Listening to Mu Zong’s words, Gu Xuqiao’s expression remained unchanged.
“Uncle Mu, this is N City. With the Yin family overseeing it, it is unlikely for those from the Imperial Capital to extend their reach here. Believe me, it will be soon that Nine Heavens Network will sit at the top of this country, and even the big families in the Imperial Capital will hesitate to make a move against us.” The words spoken by the girl were soft but firm and clear, and rang loudly in his ears.
Mu Zong’s eyes flickered as he glanced into the distance, as though the scene was playing in his eyes. Their company already had advanced softwares to research on, perfect marketing plans, and Gu Xiqiao had also personally designed risk-free financial products. These were just a few of the products they had, but it had managed to attract those financial predators right from the start. That in turn had attracted almost an amount of millions in investments, and with such scenarios, don’t talk about standing at the top within the country, even standing at the top of the world didn’t sound impossible now, did it?
After hanging up the phone, Mu Zong asked Wang Bo to bring the contract to meet Luo Wenlang.
***
When Luo Wenlang returned to the hospital once again, Gu Xiqiao had already left. Luo Wenlin was watching a rerun of the afternoon’s program on TV.
“Brother! Look at Sister Xu!” Seeing that Luo Wenlang had returned, Luo Wenlin pointed at the TV excitedly, “Sister Xu is on TV again, she’s so great, being interviewed on national television!”
Xu Jiayin was indeed good, reaching such a point at such a young age, and her talent cannot be underestimated. However, Luo Wenlang merely glanced at the screen. “Not bad.”
Luo Wenlin was obviously dissatisfied with Luo Wenlang’s response, “Brother, although Sister Xu is only a few years younger than you, but among her own age group, she’s very good!”
“The older sister who took you out today, her name is Gu Xiqiao. She’s this year’s top ranker in the national finals, and she’s closer to full marks compared to me,” Luo Wenlang said, secretly laughing at the stunned look on his brother’s face and couldn’t resist adding in further, “Not only that, the art competition that your Sister Xu took part in last time, she’s also the one who took the champion for that. Dozens of major media places wanted a chance to interview her, and yet she didn’t agree to a single one.”
“She, she, she…!” Luo Wenlin stuttered, before taking a deep breath to calm himself, “How can she be better than you!”
Recalling how he had gushed about Xu Jiayin in front of Gu Xiqiao today, his face flushed red, not knowing how to describe the shame he felt inside. Who knows how hard Gu Xiqiao was laughing at him on the inside!
Luo Wenlin wailed, burying himself in the sheets as the mortification spread through him.
Luo Wenlang stood to the side as he watched him, but his eyes were not focused on him, staring through him instead. He recalled the afternoon’s incident, and immediately his whole face became gloomy. Making up his mind, he proceeded to drag Luo Wenlin downstairs without a word, towards where there was a cash machine. Because it was night, there weren’t many people around. He immediately shoved his card in the machine, keying in his pin number and selecting the display of balance in his account.
After the balance was displayed, he pulled Luo Wenlin in front to let him see the amount. “Your brother has money now, if you dare to repeat what you said in the afternoon again, then don’t call me your brother anymore!”
No one could imagine the alarming panic that had gripped his heart when he heard Luo Wenlin exclaimed he didn’t want the treatments anymore in the afternoon. He had spent the entire afternoon screwing up quite a few orders in his delivery job, and he was just lucky the few girls didn’t complain to the store manager. He was in such a state up to the point when he received the call, where someone had offered to sign him on for ten years, and was willing to pay him an advance of one million in cash.
Luo Wenlang felt that he was in a dream, and he thought he must have heard wrongly, thinking it must be a mistake. But then a middle-aged man had come to the store to look for him in person with a contract in hand, and in the next second there was one million being transferred into his card.
He faintly managed to inquire about it, and found that the one who had helped him this time was Gu Xiqiao. She had ignored the pressure from Jing Capital, and once again pulled through for him.
He hadn’t even managed to return her the 2,528.50 from the last time. Now, it was one million.
She had always given him hope when he was down and at his most desperate. If that was how it was going to be, then he would also do his best to help her!
***
Gu Xiqiao didn’t know that her move this time had managed to rope in the best ally for her future. At this moment in time, she was giving the jade accessory that she had completed to Yin Shaoyuan to give to Tang Yanling.
Yin Jinian was the first to receive the jade ring from his son, and although he didn’t display much expression upon receiving it, the ring had never been taken off his finger since he put it on.
When Tang Yanling received the earrings, she couldn’t help but fall in love with them, putting them on immediately. Disregarding the fact that the earrings suited her to the t, even Yin Shaoyuan’s eyes were sparkling with admiration at the uniqueness of the earrings. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the crafting of the item was extremely skillful, and when Tang Yanling went out with it, it could probably blind the other ladies with it.
Tang Yanling was so satisfied with the gift that she didn’t take it off even when she slept. She boasted to everyone about her recently acquired goddaughter, Gu Xiqiao from the Gu family, that she was smart and talented as well as beautiful. She really was a blessing that had been born from the 500 years of prayers from their ancestors.
And there was other more exciting news, the Yin family would be holding a banquet in honor of Gu Xiqiao on the seventh of June!
The banquet was going to be big and grand, and the invitees would be personally selected by Tang Yanling. This gave tremendous pressure on the senior officials of N City.
The Yin family had always held a low profile. The last public banquet they had was for Master Yin’s birthday, and that was a few years ago. Compared to some other families who held banquets three to five times a year, the Yin family really didn’t open their doors much to the public. This made every outsider curious to what Yin Manor was like, unable to imagine how it looked on the inside.
This time, the Yin family was holding the banquet in their home, which made a lot of people tremble in anticipation. The Yin family was bound to invite all the major big shots, being able to just drop in would be a major boost to their reputation, not to mention all the opportunities to network.
When Jiang Shuxuan had heard Tang Yanling’s words, he had smiled lightly. He remembered the golden light surrounding Gu Xiqiao, and thought to himself, ‘This kind of blessing can only be obtained once after every thousand years of prayers.’
When the Gu family received the news, the regret that they felt was paramount. Not to mention Master Gu, even Gu Zuhui was at a loss. He had struggled and was frustrated since the fallout, and he treated Su Wan’er coldly, to the point that he even found a lover on the side. Su Wan’er couldn’t be bothered with Gu Xijin during that time, tearing into Gu Zuhui.
***
Gu Xiqiao was unaware of all this, as she was studying a set of acupuncture methods for Yin Guofu at this time. From the first dinner she had taken with them, she had noticed that there was a problem with Yin Guofu’s right arm, and she was trying to figure out a way to fix it.
The system spirit was able to sell the medicine to cure it immediately, but she didn’t accept it. The things she grasp with her own hands only would be considered hers.
That was the reason Gu Xiqiao spent the few days going over medical texts in the void. There were medical books on inverse pulse needles, and she had spent a sum of money to have someone craft some golden needles as the book had described. She looked at examples all day and night, even moving a plastic mannequin to the bedroom, using the golden needles she had commissioned to find the acupoints on the mannequin.
In the end, even Mrs. Zhang knew that Gu Xiqiao was no longer painting, and that she had turned her sights to biology instead. Since she didn’t really understand any of it, she made a casual mention to it one day to Jiang Shuxuan.
Jiang Shuxuan couldn’t stop Mrs. Zhang’s chattering, so he asked Gu Xiqiao the next day at breakfast. “I heard you’re studying acupoints of the human body recently, is this an indication of you thinking about a career change into medicine instead?”
In Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes, Gu Xiqiao’s talent in oil painting was amazing, and that it would naturally be the thing that she intended to pursue, so he had brought it up casually without much meaning behind it. He assumed that Gu Xiqiao’s study of the human body was just a passing fancy, and didn’t put too much thought into it.
Unexpectedly, Gu Xiqiao just raised her head, replying with a short ‘yes’!
But even with her admitting that she was heading towards that direction, Jiang Shuxuan took it as that it was just a moment’s curiosity for her. Once she hit a wall, she would know to turn back.
Although it seems that she was taking the study seriously, buying books after books on the human meridians, and she studied them all thoroughly. The books were filled with her annotations and thoughts, and when he read through the comments she had written, a surprise expression appeared for the first time on his normally cold, indifferent face.
Putting the book back in its place without a word, Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes slightly. He walked to the room and knocked on the door, but there was no response. Raising a delicate brow, he turned the door handle. Fortunately, she never had the habit of locking doors.
In the room, where an easel used to be, a mannequin had taken its place. Jiang Shuxuan had seen the mannequin before, but the last time he had seen it, it was filled with marks from acupuncture. The mannequin in front of him today was clean, all the marks on it were cleared off, and the person that he was looking for was clearly absorbed in her work over the mannequin, the golden needles in her hands poking into the mannequin one after another.
She had a look of concentration on her face, her hands holding the needles in a way that was once unfamiliar and clumsy, now proficient and confident as the needles were pulled out and plunged in again and again.
The slim figure was stunningly graceful as her body was bathed in the light coming from behind her, displaying a breathtaking scene.