Xia Lei was having wine with s.h.i.+ Boren and a few representatives from the military during a banquet when a waiter approached him. He whispered to Xia Lei, “Mister Xia, a gentleman wishes to speak with you.”

“Did he mention his name?” said Xia Lei.

“His surname is Ye.” The waiter pointed towards said man. “He’s sitting there.”

Xia Lei looked towards where the waiter was pointing at. He recognised Ye Kun in a glance. He was curious about Ye Kun’s intention, but he didn’t bat an eyelid. “I got it.”

However, the waiter did not leave. He whispered once again, “Mister Ye wants to discuss an important matter with you. You’ll regret not going over.”

Xia Lei frowned. The waiter must have gotten a tip from Ye Kun. When he was about to ask the waiter to leave, he saw Ye Kun heading towards the exit of the restaurant. Looking at Ye Kun, he thought, “He left the restaurant as soon as he called me out for a conversation. What's he up to?”

“Please excuse me for a moment.” Xia Lei left the table and headed towards another exit of the restaurant.

As he left the restaurant, he spotted Ye Kun, who was just entering the stairwell.

“What the h.e.l.l is he up to?” Xia Lei followed after him. He entered the stairwell and found Ye Kun waiting for him on the first floor.

“Director Xia.” Ye Kun greeted him. “I thought you wouldn’t come, but fortunately you did.”

Xia Lei said, “How could I ignore an invitation from Director Ye?”

“Director Xia, don’t have to be so polite to me. You are currently a public figure and are well-known among people with high social status. My existence is hardly important to you.”

“Stop beating around the bush. I’m not used to discussing matters in this kind of place. If someone else sees us, they'd think that we are planning evil deeds,” said Xia Lei.

“Haha, Director Xia, do you think I’m the kind of person who only does bad things?”

“Director Ye, if you called me out to discuss morals and ethics, I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave now.” Xia Lei was about to leave.

“Wait!”

Xia Lei smiled wryly,

“There are people who stopped China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons from providing weapon spare parts to Thunder Horse Organization.”

Xia Lei stopped and turned around to face him. “When was this happening?”

“Today.”

There was a long pause before Xia Lei spoke up again, “I believe this is not the only matter you’d like to discuss?”

“It seems like I can’t hide anything from you.” Ye Kun checked around to make sure no one was near to them before he continued, “Director Xia, do you know who’s behind this?”

“I have my guesses. It doesn’t matter even if you don’t tell me.” Xia Lei stared at Ye Kun. “But the only thing that I’m still unclear about is your intention of calling me out.”

“I’ve had enough.”

“What do you mean?”

Ye Kun lowered his voice. “You could easily have me and Mu Jian-Feng on hold. You could’ve easily destroyed me. They knew this all along but they insisted I be the one to initiate this conversation. Isn’t it obvious that they want me to be the sacrifice? I’m not doing it.”

This was the reason Xia Lei was being called out. He was not expecting this.

“Director Xia, I’m not a caged dog. I’m also not an idiot who’d sacrifice himself for others. As long as you help me, I will be your friend. I can even…”

“Even…?”

“Work under you and be yours.” Ye Kun finished his sentence.

The unexpected turn of events stunned Xia Lei. “Director Ye, I’m not sure what you are up to, but aren't you afraid that I’ll blow your cover to Mu Jian-Feng and Ling Han?”

“If I was afraid, I wouldn’t have told you this,” Ye Kun said. “I know what kind of person you are, you wouldn’t blow my cover.”

“How can you be certain about this? We are not even friends.”

“It’s because you need me.”

“Do you think I’ll trust you?”

“I don’t need your trust. My only intention is to let you know that I’m needed and I could bring you benefits.”

Xia Lei kept quiet. Ye Kun was right. He needed Ye Kun.

The demand for Thunder Horse’s products had doubled recently. Their production line was considered fast but it wasn’t fast enough. If Xia Lei hadn't got hold of the evidence that could destroy Ye Kun and Mu Jian-Feng, the factory couldn’t have achieved such a result.

If these two groups refused to provide Thunder Horse Military Factory with weapon parts, it would affect the production of the factory. Xia Lei had received a large number of orders. If he couldn’t produce the weapons within the promised time, it would hurt his reputation. If it wasn’t for this, why would Ye Kun risk discussing this matter with him?

There was a short silence before Xia Lei continued, “Let’s get straight to the point, what do you want from me?”

“Hand me every single thing that you could use against me.”

“What can I gain from you for doing this?”

“Hanwu Weapons and all its subsidiaries will produce weapon parts for your factory. Thus, the drop out of China Industrial Group wouldn’t affect your production.”

“It sounds like a threat rather than a collaboration.”

Ye Kun forced a smile. “Director Xia, please stop joking with me. You know that I have no other choices. If you hand it over to me, I could work with peace of mind after destroying it.”

“Director Ye, I think you are the one who’s joking around. You are the CEO of an enterprise, why would you work under me? Moreover, I can’t afford to have a big shot work under me,” said Xia Lei.

“You are obviously into my offer and you need me as an ally. Why are you still probing me?” A trace of anger grew on Ye Kun’s face. “Xia Lei, you are annoying!”

Xia Lei replied lightly, “I'm just trying to figure out what's going on.”

Ye Kun approached Xia Lei as he lowered his voice, “I know your ambition. You want to develop Thunder Horse Organization into a company like Lockheed Martin Corp. in China. I do think that you can make it happen, but not if you’re alone. If you want it to happen, you need someone like me. I can provide you with the best technical experts and support from the government. I could even suggest making Hanwu Weapons to merge with Thunder Horse Organization while maintaining its status as a private enterprise.”

Upon hearing his offer, Xia Lei was increasingly interested. His company was short of talent and policy support. a.s.suming that they could train all their workers from scratch, it would slow down the production significantly during the training period. However, if Hanwu Weapons was to merge with Thunder Horse Organization, the situation would be different. It meant that he would own every talent and skilled employee from Hanwu Weapons. If that was the case, Thunder Horse Organization would grow faster than the wind could take them!

More importantly, such mergers would not change the nature of the group as a private enterprise.

Yu Shanhe, Mu Jian-Feng, and the others have tried their ways to get him out of the military industry. But they wouldn’t have thought that one of them would betray them by providing Hanwu Weapons for him.

“Think about it, if you’ve decided to join me, come to the table where I and Mu Jian-Feng are sitting. I’ll publicly reject your request for producing weapon parts. Then you splash a gla.s.s of wine at me, and we've got a deal.” Ye Kun patted Xia Lei’s shoulder and left.

Xia Lei watched Ye Kun as he left. A faint smile appeared on his face.

It was unexpected, but it was how people like Ye Kun survived. He could betray anyone, even Mu Jian-Feng, the person behind his success.

It was in Xia Lei’s best moral interest to take him in. However, it was undeniable that he would be a good dog. If put him into good use, he could even guard the home.

After waiting for a minute, Xia Lei returned to the restaurant. Once he entered the restaurant, he headed straight to the table with Ye Kun and Mu Jian-Feng.

Ye Kun stared at him with an imperceptible smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

“Director Mu, Director Ye, I never thought I’d see you here today.” Xia Lei smiled as he continued, “You are my guests, I’ll give you a toast.”

Xia Lei poured the wine into an empty gla.s.s.

Everyone around the table raised their gla.s.s, except for Mu Jian-Feng and Ye Kun, who had no intention to have a drink with Xia Lei.

“Director Ye, what does this mean?” Xia Lei asked unhappily.

“To be honest, I’m here to tell you one thing,” said Ye Kun. “I’ve decided that Hanwu Weapons will not provide Thunder Horse Organization with weapon parts from now on.”

Xia Lei replied coldly, “Ye Kun, have you considered the consequences?”

“I have thought about it. Look for someone else. I quit! What can you do about this?” Ye Kun stood up.

Suddenly, Xia Lei raised his hand and splashed the wine on Ye Kun’s face.

Ye Kun wanted to hit Xia Lei, but Mu Jian-Feng quickly grabbed his hand.

“Ah Kun, calm down!” said Mu Jian-Feng.

“Xia Lei, you...you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Ye Kun shook off Mu Jian-Feng’s hand and left the scene furiously.

Xia Lei replied calmly, “Ye Kun, you better think it over!”

Ye Kun left without turning around.

Mu Jian-Feng sighed when he looked at Xia Lei. As he shook his head, he said, “Young men are often rash. Do you think you’ve done the right thing? Well, I can’t finish this wine anymore, let’s not meet again.”

Xia Lei thought to himself, “Ye Kun is your student. You may be a sly fox, but I don’t think you could guess that your student would be the first person who betrays you.”

Having a smile on his face, Mu Jian-Feng left the restaurant.

People that were surrounding the table stared at each other, not knowing what to do.

A sudden smile appeared on Xia Lei’s face after the whole ordeal. “It’s fine, let’s continue drinking.”

A table of people followed the lead of Xia Lei and raised their gla.s.s, treating Xia Lei with respect.

After the chaos, Xia Lei returned to his seat.

“What happened?” asked s.h.i.+ Boren.

Xia Lei replied, “Don’t sweat it, it was a minor conflict.”

“Well, I couldn’t care what happens between you two. I don’t want to care either.” Suddenly, s.h.i.+ Boren changed the topic, “Accompany me to have a drink with your dad.”

As Xia Lei looked towards a table, he saw Tang Yuyan and Xia Changhe was chit-chatting happily.

Tang Yuyan also looked over, exchanging an amorous and charming look with Xia Lei.

Xia Lei avoided her sight.

“Come with me,” urged s.h.i.+ Boren.

Xia Lei forced a smile. “Alright.”

It was impossible to run away from someone or something. What should be faced must always be faced