Chapter 192

Words : 1474 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

As promised, Ji Tingzhou returned on Monday. He had scoured Lu Zhi's place... and found a lot of information related to 'Crow.' Along the way, he received a message from Zuo Yi, saying that in just a few days, many people had come to inquire about the medicine. A small portion of them even straightforwardly offered to buy a specific medicine at a high price. However, Zuo Yi rejected them one by one, telling them to go to the official website to queue up for pre-orders. By the way, many of the first batch of medicines sold were bought in large quantities at even higher prices, as people wanted to study and replicate them. Of course, they all failed. After all, Ji Nian had anticipated this and had mischievously added something completely different from the established pharmaceutical system of this world. According to her estimation, it would take at least ten years to perfectly replicate it. And during that time, the medicine sold by the Ji Family and the Chen Family would have gone through countless upgrades. In any case, Crow was really in trouble now. With their method of manipulating people cracked, the long-standing oppressive relationship had finally been reversed. Ji Nian's plan had succeeded, but... These people were as slippery as eels. Even though Ji Tingzhou had sent out his intelligence network early, they still managed to escape beforehand. This, however, was not very satisfying. “What, is there not enough material?” “Oh, I almost forgot. This is a gift from Ah Huai to Nian Nian, as a token of gratitude for saving his life.” Lu Zhi handed over a wooden box, engraved with the emblem of the Lu Family. “What is it?” Ji Tingzhou snapped out of his thoughts and raised an eyebrow, looking at the item in Lu Zhi's hand. Lu Zhi blinked at him, a mischievous glint in his peach blossom eyes. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.” “How about we take a peek?” Ji Tingzhou: “......” Lu Jinghuai, having such a father, must have had a tough time. Ji Tingzhou gestured for someone to take the box away and shot Lu Zhi an unimpressed look. Lu Zhi seemed genuinely disappointed. Ji Tingzhou wasn’t even curious. Thinking of how his son, Ah Huai, had pointed at the box and softly asked him to help deliver this gift to Ji Nian’s father, Lu Zhi’s old fatherly heart couldn’t help but race. What a sweet child. It’s just a pity he’s so stubborn—no matter how much Lu Zhi tried, he wouldn’t let him see it. Sigh. After seeing Ji Tingzhou off, Lu Zhi stretched his shoulders. “Finally, he’s gone. If he stayed any longer, my wife would have returned.” Having a bachelor like Ji Tingzhou around was just too awkward. As he spoke, a servant came to report, “The princess has returned.” Lu Zhi immediately pulled out a small mirror (which he had conveniently taken from Ji Tingzhou) to check his appearance. Then, with eager steps, he hurried to greet her. ... “He Xiang, you’re back.” As soon as Ji Nian entered, she heard someone greeting He Xiang. “Yeah.” He Xiang didn’t explain why he had taken time off. The other person was in high spirits. “Finally, you’re back. Without you, who’s going to help me with my homework?” “Here, here’s the payment for this month.” The person slapped a stack of money onto He Xiang’s desk. To everyone’s surprise, He Xiang refused. “Sorry, I won’t be taking any more jobs.” From now on, he was going to focus all his energy on studying. Having witnessed his grandmother’s life hanging by a thread and then seeing how she was saved, He Xiang regretted being so young. He wanted to grow up quickly, earn money, and repay the person who had funded his education, as well as the kindness they had shown him. Even his grandmother’s first words upon waking up were, “Xiang, we can’t just take things for granted. Keep track of the debt, and remember to pay it back in the future.” He Xiang held his grandmother’s swollen hand, tears welling up in his eyes. “I know, Grandma.” The illness had even spurred his grandmother to start using four-character idioms. “Ah... so you’re not taking jobs anymore?” The student who had been rejected whined for a while, saying things like, “Brother Xiang, what am I going to do without you?” But He Xiang’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest. If this had happened when he first arrived, he would have agreed without hesitation, grateful that someone was willing to talk to him. But now, his only focus was studying. Only knowledge was truly his. As he thought this, he looked up and met Ji Nian’s gaze as she entered the classroom. The usually unshakable He Xiang stood up. He walked over to Ji Nian, his dark eyes filled with unease. “Ji Nian...” Ji Nian nodded at him, not asking about his grandmother, and simply said, “You’re back in class.” He Xiang nodded, carefully observing her expression. Seeing that Ji Nian didn’t seem angry, he finally spoke. “I’m sorry. We had agreed before...” Ji Nian quickly explained, “Oh, that? Shen Qingtang and I had something come up, so we canceled it.” The ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍only one who had truly been stood up was poor student council president Gu Xiuyuan. He Xiang wanted to ask if it really wasn’t because of him, but Ji Nian seemed to know what he was thinking and explained in detail that it wasn’t because of him. Only then did the boy believe her. Before leaving, he pulled out a neatly folded paper crane made from candy wrapper, every corner perfectly aligned. “This is for you.” It was all he had to offer. Knowing he had broken their promise, he had anxiously folded this crane using the candy wrapper a nurse had given him. He had noticed that Ji Nian liked the little cat he had made before, so he thought this could be his way of making it up to her. “Oh? Thank you!” Ji Nian’s eyes lit up as she took the crane, admiring it closely. Shen Qingtang walked over with a group of girls and complimented, “It’s so pretty. Is it a paper crane?” Ji Nian nodded and introduced, “He Xiang gave it to me.” The other girls gathered around, looking at the crane in Ji Nian’s hand. Too shy to ask Ji Nian directly, they turned their attention to He Xiang. “He Xiang, can you make one for me? I’ll pay you ten yuan.” Ji Nian thought he would agree, but He Xiang refused. “Sorry, I have other things to do.” Everyone, including Ji Nian, was surprised by his refusal. Ji Nian watched He Xiang’s retreating figure. In the few days they hadn’t seen each other, he seemed to have grown taller. She no longer had to look down at him. “Don’t offer money next time. He Xiang might feel uncomfortable with that.” Shen Qingtang comforted the girl who was a little upset by the rejection. Then she linked arms with Ji Nian and smiled. “Come on, tell me about your grandparents.” “Did you praise your grandpa? Was he happy?” Ji Nian: “......” ... After a day of classes, Ji Nian hurriedly pulled Shen Qingtang along as they ran out of the classroom. On the way, she spotted Gu Xiuyuan and grabbed his hand with her free one. Gu Xiuyuan, being dragged along, protested, “Slow down! Why are you in such a hurry?” Noticing people on the road watching him run, the boy felt a little embarrassed. Ji Nian didn’t look back. “My dad’s here.” At the mention of Ji Tingzhou’s name, Gu Xiuyuan immediately let go of Ji Nian’s hand. “You can have that honor.” Ji Nian pouted and glanced back at Gu Xiuyuan, who was standing still and watching her leave. “You’re so timid.” Gu Xiuyuan crossed his arms and muttered, even though Ji Nian was already far away, “It’s not that I’m timid. It’s just that your dad is terrifying.” For some reason, every time Ji Tingzhou saw him, he had this half-smiling expression, as if he was figuring out how to eat him. It made Gu Xiuyuan carry around a broccoli-shaped talisman for protection. Meanwhile, Ji Nian and Shen Qingtang ran to the school gate, where they spotted the Ji Family car among a row of luxury vehicles. They must have arrived early to secure a good parking spot. The automatic door opened, and before Ji Nian could even see who was inside, she called out, “Dad!” And then she leaped forward—

Chapter 192

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