My Lovely Wife is a Forensic Doctor - Chapter 316
Chapter 316 Poaching?
Qin Jinhuan’s eyes darkened at Bian Zijun’s words, but he was surprised to hear a familiar woman’s voice. “No, I wasn’t eavesdropping! I just wanted to knock on the door!” He took a good, hard look and saw Yin Anran, who looked quite panic-stricken.
Bian Zijun had always disliked Yin Anran, and he treated her politely only because of Qin Jinhuan. At present, Yin Anran had been covertly fired by Qin Jinhuan, yet she turned up here in such a manner. Therefore, he instantly reproached in a brusque tone and said, “Would anyone knock on the door as furtively as you did?”
“I wasn’t acting furtively! You opened the door when I had just reached out my hand to knock on it, so I lost my balance and tumbled inside. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Secretary Zhi! She saw me coming over!” Yin Anran hurriedly defended herself. If Bian Zijun were to talk to her like this in the past, she would have immediately told him to get lost. However, she was no longer as arrogant and domineering as she used to be. She humbled herself not only before Qin Jinhuan but even before Bian Zijun, his right-hand man.
Bian Zijun thought nothing of Yin Anran’s softened attitude, though. He said in an unfriendly tone, “What are you doing at the company since you don’t work here anymore—”
“Go ahead with your tasks,” Qin Jinhuan interrupted Bian Zijun and waved at him just then. Only then did the latter fall silent and let go of Yin Anran. After giving her a cold sidelong stare, he left the office.
The words ‘What are you doing at the company since you don’t work here anymore’ that came out of Bian Zijun’s mouth left Yin Anran somewhat embarrassed at this moment, and she froze on the spot while staring at Qin Jinhuan pitifully. “Didn’t I tell you to rest at home?” Compared to the fierce Bian Zijun, Qin Jinhuan sounded quite gentle.
“I’m worried about the company, so I hurried over to take a look. Jinhuan, you must be on guard against Xiang Long Industry! They’re planning to poach talents from the company!”
Qin Jinhuan ignored how Yin Anran had called him ‘Jinhuan’ and stared fixedly at her. “What have you heard?”
Yin Anran explained, “One of our company’s management executives invited me to jump ship and join Xiang Long Industry with her, saying that the company had offered attractive remuneration packages!”
“Which high-level executive was it?”
“It was Xiao Lin from the marketing department.”
Yin Anran had worked in the marketing department, so she was on friendly terms with several people there. Qin Jinhuan was aware of this, but he was very suspicious at this moment. “Were you the only person she invited?”
“That seems to be the case.”
“Why would she invite no one else but you?” Apart from what Zhi Xiaoyin had previously reported, Qin Jinhuan had not heard reports of Xiang Long Industry attempting to lure Qing Tian Group’s employees into joining them from any of the mid-level and high-level personnel. He didn’t know who Xiao Lin was, but he found it strange that this woman had extended the invitation to no one else but Yin Anran. After all, everyone in the company knew he was nice to her, and they were unaware of the conflict between Yin Anran and Mu Yu. Not only that, they didn’t know that he had been keeping his distance from the former. Those qualified to work at Qing Tian Group were clever, so logically speaking, Xiao Lin wouldn’t have been so stupid.
Yin Anran felt somewhat embarrassed and explained vaguely, “It’s probably because I had been in a bad mood several days ago, and I complained to her. Besides, I know you’re not going to let me come back to work at Qing Tian Group anymore. If I no longer work here, I’ll be too embarrassed to work at another company in An City, nor will other companies dare to hire me, so I submitted my resume to several foreign companies over the past few days. Xiao Lin is also aware of this, and that’s probably why she invited me to work at Xiang Long Industry.”
Qin Jinhuan ignored the choke in Yin Anran’s voice. He asked directly, “What remuneration has Xiang Long Industry offered you?”
“They did extend an offer to me…” Since she feared that Qin Jinhuan might misunderstand her, Yin Anran immediately expressed her determination by saying, “I don’t care what sort of remuneration Xiang Long Industry will offer me, though. I don’t want to be Xiang Long Industry’s vice president even if that means I can only work at Qing Tian Group as an ordinary office worker!”
“Vice president? That’s not too bad.” Qin Jinhuan sneered. The emotional entanglement between him and Yin Anran aside, her capacity for work alone could rank among the top at Qing Tian Group, though she wasn’t one of the company’s several most capable employees. However, Qin Jinhuan didn’t expect that Xiang Long Industry would tempt her in such a way.
“I didn’t accept their offer!” Yin Anran waved her hands repeatedly. She couldn’t help but think there was another meaning behind Qin Jinhuan’s words when he said that. “Over the last few days, Xiang Long Industry has been using Qian Dacheng’s death to secretly instigate Xinyue Estates’ property owners to withdraw their ownership and buy another property. They vainly attempted to benefit from this, and by doing so, they had made themselves an enemy of you and Qing Tian Group, Jinhuan. You single-handedly brought me up, and I owe you gratitude for the love and care that you’ve given me since I was little. Therefore, your enemies are my enemies as well. Even if Qing Tian Group no longer needs me in the future, I’ll never do anything for Xiang Long Industry—I don’t care how attractive their remuneration is! This is not only a matter of principle, but also a matter of conscience!”
Qin Jinhuan was somewhat touched by Yin Anran’s solemn vow. He knew that she was sincere about saying these words and that she was implicitly expressing her desire to go back to work at Qing Tian Group again, but he couldn’t let her come back.
Yin Anran was already nervous in the first place, and Qin Jinhuan’s silence caused her heart to sink slowly. After a while, he broke the silence and asked, “Have you received any replies from the foreign companies that you applied to?”
“I have.” Yin Anran couldn’t suppress the disappointment in her lowered eyes as she vaguely guessed what Qin Jinhuan was about to say.
“What did they say?”
“All of them are hoping that I’d join them.”
“In that case, choose a company with a promising future and join them.”
Yin Anran’s answer was well within Qin Jinhuan’s expectation, and his persuasion was within her expectation as well. Yin Anran had prepared herself for this, but she was still disheartened when she actually heard it in person. “Yeah, I will.” She forced a smile at him and was about to leave, but after a moment’s thought, she couldn’t help but remind him in a soft voice, “Jinhuan, Xiang Long Industry has never publicly said a word of complaint about you and Qing Tian Group ever since we bought the land and built Xinyue Estates before they did, but it doesn’t mean that Drake Lu doesn’t feel wronged even though he’s never voiced his grievances! Judging by what has happened in the past few days, Drake Lu isn’t as simple as we think he is. He essentially endured hardships and swallowed humiliation just to wait for this day, so you must take extraordinary precautions against him, Jinhuan!”
“Uh-huh,” Qin Jinhuan replied indifferently as he looked down at the documents without raising his head to look at Yin Anran.
Feeling snubbed, Yin Anran opened her mouth to continue speaking, but she said nothing in the end. After staring at Qin Jinhuan with anticipation for a long time, she finally felt disappointed. She let out a sigh in secret and left the office in dejection.
Only when the door to his office bounced back did Qin Jinhuan slowly look up and stare at the door—where Yin Anran’s figure was no longer present—with a complicated look in his eyes. Letting her work overseas was probably the best arrangement for her; he didn’t want to interfere in her life anymore, nor did he want her involved in his life. Hence, it would be best for them to live well separately from now on. The last thing he wanted to do for her was to quietly find out which company she would join and then use his connections to have someone look after her in secret—that was all.
After coming back to his senses, he focused his concentration back on Xiang Long Industry. He didn’t have to wait for Bian Zijun to come back and report to him to know that Yi Yunzhe was the one behind Xiang Long Industry’s aggressive expansion. Even if Yi Yunzhe didn’t return to An City, he was probably supporting Xiang Long Industry behind the scenes. Otherwise, Lu Yuyang wouldn’t have the courage and insight to stand up to Qing Tian Group like this.
Qin Jinhuan thought the devastating blow at that time would have crushed Yi Yunzhe completely, but he didn’t expect that the latter would come back to life so soon in such an aggressive manner. He sneered and thought to himself, I should blame myself for letting my guard down last time. If Yi Yunzhe falls into my hands again this time, I’ll make sure that he’ll never be able to fight back.
Just then, Zhi Xiaoyin knocked on the door, came in, and reminded in a soft voice, “Boss, the meeting will begin in 10 minutes.”
“I got it.” Qin Jinhuan put away the documents and got up.
It was already 6.30PM when Qing Tian Group called a meeting of its board of directors. At this moment, Mu Yu had just returned home. She rang Qin Jinhuan and learned that he wouldn’t be coming home to eat, so she called Qin Xiaozhi and Qin Chengxi for dinner as soon as she entered the house.
However, Qin Chengxi was the only person who came up to Mu Yu in the living room. She said, “Grandpa isn’t feeling well, so he went back to his room to get some rest.”
Mu Yu was very nervous when she heard that Qin Xiaozhi wasn’t feeling well. “Is he all right? Has Lei Zhi come over to examine him?”
“Grandpa isn’t that well. Lei Zhi has not taken a step away from him today.” Qin Chengxi’s eyes were filled with worry. “You have no idea that Grandpa nearly fainted this afternoon when he learned about what happened to Xinyue Estates!”
Mu Yu was shocked. “Was it really that serious? Why wasn’t he sent to the hospital?”
“Lei Zhi was by Grandpa’s side at the time. After letting Grandpa take his medicine in time, he asked Ying to come over and check Grandpa’s symptoms. Ying merely said that Grandpa’s symptoms had been caused by overwhelming anxiety, and there was nothing we could do other than to let him recuperate in tranquility while staying calm. We were worried that Grandpa would hear more bad news in the hospital, so we decided to have him nursed back to health at home directly rather than letting him recuperate at the hospital. Qi Hao put a small bed for Lei Zhi next to Grandpa’s bed and asked him to stay by Grandpa’s side 24/7, paying attention to Grandpa’s condition at all times.”
“Did Grandpa have dinner then?”
Qin Chengxi shook her head. “He didn’t have dinner. Not only that, he ate only a few mouthfuls for lunch.”
“That wouldn’t do! I’ll go upstairs and take a look!”
“Hey! Yu!” Qin Chengxi stopped her. “Grandpa has just gone to sleep, so we’d better not disturb him. Let’s find a way to help Huan instead.”
Upon hearing Qin Chengxi’s words, Mu Yu was somewhat discouraged. “I’m too useless, and I can’t help him with anything at all! I wonder when we’ll be able to crack the case.” Mu Yu knew nothing about the affairs of Qin Jinhuan’s company, so she thought the only thing she could help him with was to solve the case. After all, the four murders were the root cause of Qing Tian Group’s endless troubles.
“There have been four murders already. Haven’t you guys found any clues?” Qin Chengxi was also aware of the impact these four cases had on Qing Tian Group.
Mu Yu shook her head and knocked on her forehead sulkily in response.
“Don’t be like this, Yu. I know that you’ve done your best. It’s just unfortunate that the murderer is too cunning,” Qin Chengxi comforted her. Then, she changed the subject by saying, “Shang Qi said that he will try his best to help Huan. I believe that Qing Tian Group should be able to turn things around very soon with our joint efforts.”
As Mu Yu didn’t want Qin Chengxi to be worried about her, she nodded with a forced smile and dragged the latter into the dining room to eat.
They never mentioned these things again over dinner. Instead, they tried to find lighter topics to talk about, but as they continued their conversation, they could no longer keep pretending. As a result, they each only ate half a bowl of rice before going back to their respective rooms.
As per her usual habit, Mu Yu would first turn on the television before she curled up on the sofa. Then, she would listen to the news reports while browsing the internet or her Facebook News Feed after returning to her room. However, she didn’t have such a desire today, for she didn’t want to be flooded by news about Qing Tian Group. Therefore, she directly sprawled across the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking about what else she could do for Qin Jinhuan, Qin Xiaozhi, and Qing Tian Group. While she was thinking, she sat up, picked up her notebook, and began studying the cases again.
Just as she was going through her notes, her cell phone suddenly rang. Mu Yu, who had been absorbed in deep thought, became startled and dropped the pen in her hand. She hurriedly reached for her cell phone; when she saw that Bian Zijun was calling her, she answered the phone immediately.
As soon as she accepted the call, she heard a burst of tumultuous noises that startled her. Before she could ask about it, Bian Zijun urged anxiously, “Young Mistress, please hurry up and come to Qing Tian Group! Boss… Ouch!”
The phone call was disconnected following the word ‘Ouch’. Knowing that something bad had happened, Mu Yu quickly rushed outside without even bothering to put on her shoes.