Chapter 743: Jiaojiao 23
Now that she no longer had to worry about money, having handed everything over to Tan You, Chen Jiao felt a great weight lift from her shoulders. When Zong Qi came to see her, she still wore a gentle smile.
"Your job tonight is to help me make pills," Chen Jiao said, letting Zong Qi in. "After Ye Rong and his men came over yesterday, word must be flying all over the streets. There are bound to be plenty of people wanting to make a name for themselves by taking me down."
"I used up most of those pills yesterday, so I urgently need to restock."
Zong Qi looked at the various medicinal herbs laid out before him and, for the first time, felt a lack of confidence. "I don’t know how."
"Don’t worry, I’ll teach you." Even though she was still a novice herself, Chen Jiao had an inexplicable confidence. ’What’s there to be afraid of? I have a teacher, after all.’
Seeing this, Tan You suddenly laughed. "A rookie teaching a greenhorn."
Chen Jiao pouted. "I’m the greenhorn, he’s the rookie. ’Greenhorn’ sounds better."
As she instructed Zong Qi to either grind the medicinal herbs into powder or chop them into small pieces, she spoke to Tan You. "Teacher, what do you need Li Shun and the others for? We can’t do anything illegal."
"Don’t worry, we won’t have to," Tan You said with a laugh. "Silly girl. You’re not that old, but you sure worry a lot. You just focus on improving your acting. I’ll take care of everything else."
Chen Jiao felt relieved but couldn’t hide her curiosity. "What are you planning for them to do? It’s actually really hard for them to find jobs. They don’t have degrees or any marketable skills... Even if they do manual labor, their wages get withheld. It’s a hard life."
Tan You replied, "If we just donate that four million to charity, we can only help a limited number of people. But if we manage this four million well, it will generate a continuous stream of income, which will in turn help even more people."
"Don’t worry, it’s a legitimate business. I’ll write up a business plan."
Chen Jiao was astonished. "Teacher, you can even write business plans? You’re amazing!"
Tan You looked at her. "Want to learn?"
’She didn’t want to discourage Chen Jiao. Even though Chen Jiao was an underachiever in school, what if she had a natural aptitude for this?’
Chen Jiao thought for a moment. "Then I’ll give it a try? Can you teach me later? I can’t just hand them the business plan without knowing anything about it myself."
Tan You simply agreed with a smile. Whether or not Chen Jiao could actually pull it off remained to be seen until after she tried.
Even with Zong Qi’s help boosting their efficiency, he and Chen Jiao were busy until three in the morning. Chen Jiao yawned. "You should go back and sleep. I can handle the rest myself."
Zong Qi glanced at the creamy liquid flowing slowly in the crucible beside them, but he didn’t ask any questions and simply returned to his room. When they were rolling the pills, Chen Jiao hadn’t hidden anything from him, clearly explaining the effects of each one.
Just hearing about their effects made his skin crawl. The one he’d experienced last night was the Heart-devouring Pill, and even now, the memory made Zong Qi’s legs feel a little weak. ’Speaking of which, what have Ye Rong and his men been up to today? Will they come looking for Chen Jiao?’
Zong Qi guessed that Ye Rong and his men would most likely come looking for Chen Jiao. After all, these so-called big-shot gangsters feared death above all else. ’I just wonder how they’ll atone for the sins they’ve committed.’
Chen Jiao’s days passed like this: filming during the day and rolling pills with Zong Qi at night. However, she wasn’t completely open with him. For instance, the two types of self-defense balms Tan You had taught her about were made by Chen Jiao alone.
Two days passed in a flash. That evening, as Chen Jiao finished work and headed back to the hotel with Zong Qi, she stopped in her tracks just as she was leaving the film set.
Zong Qi immediately spun around and stood in front of Chen Jiao. He had been her assistant for two days, but this was his first time truly acting as her bodyguard.
Looking at Ye Rong, Yuan Sheng, and their various lackeys lined up behind them, Zong Qi’s thin lips parted. "Brother Rong, Brother Sheng."
Ye Rong gave Zong Qi a complicated look. They’d heard the news that Zong Qi had become Chen Jiao’s assistant. To be honest, he had coveted Zong Qi’s skills for a long time, but the man had always refused to work for him.
’And now he’s following this young girl? What in the world is so great about her that’s better than me?’
Pushing aside these complex thoughts, when Ye Rong saw Chen Jiao again, he had to admit he was truly intimidated by her. A man like him was, at the end of the day, afraid of death.
After leaving the hotel that day, he had naturally gone to find Old Cai, but the conclusion they reached was that there was no conclusion. It was maddening; someone had clearly used some trick on him, yet it was completely untraceable.
Only the daily flare-ups of pain served as a constant reminder that all of this was real. If he wanted to live, he had to atone for all his past sins. And for the past two days, that was exactly what he and Yuan Sheng had been busy doing.
To those they had blackmailed, to those they had driven to financial ruin, and even to the families of those who had died because of them, Ye Rong sent money, hoping that Chen Jiao would see these acts and show mercy.
Although Chen Jiao had given them three days, that was her deadline, not theirs. With each passing day, Ye Rong and his men felt their bodies grow weaker, their condition worsening.
Now, seeing Chen Jiao come out, Ye Rong didn’t say a word. He simply bowed crisply, followed by a synchronized shout from everyone: "Boss!"
Chen Jiao’s ears twitched. She felt her toes curl from the cringe.
Tan You said, "Ye Rong and his men are thoroughly terrified. After running around for the last two days, their assets have shrunk by more than half. As for their victims, they have all received appropriate compensation."
Chen Jiao, who despised evil, retorted, "But that’s nowhere near enough! How can they get away with just paying money after all the people they’ve hurt?"
Tan You nodded. "I agree, it’s not enough. If it were up to me, I’d say just get rid of them for good."
Chen Jiao’s stance immediately shifted. "Teacher, we can’t do anything illegal!"
Tan You raised an eyebrow slightly. She was usually the one telling others not to break the law. But in this world, it was Chen Jiao who was repeatedly reminding her. ’How strange,’ she thought. ’Have I become some kind of stick-in-the-mud about the law?’
"What should we do about Ye Rong and his men?" Chen Jiao asked, looking at them. They looked absolutely miserable. Every one of them had dark circles under their eyes, a sallow complexion, and unsteady steps. They looked like they didn’t have long to live.
"Give them the antidote. After this, you’ll go your separate ways," Tan You said with a small smile. She didn’t mention that, in her opinion, Ye Rong and his men didn’t have long to live anyway. As far as she was concerned, they should have died long ago.
Chen Jiao just said, "Oh." Without asking Ye Rong what he’d been doing for the past two days, she rummaged around in her bag, the sound of small vials CLINKING together filling the air. Finally, Chen Jiao pulled out a thumb-sized bottle.
"Give this to them, one pill each." Chen Jiao handed the antidote to Zong Qi, unwilling to get any closer to Ye Rong and his men. Who knew if a cornered Ye Rong might try something desperate? Chen Jiao was very fond of her life.
Zong Qi glanced back at Chen Jiao, making sure she was out of range of a sneak attack from the lackeys, before cautiously handing the small porcelain bottle to Ye Rong. Gripping the small bottle, Ye Rong eagerly swallowed one of the pills.