The driver lowered his head and urged, his attitude humble, "Miss Ruan, where are we going?"
Ruan Chen sighed.
The driver assumed she was going to the airport, the train station, or even home, or that she wanted to go to the Fu family's house; he could understand that.
Ruan Chen paused for a moment, then replied, "Provincial Library."
He's quite eager to learn.
The driver couldn't help but remind him, "Young Master said your current situation is quite dangerous and asked me to guarantee your safety. I think perhaps I can take you to the Fu family's old residence, where it will definitely be safe."
Ruan Chen squeezed the Fu family patriarch's token in her pocket. "No rush, I need to go to the provincial library now."
The driver, sensing the situation, didn't try to persuade him any further and turned the car around to head towards the provincial library.
Ruan Chen didn't enter through the main entrance. Instead, she skillfully bypassed the advertising board placed to the side of the main entrance, lifted the ineffective barrier rope, seemingly ignoring the "No Entry for Non-Staff" sign at the entrance, and went straight down the dusty stairs into the archives book room.
These are some rare and precious ancient books from the provincial library's collection.
The archive of books was located underground. A little sunlight shone in through the skylight, but the room was still a bit dim. Ruan Chen went straight to a corner of the room, which was clean and tidy. There was a carpet, a soft and large beanbag, a small coffee table, and a lamp.
It looks very cozy at first glance.
Ruan Chen has some quirks, such as collecting rare and ancient books.
Perhaps due to the scarcity of resources during her childhood, after returning to a normal life, Ruan Chen initially hoarded books in a villa on the hillside, then stuffed them into the Ye family's seaside villa, and later even considered renting a warehouse.
It was Ruan Wenlou who came up with the idea: donate it all to the provincial library, saving Ruan Chen a large sum of money on storage fees, and Ruan Chen could come whenever he wanted to visit.
Ruan Chen randomly picked up a retro, melancholic novel that was popular eight hundred years ago, slumped onto the beanbag, took out a bag of jelly from a small cabinet, and began to read it with complete absorption.
To be honest, this kind of literary work has little nutritional or artistic value. The only thing that is worth money is that it is really old, well-preserved, and beautifully bound. The paper used in this book had stopped being produced 600 years ago.
But Ruan Chen was indiscriminate in his reading, able to absorb anything.
The phone lay beside her legs on the white shaggy carpet, vibrating intermittently.
Ruan Chen was laughing so hard at a cheesy, melodramatic joke when she glanced at the phone, answered it, and still laughed.
"Mom, I'm at the library."
It was Ye Huanhuan. Duan Jingfu contacted the Ye family immediately, hoping to gain Ruan Chen's position by putting pressure on them.
He didn't want to make a big fuss, but Ruan Chen reacted too quickly, like a slippery fish, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Duan Jingfu is now desperate to completely destroy this genius who knows too many secrets, turning him into a soulless and thoughtless weapon in his hands.
"Ruan Chen, what's going on with you? Your teacher contacted me and said you stole secrets from the Martial Arts Research Institute," Ye Huanhuan said, feigning composure. She was also a little flustered, but as one of the heirs of the Ye Group, she didn't completely lose her composure. "Tell Mom what's going on. What can't our Ye family have? I don't believe you would steal anything."
She said this with great conviction, showing her unconditional trust and support for Ruan Chen.
Ruan Chen turned a page of his book. "It's nothing, Mom. It's just that some of their research at the martial arts research institute isn't entirely compliant and might involve excessive pollution levels, which could be harmful to human health. I just mentioned it briefly. But that project has already invested over two billion yuan in its early stages, and they can't just stop now, so..."
Ruan Chen's words were mostly false, but they roughly reflected the current situation.
Ye Huanhuan immediately understood.
This is a situation where someone can't solve the problem, or doesn't want to solve it, so they plan to eliminate the person who raised the problem.
“Hey, I’ve met Professor Duan a few times. Our Ye family has collaborated with his institute on several projects. I thought he was a kind and upright teacher, but he turned out to be like this.” Ye Huanhuan felt relieved after hearing Ruan Chen’s explanation. She had seen this kind of tactic many times in business warfare. “Ruan Chen, don’t panic. The group will handle it.”
Ruan Chen quickly stopped her, "Mom, don't get involved with the Ye family."
"Why?"
“This is not something the Ye family can control.” Ruan Chen’s tone was extremely solemn and serious. “Mom, for the sake of the Ye family’s foundation, you cannot interfere. Just cooperate on the surface.”
Ye Huanhuan knew that her daughter never spoke without reason. After a moment of silence, she said softly, "Chenchen, you must take good care of yourself."
"Yes, Mom."
"If needed, you can mobilize the Ye family's resources."
"Don't worry, I definitely won't hold back with you."
After hanging up the phone, Ruan Chen continued reading.
The second call was from Yu Xiaoya.
Ruan Chen repeated the exact same thing to Yu Xiaoya.
After Yu Xiaoya vehemently denounced the arrogant academic clique, she confidently patted her chest and assured Ruan Chen that with just a word from Ruan Chen, several of the Yu family's construction and research projects would no longer be undertaken by Jinghua University of Technology.
Yu Xiaoya hung up the phone cursing and said she was going to retest all the laboratories that Jinghua University of Technology and the Yu family had collaborated on. Even if there were no problems, she would still make things difficult for those people.
The third call was to the Xu family.
The eldest son of the Xu family didn't even listen to Ruan Chen's explanation; he interrupted her as soon as she opened her mouth.
Xu Qingjing's voice was still somewhat weak and feeble, "Ruan Chen, please be sure to tell me if you need anything. If it weren't for you back then, I would have died long ago."
“…Big brother, you don’t need to keep repeating that every now and then.” Ruan Chen rolled his eyes helplessly. “I know, go take care of your health. You don’t even have the energy to talk.”
Ruan Chen had read two-thirds of a book when the phone call she was waiting for finally came in.
She looked up from her book and stared at the landline number.
She had been waiting for a long time, but she didn't answer the phone. She just watched it ring for forty-five seconds before it automatically disconnected.
Then it lit up again, a second time.
Ruan Chen opened a bag of gummies and popped them into her mouth one by one, but still didn't take them.
After three attempts, the landline owner must have lost patience, because the phone screen stopped ringing.
There was a knock on the door.
Ruan Chen didn't turn it on, so a library staff member turned on the intercom. "Ms. Ruan, your uncle said he wants you to answer the phone, otherwise he'll have to come over to find you after he finishes working overtime tonight."
A genuine smile spread across Ruan Chen's lips.
She called back; it was the landline in Nan Jing's office.
"It's not like I did anything to upset you, so why are you taking it out on me?" Nan Jing said in a calm and unhurried tone. "Old Duan hurt your feelings, and now you don't even trust me anymore?"
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