While the group made progress on their side, Lin Que found some old files as an excuse to revisit the lab room. As he had expected, he came right on time to see Alan fixing up the report and doing his last step in pill identification for Shen Wen. When Alan saw Lin Que, he tried to hide the pills and the report that he was working on, but was obviously too late for that.
"What's this?" Lin Que placed the old files in his arms on the desk and picked up the zip lock bag. His eyes glared sharply at Alan, making him shiver in response. "I don't remember receiving or permitting a pill identification exam request for this type of pill. So, exactly what is this for?"
"Uhh..Uhmm.. I'm sorry for not informing you earlier and asking you for permission before making this decision. It was an urgent matter, so I decided almost immediately upon receiving the pill to do a report for a patient." Alan tried his best to sound logical and not stutter.
"Oh? Which patient? Which department does the patient belong to? Who is in charge of the patient and what's the patient's illness? I don't recall stocking up on this pill in our inventory either, so explain yourself." Lin Que's strict tone almost froze all Alan's brain cells. Everyone in the hospital knew how serious Lin Que was when it came to conducting lab experiments and tests.
"Umm..I..." Alan moved back two steps as Lin Que took a look at the typed report and examined the pill on the spot. After a few minutes, Lin Que crossed his arms and waited for an explanation. Finally, Alan gave up to Lin Que's mighty aura and confessed that it was a favor for a relative named Shen Wen.
After a thorough explanation, Lin Que looked displeased as he said, "since I've tested the drug myself and the results of it came out to be vitamins, I'll let you off just this once. If I find out a second time, forget about obtaining your license and years of hard work. This is my first and final warning. Understand?"
"Yes, sir." Alan bowed in respect and gratitude. He waited for Lin Que to exit the lab before finishing up with the report. Since he already took more than three hours on this report, he decided to type vitamins on the report as the final conclusion since Lin Que had just revealed the answer that he was looking for.
He quickly printed two copies, one for Shen Wen to keep and the other for his own records. When he walked out, he handed the papers to her hands and explained to her the different ingredients that were found and then the conclusion that he came to.
"Are you sure?" Shen Wen sounded doubtful as she recalled the shape and colors of the pills being abnormal.
"Yes. These vitamins were probably produced elsewhere and customized specifically for a certain person." Alan politely answered each inquiry that she had on her mind. At last, she was convinced by his words and responses after thirty minutes of questions.
"Thank you, Alan. Auntie will treat you to a meal later on. Thank you for your help." Shen Wen said her thanks and turned around to leave the hospital. On her way home, she tried calling Tian Guo Min again, but his assistant picked up again. She sighed, "Forget it."
Once she got home, she shredded the report to pieces since it was another piece of useless information. She already followed up on Tian Yuo's body condition and heard from the doctor that everything was fine with him.
The minute she stepped into her house, she dragged herself upstairs to the master bedroom and locked the doors from behind. She took off her accessories and removed her makeup in front of her dresser where a huge mirror reflected her aged face.
She became frustrated with the results of the report and started to scrub her face using makeup wipes very harshly. Her skin turned red and irritated by her roughness, but she didn't care. She took her favorite cosmetics and started reapplying her makeup. The heavier her makeup, the better she felt. At the end, she chose a bright red lipstick and drew thick plumped lips on her face.
Out of madness, she wiped off the heavy makeup using wipes again. Every wipe that she finished using was then used as an object to slap against the mirror. Her body trembled and eyes turned red, "It's been so many fucking years! Where the fuck did you put it? Huh? Zi Lan? Didn't you say that if you had a child with that loser, then you will give everything to your child?! If you can give that man everything he wanted, then where is that fucking thing I want?! Where did you hide it?"
She took off her heels clumsily and swung them everywhere across the room for several times until the heels broke off. She mumbled while catching her breath, "it's either your daughter had been lying and faking in front of me since young... or you're just a liar as well. Hah, what's that you said about us being good friends? You won't report my husband and me? Bullshit! Where is that damn thing?! Your daughter definitely has it, doesn't she?"
Soon, her anger turned to laughter and her disheveled hair could match up to beggars on the streets. Her rage grew worse as she cried in the soundproof bedroom, "Your daughter must have it. How come she tells me that you didn't leave her anything? Or was it that bastard who took it and just didn't realize? Which one is it? Or both of them? No, no, I covered my shit so well that the silly child thinks of me as her auntie! She wouldn't have lied..."
After almost two hours of throwing accessories and clothes around the room, she gathered herself together and went to take a relaxing shower. When she came out, she cleaned up the mess. Tian Guo Min came home an hour later and asked her about her calls. She shook her head and smiled, "nothing much. I just fell earlier and kind of pulled a muscle."
"Oh. If it wasn't anything that important, don't call me to interrupt my business. I'm so tired today, so I'll head straight to bed. I'll skip dinner." He walked up to the master bedroom and didn't detect the slightest change in his wife's mood.
-Chen Residence -
Susu took off her wristlet and used her fingertips to press on the sides of it in a specific order. After doing so, the oval shaped design on the base of the wristlet opened and pushed out a beautiful rose. Everyone didn't dare to blink as this magical moment took place in front of them. Who would have known that a wristlet could have such a function?
"You guys look so shocked? What is it?" Susu raised her left brow and looked around to meet everyone's curious eyes.
"Susu, you designed that?" Ariana asked to double check.
"Yeah, I figured that if it's something important then I shouldn't keep it in my bag. Since this wristlet is a simple accessory and wouldn't raise much of anyone's attention, I restructured it and made a customized version." Susu made it sound so easy, but to everyone else, it was like an alien language.
Susu carefully lifted the rose in her palms and slowly played around with it. No matter which petal she touched or pressed using her fingertips, the rose remained a rose. There was nothing special about it. Everyone took turns touching the rose and even used special light effects to see if there were any written messages on it, but turned out with no luck.
"Hmmm...then could it be that this isn't what Shen Wen was looking for?" Chen Nan rubbed his chin as he passed the rose onto the next person's palm.
"Theres no secret opening to it either. I tried everything already since young, but never found anything abnormal with this rose." Susu explained that it was due to this rose that inspired her to create the rose themed outfit.
"There must be something about this thing, though." Ariana looked at it carefully to make sure she didn't miss any possible openings.
At the end of the day, everyone went home after dinner because they couldn't figure out what the rose represented. When Chen Nan and Ariana got back to the hotel, it didn't take long for Professor Luo Xia to ask them to join him for dinner. Since Zi Yan personally waited for them in front of their suite, they had no reasons to refuse.