"Brother-in-law, come eat, will you? Everyone's been eagerly staring at the food waiting for you, isn't that a bit much?"

Chu Ge was puzzled, "Waiting for me?"

Qin Ruoying nodded, "Yeah, it was the same yesterday. Haven't you noticed before? In Kyoto, whenever the whole family eats together, my dad would start eating first, then the rest of us could eat."

Recalling a bit, Chu Ge found it to be true and couldn't help but laugh, "I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it, but your family rules are quite feudal. Anyway, I'm not your dad, why wait for me?"

"Brother-in-law, that's not right. What do you mean by 'your family'? It should be 'our family', plus, you're my brother-in-law, so theoretically you're my elder. Of course I should wait for you."

Upon hearing this, Chu Ge laughed and turned to glance at Qin Ruojing, realizing she hadn't started eating either.

"Xiaojing, why aren't you eating? You can't be waiting for me too, right?"

Though Qin Ruojing found Chu Ge's question quite awkward, she had to feign nonchalance in front of her sister, smiling lightly and nodding.

"Of course, I'm waiting for you. You're my boyfriend, so I should wait for you to start eating."

Seeing Qin Ruojing's gentle face, Chu Ge almost burst out laughing, finding it all increasingly amusing.

"Xiaojing, Xiaoying, how about the three of us skip all this formality? We're not at your... our Kyoto home now."

"Brother-in-law, just eat already. We're so used to this tradition, if we lose the habit here and can't pick it up when we get home, we'll definitely get scolded."

Qin Ruoying placed a piece of food on Chu Ge's plate, pleading with her eyes, and Qin Ruojing nodded in agreement.

Watching the sisters, Chu Ge felt more and more like a landlord who had forcibly taken in two poor maidens.

This time, however, he refrained from joking, smiled, picked up his chopsticks, and ate the food Qin Ruoying had served him.

Seeing Chu Ge start eating, the Qin sisters finally began their meal.

That night, as usual, Chu Ge and the Qin sisters each stayed in separate bedrooms, using the excuse that Qin Ruojing's cold hadn't fully recovered.

However, both Chu Ge and Qin Ruojing knew that this excuse was about to run its course if they didn't want Qin Ruoying to get suspicious.

In the morning, a few clouds were drifting in the sky, covering the sun.

The basketball match between the Operation Management Department and the Marketing Department was still the first game today, starting at nine o'clock.

Chu Ge left Qin Ruojing's house and headed directly to the gymnasium, arriving a little after eight, only to find that everyone from the Operation Management Department was already there.

A few girls, in short skirts, were surrounding Mo Xiaoran practicing what Chu Ge had instructed them to. Ji Songtao and Lu Gang, in basketball jerseys and shoes, were getting into the zone; one was stretching, and the other was practicing shooting.

Hearing the gymnasium door open, everyone turned their heads to look at Chu Ge, and the tension on their faces eased a bit, giving way to smiles.

"You guys are early. How's the practice going?" Closing the gymnasium door, Chu Ge walked over to them, grinning.

With bright smiles, Feifei and a few girls came over and lined up in front of Chu Ge.

"Vice Minister Chu, you'll see in no time."

"Alright, let me take a look then, Feifei, you start first."

Chu Ge nodded, spoke to Feifei, and signaled Lu Gang to toss a basketball over.

With one hand, Chu Ge caught the ball from Lu Gang, then handed it to Feifei while assuming a defensive stance.

"Okay, consider me your opponent. What would you do now?"

Feifei gave a crafty smile, then immediately put on a clueless expression, nervously stammering, "Brother, can you... can you let me through?"

Chu Ge burst out laughing, "Well done, you've got a bit of Xiaoran's bashful vibe. Say that during the match."

Calling another girl over, Chu Ge dribbled the basketball and asked, "If you want to steal the ball from me, what should you do?"

"Pretend to be in awe, wait for them to let their guard down, then snatch the ball."

Chu Ge nodded approvingly, then asked the remaining girls some questions, all of whom responded fluently. But as they asked and answered, everyone burst into laughter.

The strategy Chu Ge deployed yesterday was simply to have these girls dress up glamorously, then use charm, act cute, be bashful, act admiring, and play the pity card.

Evidently, these girls were quite adept at this; their expressions and tone were spot-on, all wearing conservative undergarments with another layer of camisole on top and safety shorts under their skirts, ensuring that the Marketing Department players wouldn't gain any advantage visually.

Of course, these were just minor tricks. To score and win, they still needed real skills, and the offensive duties lay on Lu Gang and Ji Songtao's shoulders.

Amidst the laughter, Lu Gang, with a nervous face, came over to Chu Ge's side.

"Bro, I... I'm still a bit nervous. I've seen the marketing team play before, they..."

Chu Ge laughed and waved his hand, interrupting Lu Gang, "Just play boldly. Lose if you lose, win if you win. It's all for fun, don't take it too seriously, just do your best."

Lu Gang nodded, "Yeah, bro, give us a high five for some encouragement and confidence."

Seeing Lu Gang still looking tense, even sweating on his forehead, Chu Ge said with amusement, "Let's skip the formalities."

As Chu Ge sat down in the stands, the gym doors opened once more, and the referees invited from other departments walked in alongside the entire marketing team.

It has to be said that just the presence of the marketing team immediately overshadowed the Operation Management Department.

More than twenty people walked in through the door, led by the marketing department's head, Chen Lei, a rugged-looking man with a light blue stubble and short hair.

When these twenty-plus people entered the gym, the squeaking of basketball shoes on the floor was immediate. Among them, more than ten men wore matching white vests, with six or seven being over six feet tall, and four with solid, muscular builds.

"Wow, so cool!"

As previously arranged, Feifei and a few other girls immediately put on expressions of astonishment and exclaimed in unison.

Hearing this, the men from the marketing department were momentarily stunned, then wore expressions of either smugness or bashfulness.

There was only one exception, and that was Pan Changqing.

Although Pan Changqing was also smiling outwardly, he was secretly sneering, thinking about how to get back at the previous grievances in a bit.

In Pan Changqing's mind, if he couldn't mess with Chu Ge, couldn't he mess with his colleagues?

If these guys could get him drunk before, he could "reasonably collide" with them today. As long as it's not too blatant, no one could pick faults.

As leaders of the two departments, Ji Songtao and the marketing department head Chen Lei exchanged pleasantries, saying some polite words like "friendship first, competition second." Time quickly reached nine o'clock, and with a whistle from the referee, the match officially began.

In the center of the court, the referee threw the basketball high, and Lu Gang and a marketing department player jumped simultaneously to contest the opening tip.

"Pop"

Though Lu Gang wasn't short and had decent jumping ability, his opponent was taller, so he didn't manage to beat him to the ball.

The basketball hit the floor with a "bang" and then landed in the marketing team player's hands.

This situation was as expected by everyone. Immediately, a girl from the Operation Management Department ran towards the marketing team's ball handler.

"Hey there, your dribbling looks so cool."

Being praised like this by a bright-eyed girl, the marketing team's player felt a bit light-headed, subconsciously letting his guard down, dribbling with one hand and scratching his head with the other.

"Uh... haha, it's okay, not really... uh?"

Mid-sentence, he suddenly discovered the basketball in his hands had vanished, ending up in the hands of the girl who had just admired him. She simply ignored him and ran off dribbling proficiently.

With a cry of "uh," he felt both frustrated and amused, immediately chasing her from behind.

Unfortunately, as he got to her side, she had already passed the ball to Feifei.

Feifei got the ball, took just two steps, and another marketing team player blocked in front of her, assuming a defensive posture.

This scene was all too familiar to Feifei, just like when Chu Ge had assumed a similar posture earlier.

"Hey there, can you let me pass, pretty please?"

Feigning a panicked look, Feifei covered her mouth with one hand and dribbled with the other, pleading pitifully.

"Uh..."

Even though one teammate had already been fooled, the muscular man was still somewhat bewildered by Feifei, and looking at her pitiable face, he felt making a move would be utterly immoral, a great injustice.

Seizing the moment of distraction, Feifei swiftly circled past him, not forgetting to say "Thank you, sir" as she brushed past him.

Immediately, Feifei passed the ball to Lu Gang, who had positioned himself under the opponent's basket. With a smooth chest pass, the basketball landed securely in Lu Gang's hands.

Having received the ball, Lu Gang didn't hesitate, executing a standard three-step layup, reaching up with his right hand to shoot. The basketball swished into the net, scoring the first two points of the match.

Under normal circumstances, having scored first, the Operation Management Department players should have been all smiles. However, having been instructed by Chu Ge, each suppressed the urge to laugh, putting on apologetic expressions.

Especially Feifei and the other two girls on the court, who even adorably stuck out their tongues and said, "Thank you."

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.