Qu Jianlei was not particularly surprised when he received the news.
Although the Empire prized iron-blooded rule, its government system was still steeped in stale decay.
He said dismissively, "So what if the review fails? All the procedures below have already been completed."
Duo Gan nodded and asked thoughtfully, "So if it doesn't get approved, we'll just have to haggle with them afterward?"
The idea of "policies from above, countermeasures below" was widespread throughout human society, not some isolated phenomenon.
Just think of Wu Zhen at the Military Factory on Baozhi Star in the Alliance—major projects pushed through first and reported afterward, or openly complying while covertly defying orders...
Duo Gan was no stranger to such things, which was why she understood exactly what Kefu had meant.
Her chief steward had already realized that if the higher-ups rejected the review, there would inevitably be disputes.
Duo Gan was thoroughly familiar with such tactics. She had had more than a dozen disputes with the government.
But disputes were one thing; what needed to be done still had to be done. Many times, disputes even had to be set aside.
Now that Digital Phantom had taken over, they actually had the strength to haggle with the government and were not afraid of bearing the consequences.
The key was that neither Kefu nor Duo Gan knew whether First One was willing to haggle. They both knew very well that Qu Jianlei considered himself a man of principles and paid great attention to legitimacy in his actions—sometimes to the point of being almost fussy.
So how this matter developed next really depended on what First One thought.
That was why Kefu had come to seek instructions despite already having a response prepared.
However, neither of them had expected Qu Jianlei to know far more