Jiang Yihua froze for a moment, then immediately understood. Unable to contain himself, he rose and paced back and forth around the study.
“If that’s really the case, wouldn’t we be walking straight into the trap they set from the beginning?”
Qiuyun also felt that the road ahead looked far from promising. “Even if it is a trap, we’ve already anticipated their next move. At least we can take some precautions.”
Jiang Yihua agreed wholeheartedly. He immediately called Assistant Wei and Secretary Zhu, telling them to hurry to Switzerland, locate the laboratory, and gather evidence. They needed to determine whether the lab was legitimate or merely a front before deciding what to do next.
Once they finished discussing the biological agent, the conversation returned to the matter of Madam being framed.
Qiuyun asked, “Madam, when you had that stomachache the other day, did you eat anything new or unusual?”
Yu Xiang thought back. “No. Everything came from the head chef, and it tasted the same as usual.”
“And did Cao Xiuxiu know that you were going out to visit your teacher?”
Yu Xiang shook her head. “Ever since I found out she was the mole, I used the excuse that I no longer trusted the others and assigned her to manage the safe and the dressing room. I stopped having her care for me personally. In theory, she shouldn’t have known that I was going out.”
But the matter had already happened and the outcome was set. There was no point dwelling on how Cao Xiuxiu had learned about it and passed the information along. Whether it had been her or not no longer mattered.
Besides, to avoid alerting the enemy, they couldn’t move against her just yet.
Qiuyun’s thoughts shifted. “Sir, there’s something else we may need to take care of.”
—
By the time she returned from the annex’s first floor, it was already past lunchtime.
Fortunately, Sister Yuan had put the cake in the refrigerator for her. In weather like this, it was cool, sweet, and utterly delicious. Eating it made her whole body feel blissfully happy~
Qiuyun reluctantly set down her spoon. After throwing away the trash, she went over to her desk.
She first dealt with some company business, then watched an online lecture for a while. Just as she was struggling to understand the key points of a quadratic equation in three variables, Pei Cizhou happened to call.
“Perfect timing. I want to ask you about a theorem.”
Qiuyun launched into a stream of questions, then listened humbly to his explanation. When he finished, she politely thanked him.
“Thanks. Goodbye.”
“Wait!” Pei Cizhou said helplessly. “Aren’t you going to ask why I called?”
Qiuyun paused with her finger hovering over the end-call button. “Uh, is there something you need? Keep it brief—I’m a little busy.”
She was in the middle of grasping a crucial point.
“…”
Pei Cizhou gritted his teeth and discarded all the usual pleasantries. “I called for two reasons. First, to wish you a happy birthday. Second, to invite you to dinner.”
“Sure. Send me the address. Goodbye.”
Qiuyun hung up briskly, eager to seize the last trace of inspiration before it slipped away and continue immersing herself in her sea of exercises.
Pei Cizhou stared at the disconnected call and sighed.
His status had actually fallen below that of a first-year high school math problem.
Still, someone as smooth and sophisticated as Miss Qiu spoke with him so freely and casually. Could that mean she didn’t need to be polite with him or maintain a carefully managed relationship?
Was he… one of her own people?
Mm-hmm.
A special kind of “one of her own.”
Pei Cizhou immediately found the right position for himself. The corners of his lips lifted as he sent her the name of the restaurant, then headed to the dressing room to put together today’s outfit.
The annex’s second floor.
Now that the Third Branch had been eliminated, the entire second floor of the annex belonged to the Second Branch.
After leaving the Old Master’s study, Jiang Yifeng pushed the Fourth Brother over here and couldn’t help complaining, “The Eldest Brother’s family is far too cautious. We couldn’t frame them directly no matter what we tried. Luckily, you had a way.”
Jiang Yifeng fell into deep thought and didn’t respond. His mind was occupied by the quiet figure who had stood in the corner of the study earlier without saying a word—Assistant Qiu.
That was right.
Their original plan had been to get the Eldest Brother or one of his two nephews to take a private plane abroad and bring back the drug for testing. Then, through them, they would have the drug destroyed with their own hands.
They would redirect the blame onto someone else.
Unfortunately, the Eldest Brother’s family was simply too cautious. After several failed attempts to steer them in the desired direction, they had been unable to find a way forward. They had no choice but to take a detour, frame the matter on the Eldest Sister-in-law instead, and then shift the responsibility onto her.
And yet, for some inexplicable reason…
That calm, composed figure continued to linger in his mind. Jiang Yifeng suddenly developed a strong premonition.
With Qiuyun involved, this matter might not go as smoothly as he had imagined.
“Hey.” With that thought, Jiang Yifeng immediately called Switzerland. “Move up the plan. Take action at six o’clock tonight, sharp.”
Jiang Yijie was surprised. “Weren’t we supposed to wait a few more days? If we rush this, will the Old Master believe it?”
“Whether he believes it or not, we’ll deal with that later.” Jiang Yifeng told him about his concerns. “We can’t put in so much effort only to end up with nothing.”
At the thought of that sinister female assistant, Jiang Yijie shuddered. “Fine. That woman really isn’t harmless. We should move faster, too, before complications arise.”
They would need Second Brother to serve as his vanguard that evening, so Jiang Yifeng couldn’t help drawing him an even bigger picture.
“Second Brother, once this is over, you’ll be the only trustworthy relative I have left. I don’t feel comfortable entrusting our family’s businesses to outsiders either. Besides, with my leg injured and my inability to leave the house like the Old Master, you can take the Eldest Brother’s place in the future while I hold down the rear. The two of us brothers can build a brilliant future together.”
That promise was undeniably sweet.
Second Brother knew he had already lost the Old Master’s favor as a potential heir. But if he supported a crippled Fourth Brother’s rise to power, wouldn’t it be easy to place him under his own control?
That was why Jiang Yijie was putting money, effort, and manpower into this scheme.
If the Eldest Brother took power, he wouldn’t have the slightest chance of touching the group’s authority again.
But if it was the Fourth Brother—a cripple who had lost the ability to father children and had only one illegitimate daughter—then taking actual control of the group would be as easy as reaching into his pocket.
And besides…
Jiang Yijie patted his chest and promised, “Don’t worry. Our interests are inseparable in this matter. You just focus on being the heir. Leave the dirty work and the hard work to your Second Brother.”
Jiang Yifeng smiled with genuine feeling. “Thank you, Second Brother. It’s lucky I have you.”
It was a little after five, approaching six.
Qiuyun stretched, then went down to the basement to pick up the young miss after school. While she was there, she told her everything that had happened that morning.
Jiang Chuling’s brows drew together tightly. Compared with the facts that could no longer be changed, she cared more about the mastermind behind the attempt to frame her mother.
“Aren’t Sister Xiaoqiu and Mom planning to investigate this any further?”
Qiuyun replied, “It’s not convenient to make a move right now. Once everything settles, we’ll settle the score with them.”
“That’s not enough.” Jiang Chuling hated betrayal more than anything. “Sister Xiaoqiu, give me Uncle Qian’s number. I’ll handle this myself.”
Cao Xiuxiu was indeed far too insignificant to be worth Qiuyun’s attention.
But she was just the right opponent for the young miss to practice on.
Qiuyun gave her a few more reminders. “For matters that don’t violate the law but do violate morality, we can teach her an appropriate lesson. Just don’t break the law or punish her too severely. Otherwise, we might end up harming ourselves.”
