Soon it was August.
Time washes away everything. Even something as heated as penicillin gradually cooled down, though most people’s impression of penicillin had shifted from fervor to suspicion.
What frustrated the people behind the scenes was that Su Ning seemed like a bystander, aloof and indifferent from start to finish.
This was penicillin!
Profits like mountains and seas—something that could be called a legacy for ten thousand generations.
And she simply let it go, doing nothing.
It wasn’t that no one had thought about sitting down with her to talk things over, maybe asking her to yield just a little. The problem was, they couldn’t even catch a glimpse of Su Ning. Often they’d rush over in a hurry, only to be told she’d already left.
Infuriating!
Whether they were angry or not, Su Ning didn’t care. All she knew was that she was having a great time traveling.
In the modern world, she’d been a wage slave.
Every day, dealing with a jerk boss and jerk coworkers at work left her exhausted. On her rare days off, she just wanted to lie in bed, sleep, and play on her phone—what time did she have for travel?
What, you say annual leave?
That was something Su Ning had only ever heard of, never seen.
What about public holidays?
Ha, hotels couldn’t wait to squeeze a whole year’s worth of profit into a few days, and the roads were packed shoulder-to-shoulder.
So, discounting school spring outings and study trips, Su Ning had basically never traveled before, which meant her travel threshold was low—so she was thoroughly enjoying herself.
It wasn’t until mid-August that she reluctantly ended the trip.
She returned to Beiping.
And just in time—Zhenzhu’s birthday was coming up.
…………
Beiping.
It had been a while. Half-Immortal Su’s face was ruddy and glowing, full of vigor. The penicillin setback had actually boosted his career even further—
One thing falls, another rises. If penicillin carried risks, then the fact that Su Chen had survived meant the rituals and blessings had even more value!
Quite some time had passed.
Su Chen’s wounds had long since healed. After brushing shoulders with death, his temperament had grown much calmer compared to before.
The biggest change was in Su Zhenzhu.
Her features, her bearing, her clothing style—everything seemed different somehow. Yet when she caught sight of Su Ning, she let out a joyful cry and ran over laughing to cling to her like a child, as if nothing had changed at all.
“Cousin, I thought you weren’t going to come back.”
“How could I not? It’s Zhenzhu’s birthday. Even if knives fell from the sky, I’d still come back.”
At that simple sentence, Su Zhenzhu smiled so wide her eyes curved like crescent moons, enough to show anyone just how happy she was—like syrup bubbling over.
Sweet, sticky.
For a birthday, gifts were a must, and Su Ning was no skinflint.
Jewelry, spending money, a house, a shop—all were included. But the most eye-catching items were the pearls: a huge quantity, in every color, from domestic and foreign varieties alike, big ones, small ones, a dazzling array.
“So many pearls...”
A brilliant gleam shone in the girl’s eyes. Her name meaning “pearl,” she naturally loved them, and she knew the current market for pearls.
Since ancient times, pearls had been a precious gem.
Harvested year after year, dredged up season after season.
Left too long, they lost their luster. And with the world in chaos these days, pearl diving was difficult.
So good pearls on the market were growing scarcer.
Rarity drives up value. They were becoming more and more expensive—but that wasn’t even the worst part. The real problem was that they were hard to find even with money. Gathering this many pearls took not just funds, but time and effort.
“It’s nothing. As long as you like them,” Su Ning said lightly.
Some of these came from the mall.
Some came from lottery draws—which confirmed that the draws weren’t truly random, or rather, were only “random” within limits. They most likely gave her whatever she needed now or in the near future.
She thought again of the penicillin stacked up in roomfuls of crates.
War was coming.
She really did need it.
But it also meant the draws would never yield the technology for making penicillin.
That left only Huo Xiang as the hope.
Su Ning sighed and said to the system: “System, I’m not trying to nag, but you’re way too slow at your job. Look—just finding one person, a small matter like that, and it’s been almost half a year with no progress. I can’t act against Huo Xiang, so I can’t get the penicillin production tech, so I can’t secure an exalted position, and who knows when I might just up and die...”
“Why can’t you act against Huo Xiang?” said the system.
“Of course not. Every campaign needs a just cause. I’m a civilized person. If I went after Huo Xiang without a reason, that would be unreasonable,” Su Ning said with a frown.
“I’m not that kind of person!”
System: ...
That line was only fit to fool ghosts. It rolled its eyes and said with great reluctance: “Fine, fine. You’re a civilized person—polite, clean, all that. Then keep waiting. What I can confirm now is that the real young master wasn’t killed by a stray bullet. He should still be alive, and we can narrow the search down to Beiping.”
Su Ning wasn’t surprised.
Remember, this was a book world. Beiping was the center of this world!
Every kind of character from the plot gathered here.
It made sense that a real young master who never even appeared in the original novel would be here too. She urged the system to hurry up and find him.
“Hurry all you want—it won’t help. Beiping has millions of people, and countless ones match the age.”
The system said, sounding drained: “Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the wood-cutting. Right now I’m evolving and simulating what the real young master might look like based on the Huo family’s facial features. Once that’s done, things will get much simpler.”
“Mm, keep it up.”
In her mind, Su Ning was bantering with the system, but in reality, she was also chatting with her family. Multitasking.
As it happened, the conversation turned to the fake “little brother” she’d encountered in Shanghai. “That one had real skill—weaved the story so convincingly that after it spread, plenty of people believed it. If I hadn’t run into him myself, I probably couldn’t have exposed him either.”
“A tall tree catches the wind. There’s bound to be more than one person doing this. Who knows—maybe someday someone might even fool you too, cousin.”
Su Zhenzhu said half-jokingly. “If you really did have other relatives, would you stop liking us? That would make me very, very sad.”
“Of course not.”
It was a denial, yet reward chimes kept ringing in her head. One, two, three...
The system looked at its host’s unchanged expression and felt a faint urge to sigh. What a cold heart.
…………
On the other side.
Huo Xiang left Wu Yi’s residence and got into his car, closing his eyes to rest.
He’d stayed quite a while this time.
The gains were considerable, naturally. That said, Wu Yi wasn’t in a very high position in the northeast now—aside from some intel and the like, there wasn’t much he could do.
It was more about playing the long game—fishing for bigger catches later.
What Huo Xiang valued more were the thick auras of fortune on Wu Yi—and not just him, but also his wife and son. All of them were people laden with strong luck.
And they were normal people, too!
Thinking of that couple with a similar aura made a sharp ache shoot through the back of Huo Xiang’s head.
How on earth could the world have such bizarre people?
And they even found each other.
In any case, Huo Xiang preferred to work his way through Wu Yi’s family—and the results were excellent. He owed some thanks to Su Ning for that, that annoying woman who was irritating wherever she went.
Shared hatred.
It was always the best tool for strengthening bonds.
Just as he was feeling satisfied, the car suddenly slammed to a halt, nearly throwing him out of his seat.
“What’s going on!”
"Sir, a car just cut us off..." If they hadn't braked suddenly, they would have crashed into it. The cars they drive up in the northeast aren't all that great either.
Huo Xiang frowned and looked over.
Sure enough, there was a "behemoth" up ahead—not just an ordinary car, closer to a truck, tall, bulky, and solid.
"This should be one of Su Ji Oil's vehicles. They use this kind for hauling cargo, though they don't usually come into the city."
Hearing the word "Su," Huo Xiang turned his gaze away in disgust. Bad luck—that Su really did clash with him.
Up ahead was an open intersection.
He told the driver to speed up.
The two vehicles passed each other. Huo Xiang glanced over casually—it seemed the person sitting on the other side was a young woman. A fleeting glimpse.
His heart suddenly pounded violently.
Who... was that?
At that same moment, Ye Tang's heart was racing with excitement, her pulse refusing to calm down—
An oil field, there really was an oil field in the northeast!
She had to get word to Miss Su as soon as possible.
...
September.
The Japanese army invaded. The northeast plunged into chaos.
