January

Over the next few days, Lin Yumo helped her aunt and cousin organize evidence so they could file a lawsuit against Bai Xinshu.

The evidence Lin Yumo had gathered was now sufficient to establish that Bai Xinshu had cheated domestically during the marriage and was the party at fault. Securing half the shares was practically guaranteed, and they might even be able to claim a larger portion of the other marital assets.

Lin Yumo no longer had the slightest favorable impression of this uncle. After her parents passed away, her blood-related uncle had treated her worse than a stranger would have.

After Lin Zhengdong and Lin Zhengbei fell from power, this uncle of hers had also only thought about becoming the company's new chairman as soon as possible.

So Lin Yumo felt no burden whatsoever in dealing with Bai Xinshu.

Two days later, Lin Yumo, her aunt, and her cousin submitted their complaint to the court.

When it came to divorce cases, the law still favored reconciliation over separation.

So three days after they submitted the complaint, the court sent mediators over.

Naturally, Bai Xinshu did not want a divorce, because it would mean losing at least half his assets.

He agreed to everything the mediators said and even swore that he had cut things off completely with those two women.

But this time, Lin Yumo's aunt, Li Yun, would not believe him.

In fact, Bai Xinshu had cheated during the marriage before. That time, Lin Yumo's parents and maternal grandparents had all stepped in to ask Li Yun to forgive him once.

Moreover, Bai Yuzhen had only been eleven at the time. For the sake of her child, and out of consideration for the two elderly people and Lin Yumo's parents, Li Yun had let the matter go.

This time, Li Yun had no intention of swallowing her anger any longer. Bai Yuzhen had grown up now as well, so she no longer needed to compromise for her child's sake.

Therefore, no matter what the mediators said, Li Yun had made up her mind to get divorced.

With mediation unsuccessful, the court scheduled the hearing for October 11, right after the cooling-off period ended—exactly one month later.

Lin Yumo breathed a sigh of relief after learning the exact hearing date. To be honest, she had truly been afraid that Li Yun would change her mind at the last minute and refuse to divorce.

A housewife who had stayed home for years without a job could easily come to see a man as her only support. Many people lacked the courage to take that step because of it.

Fortunately, Li Yun was not someone who gave up easily. She stood by her choice.

Lin Yumo was finally at ease and began shifting her attention back to work.

She was now the chairman and General Manager of Longcheng Biology. Many company matters required her personal attention, and Lin Yumo was honestly struggling to handle everything alone.

Moreover, she also had scientific research to attend to. The follow-up research on the swine fever vaccine could not proceed without her either.

Speaking of the swine fever vaccine, it had now entered the testing phase, with dozens or even hundreds of tests being conducted every day.

Before the final version of the swine fever vaccine could be released, it would need to undergo at least ten thousand experiments, with an immunization rate exceeding 75% before it could be considered successfully developed.

And that was only for an animal vaccine. A vaccine for humans had to go through at least one hundred thousand experiments.

Therefore, drug development had never been a simple task. It inevitably consumed enormous amounts of manpower and resources.

While Lin Yumo was run off her feet, Guo Yuan had plenty to deal with as well.

Guo Yuan first exchanged the one million US dollars Lin Yumo had invested for 6.9 million Chinese Yuan, then asked his second maternal uncle, Cao Bin, whether he had any promising stocks in mind lately.

Although Cao Bin was busy "taking refuge," he had not neglected making money. In one go, he told Guo Yuan about several stocks he had predicted through calculations.

Based on the narrator's hints, Guo Yuan chose the one with the highest return on investment.

Coincidentally, the stock Guo Yuan picked this time also belonged to a biopharmaceutical company. Its parent company was based in Hong Kong, while the domestic branch was essentially a subsidiary called Bailing Biology. It would take roughly twenty days to turn a profit.

Bailing Biology's current share price was about 35 Chinese Yuan per share, and in twenty days, it would rise to 55 Chinese Yuan per share.

In other words, after twenty days, the 6.9 million in Guo Yuan's hands would become 9.9 million.

With that money, plus the roughly eight or nine hundred thousand in royalties and profit shares he would receive in October, after deducting the 6.5 million needed for the deposit, acquiring the company, and covering Tianyu Technology's debt shortfall, he would still have around 4.5 million left.

That money should be enough to hold out until development of the intelligent engine was complete.

Once he had a finished product in hand, he would have leverage. There would be far more room to maneuver afterward.

In the days that followed, Guo Yuan kept an eye on the stock while continuing to build a relationship with Lilith.

During this period of interaction, Guo Yuan had also more or less figured out Lilith's temperament.

This bird responded to gentleness rather than force. The more he scolded it, the more rebellious it became, but if he communicated with it properly, it would listen.

As the bond between man and bird gradually deepened, Lilith began obeying some of Guo Yuan's commands.

Recently, people in the residential complex often saw a crow carrying a garbage bag down from the upper floors, accurately tossing it into a dumpster before turning around and flying away.

At first, the residents were astonished by this crow that could throw away garbage. Some even filmed videos and posted them on Douyin.

Lilith also enjoyed people's astonished expressions. Occasionally, it would circle in front of those holding up their phones to film it, letting its appearance show up more clearly in the short videos.

Such an intelligent crow left the residents clicking their tongues in amazement, and Lilith became mildly popular on Douyin because of it.

But as time passed, everyone grew accustomed to it, and no one filmed Lilith anymore.

Now, the only thing people were probably curious about was who owned this crow.

A few children in the complex did try to lure Lilith over with food.

However, Lilith never ate anything given to it by strangers. Besides, it ate its fill every day, and Lin Yumo occasionally gave it extra treats.

The food Lin Yumo brought was all quite expensive. Lilith's palate had long since become refined, so how could it possibly eat the children's food?

During this time, Guo Yuan also specifically looked into whether ravens could be kept as pets, since ravens were fairly large and should probably count as birds of prey.

Fortunately, the law did not prohibit individuals from keeping crows. Among crows, only the white-necked crow was a protected animal and could not be privately kept.

However, a raven-sized crow was indeed rather intimidating, so Guo Yuan obediently went to the police station to apply for a keeping permit.

It just so happened that Xue Ruoyi, an acquaintance, was at the station, and the permit was approved quickly.

This meant Lilith had been officially registered under Guo Yuan's name. From then on, Lilith legally belonged to him.

With Lilith's keeping arrangements and identity settled, exactly one month had passed, and Guo Yuan's manuscript payment finally arrived!