Chapter 96: Coercion

Chapter 96: Coercion

"This time, the Security Department has recruited thirty men in total. Most are retirees from the various district and county Garrison Bureaus, while some are elite guards poached from other firms. All are experts just one step away from breaking their locks and advancing their sequences, rich in practical combat experience."

Qian Zhongxiao reported the situation with utmost respect, holding a dossier list in both hands and presenting it to Li Jun.

"No need to show me,"

Li Jun waved his hand with listless disinterest. "Since Young Master Yong entrusted the rebuilding of the Security Department to you, he trusts you, so naturally I trust you too. I won't meddle in the reorganization."

"That won't do, Director. You're the Department Head; if you don't nod, I don't dare make the call."

Qian Zhongxiao's face was pale with fright, a layer of fine, dense sweat beading on his temples.

*The eye Yong planted. His acting isn't bad.*

Li Jun mused inwardly, but his face broke into a hearty grin. He reached out, clapped a hand on Qian Zhongxiao's shoulder, and hauled the man's stooped spine straight up.

"Old Qian, I'll speak plainly. I'm just a brute who knows how to wield spears and clubs. You want me to kill? I won't shirk it. But ask me to manage a department? That's asking too much."

Qian Zhongxiao hurriedly fawned, "Director, you're too modest."

"I've no leisure for modesty, nor the inclination for empty courtesies. Let's lay our cards on the table. As long as you're of one mind with me, the Security Department is our brothers' oyster."

Qian Zhongxiao started violently, his pupils darting wildly in their sockets. He lowered his voice. "Di-Director, what... what do you mean?"

Li Jun smiled without smiling. "You should understand my meaning well enough."

"I, Li Jun, never shortchange my brothers. Ask around in the Jie'e District if you don't believe me. The Security Department is fat with oil and water. I haven't the stomach to swallow it all alone. Just bring me my due share on time, and you can run the department however you please."

"But if you think to rely on Young Master Yong's favor and play petty games with me... hmph."

Li Jun's arm tightened. Qian Zhongxiao's shoulder bones immediately let out a series of cracking pops. "Then you'd best think of your dead relative, Qian Jindong. Weigh whether your neck is as hard as his."

"Director, rest assured. This isn't my first day on the job. Even without your pointers, I know what to do."

Qian Zhongxiao endured the agony, slipping a bank card into Li Jun's pocket without a trace, his mouth running on: "This humble one will surely let the Director work with peace of mind and live in comfort!"

"Well said!"

Li Jun laughed loudly, releasing the arm that had nearly crushed Qian Zhongxiao's upper torso, and patted the other man's shoulder with satisfaction.

"Worthy of the manager the Boss favors. You really know the ropes."

"It's all thanks to the Director's fine guidance."

Qian Zhongxiao bent his waist again along with the momentum, but a sharp glint flashed and vanished in his eyes.

*Is this man a true brute, or playing the fool to eat the tiger?*

*If he doesn't learn to play the fool, I'll send him on his way first.*

Two men harboring ulterior motives suddenly met each other's gaze and smiled, their expressions identical, utterly sincere.

"Right," Li Jun suddenly asked. "That person I asked you to find—found them yet?"

"Director, how could I fail a task you assigned? The person is in your office right now."

Qian Zhongxiao paused, a look of envious admiration crossing his face. "A truly ripe peach. Director, your eye is impeccable!"

Li Jun smiled without a word, striding into the sedan lift shaped like a pavilion off to the side, heading straight for the Director's office on the eleventh floor.

When he pushed open the heavy office door, a woman of graceful bearing had already been waiting inside for some time.

She wore a modified short jacket and skirt, her black hair coiled in a bun, her nose bridge high and straight.

It was none other than Qi Zhu, the Department Head's secretary who had received Li Jun on his first visit to the Shudao Logistics Group.

From the moment Li Jun entered, Qi Zhu's eyes had locked onto him, unblinking, until he sank into the Director's chair. Only then did she sigh as if resigned to fate, reaching to untie the sash at her waist.

*Buzz.*

Qi Zhu's hand on the sash froze. She snapped her head up, staring at the mechanical dragonfly circling overhead. The rumored "man-machine play" popular in the Jie'e District flashed through her mind, and her face drained of all color.

"What... what perversion do you intend?!"

"I have no such intention. Though I took Gu Jia's position, it doesn't mean I share his tastes."

Li Jun looked her up and down. "Besides, a peach someone else has gnawed on—I have no appetite for it."

Hearing this, Qi Zhu didn't breathe a sigh of relief; her face turned even uglier. Her hands clenched tight, fingertips nearly piercing her palms.

"I know Director Li looks down on this wilted flower, this ruined willow. That's why I resigned voluntarily, to stay out of your sight. Why send Qian Zhongxiao to drag me back?"

"I had them bring you back because there are matters that need Secretary Qi to come back and explain."

*Slap.*

A ledger was thrown at Qi Zhu's feet.

Li Jun lounged in the chair, legs crossed on the desk, lifting his chin at the woman whose face had drastically changed.

"Must say, Qian Zhongxiao is capable. To find discrepancies in accounts this pristine."

"Talk. How much of the Security Department's embezzled funds over the years did you eat? How much did Gu Jia eat?"

The words barely fell before Qi Zhu's heartful of resentment instantly curdled into terror. She trembled like a sieve, legs giving way, collapsing onto the floor.

"Even selling you to the Jie'e District to work for twenty or thirty years—by the time your nerves fry, you'd barely fetch a fraction of that sum."

The woman's lips moved, but no words came for a long while.

"I've checked your background. If I recall, you have a younger brother who just advanced to Soldier Rank Nine? If Yong finds out about this... your two lives combined wouldn't appease his wrath."

Li Jun's voice was like a cold wind drifting from the abyss, frosting over Qi Zhu with ice.

She strained to move her rigid body, pressing her forehead to the cold floor, voice shaking with sobs: "This... this has nothing to do with him. Please... spare him."

"Spare him?" Li Jun smiled faintly. "Then what about you?"

Qi Zhu shuddered uncontrollably. The makeup on her sweat-slicked face was a ruin; her lower lip was bitten raw, bloody and mangled.

"I... I'll go to the Jie'e District. Upload my consciousness into the Huangliang Desire Realm. Ten years not enough? I'll do a hundred. A thousand. Until it's paid... as long as Director spares my brother."

"Truly touching sibling devotion."

Li Jun sighed with emotion, rising slowly. He walked to that head nearly buried in the floorboards.

He crouched down, voice soft: "I can spare you both. Bury this. Even reinstate you as Department Head's secretary."

Li Jun pointed at his own temple. "But before that... I want to hear you tell me. How do he and *that person* plan to deal with me?"

Qi Zhu lifted her tear-and-blood-streaked face, two eyes boring straight into the smiling face before her.

"You can refuse to speak. But before I die... I'll make sure you go first."