"Guangxi." Xue Jinxu called him.

"What are your insights about the meeting?" She probed.

"Xu-jie I learned a lot. I observed keenly how all of you contributed in one way or another in providing solutions. And most importantly, you as their leader were holding all the departments together. Your empire is strong, sister."

Xue Jinxu laughed. She was fascinated by her little brother's praises. She did not get to hear it from anyone anyway. Not even from her parents.

"However, I found myself lost for several times. It was torturing and head-splitting that I am not familiar with the concepts and even left hanging in the middle of explanations. I am not only slow, I am lugging! If I'm not paying as much attention, I would have even succ.u.mbed into sleep already." His face was crumpled.

"In due time, you will learn everything – every twists and turns, and you'll even enjoy the ride. You'll find it easy to grasp, as if you had always known it like the back of your hand, and time will come you will have your own strategies."

"We're always telling you that it's not rush, but I always believe it's better to start young." She started lecturing him.

"You know very well that all of this will be pa.s.sed down to you later on. By that time, you are free to do what you think is right for the company. However at this point, you have to take in my strategies and the way I chose to manage it."

"I understand. You were so cool back there! I want to become like you!"

"No, you have to be better than me. Exceed my performance." Xue Jinxu challenged him.

He gulped. 'Oops.' He could not say anymore. He might be in even worst arrangements. 'Wait, being better than my sister is not a bad thing. It's the opposite, actually.'

"En." He beamed brightly.

Xue Jinxu ruffled his hair. He was adorable. Not once did she doubt this little brother of hers. She knew him well, probably even better than he knew himself. He was capable and competent, just like her, their older brother, their father. Truly the apple does not fall far from the tree. His only fault right now is that he's young. That's all. With her coaxing and meddling, surely he will be ready in no time. She's actually looking forward to it, excited about it. It was also her dream, and her legacy. Because it is her, Xue Jinxu who trained him.

"By the way, Xu-jie, I'm curious. The Safety Head said that were just lucky the MT Serendipity has already unloaded its cargo, and that there were no holes, thankfully. But I'm just curious, what will happen otherwise – if she's full and there had unfortunately been a hole?" He blinked and waited for her answers.

"Well, the most obvious is that there will be a leak, and oil spill. It would then become an even more urgent and grave situation. Every ticking of the clock will matter. Why? Because although in the first few hours, the PR team could control the news, however an oil spill incident could be addressed fully and completely in its entirety for a couple of days. Which means that more people will notice it – including the local government, environmental groups, media, business partners, and even people with ill intentions to our family. The scope would not be contained eventually. Our company is known globally, any news about us would surely reach other parts of the globe.."

She paused, looked intently at her brother's solemn eyes. "Our stocks will surely drop, and even after the incident had long been addressed, the reputation of our company will be negatively affected. It will dwindle, our business partners will doubt us, and our reliability. We will incur damage to our name which is much more lethal than the incident itself. We would have to double or even triple our efforts to prove to our partners, clients and to the whole world that we are the same reliable service provider that we are, and that we value safety, environment and morals."

"It would be as if we will be back on scratch – when we were still trying to climb our way up to the top." She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Do you understand now?"

"Y-yes, Xu-jie. That's how grave it could be, huh!"

"Yes. That's why we have to be serious with our work, with our operations. It's not only our Xue family that will be affected, but all our thousands of employees and their families. We have to be responsible for them."

He shuddered. Guangxi had ran through in his mind everything that his sister had said. It was a ghastly sight. The consequences were indeed extremely lethal. Worst was the possibility of the company to not be able to go back to its feet, and go bankrupt. He now fully understood why the Safety head had considered it quite providential. Luck was still by their side, thankfully enough.

"I think I should visit a temple downtown to relay our family's thanks." Guangxi said.

Xue Jinxu could not help but laugh. "Alright, you do that. And while you're at it please seek some more blessings for our business and for our whole family."

"As for me, I need to go visit Shanghai."

Guangxi blinked many times. "It's for the second major issue right?"

"Yes, the second issue is a bit more sensitive. The port of Shanghai is the biggest port in China. We cannot simply be reckless and be in bad terms with them. If it could be settled with good talk or compensation, as they were claiming, that would be best. Money is not an issue here, however we also do not want them to think that we will bow to their request too easily. It's a play on leverage, and balance of relations.h.i.+p."

Guangxi was speechless as always. He's still too far from his sister's caliber.

"Can't I come with you?"

"No, there isn't much for you to learn there. Just stay here. Be my eyes, and maximize the learnings. When you're ready I'll make sure to bring you with me. It's a promise." She smiled her genuine smile, her almond eyes were glimmering with all the hope and love she had for his little brother.

"I won't disappoint you, Xu-jie." He beamed.