Meng Yufan had abused her power to do this sort of thing many times in the past, and she had never thought that she would get into trouble for it. Back when she had stolen Shen Nianzhi’s position, she had a thorough background check of her and confirmed that she was an orphan.
She had also screened Gu Xiqiao’s background before, but she only got some basic information and data. As sly as she was, she wouldn’t move with so little information, but after she learned that this girl knew Shen Nianzhi from one of Shen Nianzhi’s roommates, she immediately thought that it was no problem.
After all, what sort of person with any power and self-respect be friends with Shen Nianzhi?
At least, that’s what she thought at the time.
In hindsight, who would have such a clean background? It must have been put there as a cover-up!
Upon thinking of this, Meng Yufan’s face paled, and she crawled up from the ground, her hands trembling as they gripped onto Meng Yu’s clothes like a lifeline. “D-Daddy, I didn’t mean to…”
“We will apologize to them later, understood?” She was his only daughter left behind by his wife that died from childbirth, so she had always been spoiled by the entire family that would give her the moon and stars if she wanted them, causing her to have the personality she had today.
Meng Yu greatly regretted not throwing her to live at Sima Jun’s back when she was little.
She and Mu Yunfan were childhood friends, and even her name was given to sound like his on purpose, but they had such a difference in demeanor and character!
Upon seeing Meng Yu’s expression that was filled with rage, Meng Yufan nodded, not daring to say another word.
***
At the same time, Zhu Yuan finally found Gu Xiqiao’s house.
He tidied himself up and knocked on the door, and the one that opened the door for him was a young boy.
Wait, did he get the address wrong? Zhu Yuan stepped back and checked on the house plate, before checking on the address that he had been sent on the phone before smiling. “Little boy, does Gu Xiqiao live here?”
Hua Youlin looked at Zhu Yuan, not saying a word and stepping back in a gesture to invite him in.
Were kids nowadays so mature? Or was it just because he lived together with Gu Xiqiao? Zhu Yuan walked into the house, and he finally met the first ‘person’ he knew. “Hi, Xixi.”
Xixi glanced at him, before squawking, “Beauty Qiao, Zhu Yuan’s here! Beauty Qiao, Zhu Yuan’s here!”
Zhu Yuan had seen Xixi in the lab before, and back then it only said simple words like ‘Beauty’, and it was quite similar to a regular parrot. This was the first time that he saw it look at him with such intelligent eyes and call his name.
<I think I saw a yokai bird, should I call the cops? Waiting online!>
“What do you want?” Gu Xiqiao asked with a side-eye glance as she twirled a pen in her hand.
“You- you- you!” Zhu Yuan walked over and saw her doing middle school physics. “If you have the time to do this, why would you not go to the lab? If you were my master’s student, he would probably smack you! Is it really alright to slack around all day like this?”
Didn’t she know how many people wanted to see her at the lab?
“But I’m not, am I?” Gu Xiqiao waved Hua Youlin over and showed him the steps to the physics question. “If you have the time to come here, why don’t you go to the lab instead?”
“Thank god you’re not his student!” Rong Feishuang would probably get a heart attack from this student.
After Zhu Yuan spoke, he handed her a bunch of papers. “Have a look at these papers.”
Gu Xiqiao accepted the papers while she wrote the answer out, and after she finished writing, she stood up and flipped through the pages quickly before returning it to Zhu Yuan. Zhu Yuan didn’t accept the papers, only looking at her with a grudgeful stare. “Hey, I spent a lot of time on this! Don’t you think you should read through it?”
“I did.” Gu Xiqiao poured two cups of water and handed one to him, while she drank out of the other. “It’s a decent medical plan for sure, but there are some places you need to improve on. Page two, second line, you should increase the PEG dosage. You didn’t succeed on the first try, so Grandpa Su’s cell permeabilization is weaker than Su Wen’s. Page seven, third line from the bottom…”
“In conclusion, there’s a lot of careless mistakes.” Such mistakes shouldn’t have happened especially from Zhu Yuan. In medicine, all things had to be strict and with zero mistakes, because what depended on it were the patients’ lives.
Zhu Yuan flipped a page every time she spoke, and after she finished, he looked up at her with an astonished expression, but he couldn’t say anything.
If it weren’t for the fact that he had just finished making this medical plan the night before, he would have thought that Gu Xiqiao memorized everything beforehand.
“So you just, flipped?” Zhu Yuan felt as if his soul was leaving his body.
Gu Xiqiao nodded. “I have strong mental power.”
Jiang Shuxuan had such an ability too, but was this really an explanation?
The number of people that had such mental power in the ancient martial arts world was less than one could count on one hand!
The more he interacted with this girl, the more Zhu Yuan felt as if he was taking up spare space in the universe. Where were this girl’s limits? “Beauty Gu, I think you’re suitable to be my master’s student now just from this memorization ability! He loves to make people memorize books, and he would be giddy if he had you as a student.”
How strong would her mental power have to be to scan through everything like that in such a short time?
Back when he first knew her, he was still worried about her and Jiang Shuxuan’s future.
Thinking back on it, he felt that he was still too young! What he should have been more worried about was whether she would tear the entire ancient martial arts world apart. Knowing Jiang Shuxuan, he would probably lend her a knife as she did!
Medical books? Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she asked Zhu Yuan some more questions about those books, were there any ones that were left from far in the past?
Zhu Yuan felt as if he had made the wrong decision in coming here today, so he quickly changed the topic. “Anyway, what do you think about that medical plan?”
Gu Xiqiao’s expression became serious as started discussing with Zhu Yuan about the medical plan with pen and paper in hand.
Jiang Shuxuan was about to go downstairs, but he paused as he saw this scene and leaned on the handrail. He didn’t understand what the two were saying, but he was still attracted by Gu Xiqiao’s side profile.
Her expression was a complete contrast from her usual laid-back style, and such an expression made her seem solemn and dignified.
The two of them conversed for quite a while before they were done.
“Your ideas are really creative!” Gu Xiqiao praised. No wonder Zhu Yuan was known internationally as a medical genius, there were a lot of things that she didn’t even think of.
Zhu Yuan only stared at her with the same grudgeful stare. “Speak for yourself.”
She was so ahead of her time that it was unheard of.
Even though he was a little prideful for being praised by her, he felt that he couldn’t amount to even a puff of smoke in comparison to her.
“Right, my master wanted to come with me today.” Zhu Yuan suddenly remembered. “But he got wind of some interesting news on the way here, so he went on his way.”
“What was it?” Gu Xiqiao asked.
It was a good thing he didn’t come, he was older than she was after all, so it would be more polite to go see him from her end.
As a renowned divine doctor, she was extremely respectful of Rong Feishuang.
In medicine, experience was the most important. No genius could become a good doctor without practice, and this was Gu Xiqiao’s edge in that she had the virtual arena.
But Rong Feishuang’s experience was accumulated from decades upon decades of practice.
Zhu Yuan replied, “We heard that Hua Tuo’s descendant came to the Imperial Capital, and when he heard this, my master was extremely excited and seemed to want to take her as a disciple. That person just returned to China and made an appearance today at the night market.”
In all honesty, Zhu Yuan believed in Gu Xiqiao’s ability more than some descendant of Hua Tuo, so he was honestly not that interested in that person.
If Rong Feishuang knew of Gu Xiqiao’s terrifying talent, he wouldn’t bat an eyelash at that descendant of Hua Tuo.
“A descendant of Hua Tuo?” Gu Xiqiao immediately remembered Hua Jingya that she met in N City.
“What was her name again… Hua… Something Ya… Right, Hua Jingya!” Zhu Yuan replied.
“The news actually came from the underground, from a mafia group in Imperial Capital led by this person called Big Boss Bai.” Zhu Yuan told her all the news he knew. “Apparently she saved someone important, so these triads are treating her like a goddess!”
Plop!
When he heard what Zhu Yuan said, Hua Youlin lost his grip on his book, and even though he picked it up quickly, his head was lowered and no one could see his expression.
Gu Xiqiao smiled. “Divine Doctor Hua, huh? I should get to see her in action when I have the chance.”
Zhu Yuan was about to say something before he saw a lean figure walk over, and he immediately stood up straight, his expression turning respectful as he bowed.
“Boss Jiang!”
Jiang Shuxuan nodded, before looking at Gu Xiqiao. “Qingqiu is looking for me, so you come with me and we go to the art exhibition together later?”
Tang Qingqiu…
Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin and thought of Xiao Yun, before agreeing.
Then, the two of them left.
Zhu Yuan sat there with a dumbfounded expression, before looking at Hua Youlin. “So they just left you alone at home?”
Hua Youlin glanced at him. “Are you not a human?”
Zhu Yuan: …
Why was he reminded of a certain poison-tongued someone?
“Fine, let’s change the topic. Who are you? Why are you living here, I’ve never heard Beauty Gu talk about you…” Zhu Yuan asked many questions.
Hua Youlin ignored him as if he were just a breeze.
Zhu Yuan: …
***
At Tang Enterprise.
Tang Qingqiu flipped through a bunch of documents as two people stood in front of him nervously.
One of them was a middle-aged man, and the other was a young woman with a noticeably red mark in the shape of a palm on her face.
Yes, it was Meng Yu and Meng Yufan.
The door was pushed open again, and Qin Heng walked in. “Young Master, Mr. Jiang and Miss Gu are here.”
As he spoke, two people walked into the room.
“Alright, they’re here. Say what you want to say.” Tang Qingqiu looked up and fixed the father-daughter duo with raised eyebrows.
He couldn’t understand why Jiang Shuxuan wanted to have an art exhibition out of nowhere until he was sent one of Gu Xiqiao’s paintings.
Ah, so it was to appease a beauty!
What was more fun was how someone wanted to take the place of Gu Xiqiao in the exhibition! He didn’t know what sort of bad luck they had, but they picked the exact person that the exhibition was carried out for!
Were they too sick of living a good life?
Meng Yu was quite brave in his own right to step onto his doorstep, so Tang Qingqiu only allowed the drama to happen.
“Mr. Jiang, my daughter was too immature, please accept our respect…” Meng Yu broke out in a cold sweat as he came face to face with Jiang Shuxuan, and he didn’t even dare to raise his head as he handed him the precious artwork that he had collected.
“Do I know you?” Jiang Shuxuan asked.
He was expressionless, but those who knew him knew that he was burning with rage.
Sometimes, the intrusive thought of what Gu Xiqiao would have gone through if he hadn’t met her back then. Would she be all alone in the Gu family, and have been met with such injustice even if she managed to come to the Imperial Capital? Every time he thought of this, his heart ached.
When he heard these words, Meng Yu trembled and paled considerably.
Jiang Shuxuan didn’t give them any further attention, only telling Qin Heng to take them away lest they say anything to make Gu Xiqiao unhappy.
The two immediately started begging and even shrieking for forgiveness, but with a wave of his hand, the door was slammed shut with a bang.
“This is what you called me here to do?” Jiang Shuxuan asked with an unamused expression.
Tang Qingqiu: …. Yes
But he didn’t dare to say it out loud, following his sixth sense that Jiang Shuxuan was in a fit of rage.
Gu Xiqiao looked at Tang Qingqiu with a smile. “We’re actually going to go to the art exhibition together with Xiao Yun, the actress that’s under Brother Kun. Do you want to come with?”
“But I…” Tang Qingqiu’s eyes brightened, but he glanced over at the bunch of documents that Qin Heng told him to see on the desk and hesitated.
“No problem.” Gu Xiqiao walked over and took out a pen, before starting to write and scribble on the pages.
Five minutes later.
“Alright, let’s go.” Gu Xiqiao smiled again. “Xiao Yun’s almost here.”
Tang Qingqiu stared at Jiang Shuxuan expressionlessly: Where did you get this joker from?
Qin Heng saw this scene when he came in, and his expression soured.
Young Master could be lazy, but why did he let Miss Gu draw on the documents like that? It would have even been better if Qin Heng did it himself!
Tang Qingqiu pretended not to see Qin Heng’s expression.
After the three of them left, Qin Heng took the documents back into his own office.
He flipped open the first document curiously, and there were a few places with underline and some notes written underneath.
Tang Qingqiu had practiced writing too, and Qin Heng had been jealous of his good looking writing before, but the words that were written on this document were even prettier than his.
He was first attracted by the pretty words, the next was the contents of the words themselves.
After he looked through it, he stood up all of a sudden and stared at the document with trembling hands.
Then he picked up the next document, and even though there were just a few words, each sentence pointed out the problem within the lines of the documents and added on advice and ways to overcome those problems.
After a few hours, Qin Heng finally finished reading through all of the documents, and he only realized so much time had passed only when his secretary knocked on the door to remind him that it was time for him to get off work.
He thought about it for a bit and stuffed all of the documents into his bag, wanting to go through all these documents again at home, before sending Tang Qingqiu a message.
Tang Qingqiu saw the contents of the message and he was stunned.