Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Zuo Qiurong handed over a few pieces of paper.
Brother Ye quickly glanced from top to bottom to verify his doubts.
Zuo Qiurong hadn’t come out in the afternoon and, for some reason, hadn’t told the two people outside that Scholar Liao had new research in his hands. Scholar Liao was also busy with his own research and forgot about Qin Ran’s thesis.
1
Only Brother Ye read her paper from beginning to end.
After reading the paper handed to him by Zuo Qiurong, Brother Ye’s expression turned a little strange.
He could finally understand why Zuo Qiurong had always been so jealous of Qin Ran. This little junior was too scary.
Glancing at Scholar Liao who was on the phone, he couldn’t help but say, “Scholar Liao, you don’t need to call anymore.”
Scholar Liao turned to look at him.
Holding up the pieces of paper, he said, “The content of this experiment is the paper that Little Junior submitted to the SCI journal.”
3
Beside him, Zuo Qiurong’s finally self-satisfied expression very slowly turned a little stiff.
5
**
In the car.
Qin Ran leaned against the co-pilot’s seat with her eyelashes drooping and slight dark eye circles under her eyes.
There was an obvious irritableness between her eyebrows.
But it had disappeared a lot by now, and her drooping eyebrows were rarely quiet.
The lights outside were dim.
The phone suddenly rang in the quiet car.
After only one ring, Cheng Juan directly hung up. It was Qin Ran’s phone, and it was Lu Zhaoying who just called. He thought for a while and stopped the car on the side of the road.
He took his own phone and got out of the car to call him.
“What’s the matter?” Leaning against the car and casually lighting a cigarette, he sounded both loose and perfunctory.
Lu Zhaoying paused. “Didn’t I call Qin Ran? Forget it, it’s the same. Tell Qin Ran not to forget that we’re meeting at 10 am tomorrow.”
“Meeting?” Cheng Juan reached out to flick the soot. He glanced up at the street lamp across the road with a lazy expression.
“Yeah, my Mom is dying to meet her.” Leaning on his bed with a computer on his lap, Lu Zhaoying flicked the purple hair away from his forehead. “Master Juan, speaking of this, did you tell my Dad something…”
After his return to Beijing, he had been inexplicably pulled back by the Lu family to train and take over their business.
Walking to the trash can, Cheng Juan snuffed his cigarette and raised an eyebrow. “No, it wasn’t me. Bye.”
Without waiting for his reaction, he hung up and returned to the driver’s seat.
Qin Ran had already woken up inside. She leaned against the car window and pulled the black blanket around her. “Lu Zhaoying?” she asked in a nasal voice.
“Yeah.” Cheng Juan drove the car, tapping the steering wheel with his slender fingers.
The laboratory wasn’t far from the apartment, so she stopped sleeping and opened WeChat on her phone.
She had a lot of messages from Brother Ye, Nan Huiyao, Chu Heng, as well as several high school friends…
She scrolled down and finally found Qin Ling’s WeChat.
The last message was a screen recording of Cheng Juan’s game that she had sent at noon.
Qin Ling had yet to reply to her.
She tapped her finger on the phone screen, pondering.
She was still out of it by the time they got out of the car.
Cheng Juan pressed on the elevator button and glanced at her.
“No.” Grasping her phone, Qin Ran slightly lifted her chin and calmly said, “Maybe Xiao Ling thinks you’re a rookie again?”
1
The elevator doors quickly opened.
Cheng Juan just glanced at her without making a sound.
**
The next day.
It was Saturday.
Qin Ran got up at 7 am.
Squatting by the window, Cheng Mu heard them and couldn’t help but look up and ask, puzzled, “Miss Qin, why are you up so early?”
“Oh.” Pressing her temples, she went to the water dispenser to pour a cup of warm water. “I’m going to Yunjin Community first.”
“Okay.” Cheng Mu brought out her dishes from the kitchen. “Master Juan went to the museum at 6 am.”
Cheng Juan had already left for the museum early in the morning. In the cold winter, he didn’t wake Qin Ran and only instructed Cheng Mu to drive her to the meeting place with Lu Zhaoying in the morning.
Cheng Mu originally thought she would wake up at 9 am and didn’t expect her to be up at 7 am.
He handed Cheng Jin’s breakfast to her first since Cheng Jin didn’t have work today and would get up later.
2
After finishing breakfast, Qin Ran changed into her coat and took her scarf.
She turned to the cabinet and took the keys.
“Miss Qin, are you driving today?” Cheng Mu came out of the washroom with the kettle and saw her changing her shoes while tying her scarf around her neck.
Qin Ran looked up. “Yeah, any problem?”
“But…” Cheng Mu opened his mouth.
“I’ll get going, then.” She lazily waved to him and opened the door.
Cheng Mu’s remaining words sputtered out. “But Master Juan said it was too dangerous for you…”
Watching Qin Ran close the gates, he didn’t dare to say anything and only took out his phone. He clicked on WeChat and sent a message to Cheng Juan.
After that, he backtracked to the kitchen.
A minute later, Cheng Jin entered and asked, “Where’s my breakfast?”
3
Cheng Mu pretended not to know.
1
**
There wasn’t a traffic jam on Saturday morning. Qin Ran arrived in front of Qin Hanqiu’s door before 8 am.
She took off her scarf and knocked on the door.
Within a few seconds, the door opened.
When Ah Wen saw her, his expression changed. “Miss Qin?”
He seemed to have stayed up all night, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Qin Ran nodded and looked behind him. “Where’s Xiao Ling and the others?”
The whole house was strangely quiet.
She inevitably frowned.
“Is Miss Qin here?” Butler Qin hurriedly came out from the hall. Without looking very much surprised, he motioned for Ah Wen to move aside. “Come in quickly. Ah Wen, bring her a cup of tea.”
He turned and let her enter.
Without saying anything, Ah Wen directly went to pour a cup of tea for her.
Qin Ran sat on the sofa with her scarf still around her neck. She received the teacup from Ah Wen, her cold hands adjusting to the warmth. “Only the two of you are here?”
“The Second Master just went out to buy groceries. The Young Master is having lessons with Teacher Ku Ke.” Butler Qin smiled and gently glanced at her. “Do you want to stay for lunch? The Second Master will be delighted to see you.”
Qin Ran didn’t answer.
She just held her teacup and looked down into the green tea leaves.
The surrounding atmosphere turned solemn, and Butler Qin’s expression also gradually collapsed.
Just when he was about to lose it, Qin Ran suddenly smiled, put down the teacup, and directly stood up. “I won’t be eating lunch here, I have to meet a friend later.”
He sent her out.
Then, he leaned on the door and slowly slid down. He reached out his sweaty palms and covered his face, feeling very agitated.
“Butler Qin, why didn’t you tell Miss Qin?” Ah Wen’s eyes were bloodshot.
“The Sixth Master’s flight will reach Beijing at night. Nobody is here to manage the scene, how could I tell her?” Shaking his head, he put down his hand, his eyes red. “Didn’t you hear what the Young Master said? She’s busy with her experiment now and only sleeps less than four hours every day… Xiao Ling is still in the surgery room with uncertain conditions. If she finds out, I really don’t know what she’ll do…”
4
No matter how foolish he was, he knew who Qin Ran really valued.
If only it had been Qin Xiuchen, Qin Hanqiu, or anyone else other than Qin Ling.
Even Qin Hanqiu, who had always been honest and only thought about moving bricks, had become less familiar to him. He could hardly imagine how big things would escalate if Qin Ran found out about this.
The waters were so deep in Beijing.
Qin Ling’s incident must be caused by the Fourth Master behind the scenes, and the Fourth Master had the Ouyang family backing him…
Butler Qin leaned on the door for a long time before calming down. “Bring your computer. Let’s go to the hospital.”
Ah Wen went to fetch his computer.
Butler Qin directly opened the door.
Outside stood a figure, standing against the sunlight. Butler Qin could vaguely feel the icy cold breath from her.
1
Reaching out to pull her scarf, she turned to Butler Qin with piercing cold eyes. With deep emptiness revolving in her emotionless eyes and her black fringe covering her brow bone, she said in an extremely cold voice, “Which hospital?”
She wasn’t in the right state of mind now.
1
Butler Qin involuntarily took a step back. “The Research Institute hospital…”
“Was it the Fourth Master?” Qin Ran glanced at him.
Butler Qin’s expression changed. “No!”
She nodded silently and directly turned to the elevator. Her black coat swung in an arc, reflecting her cold eyes.
Butler Qin immediately rushed forward. “Miss Qin, the Sixth Master is only coming back this afternoon. Your safety is just as important, don’t be too impulsive! The Qin family can’t afford it!”
3