In a middle-class restaurant at Sea City, more than twenty people were sitting around a table, chatting and eating.
They had chosen this place simply because the table was big enough to house their group.
If the people in the department were divided amongst tables, the atmosphere between them would not be as good. Gatherings were all about reunions. It was not good to be separated.
Xie Ning and his wife sat together with Old Chief Physician Pan. They toasted with each other, warm yet reserved.
After drinking a few glasses of wine, they addressed everyone else in the room and expressed their gratitude. The others did not have their own speeches to say. Instead, they tried to curry favor. Old Chief Physician Pan did not like what was going on and neither did those below him.