rad**;

Duanmu Ci always believed that everyone and everything should have a bottom line. Without a bottom line, there is no decorum, and without decorum, it is unacceptable. The bottom line, however low, cannot be below the horizon. A bottom line that requires digging several meters down with both hands is not a bottom line; that is potential for crime.

As long as there are bottom lines, everything is negotiable. Back then, Duanmu Ci, moved by the endless warfare and displacement of the people during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, disguised himself as a commoner and entered Qin to assist the First Emperor in conquering the world, pacifying the six states east of the mountains, and unifying the country. However, this "unification of the world" also had its bottom line: the state of Wei could not be destroyed. Wei was Duanmu Ci's ancestral home, his birthplace, so his condition for helping the First Emperor was to preserve the ancestral temples of Wei. The First Emperor agreed, spared Wei, moved Wei to Yewang County, and bestowed a title upon the ruler of Wei.

After the First Emperor died, the Second Emperor, Hu Hai, succeeded to the throne, and he broke this bottom line. He issued an edict to demote the ruler of Wei, Jiao, to a commoner, and to extinguish the ancestral line of the Wei state.

Duanmu Ci never tolerated those who crossed the line, so he later changed his name to Zhang Zifang, disguised himself as a member of a prominent family in Han, and joined Liu Bang's forces, helping him to destroy Qin and Chu and gain control of the empire. In Weiyang Palace, he keenly sensed that Liu Bang was very similar to Goujian a hundred years earlier, and that he was not someone to be associated with for wealth and power. Therefore, he hastily withdrew from public life after achieving his goal, passing on the title of Marquis of Liu to his adopted son.

For the sake of his bottom line, Duanmu Ci was willing to hold the fate of the nation in his hands, a single word could bring prosperity to a country, or it could destroy it. This shows how much he valued this "bottom line," which was his red line.

The red line must not be crossed; those who cross it will die.

Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Duanmu Ci had witnessed the consequences of breaking the bottom line countless times. In Duanmu Ci's eyes, the first era in which the bottom line was universally broken was the Spring and Autumn Period. The bottom line of that era was "rites and music." Later, when rites and music collapsed, the world fell into chaos.

That was the bottom line of the world, but now that times have changed, Duanmu Ci wants to uphold the bottom line of the commercial era.

This is like playing a game of chess. You can take back moves, you can cheat, and you can even allow spectators to help, but you can never overturn the chessboard, because if the chessboard is overturned, the game can't be played.

Duanmu Ci only wanted to play chess, not to smash people with the chessboard.

In Duanmu Ci's eyes, what the Morgan family was doing now was akin to "overturning the chessboard," which was extremely unethical. While Morgan's attempt to remove the Duanmu family from the RAR Club's management committee wasn't exactly aboveboard, it was still a legitimate and fair competitive tactic. But now, Morgan was actually colluding with the Japanese underworld, preparing to frame them—that was simply unethical!

It's like two people playing chess, and suddenly one of them pulls a knife from his waist, holds it to the opponent's neck, flips the chessboard, and says, "I'm done playing, let's change the knife."

This is absolutely insane...

While the Duanmu family's practice of sending corporate spies around the world may seem unethical, it's actually within the established rules, as other conglomerates do the same. It's like how countries condemn espionage, but in reality, everyone does it! It's just a matter of ability; if you can catch them, you're capable; if you can't, you deserve it! Who told you to be incompetent?

Therefore, espionage is tacitly permitted even internationally; it's considered an unspoken rule. You arrest yours, I arrest mine, and at worst, we exchange spies. However, while sending a spy is acceptable, it's unacceptable for that spy to also act as an assassin or terrorist! That would be breaking the rules. Both the overt and covert rules would be trampled upon.

Its nature is similar to what Morgan is doing now...

...

...

It was getting late, dusk was falling, and it was about to get dark. Bu Tongxun put down what she was holding, got up and went to the kitchen to put on a kitchen apron and start washing her hands and making soup, leaving Duanmu Ci alone on the sofa, lost in thought.

After thinking for a while and still having no clue, Duanmu Ci bent down and took out a Havana cigar from the cigarette case on the coffee table. Then he used a delicate cigar cutter to cut off the cigar head, lit a long-handled match, waited a few seconds for the sulfur to dissipate, and then placed the cigar body on the flame, rotating it continuously and rhythmically to light it evenly.

Duanmu Ci's technique was swift and skillful; he was clearly a genuine "old smoker."

In truth, Duanmu Ci really dislikes smoking, not because it's harmful to his health—after all, he doesn't need to deliberately maintain his health—but because smoking bothers others. Not everyone likes the smell of smoke, even if a cigar has a rich aroma.

Speaking of his habit of smoking cigars, which wasn't really his style, it was Xu Zhimo who introduced it to him. In 1934, Tagore came to China, and Xu Zhimo accompanied him. Duanmu Ci happened to be passing through Haishan at the time and stayed there. In a private club, Tagore and Xu Zhimo were smoking, and Tagore also invited Duanmu Ci to have one, which Duanmu Ci accepted.

At that moment, Tagore asked Xu Zhimo, "Have you given cigars a Chinese name?" Xu Zhimo pondered for a moment and replied, "The ash of the cigar is as white as snow, and the tobacco rolls like an eggplant, so let's call it cigar!" Thus, the name cigar was decided.

Duanmu Ci slowly took a puff, held it in his mouth, and then gently exhaled. In the faint aroma of the cigarette, his gaze gradually hardened. "I'm going to Japan," he said softly.

Cigars are a type of tobacco that shouldn't be smoked hastily, because one of their charms lies in their unhurried nature. Taking a light puff and then closing your eyes to relax is quite pleasant. Just as half a cigar had burned out, Bu Tongxun had already set the table. She came over and saw Duanmu Ci smoking a cigar with his eyes closed, and couldn't help but chuckle, "Sir, it's dinner time now, not cigar time."

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!