However, the doorknob wouldn’t turn.
"Ah! I’m... I’m fine! I just saw a massive rat. It scared so much I started trembling," Qin Lan said, quickly scrambling to her feet despite the weakness in her legs and hurriedly pulling on her clothes. "I accidentally locked the door from the inside. I’ll open it for you now."
But Luo Qingli waited outside for a whole minute, and the door still hadn’t opened. "Sister Lan, what’s going on?"
Extrely flustered, Qin Lan finished getting dressed and made up an excuse. "I’m trying to open it! The door... seems to be a bit stuck. Just a mont."
She shot a furious glare at Chen Xiao, hurriedly opened the window to air out the room, and only then did she walk over to open the door.
anwhile, Chen Xiao sat in the office chair as if nothing had happened.
When Luo Qingli walked in, a faint, strange odor seed to linger in the air, making her frown.
"Sister Lan, why are you walking so strangely?"
Qin Lan steeled herself. "I slipped on the stairs yesterday."
"You have to be more careful next ti," Luo Qingli advised earnestly.
Qin Lan shot an annoyed glance at Chen Xiao. Isn’t it all this guy’s fault? Too rough...
Seeing Chen Xiao’s indifferent expression, Qin Lan beca convinced that he truly didn’t care if Luo Qingli knew about his intimate relationships with other won. This complicated her feelings.
"Chen Xiao, you work in the Marketing Departnt, so do your job well and help Sister Lan out, understand?" In front of others, Luo Qingli maintained her authority as president.
"Don’t worry," Chen Xiao replied with an OK sign. I guess helping her relax and blow off so steam counts as relieving her worries, right?
Seeing her look so guilty that she didn’t dare et Luo Qingli’s gaze, he found it sowhat amusing.
"Sister Lan, why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?" Luo Qingli noticed sothing else was amiss.
"No... no, I’ll be fine after I drink so hot water," Qin Lan said awkwardly, subconsciously touching her face. It was still burning hot.
Luo Qingli asked, "Sister Lan, did you ask to co to your office for sothing?"
An idea struck Qin Lan. "Yes, actually. So troublemakers have been stirring things up at one of the Luo Group’s small construction sites. I was hoping to borrow Chen Xiao. Is that all right?"
Luo Qingli smiled. "Of course! Chen Xiao, cooperate with Sister Lan!"
Chen Xiao countered, "Does this count as the third favor?"
"In your dreams!" Luo Qingli rolled her eyes at him.
After a few more brief words with them, she left the office.
As soon as Luo Qingli was gone, Qin Lan closed the door again and let out a heavy sigh of relief. She glared at Chen Xiao. "You have so nerve, doing that to in the office..."
Chen Xiao sneered. "Just a mont ago, soone seed to be enjoying herself imnsely. Now that you’ve pulled your pants up, you’re pretending you don’t know ?"
Qin Lan was speechless. No matter how much she protested verbally, her body’s reaction had been all too real...
"Regardless, don’t you ever do this again. Otherwise, I’ll make you regret it."
"Also, get ready! You’re leaving with shortly!"
With that, she turned and slamd the door shut.
"In the future"? Don’t tell she’s getting addicted? Chen Xiao raised an eyebrow.
After playing on his phone for a while, he suddenly received a ssage from Lu Wushuang. "Junior Brother, there’s new information about the ingredients in your prescription!"
Chen Xiao’s eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Yes, I looked into it for you. Soone in Yuncheng City has obtained the Seven Orifices Exquisite Fruit from your list. It’s the Li Family."
"The Seven Orifices Exquisite Fruit?" Chen Xiao murmured to himself. That item is extrely rare and its effects aren’t that significant. What would the Li Family want with it?
"The Li Family is one of the Four Great Families of Yuncheng City. They usually keep a low profile, but in reality... they are one of the most formidable families in the city! That’s because the Li Family’s prowess lies not in comrce, but in their influence."
"The Li Family has had a firm foothold in Yuncheng City since Old Master Li’s generation. Now, their influence has spread beyond local borders, reaching into Jinling and even... Longdu!" Lu Wushuang explained. "The most important reason the Li Family was seeking the Seven Orifices Exquisite Fruit is that the old patriarch’s most beloved granddaughter was innately unable to speak and requires the fruit’s power as a supplentary component in her dicine."
"That’s why they acquired this Seven Orifices Exquisite Fruit!"
Hearing this, Chen Xiao grew thoughtful. "Innately deaf and mute?"
"Mhm," Lu Wushuang confird. "But that’s just a rumor. I don’t know the specific details."
Chen Xiao asked, "Senior Sister, can you make an introduction for ?"
"I can!" Lu Wushuang readily agreed.
「About a dozen minutes later.」
Chen Xiao received a call from Qin Lan, telling him to co down and go with her to the construction site.
In the car, the atmosphere was terrifyingly awkward. Qin Lan’s cheeks blazed as if on fire whenever she recalled their outrageous encounter.
After a long ti, she finally broke the silence. "This situation won’t be easy to resolve. The construction site was originally purchased by the Luo Group, but the previous owner secretly mortgaged it to soone else, which has led to a property dispute!"
"These n belong to Scar. He used to be one of Jiang Tiannan’s underlings. After Jiang Tiannan died, Scar quickly gathered a group of his forr followers and established his own faction! Now, he’s using this mortgage contract to oppose the Luo Group. They’ve already injured about a dozen of our workers at the site."
Chen Xiao scoffed. "Just a bunch of local thugs. Nothing to be afraid of."
Qin Lan said with a grave expression, "Don’t underestimate Scar. He was once one of Jiang Tiannan’s most formidable fighters. He beca famous overnight after single-handedly fighting his way through an encirclent of a hundred n with just a knife!"
"Besides, I heard he found a new backer—the sa one Jiang Tiannan used to have."
Chen Xiao’s eyes lifted slightly. Could it be that Jiang Tianyi from the Jiang Family in Jinling?
Qin Lan was astonished. "You know about him?"
"We’ve t. I even slapped him," Chen Xiao said with a smile.
"You’re such a braggart!" Qin Lan rolled her eyes at him.
"You’re even better at it," Chen Xiao smiled aningfully.
Qin Lan took a deep breath, but finding no words for a retort, she could only slam her foot on the accelerator to vent her anger.
The car sped onto the site.
The scene was chaotic. A group of n sat around, smoking and playing cards, the very picture of local gangsters. As soon as Chen Xiao and Qin Lan got out of the car, they were surrounded.
"President Qin, Brother Scar has been waiting a long ti for you. Co with us!" a man with a sharp face and weaselly features sneered. "Yo, brought a pretty boy with you? Worried you can’t take all of us at once?"
The others burst into lewd laughter.
"Co on, President Qin, let’s go have so fun. Big, virile guys like us will definitely show you a good ti."
With that, the punk with shifty, rat-like eyes reached a sleazy hand toward Qin Lan. However, in the next mont, his body went flying!
「Thirty seconds later...」
Wails echoed everywhere. All of them stared at Chen Xiao in terror.
Chen Xiao planted one foot on the shifty-eyed man’s body. A cigarette was pinched between his fingers, and his relaxed posture gave no indication that he had just been in a fierce fight.
Qin Lan vented her anger by kicking the man several tis. "All of you together couldn’t even beat the pretty boy I brought, yet you dared to try sothing with ? You’re all useless trash!"
Chen Xiao snuffed out his cigarette, crouched down, and patted the man’s cheek. "Lead the way."
"I will, I will..." The man’s eyes were filled with terror. This guy took out a dozen of them in a flash; he was even more frightening than Brother Scar. How could he possibly dare to provoke him?
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