The Card Apprentice

It was so quiet in the office you could hear a pin drop. All the employees were trembling in fear, ashen faced. Although everyone knew the new boss would certainly make some response, no one had ever imagined such a meek and mild seeming person would be quite so fierce and direct in his methods. Once he’d made his move, there wasn’t any room for negotiation.

The three struggling on the floor seemed to say this ever-aloof, young boss was really some kind of ruthless type.

Chen Mu looked around and raised his voice to ask, “Who is Bu Qiangdong?”

Everyone looked at each other. After a few seconds, a young fellow of about 25 wearing glasses stepped out and said, “I am Bu Qiangdong.”

Chen Mu’s gaze fell onto him. His face was as ashen as the rest, though it was evident he was trying hard to stay calm. He was properly dressed, giving off the particular air of a technical employee, which was Chen Mu’s first impression. Among the completed projects Chen Mu had just looked over, his picture had been with nearly all of them and always in the principal position.

Compared with Chen Mu’s isolated experience, Copper had been far more involved. Still, during the period when they were making card plays when he was with Copper every day, Chen Mu had developed a certain understanding of fantasy card advertising under his influence. And, given his ability to make complete fantasy card plays, he understood things at that place as soon as he saw them.

So, Chen Mu had discovered in very short order that Bu Qiangdong was the critical person at Heaven’s Wings.

“What are the procedures for dismissing employees?” Chen Mu asked with a placid face.

Bu Qiangdong’s face turned still whiter. Though he looked at Chen Mu in fear, he carefully responded with the company’s policies. If one were to listen carefully, one could hear some trembling in his voice.

No one was going to laugh at him that time. Chen Mu’s question had already made them feel not so hot. Those who had been gathered off by themselves since the start were also looking pretty bad. Unlike those pensioners who were offspring of the Lewins, they were nothing more than ordinary residents. If they were to be dismissed, they would lose their livelihood.

Chen Mu listened carefully to the explanations, and then he picked up the employee list and took out a pen and hastily wrote on it. After about a minute, Chen Mu handed the list back to Bu Qiangdong.

“Except for those I’ve checked off, go through the resignation procedures for all the rest. Now.” With Chen Mu’s direct gaze and especially that last word, Bu Qiangdong couldn’t help but shiver to the point of hearing his teeth chatter. He had never considered himself a brave person; he had a daughter and a wife. Although his salary at Heaven’s Wings wouldn’t be considered high, it was still generous compared with other companies. He really cherished the work he had and was feeling desperate.

The upheaval in the company just then had put him into a daze, in the middle of which he briefly lost consciousness. It was about ten seconds before he took the name list from Chen Mu.

The atmosphere had become suddenly stifled; all the employees felt as though their hearts were blocked with lead, and they couldn’t breathe. They looked at Bu Qiangdong in disbelief and wondered if Cao Dong was crazy.

Once Bu Qiangdong came back to his senses, the blood in his face had drained completely away! Good Lord! What was he doing? Thinking of how Chen Mu had made his move without any hesitancy and then the scary silence afterward, Bu Qiangdong felt as though something had exploded in his head. The ceiling seemed to be quaking until he was so dizzy he almost couldn’t stand up.

“Is there a problem?” To his surprise, he was met with a rather mild question and not that scary, deadly death ray.

“No problem, no problem!” Bu Qiangdong’s abrupt response overcame any thoughts about his future happiness. He quickly and respectfully took the name list and hastily replied.

In the first instant he got the list, he saw there was a check in front of his name. His rapidly beating heart immediately calmed. By that time, the screams of the three on the floor had gotten to him. He hesitated before very respectfully and tentatively saying, “Perhaps we should send them to the hospital? If a capital case were to arise, that would create some difficulty.”

The workers were stirred, wondering why they hadn’t thought of that. Was that guy so arrogant he would even dare to wantonly kill someone right in the city?

A few of the boldest were about to open their mouths when Chen Mu asked, “How long before we’re finished? With everything?”

“Probably over an hour.” Looking at the name list in his hands, Bu Qiangdong gave his response. He couldn’t help but admire the newly arrived boss since the employees who had been checked were all people who really worked. Having just been introduced to Heaven’s Wings, it was pretty awesome for the new boss to be able to make such accurate determinations!

Chen Mu turned around to ask Wei-ah, “How long before they stop breathing?”

Wei-ah took a look at the three on the floor as though he were looking at three head of livestock about to be slaughtered. After only three seconds, he dropped his eyelids again and sparingly spat out a few words as though they were gold. “One and a half hours.”

The temperature in the office plummeted, and those employees who had just been considering any wayward moves shrunk back immediately. Everyone seemed as though they had been put out in the cold. The dialog between Chen Mu and Wei-ah couldn’t have been any simpler. But, it was like the iciest winter wind blowing through them, congealing their blood.

Terrifying! Several people swallowed hard. The indifference to life the two showed took away the last of their courage to resist. Even if he were a high-grade card artisan, they wouldn’t have been able to do anything worse to ruin their future lives than to resist. But, the one standing in front of them was no high-grade card artisan or high government official. He wasn’t even some personage with a big reputation. He was a murderous fiend who ruthlessly killed people like mowing down straw.

If you lose your money, you can still find more; if you lose your life, it won’t come back. Although those fancy-pants weren’t so good at doing work, they had done a pretty good job of making that calculation. Seeing which way the wind was blowing, they had all turned extremely clever in their navigation.

Bu Qiangdong, whose color had returned, turned immediately ashen again.

Chen Mu had a lot of confidence in Wei-ah’s estimate. If Wei-ah said one and a half hours, then it wouldn’t be an hour and 20 minutes. Those who were proficient in close combat tended to have a good understanding of the makeup of the human body. As Chen Mu saw it, Wei-ah was the absolute authority in that regard. He waved his hand to signal for Bu Qiangdong to begin.

Handling all the dismissals used up about 40 minutes. The entire process went very smoothly and without any comments. No one had even asked any questions. During the strange silence, the Heaven’s Wings employees had been reduced until there were only 25 left.

After the paperwork was signed, the employees stood dutifully in the office, no one daring to leave without permission. The three on the floor had already stopped screaming, having fallen into a coma. The employees had found the new boss minding his own business browsing at the files in his hands, without even directly looking at the three during the entire 40 minutes.

Since Chen Mu had arrived, he had never shown the slightest anger or any expression other than calm. It was the unfathomable calm that had given the employees such massive psychological pressure. Seeming to reflect the calm he expressed, the office had maintained a strange silence with only the scratching of names being signed and the shuffling of papers.

Seeing that Bu Qiangdong had completed his work, Chen Mu stood up with his ever-placid expression. His voice could be heard very clearly in the silent office.

“Starting today, those dismissed have no reason to return.” He glanced around, knowing the dark antics of those little mobsters like the back of his hand. As a street punk, he had been at what was doubtlessly the lowest rank in society. He had encountered quite a few ordinary people who basically had no way to know the dark side. Those fancy-pants weren’t much different from little punks. Although they may have had limited fighting power, those thugs had many insidious, secret tricks.

“If I find anyone is up to something behind my back, I’m likely to make their death a little less easy.” Chen Mu’s expression still had that never-changing calm, and his tone was equally mild and light. But, it was sounding so ordinary that made everyone’s hair stand up on the back of their necks.

Having experienced Chen Mu’s moves, they didn’t doubt the truth of what he had just said.

Chen Mu waved his hand, and those who had undergone the dismissal procedures took away the three who were dying and couldn’t bolt out of there fast enough, as though they’d been given a reprieve.

The 25 employees who remained in the office looked at Chen Mu, cringing and not daring to breathe. While it was true they were happy not to have been dismissed, every time they thought about having to face such a reckless guy every day, how could they really be happy?

* * *

Cleo was reading a book. That life-or-death experience had made him understand that if he didn’t get his act together, then never mind his wealth—he might not even have his life left. So, he changed his old ways of only knowing how to play around and started conscientiously studying. Through it all, a look of gratification could be seen in the eyes of his personal bodyguard.

The communications card in Cleo’s hand sounded. Seeing the number, he couldn’t help but show a look of disgust. Those fancy-pants had been his good friends, but the new Cleo didn’t have any good feelings toward them. But, when he thought about it, they might need more of his help, so Cleo fixed his face and took the call.

His look very quickly changed. He was stunned and turned dignified in his disbelief.

He ended the call a few minutes later.

Seeing his bodyguard’s look of concern, Cleo sneered, “We have underestimated that Cao Dong.”