At the entrance to the grand auditorium.
Most of the attendees had already entered.
Standing beside the temporary ticket checkpoint, a staff member in a black suit checked his watch. Seeing that it was about time, he signaled to his colleague to put away the security equipment.
Just then, two men in formal attire came huffing and puffing down the tree-lined path in the distance.
Hurriedly pulling out two admission tickets from his pocket, the no-longer-young Wang Zhengfei braced his hands on his knees and caught his breath before giving the staff member at the entrance an apologetic smile.
"...Hello, these are our admission tickets."
Whether he had failed to recognize him or simply did not care even if he had, the staff member glanced at the ticket in Wang Zhengfei's hand and said expressionlessly,
"You're late."
Wang Zhengfei made an apologetic expression. Without the slightest air of superiority, he said sincerely,
"I'm truly sorry! Traffic delayed us on the way here from the airport. I've been looking forward to this lecture for a long time. Please, sir, let me in."
The man guarding the entrance said nothing. He merely gave Wang Zhengfei a flat look, exchanged glances with his companion on the other side, then took out something like a stapler and pressed it onto the ticket before gesturing for them to enter.
A smile appeared on Wang Zhengfei's face. He nodded in thanks, then quickly gave his secretary beside him a meaningful look and hurried into the auditorium with him.
"...Boss, why did we waste time on a gatekeeper?"
Thinking of that gatekeeper's attitude earlier, the secretary following behind his boss still looked rather indignant.
Hearing that, Wang Zhengfei chuckled.
"You find it strange?"
The secretary hesitated slightly, but quickly nodded.
Wang Zhengfei smiled faintly and pointed toward