Back when he was the boss, Yu Dalong had been able to abandon Jiang Yi without a second thought when the latter got into trouble. Now that it was his turn to be the underling, he was quick to adopt the most subservient posture possible.

"Alright, I'll leave it to you. If you need any help, just let me know," Xu Ke said.

He had a good read on Yu Dalong's character. He didn't expect his ordinary appearance to inspire genuine loyalty from the man. So, while he would make use of Yu Dalong, he would never do so with his full trust.

Yu Dalong was ecstatic. "Great, thanks, Boss."

After hanging up with Yu Dalong, Xu Ke had planned to call Zhou Qingzhi immediately to thank him. But before he could even gather his thoughts, he received a call from Qiu Mingli.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Xu Ke adjusted his sitting position to avoid putting pressure on his wound.

The moment Qiu Mingli spoke, it was to express his gratitude. "Xu Ke, thank you!"

"Teacher, please don't be so formal with me. I was about to get some sleep. If you have something to say, just be direct." Xu Ke was done with the pleasantries when it came to Qiu Mingli. If there was something to say, say it; there was no need for endless thanks.

"You..." Qiu Mingli chuckled, then continued, "I do actually have something to discuss."

"I just got a call from the university administration. Shan Lan has been taken away, and they want me to return to the department to resume my position as a counselor."

Xu Ke's eyes lit up. "That's wonderful news!"

He had expected Shan Lan to be arrested, but he never imagined Qiu Mingli would get his job back.

"Yeah..." A hint of joy was audible in Qiu Mingli's voice. "But I also discussed another matter with them."

"What is it?"

Qiu Mingli said, "Since Shan Lan's affair is a disgrace, I told them they should talk to you. They need to issue a statement clarifying they were unaware of her actions and thank you, an alumnus, for helping to correct their mistake."

"In return, you'd say a few good words for them."

"I don't know if this counts as locking the stable door after the horse has bolted, but at least this way we avoid a lose-lose situation."

Hearing this, Xu Ke's expression shifted slightly. He understood what Qiu Mingli was getting at.

The university had, in fact, allowed Shan Lan to target him when his reputation was at a low point last night, so his retaliation was entirely justified. But going head-to-head with Tianhai University would do him no favors, either. Weighing the pros and cons, this was the most dignified solution for both parties.

Xu Ke paused for a moment. "Alright."

"That's good." Qiu Mingli breathed a sigh of relief.

What he didn't tell Xu Ke was that Tianhai University did want to restore his position, but there was a condition. They would only reinstate him if he could persuade Xu Ke to debunk the negative press and apologize for the damage done to the university's reputation. Otherwise, he'd be stuck as a mailroom administrator in the administrative building for the rest of his life.

Qiu Mingli knew the university genuinely wanted to reconcile with Xu Ke and give him his job back; they just had a harsh way of putting it. He also knew that if Xu Ke found out they were still trying to threaten him, he would definitely be displeased.

So, he omitted certain details to frame it in a way Xu Ke would find acceptable. After hearing Qiu Mingli's version, Xu Ke would think that Tianhai University had restored Qiu Mingli's position first as a gesture of sincerity before proposing reconciliation, which made it all much easier to swallow.

After the call, Xu Ke posted a message on Weibo. It was essentially a few kind words for Tianhai University, stating that Shan Lan's actions had nothing to do with the administration and encouraging prospective students to apply. After the events of the last two days, Xu Ke had become a minor celebrity. At a time like this, his post was guaranteed to attract a great deal of attention, so there was no need to worry about its reach.

Once he was off the phone, Xu Ke arrived at Junyue Residence. As for thanking the Zhou Family, that would have to wait.

「Building A, Unit 2301.」

"Uncle Wu, please, make yourself at home," Xu Ke said with a smile as he opened the door.

Gazing at the brand-new sofa and coffee table inside, Wang Wu looked pleased. "Is this what Boss Duan arranged for you?"

"Yes," Xu Ke nodded. "This way, it'll be more convenient for me to get to my clinic."

"Clinic?" Wang Wu was taken aback.

Xu Ke explained, "When I was treating Brother Duan, he gave me one. It's in Global Square."

"Oh," Wang Wu said, understanding now.

Xu Ke walked into another room. Inside were the herbs he had kept from his time in the urban village, which were just what he needed to treat the injuries from Wong Hongsheng.

"Here, let me help you." Seeing Xu Ke getting busy, Wang Wu hurried over.

After putting the herbs on to decoct and seeing that Xu Ke didn't need any more help, Wang Wu left Junyue Residence and returned to the Wang Family Corporation.

After Wang Wu left, Xu Ke received messages from Zhang Qiming and the police, one after the other.

The message from the police stated that two individuals had been summoned for questioning and expressed their sympathy for his ordeal. It was the same police station he had gone to when he had received death threats before.

He was, however, a little surprised to receive a message from Zhang Qiming at this time. He opened it and learned that Xu Feng'an had fainted and been hospitalized, something Zhang Qiming had happened to overhear.

The reason he'd 'heard' about it instead of 'seeing' it was because Xu Ke's case had created such a buzz. When the hospital nurses saw Xu Feng'an—the man from last night's episode of *The Dialogue*—show up at their hospital, they naturally began to gossip. The gossip was mostly along the lines of how Xu Feng'an must have a guilty conscience. Otherwise, why would he suddenly faint and be rushed to the hospital? This indirectly confirmed Xu Ke's innocence.

After replying to Zhang Qiming, Xu Ke shook his head.

Xu Feng'an dug his own grave.

"Third Uncle, I've transferred the money to you. Three hundred thousand in total."

From the recording, Xu Ke knew Xu Feng'an had planned to give Xu Zhenmin one hundred thousand. As promised, he transferred three times that amount.

At that moment, Xu Zhenmin was on a high-speed train back to Jiang City. "Thanks, Xu Ke!" he exclaimed, his voice brimming with the pride of someone returning home in triumph.

Hearing his tone, Xu Ke could just imagine how Xu Zhenmin would describe his painstaking undercover mission to his parents…

After drinking the medicinal broth, Xu Ke checked his wounds in the mirror. Five shocking cuts were etched across his shoulder. If he hadn't been wearing a suit the entire time, people would have seen them long ago.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and squeezed the wounds hard.

SQUIRT...

Five streaks of dark, purplish blood spurted out.

Wong Hongsheng's Claw Skill was laced with poison. Xu Ke hadn't noticed at first, only realizing something was wrong when he checked himself in the mirror.

This old dog has a few tricks…

Xu Ke's face went pale. No wonder the wound was healing so slowly; it had even throbbed when Wong Qifu squeezed his shoulder. So he'd been poisoned. Luckily, his body was tough from his physical training, which had prevented anything worse from happening.

After cleaning and bandaging his wounds, Xu Ke went to the bedside table and took out the Dragon Ring he had received from Duan Chongfeng that morning. The ruby was dazzling, emitting a soft red glow.

He didn't touch it, simply leaving it on the table and gazing at it.

How do I absorb this?

His sense of urgency was greater than anyone else's. This whole affair had been single-handedly orchestrated by Yang Qing out of pure personal revenge. However, the information it revealed had amplified his sense of crisis immensely. No matter how much Yang Qing wanted revenge, she could never have gathered so many media outlets and television stations, let alone bribed so many people to slander him, without the help of the Huang Family and Sun Luo. Therefore, this was actually an attack orchestrated by the Huang Family, Wong Ting, and the Ye Family. And Wang Yu had to be added to that list.

With so many enemies, it would be a lie to say he didn't feel an urgent need to increase his strength.

When they tried to crush him with modern tools of public opinion, he could still fight back. But what if they resorted to direct force? Today, one Innate and one Acquired expert had cornered him, and he had only escaped by a stroke of luck thanks to Wang Wu's protection. What about next time? What if there were two Innate experts? Or what if they were even more ruthless and sent three? Wouldn't that be a dead end?

If he could just find his master, Xu Ke would have asked him to come out and kill them all… but that was just wishful thinking. For now, he could only rely on himself.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.