Chapter 37

Wang Quan did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Anyway, anything I gave you would only be too easy. Our paper is the closest to this year's college entrance exam difficulty. You're all used to competition problems, so you don't think much of it, but students in the regular classes can't handle that kind of torment."

The classmates answered in perfect unison, "Aww!"

Wang Quan said, "All right, today's class meeting is about next Wednesday's sports meet. I hope everyone signs up enthusiastically. Sports committee member, come get the registration forms. We're signing up now."

The moment he finished speaking, the pain on everyone's faces immediately became utterly genuine.

Li Qiuhe muttered, "I wonder which unlucky bastard will roll the 5,000 meters this year."

Grinning, Wang Quan pulled a raffle box out from beneath the podium. "I know there are some events nobody wants to do. Our class doesn't have anyone particularly good at sports, so to be fair, the drawing order will follow the rankings from the last monthly exam. Chi Ning goes first."

The higher one ranked, the greater the randomness, and the lower the chance of drawing the 5,000 meters.

Under the envious gazes of his classmates, Chi Ning walked up, reached into the raffle box, rummaged around, and unfolded the slip—shot put.

Wang Quan curled his lip, his face full of disappointment at missing out on some excitement. "Shot put? Go register with the sports committee member."

Someone immediately spoke up in the class.

"I'm so jealous. God Chi has such good luck. I wanted to sign up for shot put too."

"That one's so easy. After you throw, you can just sit off to the side and watch."

"Everyone only draws once. What if there aren't enough events? What will the rest do?"

"No idea."

Soon, the unlucky victim was revealed. Li Qiuhe's hand trembled slightly as he held the slip. "F-five thousand meters."

Wang Quan patted his shoulder. "Young man, a bet's a bet."

Li Qiuhe dazedly went to register with the sports committee member, then staggered back to his seat and muttered, "It turns out every gift fate bestows has already had its price secretly marked..."

Chi Ning did not understand. "Hm?"

Li Qiuhe pulled out God Chi's notebook. "I used up all my luck this year when I picked up your notebook."

What Chi Ning had thrown away back then was not a single notebook, but a whole stack.

Workbooks, books, notes—he had tossed out all the study data for every subject.

After they picked everything up and flipped through it, they discovered that aside from the textbooks, which were nothing special, the rest was practically like martial arts manuals.

Whoever understood them struck it rich.

They had spent over four months painstakingly digesting those materials and still had not finished. One particularly gifted student had already gone abroad to compete. They heard he had made it into the finals and would probably be guaranteed admission soon.

It could truly be called the fall of one whale giving life to all things.

Li Qiuhe paused, then spat three times. God Chi had long since been guaranteed admission.

Like a warrior cutting off his own arm, he puffed out his chest. "It's fine. Even if I have to walk, I'll walk all 5,000 meters!"

Chi Ning admired him greatly. "Good luck."

He propped his chin on his hand and stared out the window for a while.

The lab had already reproduced a complete set of data. The first project had reached the stage of writing papers and applying for patents, so he could rest for a few days.

He might as well go straight home today.

For the first time in over a month, Chi Ning took a taxi home happily, no longer worrying about how the little life growing in the shaker was doing.

Uncle Chen and the old woman were watering flowers in the garden.

They were clearly startled when they saw Chi Ning. "You're home so early today?"

"Yeah," Chi Ning replied.

Ever since he had refused Uncle Chen's offer to pick him up after school, Uncle Chen had become his eldest brother's designated evening driver, picking up Chi Baichuan and Chi Yang from work.

If Uncle Chen was home at this hour, it meant his father and eldest brother had also gotten off work.

Chi Ning thought, The four of us are pretty in sync, huh.

He took out his key and opened the door. With a lift and press of his heel, he neatly slipped off his shoes at the entrance. "Big Brother, I'm back."

Chi Yang gave a sound of acknowledgment, carrying a faint air of effortless authority.

Chi Ning glanced around and noticed several unfamiliar pairs of shoes at the entrance. They probably had guests. "Then I'll head upstairs."

Chi Baichuan said, "No need. Come over and join us."

"All right." Chi Ning did not stand on ceremony. He sat openly beside Chi Yang, looking entirely at ease, then grabbed a handful of Tangerine Peel Candy and started eating.

As he ate, he sized up the guest.

He remembered this man. He was Sun Boxing's father, Old Sun.

Sitting on the single sofa with his limbs drawn in, Old Sun looked somewhat cramped, nowhere near as relaxed as he had been when they ate barbecue before.

With a Tangerine Peel Candy in his mouth, Chi Ning thought, Looks like something happened.

Chi Baichuan poured Old Sun a cup of tea. "Old Sun, I expected the materials to be stolen. Fortunately, we switched out the real thing. What was stolen was fake data."

Old Sun held his cup without saying anything.

Chi Baichuan sighed and asked, "Do you know who took it?"

The middle-aged man's back was slightly hunched. He lowered his head, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Chi Baichuan laughed. "I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. Actually, Ningning overheard Sun Boxing and Shen Minyi discussing stealing the materials and came to warn me. Otherwise, how could we have swapped them out so promptly? It's not as if I'm some immortal who can predict the future."

Old Sun let out a long sigh. Weariness and age seemed to gather in that instant upon the shell of the middle-aged man's body.

"Boxing was such a good child growing up. How could he do this... How could he steal..."

Chi Baichuan smiled. "The fake materials we swapped in contained fabricated clinical trial reports and patent application documents."

His expression turned slightly cold. "Old Sun, if the Shen Family uses this data to conduct new clinical trials before applying, that would be fine. But if they get greedy for speed and apply directly, the problem will be serious. Shen Minyi will probably dump the blame on your son."

Chi Baichuan stood and gently patted his shoulder. "Either send your son abroad as soon as possible, and never come back. Or have your son turn over a new leaf, start over, and turn himself in."

"Old Sun, once this is handled, we'll still be brothers."

Chi Ning crushed the Tangerine Peel Candy between his teeth. It was sour and astringent.

He knew those brothers probably could not remain brothers. Choosing between a friend of decades and one's own flesh and blood was far too difficult.

Old Sun had not taken a single sip of his tea. Trembling, he set down the porcelain cup and said in a shaky voice, "Brother Chuan, he is my son after all... I'll take him abroad, farther from Yangcheng. I..."

He stammered, then painfully closed his eyes. "I'll resign..."

Old Sun took out his laboratory access card and placed it on the coffee table. "Give this to someone else."

If someone else had been the thief, he would not have reacted like this. Even if it had been the family's Filipino maid.

Even if it had been some unknown petty thief.

But it was neither of those. It was his son.

Chi Baichuan looked at the card. "I said this won't affect our relationship. I know your character. Your son is your son, and you are you. There's no need to resign."

Old Sun wiped his eyes. "I just can't get past it in my heart. Every time I enter that lab from now on, I'll think of the fact that my unworthy son stole from it. I was too busy. I didn't teach my child well. I should go abroad with him. If I can straighten him out even a little, that's something. I won't return to the country after that."

Chi Baichuan fell silent, then let out a long sigh. "All right. Then we'll part ways. Let's part on good terms."

Watching this scene, Chi Ning thought, Shen Minyi really is a piece of trash.

"Dad, what kind of medicine is in the fake materials? If they actually make it, it won't threaten people's lives, will it?"

Chi Baichuan shook his head. "How could we do something like that? It's just a skincare product. For rubbing on feet."

The kind you could not even put on your face.

Chi Ning: Ah...

His dad had quite the wicked sense of humor, huh?

Shen Minyi happily stole the materials, thinking, Let me see what amazing medicine the Chi family has protected so carefully and researched for more than ten years.

Then he opened the materials and looked.

For rubbing on feet.

Haha.

After seeing Old Sun off with his father and brothers, Chi Ning imagined Shen Minyi's expression when he opened the materials, then laughed so hard that he rolled around on his bed twice.

Shen Minyi might doubt whether the data was real, but he was still young. Once he lost Sun Boxing's support, he lost his source for verifying it.

And Old Sun's family leaving Yangcheng overnight could just so happen to "prove" that the data was real.

Someone like Shen Minyi only believed what he wanted to believe. He would work hard to find a good explanation for the only unusual part of the whole affair.

For example, Old Sun leaving Yangcheng overnight to protect his child.

Chi Ning punched his pillow hard, pretending it was Shen Minyi's face, and quietly cursed, "Scum!"

He gripped the middle of the pillow and slapped it with a smack.

He would practice first. It might come in handy someday...

His father would definitely take advantage of Old Sun's departure to clean out the spies in the laboratory. Everything was moving in a better direction.

That was great. Even sleep would feel sweeter.

The power of the fake materials would not show itself anytime soon, but gossip papers were already reporting that both the Shen Family and the Chi family were making major moves.

On Monday, while Chi Ning stood by the window holding a newspaper and checking on the progress, Ye Xinran came over to find him.

"What are you looking at?"

Chi Ning made a vague sound. "Watching someone else crash and burn."

Ye Xinran leaned against a storage locker not far from Chi Ning and smiled. "I'm going to be guaranteed admission."

"Congratulations. Which school?" Chi Ning asked as he skimmed the newspaper in his hands.

It said that the Shen Family was accelerating research on a new medicine and planned to reveal the formula and include it in medical insurance after applying for a patent, providing a convenient public welfare service.

The newspaper lavishly praised the Shen Family's actions. One look was enough to tell it had taken quite a bit of money and was deliberately hyping the matter up.

Ye Xinran pressed his lips together, his expression darkening.

More than a month had passed since school started. Aside from occasional interactions when they brushed past each other, whenever he wanted to see Chi Ning, he had to use university-level questions as an excuse.

Chi Ning spent far more time looking at those questions than he did looking at him.