Chapter 30: Is Duoluoxi’s Drug This Potent?…

Ever since the annual meeting of Xu’s Enterprise ended, Bai Yuanzhi had been working day and night shifts nonstop.

It wasn’t for any other reason—mainly to free up some time to prepare for the upcoming negotiations among the Xu, Zhou, and Chen families.

But unexpectedly,

this day had yet to arrive.

Bai Yuanzhi understood clearly in her heart—this was undoubtedly because Chen Shuojie hadn’t woken up yet, and his physical condition hadn’t stabilized, so the Xu and Chen families couldn’t assess the damages, which was why they hadn’t arranged talks with the Zhou family.

The longer this dragged on, the more uneasy Bai Yuanzhi felt.

She thought to herself that it was an indisputable fact that Duoluoxi had spiked that glass of juice with animal drugs.

But just how much did Duoluoxi put in?

Why hadn’t Chen Shuojie woken up yet?

Although Bai Yuanzhi had always suspected that the main reason for Chen Shuojie’s unconsciousness back then might not have been Duoluoxi’s drug, but rather the beating he took from A Yao…

It was hard to say for sure.

Perhaps after the spiked juice was splashed on Chen Shuojie’s face, it did indeed worsen his coma?

(Ah Wu: To follow the young master’s orders, I’ve been disguising myself as a nursing aide, cleaner, etc., almost every other day to enter Chen Shuojie’s hospital room, using physical means to violently keep Chen Shuojie “in a coma”… But young master, when will you return? If this goes on any longer, I’m afraid Chen Shuojie might really become brain-damaged…)

Bai Yuanzhi had no other options.

She could only wait.

She had also considered whether to inquire about Chen Shuojie’s condition from Zhou Weihao,

but ever since the annual meeting of Xu’s Enterprise ended, Zhou Weihao had never come to Bilanting Hotel again.

Bai Yuanzhi then thought,

Sister Marry and Duoluoxi were relatives,

so perhaps she could also subtly probe Sister Marry for information about Duoluoxi’s recent situation.

Duoluoxi was Zhou Weihao’s girlfriend,

so she might also be able to infer Chen Shuojie’s condition.

But since that day, Sister Marry, like Zhou Weihao, had suddenly taken a long leave of absence…

Bai Yuanzhi hadn’t seen her since.

And so, Bai Yuanzhi could only hold her ground at Songhe Tower, working day and night shifts.

Of course, she didn’t neglect her studies either.

However, on this day, Bai Yuanzhi suddenly received a pager message.

Yes, before attending the annual meeting of Xu’s Enterprise, Bai Yuanzhi had spent a hefty sum of two thousand yuan to get herself a pager.

—Because when printing business cards, she had to leave a contact method.

But until now, Bai Yuanzhi’s pager had never beeped before.

She immediately found some time to return the call.

The pager station operator read her a message: “Hello, subscriber. Mr. Qiao Sen has left a message for you regarding the gift order. Please return the CALL to pager number XX-XX-XX. Do you need me to repeat it, subscriber?”

Bai Yuanzhi noted down the other party’s pager number and hung up.

Mr. Qiao Sen?

Bai Yuanzhi immediately took out all the business cards she had received at the annual meeting venue and carefully compared all the contact information on them,

but she couldn’t find anyone named Mr. Qiao Sen.

Soon, a thought flashed through Bai Yuanzhi’s mind—she remembered someone: Qiao Yusheng, the admirer of her elder sister Zhou Sier.

It seemed Qiao Yusheng’s English name was Qiao Sen.

So, Bai Yuanzhi quickly called Qiao Sen.

About a few minutes later, the phone in front of her rang.

Bai Yuanzhi answered the call.

As expected, it was Qiao Yusheng on the line.

He sounded very excited over the phone, “…Yesterday at a family gathering, I heard relatives gossiping about the Xu family’s annual meeting and accidentally caught your name, Ah Zhi. The more I asked, the more I felt it couldn’t just be a girl with the same name, so I asked my relatives for your contact information…”

“Ah Zhi, how have you been lately? I’ve visited your sister at the hospital several times, but maybe it was just bad timing—I never ran into you. However, I did see on the registration log that you’ve been visiting your sister regularly…”

Bai Yuanzhi was also quite moved.

Although she and Qiao Yusheng had little interaction,

this person had consistently shown kindness toward her elder sister.

At a time when she hadn’t yet gained a firm footing in Hong Kong City,

such kindness was truly rare.

So, she sincerely exchanged a few pleasantries with Qiao Yusheng and honestly shared her current work situation with him.

Qiao Yusheng said, “I heard from relatives that you’re now in the gift business. If it’s convenient for you, I’d like to discuss some business with you.”

He added, “My family runs a modest-sized company specializing in women’s hair accessories. I think… we might be able to work something out.”

Bai Yuanzhi immediately arranged a meeting time with Qiao Yusheng.

And so, the next afternoon, Bai Yuanzhi went directly to the address Qiao Yusheng had given her and found his family’s company.

His family’s business appeared to be an accessories shop.

The street-facing storefront was about ten square meters, with a roughly four-square-meter storage area and “office space” partitioned off at the back using wooden boards.

When Bai Yuanzhi arrived, Qiao Yusheng wasn’t there yet.

So, she took her time carefully browsing through his shop.

About an hour later, Qiao Yusheng finally rushed in, sweating profusely. “Sorry, Ah Zhi, I’m late!”

He explained to Bai Yuanzhi that he had planned to come straight after finishing his afternoon classes at Hong Kong University, but Song Junshu had an urgent matter and called a meeting with the team…

That was why he was an hour late.

Bai Yuanzhi immediately pressed, “Did something happen?”

Qiao Yusheng smiled bitterly, “Ever since your sister’s accident, to be honest, our team… has lost its purpose. Song Junshu called us together today to discuss whether the team should be disbanded.”

Bai Yuanzhi: ???

Wait, was her elder sister’s presence that crucial to Song Junshu’s team?

But in her previous life, after Zhou Sier passed away, Song Junshu had still managed to start his tech company using the materials Zhou Sier left behind and even became a rising star in high society!

Could it be—

that in this life, Song Junshu’s failure was because… Bai Yuanzhi had swiftly moved all of Zhou Sier’s books, manuscripts, notes, and other materials right after the accident?

“Why disband the team?” Bai Yuanzhi asked hypocritically, hoping to pry more information from Qiao Yusheng. “…After all, the team isn’t just my sister’s—everyone has put in effort! If my sister wakes up one day and finds out the team disbanded while she was ill, she’d be heartbroken.”

Qiao Yusheng shook his head, “Ah Zhi, you have no idea just how important your sister really was!”

“Let me put it this way—after your sister’s incident, when you handled her leave of absence, it caused at least two major research projects led by two of our school’s top master’s supervisors to come to a halt!”

Bai Yuanzhi was startled. “But my sister is just an undergraduate, isn’t she?”

Qiao Yusheng replied, “Sier has already secured a spot for postgraduate studies!”

“Ah Zhi, your sister is exceptional—calling her a genius wouldn’t be an exaggeration… We’re truly heartbroken about what happened to her.”

“Now, to get back to the point, our team was originally formed around your sister’s project. To put it bluntly, she was the core strength of this team. The others only joined because they were captivated by her charisma.”

“To be even more direct—we were all basking in her glory!”

After a pause, Qiao Yusheng continued, “Given your sister’s current condition, our team is struggling to move forward. No one knows how to handle the experimental data, let alone explain the project’s core theories. And no one has a clue about the next steps…”

Bai Yuanzhi blurted out again, “Are you saying that without my sister, your team… doesn’t even have anyone familiar with the project?”

Qiao Yusheng looked ashamed. “Yes, that’s exactly it.”

Bai Yuanzhi: …

Well, that’s just unbelievable.

However, in her past life, Bai Yuanzhi had no idea about the existence of Qiao Yusheng, Luo Jiaojiao, and the others.

It was only later that she learned Song Junshu had once been Zhou Sier’s boyfriend.

In other words, it’s possible that in her past life, Song Junshu kicked everyone out of the team to monopolize the benefits…

Wait a minute.

A bold thought suddenly crossed Bai Yuanzhi’s mind:

Is it possible that Song Junshu already has some of Zhou Sier’s research data or achievements in his hands?

Now that Song Junshu is proposing to disband the team, maybe he’s trying to kick everyone else out. Once everything settles down, he could bring out Zhou Sier’s existing research data…

That way, Song Junshu could claim it all for himself?

The more Bai Yuanzhi thought about it, the more sense it made.

“Brother Qiao, I still want to know—aside from my sister, is there really no one in your team who knows the true state of your project?” Bai Yuanzhi asked.

Qiao Yusheng answered truthfully, “Your sister led the project, Song Junshu handled the details, Luo Jiaojiao took care of administrative work, and the rest of us mainly followed Song Junshu’s instructions to monitor the experimental data.”

Bai Yuanzhi said, “So, even though my sister is bedridden and unable to speak now… as the second-in-command, Song Junshu couldn’t possibly be unaware of the project’s details.”

“Brother Qiao, is it possible… that it’s not the project that can’t continue, but Song Junshu who doesn’t want it to?”

Qiao Yusheng was stunned.

Bai Yuanzhi continued, “Brother Qiao, for my own selfish reasons, I don’t want this project to end. My sister has fought hard to survive… You’ve been visiting her, so you know—even though her recovery is slow, she’s been making progress, even before regaining full consciousness.”

“Brother Qiao, if your team exists because of my sister, and now that something has happened to her, while she is still actively trying to save herself, yet you all are betraying her, abandoning her…”

“Have you ever thought about what would happen if one day my sister recovers? How heartbroken would she be?”

Qiao Yusheng had been holding back his emotions.

Only after Bai Yuanzhi finished speaking,

did he hurriedly reply, “Ah Zhi, we haven’t given up! But Song Junshu said that without Si’er leading, we can’t continue the experiments, which means we can’t provide new data, and then we won’t get funding from the school…”

Bai Yuanzhi asked, “So, there are two problems now: one is the inability to conduct experiments, and the other is the lack of funding, right?”

Qiao Yusheng nodded, “Right.”

Bai Yuanzhi asked again, “Are these two problems truly unsolvable?”

Qiao Yusheng was momentarily speechless.

“Is that so?” Bai Yuanzhi pressed further.

At first, Qiao Yusheng was flustered,

but after Bai Yuanzhi repeatedly questioned him with “Are they truly unsolvable?”

Qiao Yusheng suddenly calmed down.

“It’s not completely unsolvable,” Qiao Yusheng murmured, “We can ask our advisor. In theory, this project is led by Si’er, but it was also guided by our advisor, and her proposal paper is still with the advisor. At the very least, we can… complete the first phase of the experiment according to the process she designed.”

“As for funding… since we can finish the first phase of the experiment, we can at least receive the school’s funding after they review the first phase’s data. Once we have the money, we can consider whether to proceed with the second phase…”

“It will take at least three more months to finish the first phase! What if Si’er regains consciousness by then?”

“Don’t you think so, Ah Zhi?” Qiao Yusheng asked.

Bai Yuanzhi nodded repeatedly.

Qiao Yusheng was delighted, “That’s great, Ah Zhi! Thank you for giving me so much courage and confidence! I, I… before this, I was constantly worried, unsure how to move forward with this matter.”

“After talking with you today, I suddenly have a new idea.”

“That is, we don’t have to listen to Song Junshu for everything! Some things he can do, we can do too. In fact, even without him, we can try to see if we can do even better!”

“Ah Zhi, I know what to do now! I finally know!”

Qiao Yusheng grinned from ear to ear, “Why didn’t I talk to you earlier? I should have reached out to you sooner!”

Bai Yuanzhi smiled faintly, “That’s also because I didn’t have a call before. Now that I do, our communication will be much smoother!”

Qiao Yusheng nodded repeatedly.

Bai Yuanzhi then asked him, “Brother Qiao, have you forgotten something?”

Qiao Yusheng was stunned, “What?”

He asked in confusion, “Did I forget to visit Si’er? Ah, I just went yesterday… actually, I could go see her today too…”

Bai Yuanzhi said helplessly, “Brother Qiao, think about it, why did you invite me to your family’s shop today?”

Qiao Yusheng froze for a few seconds before finally realizing.

He slapped his forehead, “I called you here to discuss business!”

Bai Yuanzhi burst into laughter.

Qiao Yusheng couldn’t help but chuckle as well.

Bai Yuanzhi and Qiao Yusheng had previously talked a lot about Zhou Sier,

which, in an intangible way, brought their somewhat distant relationship much closer.

So Qiao Yusheng didn’t hold back and explained the needs of his family’s hair accessory shop:

“Our family received the sauce gift sets from Xu’s Enterprise’s annual party, and the taste is really great. The key is that gift box… it’s exceptionally beautiful. Then our family started discussing why our stall, which has been selling hair accessories for so many years, has always had lukewarm business?”

“I casually mentioned whether we should also package the hair accessories in our shop.”

“After I brought it up, my family asked relatives who made that gift box from Xu’s Enterprise… and that’s when I heard your name.”

“Ah Zhi,” Qiao Yusheng asked Bai Yuanzhi, “since you have connections, could you help us solve this problem?”

Then Qiao Yusheng laid out his requirements:

First, the packaging must have a sense of design.

Second, the packaging must be cheap, because his family’s hair accessories are numerous and already inexpensive, so the packaging material cannot cost more than the accessories themselves.

Third, the packaging process cannot be too complicated, as labor in Hong Kong City is also expensive, and the cost of manual packaging cannot exceed that of the materials or the accessories.

After Qiao Yusheng finished speaking,

Bai Yuanzhi nodded, walked around his shop several more times, then took a few hair accessories as samples and left.

Next, Bai Yuanzhi went directly to Mr. Zhuang, who made packaging gift boxes.

Mr. Zhuang initially received Bai Yuanzhi very warmly,

but as soon as he heard her purpose—that it wasn’t for Mrs. Xu’s order?

Mr. Zhuang’s smile faded slightly, and he assigned a salesperson to handle Bai Yuanzhi.

Bai Yuanzhi didn’t mind.

After all—

she couldn’t rely on Mrs. Xu’s orders forever.

She earnestly communicated with the salesperson for a long time, followed them to the sample room to see their existing designs, and after much consideration, finally decided on the method, pattern, and materials for the handmade packaging samples.

After arranging with the salesperson the next time to come and see the samples and get a quote,

Bai Yuanzhi saw there was still time, so she went to night school and attended two more large classes.

Early the next morning, when Bai Yuanzhi arrived at Bilanting Hotel,

she unexpectedly saw Li Yongzhen.

It was unclear what had happened, but Li Yongzhen looked very angry.

She grabbed the canvas bag Bai Yuanzhi was carrying and said furiously, “Bai Yuanzhi! How could you be so mean… Why did you make Zhou Zhaoer speak ill of me to my aunt? Do you know, I was kicked out by my aunt!”

During the struggle, the books in Bai Yuanzhi’s canvas bag fell out and scattered all over the ground.

Bai Yuanzhi didn’t indulge Li Yongzhen at all.

She grabbed Li Yongzhen by the collar, “…Pick up my books! Or I’ll hit you!”

Li Yongzhen was startled!

She froze for a moment, then cowered, crouched on the ground, and picked up the scattered books.

As she picked them up, Li Yongzhen suddenly held up an English textbook and asked Bai Yuanzhi, “Are you studying English?”

Bai Yuanzhi shot Li Yongzhen a glare, “What I study is my own business! None of your damn business.”

Li Yongzhen had a naturally bullying personality, picking on the weak but fearing the strong.

As soon as Bai Yuanzhi got tough, she wilted.

“I was just asking, why are you so fierce?” Li Yongzhen mumbled pitifully.

Bai Yuanzhi packed up her books, put them back in her bag, and turned to leave.

Li Yongzhen chased after her, “Bai Yuanzhi! You can’t be so shameless either. Now that my aunt has kicked me out… you have to take responsibility for my accommodation!”

Bai Yuanzhi asked her, “Am I your mother?”

Li Yongzhen choked.

“Since I’m not your mother, why should I take care of you?” Bai Yuanzhi asked, puzzled.

Li Yongzhen said, “But if you hadn’t sent Zhou Zhaoer to spread rumors, how could I have been kicked out by my aunt?”

Bai Yuanzhi finally showed a bit of interest, “Oh? What did Zhou Zhaoer say?”

At the mention of this, Li Yongzhen got furious!

“A few days ago, Zhou Zhaoer came to the house looking for my aunt, saying you asked my aunt to help her with her Hong Kong residency procedures… Ah, I only found out then that Zhou Zhaoer is an undocumented immigrant! Bai Yuanzhi, what about you? Are you… also undocumented?” Originally, Li Yongzhen was gossiping about Zhou Zhaodi, but then she turned a gloating gaze toward Bai Yuanzhi, with a sly look in her eyes.

Bai Yuanzhi frowned, “Why don’t you go ask the HR department whether I’m undocumented or not!”

Li Yongzhen was stunned for a moment before she realized.

—That’s right, Birunting is a five-star hotel, and its hiring process is very formal. If Bai Yuanzhi’s documents were incomplete, Bilanting would never have hired her!

Knowing she couldn’t exploit any weakness of Bai Yuanzhi,

Li Yongzhen shifted her focus back to being kicked out by Zhou Xiangmei.

“At the time, Zhou Zhaoer asked my aunt how much I contribute to the household expenses each month… Then she said it was you, Bai Yuanzhi, who said that since the children in the family are already adults, they should contribute to household expenses.”

“My aunt didn’t say anything at the time, but after my uncle came home, the two of them talked behind closed doors for a long time… Last night when I got off my night shift and went back, my aunt told me that from now on, I have to give her five hundred a month for household expenses, and if I don’t, she’ll make me move out!”

Li Yongzhen grew angrier as she spoke, “I said I’m not your daughter, I’m just a guest, how can you have the nerve to ask me for household expenses?”

“Then Zhou Xiangmei said, since I’m not a member of that family, why should I live there for free without paying!”

“It really infuriated me. I said I’d talk to my uncle about it… and she actually said that this was my uncle’s idea!”

“I also asked, why doesn’t Wu Jiayin have to pay?”

“She said Wu Jiayin is my uncle’s biological daughter… She even said, ‘Yongzhen, if you were also your uncle’s biological daughter, of course you wouldn’t have to pay either’… Ugh, it really makes me so angry!”

Li Yongzhen grabbed Bai Yuanzhi’s bag…

Suddenly remembering the earlier embarrassing scene of picking up books, she quickly let go and instead tugged at Bai Yuanzhi’s sleeve, “Bai Yuanzhi! I don’t care, since you sent Zhou Zhaoer to stir things up, you have to take responsibility for my accommodation!”

Bai Yuanzhi looked at Li Yongzhen as if she were an idiot, “Both you and I work at this hotel, so aren’t you eligible to stay in the dormitory? Why am I eligible?”

The dormitory is different from the on-duty rooms.

Staying in the on-duty rooms is free,

But staying in the dormitory requires a symbolic fee of fifty dollars per month for the bed, plus shared water and electricity bills, which come to about thirty dollars.

To be honest, the dormitory rooms had six bunk beds each, housing twelve people… there really wasn’t much privacy, but the environment was quite decent and very clean.

 

However, most employees preferred a job with clear boundaries between work and personal time, and enjoyed the freedom of retreating to their own rooms after work.

Thus, not many chose to live in the dormitory.

Li Yongzhen, however, argued righteously, “Living in the dormitory is free, isn’t it? Eighty yuan a month… are you going to give it to me?”

Bai Yuanzhi shot Li Yongzhen a glare, too annoyed to respond, and turned to leave.

But Li Yongzhen stubbornly blocked her way. “I don’t care! Bai Yuanzhi, don’t think you can just walk away from this!”

Bai Yuanzhi had no intention of dealing with Li Yongzhen at first.

But then, a new idea struck her.

She paused and asked Li Yongzhen, “So… do you really have nowhere to stay now?”

Li Yongzhen was overjoyed!

She wasn’t unaware that even after being kicked out by Zhou Xiangmei, she could still spend eighty yuan to stay in the company dormitory.

She just couldn’t accept it.

Most importantly, she had been kicked out…

Didn’t she have any pride?

That was why she had latched onto Bai Yuanzhi.

But now,

Bai Yuanzhi seemed willing to help her?

That was fantastic!

At the very least, she could save eighty yuan a month. If she lived with Bai Yuanzhi, she might even be able to mooch off her for meals, daily necessities, clothes, shoes, and socks…

Li Yongzhen quickly replied, “Yes! I don’t care, you have to help me solve this problem!”

Bai Yuanzhi smiled faintly. “Alright, since you’re so pitiful, I’ll help you out.”