That morning, they checked out of the hotel very early. On the way to take her to school, Fang Yongnian bought jianbing with egg and soy milk for her. Half went into Lu Yixin’s stomach, and the other half, while driving, was torn into small pieces by Lu Yixin and fed into his mouth.

“I’ll be getting very busy soon. I won’t be going home to sleep often.” He swallowed the last piece of jianbing she fed him. “If something comes up, call my cellphone or the office landline. If it really doesn’t work, you can come to the company to find me.”

After wiping her own mouth, Lu Yixin tore off another piece of napkin to help Fang Yongnian wipe his.

“I’ll also be very busy lately.” She said seriously. “Final exams are coming, I think I might fail physics.”

“Take pictures of what you don’t understand and send them to me on WeChat. I’ll look when I have time.” Fang Yongnian glanced at her sideways. “You can’t fail. If you fail, your dad will switch my coffee with dichlorvos.”

Lu Yixin’s face wrinkled in fear at Fang Yongnian’s hypothesis.

“Dating me really comes with a lot of responsibility for you…” Once again, her conscience awoke.

If she were dating someone else, even if she failed an exam, started slacking off, or didn’t come home at night, her parents definitely wouldn’t go after the boy.

But with Fang Yongnian, it was different.

Fang Yongnian gave her a look.

“But that’s the price of love.” Lu Yixin quickly found her balance again. “After all, I’m so cute.”

Fang Yongnian couldn’t help it, he raised his hand and flicked her on the head.

“Remember to contact me.” He sent Lu Yixin to the school gate, and as she was unfastening her seatbelt, he reminded her again.

“Even if there’s nothing?” Lu Yixin tilted her head.

“Mm.” Fang Yongnian patted her head. “Go on.”

When Lu Yixin leaned in to kiss him, the scent of scallions from the jianbing still lingered. After sharing a bed that night, their level of intimacy had suddenly leapt forward.

Fang Yongnian squinted as he watched Lu Yixin, happily swinging her ginger-colored knitted hat, hop her way through the school gate, and then squinted again as he started the car.

He might really be becoming more and more perverted. Looking at the university gate in the rearview mirror—

It had only been one night.

And he was already thinking that maybe if he put on a soft armor vest and took a beating, he could just trick Lu Yixin into moving in with him.

He had a fat cat at home.

And he had come to like having Lu Yixin, who slept messily, lying next to him at night.

He really was the more impatient one.

Fang Yongnian sighed, pressing his tongue lightly against his palate.

There was still the taste of soy milk and jianbing in his mouth—their tastes were alike, with sweet bean sauce and plenty of scallions.

Lu Yixin often carried with her this kind of down-to-earth food scent. The first time she hugged him, she had smelled of lobster, beer, and barbecue stalls.

That kind of scent was so close to everyday life, it was easy to get addicted to.

୨୧ ⏔⏔⏔⏔♡⏔⏔⏔⏔ ୨୧ 

Neither Fang Yongnian nor Lu Yixin had expected that being “busy” would mean being so busy that they could hardly see each other.

Yu Hanfeng’s cousin, after several examinations, was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Because it was discovered early and treatment was started early, the doctor said it would help delay the progression, but it could only delay it—not cure it.

Yu Hanfeng had never believed in her own luck, so she accepted such a diagnosis quickly. She devoted most of her energy to the Kang Mo Project.

She spent two days persuading Liu Qing, the genetics expert that Lu Boyuan had met at the hospital when Lu Yixin had a fever, and then another week for Fang Yongnian and Liu Qing to complete most of the work handover.

With her swift and decisive manner, she managed to complete a seamless transition for a pharmaceutical company that had been running for three years within just one week. The young employees in the company who had always called Fang Yongnian a “unicorn” behind his back were completely dumbfounded by the sudden “air-dropped soldier” Liu Qing. Whatever they wanted, they couldn’t get, and these past few days they were so frightened that when they walked, they wished they could go barefoot so as not to make a sound.

Then, she started a head-on clash with Fang Yongnian and Lu Boyuan.

The cause was that neither Fang Yongnian nor Lu Boyuan agreed to directly use Wu Yuande’s project data. Both insisted on starting again from the confirmation of the target.

“I already had people verify it. This batch of data did come straight out of the lab, why can’t we just use it directly?” Yu Hanfeng rolled up her sleeves in the conference room.

There were only the three of them in the conference room. In front of Fang Yongnian sat a cup of red sugar water that was sweet to death, his face expressionless. Meanwhile, Lu Boyuan was sitting far away on the sofa in the corner, with an expression that said ‘I’ve already said everything that needs to be said, if you don’t understand then stop meddling.’

Yu Hanfeng felt that they were simply bullying her with their authority.

So she kicked off her high heels and, barefoot, paced back and forth in the conference room like a trapped beast.

“There’s no such thing as a small matter in pharmaceuticals.” She was so angry she wanted to tie up her skirt into shorts to make it easier to rage. “You insist on re-confirming the target, which will cost ten million US dollars and nearly a year of experimental time. As the investor, I’m butting heads with you over this again and again, but I swear it’s not out of impulse.”

Even if the Yu family had a lot of money, it wasn’t blown in by the wind. Burning ten million US dollars right at the start of a project, she needed a reason for that.

“Before, the hot topic in AD drug research had always been how to degrade amyloid protein. Some people say that the entire beta-amyloid protein theory might be the biggest pit in the history of new drug discovery. Pharmaceutical companies around the world have poured more than ten years into this dead end, and yet even now, there are still companies that haven’t given up.”

“They’re not being stubborn for no reason. It’s because, up to now, AD remains a highly difficult area of drug development—with unreliable preclinical models and a lack of reliable surrogate endpoints for early clinical efficacy. Every stage of research is based on experimental speculation. Diversifying the mechanisms of action is currently the most reliable strategy achievable.”

“The materials Wu Yuande provided are merely a target direction. The most well-known part of this direction comes from the theory proposed by the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn, Germany—that the brain’s immune system plays a crucial role in AD. Their team used a mouse strain that typically develops AD-like symptoms as a model and knocked out one key inflammation gene. The knockout mice were able to pass memory tests and almost did not develop amyloid plaques.”

“That is all the information currently available for this target direction. We don’t know whether different stages of AD require enhancement or suppression of the immune system. Mouse models are imperfect, early patient recruitment is difficult, and there is not enough experimental data to support it. We can’t even submit a clinical application.”

After finishing this long explanation, Fang Yongnian picked up his cup of red sugar water and took a sip.

He hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch; that cup of sugar water really was keeping him alive.

“To put it simply, what we are working on now is drug research for a disease whose pathogenesis isn’t even determined. You want us to proceed with compound synthesis using only the data Wu Yuande provided, it’s impossible.”

“And conducting pharmaceuticals with that kind of attitude is also impossible.” He took another sip of red sugar water.

Yu Hanfeng turned to look at Lu Boyuan.

Lu Boyuan, looking helpless in the corner, said, “Even though lately I find this person really annoying, and even though the professor who taught us hand-in-hand doesn’t seem to be very good at teaching his own son, the student he taught turned out well. His opinion is my opinion. I can’t make it any simpler for you to understand why we insist on doing target confirmation.”

Fang Yongnian almost choked his red sugar water into his lungs.

Yu Hanfeng, still barefoot, stomped two more circles around the room in frustration.

“And the personnel list,” she found a new direction for her bombardment, “you refuse to save money on target confirmation, so why are you saving money on project members?”

Eighty percent of the personnel list Fang Yongnian gave her were newcomers—some were even still undergraduates.

“Inhibiting inflammation as a treatment for AD is already considered a very radical idea in the pharmaceutical world. If there are too many experts in the project team, they’ll start fighting,” Lu Boyuan actually had something to say this time. “Besides, we need people to wash test tubes. That job isn’t any easier than washing dishes in a restaurant.”

Yu Hanfeng: “……”

“A single test tube in the lab costs tens of thousands. I have to choose undergraduates to wash them. Everyone came up this way,” Fang Yongnian added.

Yu Hanfeng: “……”

“I know you’re not really arguing with me about professional competence.” Fang Yongnian’s tone softened a little. “You’re worried that when I work with Lu Boyuan, we’ll both get too stubborn, and end up doing a lot of unnecessary research just to prove some academic point.”

“Don’t worry.” Fang Yongnian looked at Yu Hanfeng. “I understand very well the difference between research and pharmaceuticals. I also know the purpose of this project’s establishment. I said I would do everything I can to save your life. What I’ve said, I remember.”

Yu Hanfeng put her high heels back on.

“And Zheng Fei,” she walked out of the meeting room, then turned back. “When will he start work?”

“Next Monday.” Fang Yongnian tapped the table. “The pharmacy needs someone to oversee things. When he gets to Huating, he also has to visit a few people.”

“From now on, anything related to clinical matters will be handled by him.” Yu Hanfeng made the conclusion at the doorway.

She had looked into Zheng Fei’s background.

And could only sigh once again, Yimin Pharmacy in Hecheng was practically wasting national resources.

“Alright.” Fang Yongnian took another sip of his red sugar water.

“Do you want me to lock the door for you?” Now that the business talk was done, Yu Hanfeng’s hands started itching.

Fang Yongnian: “……”

Lu Boyuan: “……”

“You two are the project’s core. If you keep not getting along, it’ll affect the project’s quality.” Yu Hanfeng spoke seriously. “You continue your meeting. I’ll tell the secretary not to disturb you.”

Fang Yongnian: “……”

Lu Boyuan: “……”

“I really do need to talk to you,” Lu Boyuan waited until the swaying figure of Yu Hanfeng who had rolled up her sleeves and taken off her shoes in the conference room disappeared from the office area before finally speaking.

Fang Yongnian could only suppress his urge to check his phone and nodded.

“This is your card.” Lu Boyuan handed back the two cards Fang Yongnian had previously given them.

Before Fang Yongnian could frown, he waved his hand. “What do you even call this? It’s neither here nor there.”

Fang Yongnian said nothing.

“Also, Miqing said you haven’t even used this salary card lately. You’ve got your own little stash.” Lu Boyuan sounded awkward.

“I made some money through stock investments when I was still at the pharmacy. I’m used to using that card for daily expenses.” Fang Yongnian took out his wallet. “It’s just that the funds on that card often circulate. I was worried about the large fluctuations, so I didn’t hand it over.”

He placed the golden card on the table, pushed it forward together with the other two.

Lu Boyuan rubbed his face, dumbfounded.

“Why the hell do we just never get along?” He looked completely incredulous. “My wife made me give these two cards back to you, and now you’re giving me one more. Do you want me dead, or do you want yourself dead?!”