Following the twins' successful unauthorized order of 1000 kilograms of sour gummy worms to the Liang Group Headquarters (Chapter 23), CEO Liang faced a colossal logistical and reputational disaster.
Liang stood in his 50th-floor office, staring down at the enormous, sticky piles of candy boxes cluttering the corporate lobby. The shimmering, plastic-wrapped mountains of sugar were visible from the street.
"Xiao Mei! The entire ground floor looks like a low-budget candy store exploded! The board members are furious! And Xin keeps trying to bypass security, claiming she needs to 'help the delivery men optimize candy placement'!" Liang's voice was high-pitched, bordering on a squeak.
Xiao Mei, the CSO, was trying to calmly re-patch the system after the toddler trojan attack, occasionally popping a gummy worm into her mouth for "optimal cognitive function." "Relax, Hubby. This is a PR opportunity. We will simply donate the excess candy to children's charities."
Liang put his face in his hands. "We can't donate 1000 kilos of sour gummy worms! We'll give the entire city a collective toothache! This is all because of your illogical obsession with those worms!"
"My obsession is rooted in optimization," Xiao Mei corrected him, her eyes bright. "Optimal brain fuel requires optimal sugar. Now, stop talking and initiate Protocol 1: Damage Control Kiss. Your anxiety levels are spiking, which threatens overall corporate stability."
Liang, seeing the undeniable logic in immediate stress relief, complied. He grabbed her and gave her a long, stressed, but thorough kiss right there by the boardroom door, ignoring the shocked silence of his secretary.The gummy worm crisis escalated when the twins, Zhen and Xin, arrived at the office for their "Mandatory Vacation Planning Session" (the reason for the initial office breach).
Upon seeing the mountains of sour candy, the twins decided to implement an 'Inventory Management and Structural Engineering Protocol.'
They started moving the boxes, inadvertently blocking the main executive elevator. Then, Xin, using her intuitive chaos, figured out how to use the barcode scanner to broadcast messages over the PA system.
"Attention all employees! This is not a drill! We have enough gummy worms to survive the zombie apocalypse! Papa is paying for it! Yay!"
The board members were screaming into their phones about fiduciary responsibility. The stock price was twitchy.
Liang threw his hands up in defeat. "CSO! You have to stop them! Use your genius to end this chaos!"
Xiao Mei pulled up the security camera feed and saw her children successfully building a fort out of the candy boxes. "I can't stop them, Hubby. I can only admire the structural integrity of that fort. It has superior load-bearing capacity and excellent defense against logic."The most conservative board member, Mr. Zhao, marched up to Liang, navigating carefully around the precarious towers of candy. "Chairman! This is the limit! Your wife and children are destroying the professional image of the Liang Group! You must sign a contract prohibiting the CSO from bringing personal chaos into the office!"
Mr. Zhao presented a legally binding document that would effectively ban Xiao Mei's personal touch from the corporate environment.
Liang took the pen, but before signing, he paused. He looked at the chaos—the giddy employees sneaking candy, the children laughing in their structural fort, and Xiao Mei smiling proudly at her engineering genius children. He remembered the cold, predictable efficiency before her arrival.
Liang took the contract, but instead of signing, he calmly ripped it in half.
"Mr. Zhao," Liang said, his voice cold and commanding, but with a warm undertone of pride. "My wife is the reason this company's firewall is the most secure in the world. Her 'chaos' is what makes us unpredictable and therefore, unbeatable. If you have a problem with my family, you can resign. I prefer my CSO's illogical genius over your predictable fear."Xiao Mei was deeply touched. He had publicly defended her and her chaos, sacrificing corporate peace for her freedom and accepting her as she was. She ran up to him, right in front of the horrified Mr. Zhao, who had choked on a stray gummy bear.
"Chairman Liang! That defense was beautiful! It requires an immediate Maximum Emotional Reward Protocol!"
She jumped up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and delivered a passionate, fierce kiss that was visible to the remaining, stunned board members and the entire Gummy Worm Fort. This was the ultimate public flirting act.
"Report, CSO?" Liang murmured, pulling back just enough to speak.
"Report: Threat neutralized. Emotional metrics off the charts. You just earned the entire weekend off, and the entire bag of my personal reserve gummy worms, Hubby," she whispered.
Liang smiled, defeating the board and securing a romantic weekend in one move.Xiao Mei quickly implemented her "Illogical Disaster Solution." She didn't donate the candy. Instead, she announced a "Liang Group Gummy Worm Hackathon."
The objective: Write the most creative, un-hackable security patch using only the energy derived from sour gummy worms. The winning team got a week of paid vacation.
Suddenly, the board stopped complaining. The engineers stopped panicking. They grabbed candy and started chewing and coding with manic enthusiasm. The chaos was instantly weaponized into record-breaking productivity.
"See, Hubby?" Xiao Mei said, watching the newfound corporate efficiency. "Illogical solutions are often the most profitable."
Liang just shook his head, pulled her into a quiet corner, and delivered one last, slow, appreciative kiss before leaving the office chaos to the CSO, the twins, and the highly energized coders.