The office door was suddenly pushed open, and a young man walked in briskly.

Running in after him, looking anxious, was Zou Manqing. She angrily shouted, "Liu Guangxi, how can you just burst in without permission!"

Liu Guangxi completely ignored Zou Manqing and glanced coolly at An Kexin, who was sitting behind the boss's desk.

An Kexin stood up and gently waved at Zou Manqing.

Seeing this, Zou Manqing puffed her cheeks, reluctantly exited the office but, worried, she didn't close the door.

Liu Guangxi stepped closer to An Kexin and said discontentedly, "An Kexin, President An, truth be told, I had a genuine crush on you at first sight."

"Since we met, I've either been sending flowers or gifts. Months have passed without a single day's interruption. Have I not shown enough sincerity?"

"Today I coincidentally found out something related to you and Anlin Hospital. I intended to harm my own interests by privately informing you. But I didn't expect that you would always find excuses to decline my lunch invitation."

"An Kexin, don't you feel anything for me?" Liu Guangxi shouted passionately.

Seeing Liu Guangxi's disgruntled expression, An Kexin just smiled and said, "Young Master Liu, did you only realize this now? I've refused all the gifts you sent! I've also told you many times to stop sending flowers."

Liu Guangxi took a deep breath to calm down, and said emotionally, "I always believed that sincerity can move mountains and make miracles happen. Kexin, haven't you been touched by my months of persistence at all?"

An Kexin nodded earnestly and said, "Young Master Liu, I honestly feel not a bit touched."

"To be frank, I have no feelings for you at all. Your persistence is destined to yield no results."

"You... you..."

Liu Guangxi looked pained, as if too troubled to speak, with his face showing a struggle. Unwillingly, he said, "If that's the case, I won't disturb you or pester you anymore!"

After saying this, he turned around somewhat desolately and left.

Upon reaching the door, he paused, slowly turned back, gazed at An Kexin, sighed, and said reluctantly, "Let me do one last thing for you!"

"A few days ago, a foreign medical doctor named Daniel Li applied for the position of director at Limin Hospital West Branch. The board of directors at Limin Hospital is very pleased with him, but to lower his demands, they decided to keep him waiting for a bit."

"I accidentally found out today that he also came here once."

Liu Guangxi said sincerely, "Kexin, if you want to recruit this person, you need to make a decision early. In the current situation, it's hard to find a suitable and good director!"

After saying this, Liu Guangxi did not look back again and left quickly, as if fearing that if he walked too slowly, he would be bound and unable to leave.

Zou Manqing gently closed the door, curiously asking, "Cousin, this Young Master Liu is quite decent in terms of height and appearance, has a good family background, and is very devoted to you; he seems a good match for you in every way."

"How can you not be moved at all?"

An Kexin glanced at her and said, "Sending flowers and gifts every day equates to devotion?"

"To someone like him, it's just a matter of giving an order and someone will handle it. For all we know, he might be sending flowers and gifts to seven or eight people daily."

Zou Manqing nodded with a newfound understanding and said, "That's true; for people like them, it's just about signing a check! However, he did tell us about Dr. Daniel Li in the end, which seems genuinely considerate of you!"

An Kexin pondered for a moment and said, "Maybe, maybe not!"

"Manqing, never underestimate the intelligence of wealthy heirs! Especially those brought up by elders to handle affairs, obviously seen as promising by the family, they're being heavily groomed, and it's unlikely they'd do something foolish."

She muttered softly to herself, "Logically, he shouldn't have disclosed such information to me."

"He really likes you, 'heroes fall for beauties,' and 'getting angry at the crown for the beauty!' Cousin, you're so beautiful that he's captivated by you, and it's highly possible he'd risk leaking information!"

Zou Manqing said with a face full of enchantment and envy, "If someone is willing to do something foolish for me, I will marry him without hesitation!"

An Kexin snorted and asked, "What if that person has no house, no car, and earns less than ten thousand a month, would you still marry him?"

Zou Manqing giggled and said, "Of course, there's always an entry threshold for someone who does foolish things for me."

"Oh dear..."

She suddenly exclaimed in pretended shock, "Cousin, it's almost two o'clock and you haven't had lunch yet. I have some snacks with me, do you want to eat a little to tide you over? Lin Jie, really! How dare he keep you waiting!"

"When he comes, I'll just... I'll just..."

"Just what will you do when he comes?"

The sudden voice startled Zou Manqing like a frightened rabbit, and she jumped back, turning to see Lin Jie appearing behind her like a ghost.

She patted her not-so-obvious chest, glared fiercely at Lin Jie, and pursed her lips as she backed out.

"Kexin, I'm sorry! I spent a bit too long at the hospital and picked up some food on the way. Let's just eat in the office!"

An Kexin saw the food bag in Lin Jie's hand and smiled, "Sure! Sometimes when I'm busy, I also order takeout to eat in the office."

Lin Jie went to the guest area, took out the food from the bag one by one, and laid them out on the coffee table.

There were cold dishes, hot stir-fried vegetables, fish, and meat—six dishes in total: two meat dishes, two vegetarian dishes, and two cold dishes. The main dish was egg fried rice.

Qin Gang had found out about a pretty good restaurant on the route to Limin Hospital West Branch.

They temporarily ordered this meal from the restaurant, sourced from dishes others had ordered. Otherwise, An Kexin would have had to wait another half hour.

An Kexin brought over two cups of hot water, sat down next to Lin Jie, handed him a cup, and said with a gentle smile, "My uncle is quite invested in this project. I heard he even declined a collaboration invitation for a natural science fund project."

Lin Jie was slightly taken aback, "This is the first time I'm hearing about this. Hmm... if this surgery yields results, Professor Chen should also gain a lot!"

An Kexin took a small spoonful of fried rice, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Not bad, it's quite flavorful."

At this time, both Lin Jie and An Kexin were indeed hungry, so they stopped talking and started eating.

Half an hour later, after they finished eating, Zou Manqing came in to clean up.

An Kexin took out a tea set, started brewing tea, and said, "A few days ago, I had a talk with my uncle about this project."

"I understand that the final research results of this project will be credited to my uncle and Dean Tao. As the absolute mainstay, you will only receive some compensation in terms of funding, isn't that right?"

Lin Jie nodded gently and explained, "Indeed, that's how it is! As you know, I currently cannot openly perform surgeries and need to rely on others for cover."

He nonchalantly added, "My original intention was just to fix that girl's left face. This so-called achievement is incidental—if it doesn't go to waste, so be it!"

These words caused An Kexin to bite her lip in frustration, and her hand movements became a bit more forceful, making the teacup clang, though luckily, it didn't break.

Lin Jie quickly sensed that An Kexin was not in a good mood.

He suddenly realized, "Kexin, you're holding something back that you want to tell me. Now that I'm here, just go ahead and say it. I'm all ears!"

An Kexin took a breath and said with a slightly petulant tone, "Lin Jie, our relationship is not ordinary, so I won't hold back. I hope you won't take offense if what I say doesn't sound nice."

"How could I ever be offended?"

Lin Jie smiled, "I know, Kexin, you've always been thinking about me and Miaomiao. Miaomiao and I lack social experience and are quite deficient in handling matters. If there's anything we're doing wrong, just tell us directly!"

An Kexin pondered for a moment, organized her words, and said, "Regarding this project, because of your identity restrictions, the project leaders are Tao Taqing and my uncle, and you're only a project participant."

"Moreover, since Tao Taqing initiated and funded this project, the final ownership of the project's成果 belongs to Donghua Hospital and Tao Taqing."

"Of course, my uncle holds part of the ownership, mainly regarding naming rights and honors."

An Kexin poured a cup of tea for Lin Jie and herself.

"My uncle told me that once this project proves feasible, it could potentially earn heavy-weight industry, or even national awards. Its research成果 could expand applications into severe disfigurement plastic surgery, sports injury recovery, nerve terminal control disorders, and many other fields."

"Lin Jie, do you know how many derivative research groups could be formed under the name of this achievement?"

"How much sponsorship funding, and how much research funding could be applied for?"

"How many potential patients could be attracted?"

An Kexin became somewhat agitated, stood up, clenched her small fists, and waved them around, "Now, all these benefits have been taken by Donghua Hospital!"

"As the absolute core of this project, you only received a few million in research funding, while Anlin Hospital didn't gain any benefit at all."

"Lin Jie, you are... you are..."

"You're the typical case of 'picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelon'!"

An Kexin suddenly looked pained and regretful as she said, "It's my fault too; I never thought deeply about it."

"Hearing my uncle brag about the future of this project made me realize the issue of成果 ownership. After consulting some professionals, I understood how massive the利益 involved is!"

She said indignantly, "Tao Taqing is just an old fox, and both you and my uncle were fooled by him!"

.........

Update: As the Spring Festival approaches, to avoid interruptions during the holiday, I've started to stockpile some drafts. From today, I can only keep up with two updates per day.

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