Something Was Missing

Several senior executives who knew about the situation at the pharmaceutical factory were arguing fiercely.

One side believed the drugs could not be destroyed.

This batch of medicine was far too expensive. Destroying such a large quantity of finished drugs would alert the Drug Administration Bureau. By then, the losses would involve more than just the medicinal herbs, Fine ingredients, and finished-product processing costs... It could even shake the company's foundations and damage the brand's market credibility.

The losses would be immeasurable.

The other side was simple: the medicine was unacceptable. It could not be labeled, released from the factory, or sold... Absolutely not!

The two sides argued until the room was turned upside down.

Lu Chengwen held his head in both hands and lay facedown on the table, thinking only about his own problems.

Why was everything so damn annoying?

When it rained, it poured. Every bit of bad luck was crashing down at once.

This wasn't even part of the original plot, was it? What was this supposed to be? Could the system alter the plot whenever it wanted?

Long Aotian wasn't supposed to be in this part, right?

What was going on with Xu Xuejiao? Why did she suddenly want to kill him?

At that moment, the door was pushed open, and everyone immediately stood up.

"Good day, President Xu!"

Everyone hurried to greet Xu Xuejiao.

Lu Chengwen froze. Why was she here too?

Xu Xuejiao sat down across from him at the Round table and looked at Lu Chengwen with a smile. "Brother Chengwen, I know everything. How do you plan to handle this?"

"Uh..."

Lu Chengwen's mind raced.

This batch of medicine absolutely could not leave the factory. It had to be destroyed!

Xu Xuejiao was startled. Her expression shifted several times in an instant, and she stared at him as if she did not recognize him at all.

It had to be destroyed?

So this was what he truly thought inside!?

Got it! I'll say we should ship the goods as usual and let her take the lead in opposing me. She'll definitely never let this batch of medicine leave the factory.

If she gets sick enough of me, she probably won't bother with me anymore. I'll take this chance to have a huge fight with her, then pull out my shares! Yes, that's what I'll do!

I really am a fucking genius!

Thinking that, Lu Chengwen began to smile.

He swaggered over to Xu Xuejiao with a sleazy grin. "Sister Xuejiao, here's the situation! This batch of medicine cost too much to make. It was my idea to cut back on the Fine ingredients. The efficacy may be a little weaker, but these are Chinese patent medicines! They won't kill anyone!"

"But if we destroy them, it'll alert the Drug Administration Bureau. Then we'll have to hold a press conference, and our factory will be finished! The reputation of our Ninth Factory will be ruined! The stock price will collapse, right? Future drug sales will plummet, right? Then we won't make any money!"

"We'll silence everyone who knows. At a time like this, we have to withstand the pressure and do something big! Right?"

Lu Chengwen looked at Xu Xuejiao with a grin, while anxiously thinking to himself:

Curse me, curse me, hurry up and curse me! Oppose me, oppose me, hurry up and oppose me!

I'll pull out my shares, and you can become the major shareholder. From now on, neither of us will bother the other. We'll have nothing to do with each other until we die.

You should go obediently date Long Aotian and become his little wife. We'll go our separate ways and stay out of each other's way.

Xu Xuejiao was no pushover either.

This guy had already made up his mind to destroy this batch of medicine.

But what did he mean by refusing to do it himself and making her do it?

Since when had this guy developed a healer's conscience?

And why was he avoiding her like she was the plague?

Was she really so cheap that she was supposed to join Long Aotian's harem, that disgusting bastard?

Xu Xuejiao's eyes darted as she smiled. "Brother Chengwen, I think exactly the same way you do! The factory really can't do without you. At critical moments like this, we still need you at the helm!"

Lu Chengwen's smile instantly froze.

He stared at Xu Xuejiao as though she were someone he did not know at all.

"Xuejiao, did you mishear me? I said... we should label them, release them from the factory, and sell them..."

"Exactly!" Xu Xuejiao said. "That's what I think too!"

Lu Chengwen shook his head hard, feeling as if his entire fucking world had collapsed.

What the hell was this!?

Healer's Heart Xu Xuejiao, how could you do something like this? You agree to something so vile it'll make your sons be born without assholes? Did water get into your brain?

Lu Chengwen forced out a smile. "Xuejiao, think this through. This is medicine! What is medicine for? Saving people! If medicine fails quality standards, it could delay patients' treatment. Think about it—thousands upon thousands of people could suffer because of our medicine... Heh heh heh, you understand, right?"

"I understand. I understand everything." Xu Xuejiao had made up her mind too.

This was a game of seeing who blinked first.

Both of them had secretly decided that this batch of medicine absolutely could not leave the factory.

But each wanted the other to be the one to say it.

The situation now was this: Xu Xuejiao already knew Lu Chengwen's bottom line, while Lu Chengwen was still lost in confusion, unable to see through the fog.

Xu Xuejiao had already won from the very beginning.

The scheming little girl said casually, "It's only one batch of finished medicine. What's the big deal? If it really delays their treatment, then they're just unlucky. Who told them to get sick? Don't you think so, Brother Chengwen?"

"But we've already spent all that money. If we can't earn it back, the company's losses will be huge. Brother Chengwen, I support you! Here, I'll sign it. This batch leaves the factory today, and everything must be shipped out within three days!"

As soon as the contract was brought over and the chief secretary handed her a signing pen, Xu Xuejiao grabbed it and was about to sign.

Seeing that Xu Xuejiao was really about to sign, Lu Chengwen panicked. He pressed down on the signature line and glared at her.

Xu Xuejiao blinked her big eyes at him. "Brother Chengwen, what's wrong?"

Lu Chengwen trembled all over with anger. He was deeply disappointed in Xu Xuejiao.

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Don't call me brother anymore. You're my father!

"Xuejiao, have you really... thought this through?"

"I have!" Xu Xuejiao said. "I trust you, Brother Chengwen. Whatever you say, I'll listen to you."

Lu Chengwen lowered his head, so frustrated he felt ready to explode.

He snatched the document away and tore it to shreds.

Lu Chengwen braced both hands on the table, head lowered, and said in a deep voice, "Report this to the Drug Administration Bureau. We will destroy this batch of medicine immediately and ask them to send personnel to supervise."

"At the same time, launch a comprehensive internal investigation. All relevant departments will review their operating procedures."

"Investigate the personnel involved in procuring the Fine ingredients, revoke their professional qualifications, and transfer them to the judicial authorities for a formal case investigation."

Xu Xuejiao smiled. She had won.

Zhao Gang was so shocked he was nearly losing his mind. "Young Master Lu, this batch is worth more than six hundred million! Six hundred million! Please think it over again. Didn't you and President Xu already..."

"Get out!" Lu Chengwen vented all his anger and frustration on Zhao Gang, while deliberately scolding him for everyone else to hear. "Is company business something a security captain like you can meddle in? Can't I even enforce this little bit of company discipline?"

"This is fucking medicine! Medicine! Medicine that treats illnesses and saves lives!"

"Listen the fuck up, all of you. If anyone dares let even one case, one box, or one pill from this batch leave the factory... I'll twist his head off and use it as a ball!"

"Not just today—starting now, if anyone fucking dares touch the Fine ingredients again, I'll send him to prison in minutes and make sure he rots there!"

"Forget six hundred million. Even if it were six billion or sixty billion... I'd let it all die inside this factory! Not even a speck of drug residue is leaving!"

Lu Chengwen looked at Xu Xuejiao. "What do you think, President Xu?"

Xu Xuejiao smiled.

This time, it was a relieved smile.

She suddenly realized that perhaps she did not know Lu Chengwen as well as she thought.

This guy was completely different from when they were children!

Were those rumors about him bullying merchants, dominating the market, and committing every kind of evil really true? Could there have been some mistake?

Besides, that outburst just now had been pretty cool.

"Brother Chengwen, I told you. You have the final say. Whatever you say, I'll listen to you."

Seeing Xu Xuejiao's victorious expression, Lu Chengwen suddenly understood.

This dead girl had known from the beginning that I wouldn't let this batch of medicine leave the factory!?

Had she never even heard a little about my reputation? Lady, I'm a villain who bullies merchants, seizes women, commits every evil imaginable, and is consumed by greed! How dare you play me like this?

No, something was wrong. Something had definitely gone wrong somewhere!

Xu Xuejiao stood and smiled. "Brother Chengwen, my birthday is next week. I'm inviting you to my birthday party. As for things here, I'll leave them to you."

Xu Xuejiao turned and left.

At that moment, she was completely at ease.

She had figured Lu Chengwen out completely. There was no need to worry about him recklessly causing trouble at the pharmaceutical factory.

He did not possess that "ability."

Sitting in the car, Xu Xuejiao's emotions were in turmoil.

That bastard, when she agreed to let the medicine leave the factory, the way he looked at her—his disappointment—it was like he was some great hero while she was Xue City's number-one villain.

Still, that guy had really looked incredibly cool today.

Thinking of how Lu Chengwen had been forced to run around in circles by her today, wracking his brains to outwit her, only to be driven nearly to a breakdown in the end, was just too amusing!

At the thought, Xu Xuejiao burst out laughing.

The secretary team was baffled. They exchanged glances, and the chief secretary cautiously asked, "President Xu, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing."

Xu Xuejiao straightened her face and regained her serious expression, but then she thought of Lu Chengwen's spectacularly frustrated look today and burst into laughter again.

At dusk, the city lights began to glow.

Leng Qingqiu had been absentminded all day.

Lu Chengwen's situation was far too strange.

Why could she suddenly hear what he was thinking?

And how could he accurately predict Long Aotian's actions?

He seemed very afraid of Long Aotian, but they had clearly never met!

Among everyone there today, only she knew how extraordinarily skilled Long Aotian was. Why could Lu Chengwen so keenly sense the danger around him?

There were too many mysteries.

Had everything he had called love, affection, and pursuit over the past three years been fake?

Because Long Aotian had appeared, he had backed down? He no longer dared to compete?

A secretary knocked and poked half her body through the door. "President Leng, are you getting off work?"

"Hm? Oh." Leng Qingqiu gathered her thoughts. "Let's leave."

Leng Qingqiu felt that something was off, as though something was missing...

That was it. Someone was missing.

For three years, at this time every day, there would always be a clingy bootlicker waiting early outside the door, dressed in a gaudy suit and holding flowers, chasing after her with nauseatingly corny pickup lines.

Every day, she had to endure that guy's harassment and hollow flattery. Every day at this time, she had to embarrass herself once in the company building.

But today, he was not there. Looking at the empty doorway, Leng Qingqiu suddenly felt an emptiness in her heart...

As she walked down the corridor, the sound of her high heels seemed especially cold and lonely.

One secretary muttered, "Huh? Why does it feel so quiet today?"

Another secretary blurted out, "Young Master Lu didn't come!"

"Oh, that's why! Yeah, normally he'd already be waiting at the door by now, talking nonstop."

Leng Qingqiu glared at them. "Do you have nothing better to do?"

The secretaries quickly fell silent, and the group quietly walked to the elevators.

Leng Qingqiu felt uncomfortable all over.

What was going on?

Hadn't she always hoped Lu Chengwen would stay farther away from her?

Hadn't she always wished he would disappear from this world?

Now that he had disappeared, what was wrong with her?

Leng Qingqiu was unbearably irritated.

When she reached the entrance, a girl responsible for collecting the flowers every day was already waiting there. Seeing Leng Qingqiu and the others come out empty-handed, she froze.

Then she looked behind Leng Qingqiu, but there was no sign of Lu Chengwen.

Her face was filled with astonishment.

Leng Qingqiu looked at her. "He didn't come today."

Once she got into the car, Leng Qingqiu became even more irritated.

It was as though, without Lu Chengwen, her life had suddenly changed...

The restless feeling tormented her for a long time. Finally, she decisively picked up her phone. "Hello, Lu Chengwen? I want to see you."

Lu Chengwen's side was especially noisy. "Huh? What? Speak louder, I can't hear you!"

A girl's voice came through the phone. "Young Master Lu, drink with me!"

"Hey, wait a second, I'm on the phone. President Leng, I'm a little busy over here. Let's talk another day!"

Beep beep... The call ended.

Leng Qingqiu was instantly furious. "Find Lu Chengwen's location," she told the driver. "We're going to him!"