“Nothing else? I’ll be off then.”

Wang Zaiwu looked around, both hands in his pockets, and made to leave.

“Hey!”

Liang Meng suddenly called him back.

“Something else?”

Wang Zaiwu turned around and put his designer sunglasses back on.

“Didn’t you say you were taking me out for a meal?” Liang Meng lowered her eyes.

Wang Zaiwu was puzzled: “Didn’t you turn me down?”

“I’m accepting now.”

With that, Liang Meng told Lin Qing to grab her things, and the three of them headed out to eat.

Three blocks down the road, they arrived at a lively, noisy open-air food stall. Liang Meng pointed at it casually: “Here’s fine.”

Wang Zaiwu let out a couple of dry laughs — “So generous, saving me so much money” — and then scurried off to order.

Once they sat down, Lin Qing quickly asked Liang Meng in a low voice: “Are you okay? Why did you suddenly agree to come out to eat with this guy?”

Liang Meng pulled out her phone with some difficulty and showed Lin Qing her Alipay balance: “I’m fine. I’m just out of money.”

“Out of money? Just go home and eat instant noodles.”

Despite feeling genuinely sorry for Liang Meng’s bank balance, Lin Qing had no desire to eat with Wang Zaiwu, that pampered second-generation heir. She grabbed her bag and made to leave.

Liang Meng held her back: “You helped me out so much this afternoon — the least I can do is treat you to a decent meal.”

Seeing a Liang Meng who was always so proud now reduced to borrowing a rooster to lay her eggs, Lin Qing’s heart softened, and she sat back down.

“Nothing happened between you two, right?”

Once seated, Lin Qing still couldn’t let it go and asked in a conspiratorial tone.

She glanced from Liang Meng to Wang Zaiwu, who wasn’t far away.

After all, this Liang Meng had been alone with Wang Zaiwu in the office all afternoon while Lin Qing had been out there fighting for her life.

Lin Qing thought about it and felt a surge of resentment.

“Nothing happened.”

Liang Meng’s tone didn’t sound like she was lying.

The food and drinks arrived.

Liang Meng picked up a glass of beer first and raised it to Lin Qing: “Thank you for today! It’s my fault — I couldn’t handle the dealers myself…”

Lin Qing downed it without ceremony and said nothing.

Wang Zaiwu announced: “One thing — tonight we eat, no talking about work!”

“Oh, go away!!”

Liang Meng and Lin Qing told him off in unison.

The one paying the bill had no right to talk.

If not work, what then?

Talk about men?

They didn’t need to.

“Lin Qing, I’m sorry — the other day when you asked about joining the live-streaming operation, it wasn’t that I didn’t believe in your abilities…”

Liang Meng, in her capacity as the boss, opened this topic with some awkwardness and embarrassment.

She had seen Lin Qing’s capabilities today, this very afternoon.

The means and the methods didn’t matter — what mattered was the result: she hadn’t let the dealers in.

“Don’t stay angry with me. As you saw this afternoon, I couldn’t even handle the dealers myself — how could I in good conscience just blindly drag you into the chaos that the live-streaming situation currently is?”

Liang Meng offered conciliatory words while venting her inner helplessness.

Lin Qing was the kind of person who went by the rules and stuck to her principles — but this afternoon, she truly hadn’t said one wrong thing to the dealers either: at the end of the day, she was also a person with a soft heart.

“How exactly did things go with Daiwei and the dealers?” Lin Qing asked, curious.

“I used the ‘Boxed Pig’ game theory.” Liang Meng said, feeling wronged.

This plan had been carefully worked out between her and Lin Qing — how had the dealers still refused to accept it?

“I said — live streaming is the big pig, and the dealers are the small pigs…”

Liang Meng hadn’t even finished.

Lin Qing grabbed the drink out of her hand, her expression one of pure disbelief, and cut her off: “You actually said that?!”

“What’s wrong with that.”

Liang Meng looked genuinely confused, all innocence.

Lin Qing pressed her palm to her forehead, her head suddenly pounding as if her brain might actually split open.

The principle of the “Boxed Pig” game theory goes like this:

Imagine a pigsty with one large pig and one small pig.

At one end of the pigsty is the feeding trough; at the other end is a button that controls the food supply. Press the button and ten units of food drop into the trough, but whoever presses the button pays a cost of two units first.

Since the button and the trough are at opposite ends, the pig who presses the button pays that two-unit cost and loses the chance to get to the trough first.

If the small pig arrives at the trough first, it eats without competition at a steady pace — the final food split between big and small pig is 6:4.

If they arrive at the same time, the big pig eats faster and dominates — the split becomes 7:3.

If the big pig arrives first, it monopolizes all the remaining food — the split becomes 9:1.

Given that both pigs are rational, the inevitable outcome is: the small pig waits. The big pig presses the button.

But Liang Meng had gotten the roles completely backwards!

Obviously, Longquan’s established dealers were the big pigs! And the still-unproven live-streaming venture should have been cast as the small pig!

Liang Meng had overreached — moving too fast, too ambitiously!

She had actually been thinking she could convert Longquan’s entire sales model to live streaming in one sweep, and then have the live-streaming operation sustain the dealers?

Wildly unrealistic.

Seen in that light, Lin Qing’s rampage that afternoon had been entirely necessary!

Because even if Liang Meng had gone out and explained herself to the dealers, the result would only have made things worse!

“What are you two talking about?” Wang Zaiwu came back carrying two more bottles of beer.

“Pigs!!”

Liang Meng and Lin Qing answered in perfect, simultaneous unison.

Wang Zaiwu was thoroughly baffled. He’d only stepped away to grab two bottles — how did he become a pig?

Besides, had either of them ever seen a pig this good-looking?

“Of course the dealers should be the big pigs — which is exactly why our live-streaming approach needs to use a ‘one voucher plus one code’ system. The dealers introduce their high-value customers to the live-streaming channel through a QR code, driving traffic to the stream. Then both sides split the revenue. Once the live-streaming side grows large enough, it circles back and supports the dealers in return.”

Lin Qing was getting fired up, and continued:

“The dealers are making noise right now because they feel live streaming threatens their interests. Give them a bigger interest, and you can bring them around. Longquan’s dealers have entrenched themselves for years — they’ve been sitting on top. And now suddenly they’re supposed to be the small pigs, waiting on someone else’s charity? How could they possibly accept that?”

“My original plan was to work with an MCN company, invest in paid traffic, and bring in big-name influencers to anchor the streams. A single session like that could generate tens of millions in gross merchandise value. The dealers would handle fulfillment and get a commission cut. They wouldn’t be losing out. So what was wrong with my thinking?!”

Liang Meng defended her original idea.

Lin Qing just kept shaking her head.

This was the moment Lin Qing truly saw it: Liang Meng had simply never been through the school of hard knocks. She hadn’t even absorbed the lessons of middle school history properly.

The process of a new force replacing an old one has never gone smoothly.

If it were as simple as Liang Meng imagined — just throwing money at something to take over completely in one move — then what would all the struggle have been for?

And where was the money going to come from, anyway?

Longquan’s financial authority wasn’t entirely in Liang Meng’s hands, and right now she couldn’t even afford to take people out to dinner.

No — the only way forward was to coax and persuade. Liang Meng first had to acknowledge that the dealers were the big pigs. Only then would they be willing to press the button of their own accord.

Lin Qing summed it up in one phrase: no benefit, no action.

Liang Meng had it completely backwards — benefit has to come before achievement, not the other way around.

To make the point clear, Lin Qing asked Liang Meng a question: “President Liang — why do you think I want to join you in the live-streaming operation?”

Liang Meng shook her head blankly, then guessed: “To be involved in the core business? To build up a track record?”

Lin Qing shook her head: “Whether or not I get involved in the core business, whether or not I achieve results — my annual salary is 1.4 million either way. So by any normal way of thinking, shouldn’t I just take on as little as possible, make as little trouble as possible, do what you assign me and then stay perfectly still — wouldn’t that maximize my personal interest?”

“Yes!”

Wang Zaiwu, before Liang Meng could even respond, snatched his bottle and nodded along with complete enthusiasm.

Lin Qing shot him a glance, then continued, earnest and direct, to Liang Meng: “It’s true that I have ambitions and goals. But the real reason I’m determined to be part of the live-streaming operation is this: the day I saw Daiwei walk out of your office with a black expression on his face, I got worried you wouldn’t be able to manage this situation. And today proved it, didn’t it? The skin protects the hair — if I protect you, I protect my high salary.”

Lin Qing was speaking from the heart now, with complete openness.

She felt a twinge of regret — if she had just said all of this plainly and honestly to Liang Meng the night before, maybe today’s whole humiliating scene with the dealers storming the office could have been avoided.

But for now, at least Lin Qing had kept them out, and Liang Meng had bought herself a bit of breathing room.

She had recognized her own mistake now — and it wasn’t too late. She would know how to approach Daiwei and the old guard again going forward.

“But things are already so strained between me and Daiwei — if I’m the one who goes back to him now…”

Liang Meng lowered her head with some reluctance, her barbecue skewers scattered across the table.

She genuinely found it hard to swallow her pride.

Lin Qing sighed, picked up a skewer, and began telling Liang Meng a story from her own childhood.

“When I was little, after my dad passed, there was a dispute over the gift money at the funeral. My mom and my aunt had a blowout right there at the funeral home — faces were scratched, words were said, and the two households basically reached a point of never speaking to each other again. Later, when I was transitioning from primary to middle school, I wanted to get into a good class. My uncle was the academic director at my school. You know what my mom said?”

“What did she say?” Liang Meng bit into a chunk of meat off her skewer and asked, genuinely curious.

“My mom said: a person can’t let herself be suffocated by old grudges. Since we already tore each other’s faces apart back then, we might as well pick that torn face up off the floor now, press it back on, and go out wearing it like a thick-skinned shameless person. What matters more to a person — face? Or substance? Is so-called ‘dignity’ more important, or is a child’s future more important?”

Liang Meng understood. Lin Qing was pointing the lesson directly at her.

And of course, it was Longquan’s future that mattered most.

Liang Meng had seen the truth of this long ago: Daiwei was infuriating, but she absolutely could not afford to let him walk. Bring Daiwei over, transform a liability into an asset, and make him work for her — then what had once been a shackle would become the strongest fortress of all.

As for Jiang Han — his concern made him irrational. He had never truly wanted Daiwei around, and had only reluctantly agreed to keep him as a temporary measure to help Liang Meng neutralize one “opposing force.” His love was too impatient — it was closer to overprotectiveness than to love.

“Did you end up getting into the good class?” Liang Meng asked, curious about the ending.

“I did.” Lin Qing nodded. “But not through my uncle’s connections — my grades were already in the top ten of the entire year group. Still, my mom never regretted going to ask for help. Because if she hadn’t gone, she would have felt she hadn’t done everything she could as a mother. She went, she tried — no matter the outcome, she had done her part.”

“Fine. Daiwei likes fishing. It’s the weekend tomorrow — I’ll make a trip to Kaishan Island in the afternoon.”

Liang Meng steeled herself and made her decision.

She would be the thick-skinned one.

Wang Zaiwu also volunteered: “Then I’ll go with you in the morning to pick out fishing gear.”

“I don’t need you.” Liang Meng was dismissive.

But Wang Zaiwu was confident: “Move the provisions before the troops. If you’re going to win over Daiwei, do you know what fishing line is good? What bait works?”

Both Liang Meng and Lin Qing froze.

It was only then that they remembered — Wang Zaiwu, this seemingly useless second-generation heir who did nothing all day, was precisely the person among them who actually knew about this.

Some things really do have their use.

“Then… I’ll have to trouble you.” Liang Meng softened her tone.

Wang Zaiwu grinned triumphantly and carried on eating his skewers, clearly enjoying the upper hand.

They ate on for a while longer, and as a few bottles of beer went down, everyone loosened up.

Lin Qing tapped Wang Zaiwu on the head with a skewer and asked: “You’ve been hovering around our President Liang every day — don’t tell me you’re trying to pursue her?”

Wang Zaiwu shook his hair with a grimace to get rid of the grease, and pushed back: “That I really am not!”

“If you’re not, why are you always around? Even offering to go pick out fishing gear?” Lin Qing wasn’t buying it.

Wang Zaiwu just grinned: “I’ve got nothing else to do — I’ve got time to kill. Liang Meng, I’m going to say something honest — don’t take it the wrong way.”

Liang Meng gave a small nod, all ears.

“You look good, don’t get me wrong. But you’re genuinely not my type. When I look at you, I feel close — but not even a spark. Not the slightest electricity!”

Wang Zaiwu said it with complete sincerity.

Lin Qing thought he was still putting it on, so she played along and poked him: “What about me? Do you get electricity from me?”

“A little bit.” Wang Zaiwu blurted it out.

What met him, naturally, was Lin Qing giving him a thorough beating.

Wang Zaiwu declared Lin Qing “savage,” and covered his head with a look of wounded innocence as he explained: “I just happen to feel some attraction toward capable women — is that a crime? You were pretty bold this afternoon! I like bold.”

“Oh, you’ve got nerve—!”

Lin Qing made to go at him again, feigning another attack.

Wang Zaiwu refused to back down: “If I didn’t have at least some small measure of fondness for you, do you think I’d just sit here and let you beat on me? I’m not someone who takes abuse by nature! But now that you’ve been hammering away at me this whole time, whatever fondness I had is completely gone. Watch yourself from now on.”

“Alright, alright — keep eating.” Liang Meng subtly joined the fray, siding with Lin Qing against Wang Zaiwu. “Who asked for your fondness? You’re still single to this day! You were even pushed into a blind date with me. If the other kids don’t want it, Lin Qing and I certainly can’t take what’s been passed over!”

“You! You two…!”

“Nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh.”

“Fine, I’m not paying the bill then!”

“You dare.”

Every time Liang Meng narrowed her eyes, it was like an ancestral power surging through her — and Wang Zaiwu felt it every single time.