“Come here, Little Seven.” She forced a smile and beckoned. “Granny Ge has a little gift for you.”
Jiang Chuling walked over, puzzled. She stared in surprise at the bracelet pressed into her hand, then glanced at Sister Xiaoqiu.
Qiuyun smiled, her eyes curving. “Madam praised you for being filial. You stayed by Old Master Jiang’s bedside all night yesterday, so she specially gave you this as a reward.”
Just then, Qian Yuqiong returned from making a phone call. Seeing this scene, she held back her inward sneer. The Ges really knew how to put on an act. Who knew how badly Ge Furen was cursing Little Seven in her heart? Two-faced and disgusting.
Seeing that Sister Xiaoqiu did not stop her, Jiang Chuling naturally accepted the bracelet. “Thank you, Granny Ge. Looking after Grandpa is what I should do!”
The corners of Ge Furen’s mouth twitched. “It’s nothing, just a small token of my appreciation. Keep up the good work.”
Before long, the second young master, Jiang Linwen, and the fifth young master, Jiang Linfang, arrived.
Qian Yuqiong pulled the two boys to the hospital room and began crying, putting on such a convincing display of filial children and grandchildren that it made one’s eyes ache.
When Jiang Chuling saw this, she quickly dragged Sister Xiaoqiu to the stairwell to call her two brothers. After hanging up, she huffed, “Second Aunt is always the cleverest at times like this. Anyone could round up a couple of people.”
Qiuyun sighed as well. “The Second Madam always wastes her schemes on these pointless things.”
“Oh, right, Sister Xiaoqiu.” Jiang Chuling took out the bracelet. “What did you whisper into Granny Ge’s ear just now? Why did she suddenly give me a bracelet?”
“It was about the teleprompter.”
Jiang Chuling gasped. “It was her!”
Then she gazed at Qiuyun with shining eyes. “How did you know it was her? You’re amazing, Sister Xiaoqiu!”
Qiuyun smiled. “Remember how I had you go find Old Master Jiang and say you were hungry yesterday? I noticed that although Ge Furen was smiling and chatting onstage, there was something unnatural in her eyes. In the end, she hurried down from the stage. That was what gave me the idea. I deliberately tested her today, and sure enough, it was her.”
“I see!” Jiang Chuling pondered. “Then what does giving me a bracelet mean? Does she want to settle this privately?”
“Yes, but that was my idea.”
Qiuyun explained, “If Old Master Jiang hadn’t been poisoned, we might have had a chance to expose the truth openly. But given the current situation, the family will definitely prioritize Old Master Jiang’s safety. If we bring up your teleprompter incident now, people will scold you for thinking about such trivial matters when Grandpa is in this condition.
“But by the time Old Master Jiang recovers, it’ll probably be a month or two later. At that point, first, too much time will have passed. Even if we expose her, she can simply deny it. Second, although she tried to frame you, you didn’t suffer any actual harm. Third, if you still insist on settling the score with her after so much time has passed, people may accuse you of being petty and incapable of showing respect to your elders.”
In short, no matter how one looked at it, it was a losing proposition.
It would be better to take advantage of Ge Furen’s current panic and quietly settle the matter privately. They might not get an apology, but at least they could make her pay.
After thinking it over for a while, Jiang Chuling finally understood the logic.
She continued gazing at Qiuyun with sparkling eyes. “Sister Xiaoqiu, how does your brain work? You can think three steps ahead. You’re incredible!”
Qiuyun bent down and spoke gently, “Whenever something happens, consider the other person’s personality and the circumstances. Think through what might happen and how you would resolve it afterward, then choose the best solution.”
Like this?
Jiang Chuling secretly committed the advice to memory. Then she raised the bracelet. “We’ll sell this and split the money between us.”
Qiuyun had no objections and smiled. “All right.”
After all, with a family background like Little Seven’s, there was no way she would wear jewelry that someone else had already worn.
People continued arriving at the hospital, while the press conference began on the other side.
Qiuyun took out her phone and watched the livestream with her young mistress. In front of the public, Jiang Yihua naturally gave a firm statement: It was absolutely not a car accident, poisoning, or serious illness as rumored. The former chairman had merely suffered a recurrence of his leg condition and gone to the hospital for a routine examination. The public was urged not to speculate excessively or spread rumors, but to focus on recent issues affecting people’s livelihoods.
At the same time, the group’s public-relations department sprang into action, removing the trending searches. They also contacted the paparazzi and paid for several celebrity scandals to be pushed onto the hot-search lists.
To the general public, a wealthy old man nearing the end of his life was naturally far less interesting than celebrity gossip!
The PR department specifically bought cheating and secret-dating scandals involving two male celebrities and male idols. This helped the group divert attention and lower its own presence on the hot searches, while also sparing them any moral qualms. As a side benefit, they were helping the celebrities’ wives and fans see their true colors.
The afternoon passed.
Although outsiders still knew nothing about the details, several waves of high-ranking group executives had already arrived.
He had been poisoned, and the poison was the deadly toxin aconitine.
This poison acted extremely quickly. The fact that the former chairman was still alive was practically a miracle. Butler Lin and the others had reacted swiftly, never expecting anyone present to recognize and understand the toxin’s effects, and had induced vomiting and administered first aid as quickly as possible.
Looking at the former chairman lying there with tubes covering his entire body, everyone guessed that even if he remained alive, it was probably only because money was keeping him going. Perhaps he had no more than three to five days left...
There were many old hands in the group, and the factions they supported varied. The majority leaned toward the First and Second Branches. A few also backed the Third and Fourth Branches, but they were very much in the minority.
Everyone’s thoughts were in turmoil. Meanwhile, the culprit outside the hospital had also learned that Chairman Jiang was supposedly on the verge of death.
By evening, all the family members had arrived. The Second Branch in particular was extremely enthusiastic about putting on a filial display outside the hospital room, crying so hard they could barely take care of themselves.
Although this private hospital had a spacious corridor and the entire floor had been reserved for the Jiang family, with every branch gathered there, along with secretaries and assistants, there were at least thirty or forty people!
The more people there were, the more chaotic the scene became.
Butler Lin had no choice but to step forward and restore order.
He said solemnly, “The master hasn’t regained consciousness yet. There’s no point in everyone staying here. Gentlemen, ladies, young masters, and young ladies, why don’t you all go home and rest? I’ll stay here tonight with the medical staff. If anything happens, we’ll notify everyone immediately.”
Having a large crowd packed into the hallway really did look bad, as though everyone were waiting for the master’s funeral.
Jiang Yihua said, “Butler Lin is right. None of us are doctors. Having so many people gathered here does nothing except produce carbon dioxide. We might as well go home, get a good rest, and conserve our energy in case of an emergency.”
Qian Yuqiong eagerly suggested, “Why don’t each branch take a night guarding him? That way, everyone can do their filial duty.”
Having each family take one night did seem fair. Jiang Yihua was worried that the old man might wake up during the night, and he wanted to be the first to speak with him, so he said, “We’ll follow the order of seniority. Our family will take the first night.”
“Don’t, Big Brother!” Jiang Yijie immediately objected. “You already spent the night at the hospital yesterday and worked at the group all day today. How can we let you tire yourself out again? Let me, your younger brother, stay tonight. You should go home and get some proper sleep.”
His words were certainly reasonable, but what if the old man said something...
Jiang Yicheng advised, “Big Brother is the group’s president, after all. Naturally, he’s the one most worried about Dad’s health.”
