Chapter 236: It Turns Out Her Direction Was Wrong
Chapter 236: Chapter 236: It Turns Out Her Direction Was Wrong
This was because the Imperial City’s nutrient liquid wasn’t just supplied to the Imperial Capital Survival Base; it was also sold to several other survival bases.
They didn’t just sell nutrient liquid within its shelf life. They also sold the expired kind, since other survival bases had large populations of lower-class citizens. With no fresh food, nutrient liquid was one of the few ways to get supplements.
As a result, nutrient liquid sales generated at least one-third of the Imperial Capital Survival Base’s annual GDP.
Fu Cheng watched Shen Lu stand up. He wanted to speak, but his tongue seemed to betray him, stiff and unable to form a sound.
"Little Deer." Just before Shen Lu went into her room, his tongue finally loosened, and he called out her name urgently.
Shen Lu didn’t even turn her head. She didn’t want to listen to Fu Cheng’s reasoning. "It’s late. I’m tired."
"Little Deer, if there’s a problem with the nutrient liquid, it’s a major incident," Fu Cheng said, maneuvering his wheelchair behind her. "Even if you wanted to investigate, you wouldn’t know where to start or how to get to the bottom of it."
Shen Lu pouted. He wasn’t wrong about that. She really hadn’t found anything concrete yet.
"The development of the nutrient liquid is led by the research institute, and the institute is directly under the government’s control. Without the government’s approval, no one can stick their nose into the institute’s business."
At his words, Shen Lu’s gloomy eyes suddenly lit up.
’So my approach was wrong all along!’
She had previously seen pharmaceutical company trucks dumping the expired nutrient liquid at the junkyard, so she’d naturally assumed she should start her investigation with them.
But in reality, the pharmaceutical companies were only responsible for production. The most crucial part, the research and development, had always been controlled by the institute.
’It’s possible the problematic expired nutrient liquid was mixed in with the pharmaceutical companies’ stock by the institute itself.’
Fu Cheng said, "If you really want to figure this out, I can—"
"No, don’t." Shen Lu turned back to him. "Just focus on your recovery. Please don’t do anything unnecessary."
She guessed Fu Cheng was about to call in favors again, reporting her findings to his superiors and asking the government to investigate.
’That was absolutely not an option.’
Just as Fu Cheng had said, the research institute was directly under the government. If there was an issue with the expired nutrient liquid, she couldn’t believe the government wasn’t involved.
If Fu Cheng reported it, not only would it fail to help her, it would draw the government’s attention to a small fry like her, bringing about her utter ruin.
"You’re right. None of this has much to do with me, so there’s no need for me to worry about it." Shen Lu put on her most sincere expression. "It was all just my baseless speculation. It won’t happen again."
’I’ve already said all this. Please, don’t be a busybody.’
Fu Cheng found her sudden change in attitude a bit strange, but his trust in Shen Lu was unconditional, so he just nodded lightly.
"I understand."
In truth, Fu Cheng felt that even if he did say something, no one would take him seriously.
But since Shen Lu told him not to, he wouldn’t do it.
Shen Lu gripped the handles on the back of his wheelchair. "Let me take you back to your room."
Fu Cheng’s refusal got stuck in his throat. With Shen Lu’s help, he moved onto the bed.
The muscles on the side of his waist, where the young woman’s arm had been, remained tense. Fu Cheng’s heart felt like a gently boiling kettle, GURGLE GURGLE, bubbling away.
’I’m such a despicable person.’
He could have moved to the bed himself if he’d just gritted his teeth and tried, yet he’d silently accepted Shen Lu’s help.
To put it bluntly, he was greedy for those few dozen seconds of close contact with Shen Lu.
’Forget it.’
’Despicable, then. So be it. He was no longer the outstanding cadet of the military academy, nor the much-admired firstborn son of the Fu Family. He was just a cripple. What did it matter if he was a little despicable?’
’Besides, no one would ever know about this but him.’
...
Shen Lu lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
Fu Cheng had opened up a new line of thinking for her, but with it came a cascade of new problems.
’How am I supposed to get into the research institute?’
’Judging by her two previous visits to the institute, the method she’d used to sneak into the pharmaceutical company definitely wouldn’t work this time.’
’Should I do what Zeng Xiaodao did? Force my way in and blow the whole place up?’
Shen Lu drew a huge mental X over that idea.
Setting aside the fact that she didn’t have Zeng Xiaodao’s skills, if he hadn’t been lucky enough to run into her last time, he would’ve been blown to smithereens by now.
Shen Lu gloriously suffered from insomnia. She tossed and turned until two or three in the morning before finally drifting off, completely forgetting about the prize draw and setting up Little Mantis for breakfast.
The next day, her alarm went off twice without waking her. Only on the third ring did she manage to pry her eyes open.
"What?! It’s already 7 AM?"
Shen Lu let out a sharp shriek and tumbled neatly out of bed. While washing up, she realized she’d also forgotten to set up Little Mantis.
’Looks like I’ll have to make breakfast myself today.’
Tears streamed down Shen Lu’s face internally.
She ran downstairs and found everyone in the shop already eating breakfast.
Among them, Fu Cheng, sitting in his wheelchair, was the most conspicuous.
Shen Lu pouted and silently cursed Fu Cheng for being inconsiderate.
’Since he was already up, why didn’t he give me a shout?’
"Boss, you’re down already?" Cai Su put down her chopsticks. "We’re having noodles this morning. Little Song made them. Want a bowl? I’ll go cook one for you."
Song Zhigao stood up, holding his bowl. "You keep eating, Sister Cai. I just finished anyway. I’ll go make some noodles for the boss."
"Thanks for the trouble," Shen Lu said, nodding at Song Zhigao before sitting down at the table.
Facing Shen Lu’s resentful glare, Fu Cheng swallowed the food in his mouth. "You work so hard usually. It’s fine for you to sleep in a little in the morning."
Fu Cheng had, of course, noticed that Shen Lu had slept in. Normally, she didn’t close her door when she wasn’t in her room, but today, when he came out of the secondary bedroom, he saw her door was shut tight.
He had considered whether or not to wake her.
But in the end, Fu Cheng chose to let her sleep a while longer. There wasn’t much to do in the morning anyway, so it wouldn’t be too late to wake her at eight.
Song Zhigao was quick. He brought out a bowl of noodles in just a few minutes.
The noodles were just ordinary dried noodles, topped with a generous serving of shredded pork and old ginger. It smelled quite good.
Shen Lu took a bite. The shredded pork was tender, and the broth was rich. Eating a bowl of hot noodle soup on a slightly chilly morning was very nice.
Just as she finished eating, the delivery truck with the vegetables arrived. Shen Lu wiped her mouth and ran to the entrance to sign for the ingredients.
Then, the daily rush began.
After successfully getting through the lunch rush, Shen Lu remembered Bai Wanwan was coming today and baked some cupcakes.
She was piping cream onto the freshly baked cupcakes and decorating them when she heard Cai Su announce that her guest had arrived.
Shen Lu put down the piping bag, washed her hands, and walked out.
Bai Wanwan was standing at the front counter, dressed in a long, light-colored trench coat and wearing large sunglasses. Her younger brother, Bai Lei, was beside her.
The siblings seemed to be having a little tiff. Bai Wanwan had her head turned away, ignoring Bai Lei, while he had his head lowered, muttering something.
"Wanwan, Bai Lei," Shen Lu greeted them.
"Shen Lu, I could just die, I’ve missed you so much!" Bai Wanwan dramatically pushed her brother aside and opened her arms toward Shen Lu, ready for a passionate embrace.
Shen Lu: ...
’That’s a bit much.’
Shen Lu, who by nature disliked being overly familiar with others, politely declined Bai Wanwan’s hug. Bai Wanwan pouted in dissatisfaction.
"I prepared some afternoon tea for you. Want some?"
"Yes!" Bai Wanwan’s temper came on fast and left even faster. Hearing that there were treats made especially for her, she beamed like a blossoming flower.