapped it, stomped it into pieces, and scattered the debris everywhere.

Civilized enforcement? What was that? City management staff were usually temporary hires; they wouldn’t know anything about that.

Mission accomplished, the city management gentlemen sauntered off. Gao Haihe reluctantly bent down to pick up a broken corner piece, intent on reporting back to Wang Zhuo.

The interlude of brute-force enforcement did nothing to derail Wang Zhuo’s recruitment plans. He had hired a total of twenty handsome young men and women, ten of each.

Taking these twenty, along with Qiu Lu, Gao Haihe, and Shu Qing, the artist who drew the boards, the group boarded a large coach bus Wang Zhuo had rented from a travel agency and headed straight for Nanjing Road.

“From today on, you are temporarily one big family. To ease any doubts you might have, we’ll first take a look at the company premises before we go eat.”

Everyone liked the sound of that. Outside the recruitment venue earlier, many had assumed Wang Zhuo was a manager from some nightclub scouting for male and female escorts.

After giving the crowd a tour of Shengshi Wangchao and boasting extensively about the company’s future vision, Wang Zhuo led the group across the street to a large hotel for a seafood feast.

The bill for the two tables of food and drink exceeded eight thousand yuan, instantly boosting the employees’ sense of belonging.

“The company starts renovations tomorrow. During the period before the grand opening, I’ve arranged for off-site training for you all—and yes, it will be paid.”

A few girls exchanged glances, wondering if this training would involve being hostesses again.

“You stay behind, handle that… renovation supervision,” Wang Zhuo casually assigned the task to Gao Haihe. He found the big man quite agreeable and decided to keep him around.

Although the job wasn't in his field, it was genuinely hard for a giant of Gao Haihe’s stature to find an office chair in a 3D animation company that wouldn’t collapse. Having a job with good benefits, he had no room to be picky.

“That’s it for today then. Assemble at the company at ten in the morning tomorrow, bringing what you need for a trip. The training might last one to two weeks, so get everything ready.”

With that said, Wang Zhuo dusted off his hands and left, leaving more than twenty vibrant young people to discuss the situation in the hotel’s private room.

“What’s there to fear? With this many of us, what kind of trouble can he really stir up?”

“I don’t think there will be any issues. Rich people like to be mysterious. Besides, we saw his license plate number, and I even jotted down his ID number.”

“You memorized his ID number?”

“Yeah, I discreetly noted it down when he showed us the lease agreement.”

“A company started like this? Today has certainly been an eye-opener.”

“I heard the jewelry industry is really lucrative. Maybe we can really make over ten thousand a month.”

“As long as I have a job that lets me pay rent and buy clothes, that’s enough for me. Making money is the men’s business.”

The next day, the travel agency’s bus carried these handsome men and women heading north. Qiu Lu was in charge of the group; their destination was none other than Qishifang, where he had previously worked.

Manager Ai Yongzhi was teary-eyed with emotion. After waiting so long, he finally wouldn't have to be a doorman anymore. As the person in charge of receiving this commissioned training group, he could finally hold his head high!

…

Next door, Shengshi Wangchao had closed for renovations. During these past couple of days, Zhang Xingming had been pondering where to start tripping them up.

Business license processing? That would probably be hard to block; business administration fees had been eliminated, leaving the Bureau of Industry and Commerce with little more than the ability to demand a meal. If he thought the other party would have trouble with capital verification, Zhang Xingming wouldn't even believe it himself—this was someone who could casually produce over three million to pay rent.

Tax registration? That probably wouldn't work either. The processing period was thirty days. If things didn’t go smoothly, the other party would certainly hire an agency, resulting in nothing more than some extra public relations expenses, which would be a mere scratch.

Fire inspection? Now that was a decent idea, but it was too early to use it now. It would be more impactful if they waited until the opening day to conduct a sudden inspection and order a temporary shutdown for rectification!

Zhang Xingming immediately settled on the fire inspection plan. He would wait for their opening day to strike!

…

The ship’s whistle sounded its deep note as the liner cut through the waves.

In a leisure teahouse on the Bund, Wang Zhuo sat by the window, basking in the warm, pleasant afternoon sunlight of early autumn.

“I’m sorry, I’m late.”

A sophisticated woman, around forty, approached him with a smiling face, her high heels clicking briskly on the floor beneath her black stockings. Her knee-length pencil skirt snugly molded her abundant hips, and the generous décolletage of her low-cut square neckline exposed two snowy white half-spheres that gently swayed with the rhythm of her steps.

“It’s fine, I just arrived too,” Wang Zhuo gestured for her to sit. After she settled down, he smiled. “Auntie Xu, what good news have you brought me?”

“Just call me Sister Xu,” the woman smiled and pointed at Wang Zhuo, correcting his address. “Am I really that old?”

Wang Zhuo thought to himself that she wasn’t old at all; she was perfectly ripe, practically Wang Zhengdao’s ideal type.

“I do have some news, but I’m not sure if it counts as good news,” the woman said, pouring herself a cup of tea and exhaling a wisp of hot steam.

“It’s like this,” she continued. “There is a production team, one master and two apprentices, who are not happy at their former company. Their skill level is quite renowned in the industry, and they can certainly meet your requirements, but their price is rather high. I’m worried you might not accept it.”

“Price is easy to discuss,” Wang Zhuo was immediately pleased. “If I were short on money, why would I hire your headhunting firm? How much are they asking for?”

The woman smiled and said, “At their previous company, the master earned 400,000 a year, and the apprentices earned 100,000 each, totaling 600,000 in fixed income.”

“By convention, I should increase their salary by thirty percent, right? Three sixes are eighteen… that’s 780,000 a year.” While Wang Zhuo was generous with money, even he was momentarily taken aback; that price was truly steep.

“Based on past market rates, a thirty percent increase would be standard, but you know how hot this field is right now,” the woman smiled and shook her head. “Talent is scarce; 780,000 might not be enough to secure them.”

“As long as the value is worth the cost,” Wang Zhuo let go of his hesitation. Sharpening the axe won't delay the woodcutting. If this production team is worth that money, he was willing to spend it.

“I brought photos,” the woman retrieved a tablet from her large tote bag, activated it, opened a folder, and handed it to Wang Zhuo. “For confidentiality reasons, only a few of the photos here are their actual works. Even if I immediately disposed of this tablet after leaving, no one would discover my connection to them as a headhunter.”

Wang Zhuo nodded with a smile. The headhunting profession certainly involved many nuances and strict protocols. It was fortunate that such mysterious companies existed; otherwise, where would he find top-tier jade carving masters? It’s easy to find a thousand soldiers, but hard to find one general.

The jade photos the woman provided were indeed masterpieces, some of which Wang Zhuo had seen in professional magazines or exhibition reports. When she pointed out the work done by that specific production team, he saw countless high-value jade treasures, some worth tens of millions. Wang Zhuo instantly made up his mind: he wanted them.

If Qiu Lu represented a first-tier skill level, then this production team’s capability was truly elite. Qiu Lu’s weakness lay in limited exposure; the most valuable jade he had ever been involved with was only in the million-yuan range. In contrast, this team had a vast portfolio, with pieces rarely valued below the tens of millions. This level of skill made them cornerstones in any company.

“I want to contact them as soon as possible,” Wang Zhuo stated solemnly. “Compensation and everything else are negotiable.”

“Understood. I will implement this immediately upon my return,” the woman smiled. “This resource actually came from a colleague of mine, but the terms offered by his employer did not satisfy them. I hope you can make a decision quickly, otherwise, if someone else snatches them first, finding an equivalent team might not happen anytime soon.”

“I understand that,” Wang Zhuo nodded with a smile. “Sister Xu, thank you for going to the trouble.”

“It’s what I’m supposed to do,” she joked playfully. “But my name isn’t Mother Teresa, after all.”

The woman left, driving a fiery red Porsche. A handsome man, slightly older than Wang Zhuo, was riding with her, the two of them intimately close, looking like a couple. Wang Zhuo found the sight both amusing and frustrating.

Yet, Fatty Long had once said that men in relationships with older women are the happiest because mature women are more considerate. Remembering Fatty Long’s words, Wang Zhuo’s mind inexplicably conjured up Qi Fei’s image—recalling her face, her lingering scent, her alluring figure…

Lost in thought, a certain part of him became uncontrollably aroused again, standing straight and firm like the gearshift to his right.

He laughed self-deprecatingly, slowly pulling the car over to the side of the road, and picked up his mobile phone.

“Hello, Sister Qi, have you located our pricing manager yet?”

Qi Fei’s gentle laughter drifted through the phone. “You only call when you need your supply chain, but you don’t even bother to say hello when you call your sister here?”

A sudden spark ignited in Wang Zhuo’s mind: Sister? Are you flirting with me?