142: Chapter 142 Qin Yi's Parents' Worries

Not long after, Wang Hongtai, Secretary Wu, and Wang Ming, the three of them, walked slowly out of the elevator and returned to the hotel's lobby.

Wang Hongtai had his brows tightly furrowed, still looking preoccupied, while Secretary Wu followed closely behind, carefully observing his expression. Wang Ming walked in the front, wearing a look of self-satisfaction on his face.

When the three reached the hotel entrance, Wang Ming stopped, turned around, and said to Wang Hongtai with a beaming smile: "Chairman Wang, the ten million in equity transfer fees should be in your company's account very soon. You can have your finance department keep an eye on it."

Hearing this, Wang Hongtai's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. He nodded, but still responded with a worried expression: "Lawyer Wang, you're too kind. The equity transfer fee is not urgent. Actually, what I'm more worried about is that post on the internet. I still need to trouble Lawyer Wang to urge Boss Zhao again. If matters of public opinion drag on, it's very easy to cause a huge mess."

"Hahaha, it seems Chairman Wang still doesn't quite understand the capabilities of our Boss Zhao!" Wang Ming laughed heartily, patted Wang Hongtai on the shoulder, and continued in a soothing tone, "It's fine. Since the boss has already promised to handle this matter, he will definitely give you an answer. Chairman Wang, you can rest easy! Also, once the equity transfer fee arrives, I will go to our company. At that time, I hope Chairman Wang can arrange for people to cooperate. It would be best to complete the equity change process today. This way, the boss can be even more dedicated to handling things for our company. What do you think?"

Listening to Wang Ming's words, the taut string in Wang Hongtai's heart loosened slightly, and his tightly furrowed brows gradually smoothed out: "Definitely, definitely. Then I will await Lawyer Wang's next visit to the company for guidance."

Wang Ming also smiled and nodded: "Chairman Wang is too polite. Then, please take care, Chairman Wang. I will notify you in time if there is any news." As he spoke, he reached out his hand to shake Wang Hongtai's hand in farewell.

Wang Hongtai also hurriedly reached out to shake Wang Ming's hand, and at the same time said gratefully: "Then I will thank you, Lawyer Wang. Please stay, Lawyer Wang, we will be going now." After speaking, he walked with Secretary Wu towards the parking lot outside the hotel.

Wang Ming stood at the hotel entrance, watching them descend the stairs and get into the car, gradually moving further away. He kept a polite smile on his face until the car completely disappeared from sight. Only then did he snort coldly, his smile gradually fading, and he turned back into the hotel.

...

In the car, Wang Hongtai rubbed his temples with some fatigue. Although his brow had smoothed out, the clouds of worry on his face seemed even thicker than they were at the hotel entrance.

In the driver's seat, Secretary Wu carefully observed Wang Hongtai's expression through the rearview mirror, feeling anxious. He swallowed, his voice trembling slightly as he asked nervously: "Chairman, are we going to the hospital or back to the company?"

Hearing Secretary Wu's words, Wang Hongtai's hands paused. He didn't respond immediately, but slowly raised his eyes to look at the rearview mirror. His gaze was as sharp as a knife. The moment his eyes met Secretary Wu's, his expression froze, as if he wanted to see right through Secretary Wu.

A moment later, he spoke slowly, his tone filled with a trace of doubt and coldness, asking in a deep voice: "Secretary Wu, have you and that Wang Ming, as well as Zhao Lintai, been in contact for a long time?"

"Ah?" Having his secret exposed by Wang Hongtai in one word, Secretary Wu's heart skipped a beat, his face instantly turned pale, and a flash of uncontrollable panic appeared in his eyes. But he still pretended to be calm, hurriedly shaking his head and denying: "Chairman, what makes you say that? You know me; I am the most loyal to you. How could I have been in contact with them beforehand?"

Wang Hongtai watched Secretary Wu's reaction, and had some faint guesses in his heart. However, he did not continue to press for the bottom of the matter, but changed the subject. He took a deep breath and said slowly, expressionlessly: "I don't know how Xiao Hao is doing over there. Let's make a detour to the hospital first, then go back to the company!"

Secretary Wu responded with a relieved "Yes," then stepped on the gas pedal, driving the vehicle towards the hospital.

Wang Hongtai closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

The atmosphere inside the car became unusually dull and oppressive, as if the air itself had frozen.

...

At the very moment Wang Hongtai got into the car, over at Shenjiangwan Community, Qin Yi's eyes remained fixed on the real-time feed returned by the Miniature Bionic Tracker in his hand, feeling an indescribable sensation in his heart.

'I really didn't expect that, after working so hard and staying up all night to expose Hongtai Construction on the internet, I ended up doing the work for that man surnamed Zhao.' He pondered to himself, slightly curling the corners of his mouth, shaking his head, a look of helplessness and self-mockery appearing on his face. A moment later, he let out a long sigh and muttered to himself, "Damn it, forget it. Anyway, both of these people are targets of the System mission. Let them dog-eat-dog and tear each other apart first. I'll sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight; I'm happy to be idle."

Thinking this, a flash of cunning appeared in Qin Yi's eyes. He no longer cared what actions Wang Hongtai would take next, but shifted his focus to that Young Master of the Zhao family. His fingers tapped nimbly on the Miniature Bionic Tracker app page, selecting a new tracking target — Zhao Lintai.

Following his operation, the real-time image on the phone screen jumped rapidly. A moment later, finally, the image locked onto the outside of the window of the presidential suite where Zhao Lintai was staying. A flash of anticipation crossed Qin Yi's eyes, and he thought to himself, wondering how much dirt could be dug up from Zhao Lintai. Thinking this, Qin Yi couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

Unexpectedly, just at this moment, the phone rang abruptly, interrupting Qin Yi's train of thought.

The person calling was none other than Qin Xiaoyue, who had just been there.

Qin Yi shook his head helplessly. Qin Xiaoyue was definitely urging him to go upstairs for a meal again. Since the Miniature Bionic Tracker couldn't get into Zhao Lintai's room for now, he would just let it follow for him. Thus, Qin Yi temporarily exited the Miniature Bionic Tracker app and swiped to answer.

"Brother, why are you so slow at changing clothes?" As soon as the call connected, Qin Xiaoyue's dissatisfied voice came through, and then she urged, "Hurry up! I'm starving!"

Qin Yi responded helplessly: "Coming, coming, I'm going up right now." Saying that, he hurriedly hung up the phone.

He then walked quickly back to the bedroom and rummaged through the wardrobe. Apart from the few sets of pajamas Xu Qian had prepared for him, the rest were all Xu Qian's own, and there was simply nothing he could change into.

Although no one else lived in this building, he couldn't just go up in a bathrobe. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he remembered the set of clothes he wore when pretending to be Secretary Wu yesterday, which was still stored in the System Space. Thus, he immediately sank his consciousness into the System Space, quickly took out the clothes, and put them on with nimble hands and feet. At the same time, he thought to himself that he must store more clothes in the System Space in the future for emergencies.

After tidying up his attire, Qin Yi hurried out and took the elevator straight to the top floor. He swiped his fingerprint to open the door and shouted loudly: "Dad, Mom, I'm back." As soon as the words fell, Qin Xiaoyue ran over happily.

However, when she saw Qin Yi's attire, she couldn't help but "pfft" with a laugh: "Hahaha, Brother, why are you dressed so formally? Are you going for an interview or a blind date?"

Qin Yi gave Qin Xiaoyue a look of annoyance, pretended to be angry and walked past her into the house: "Get lost, what interview or blind date." He explained as he walked, "Last night's clothes got dirty and I haven't had time to wash them, so I just grabbed one to wear. I'll change in a bit."

He looked around and found that the dining table was already full of a sumptuous breakfast, but his parents were nowhere to be seen. So, he asked suspiciously: "Dad, Mom, where are you guys?"

At this moment, his mother Wu Xiuhua's voice came from the kitchen: "Xiao Yi is back? We are in the kitchen."

Qin Yi heard the sound and walked towards the kitchen, seeing his parents busy with something. He asked curiously: "Dad, Mom, what are you busy with?"

Qin Jianye looked up at him and explained with a bitter smile: "Cough, nothing much, just your mom wanting to reorganize the kitchen so it's easier to use." At the same time, he communicated with Qin Yi with his eyes, signaling that it wasn't all because your mom forced me to do it...

Qin Yi smiled knowingly and greeted, "Hey, Dad, Mom, don't busy yourselves. This breakfast is so sumptuous, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Come on, let's eat together. Later, I'll find two nannies to be responsible for the cooking and housework." As he said this, Qin Yi remembered the housekeeper from their original villa and asked, "By the way, Auntie Liu is still in Jingnan, right? Should we invite her over?"

Qin Jianye slapped his thigh as if he had just remembered, responding, "Oh, that's right! Auntie Liu is great! We know her well, and she's a good cook!"

However, Wu Xiuhua poured cold water on them, "Don't even think about it. Auntie Liu went back to her hometown to look after her grandchildren; how would she have the energy to come to Magic City to work?"

"Uh, is that so…" Qin Yi replied, feeling a bit disappointed, "That's truly a pity. However, this house is so big, we still need to hire two servants to come and help out. I'll ask around later and see if there's anyone with good character."

"Hehe, Brother!" Qin Xiaoyue suddenly blinked her eyes, hugged Qin Yi's arm, and asked with a mischievous look, "What do you think of me? I'm actually pretty good at doing laundry and cooking…"

"Ew?" Qin Yi pulled his arm from Qin Xiaoyue's embrace with a look of disgust, "You cook? Let's forget about that; I still want to live a few more years!" As he said this, he deliberately turned his head away to avoid looking at her.

"Tch!" Qin Xiaoyue turned her head away in dissatisfaction, "Who are you looking down on? I was just saying! Even if you wanted to eat, I wouldn't want to cook! Hmph!" As she said this, she turned and walked toward the dining table, her hair brushing against Qin Yi's cheek, looking quite haughty.

Seeing the siblings bickering as usual, Qin Jianye and Wu Xiuhua exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.

Before long, the four of them sat around the dining table.

"Mom, why did you prepare such a sumptuous breakfast? What time did you get up? Why didn't you sleep a bit longer?" Qin Yi said, his face beaming with a relaxed smile. He picked up a soup dumpling, carefully placed it on a plate, took a bite, and nodded with satisfaction.

Wu Xiuhua looked at her son, her eyes full of maternal love. She said softly, "We thought that Xu Qian might come up to have breakfast with us, so we went out to look around the community early in the morning. We didn't know what the girl liked to eat, so we bought a bit of everything. Who knew the girl would go to work so early? She's truly diligent." As she spoke, she looked down at the platinum jade necklace that Xu Qian had given her, a flash of emotion in her eyes.

Afterwards, she looked at Qin Yi again and continued earnestly, "Xiao Yi, I didn't feel comfortable asking you yesterday while we were with Xu Qian. I heard from Xu Qian that her family situation isn't very good; she only has her mother and younger brother. You know about this, right?"

Qin Xiaoyue, meanwhile, was sipping on a soup dumpling while curiously scanning back and forth between Qin Yi and Wu Xiuhua, seemingly waiting for some gossip.

Qin Yi nodded and replied seriously, "Mm, Xu Qian has told me all of this. Her younger brother did well in the college entrance exam and should be coming to Magic City for university soon."

"Mm, Xu Qian told us that yesterday too. When her brother comes, don't forget to take them out for a meal," Wu Xiuhua said gently, while simultaneously nudging Qin Jianye with her foot under the table, signaling him with her eyes to speak up.

"Mm, don't worry, Mom. Do you think I wouldn't know how to handle something like that?" Qin Yi didn't notice his mother's small movement under the table and responded to himself.

Qin Jianye received his wife's signal, cleared his throat, and spoke hesitantly, "Xiao Yi, regarding Xu Qian, what are your thoughts?"

"Uh, what do you mean by my thoughts?" Qin Yi raised his head, looking at his father with a confused expression.

"Ahem, well," Qin Jianye hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to voice the question in his heart, "After coming back last night, your mom and I discussed it. Xu Qian's family situation isn't that good, so how could she live in such an expensive community? And give us such valuable gifts? Xiao Yi, tell us the truth, is the house Xu Qian lives in provided by you? And is the money for these gifts also from you?"

Wu Xiuhua also looked at Qin Yi with a worried expression, "That's right, Xiao Yi. The reason your father and I are asking is that we're worried you might get too deeply involved early on, just like before with that girl named Su Mo."

Qin Yi put down his chopsticks, looked at his parents, and wore a serious expression, "Hey, Dad, Mom, don't worry about it. It's true, I did give that house to Xu Qian. But rest assured, Xu Qian is different from Su Mo. You'll see once you've spent more time with her. Also, the gifts she gave you weren't bought with money I gave her." As he said this, he briefly explained to his parents about buying the car at the dealership and how the dealership owner, Xing Zhenkun, rewarded Xu Qian.

After listening to Qin Yi's explanation, Qin Jianye's face showed admiration and emotion, and he said with some feeling, "Oh, in that case, this girl really values the relationship between you two. The boss rewarded her with one million, and she actually took out over five hundred thousand to buy us gifts. That's truly rare."

Qin Xiaoyue chimed in with a gossipy look, "That's not all! You guys didn't see, Sister Qianqian even made a loving breakfast for my brother this morning! Milk, sandwiches, and heart-shaped fried eggs—he's so happy!" As she said this, she winked at Qin Yi, her face full of a mischievous smile.

"Hahaha!" Wu Xiuhua looked at Qin Yi with a smile, "That's great. Xu Qian is truly a girl who knows how to care for others. But Xiao Yi, you must cherish her well."

"Mm, understood, Mom," Qin Yi nodded in response.

Wu Xiuhua added, "Don't let Xu Qian cook anymore; just have her come up to eat. Your father and I have nothing to do anyway, so it's good to cook at home. You can have a hot meal when you come back from being busy."

"Actually, you and Dad are not idle," Qin Yi replied with a smile, "After we finish eating, I'll contact Manager Bai from the property management to ask how things are going with the office building. If there's any progress, you can help me consult and see whether we should rent or buy." As he said this, he looked at Qin Xiaoyue and instructed, "And Xiao Yue, don't be idle either. Doesn't Sister Qianqian know a driving school where you can get a license in a month? You go and learn to drive this month! Whenever you get your license, I'll buy you a car!"

"Yay!" Qin Xiaoyue jumped up happily, but her face suddenly showed a hint of distress, "But Brother, compared to learning to drive, my work situation might be more troublesome."

"What's wrong? Didn't I tell you to resign?" Qin Yi asked, puzzled.

"Oh! You don't know, that MCN Company is so unscrupulous! I called the management this morning to say I was resigning, and to my surprise, he told me that if I resign now, I have to pay a breach of contract fee, training fees, and a bunch of other messy expenses! It's a lot of money!" Qin Xiaoyue said indignantly.

"What kind of contract did you sign? Do you have the signed contract in your possession?" Qin Yi asked, frowning.

"Yes, I have it! But it's at the apartment I rent," Qin Xiaoyue replied.

"Good! Bring the contract over today, and I'll see if I can find a lawyer to take a look at it!" Qin Yi decided.

"Really? Thank you, Brother! You're so good to me! If we weren't related by blood, I'd want to marry you!" Qin Xiaoyue joked.

"Get lost! Even if we weren't related, I wouldn't want to marry you!" Qin Yi turned his head away with a smile.

"Hmph! Aunt, look at Brother, he only knows how to bully me!" Qin Xiaoyue pouted, pretending to be angry.

Hearing this, Qin Jianye and Wu Xiuhua both laughed. Just then, Qin Yi's phone rang. Qin Yi picked up his phone and saw that the caller ID was "Shen Jianan". He immediately raised an eyebrow and thought to himself, "Damn! I almost forgot about this young lady's matter."

He immediately stood up and said to the three of them, "I'm going to take a call, you guys continue eating." After saying that, he walked toward the living room.

After Qin Yi left, Qin Xiaoyue whispered to Qin Jianye and Wu Xiuhua with a gossipy look, "I just took a peek, it was a woman's name."

As she spoke, the three of them looked toward the living room, their gazes following Qin Yi's figure in unison…