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Huo Baichuan said, "I saw a lot of mugwort growing along the base of the outer wall. I cut a few handfuls while I was at it. This stuff keeps mosquitoes away."

Holding an iron basin, Huo Baichuan stood in the room and raised a brow at Tao Yan. "Don't tell me you can't stand the smell either?"

Tao Yan froze slightly.

Seeing no reaction from him, Huo Baichuan knew this delicate fellow was not delicate enough to find the smoke from burning mugwort unbearably choking. He casually set the iron basin beneath the bed. "I'll leave it here, then. Keep an eye on it yourself. If it really feels too choking, take the basin outside."

With a towel slung over his shoulder, Huo Baichuan went to rinse off bare-chested.

Tao Yan said nothing the entire time. After Huo Baichuan left, he lowered his head and glanced at the battered iron basin steadily giving off smoke. Amid the faint scent of burning mugwort, he bent over his proposal and kept writing.

Early the next morning, Huo Baichuan was awakened by the sunlight. Still groggy, he saw someone sitting at the desk. His hands paused as he rubbed his eyes, and he blurted out, "No way. You didn't sleep at all last night?"

Tao Yan turned around and blinked his dry eyes. "I slept. I woke up again at four in the morning."

Tao Yan had woken up from the heat. Jiangzhou had already entered the hottest days of summer, and daytime temperatures had reached thirty-three or thirty-four degrees Celsius. Tao Yan, accustomed to central air conditioning, found it increasingly hard to adapt.

"Chest tightness? Shortness of breath? Weak limbs?" Looking at Tao Yan's flushed face, Huo Baichuan mocked, "Those symptoms sound a lot like kidney deficiency."

Tao Yan looked at Huo Baichuan expressionlessly, too lazy even to roll his eyes.

Huo Baichuan sprawled on the single bed, his long legs crossed and his hands tucked behind his head. "I think we should put off buying a computer for now. The most urgent thing is to buy an air conditioner or an electric fan first."

After saying that, he could not help glancing at Tao Yan again and complained once more, "Why are you so delicate?"

After being verbally "wounded" by Huo Baichuan again and again, Tao Yan gave a faint snort. "I'm not as thick-skinned and hardy as you are. My adaptability is better."

Huo Baichuan grinned smugly. "Naturally. Did you think all those years of wilderness exploration were for nothing?"

Tao Yan ignored him. Huo Baichuan shamelessly continued making conversation. "How's that proposal of yours coming along? Want me to polish it for you?"

Tao Yan sighed helplessly. "That's not how you use the word 'polish.' Why are you so lacking in humility?"

Huo Baichuan waved a hand. "Didn't we go to the U.S. for college after high school? We drank a few bowls of foreign ink and filled our stomachs with hypocrisy** and liberalism. Naturally, we're a tiny bit lacking in the traditional virtues passed down by our ancestors. I'll work on correcting that."

"Talk about yourself. Don't drag me into it." Tao Yan strongly disapproved of Huo Baichuan's habit of praising or criticizing them together at every turn. He maintained that he himself was modest and prudent, unlike a certain arrogant rich second-generation heir.

The rich second-generation heir scoffed at that. If someone like Tao Yan counted as modest and prudent, then Huo Baichuan had never met an immodest person in his life.

The two young men from thirty years in the future exchanged dozens of rounds of attacks over the issue of humility before sounds came from the direction of the cafeteria. It seemed breakfast was ready.

Tao Yan closed his laptop, slipped it into the drawer, and locked it.

Seeing that, Huo Baichuan could not help sighing. "We really should rent an office."

Tao Yan analyzed the matter calmly. "Since we want to use our status as orphans to establish a new company and use charity and public welfare to promote it, it isn't suitable for us to leave the orphanage yet. If we're putting on an act, we have to see it through."

Huo Baichuan frowned tightly. "Why make yourself sound so awful?"

Tao Yan said expressionlessly, "It's just the truth."

"The truth is that you sympathize with those four little brats and found an excuse to pay their medical bills. You want to help more missing children find their parents and let more victims' families be reunited, so you're paying out of pocket to create a website to help missing persons. I don't care how many excuses you make, but you don't get to slander yourself."

Huo Baichuan said, "That would make me misunderstand and think the partner I chose and decided to strive alongside is some profit-driven bad guy."

Tao Yan asked, "Isn't that exactly what I am?"

"Of course not." Huo Baichuan scratched his hair. "If you only wanted to solve the business license problem, we could have spent some money to acquire a shell company. We could find anyone to serve as our legal representative, have them sign a rigorous contract to ensure our interests wouldn't be harmed, and then hollow them out."

"Don't tell me that after working in finance for so many years and personally handling dozens or hundreds of mergers and acquisitions, you couldn't think of something that simple."

"Of course a shell company would work. But if we want to grow bigger and secure the television station deal, then we need a company reputation that better aligns with mainstream values. Otherwise, how can we compete with those international brands that have deep pockets and well-established channels? You can't deny that our identity and position as orphans will give us more convenience and more public attention. It could even become the core competitive advantage during the company's earliest stage." Tao Yan paused slightly, then concluded, "That is a valuable asset."

"So what?" Huo Baichuan folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, nearly laughing in anger at Tao Yan's fussiness. "How did I never realize you had a bit of a moral obsession?"

In Huo Baichuan's view, there was nothing wrong with using their status as orphans and charity work to gain a foothold.

"We haven't harmed anyone. On the contrary, many people will receive more help through the platform and resources we provide. That's mutually beneficial." Huo Baichuan said, "How many flawless saints devoted entirely to the public good are there in this world? You aren't one, I'm not one, and I doubt many of the partners we deal with in the future will be either."

Tao Yan pressed his lips tightly together. He did not know why their conversation had wandered in this direction. He did not want to have such a pointless argument with Huo Baichuan, so he stepped past him and tried to leave.

Huo Baichuan grabbed his wrist and blocked the doorway.