Excited as he was, Wu Zeping wasn’t so rattled that he’d lose his composure. He probed carefully, “I’m not sure how your company would like to invest, and which of our results would you want?”
“I’m not in a position to decide the specific investment plan myself. The company’s boss needs to come and discuss it in person—probably next week. He’ll come by personally to talk with you.
As for the results, I can tell you directly: we require shared access to all the patents your research group produces, and especially on the commercial side, our company has the final say.
In return, we won’t interfere at all on the academic side. As long as you’re not collaborating with other commercial companies, we absolutely won’t stick our noses in.”
Hearing this, Wu Zeping’s eyes lit up. These terms were basically the standard requirements for outside capital investing in a research group.
Put plainly: you put up the money, I put in the work, and in the end we share the results. I keep the academic usage rights, you get the commercial usage rights.
Big data algorithms weren’t easy to find investors for at this stage. An investor had come knocking on his door, and the terms were relatively fair—Wu Zeping had no reason at all to refuse.
“Alright then, I’ll wait for your company’s news.”
“Mm, our boss will contact you next week.”
Once business was settled, Wu Zeping originally wanted to treat Wang Nan and Luo Ming to a meal, but Luo Ming politely declined. Wang Nan even helped explain, “Professor, my friend is a celebrity in the entertainment industry. It’s not very convenient for him to eat with you.”
“Oh! So he really is a female star!”
Luo Ming smiled and nodded. “Please don’t discriminate against me just because I work in entertainment! I’m here representing our boss—he genuinely wants to work with you.”
Wu Zeping’s eyes widened. “What kind of person do you take me for! Don’t worry, I’m not someone who judges people by their looks, and I won’t discriminate based on someone’s profession.”
After leaving Wu Zeping’s office, Luo Ming pulled out his phone and checked the time. “It’s already 5 p.m.! Senior, sorry to trouble you today. Let me treat you to a meal!”
“I have plans tonight. Isn’t the boss of that company you’re investing in coming next week? Let him treat us!” Wang Nan said with a smile.
“Senior, are you trying to see if my business partner is reliable?”
“Mainly I’m worried you’ll get scammed and end up helping them count the money.”
“Fine, I’ll have him contact you then.” Luo Ming agreed right away.
“Good.”
“Then I’ll be off, senior.”
“Do you want me to walk you to the school gate?”
“Senior, I’m 23 this year. It’s not like I’ll get lost.”
“Haha! Alright, then I won’t walk you. See you next week?”
“I might have work, but as long as I’m free, I’ll definitely come!”
Wang Nan nodded, waved at Luo Ming, and turned to leave.
Luo Ming smiled, put on his sunglasses, and headed toward the school gate.
At 7:30 p.m., Luo Ming got home. He’d even grabbed dinner on the way back.
Just as he stepped off the elevator, Luo Ming spotted the Chen sisters standing at his door.
Chen Sichu’s eyes were still red—clearly she’d been crying.
Luo Ming frowned, unlocked the door with his fingerprint, and brought them inside.
“Chuchu, what’s wrong?”
“Wen-jie, my friend—she—she was beaten up and hospitalized.”
“Huh? What happened?” Luo Ming turned to look at Chen Junmiao.
Chen Junmiao sighed. “Wen-jie, it’s like this…”
From Chen Junmiao’s account, Luo Ming learned the whole story.
Early that morning, Chen Sichu had gone out. Chen Junmiao, distrusting that girl, had secretly followed her.
Chen Junmiao followed Chen Sichu all the way into the hospital’s inpatient building and watched her get into the elevator.
At that point, Chen Junmiao couldn’t exactly chase after her—they couldn’t ride the same elevator, could they? Wouldn’t that give her away?
After the elevator doors closed, Chen Junmiao ran over and saw the elevator had stopped on the 3rd, 8th, 10th, and 16th floors.
The inpatient building was only 16 stories tall, so the elevator would definitely stop on the 16th floor. That meant Chen Sichu had most likely gotten off on the 3rd, 8th, or 10th floor.
After confirming this, Chen Junmiao took the next elevator.
The elevator stopped first on the 3rd floor. She looked around the 3rd floor but didn’t find anyone.
Then she went to the 8th floor. No sign of Chen Sichu there either.
Next, Chen Junmiao went to the 10th floor. The moment she stepped out of the elevator, she happened to see Chen Sichu walking past the elevator entrance carrying a thermos.
Their eyes met, and Chen Junmiao’s expression was beyond awkward.
“Jie, were you following me?” Chen Sichu asked, her tone unfriendly.
“I wasn’t, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense!” Chen Junmiao really wanted to answer like that—just deny everything outright.
But she’d been caught red-handed. Chen Junmiao couldn’t deny it, so she put on a straight face and chose to go on the offensive instead: “I was worried you’d get scammed. I know perfectly well what your so-called friend has done in the past.”
“Jie, are you talking about Xu Qian?”
“Who else?”
“Past is past, present is present. Besides—”
“You’re just being stubborn.” Chen Junmiao didn’t want to hear Chen Sichu defending that two-faced bitch, so she cut her off directly.
“Jie!”
“Okay, okay, I was wrong. I was wrong, alright?”
Only then did Chen Sichu’s expression improve a little. Since she was already there, there was nothing Chen Sichu could do. She led Chen Junmiao to the hospital room.
The moment Chen Junmiao entered the room, she gasped in shock.
Why did Chen Sichu’s friend look like she’d been beaten black and blue? One hand was even in a cast? And why didn’t she recognize this person? Why wasn’t it that two-faced bitch?
“Chuchu, who is she?”
“Jie, I was just about to say—the person I came to see isn’t Xu Qian. You wouldn’t let me finish.”
Chen Junmiao’s expression grew even more awkward. She scratched her head. “Aren’t your only friends in Shanghai that two-faced—cough, cough—that Xu Qian?”
“Who says! I have other friends too. Tongtong is someone I met with Wen-jie when we attended an event. She was one of Wen-jie’s backup dancers at the time.”
“Uh… I see. So what happened to her?” Chen Junmiao quickly changed the subject.
“Jie, Tongtong was beaten up by someone.”
“Huh?”
“At the time, Tongtong and two other girls were modeling for a fashion magazine, shooting some clothing displays.
After they finished the photos, they saw it was almost noon, so they went to eat together.
But halfway through the meal, a group of people suddenly burst in and, without a word, started punching and kicking Tongtong.
One of the models saw things were going badly and ran off. The other didn’t run—she helped call the police and even tried to pull people apart.
In the end, those lunatics were so out of control they dragged the one pulling people apart into the beating too.
While they were fighting, the police arrived, arrested all of them, and sent Tongtong and that model to the hospital.
Luckily, that model wasn’t badly hurt. After the doctor examined her and found nothing serious, she was discharged. Tongtong’s parents are in the Northeast and can’t get here anytime soon, so she called me and asked for help.”
