True and False Daughter 8
In the morning, Uncle He and Xiao Xi needed to rest, so Shang Xi was shooed out the door. With much less weighing on his mind, he went straight downstairs to the house where he’d grown up, ready to finally catch up on some sleep.
His parents had fought viciously before their divorce, but when it came time to handle the paperwork, both were surprisingly calm, and there were no disputes over assets either. As their only child and being already eighteen, there was never a question of custody.
This three-bedroom apartment on the lower floor of the He family’s building was a “work unit housing” assigned to his mom, naturally having nothing to do with his dad. After the divorce, his father couldn’t “revisit the old place,” but Shang Xi could come and go as he pleased.
Only now, with his mother abroad on an exchange, the place felt rather empty.
Having barely slept all night, Shang Xi washed his face and curled up in his own room. No matter how he tossed and turned, the more he worked himself up, the further sleep slipped away.
If he couldn’t sleep, obviously he had to pull his buddy into his restlessness too.
He picked up his phone and texted Ji Chun, "You awake?"
Ji Chun replied instantly, "After all that happened last night, who the hell could sleep?" Then another message came hard on the heels: "You up?"
A true brother’s "You up?" always carried a hidden meaning. Shang Xi curled his lips into a grin and replied, "Yeah."
Ji Chun asked, "Don’t you get the feeling that..."
Shang Xi was blunt, "What, that Uncle He woke up like he’s some kind of immortal sage?"
Ji Chun was clearly energized by this. "Exactly! The farther I get from Jin Li, the clearer my head gets. Then, as soon as I saw Uncle He, it was like enlightenment hit—I just got it, top to bottom!"
Shang Xi laughed, and this time the joy reached deep into his heart.
If he was the only one feeling this way, maybe it could be chalked up to being overly emotional about seeing Xiao Xi again, being able to talk with her. But if his best buddy felt it too, then he knew it wasn’t a fluke.
Ji Chun fired off more than a dozen voice messages, detailing the turbulent journey of getting dragged away from Jin Li by his own dad, right up until he met Uncle He. His emotional ups and downs were all laid bare. Finally, he summed up, "Good thing I played smart, pulled the old self-sacrifice trick, and got Uncle He to ditch me like I was nothing. I can milk this time off with my 'injury,' try my best to avoid Jin Li, and if she won’t let it go and comes after me, I’ll use your name to get Uncle He to save me."
Shang Xi replied decisively, "Dream on." He snapped a couple selfies, showing off the medical tape still stuck to his forehead, and sent them over to his buddy. "I got double-teamed by Uncle He and Xiao Xi."
Ji Chun answered with a long string of ellipses.
He could read between the lines. After all, even he’d mouthed off to He Chunxi when Jin Li was around... but he was just an acquaintance, no big deal. Shang Xi and He Chunxi, on the other hand, grew up together, so the same words could pack a punch several times harder.
So Ji Chun reminded him earnestly, "Just look at Brother Wen—he was assigned by the top brass to be Uncle He’s secretary. Even if you’d given a few million, it wouldn’t count for much. Professor He is Academician Qin's student. He might’ve kept a low profile before, but suddenly, after waking up, he went straight to the top!"
Shang Xi replied, "I never expected repayment anyway." Thinking it over, he added, "Xiao Xi may have hit me, but we made up."
Three full minutes passed before Ji Chun responded with a single furious character: "Get lost!"
Shang Xi burst out laughing.
He tossed aside his phone, thinking he could finally put his worries aside and grab some sleep, when it immediately rang—the ringtone set exclusively for Xiao Xi.
When he picked up, he was first a bit anxious, but gradually relaxed, then ended up smirking.
After Xiao Xi hung up, he proudly messaged Ji Chun: "Xiao Xi asked me to pick up some things! She always softens up for me, you know, I’ve been working for my future father-in-law since I was three..."
As he headed out the door, he kept bombarding his buddy with new messages, but dozens of texts sank without a trace. Ji Chun didn’t even bother to reply, just left him on "read."
At quarter to noon, Qin Jingzhou emerged from the bedroom and found his precious daughter and Gao Wen sitting together in the living room, laughing and chatting.
Seeing him appear, He Chunxi, in her new loungewear, bounced over. "Dad!"
Qin Jingzhou hugged his daughter. "There you go acting all cute again."
He Chunxi giggled, "Dad, I got you cigarettes and some clothes... I said you could smoke, but you’re just too skinny. You need to eat better."
Qin Jingzhou, wearing the original host’s old clothes, looked like a scarecrow wrapped in a sheet—one strong wind and both man and fabric would blow away. He Chunxi had talked this over with Gao Wen, so she knew her dad wouldn’t stay skinny for long, but she still picked out new clothes for him anyway.
Qin Jingzhou tried one set on and praised his daughter, "You nailed the size."
He Chunxi replied with a bright smile, "A hug is all it takes to measure you." She snuggled up next to him, naturally hugging his arm. "Just now Shang Xi went out to run errands."
Qin Jingzhou tapped her on the nose. "The situation between you two, you should make your own decisions. Whatever happens, Dad supports you."
He Chunxi nodded. "Okay."
After lunch, they took a short nap, and at half past one, father and daughter headed out together for his rehabilitation session at the hospital.
The following five days passed peacefully. Qin Jingzhou managed the balance very well, and when Grandmaster Qin and Senior Brother Qin came to visit, both father and son were all smiles: "Well, you’ve really recovered nicely!"
After a few days' rest, He Chunxi looked much healthier. She poured tea for the two Qin men, then excused herself to leave them to talk.
Senior Brother Qin sounded a bit jealous, "Your daughter is so considerate."
He had a pair of twin sons, too.
The younger of the twins wanted to be a professional esports player. The Qin family was open-minded, but though they respected their children, Senior Brother Qin couldn’t help but feel conflicted sometimes.
Qin Jingzhou lit a cigarette and said, "Envious? You and your wife could have another."
Grandmaster Qin just grinned, cup in hand, and said nothing.
Senior Brother Qin pondered earnestly for a moment. "Honestly, that’s not out of the question. I’ll talk to her about it later." Since taking the intelligence potion, his mind moved at lightning speed, so of course his mental state was thriving.
Halfway through his cigarette, Qin Jingzhou asked, "Senior Brother, just say what’s on your mind. Is there a problem with the repeated potion formula?"
Senior Brother Qin grinned, "I knew I couldn’t keep anything from you."
The intelligence potion, along with the extraction method for the key active ingredient in Golden Ginseng that the original host had developed, had all gone through special channels—fast-tracked and registered as confidential patents.
The officials handled everything openly. "He Jingzhou" was the sole patent holder for both items.
After receiving the special certificate, Qin Jingzhou reciprocated by licensing officials to use up to five hundred doses per year, at a token fee of one yuan per bottle. Anything beyond that, the profits would be split fifty fifty.
Everyone knew full well: with the pitiful output of Golden Ginseng, even if all of it was used for the intelligence potion, they’d barely produce eight hundred to a thousand bottles per year.
Clearly, both sides had shown good faith.
Once the agreement was signed, the officials took the relevant technical data. But when Senior Brother Qin started preparing the potion himself and compared it with the sample bottle they’d brought earlier, there were... major discrepancies in the composition.
Senior Brother Qin had come fully prepared to talk, and he launched into an hour-long explanation.
Qin Jingzhou lit another cigarette, smoked in silence, then said, "I’ll give it a try myself."
Senior Brother Qin lit up with relief. "That’s what I was hoping you’d say!"
Du Jizheng, biological father of Du Jiahui, had taken Jin Li's advice and decided to come forward first.
At that very moment, Qin Jingzhou had just finished teaching Senior Brother Qin hands-on at a Guojia-level key lab at Capital University.
Du Jizheng sat in his business van outside the apartment complex, waiting. In the distance, he spotted a young girl with a ponytail, a small bag slung across her body, pedaling a shared bike towards him. He and his assistant bodyguards got out, about to intercept He Chunxi—only to find, before he even realized what was happening, he was pinned to the ground and couldn’t move a muscle, let alone struggle.
Qin Jingzhou quickly learned about Du Jizheng’s "appearance" from Gao Wen, who gingerly mentioned that there’d been a mix-up with his daughter.
His expression didn't change. "What does the Du family want?"
Gao Wen replied, "Du Jizheng’s eldest son needs a kidney transplant... He doesn’t know you’re awake yet." After hesitating, he asked, "Boss, what will you do?"
Qin Jingzhou leaned by the window, lighting a cigarette, "He wants my daughter to be a kidney donor?"
Intimidated by his boss’s presence, Gao Wen instinctively took a step back, "Seems so."
Qin Jingzhou chuckled, "No big plans. Both girls are my daughters."
Gao Wen nodded vigorously, "Understood, boss."