With her eye half-closed, Fu Zhi stuffed her pencil back into her bag. Then, she said carelessly, “You better watch your mouth if you don’t want a civil dispute to escalate into a criminal case.”
“Fu Zhi!” Lu Chuwan shouted. “You’ve gone out of your mind! I have to put you in prison!”
Fu Zhi was carrying her bag. When she heard what Lu Chuwan had said, she replied in an apathetic voice, drawing out her vowels, “Before that, you have to figure a way to pay back the money that you owe me.”
“Why do we have to pay you back?” Bai Yao finally found her chance and chimed in.
Not wanting the situation to get out of control, Sheriff Zhao hurriedly stepped forward and calmed them down. After a short while, Mama Liu arrived at the hospital.
She was led by a female police officer and was holding a USB in her hand.
“Sheriff Zhao, Young Master Yumo.” Mama Liu handed the USB to Lu Yumo. Then, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and said, “Xiao He told me that he has compiled the surveillance footage of this week in this USB. He has even sorted it by date.”
Lu Yumo took out his laptop, plugged in the USB, and opened the surveillance footage of the day.
Dong Cun sensed that this matter might not be as simple as it seemed. “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s stop here.”
He wanted to protect Lu Chuwan, or perhaps he did not want any of them to get hurt, as it might affect his profit. He thus went forward and added, “After all, we’re all a family, and a family shouldn’t fight. I suggest we sit down together and try to settle the matter in a peaceful way, what do you guys think?”
Fu Zhi gave him a meaningful grin.
Lu Yumo did not listen. He began to play the surveillance footage starting from the morning Fu Zhi had arrived at the Lu Household.
Fu Zhi had just stayed in the Lu Household for 20 minutes.
The surveillance footage showed that after she followed Mama Liu upstairs, she only had a bank card in her hand by the time she had come back down.
After that, Madam Lu had sent her away with tears in her eyes.
Even though there were no surveillance cameras upstairs, Lu Chuwan’s room was just around the corner from Madam Lu’s room. After watching the footage, Lu Chuwan gained more confidence and said, “See? She went upstairs. This is proof.”
“Proof? You call this proof? Don’t make me laugh, please,” Fu Zhi chimed in sarcastically.
The pills in Lu Chuwan’s hand were defective products rejected by the research institute, so there was no way Fu Zhi would want to take them back.
Lu Chuwan was stumped for a second. Then, she was overwhelmed by her anger that she nearly had a heart attack. “Just you wait! When the test results come out, you’ll be going to prison!”
“Chuwan,” Dong Cun said. “The surveillance footage doesn’t prove anything. Since there’s no evidence to prove that she’s the one who took your medicine, let’s just call it quits.”
Lu Chuwan did not want to. She bit her lips in frustration as she stared angrily at Fu Zhi, who switched to a more comfortable posture as she leaned against the handrail.
Then, she glanced at Dong Cun and said, “I’ve been wondering about this, but what does this matter have to do with you? You’re not a member of our family, so you don’t have a say in this. Stay aside and keep your mouth shut.”
Dong Cun tightened his fists when he heard what Fu Zhi had said. Just as he was about to say something, Ye Zhiwen emerged from the laboratory.
“Lu Chuwan.” His attitude towards them had changed. He licked his pale lips, and his eyes were full of fervent light. He pulled Lu Chuwan to the side and asked, “Where did you get the medicine? Do you happen to know someone from the national core research team that’s working on the anti-cancer drug? Can you introduce them to me?”
Then, Ye Zhiwen invited all of them into the laboratory. He went to get some sterile cotton swabs and a bottle of mercurochrome solution. After that, he put them on a metal tray and gave them to Bai Yao, signaling for her to tend to the wound on the tips of Lu Chuwan’s mouth.
Lu Chuwan, who was elated, said, “Yeah, I know one of them, but unfortunately, he’s not available at the moment.”
Ye Zhiwen’s eyes dimmed from disappointment.
His father had told him before that 40 years ago, he had been part of the team that had worked on the anti-cancer drug. Unfortunately, halfway through the research, most of the younger core members of his father’s team had passed away one after another. None of them had lived past the age of 28, and as a result, the research had been terminated.
His father had been wanting to complete the research, and Ye Zhiwen wanted to fulfill his wish. That was why he was being so nice to Lu Chuwan.
There were about ten or so stools in the laboratory, but he only took four for Lu Chuwan and her group. At the same time, he sent a message to his father and asked him to come to the hospital right away.
“I think we don’t have to investigate this matter anymore,” Lu Chuwan said. “Just admit your guilt, and I’ll help you beg for leniency.”
Her lips were dyed red by the mercurochrome solution, causing her to look like a clown when she was talking. Looking at her, Lu Yumo could not help but chuckle as he said, “You looked so haggard, and I can see that you have more wrinkles than my mom.”
Lu Chuwan was stumped.
Fu Zhi paid her no mind, as she was busy observing Ye Zhiwen. Right now, he was circling Lu Chuwan like a busy bee and attending to every of her demand.
Sensing her gaze, Lu Jingqing then explained, “His father is Master Ye Tian. He’s the ex-president of the traditional Chinese medicine association.”
It took Fu Zhi quite some time to figure out who Ye Tian was. When she finally matched him up to the face in her head, she let out a sigh of relief and told Ye Zhiwen, “I’m sorry for troubling you, Xiao Yen, but can you please continue to test my medicine first?”
Ye Zhiwen, who was 48 years old, was stumped.
‘Who do you think you’re to call me Xiao Wen? Do you think you’re my aunt? What’s the matter with you?’
Ye Zhiwen’s face sank. He wanted to kick Fu Zhi out of the laboratory, but upon closer inspection, he realized that she bore some resemblance to his father and he fell into a trance.
Fu Zhi then added, “Hurry up, Xiao Wen. I still have other stuff waiting for me to complete them at home.”
Ye Zhiwen did not know what to say, and even Lu Yumo felt that his sister had gone out of her mind. He went up to her and placed his hand on her forehead to see if she was having a fever.
Fu Zhi swatted his hand away and offered Ye Zhiwen an amicable smile. “Don’t get nervous. I believe that with your gene, this is going to be a breeze for you.”
Ye Zhiwen still did not know what to comment.
Lu Chuwan scoffed at Fu Zhi’s useless attempt to protect herself. She turned to Ye Zhiwen and ordered, “Since she insists, take the second bottle of medicine and run the test again.”
Ye Zhiwen nodded. He felt that Lu Chuwan was right. Then, he said, “You stay here and wait for me for about 10 minutes. It won’t take long.”
Lu Chuwan nodded in return.
She watched as Ye Zhiwen cut the pill into half before crushing it with an advanced technology that she had never seen before. Then, Ye Zhiwen moved the crushed pill to observe it under a microscope.
Ye Zhiwen’s expression was serious. His eyes were sharp as he observed the pill through the microscope. However, a confused expression appeared on his face after roughly 8 minutes.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead. He felt that he might have made a mistake, so he repeated the steps again with another pill, only to get the same result.
Holding the two results in his hand, he mumbled, “This is...”
Dong Cun went ahead and took the test result. “How did it go? Are the results the same?”
Ye Zhiwen replied, “Well, they basically have the same composition...”
“See? That means she’s a thief!” Bai Yao interrupted before Ye Zhiwen could finish his sentence. After saying that, she turned to Sheriff Zhao and said, “What are you still waiting for? Hurry up and arrest her!”
Lu Chuwan felt a weight get lifted off her mind when she heard what Ye Zhiwen had said. However, she did not see the changes in Dong Cun’s face.
Sheriff Zhao rose to his feet, but Fu Zhi remained calm and composed.
Lu Chuwan scoffed. ‘Hah, there’s no way you can run from your punishment this time.’
However, just as this thought flitted across her mind, Ye Zhiwen added, “Even though the compositions are basically the same, the amount used is different. Not only that, but I also detected some new herbs that could greatly reduce the side effects of the medicine. It’s just like a...”
Ye Zhiwen thought for a while before continuing. “It’s just like a Version 2.0 of the first bottle of medicine. It’s an enhanced version, and the government hasn’t rolled out this medicine on the official website yet.”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login