Upon hearing the sweet "thank you", the men in the market department who were a bit upset felt instantly appeased. The male employee who was teased by Feifei even scratched his head and chuckled, saying "you're welcome."

Sitting below the stage, Chu Ge burst into laughter. The performances of these three girls were just too spot-on, with their cuteness effectively dispelling any annoyance.

This type of basketball game was truly a first for him, and he was somewhat impressed with himself for suggesting such an idea to the Operation Management Department.

On the other bench, the substitutes from the market department, including Minister Chen, were laughing heartily. They weren't bothered by losing points; they just felt an indescribable joy.

Only Pan Changqing was feeling irritated, thinking the women from the Operation Management Department were too shameless. How could they resort to such despicable tactics?

"Minister Chen, they're doing it on purpose. Do you think we should remind our guys on the court? Tell them not to be soft and not to be fooled by those women from the Operation Management Department?"

Although Pan Changqing was eager to jump in and retaliate, he was, after all, just a minor employee. So, he could only lean towards Minister Chen of the market department and grumble.

Chen Lei gave Pan Changqing a somewhat displeased look, "Pan Changqing, do you think this is something even you can see but I can't?"

Pan Changqing paused awkwardly, then forced a smile, "Minister Chen, I didn't mean it that way. I'm just worried about our department's brothers."

"Worried about what? What's there to worry about? Isn't it just two points? Even if we let these girls have twenty points, do you think they can win? Get lost, don't disturb my game-watching."

Although Pan Changqing felt upset after being scolded, he could only return to his seat, adding the grievance to the Operation Management Department's account.

Meanwhile, he cursed internally, "You shameless women, laugh all you want now. Let's see if you can still laugh when I'm on the court!"

On the court, Feifei and the others strictly followed the strategy that Chu Ge devised for them, and the results were quite evident.

The three girls sometimes acted spoiled, sometimes acted cute, causing the five men from the market department to be utterly confused, almost forgetting it was a game. They nearly wanted to stop and give these girls a proper basketball lesson.

Off the court, Chu Ge watched with keen interest, his lips constantly curved in a slight smile.

With the end of the first half, the score was thirty-nine to nineteen, with the Operation Management Department leading the market department by a full twenty points!

When the halftime whistle blew, the faces of the five were filled with indescribable joy.

Even though Chu Ge repeatedly told them to stay low-key, low-key, and more low-key to have a slight chance of winning, at this moment, these five were so happy. They truly saw hope in defeating the market department, and they couldn't hold back their smiles.

Although he felt that smiling so brightly now was totally not beneficial for aiming to win the game, in Chu Ge's eyes, it was just light-hearted fun anyway, so he said nothing. Instead, he smiled along with them and gave each an encouraging glance.

On the other side, Chen Lei, who had gathered the subordinate employees in the lounge, was also smiling, but there was a hint of mischief in his rough grin.

"Got confused by those little girls, right? Our market department letting the Operation Management Department lead by twenty points, if this didn't happen right under our noses, happening to you all, who would believe it? Who dares to believe it? Hmm?"

Chen Lei sat in a chair with his legs crossed, smoking a cigarette, looking at the people beside him, smirking and speaking unhurriedly.

The five court players hung their heads awkwardly, not responding to the question.

In fact, even now, they didn't see a big deal in lagging twenty points behind the Operation Management Department. They felt the half of basketball had been unbelievably fun, watching those girls act spoiled and cute, they felt like they were almost being hypnotized.

"Think it was fun, didn't you? Never played basketball with girls like this before, have you? Felt especially proud, right?"

Having not heard any dissatisfaction in Chen Lei's voice, a muscle man from the market department scratched his head and smiled, "Uh... Minister Chen, you really hit the nail on the head, I've been playing basketball since I was young, but never had as much fun as today."

Chen Lei laughed aloud, and the five court players finally joined in with the laughter seeing his hearty laugh.

"Fun? Fun my foot!"

Suddenly, Chen Lei's laughter ceased abruptly, flicking his finger to send a cigarette butt flying from the side of the most jubilantly laughing muscle man.

Chen Lei's expression changed so suddenly, with no warning at all, and it took two seconds after he finished speaking for the five to stop laughing and retract their smiles.

"Are you guys brainless pigs? Not wanting to seize the chance during the basketball game to show off and shine a bit? Do you really want to end up failing miserably at the hands of softies like the Operation Management Department?"

Chen Lei spoke rapidly, as he pointed his large hand at each of their noses.

"I'm really convinced by you all, calling you pig-brained is simply an insult to pigs; how can you feel so good about yourselves?"

"Do you honestly think those three young girls genuinely admire you? This is their strategy, don't you understand? When you are silly-smiling at them, they absolutely have only two characters in mind!"

Rubbing his temples, Chen Lei pointed to the player on the far left, "You, loudly tell me, what are those two characters?"

"No, I don't know."

Chen Lei asked each of them, and all five gave the same answer, shaking their heads and saying "I don't know". It wasn't that they hadn't thought of those two words, but rather, no one dared to actually say them.

"Let me tell you, it's 'idiots'! In their eyes, you guys who fell for it so easily are complete idiots!"

After being scolded by Chen Lei, the five hung their heads even lower.

"Alright, I won't say much more. Giving them a 20-point lead in the first half was already more than kind. If you can't turn this around and lead Operations Management by 30 points by the end of the game, just pack up and go home! This marketing department of mine doesn't need useless idiots!"

Having said that, Chen Lei looked at Pan Changqing, whose face was desperate with impatience, and then glanced at the muscular guy he had just been chatting with about playing basketball.

"Look at you, desperate to play. You'll replace Xiao Jiang in the second half."

Inside, Pan Changqing was ecstatic. He had been waiting for this moment for so long, and it had finally come.

"I won't say much more. You all know what to do in the second half, right?"

"Got it!"

As Chen Lei and the marketing team left the locker room, the halftime break was just over.

On the stands, Chu Ge glanced at the returning marketing team and could clearly sense their expressions had changed from before. When he noticed the malicious look on Pan Changqing's face, his brow instinctively furrowed.

"Be careful in the second half. Cancel the previous tactics. Focus as much as possible on defense, avoid reckless attacks, and if Pan Changqing gets on the court, try to keep him at a distance. He doesn't play clean."

"Don't worry, big brother, just watch how we take down the marketing team!"

Lu Gang said confidently. Ji Songtao and the girls smiled at Chu Ge and returned to the court.

The whistle blew, and the second half of the game began.

As Chu Ge predicted, the marketing team didn't hold back. No matter how much Feifei and the other girls tried to charm them, they ignored it. Their playing style became aggressive, completely different from the first half.

After a few passes, the marketing team had the ball under the Ops Management's basket, and it was passed to Pan Changqing, with Lu Gang defending.

Without making any immediate moves, Pan Changqing raised his chin, "Defend me? Can you handle it?"

Lu Gang's eyes were fixed on the basketball in Pan Changqing's hands, "Get past my defense and score before you talk big!"

Pan Changqing snorted disdainfully, stepped, jumped, and went for a layup.

As Pan Changqing attacked, Lu Gang immediately adjusted his position and jumped to block.

Unfortunately, Lu Gang's physical attributes were indeed inferior to Pan Changqing's. Without any obvious foul play, he was knocked flat on his back while the swish of the net confirmed the marketing team scored two points.

Having scored the two points, Pan Changqing turned around and glanced down at Lu Gang with utter disdain.

Just as Lu Gang was about to get up off the floor, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right hand—Pan Changqing had stepped on it!

"Eh? Why are you still down there? Sorry, sorry, are you alright?"

Feigning surprise, Pan Changqing "concernedly" asked, yet subtly increased the pressure on Lu Gang's hand before finally lifting his foot with a smug look.

Lu Gang's hand hurt even more immediately, and he couldn't help but scream out in pain, cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

"What the heck? What're you doing? Didn't you apologize? Seems like your skills suck, but you're pretty good at these cheap tricks, huh?"

Seeing Pan Changqing's smug face, Lu Gang clutched his hand, feeling like the bones were about to break, and with fury, he sprang up from the floor, "Screw you!"

"Oh? Can't handle losing? Gonna hit me? I'm so scared!"

Pan Changqing put on an exaggerated expression as he spoke, then turned his gaze to the other Ops Management team members quickly walking towards Lu Gang, glaring at him.

The air instantly became thick with tension.

Chu Ge narrowed his eyes and stood up from the stands.

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