In the past few days, the soldiers of the guard have noticed that their leader has become much gentler.

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For example—

"How many of you were on patrol last night?" Several disheveled guards stood in the courtyard.

Xu Yi was right in front of them, standing on the same level ground, yet they dared not look him in the eye.

What were you doing when the fire broke out in the West Market?

The group exchanged glances, and one of the older men spoke up.

"Reporting to Commander Qian, our group first went to the West Market to inspect it. After confirming that everything was normal, we then went to..."

Seeing Xu Yi looking over, the guard's voice grew softer and softer until it finally stopped abruptly.

Xu Qianzong hates people who make excuses after doing something wrong, so he kept quiet.

Xu Yi was still waiting for him to speak, "You're done? Why did you stop?"

However, these people automatically interpreted this sentence as: "Making excuses, why don't you make excuses?"

The original text comes from Tower & Read Novels~&

Everyone's heads drooped even lower, almost burying themselves in their chests.

"President Xu, we were negligent in this matter, and we are willing to accept the punishment."

Neglecting one's duty during inspections results in fifty strokes of the cane and a half-month's salary deduction—a combination of physical and emotional pain.

Xu Yi frowned slightly and pointed to someone at random, "You tell me in detail what happened last night."

The man paused for a moment, glanced at Xu Yi anxiously, and then quickly lowered his head. What did this mean?

Without much thought, he told the whole story.

“After we finished patrolling the West Market last night, we went to the various streets nearby. When we were on West Street, we noticed smoke rising above the West Market.”

“We rushed over and found the night watchman drunk. His lantern had fallen to the ground and ignited the firewood nearby. We saw that the fire wasn’t too big and wouldn’t wake up the nearby residents, so we put it out and brought the night watchman back.”

Here's the situation: it's gradually getting into summer, and if a fire like this spreads, it could be disastrous, causing devastating losses.

Xu Yi had a clear understanding of the situation, and thought, "It's excellent that the people weren't disturbed."

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Otherwise, the people would panic as soon as they saw the fire and wouldn't know what would happen.

"Now that the arsonist has been found, let him compensate for the losses, and your salaries will not be deducted this time."

Several people raised their heads in unison, staring at Xu Yi in disbelief.

"You put out the fire and handled it quite well, but since it happened during your shift, we hope everyone will take this as a warning."

"Therefore, he shall be punished with thirty strokes of the cane."

Not only these few people, but everyone else in the courtyard doubted their ears. Not only would they not be fined, but their suffering would also be halved.

As soon as Xu Yi left, the group immediately gathered around.

"Thirty strokes of the cane? Oh my god, that's a bargain!"

"You know what, we made a killing."

Those people were as happy as if they weren't the ones about to be beaten thirty times, but rather the ones about to beat others thirty times.

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"You guys are really lucky. I was thinking that after this happened, President Xu will definitely punish you properly."

"Isn't this a punishment? General Xu is rewarding and punishing people. We caught the arsonist, and we haven't disturbed the people yet."

That's what they said, but everyone still felt that this was a bit unexpected.

"Hey, have you guys noticed that our CEO Xu Qian seems to have become a bit gentler lately?"

"What? Gentle? Our CEO Xu Qian is such a spirited man, he has nothing to do with gentleness."

"You don't know anything. It's precisely because he was too aggressive before that he seems gentler lately. Haven't you all noticed that President Xu isn't as intimidating now?"

"That's true. I used to not even look at President Xu when he took attendance in the morning, but now I can still sneak a glance or two."

“Especially when walking against him, I used to walk with my hands and feet in unison, but these past two days my hands and feet have become more responsive, it’s different.”

Everyone chimed in, each offering their own opinion.

“What’s this? I’ve found something even more amazing,” a young man said.

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Everyone looked over, and he said in a low voice, "There are a few jasmine plants by the wall in our backyard, right? When they first bloomed, I heard Mr. Xu say that the smell was too strong."

“Yesterday I saw Mr. Xu pick all those flowers.”

"The people in charge of housekeeping are no good. Why don't they move the flowers that President Xu doesn't like? Do we have to wait for him to do it himself?" someone chimed in, and of course, everyone thought the same thing.

The young man rolled his eyes at him. "Listen to me."

"President Xu put the flowers into a small basket and took them away. He was very careful when packing the flowers, as if he was afraid of damaging them."

“I paid special attention when Mr. Xu left yesterday afternoon. He was carrying the flowers with him, and I could still smell their fragrance.”

"That's not all. You know, when President Xu Qian was putting on flowers, he was smiling, the kind of smile that makes your heart flutter."

"Get lost." Someone slapped the young man on the shoulder. "President Xu is not the kind of person who gets all lovey-dovey."

"Would I lie to you? I really saw it." Not only did no one believe him, but even he, who saw it with his own eyes, found it unbelievable.

"If you put it that way, I think I noticed that when I went to report to General Xu once, I also saw him smiling. It was the kind of smile that I thought was, 'Oh, I'm not well-educated,' but that kind of smile didn't match General Xu's style."

The original text comes from Tower & Read Novels~&

“I also saw it once. The day before yesterday, when Mr. Xu came home, I was on duty at the gate and happened to see it.”

You wouldn't know unless I told you; quite a few people have seen it.

"What's wrong with President Xu Qian? He's been smiling so much these past few days. Did something good happen? Is he about to get promoted?"

Someone pointed upwards with their finger, signifying a promotion.

"That's impossible. Our previous Qian Zong took five years to get promoted, while Qian Zong Xu has only been promoted for a little over a year."

"But General Manager Xu is much more capable than the previous General Manager. He might be promoted exceptionally."

Just as everyone started speculating, someone suddenly clapped their hands and exclaimed, "I know!"

"What?"

"President Xu must have a woman he likes."

"ah?"

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Tao Ji's food was both delicious and expensive, so Xu Yi handed it to his attendant to distribute to everyone.

He doesn't like sweets, and even if he buys them, he won't keep any for himself. And this one today wasn't bought by him either.

It was bought by Fu Man'er.

Because Xu Yi mentioned that the guards wanted to have dinner with him, Fu Man'er felt that this was a sign that his subordinates wanted to get closer to him, their superior. Although he didn't go in the end, he felt that his superior occasionally needed to make such gestures.

Then, they happened to pass by Tao Kee, and Fu Man'er went in and bought a lot of snacks, so he brought back quite a few.

Once the snacks were distributed, people couldn't help but start discussing them again.

Especially the person who said Xu Yi had a crush on a woman, "See, see, Xu Qianzong, who doesn't like sweets, would buy us snacks? Absolutely not, it must have been that woman who asked him to buy them."

"I'm starting to believe what you're saying," someone said, while taking a big bite of snacks.

Everyone was chatting and laughing, unaware that someone under the tree was deep in thought, staring at the snack in their hand.