And naturally, their real trump card was still connected to the massage technician, Hu, at the Jiang residence.
Jiang Yihua understood what Qiuyun meant. “All right. Let’s do that.”
Thus, while Sister Zhou was delivering a fruit platter to the study, Madam suddenly summoned her away. Xiuxiu took over the platter and, while standing outside the study, overheard the matter Jiang Yifeng had exposed. She immediately turned around and relayed it to the other side.
The person on the other end replied that they understood, then went to the study. “Boss, Jiang Yihua has already figured out that we were behind it. He’s planning to cause trouble for our company so that we’ll be too busy to concern ourselves with anything else.”
Jiang Yifeng leaned back in his wheelchair. “There are only two families left. If he still couldn’t figure it out, that would be ridiculous.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Forget it. Sister-in-law’s matter isn’t important, and it has already been clarified academically once. Continuing to pursue such a trivial issue would only waste our manpower and resources.”
Jiang Yifeng pondered for a moment. “They want to make an issue out of my former company… Surround Wei to rescue Zhao? The person who came up with this idea must be Qiuyun.”
That evening, Assistant Qian sent over the information he had uncovered. After combining it with the information provided by Sun Assistant Manager, Qiuyun quickly pieced together Ge Wenguan’s schedule for the entire week.
On Monday morning, he held the regular meeting, publicly reviewed the previous week’s procurement budget and its execution, and drew up the procurement list for the current week.
In the afternoon, he stayed in his office signing documents and making phone calls. In the evening, suppliers would invite him to a karaoke club for entertainment. Whether he went home afterward—and which home he returned to—depended on the circumstances.
From Tuesday to Friday, the routine was basically the same, except that there was no morning meeting. When the weekend arrived, he generally spent his time taking his young lover out to have fun.
Judging from the information they had gathered, Ge Wenguan had no great ambitions. He simply enjoyed a life of pleasure and indulgence.
Although he pocketed plenty of kickbacks as head of procurement, he did not dare to purchase goods that were truly substandard. He was also extremely skilled at shifting the blame onto others.
After thinking it over briefly, Qiuyun came up with a plan.
It was the middle of April.
A supplier of massage oils approached Manager Ge, claiming that they had an imported foreign massage oil and wanted to open up sales channels among the domestic upper class. That was why they had specifically sought him out.
As newcomers hoping to establish themselves quickly, they offered Manager Ge an especially generous kickback. They even catered to his tastes, taking him to a karaoke club so that he could personally try out the sample.
Since they had shown such sincerity and offered such a high kickback, the two sides quickly signed a procurement contract.
One week after the massage oil was placed in storage—at the end of April—Seventh Miss went to the main house to report to Old Master Jiang on the progress of the charity variety show. As she was leaving, she accidentally collided head-on with Hu Tingxue, shattering the glass bottle in Hu Tingxue’s hands and spilling the massage oil all over the floor. Naturally, it could no longer be used.
There was no choice but for Hu Tingxue to have someone fetch a new bottle from the storeroom so she could massage Old Master Jiang’s legs.
The massage oil came in exquisite packaging and had an especially pleasant fragrance. Old Master Jiang praised it a couple of times.
As the two of them chatted while she massaged his legs, Hu Tingxue found Old Master Jiang quite amiable. He often told her stories about his youth, as well as several dangerous moments he had encountered in the business world—even a kidnapping.
But for some reason, Old Master Jiang suddenly fell asleep during the massage.
It was rare for an elderly person, who generally slept so little, to fall asleep like that.
Hu Tingxue wiped her hands and nudged his shoulder. “Old Master? Old Master!”
Butler Lin heard her from outside. “What is it?”
“I was massaging Old Master Jiang, and he fell asleep halfway through.”
Butler Lin’s expression tightened. He immediately stepped forward and pressed his fingers to Old Master Jiang’s pulse. Only after confirming that he was still alive did he let out a sigh of relief.
“Was there anything unusual about Master today?”
Hu Tingxue shook her head nervously. “No. I massaged Old Master’s legs as usual, and he chatted with me just like he always does. There was nothing unusual.”
Butler Lin swept his gaze around the room before it landed on the tray atop the small tea table. “I haven’t seen that bottle before. What’s inside?”
“Massage oil.” Hu Tingxue suddenly remembered. “This is the new oil we brought up today. Could it have caused this?”
“It’s possible.”
Butler Lin wrapped the bottle in a handkerchief, placed it inside a plastic bag, and handed it to the Jiang family’s private medical team. “Have it tested. Find out what ingredients it contains.”
The group then moved Old Master Jiang to the examination room. Only after confirming that he was asleep rather than suffering a sudden coma did everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Under normal circumstances, he should have woken up after seven or eight hours.
However, Old Master Jiang still had not awakened when that time had passed. In the middle of the night, a doctor hurried over to administer an IV containing nutrients and put him on an oxygen machine.
Since she had caused the trouble, Hu Tingxue did not dare go to sleep. She nervously kept watch by the bedside.
At that moment, the test results for the massage oil came back.
The oil itself was not poisonous, but it contained large doses of sedative ingredients, including valerian and nutmeg.
Nutmeg in particular was harmless to ordinary people when used in small amounts; at most, it would make them sleep for a while.
But Old Master Jiang had already suffered neurological damage from aconitine poisoning. Using nutmeg on him would undoubtedly worsen his condition.
Butler Lin immediately ordered a thorough investigation into the oil’s origins. Once they learned that Manager Ge had signed off on the purchase, he ordered Ge Wenguan to report to the estate the next day—even though it was Saturday.
When Ge Wenguan heard that something had gone wrong, he hurried to the estate at a little after six in the morning.
As soon as he arrived at the main house, Butler Lin had only asked him a few detailed questions when news came from the doctor.
“Old Master Jiang is awake!”
Butler Lin hurried over at once. Upon learning that the massage oil he had purchased had caused trouble, Ge Wenguan hastily followed, wanting to see what had happened.
Inside the hospital room, Hu Tingxue was sprawled against the bedside, sobbing bitterly. “You scared me half to death! If I had caused your death, I—I…”
She could not bring herself to say the rest and swallowed the words back down, doing nothing but cry.
If she had caused Yifeng’s father’s death, there would be a blood feud between them. The two of them would never have any chance of being together in this lifetime.
Fortunately—thank goodness—Old Master Jiang had finally awakened after nearly sixteen hours of sleep.
Seeing how genuinely heartbroken she was, Old Master Jiang could not help feeling moved. He reached out and gently stroked her dark hair. In a warm voice, he said, “Don’t cry. I’m fine, aren’t I?”
Hu Tingxue regarded Old Master Jiang as her future father-in-law. In her emotional turmoil, she naturally interpreted his comfort as the loving kindness of an elder toward a younger woman.
She cried even harder.
Butler Lin maintained his usual professionalism and stepped forward with a blank expression to report the entire sequence of events.
Ge Wenguan, who had hurried to the door, was stunned.
As an old hand in matters of romance, how could he fail to see the feelings Old Master Jiang had for the young woman?
If this had been his employer, he would have pretended not to see anything.
But the old man was not only his employer—he was also his brother-in-law!
And Ge Wenguan had secured his position as procurement manager not through this employer, but through his sister!
His expression turned complicated. If this had been his brother-in-law… he would still pretend not to see anything.
As long as this woman did not threaten his sister’s position, she could not stir up any trouble.
Ge Wenguan took two steps back, pretending that he had only just arrived. Then he entered the room and began to cry out, “Brother-in-law, you’re finally awake! I rushed over first thing this morning—I was worried sick about you!”
After listening to Butler Lin’s report, Old Master Jiang said sternly, “Wenguan, you’re getting bolder and bolder. You even dare to line your pockets by cutting corners on what I eat and use?”
