The Ming family’s cruise tickets were indeed extremely difficult to buy.

Due to the previous incident, this route had been unexpectedly interrupted. At the end of this month, a safer and more luxurious cruise ship would dock to make up for the trip on the same route.

As a gesture of apology, all ticket prices were offered at a very generous discount. Passengers from the previous ship who were willing to join the trip again would also receive a free upgraded ticket, which naturally meant that far fewer new tickets were available.

“…That family isn’t going, are they?”

The marketing manager clutched his phone, still wary. “They were considered passengers before.”

“They can’t go. Every single one of them is now a person subject to enforcement…” The legal department manager hadn’t finished speaking when he suddenly stared at the countdown timer that hit zero. “Quick, quick, quick—argh!”

The legal manager slapped his thigh in annoyance. The film and television department manager sitting next to him, who had been staring blankly at the screen for five minutes, let out a long sigh and threw his phone aside.

Fang Hang’s finger ached from tapping the screen. He stared intently for a long time before slumping back on the sofa, drained of energy.

…

It wasn’t just Director Xun who failed to get a ticket.

The management team of Huaisheng Entertainment, having pooled their efforts and once again rolled up their sleeves to camp out in Young CEO Luo’s office, also watched helplessly as the available tickets vanished in a second.

The cries of regret that echoed through the office made a passing agent jump in fright.

“Maybe the internet connection was bad.” Although Xiang Luan, who had been roped in to help grab tickets, also failed, he was very experienced and comforted the management team he had fought alongside. “For the next round of tickets, switch to mobile data. It will definitely work.”

The operations department nodded in agreement. “Right, right. I heard that if there are last-minute cancellations, there might be another batch released. We might get lucky.”

“I’m afraid that’ll be difficult.” The marketing manager was worried, analyzing the ticket market. “There were already fewer tickets this time, and the prices were low, so I estimate…” His voice trailed off under several gazes, and he immediately changed his tune. “I estimate we can get lucky.”

The gazes then retracted. They temporarily set aside their phones, now useless for buying tickets, and clinked their cans of beer.

Xiang Luan, sipping his iced cola, had wanted to ask something for a long time. He shuffled over and squatted next to Fang Hang. “Brother Fang, are we really going to the beach to watch the sunset?”

Fang Hang was planning this very thing with the film and television manager. He nodded and patted his head. “Remember to bring your guitar.”

“Okay!” Xiang Luan was instantly energized and jumped up excitedly. “The beach! Maybe I’ll see my brother! Maybe he was saved by a kind person at the beach and is almost fully recovered by now!”

Fang Hang looked at him for a long time, then slowly rubbed his forehead and let out a breath with a smile.

After the press conference, Huaisheng Entertainment gave no quarter to those smear accounts and marketing trolls.

These people were certainly not doing this for the first time. They either relied on the fact that their backers were difficult to deal with, held dirt on many people in the industry, or specialized in sucking up to the powerful and kicking the weak, luckily having not yet run into a truly tough opponent.

Now, Huaisheng had no reason to fear any of these things, so they naturally wouldn’t be polite. The legal department, following Xiang Luan’s notebook, started gathering evidence and filing lawsuits in order. With someone taking the lead, many smaller entertainment companies that had been targeted and blackmailed also seized the opportunity, dragging these so-called “reporters” out from the shadows one by one.

In this situation, Xiang Luan, who was at the center of the storm, had to be watched even more carefully to prevent retaliation from those with ill intentions.

Fang Hang simply took him from his agent and gave him a short vacation.

Xiang Luan felt a bit uneasy under his gaze and asked quietly, “Brother Fang?”

“It’s nothing,” Fang Hang said. “It’s great to be young.”

Xiang Luan was baffled. “Huh?”

“Go pack your things,” Fang Hang shooed him away. “Bring your agent too, and remember to wear a hat and mask.”

Among the people in the office, Xiang Luan was the only one who still didn’t know Young CEO Luo’s specific whereabouts. As a result, his state of mind was even better than theirs.

From the very beginning, Xiang Luan simply did not believe that anything would happen to his brother.

He believed more firmly than anyone that Luo Zhi could do anything and would find a way for everything. Even if he really didn’t remember anything, he would still be the most amazing person, and he must be living a super cool life right now.

To further strengthen this belief, Xiang Luan had already concocted more than a dozen possible scenarios, from being stranded on a deserted island to being picked up by a passing cruise ship.

One day, he woke up from a nightmare and called his agent in the middle of the night, crying and recounting each scenario for two hours. He nearly pushed his agent to go to Manager Fang the next day and request to manage an artist over the age of twenty-nine.

Fang Hang shooed him away. The other managers were still wallowing in the disappointment of failing to get tickets. They sighed, got up, and went back to their own departments to do a headcount.

Team-building was a tradition at Huaisheng from the very beginning. In the past, Luo Zhi would take them out twice a year. The destination varied—sometimes a manor, sometimes a mountain climbing trip, or a short trip nearby—but Young CEO Luo always paid for it out of his own pocket.

These trips were purely for fun and relaxation. The employees could go wild and might not even be able to find the general manager. They couldn’t bear to break this tradition, so this team-building trip had actually been decided on a few weeks ago.

It was just that the state of mind when they chose the destination back then had definitely changed a lot looking back now.

“If I had known, I would have planned to watch the sunrise,” Fang Hang rubbed his neck and chuckled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a sunrise.”

The film and television manager slid open the balcony door, tapped out a cigarette, and handed it to him. “That day will come.”

The film and television department had a deputy manager, so he wasn’t in a hurry to go over. He smoked with Fang Hang on the balcony, chatting idly in low voices.

These past few days had felt like a completely lucid dream. It was rare for them to have a moment to chat like this. When the beer in the can warmed up, Fang Hang went to the fridge and got two more. “Brother Kuang.”

The manager of the film production department was named Kuang Li. He was the oldest among them and had also been a manager at his previous film company. Back when he was framed, he lost every cent of his savings from the past few years and was nearly discarded by that company after he had outlived his usefulness.

His wife’s health was poor, and his parents were getting old. If Luo Zhi hadn’t saved him at that time and later taken him in to continue working in the industry, who knows what might have happened.

Fang Hang handed him a beer. They knew which scars shouldn’t be picked at and hadn’t asked Kuang Li about his past these past few years. “Did those people get what they deserved in the end?”

“They were all sent to prison,” Kuang Li didn’t mind, nodding. “They’re still serving time inside.”

He didn’t know how to thank Luo Zhi. He had drafted a new contract forgoing his salary for three years and went to Luo Zhi with it, but the young CEO didn’t approve it.

From then on, Kuang Li followed Luo Zhi. He knew Luo Zhi didn’t like running a company, so he handled all the trivial matters. When Luo Zhi wasn’t looking, he extended his contract to fifty years.

When Kuang Li wasn’t looking, Luo Zhi left him at least five scripts that would give him the confidence to jump to any other company.

Kuang Li later read those scripts. They were either penned by famous screenwriters who hadn’t produced anything in years or were full of brilliant potential. Any company with a bit of discernment would see what Kuang Li had in his hands and would never bring up the past.

Fang Hang clinked beer cans with him and chugged a few mouthfuls of the cold beer.

…They actually hadn’t expected it either.

Looking back on that day’s experience now, it still felt as hazy as a bizarre and absurd dream—Luo Jun, as a direct relative, had obtained the death certificate. People from the probate office came with Luo Zhi’s will and gave them what Luo Zhi had left for them.

They sat at the table, stunned and motionless. Kuang Li had already locked those scripts in the company’s safe and left the conference room.

Not long after, Kuang Li personally sent Jian Huaiyi to prison.

They managed to collect evidence, and Director Gong’s assistant from the “Huo Miao (Flame)” crew also contacted them, passing on another set of even more concrete evidence on someone’s behalf. Kuang Li used this evidence to ensure that CEO Jian could never make a comeback and even attended the trial that day.

“I went to see him later,” Kuang Li said after a long silence, knowing what Fang Hang wanted to ask. “He looked reasonably decent.”

Jian Huaiyi looked reasonably decent when he met him.

Although he was in a prison uniform and looked much more disheveled, having long lost the glamour of the Luo family’s adopted son, he didn’t throw a hysterical fit. He even shook his hand.

“I accept my loss in this gamble,” Jian Huaiyi said to him. “I thought about this outcome. I’m not surprised.”

“By then, he had already learned from Luo Chengxiu that Huaisheng was not something he could snatch away, that he was far inferior to Young CEO Luo.”

Kuang Li said, “He said he had long seen through that family’s character and guessed this day would come. He said he should have agreed to it back then.”

…

Back then, Luo Zhi had mentioned to Luo Jun that he would give all his shares and inheritance rights to Jian Huaiyi, on the condition that Jian Huaiyi leave the Luo family.

At that time, Luo Zhi no longer had any expectations for anyone in the Luo family and had long stopped speaking seriously with his biological brother.

But even though Luo Zhi had said it while playing a game, Jian Huaiyi knew very well that if Luo Zhi said it, he could really do it.

“I should have agreed. Although it wasn’t much money—that family really didn’t give him anything.”

Jian Huaiyi sat across from him, separated by iron bars, and continued nonchalantly, “I couldn’t resist. This company in his hands was like a juicy piece of meat. Even the filthiest stray dog would drool at the sight of it…”

“Did you ever think about it?” Kuang Li suddenly said.

Interrupted, Jian Huaiyi paused. “What?”

“Coming to the company, genuinely learning from him, seeing with your own eyes how he did it,” Kuang Li said. “You and I are the same kind of person.”

Jian Huaiyi shot his head up, staring at him, his pupils suddenly contracting.

People like them could recognize each other. From the way Kuang Li had relentlessly retaliated, pushing him into prison without leaving any room for escape, he could have guessed. No more words were needed as proof.

“I was framed back then, and I thought, why am I the unlucky one? Just because I don’t do bad things? Then I’ll become their kind of person too.”

Kuang Li said, “He came to recruit me, and I found it very ironic. I was prepared to take over all the company’s affairs, to make him trust me, and to hollow out the company from his hands step by step.”

“Everyone treated me like trash. Anyone could come and step on me.”

“I don’t want to be stepped on anymore,” Kuang Li said. “I want to climb up. Whether by scheming or by using tricks, I will get what I want.”

Jian Huaiyi’s hand on the table paused.

He lowered his hand, his eyes narrowing slowly. “And then?”

“I don’t know,” Kuang Li stopped and thought for a moment. “I probably worked with him for about two months. Or four months. Anyway, no more than half a year.”

Jian Huaiyi suddenly let out a sarcastic laugh. “Are you trying to praise his charisma to me?”

“Manager Kuang, you and I are not the same kind of person,” Jian Huaiyi said. “You were just hit hard for a moment and went down a dead end, thinking everyone was detestable. Then you met a good person and your heart softened again.”

“I know Luo Zhi is a good person,” Jian Huaiyi smiled. “Unfortunately, people like me are born bad seeds. We can’t be reformed.”

Kuang Li asked, “You think I was reformed? That I turned over a new leaf?”

Jian Huaiyi was about to shrug, but his wrist hit the cold handcuffs. His eyes twitched uncontrollably, and his gaze landed on Kuang Li.

“If Huaisheng Entertainment were still around, I would have turned over a new leaf,” Kuang Li said. “Living peacefully, just like that, for fifty years.”

Jian Huaiyi’s pupils constricted. “It was you who hollowed me out, who took the lead in buying up the shares to kick me out.”

“I told you, I was the one managing the company’s affairs… I thought there was enough time. I didn’t know he was sick.”

Kuang Li suddenly stared at Jian Huaiyi. “Jian, if he hadn’t been sick, he would have done a better job than me. You wouldn’t have even gotten a bite of this meat.”

“It’s me who never dared to tell him how important this company was to me,” Kuang Li said. “He called me Brother Kuang and never asked me why I made certain arrangements… I worked at the company for half a year, got my revenge on those who wronged me, and then completely stopped thinking about those things. But I was afraid he would find out. You don’t know, I was scared to death.”

Kuang Li even had nightmares sometimes, worried that Luo Zhi would find out about the thoughts he had when he was first recruited.

These things were not completely untraceable. It was just because Luo Zhi never doubted him that no one else on the team ever doubted him.

“Do you know what kind of company this is?” Kuang Li said. “Jian, we are the same kind of person, so I know what you want most.”

“It’s not power, and it’s not money. Of course, you want those too, but you want them for something else.”

“It’s because you’ve been stepped on in the mud, kicked around like a stray dog. Your heart is filled with hatred and unease. You even jolt awake from sleep.”

“Because you’re sick of having nothing,” Kuang Li said. “So you have to snatch everything.”

“Alright,” Jian Huaiyi interrupted him. “Manager Kuang, I think I know what you’re here for.”

Jian Huaiyi lowered his head, his voice turning cold. “You want to see me despair, don’t you? I’m sorry, but you might be disappointed. I don’t regret anything I’ve done…”

“I could sleep every night at the company,” Kuang Li said.

Jian Huaiyi’s pupils shrank abruptly.

“We would do a lot of things that would definitely seem childish at other companies. If I were at another company, I’d probably laugh at this bunch of idiots for being crazy.”

Kuang Li completely ignored him and continued, “Only I would know how jealous I was, my eyes turning red with envy just looking at them.”

“For everything we do, as long as we think it’s right, we don’t need to explain it to others. Other departments will cooperate.”

“If something doesn’t achieve the expected results, if it fails, no one blames you. You write a self-reflection report.”

“If it goes well, you treat everyone to a meal. Not at a big restaurant, but at a roadside stall. A group of people, a case of beer, chatting until midnight.”

“If there’s a conflict with outsiders, you don’t even have to think about it. The general manager will have your back. As long as we can guarantee we didn’t do anything wrong, no matter how big the mess, there’s always someone to cover for you.”

“No one restrains you, no one demands you must do something to get something in return. You can leave when you want and come back when you want.”

Kuang Li said, “As long as you want to come back, the door is always open.”

That sentence seemed to stab into Jian Huaiyi’s eyes. His pupils constricted and didn’t move.

He let out an almost mocking, cold laugh. “Manager Kuang, do you think this kind of company environment is normal? Healthy? This isn’t kids playing house. If just one person with ulterior motives gets in, they could destroy all of you! A bunch of naive fools—”

He stopped mid-sentence.

Kuang Li just looked down at him with his arms crossed, not saying a word, but the words Kuang Li had just said seemed to jump out of thin air, one by one.

…probably laugh at this bunch of idiots for being crazy.

Only I would know how jealous I was.

My eyes turning red with envy just looking at them.

Jian Huaiyi’s jaw clenched uncontrollably. He wanted to retort but couldn’t get a single word out. His entire body leaned forward uncontrollably, his gaze fixed on Kuang Li.

“It’s not healthy or normal. It’s kids playing house,” Kuang Li admitted. “That’s why a single Li Weiming was enough for you to succeed.”

Kuang Li looked at him. “Haven’t you already destroyed us?”

Jian Huaiyi’s chest heaved, that layer of decency finally beginning to peel away. “You’ve all gathered together again. Manager Kuang, are you mocking me?”

Kuang Li shook his head. “I’m just stating a fact. You have already destroyed us.”

“We can get back together because we received the inheritance left by CEO Luo, so we can arm-wrestle with you.”

Kuang Li said, “We will do our best to be the same as before, but CEO Luo is gone. It’s impossible to be the same.”

“Jian,” Kuang Li bent down to look at him, “do you know what kind of possibility you destroyed?”

Jian Huaiyi’s face slowly turned pale.

“We could have played together like this in the adult world.”

Kuang Li said, “Playing house, as you called it.”

“Maybe one day, another person with ulterior motives would have snuck in, or maybe not. Maybe in the future, someone would have lost their original intention, or maybe not.”

“But we could have at least played for five or ten years. Our general manager’s talent is so strong, every script he picks is a winner, the resources he has are enviable, the situation was opening up, and everything could have kept going up.”

“By then, even if we had disbanded, we would have already established our own positions in the industry, had enough savings, stable families, and could have easily gone independent.”

“By then, when we look back at this time, we would only feel relaxed and gratified, able to sleep soundly every night.”

“Because during that time, we had everything we wanted.”

“Not stray dogs. We had a home, friends, people supporting us from behind. We didn’t have to snatch anything, no one could step on us, and every day we opened our eyes with anticipation.”

“Someone unconditionally believes in you and is good to you. Whenever you want to come back, the door is open.”

With every word Kuang Li spoke, Jian Huaiyi’s expression grew uglier.

He seemed to want to interrupt Kuang Li, but it was as if he couldn’t even open his mouth. Only his chest heaved more violently.

“Jian, you seem to know CEO Luo’s character very well.”

“You’ve known each other since you were young. When did CEO Luo start to hate you? It probably wasn’t from the first meeting, right?” Kuang Li said. “If he had hated you from the first meeting, you wouldn’t have been so afraid of him all this time.”

Kuang Li’s voice was very low, like a whisper. “With your understanding of him, if you hadn’t opposed him from the very beginning, hadn’t harmed the people around him, hadn’t harmed him.”

“Right, you’re not that kind of person, and neither am I,” Kuang Li corrected himself. “If you were like me, kept your cool and pretended for a bit, got close to him first, and saw what the world around him was like.”

“If that were the case.”

Kuang Li said, “Do you think, you would—”

“Thank you for your concern, Manager Kuang.”

Jian Huaiyi could finally speak. He said in a low, cold sneer, “You’ve probably guessed wrong. I just wanted money, wanted to be on top, wanted his status as the young master of the Luo family. It’s not that complicated.”

Jian Huaiyi’s words tumbled out one after another, as if rushing to escape. “I’m not interested in his world, I’m not envious, and I accept that I’ve come to this point…”

He suddenly couldn’t speak anymore. He just gasped for air, as if there wasn’t enough for him to breathe, his gaze fixed dead on a point in empty space.

…If.

If.

It probably wasn’t from the first meeting, right.

Kuang Li looked down at him, then finally withdrew his gaze after a long time and turned to walk out.

“Whatever,” Kuang Li said dismissively, not bothering to argue with him. “I could sleep every night at the company.”

Jian Huaiyi was frozen in his seat, staring at him.

Kuang Li opened the door.

There’s a kind of person who doesn’t want money, doesn’t want power—of course, they want these things too, greedily and unscrupulously fighting to snatch them, but they snatch them only to prove that they are not a stray dog.

Because they’re sick of having nothing, they have to snatch everything, even giving up their bottom line and shame. But for some reason, no matter how much they snatch, they are still uneasy.

No matter how much they snatch, they only have shattered pieces, and they can’t sleep at night.

…

After that, Kuang Li didn’t waste another word on him and left the visitation room.

If Jian Huaiyi hadn’t targeted Luo Zhi back then—even if he had just put on a bit of a disguise, to see what the world around Luo Zhi was like, would things have turned out differently?

Would Huaisheng Entertainment have had a place for one more person? Would another dirty, stray dog have finally found a place to lie down and get a good night’s sleep, with a door always left open for him every day?

Kuang Li had no interest in knowing. But he thought, Jian Huaiyi would probably be interested in this question.

He later heard that the young master Jian, the once promising adopted son of the Luo family, never again dreamed of finding people on the outside to pull strings in a vain attempt to reduce his sentence.

Kuang Li stubbed out his cigarette.

The people from each department were mostly organized. The cars were waiting downstairs. The hallway was lively, and Xiang Luan’s guitar could be heard.

They used to often hear the most beautiful guitar music.

The marketing manager pushed open the office door, poking his head and shoulder in. “Are you guys coming or not? Xiang Luan is doing a ritual, maybe we’ll run into—”

He stopped himself, cleared his throat, and coughed pretentiously.

He looked barely a finger’s width more mature than Xiang Luan.

Kuang Li and Fang Hang clinked their now-warm beer cans and smiled. “Let’s go. Let’s go watch the sunset.”