The old woman snorted. "You took away more than two hundred students in one go today, and that doesn't include those who haven't returned from their missions. If you count them too, you'll probably take another seventy or eighty... that makes more than three hundred altogether, close to three hundred and fifty!"
"Of those three hundred and fifty, how many do you think are collaborators? How many have already been brainwashed?"
The old woman's sunken eyes fixed Director Jiang with a cold gleam.
Director Jiang's head was covered in sweat. For a long while, he gave no answer.
The old woman did not let up. She asked coldly, "Can you give me a number?"
"Fifty..." Director Jiang ventured.
"Your mother's fucking bullshit!"
"Thirty..."
"Your grandmother's fucking bullshit!"
"Twenty... it really can't be any fewer..." Director Jiang wailed.
"Jiang Changbin, now that you're a big official, my words carry no weight anymore. Leave. Consider this matter unsaid. Do whatever you please."
The old woman's face was filled with dejection. "Go on, go on. This old woman has wasted your time. My apologies..."
Director Jiang's face went white. He threw himself before the wheelchair and hugged the old woman's legs, actually beginning to throw a tantrum. "Tell me how many. Give me a number... I'll do as you say, all right? No bargaining whatsoever. Please don't speak to me like that... I can't bear it..."
This high-ranking official began wiping away tears. "If it hadn't been for you back then, I couldn't even have afforded martial arts school... in my heart, you're dearer than my own mother... please don't speak to me like that. I can't bear it, I really can't..."
The old woman's expression softened. She sighed and said, "Stand up and talk. You're the director of the Star Shield Bureau.