New Mission

Qin Ze couldn't be bothered to bicker with her. Grimacing, he lifted his hospital gown, revealing bright red blood seeping from the wound. That kick had torn it open.

Qin Baobao was terrified at the sight of blood. With a cry, she ran outside to fetch a nurse.

The nurse came in to take a look and reassured him, "It's fine, it's fine. The wound has only split open a little. Luckily, the stitches haven't been removed yet, or it would've been troublesome. I'll clean the wound for you."

The nurse used an alcohol swab to soak up the blood, applied disinfectant, and warned Qin Ze to take proper care of the wound.

Qin Baobao finally relaxed. Sitting by the bed, she scolded him, "You're so reckless. You're injured, yet you're still moving around carelessly."

Qin Ze said solemnly, "Forget the wound splitting open. Even if I got stabbed again, I couldn't let that woman scratch up your face."

Qin Baobao spat. "Nonsense."

Yet a smile bloomed on her face, joy glittering in her lively, beautiful eyes.

Qin Baobao was deliberately difficult. "Is my face really that important? It's not like I'll ever get married anyway."

Qin Ze declared righteously, "Your face is more important than my life."

Qin Baobao immediately beamed.

Qin Ze was quite skilled at coaxing women... or at least, coaxing his sister. Qin Baobao bought him clothes and phones and even covered his living expenses. Qin Ze's silver tongue had definitely played a major role. Of course, it also had something to do with Qin Baobao having absolutely no financial sense. Whenever she had a little spare cash, she wanted to spend it. If she couldn't spend it on herself, she spent it on her younger brother.

Before going to sleep that evening, Qin Baobao accompanied her brother downstairs to visit Professor Li. She did not enter the room, instead waiting outside.

Qin Ze politely knocked on the door before pushing it open. The hospital room was elegantly furnished, like a single room in a hotel, with a desk, bedside table, television, and comfortable bed. The walls were painted light blue.

Professor Li was talking to his wife.

His wife complained, "Why weren't you paying attention while crossing the road? Didn't you see the red light? If the driver hadn't reacted quickly, you'd have lost your old life."

Professor Li defended himself, "That intersection had traffic going both ways, with two sets of lights. The first one was still green... Forget it, forget it. Let's not talk about it."

His wife said, "I heard from one of the teachers at your school that the police came to arrest your student today. Is that true?"

At the mention of this, Professor Li's mood worsened. "I took on work from a private equity firm. You know that. A few days ago, Lao Qin sent his son to work under me, saying he needed some experience. We'd been colleagues for more than a decade. How could I refuse? The kid was clever, serious about his work, and had a good attitude. Yang Chen happened to mess things up by drinking, and in my anger, I had Lao Qin's son take over the work. Who would've thought Yang Chen would hold a grudge? He turned around and found someone to stab Lao Qin's son. It's become quite a big deal, and it's all over the internet."

His wife sighed. "Kids these days never consider the consequences of what they do. How is Lao Qin's son?"

"His condition was quite dangerous. I heard that if it had gone any deeper or hit an artery, he might not have made it."

"Lao Qin only has one son, right? Won't he come after you desperately?"

"That's why I'm so upset. I keep wondering how something like this happened. Then, while I wasn't paying attention, I got hit by a car."

"With you like this, you can't work either. Things are fine at the school, but how are you going to explain things to the private equity firm? If the deadline passes, you'll have to pay compensation."

Professor Li's face darkened, and he looked miserable. "Two hundred thousand yuan in compensation. The project is already at the final stage... Ah, it's all fate."

His wife snapped, "What fate? Half a year's income will all be gone. Are we still supposed to live? I'm telling you, our son is getting married at the end of the year."

University professors had considerable unofficial income. Two hundred thousand yuan was no small sum, but it was not beyond their means. The key was that housing in Shanghai City cost a fortune. Their son was about to buy a marital home, and if that two hundred thousand had to be paid out...

"Wasn't it to save up the down payment for his marital home by the end of the year that I took on this Investment Project?"

"If it really comes to it, we'll mortgage the house we live in and borrow some money."

A knock sounded at the door, and the couple immediately stopped talking.

Qin Ze entered wearing a hospital gown and smiled. "Professor Li, my dad said you were in a car accident and hospitalized downstairs, so I came to visit you."

Professor Li lay in the hospital bed with one leg suspended. His right hand was in a cast, and the skin on his face bore multiple scrapes. He looked somewhat listless. His wife sat beside the bed. She was a middle-aged woman in her fifties who had taken good care of herself. Fine crow's feet lined the corners of her eyes, and at first glance, she looked like a gentle housewife.

Professor Li seemed happy, though not surprised. He knew Qin Ze was also staying at this hospital.

"Qin Ze, are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine. The doctor said I can go home to recuperate once the stitches are removed."

"I need to apologize to you for this." Professor Li sighed. "Yang Chen has always been too narrow-minded. I knew that, but I never expected him to be so impulsive."

Qin Ze sneered. "A crooked heart easily breeds evil thoughts."

Professor Li nodded. "That's true. He'll be punished by the law."

"I've also been following your case. If it goes to court, you have a very good chance of winning. Even though you injured someone too, they attacked first, so it counts as self-defense."

"My dad said the same thing." Qin Ze sat down on the sofa and waved away the banana Professor Li's wife offered him. "Auntie, the doctor told me to eat as little as possible."

The two chatted for a while longer. Professor Li was starting to feel sleepy, and Qin Ze prepared to leave. Then he recalled something. "By the way, Professor Li, what are you going to do about the modeling work while you're lying in the hospital?"

That was one of the reasons he had come to visit: to test Professor Li's attitude and figure out how to take over the modeling assignment. He was worried Professor Li would consider him too young and incapable of shouldering such a responsibility.

Professor Li's wife was full of resentment. "What else can we do? With him in this state, do you expect him to crawl out of bed and work? We'll just pay the compensation."

"How much?"

Professor Li sighed. "The contract stated two hundred thousand yuan."

Qin Ze clicked his tongue. Two hundred thousand yuan was no small amount. In a third-tier city, it would be enough for a down payment.

"Professor Li, how about this? My injury is basically no longer a problem. If you trust me, could you let me handle it?" Qin Ze asked tentatively.

He had the confidence to say so. After all, he had exchanged for knowledge in this field. Completing a complex mathematical model independently would not be difficult for him; at most, it would take time. Besides, the project was already nearing its end, and he could absolutely finish it on his own.

Professor Li looked at him, and something stirred in his heart. "All right. Whether it works or not, it's worth trying."

As he spoke, he asked his wife to give Qin Ze the USB drive from his briefcase.

Qin Ze took the USB drive and left.

Inside the room, Professor Li let out a long breath, as though he had expelled a heavy stone from his heart.

His wife frowned. "What are you doing giving him the materials? What if he messes them up or damages them?"

"If we're already going to pay compensation, what does it matter if they get damaged?" Professor Li glared at her, then smiled. "You don't understand. I wasn't counting on him. I was counting on Lao Qin. A college student still in school wouldn't even know where to start, but Lao Qin would. Giving him the materials is much smarter than directly asking Lao Qin for help. Lao Qin has been running all over the place these past few days. Even if I asked him, it would be useless. But now that his son has taken the job, he'll finish it even if he has to grit his teeth."

"There are only so many professors in the Finance Department, and it's finals season, so everyone is busy. They may not be willing to help me. Besides, time is limited. Just understanding the project would take time."

"And Lao Qin can understand it?"

"His level is higher than mine. He also ghostwrote for his son not long ago. He probably knows roughly what I'm working on. He'll understand it thoroughly in a day or two."

Qin Ze and his sister returned to their hospital room. Heavy rain had begun falling outside, pattering violently against the windows. The curtain of rain blurred the view, while neon halos illuminated dense strands of droplets. The world was filled with the sound of rain.

Qin Baobao had originally planned to go home, shower, change into pajamas, and return to keep him company through the night. But seeing the torrential rain, she no longer wanted to leave. She asked a nurse for a thin blanket and a clean hospital gown, then showered in the room's bathroom.

Qin Ze felt lonely staying in the hospital by himself, but he hypocritically said, "Why don't you go home after all? I'll be fine alone."

Qin Baobao truly cared about her younger brother. Considering that middle-aged couple had acted irrationally, they might return in the middle of the night to cause trouble. Her brother was a patient and could not withstand any rough treatment. So she said, "It's fine, it's fine. I'll just make do for one night."

Lying in bed, Qin Ze listened to the rushing water in the bathroom and the torrential rain battering the glass outside. He opened his laptop, inserted the USB drive, opened the folder, and read the summary first. It contained dozens of pages of mathematical modeling diagrams.

It was a mathematical model analysis for a fund investment.

The old man was a Finance Department professor, and Qin Ze studied finance as well. Influenced by what he had seen and heard, Qin Ze knew quite a bit about private equity firms. Private equity firms of a certain scale had their own specialists to build mathematical models and analyze Investment Projects. They did not need outside help. This showed that the firm Professor Li had contacted was either quite small or newly established.

Time passed. After half an hour, he finally figured everything out completely.

The bathroom door opened, and Qin Baobao emerged in a hospital gown, wearing Qin Ze's cloth shoes. She wiped her hair as she walked out.

"I thought you were giving birth in there." Qin Ze glanced at her.

It had taken her half an hour to shower. He could finish showering in ten minutes.

"Whose child would I be having? Yours?" Qin Baobao rolled her eyes, then sat cross-legged on the sofa and continued drying her hair. "There isn't even a hair dryer."

"Use hair dryers less often. They're bad for your hair."

"Are you ever going to stop nagging? You said the same thing when I dyed my hair."

"I can't be bothered to talk to you."

"Oh, right. How did you suddenly learn to play basketball? I saw a video on Lazy Cat a few days ago. That guy in it was definitely you, right?" Qin Baobao turned to look at him. Her pointed melon seed face, sparkling phoenix eyes, and damp, slightly messy hair made her beauty outrageously striking. "I completely forgot about it. Hurry up and tell me what happened."

"What do you mean, what happened? You saw it yourself, didn't you? So what if I can play basketball? What guy doesn't know how to play basketball?" Qin Ze hammered away at the keyboard.

"But your skill level wasn't normal. Don't I know exactly what you're capable of?" Qin Baobao curled her lips. "You even dunked. Can you jump that high? Ever since you were little, you've been hopeless at sports."

"Even trash has dignity. Even salted fish can turn over." Qin Ze turned and glared at his sister. "Qin Baobao, stop looking down on me all the time. You only got into Xingyi because of me."

"Oh, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would've forgotten again. What's the deal with the songwriting? Did you really write those songs?"

Qin Ze's heart skipped a beat. Had I really changed too much lately?

You could have a thousand, ten thousand reasons to deceive your friends, but you could never deceive those closest to you. They knew you inside and out.

"In another ten days or half a month, you might even be able to join a music variety show. If you succeed, you'll become a star. Wouldn't that be an even more shocking transformation? Compared to that, what do a few songs I wrote even count for?"

Qin Baobao's mood immediately improved. She said with a smile, "That's true."

He had successfully fooled her.

The two chatted on and off. Whenever they ran out of things to say, Qin Baobao lowered her head to play on her phone, while Qin Ze sat on the bed building the model. Rain poured wildly outside, while an ancient costume romance drama played on the television indoors.

At ten thirty that night, Qin Baobao rubbed her eyes, feeling drowsy.

"You should sleep first. You still have work tomorrow. I'll sleep later."

Qin Baobao gave an "Oh," wrapped herself in the blanket, and lay down on the sofa.

At eleven thirty at night, Qin Ze shut down the laptop. Before bed, he went to relieve himself. When he returned, he discovered Qin Baobao had taken over his nest and stolen his bed.

"Why are you lying in my bed? Go sleep on your sofa."

"Hey, hey, quit playing dead. Do you believe I'll pick you up and toss you out the window?"

Qin Baobao pulled the blanket over her head and said coquettishly, "The sofa is uncomfortable. I can't sleep."

"I'm the patient here. If I don't rest well, it'll affect the wound's recovery."

Qin Baobao patted the empty space beside her. "This bed can sleep two people."

Qin Ze's hospital bed was like a hotel single bed. If the two of them squeezed in, there would be no problem at all.

"Then bring your own blanket over." Qin Ze compromised helplessly.

Qin Baobao protested, "That blanket smells weird. It hasn't been washed in ages. I don't want it."

His sister had come to keep him company through the night, and she had a slight germophobia. Qin Ze thought about it. The bed was large enough, and they could make do for one night. He lifted the blanket and lay down.