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With these two tasks weighing on his shoulders, Zhang Pa had originally planned to stay home and type away at work. But what actually happened? Early in the morning, the leaders arrived. Several people from the sub-district office came by, including a deputy director named Wang Jinlai. The police substation was led personally by the chief, Ning Changchun, and the most interesting part was that Guo Gang had come as well.

Guo Gang was extremely swaggering these days. Rumors on the street put him right on the heels of Long Jianjun, seemingly holding an equal footing with him. For such a big-shot to personally come see Zhang Pa could only mean one thing: yesterday's incident had fermented and blown up into a massive deal.

Wang Jinlai and his group arrived first. Among the sub-district officials, aside from the very top leaders, the rest of the staff were on institutional payrolls, and many were even temporary workers who hadn't managed to secure institutional status despite working at the sub-district for seven or eight years. Under the sub-district office was the Urban Management Bureau, staffed largely by temporary workers earning a monthly salary of around a thousand yuan.

Wang Jinlai brought along the head of the urban management team, four urban management officers, and an administrative clerk responsible for the demolition work at Xingfuli—a total of eight people.

Although they claimed they were here to reason with him, as soon as the door opened, the group wore aggressive expressions, making Zhang Pa think they had come for a fight.

Wang Jinlai was quite straightforward. As soon as he stepped inside, he brought up the matter: "You've seen that thing on the internet, right?"

Zhang Pa replied that he knew about it.

Wang Jinlai said, "A real man doesn't beat around the bush. Tell me, was that post written by you?"

No normal person asks questions that way. To put it into perspective, suppose you were the one who posted it; if someone asked you, would you honestly confess? Hence, asking a question like that was utterly pointless and thoroughly boring.

Zhang Pa retorted, "It has nothing to do with me. I'm just a tenant. Whether they demolish the place or whether I live here, what business is it of mine?"

Wang Jinlai said, "I'm aware of that situation, which is why I'm asking you this. Now, do me a favor and call Wang Baihe, and ask her to come over here."

Zhang Pa said, "It couldn't have been her who posted it either."

Wang Jinlai said, "I know it wasn't her. Her family was among the very first batch to sign the relocation intention form. But since the matter concerns her, she needs to come over."

Zhang Pa said, "I'm not making this call. If you want it made, make it yourself."

Just as they were talking, Ning Changchun walked in with two police officers. "Zhang Pa... Oh, Director Wang is here too."

Wang Jinlai smiled and acknowledged him, "Chief Ning," then asked, "What do the superiors say?"

Both of them had received orders from their leaders to investigate the truth behind the arson incident at Xingfuli. Each answered to different superiors and handled different aspects of work, with different approaches to dealing with those responsible. What Wang Jinlai was really asking was whether they were going to arrest Zhang Pa.

Ning Changchun said, "Investigate. We must thoroughly investigate what happened. The reason I'm here is to give Zhang Pa a heads-up; investigators from the sub-bureau's criminal police detachment will be here shortly."

On the day the fire broke out, the accident was reported to the sub-bureau. The criminal police didn't get involved initially; instead, the fire department conducted the accident assessment. Yet, for the very same reason—to protect the interests of the real estate developer—the accident report's conclusion on the cause of the fire was extremely ambiguous.

Once the matter exploded online, everything changed. The government treated social stability as its core mission, and to avoid bringing shame upon the local administration, they were bound to investigate the matter rigorously.

Poor Mr. Zhang, who had been getting ready to work hard, ended up spending all his time talking to visitors.

Before long, Guo Gang arrived. This guy was quite cool, driving up by himself. After getting out, he walked straight into the house.

Employees of the real estate company stationed near the building took the initiative to greet him. Guo Gang paused for a moment, called over two staff members who had been stationed there for a long time to ask a few questions, and then went inside to find Zhang Pa.

Zhang Pa felt utterly helpless. He pointed at his head and said, "See this? I'm a casualty, I'm injured! If you ask me any more questions, I'm going to pass out!"

Ning Changchun waited a little longer, considering how many people wanted to talk to Zhang Pa. Only after they had finished speaking did he take Zhang Pa back to the police substation.

As for the sub-bureau's criminal police detachment, they would go directly to the scene to conduct an inspection and then head to the police station to take his statement.

There was nothing left to inspect at the scene, however. Zhang Pa and the five monkeys had cleaned the place up thoroughly just so it would be livable. Who knows how many buckets of water they had hauled up and poured down from the upper floor—every single trace was completely gone.

The criminal police asked very detailed questions, but Zhang Pa couldn't be bothered to answer, brushing off most queries by claiming ignorance.

Since the five monkeys were the ones who had called the police and were present when the fire started, after taking Zhang Pa's statement, the sub-bureau's criminal police detachment rushed straight to Fire Station 119 and summoned the five monkeys to an office for relentless questioning.

In truth, the police were quite pitiful too; a single word from their superiors sent them running in all directions doing frantic, futile legwork.

That was what happened on the school's front. As for the Xingfuli side, just as Zhang Pa emerged from the police substation and wanted to head home, Xun Yuyu called to invite him out for a meal and casually chat about the script.

Zhang Pa said he wasn't going.

Xun Yuyu insisted that he had to come, saying her husband wanted to meet him, and if he didn't show up today, the script deal might fall through entirely.

Zhang Pa pondered it. Even if he only collected thirty thousand yuan, it would solve a huge problem for him. After getting the exact address, he said he would head over shortly.

Strolling back home, he found the front door wide open with two men sitting outside. Zhang Pa tried to go in, but was blocked and asked who he was.

Zhang Pa said, "I live here."

"You live here? Wasn't the landlord a girl?" one of them remarked.

Zhang Pa said, "Let me say this again: I live here. Did you hear me clearly?" He stepped forward and went inside.

He walked around the rooms, found nothing missing or added, locked the door, and set off.

He arrived at the restaurant right at twelve o'clock. It was a seafood restaurant, and Xun Yuyu was sitting in a private dining room with a man in his fifties. The table was laden with eight or nine dishes, all of them seafood.

The waiter brought Zhang Pa in, and Xun Yuyu stood up to greet him, introducing them: "This is my boyfriend, the boss of Shengshi International, Sheng Kailai; and this is the writer Zhang Pa, who is also a friend of Long Xiaole."

Sheng Kailai stood up and said, "I know of you, but how did you manage to get into this state?" He was referring to the numerous scars on Zhang Pa's shaved head.

Zhang Pa first greeted him as President Sheng, then replied, "I got them by accident."

Sheng Kailai chuckled. "Quite an accident indeed. Have a seat."

Zhang Pa said thank you and sat down opposite them. Xun Yuyu stood up to pour drinks and asked, "Drinking some liquor is fine, right?"

Zhang Pa said it was fine. Of course it was fine—she had already poured it, what else could he say?

Sheng Kailai asked, "I'm not sure if this is to your taste. Should we order a couple more dishes?"

Zhang Pa said there was no need; this was just fine.

Sheng Kailai said, "As long as you think it's good. I was just worried you wouldn't be satisfied." He raised his glass and said, "First time meeting, let's bottoms up."

Since a dignified big boss was offering a toast, Zhang Pa naturally had to play along. Yet in the back of his mind, he was wondering: Why is he toasting me? Why is he giving me face?

After a cup of liquor went down, Sheng Kailai invited Zhang Pa to start eating and then began to talk: "Asking you out today was a bit abrupt. Here's the thing: Yuyu wants to make a movie, and I plan to invest some money in it, but we haven't been able to find a good script. Calling you here is actually to see if you're reliable—sort of like a background check. You aren't upset, are you?"

Zhang Pa said, "This is only proper."

Sheng Kailai continued, "There's another reason. Long Xiaole got into trouble, and I know you were the one who saved him. I specifically asked Brother Long about it, and he said you're a good person. He rarely praises anyone, so I wanted to meet you." Saying this, he raised his glass once more. "Let's have another round."

Zhang Pa accompanied him for another drink. Even though the other party was a multi-millionaire, he truly had no interest in buttering anyone up. He didn't bother with polite pleasantries; with alcohol to drink and food to eat, he acted entirely at ease.

After hearing these remarks from Sheng Kailai, Zhang Pa thought to himself: Fine, that counts as a reason to invite me for a drink, but even that isn't enough. Long Jianjun casually praised me once, and a wealthy tycoon like this rushes to treat me to a meal? I have a nagging feeling there's something going on that I don't know about.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before Sheng Kailai revealed the answer himself. After drinking several shots of liquor in a row with Zhang Pa, he smiled and said, "Inviting you here was actually to see what you look like. Now that I've seen you, I can rest easy."

Zhang Pa felt a bit baffled. Are you saying I'm ugly?

Sheng Kailai went on, "Yuyu has wanted to make a movie for a long time. She struggled all through last year and couldn't find a suitable script—either they were too expensive or too terrible. I even asked some friends in the Writers Association to help out. You have no idea, those guys really dare to ask for a fortune; a single script cost two hundred thousand."

Zhang Pa said, "I'm not very familiar with market prices."

"You don't need to be familiar with them. As long as you write a good script, you'll be paid whatever it's worth. Even if I didn't care about anyone else, for Long Jianjun's sake alone, I wouldn't treat you unfairly," Sheng Kailai said.

Zhang Pa said, "I'll do my best to write a qualified, good script."

Sheng Kailai said, "That goes without saying. Seeing you today is just to discuss this: you will write the script exclusively for Yuyu, and keep writing until she's satisfied. After today, she shouldn't go looking for scripts outside anymore; I don't feel secure about it."

This CEO truly spoke his mind without reservation. He went on to explain, "You have no idea how chaotic things are out there. Who the hell knows what kind of people you might run into? Back in the summer, I invited a few writer friends out to dinner. Every single one of them had a resounding reputation loud enough to scare you to death. Yuyu was there too. After dinner, when we went to karaoke, guess what happened? Some old lech actually wanted to sing a duet with Yuyu! I honestly couldn't keep a straight face back then—you're already sixty years old, and you still have wandering thoughts?"

He raised his glass again and said, "The outside world is too chaotic. I'm afraid Yuyu might run into bad people. But you, you actually make people feel quite secure."

Are you telling me I'm ugly for a second time? Zhang Pa said, "You're misjudging me. I'm the least reassuring person in the world."

Sheng Kailai gave a slight smile. "I asked Long Jianjun about you, and he said you know what you want and won't do anything stupid."

Zhang Pa said, "I truly had no idea President Long held such a high opinion of me."

"That's precisely why," Sheng Kailai said. "Having you discuss the script with Yuyu puts my mind at ease. That was the purpose of meeting you today. From now on, help Brother Sheng keep an eye on her. Make sure no pervert gets the chance to prey on her. Even though I'm not afraid of trouble and I know a few people, if something actually goes off the rails, knowing people will be too late. Don't you agree?"

The implication behind those words was to ask Zhang Pa to help him take precautionary measures and ensure that Xun Yuyu never got the chance to cheat on him.

Zhang Pa thought to himself: What an absolute eccentric. He hires someone to spy on his girlfriend right to her face!

He glanced at Xun Yuyu. The young woman looked very submissive, offering only a soft, defensive murmur: "Why on earth would anything happen to me?"

Sheng Kailai smiled at her and said, "My mistake, alright? I'll punish myself with a drink." With that, another shot went down his throat.

Judging by their behavior, they looked extremely close and deeply affectionate. Zhang Pa figured Sheng Kailai genuinely liked Xun Yuyu; even if she was his mistress, getting along with a mistress still required emotional investment after all.

After punishing himself with a drink, Sheng Kailai clinked glasses with Zhang Pa once more.

From the moment they entered until now, the two of them had spoken for twenty minutes and clinked glasses six times before Sheng Kailai finally remembered to put down a business card, telling him to reach out if anything came up. (To be continued.)