"Chen Zhuo, you can kill those people to avenge Aunt Liu, but you can't kill people just because you want to," Chen Ke said in a deep voice.

"Oh? My dear brother, isn't it too late for you to say all this now?"

"What's the meaning?"

Chen Zhuo didn't say anything, but drove directly to the alley where Chen Ke had suddenly disappeared.

The two sat in the car looking at the dark and secluded alley. Twenty years had passed, and the surrounding area had changed more or less, but the alley remained unchanged. Even the broken and crooked street lamp hanging on the telephone pole was still the same one from twenty years ago.

"After you suddenly disappeared from here, I searched this place inside and out, wishing I could break through the walls and dig up the ground to see what was going on, but every time I was only disappointed. I sat in this alley, crying and laughing, because I couldn't understand why you would still abandon me when I had perfectly disguised myself as the younger brother you wanted."

So I started to reflect on myself. Had I given myself away somewhere, making you aware of my true nature? Or perhaps, even if I became the younger brother you imagined, you still wouldn't care, someone you could easily discard or abandon—someone you could take or leave at will.

"No, I never intended to abandon you. That... was just an accident." Although Chen Ke was shocked that Chen Zhuo had been acting and deceiving him, he couldn't help but explain after hearing Chen Zhuo repeatedly fall into self-doubt because of his disappearance.

After Chen Ke finished speaking, Chen Zhuo turned to look at him, his eyes shrouded in gloom, making it impossible to discern his true emotions.

He scoffed, his extremely cold voice seeming to be forced out from between his teeth, "Yes, this is the question I only figured out after everyone around me said that a madman lived here. How could a person suddenly disappear without a trace, neither alive nor dead? That night was too dark, and I felt like you had suddenly vanished, but I was also afraid that you had been captured by someone with extraordinary skills, so I left this alley and expanded the search area, almost searching all over Shanghai, but I still didn't find a single clue."

"This is something I can't control either—"

Chen Ke was interrupted by Chen Zhuo before he could finish speaking, "I guessed it, so I doubted myself and that was a mistake. No matter whether I grow up to be the younger brother you want, you will still leave."

"So you just gave up on yourself?"

"It's just returning to my original self, what's this about giving up on myself? I was thinking back then, if you ever come back and see me looking completely different from what you imagined, wouldn't that be quite a sight?" Chen Zhuo's eyes were filled with undisguised malice as he said this, as if he was looking forward to seeing Chen Ke's shocked and incredulous expression.

Chen Ke's heart was filled with complex emotions. Looking at Chen Zhuo's handsome and cold face, he felt a pang of bitterness. He thought that Chen Zhuo was trying to threaten him. No, Chen Zhuo was indeed threatening him, but he was threatening him with himself.

This is plain for you to see; this is what I'm like after you abandoned me.

This method is so naive, yet it works.

If he had directly threatened Chen Ke, Chen Ke wouldn't have cared at all. But since he used himself, Chen Ke couldn't bring himself to ignore him.

"Find me a job, working under you."

!!

"What did you say?" Chen Zhuo, who was expecting a barrage of mockery and disdain from Chen Ke, suddenly froze.

"I said I'm planning to transfer the company to Li Jinchun and Xu Manling, so I'm currently unemployed. Minister Chen, could you arrange a job for me under your supervision?"

Even though Chen Ke had made himself so clear, Chen Zhuo seemed not to understand and asked again, "You want to work with me?"

Chen Ke nodded. "Why? Is it not allowed?"

Chen Zhuo's expression was extremely complicated, as if he hadn't reacted for a moment.

Chen Ke took a look.

"No way? You're a minister, and you can't even give me a job to use your position for personal gain?" Chen Ke said dramatically.

Chen Zhuo felt as if a volcano was about to erupt, but someone had dug a large hole in the bottom of the volcano and the lava was released directly from the hole. It should have erupted from the crater with earth-shattering force, but it did erupt, but it was gentle and didn't even cause a ripple.

······

Chen Zhuo tugged at his tie in frustration.

Chen Ke couldn't help but smile inwardly, but he still teased Chen Zhuo verbally.

"Really...it won't work?"

Chen Zhuo suddenly turned his head, his eyes unreadable, and said, word by word, "Sure, why not? I'm still short a secretary. How about you, big brother, make the sacrifice and be my secretary?"

Chen Ke raised an eyebrow. "No problem."

······

The newly appointed secretary, Chen, was taken directly to the government building by her superior, and she didn't even get to go to the company, because Minister Chen said there was a meeting in the afternoon and the newly appointed secretary had to go with her.

Chen Ke: ······

What can Chen Ke do? It's his own child; he has to take care of him himself.

Although Chen Zhuo seems more like his older brother now.

With a smile on her face, Secretary Chen was taken directly to Minister Chen's office.

Chen Ke turned to look at the curious secretaries in the secretarial office outside...

With a "bang!", Chen Zhuo slammed the door shut.

Chen Ke counted them; besides Secretary Ding, whom he had just met at noon, there were 2, 3... 4, 5, or 6 other secretaries sitting inside.

"So, are all of them your secretaries?"

Chen Zhuo: "Heh, you think I'm the only one in our Garrison Command? Can't other people have secretaries?"

Chen Ke: "...Then where is my office—"

"I'll have them bring in a table later, and we can put it here."

Chen Ke opened his eyes and looked at the spot Chen Zhuo was pointing to, less than a meter from his desk. Three black lines flashed across his forehead as he was utterly speechless.

"What? You just said you wanted to work under me, and now you're having second thoughts?"

Chen Ke almost laughed at Chen Zhuo's childishness. Was this the kind of "subordinate" he was talking about?

Sigh, but he was the one who owed the debt first, so he shook his head and sat down on the sofa. "No, the lighting here is great, I'm very satisfied."

"Knock knock..." Suddenly, a knocking sound rang out on the door.

Chen Zhuo sat back down behind his desk before speaking: "Come in."

When Secretary Ding pushed open the door, he saw Chen Ke sitting on the sofa. He nodded slightly to greet Chen Ke before quietly reporting work matters to Chen Zhuo.

It seemed that Minister Chen Zhuo was indeed very busy, so Chen Ke picked up the newspaper on the table and started reading.

It was the final stage of the War of Resistance against Japan. After the two parties cooperated, the Japanese army suffered repeated defeats, and the newspapers were full of good news about great victories. However, for the Wang Jingwei regime in Shanghai, it was a series of bad news.

Chen Ke glanced at Chen Zhuo, who seemed overwhelmed with work due to the tense situation. He wondered how much hardship and danger Chen Zhuo had silently endured to rise from an undercover agent to a high-ranking enemy agent.