Chapter 125

Chapter 125

The next day, Nan Mu went to work at Wisdom Biotech Company.

He brought along some coffee and delicate little cakes, all prepared for him by Wen Miao. Supposedly, they were the sort of things girls really liked.

After Nan Mu went upstairs, he saw Liang Mingqi tidying up her things.

“Morning.”

Liang Mingqi turned around. When she saw Nan Mu, she smiled. “You’re pretty early too.”

“Yeah.” Nan Mu briefly mentioned what he had worked on yesterday, then asked, “Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Not yet. I was planning to drop my things off at the office first, then go downstairs to buy something.”

“Then do you like cake? New York cheesecake. I bought it when I passed by the coffee shop this morning.”

Liang Mingqi knew the cake he was talking about. The coffee shop downstairs wasn’t cheap. For an office worker like her, it wasn’t much of a burden, but Nan Mu was an intern, after all. She had been in his position before, so of course she knew how tight money could be for interns and fresh graduates.

So at first, she wanted to turn him down.

But Nan Mu added, “The shop had a promotion-buy one, get one free. I happened to end up with an extra. Help me out? It’d be a shame to throw it away if I can’t finish it.”

As he spoke, he set one portion of cake and a coffee in front of Liang Mingqi.

“Then… thank you.” Liang Mingqi assumed Nan Mu was just like she had been back then-new to the workplace. When she had first joined the company, she had also come up with all sorts of excuses to give her coworkers snacks and little treats, all to build better relationships.

Nan Mu returned to his seat.

The researchers in the lab mainly conducted experiments, but since he was new, they weren’t about to let him get hands-on so quickly.

Instead, they assigned him the role of recorder and handed him a stack of documents that needed to be entered into the computer. It wasn’t difficult for Nan Mu; it was merely repetitive labor that took time.

By the time he had nearly finished entering all the document contents, he glanced at the time and realized it was already lunchtime.

Liang Mingqi deliberately passed by the seat beside him. “Want to have lunch together? Consider it thanks for breakfast.”

Nan Mu had been worrying that he wouldn’t get a chance to talk to her, so he agreed without hesitation.

The two of them went to the company cafeteria together. The cafeteria meals were plentiful, and the prices were very reasonable. Apparently, it was because the company subsidized half the cost.

Afraid Nan Mu might feel too restrained to order properly, Liang Mingqi kept enthusiastically recommending various cafeteria specialties to him.

In the end, Nan Mu carried a heaping plate of food.

The two chose a corner seat. As Liang Mingqi chatted with Nan Mu, Nan Mu deliberately steered the topic toward Jia Lingyuan.

It was clear that Liang Mingqi was genuinely proud of Jia Lingyuan.

Nan Mu had only started the topic. For most of the next half hour, it was Liang Mingqi doing almost all the talking, and everything she said was about Jia Lingyuan’s past research achievements and social accomplishments.

Nan Mu listened while splitting his attention, then put on a regretful expression. “Sigh, if only I’d come earlier. Then I would’ve been able to meet such an amazing legendary scientist.”

Liang Mingqi was very pleased by Nan Mu’s praise. She comforted him, “After my uncle’s surgery, his health has been improving day by day. Maybe after some time-say, next year-he’ll be able to come back to work. Then you’ll get to meet him.”

Nan Mu gave a bitter laugh inwardly. Next year? By next year, the daylilies would be cold.

But Liang Mingqi did not continue along that line of conversation, so Nan Mu could only keep trying and ask something else. “Since he had surgery, he should still get plenty of rest. When Dr. Jia is at home, is it your aunt who takes care of him?”
“Right. But we hired dedicated medical staff at home, two people taking turns looking after him, so it’s not that hard. Besides, my uncle’s doing much better this year. He doesn’t really need anyone to go out of their way to take care of him anymore.”

“That’s good.” Nan Mu nodded, then asked as if in passing, “But wouldn’t staying home all the time get a little boring? It’s still better to go out for walks now and then, chat with people. That helps with psychological recovery too.”

Liang Mingqi had her guard completely down and took it as casual conversation. She smiled and said, “He has plenty of people to talk to. He used to supervise quite a few graduate students, and whenever they run into something they don’t understand, they call him to ask… Every week, there are always three or five people dropping by his house to visit him.”

As Liang Mingqi spoke, she couldn’t help covering her mouth and laughing. “My aunt told me in secret that my uncle is almost driven crazy by them.”

Nan Mu played along. “Sounds like he’s an interesting little old man.”

“Of course.” Liang Mingqi accepted the compliment without the slightest modesty.

Nan Mu then took the opportunity to ask a few more questions about Jia Lingyuan’s preferences. For example, what kinds of food did he like?

Liang Mingqi wasn’t particularly guarded, but after answering, she also began to feel that Nan Mu seemed a little too interested in her uncle.

“Why are you asking all this?”

“Actually…”

Nan Mu gave an “embarrassed” smile and pretended to “come clean.”

“You know, I majored in biology. Back then, I often heard my advisor mention Dr. Jia. The truth is, I really admire him. He’s like an idol to me. My dream is to become someone like him… So I wanted to ask, if it isn’t too presumptuous, would it be possible for me to visit him sometime?”

The hand Liang Mingqi was holding her chopsticks with paused. She lifted her head and gave Nan Mu a long, searching look.

That look made Nan Mu’s heart suddenly tighten. He thought Liang Mingqi had realized something.

But in truth, what Liang Mingqi was thinking was completely different from what he imagined.

It wasn’t as if she had never seen people who eagerly tried to get in front of her uncle before.

Jia Lingyuan had outstanding accomplishments and an extraordinary position in the field of embryology. In the past, Liang Mingqi had seen people like that-people who wanted to take shortcuts, who didn’t put effort into their studies or research skills, but instead tried to win her uncle’s favor and build a good relationship with him so they could obtain resources ordinary people couldn’t, then soar to success overnight.

When she first met Nan Mu yesterday, she had thought he looked upright and honest. Of course, that probably also had something to do with the fact that Nan Mu had a handsome face, coupled with the endorsement of being a graduate student from A University of Science and Technology, so she had inevitably thought more highly of him.

But now, Liang Mingqi thought back on the entire lunch. Nan Mu seemed to have been intentionally or unintentionally steering the conversation toward Jia Lingyuan the whole time. Then she remembered the coffee and cake from this morning, and at once, she felt rather sickened.

Her face stiffened, and she tossed out a lukewarm reply. “I’ll ask for you when I get the chance. But you know, he’s only just recovered from a serious illness, so he may not be willing to see people. If he refuses, don’t take it to heart.”

Liang Mingqi’s words were stiff. Although she hadn’t flat-out said it was impossible, from her tone alone, Nan Mu knew there was no chance. Jia Lingyuan was her uncle. Even though she had agreed verbally, whether she would actually ask for him when the time came was anyone’s guess.

Nan Mu sighed.

If he’d known, he should have let Wen Xin handle this…

It seemed he had messed things up.