Sister Wang refused, but Xu Shilan insisted on doing it anyway.

"No — it's a scam company," Sister Wang said, shaking her head. "That pharmaceutical company opened by that Doctor Guan Xuemin, or whatever he calls himself. Television and the newspapers have been making him out to be some kind of miracle worker lately, but he's nothing but a fraud..."

"Heh..." At her words, Xu Shilan could only smile ruefully. "Sister Wang, Elder Guan is an expert in the medical world. How could he be a fraud?"

"If he's not a fraud, then why couldn't he cure your illness? All those acupuncture sessions, and not the slightest improvement! And he claimed he could cure you!" Sister Wang said with contempt.

"You can't put it that way. So many hospitals failed to cure me too, didn't they? It's simply that my illness is an odd one..." Xu Shilan did not think Guan Xuemin was a fraud. Her own condition, after all, was far too complicated.

"Enough, enough. Even when we do endorsements, we have to keep our consciences. If he can't even cure your illness, what sort of miracle doctor is he? We can't have you standing there lying through your teeth," Sister Wang said carelessly.

Xu Shilan shook her head with a smile. "It's not as though there aren't stars who do exactly that. False endorsements? There are plenty of them these days! I'd better call Elder Guan and apologize. When he was treating me, he was truly conscientious."

"Suit yourself. With a fraud that big, why bother?" Sister Wang was a woman of fierce loves and hates, a forceful character — not like Xu Shilan, who was pure and clean, with no complicated calculations in her heart.

All the same, a person like Xu Shilan, without a manager like Sister Wang to shield her, would surely have been taken advantage of.

Xu Shilan smiled faintly, picked up her phone, found the number, and called Guan Xuemin. But the line was switched off, and she had no choice but to set the matter aside for the moment...

Having failed to secure Xu Shilan, Lai Pangzi immediately telephoned Wei Zhao to report. But Wei Zhao hardly regarded the matter as important at all; hearing that the girl Xu Shilan's manager was so high and mighty, he simply dropped the idea of finding a spokesperson.

An Jianwen had been having a rough time of it lately. The pressure from his family and from the Fire Wolf Gang was enough to leave him gasping for breath.

Fortunately, before the kidney-harvesting ring was wiped out, An Jianwen had raked in a great deal of money for his family and the Fire Wolf Gang. Back when his elder brother, An Jiande, had been in charge of organ trafficking in Songshan, nothing had gone wrong — but because he was buying kidneys for cash, the volume was small and the costs were high, so a whole year's profit came to less than what An Jianwen had pulled in in a single month. That was also why the Fire Wolf Gang and the An family had never hauled An Jianwen back home.

Arrogant and utterly without scruples An Jianwen might be, but he was undeniably a fine hand at making money. Over ten million in profit in one month — even the leader of the Fire Wolf Gang's northern branch had come to regard him with new respect.

At this very moment, An Jianwen lay on the sofa, phone pressed to his ear, talking to his father.

"Jianwen, you're still too young. This time you were too rash!" An Jianwen's father, An Mingyue, said with earnest gravity. "Look at your cousin. A year in Songshan City, and his record is still no match for yours — but he seeks stability above all, and hasn't the Fire Wolf Gang just given him an important post?"

"Dad, wasn't I only trying to achieve something to show Grandpa and the Fire Wolf Gang? In our family, ever since I went abroad, the northern business was handed over to Uncle. Our family's standing in the An clan and in the Fire Wolf Gang has plummeted!" An Jianwen said, his face pinched with bitterness.

"Foolish boy! Your old man may have given up the northern business and become a liaison between the family and the Fire Wolf Gang, and on the surface it may look as though your uncle has outshone me — but in truth, every single transaction and every ledger with the Fire Wolf Gang passes through your father's hands!" An Mingyue said. "Otherwise, why do you suppose the Fire Wolf Gang let you take charge of the Songshan City business the moment you came home? And your elder brother — is he truly so valued by the Fire Wolf Gang? He's simply been sent to the border to deal with drug traffickers. It looks like easy money, but do you have any idea how dangerous it is? Those foreign drug dealers — which one of them isn't a killer who won't even blink?"

"I understand, Father. I was rash..." An Jianwen turned his father's words over in his mind and had to admit it was true.

"Hmph. Still, it's just as well. The organ smuggling business couldn't have lasted much longer anyway. When An Jiande was running it, it had already drawn the police's attention; now that it's shut down, so be it. You've made the Fire Wolf Gang a good deal of money too, so this affair is dropped!" An Mingyue said. "Fortunately, the leader of the Fire Wolf Gang's northern branch is himself a ruthless man who admires your willingness to stop at nothing to turn a profit, and with me smoothing things over, he has finally agreed to hand you a new assignment!"

"What? A new assignment? That's wonderful!" The moment he heard his father's words, An Jianwen's spirits soared. He had been worrying himself sick over what to do with his future — down a kidney and stripped of his career, how was he ever to pursue Gu Mengyao? Now it was settled; a new career had arrived so quickly!

"Mm. The most profitable businesses in the underworld these days are prostitution, gambling, drugs, and organ smuggling. As for the sex trade, every locality has its own local snakes running it; it's not for us to stick our hands in," An Mingyue said. "As for drug dealing, your cousin is already in it. What you are to do now is gambling!"

"Oh? You want me to open a casino?" An Jianwen had more or less guessed his father's meaning.

"Yes — but not an ordinary casino. An underground fight ring!" An Mingyue said. "Ordinary casinos are controlled by the local gangs too; it's hard for us to cut in. So we deal in fight betting. Not only do the tickets bring in money, but wagering on the winners and losers is a highly profitable trade of its own!"

"No problem, leave it to me. This time I'll do it properly!" An Jianwen nodded again and again. "But I've hardly any men left to use. The tattooed man has already taken the fall in my place."

"That doesn't matter. The branch leader has already sent over two capable men! One is a top external-school fighter at the peak of the early Xuan rank — more than enough to hold down your fight arena! The other is Dr. Yin, who specializes in research on awakening human potential. He will supply you with drugs that can make a man invincible in an instant! But these two are here to assist you, not to be your subordinates. You must treat them with courtesy and on no account slight them!" An Mingyue said.