Ever since getting Qi Jingming’s permission, Qi Xiuyi had thrown himself into the grand project of organizing the exhibition with immense excitement.

If it weren’t for occasionally running into Qi Wendong on the way to meals and seeing his annoying expression that screamed, “Ha, just you wait for the next exam!”, Qi Xiuyi would have almost forgotten about reviewing for his exams altogether.

Qi Xiuyi didn’t think organizing an exhibition was a very complicated matter.

Since he was young, Qi Xiuyi had often seen his “friends” around him do similar things. Participating in activities, organizing activities—for many of his friends, this was a constant part of their daily lives.

For example, his former “best friend” Yu Zhiqiu.

Since elementary school, he had always been a manager in various school clubs and organizations, setting aside time every week and month to organize activities.

Now in university, Yu Zhiqiu was concurrently the head of the school’s radio station, the president of the astronomy club, and the vice president of the literature club.

Besides attending classes and hanging out with him, almost all of his time was devoted to these three organizations.

Qi Xiuyi had once found this completely incomprehensible.

In his view, dedicating so much free time that could be used for fun to club work was simply irrational.

It wasn’t as if those clubs couldn’t function without him, so why did he have to take on all this trouble himself?

It was a waste of energy and time, a completely thankless task!

It was only today that Qi Xiuyi finally understood it a little.

Alright.

If it was to hold an exhibition for his beloved collection, then he should indeed do it himself. At the very least… at the very least, he couldn’t leave it to someone like Qi Wendong, who clearly knew nothing about antiques and collectibles!

Qi Xiuyi reluctantly began to recall his friends’ memories, trying to extract some of their methods and procedures for organizing activities.

But after racking his brain for half a day, Qi Xiuyi belatedly realized:
…Back then, he really didn’t remember any serious business at all!

Looking at his memories:
A was busy with a project, he wouldn’t allow it, insisting on dragging A out to play, forcing him to skip the project meeting;
B was busy with a club, he got angry, insisting on dragging B out to play, forcing him to skip club rehearsal;
C was busy with an interview, he didn’t care, insisting on dragging C out to play…

Qi Xiuyi: …

He suddenly blushed a little.

Qi Xiuyi guiltily skimmed past these memories, searched his brain for a long time, and found that there was truly not a single useful memory.

Qi Xiuyi thought for a long time, with no results.

He simply called up the president of the archaeology club and gathered them for a meeting to discuss it.

Organizing an exhibition was also a new and fresh experience for this generation of archaeology club members; they had no experience.

They were a small, marginal club with few members, and their activities were pitifully few.

Now that they had decided to organize an exhibition with Qi Xiuyi, everyone’s eyes were filled with a novelty and purity that wasn’t much better than Qi Xiuyi’s.

Thus, the entire club pieced together a simple proposal framework by relying on their phones.

Qi Xiuyi looked at the proposal and enthusiastically assigned tasks to everyone.

He thought to himself that organizing an activity was just that, as long as everyone could complete their assigned tasks well, wouldn’t the matter be settled?

It was very simple, it couldn’t possibly stump him, Qi Xiuyi!

With this relaxed mindset, Qi Xiuyi confidently went to complete his first task—
Write a detailed activity proposal, fill out an activity approval application form, and then find the student council for the initial review.

Writing a proposal? Easy!
Filling out an approval form? Easy!
Getting the student council’s stamp of approval? …

“…Li Yunhui! This event was decided upon by our club’s faculty advisor, on what grounds are you not approving it for us!”

In the student council president’s office, Qi Xiuyi slammed his hand on the desk and loudly questioned Li Yunhui.

Li Yunhui was the organizer of the banquet a few months ago. Although an invitation was sent to the Qi family for every banquet, it didn’t mean their relationship was on good terms.

Li Yunhui laughed when he heard this, “Oh my. The club’s faculty advisor says to do it, so you do it? Then why do you need to come to us, the student council, for approval?”

He forcefully poked at the contents of the approval form.

“Young Master Qi, you didn’t show this form to anyone after filling it out, did you? You just brought it straight to me for submission?”

“The scale exceeds the standard, the budget exceeds the standard, you want to open it to the public, but you haven’t provided any emergency plan attachments for safety and order—”

Li Yunhui sneered, tapping the approval form with two fingers, and pushed it back in front of Qi Xiuyi with a sharp “swoosh”.

He glanced at the young master arrogantly, “This application would probably only be approved in your own home.”

Qi Xiuyi’s face flushed red, and he was very unconvinced, “Why not? I saw that the White Winter Festival event at the end of last semester was clearly of this scale!”

He glared at Li Yunhui, “Are you deliberately rejecting my application because we don’t have a good relationship?”

Li Yunhui found it amusing, “A school event and a club event, are they the same standard? Please, if you don’t know how to do things, let someone who knows how do them. Young Master Qi, your noble self shouldn’t get personally involved, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.”

Qi Xiuyi absolutely hated this kind of sarcastic tone!

Even though he now had a strong resistance to Qi Wendong’s passive-aggressiveness, if it was anyone else…
Why should he endure it? He wouldn’t endure it!

Qi Xiuyi glared fiercely, so angry that he forgot to even take the application form, and stormed out of the office, his footsteps echoing loudly in the hallway.

Li Yunhui: “…Hey!”

Li Yunhui’s drawer was half-open, inside was a stack of prepared notices for club activity applications.

But before he could pull one out for Qi Xiuyi, Qi Xiuyi had disappeared.

Li Yunhui: “…”

Speechless, “He really doesn’t know how to do any serious business at all…”

Qi Xiuyi strode out of the student council building, his face flushed with anger.

If they won’t approve it, they won’t approve it! If they won’t approve it, he’ll… he’ll come back to get it approved next time!

Qi Xiuyi was fuming. He didn’t want to think about getting the student council’s approval for the rest of the day.

But his enthusiasm for organizing the exhibition hadn’t subsided. He simply started poking the various members of the archaeology club, asking about their progress.

And with that, well, Qi Xiuyi exploded even more.

[Senior Qi, I just checked the prices of XXX and XXX, how many do we need to buy? Which brand should we buy? Should we wait for the approval and budget to come through before buying? Or should we buy them first and keep the receipts for reimbursement? If we get reimbursed, who do we go to for reimbursement?]

Qi Xiuyi: …
Buy as many as you need!
If they have to ask him such questions, what’s the point of having them!
Each one costs only a few cents, so cheap they’re practically free. The total cost wouldn’t even be much, can’t they just buy them and be done with it? Why make it so complicated!

[Senior Qi, I’m at the XX club. I asked them if they’re interested in co-organizing the exhibition with us, they said no. What should I do? qaq Should I stay here? It’s a bit awkward, senior, sob sob…]

Qi Xiuyi: …
They said they’re not interested, so they’re not interested?
Convince them! Tempt them! What’s so awkward about it? What’s there to sob about? Is this a difficult thing to do?!

[Oh oh oh, senior, I just had some personal matters, I’ll go right now…]
(Thirty minutes later) [Oh oh oh, senior, I’ll go search for it now, right away…]
(One hour later) [Okay okay, senior, I’ll organize them then…]
(One and a half hours later) [Uh-huh, senior, I’ll put them in Excel now…]

Qi Xiuyi: …
Is this some kind of wind-up doll? It moves only when you wind it up. Can’t he work on his own?!

Qi Xiuyi’s limbs stiffened, his scalp tingled, and an countless urge to curse was suppressed at the root of his tongue.

However, the suppression failed.

His anger piled on top of his anger. He grabbed them one by one by their problems and spewed at them, trying to use the power of his words to stimulate them to work diligently.

But it would have been better if he hadn’t scolded them. As soon as he did, a member with a strong personality immediately started cursing back at him.

The other person’s temper flared, and they left a message: [A few bucks isn’t money? Then you can pay for the exhibition yourself! ****, what’s wrong with you? Whoever wants to organize this event can do it, I’m not doing it anymore!]
And then blocked him.

Qi Xiuyi: …
Qi Xiuyi: Ahhhhhhh!
Hair standing on end! Fury shooting to the heavens!

But he couldn’t even curse back. The huge red exclamation mark was like a mockery from the world, dominating his entire vision on the cold phone screen.

Thus, Qi Xiuyi’s pent-up anger turned into a sky-high grievance.

He rushed up to 509 in grievance, knocked on the door with a loud “bang bang”, and shouted, “Qi Wendong—”

Qi Wendong opened the door and sighed deeply.

Qi Wendong: “Speak. Did you get into a fight with someone, or did someone hit you? Why do you look so wronged? Do you want me to call your parents for you, or gather some brothers to cheer you on?”

Qi Xiuyi was extremely wronged, “Qi Wendong, you’re making fun of me too!”

“Oh? So you were made fun of.”
Qi Wendong’s eyes crinkled with a beautiful smile, but it looked incredibly infuriating, “Tell me about it, so I can have a laugh too?”

Qi Xiuyi didn’t know if Qi Wendong’s attacks had weakened, or if his resistance to Qi Wendong’s words had strengthened.

If these words had come from someone else’s mouth, he would have jumped up in anger by now.

But these words came from Qi Wendong’s mouth—
Qi Xiuyi subconsciously ignored the beginning and end of the sentence, and accurately grasped the four words “tell me about it.”

Qi Xiuyi: “Qi Wendong, let me tell you…!”

Qi Xiuyi couldn’t bear it anymore and spewed out all the problems he had encountered in preparing for the exhibition these past few days, comprehensively scolding Li Yunhui for not approving his application and the club members for their complete lack of initiative.

Finally, he concluded angrily, “If my dad hadn’t restricted my spending, I would have hired people to organize the exhibition myself long ago. Why would I need to work with these… these… annoying people!”

He had hoped to get some resonance or support from Qi Wendong.

But who would have thought, as soon as Qi Wendong heard it, he clutched his waist and laughed until tears came out.

Qi Wendong: “You… you… actually got into a fight with someone over something like this, and you couldn’t even win the argument and got blocked?”

“Qi Xiuyi, now you know why Dad originally said he would hand this matter over to me, right? You… haha, I told you you couldn’t handle it. Why don’t you just give up early!”

Qi Wendong’s eyebrows were raised high, “If you really want to see the exhibition—hey, although organizing an exhibition is very troublesome, and I have no interest in doing it at all, but if you beg me, maybe I’ll be happy and agree?”

Qi Xiuyi was annoyed, “Qi Wendong, are you even listening to me seriously!”

“It’s clearly, clearly not my problem! It’s all of them, one by one, not cooperating with me! Especially those people in the archaeology club, they’re either procrastinating or don’t know how to do anything. What’s the use of them!”

Qi Wendong chuckled lightly, “Why should they cooperate with you? You’re not their leader, you don’t pay them, and this is your collection exhibition, not theirs. Why should they cooperate with you so enthusiastically for no reason?”

Qi Xiuyi’s eyes widened, “But this is clearly an activity initiated by their club! It was clearly their club’s faculty advisor who came to discuss this matter with me!”

Qi Wendong said nonchalantly, “Alright, then let’s add the faculty advisor’s name to the list of people who have a reason to cooperate with you. But—you can’t expect the teacher to do all this work with you, can you?”

Qi Xiuyi was extremely unconvinced and absolutely refused to admit that this was his problem.

Qi Xiuyi: “You, Qi Wendong, why are you taking their side! With their attitude, do you think you could do it? If you can’t, on what grounds do you say it’s my problem!”

Qi Wendong was surprised, “Oh my, I can’t? What gives you the confidence to say that, Qi Xiuyi?”

He paused, “Perfect. I’ve been bored these past two days. How about we make a bet? The stakes don’t have to be anything else, just the one thousand five hundred yuan I just transferred to you the other day.”

Qi Xiuyi glared at him fiercely, “Bet on what?”

Qi Wendong smiled, “Let’s bet—on whether I can, within two days, make that classmate who blocked you have a change of heart, voluntarily return to the work team, and actively and enthusiastically contribute to your grand exhibition project. How about it?”