Chapter 23

Pei Sheng walked around the figure frozen in shock before him and entered the hospital room.

"...What?"

A voice behind him questioned him in utter disbelief.

"Who did you say?"

Qi Yan spun around and hurried after Pei Sheng. "Hey, don't go! Explain yourself!"

Wait...

He hadn't heard clearly just now. Could Qin You say it again?

Yan Tingshen?

Ah-Shen?

Huh???

Chapter 23

Pei Sheng ignored Qi Yan's questions and returned to the bedside. He first picked up his phone and opened his email.

He found the email Qin You had sent him, tightened his grip on his phone, and gently tapped it open.

"...What is it?" Seeing that his attention was entirely on the email, Qi Yan briefly set aside his own overwhelming confusion and asked instead.

The email was short, and Pei Sheng finished reading it quickly.

Hearing the question, he looked up at Qi Yan, somewhat hesitant.

"He only told you not to tell—"

At that, Qi Yan stumbled over his words. "He only said not to let Tingshen know. Why are you afraid to tell me? I'm not going to spill the secret."

Pei Sheng knew his character inside and out and understood perfectly well that he wouldn't reveal it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have shown him the contents of the other email just now.

"It's two contracts as well."

"They were signed by the Liu Family and my grandfather," Pei Sheng said.

Qi Yan keenly noticed the change in his tone. Looking at his expression, he could still see signs in the details, even though Pei Sheng had become much more reserved and deep over the past few years.

Compared to before he checked the email, Pei Sheng suddenly seemed much more at ease.

"Contracts your grandfather signed?" Qi Yan took the phone from him and was surprised after reading them. "Share transfers too? The dates are the same. So all three families transferred their shares at the same time."

No wonder.

With this email, the misunderstanding was most likely resolved, at least.

Pei Sheng nodded. "Yeah."

All three families had signed contracts at the same time, and most importantly, the Pei Family was one of them. That meant the Yan Family's contract could not serve as proof that the Yan Family had been involved in Cehai's bankruptcy. It was possible that the three families had reached an agreement and made the decision together.

Qi Yan guessed what he was thinking. "Now that you have these two contracts, you should be able to talk to Tingshen, right? Besides finding out how much he knows about this, you also need to figure out why Elder Pei transferred his shares before everything happened. Isn't that too strange?"

Those were exactly Pei Sheng's thoughts. "I'll talk to him as soon as I can. He happens to be at the hospital today."

Qi Yan looked behind him and saw no one. "Tingshen's at the hospital today too? How come I didn't see him when I arrived?"

Pei Sheng said, "He probably arrived with Young Mr. Qin."

"..." Qi Yan was having a little trouble keeping up. "Wait, wasn't he at the company today? How did he run into Young Mr. Qin?"

Pei Sheng said, "Tingshen needs rehabilitation training now. Young Mr. Qin is worried about him and comes to help him every day."

"..." Qi Yan froze again.

Pei Sheng was familiar with that reaction.

When he learned on the day he was hospitalized that the two were in the rehabilitation room together, he hadn't thought much of it. But when he heard yesterday that Yan Tingshen had come back, he made a point of asking about it. He had been very surprised by the answer too.

Of course, what Tingshen had said was a little different; that was only his interpretation. He firmly believed that was how things were.

"...What exactly is the relationship between those two?" Qi Yan took a long time to recover and couldn't help asking, "Young Mr. Qin is worried about him? Tingshen makes him worry that much? Isn't something off here?"

Pei Sheng paused, then continued, "There are another fifty minutes or so. Once Tingshen is done, I'll go talk to him about the contracts."

Qi Yan gave him a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Wasn't that a little too abrupt a change of subject?"

Pei Sheng said, "Why do you think Young Mr. Qin doesn't want Tingshen to know he was the one who gave me these two contracts?"

"..." Qi Yan laughed in exasperation. "For heaven's sake, are you really letting everything I say go in one ear and out the other?"

Pei Sheng's expression didn't change. "You can tell he doesn't like me either, but for this, he was willing to meet me. And he told me to clear up the misunderstanding between Tingshen and me. Could Tingshen know about it too?"

Qi Yan said irritably, "All right, all right. I won't ask, okay? Stop pretending."

Pei Sheng sat down by the bed. "You need to control your habit of prying into other people's privacy."

"Curiosity is a human virtue. Don't make it sound so nasty, I'm warning you."

As Qi Yan spoke, his expression gradually turned serious. "As for why Young Mr. Qin told you to keep it a secret, don't think about it. Anyway, he has his reasons. He won't let you ask, so there's no point in sitting here guessing. Besides, clearing up this misunderstanding can only benefit both you and Tingshen."

Pei Sheng was already inclined to overthink things. If Qi Yan didn't say something, he would most likely waste who knew how much thought on it again.

After saying that, Qi Yan saw Pei Sheng lower his head to look at the email again and poured cold water on him. "Don't get happy just yet. You have a lead on the shares now, but that doesn't mean this is over. Whoever sent you that email yesterday has bad intentions toward you. Have you looked into it?"

Pei Sheng said, "It hasn't been long enough. I haven't found the source yet."

"Why didn't you come to me?"

Qi Yan sounded irritated again. "Next time, don't keep it bottled up like this. If you find the source sooner, you might save yourself some trouble."

Pei Sheng said, "Okay."

Qi Yan said, "Also, Young Mr. Qin may have helped you, but why did he have these two contracts in the first place? And why did he give them to you? I'm not saying I suspect him, but he's completely different from the information we have on him. You should consider whether he has some deeper purpose."

He knew Pei Sheng would think of these obvious things afterward too.

But Pei Sheng was too close to the situation to see clearly. Qin You had also offered him help several times, yet disliked him. Given Pei Sheng's personality, all sorts of factors would inevitably weigh on his mind. By comparison, it was better for him to think about Qin You's deeper purpose than to remember Qin You's dislike.

Hearing this, Pei Sheng's eyes did indeed flicker with thought. "You have a point."

He thought for a moment and put down his phone.

He had read the contents of both emails clearly enough and no longer needed to look at them.

He hadn't considered Qin You's deeper purpose.

Meanwhile.

In the corridor outside the rehabilitation room.

[Host, you went to the wrong person!]

The system had only just realized what had happened. [The mission is to clear up the misunderstanding between the target and the protagonist, but the mission is aimed at the target! Why did you tell the protagonist?]

Qin You asked it, [If the protagonist takes the initiative to clear up the misunderstanding with the target, how is the result counted?]

The system hurriedly said, [Then the target will only remember the protagonist's kindness, and the mission will fail outright, Host! Not only will you get no affection points, but space energy will be deducted too. You'll have helped them clear up the misunderstanding for nothing. That's a huge loss!]

Qin You said slowly, [Don't panic.]

[Host, how can you still be smiling?!]

The system was agitated with worry. [The further along the missions get, the more space energy gets deducted. You completed two side missions this time, but if the overall mission fails, at least one point will be deducted. The problem is, that one point is everything we have!]

Qin You said, [It hasn't gone negative yet. What are you panicking for?]

[...] The system's circuits went numb. [Host, it'll be too late once it goes negative...]

It didn't know why it was panicking either.

It wasn't as if its energy had never hit zero before, and its host's conquest progress had always been far ahead, with room to spare even if it dropped. Yet it was still panicking.

It was panicking so badly!

It had never even heard of a host who cared so little about penalties and completed or failed missions on a whim. He practically didn't treat it like a system at all!

After so many missions, the rewards came and went before they had even warmed up. They had finally managed to keep one lone point, and the host wasn't sparing that either. Soon they would have nothing again.

It was terrifying, spending every day afraid that they wouldn't have enough energy.

Suddenly.

The system noticed the fluctuating numbers on the affection panel, but by the time it saw them, the final figure hadn't changed. It remained at 30%.

Maybe the target had secretly thought of the host again just now.

The affection level hadn't changed, so there was no need to distract the host at a time like this.

Faced with a host who was slacking off, the system couldn't spare any attention for such a small fluctuation.

It watched the host return to the rehabilitation room and spoke up again, sounding utterly miserable. [Host, I'm begging you, you really have to do the milestone mission...]

Qin You said, [I can't clearly explain where the information came from. It would affect his trust in me.]

The system said, [But giving the information to the protagonist doesn't make it any easier to explain!]

Qin You didn't mind. [Then that's for the protagonist to worry about.]

As the protagonist, he presumably wouldn't go back on something he had personally promised. He could explain the source of the information himself.

As for whether the protagonist would suspect him because of it, that hardly mattered either.

By the time they reached the ending, the Qin Group would have fallen apart. No matter how suspicious the protagonist was, what could he do to an ordinary person?

The system conceded that it couldn't win an argument with the host. [Boo-hoo, but what about the mission?]

Qin You said, [All right. You have to give something up to gain something.]

With that, he smiled at Yan Tingshen, who had looked over at the sound of the knock. "I'm back."

He then waved for all the medical staff nearby to leave and went over to Yan Tingshen to help him finish this rehabilitation session.

Five minutes past four.

After checking on Yan Tingshen, who had finished resting, Qin You raised his wrist to check the time. "Come on, I'll take you home."

Yan Tingshen said, "Okay."

With his current level of energy, there was no need for him to stay at the company too long.

Qin You helped him up from the equipment, and they walked toward the door together.

Yan Tingshen said, "If you're busy with company business, you can go back first."

Qin You glanced at him. "I get off work at two. I'm very busy after that and don't have time to handle company business."