"That's more like it!"

Seeing Liu Zhiyun take the money, Bai Yongqing smiled with relief and patted him on the shoulder, "Little Liu, we all know what you're thinking."

"You know?" Liu Zhiyun was taken aback.

"Xiao Liu, at the beginning of life, people are inherently good. This is a principle we have known since childhood!"

Bai Yongqing said meaningfully, "But that's only for educating children. We are adults now and have entered society!"

"And this society is a cruel world that cannot tolerate even a trace of kindness."

"Furthermore, given our humble origins, if we don't rely on ourselves, let alone realize our ambitions, we'd be lucky to even keep our jobs!"

"So, if you want to climb higher, you have to step on other people's heads to reach the meat hanging higher up!"

"Only by extinguishing that ridiculous naiveté and innocence, and wholeheartedly immersing ourselves in this filthy melting pot, will we have a place in this world!"

Although Bai Yongqing spoke from the bottom of his heart, Liu Zhiyun still frowned deeply.

"Sigh, Xiao Liu, I know you can't accept such a cruel reality right now, but you'll get used to it!"

Bai Yongqing continued earnestly, "Who do you think is born a bad person?"

Liu Zhiyun remained silent.

Bai Yongqing continued, "We also want to be good people, and we don't want to bow down to the powerful, but our strength doesn't allow it. If we don't bow our heads, we won't even be able to keep this job. What else can you do?"

“We all have families to support, we all want to live better than others, and we all want to stand out from the crowd.”

"To do all this, we have to endure, we have to suppress our conscience, and we have to be ruthless enough to ourselves and others!"

To persuade Liu Zhiyun, Bai Yongqing also gave two other colleagues a suggestive look.

The two understood immediately and echoed each other.

"Brother Qing is right. We are all flesh and blood people, but reality is cruel. In order to get better, we often have to do things against our conscience!"

As soon as one person finished speaking, another said, "There's a saying, 'If a man doesn't look out for himself, he'll be damned by heaven and earth.' If you can't even make a living for yourself, what's the value of your conscience?"

He paused, then added, "If you want to have a more comfortable life in the future, you have to treat what we did yesterday as the norm, and even if you do it, you have to feel at ease with it."

After much earnest persuasion from the three men, Liu Zhiyun was finally convinced.

"Brother Qing, thank you for your guidance. I know what to do from now on!"

When he said those words, the last trace of reluctance in his eyes vanished, replaced by endless gloom and resentment.

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the stairwell, "Bai Yongqing, are you four still smoking here? The deputy director has something urgent to discuss with you, come to the deputy director's office immediately!"

"They're here!"

Bai Yongqing responded, hurriedly threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomped it out, and walked towards the office with three other colleagues.

"Why did the deputy director call us over out of the blue?"

Liu Zhiyun had a bad feeling and a sense of unease crept into his heart for no reason.

"Xiao Liu, don't be nervous!"

Bai Yongqing comforted him, "The deputy director must have some task assigned to us. You're new, and it's normal to feel guilty after doing something wrong. You'll get used to it!"

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Brother Qing!"

Liu Zhiyun expressed his gratitude once again.

Soon, the four arrived at the office of Deputy Director Zhang Wenfeng.

Zhang Wenfeng is a 48-year-old middle-aged man. He is somewhat thin, but he is very shrewd and tactful in his dealings with others. Even without any powerful figures behind him, he has climbed up to the position of deputy director of the Industry and Commerce Bureau through his own efforts.

"Bang!"

As soon as Bai Yongqing and his three companions entered the office, Zhang Wenfeng, who had been waiting for a long time, slammed his hand on the desk in front of him.

Bai Yongqing and the other three's expressions changed.

Although Zhang Wenfeng hadn't said what it was about, his angry expression told you it wasn't anything good.

"Tell me, what good deeds have you all done?"

Zhang Wenfeng scanned Bai Yongqing and the other three one by one, and angrily scolded them.

"Deputy Director, we didn't do anything!"

They exchanged a glance, and Bai Yongqing tentatively said, "We haven't been late or left early. We work diligently every day and fulfill our responsibilities. We really don't know what we did wrong."

As he said this, he kept giving hints to Liu Zhiyun and the other two.

The other two were also quite clever, and they successively expressed their doubts.

But when it was Liu Zhiyun's turn, perhaps because of his guilty conscience, he suddenly panicked and began to tremble uncontrollably, with beads of sweat the size of beans appearing on his face.

“Deputy Director, we are innocent! We did nothing! Please believe us…”

"Enough!"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Wenfeng pointed to a piece of paper on the table and said, "Take a look for yourselves!"

"Deputy Director, what is this?"

As he asked that question, Bai Yongqing immediately stepped forward.

Upon seeing this, his pupils contracted sharply, and his face instantly turned ashen.

"What's wrong?"

"What exactly is it?"

The other two colleagues were also startled and immediately approached cautiously.

After reading the contents of the paper, both of them were as if they had seen a ghost, breaking out in a cold sweat and trembling with fear.

As for Liu Zhiyun, who was already feeling extremely guilty, he didn't even have the courage to go forward and check on her. He collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale.

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