BXBX NOVEL Chapter 87: 87. Job done
A few employees greeted them and then curiously looked at Lu Yao, some gossiping in hushed tones—The boss has got herself a boyfriend with quite the presence~
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In the General Manager\'s office, Lu Yao took out the pre-prepared herbs and used Li Lei\'s medicine cooker to start making the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Soup in advance.
Li Lei helped on the side, saying,
"Actually, many people have been asking my old man to come out of retirement, but feeling ashamed, he\'s been hiding at home all this time. He probably thinks that since you\'re unconnected to his old circle, there\'s no risk of running into acquaintances."
"Sometimes people just can\'t get past their own barriers."
As they chatted idly, the herbs were nearly ready when Li Lei\'s father—Li Zhihang—hurried in.
This was a handsome older man, nearly 60 with glasses, bearing a strong resemblance to his daughter. He had a sorrowful expression and seemed a bit awkward.
A suspended sentence still leaves a criminal record. Falling from a university professor to a "criminal" had not only become a laughingstock but had also dealt him a heavy blow.
Li Lei quickly introduced, "This is my friend, Lu Yao."
Lu Yao immediately greeted, "Professor Li, how do you do, pleased to meet you!"
A hint of embarrassment appeared on Li Zhihang\'s face. After the sentencing, his title of professor and all related academic honors had been revoked...
He forced a smile and said, "Hello, Lei Lei talks about you often," all the while sizing up Lu Yao.
In traditional Chinese medicine, diagnosis begins with observation, and after scrutinizing, Li Zhihang\'s first impression of the bright-eyed and strong-bodied young man was good.
Lu Yao handed over the prescription he had copied, saying, "This is the medicine I want to extract."
Li Zhihang\'s demeanor suddenly became professional and serious. He took the prescription, examined it for a long time, then took a cup from the medicine cooker, tasted it, and without further ado, finished it in one gulp.
After pondering for a while, he said,
"Ten-Ingredient Tonic Soup, balanced and nourishing, a fine ancient formula. But this kind of balanced medicine is hard to break into the market. What\'s popular now are medicines for \'strengthening kidneys\' and \'boosting virility.\' So..."
Li Zhihang adjusted his glasses and solemnly said, "Before investing, I suggest you think it over carefully."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yao laughed. He wasn\'t in it for the money at all; losing the development funds wasn\'t a concern.
"Thank you for the advice, but I still want to invest in the research. May I ask if you could come out of retirement?"
Li Zhihang, seeing his daughter\'s earnest gaze and not wanting his nearest and dearest to worry further, decisively nodded,
"I will contact the staff and lab. The preliminary research costs will be 5 million... but I prefer not to handle the finances directly. Let\'s go through my daughter for that."
Li Lei, overjoyed by her father\'s agreement to get involved, quickly said, "We can sign the official contract through my company. I can take care of the miscellaneous tasks."
Lu Yao, in a state of complete focus, keenly sensed the emotions of the father and daughter, finding them quite interesting and feeling a bit envious at the same time.
Family means they will reach out to pull you up no matter how dirty the mire you\'ve fallen into is.
Lu Yao extended his hand to the father and daughter, smiling, "Then, I hope our cooperation will be pleasant."
"Pleasant cooperation," Li Zhihang reached out to shake hands.
The contract was readily available in Li Lei\'s company. Lu Yao glanced over it and signed his name straightforwardly, his casual and confident demeanor furthering Li Zhihang\'s admiration.
As they were leaving, Li Zhihang said to his daughter, "Lei Lei, don\'t worry, I won\'t let you down."
Li Lei replied, full of relief, "Dad, I\'m just glad you\'re stepping out."
~~~~~~~
After descending the stairs, Li Lei visibly relaxed quite a bit, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
Driving Lu Yao to the base of his apartment building, the girl unbuckled her seatbelt and casually flipped her hair, seemingly wanting to go up for a visit.
Li Lei was dressed in a professional suit dress today, her figure not half-bad, the silk stockings making her legs look beautiful.
But Lu Yao completely ignored it, hopped out of the car, waved at the girl, shouted, "Bye-bye," and headed straight up the stairs.
Li Lei stared at his retreating figure for a long time before she bit her lip in vexation and drove away.
Deep down, Lu Yao faintly felt that it had been a long time since this girl had shown her spirited side, lately always displaying the demeanor of a demure woman.
Unfortunately, he was too busy... He had to prepare for cracking the hard drive next.
Lu Yao dug out the number of Li Jin, whom he\'d met on his trip to Annan Country. Having saved Li Jin\'s daughter, the man had mentioned he knew about computers.
After two rings, the call was answered, and an excited voice came through, "Brother Lu, long time no see!"
"Long time no see. Are you in the country? I need your help with something."
"Sure, go ahead. Since I got back, I\'ve been resting at home, plenty of spare time."
"I have an encrypted hard drive, the interface is full of strange coding; can you crack it?"
"I\'ll need to take a look. I\'m in Ning City, why don\'t you come over? We can meet in person."
"Okay, it\'s just a 3-hour ride on the high-speed rail, I\'ll be right there."
~~~~~~
Lu Yao stepped out of the high-speed rail station, and Li Jin was already waiting for him.
"Lu Yao, over here~"
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Driving a white Regal, Li Jin didn\'t seem at all estranged after a few months, and laughed, "I\'m living off my wife at home now. Thinking back, it\'s kind of scary, home is so much better."
Lu Yao agreed on this point, "Indeed, it\'s chaotic out there."
They chatted idly as they arrived at Li Jin\'s home, a modest high-rise of over 120 square meters.
"My sister-in-law is really busy these days, it\'s just me at home, so make yourself comfortable, please don\'t be polite, ha."
Li Jin\'s family status seemed decent, as he even had his own private study. Inside, there were 4 computers, all working furiously as mining machines.
Taking the hard drive from Lu Yao, he connected it to a physically disconnected computer and began to examine it.
Lu Yao waited patiently, looking at the photographs hanging on the wall.
Most were happy moments of their family of three, with a few of important personal milestones. Among them was a photo of Li Jin\'s wife, Zhao Ya, smiling at the entrance of her workplace.
She looked much younger in the photo, as though she\'d just started her job. And the name of the workplace was—the Provincial Mechanical Design Institute.
A thought struck Lu Yao, and he thought of his "Battle Armor" project.
What he wanted was not an ordinary ancient armor, but a humanoid tank designed by professionals!
Just then, Li Jin suddenly exclaimed, "There\'s progress! Brother Lu, the encryption on this hard drive isn\'t hard to crack. But it will take a significant amount of time to calculate, can\'t be done in a moment."
Pointing to the photo, Lu Yao asked, "Is your sister-in-law working at the Mechanical Design Institute?"
"Yes, our country recently is assisting the \'coal-to-oil\' project in Yukren, her institute has received several big orders, she\'s been incredibly busy."
Li Jin picked up the phone, "I\'ll call her to come back, let\'s have dinner together."
After he said this, he dialed his wife\'s number: "Zhao Ya~ come back soon, Lu Yao\'s here!"