Chapter 44 Switching
Outside the obstetrics and gynecology operating room on the second floor of Peter Hospital in the Western District of Hong Kong Island, Ye Kaimin paced back and forth in the corridor, which annoyed Liang Meiyun. She could only silently roll her eyes at him in her heart.
With nothing to do, Ye Baoling wandered around and noticed that the operating room only had one door. She was really curious about how Zheng Junni was going to switch babies.
Is the baby already inside?
She returned to the waiting area and sat down next to Liang Meiyun.
Liang Meiyun complained to her with a look of disgust: "Look at the environment of this hospital..."
Ye Baoling then asked, "Why did you choose this kind of hospital for your C-section?"
"I heard that an old doctor at this hospital prescribed her some conditioning medicine," Liang Meiyun whispered to her, "It's medicine specifically for having a son."
Ye Baoling and her second aunt exchanged a knowing smile and offered no further comment.
Just then, the nurse wheeled out a new mother and a baby.
"Family of the mother, Gao Aiqun! Boy, 6.1 pounds."
A woman in her forties ran over and took the baby.
Seeing that the woman was slightly nervous and had no smile on her face, Ye Baoling immediately realized that this was a switched child.
Zheng Junni is really bold; she actually switched the items right under everyone's noses.
Liang Meiyun also noticed: "This family is strange; they're not happy even though they had a boy."
Watching the operating table for the pregnant woman being pushed into the elevator, Ye Baoling excused herself to go to the restroom and followed her out, watching as the elevator indicator light stopped on the 3rd floor.
She followed the stairs to the third floor, and outside the glass door at the top of the stairs, she saw a familiar figure talking to the woman holding the child.
When the figure turned around, Ye Baoling immediately recognized it as Ah Feng, the one who had been driven away from Zheng Junni!
Then, Ah Feng left with a bag of things.
It seems that after Ah Feng left the eldest son's house, she was responsible for making arrangements outside.
Ye Baoling returned to the operating room on the second floor and whispered to her second aunt, "I just saw Afeng."
"Which Ah Feng?" Liang Meiyun immediately remembered after asking, "The one who got kicked out?"
Ye Baoling nodded: "Yes, I don't know what they were doing, they were acting suspiciously."
Sneaky?
Liang Meiyun hesitated for a moment, thinking of getting up to go out and look for it, but fearing that others might misunderstand, she held back and didn't move.
The operating room door opened again, and the nurse came out to congratulate Ye Kaimin.
"Mr. Ye! Congratulations, it's a boy, 8.2 pounds."
Ye Kaimin's face was all wrinkled from smiling as he asked nervously, "Is he safe and healthy?"
"Mother and child are safe."
Although she already knew that Zheng Junni was carrying a boy, Liang Meiyun still felt a pang of jealousy and unease when she heard the news that both mother and child were safe.
But she didn't show it on her face, only smiling and congratulating him: "It's good that mother and child are safe and sound, congratulations, brother."
Ye Kaimin was still angry about her tearing up the amulet and ignored her.
The operating table for the new mother was wheeled out. Zheng Junni, who had just undergone a cesarean section, had a sallow complexion but a slight smile on her lips.
The baby was also brought out.
Ye Kaimin was so excited that he hesitated to hold the child, so the nanny who came with the Ye family took the child from him.
The Ye family members went over to watch, and Ye Baoling also went over.
The baby's face was rosy and chubby, and with his eyes closed, he looked incredibly cute.
Liang Meiyun smiled and exclaimed to Zheng Junni, "Sister-in-law really didn't show her pregnancy. Her belly wasn't very big usually, but I didn't expect her to give birth to a big, healthy boy weighing 8.2 pounds."
Zheng Junni ignored her.
Liang Meiyun could only say to Ye Baoling, "Baoling, congratulations on becoming a big sister again."
Ye Baoling was speechless.
The word "again" is used well.
Liang Meiyun never forgets to remind them that they had previously given birth to a mentally disabled boy.
Ye Kaimin ignored Liang Meiyun's sarcastic remarks and turned to ask Uncle Xing, "Have you told the old man the good news?"
Uncle Xing laughed and said, "I've already called to share the good news. The old man is very happy and wants me to go to Aihe Hospital immediately for a comprehensive check-up."
It's clear that the old man is worried about his child's health and wants to take him to Aihe Hospital for a full check-up before he can feel at ease.
Ye Kaimin was also uneasy, but seeing that the child's face was completely different from when Ye Baolong was born, he couldn't believe that someone could win the "jackpot" twice in a row.
He immediately said he would go to Aihe Hospital with them.
Ye Baoling brought a camera and video camera, intending to gather evidence, but she didn't use them. However, it wasn't a complete loss.
At the very least, she planted a seed of doubt in Liang Meiyun's heart.
As for when the seeds will flower and bear fruit, that depends on when she waters and fertilizes them.
It was past nine o'clock when they got home. Ye Baoling and Liang Meiyun had dinner together downstairs, and then went to their respective rooms to rest.
Liang Meiyun returned to her room, and her husband Ye Kaisi followed her in.
Ye Kais scolded her: "What's wrong with you? Why did you tear up the amulet for no reason? Someone in the family is pregnant. Don't you know that there are pregnancy spirits everywhere?"
Liang Meiyun knew, of course, that she had torn it on purpose.
"Who tore it? I replaced the old one with the new one. She was about to give birth anyway, and she was deliberately trying to cause trouble and smear me! Isn't this a case of mother and child being safe and sound?"
Ye Kaisi pointed at her with his finger: "The old man is very angry. You just wait."
"Wait? What can he do to me? Another grandson? Does he think he's going to fly to the moon?" Liang Meiyun took off her hair bun. "How old is the old man? To put it bluntly, will he even live to see this little grandson grow up? Let Baoshun try harder and give him a great-grandson!"
Ye Kaisi disagreed: "He doesn't need to wait for this little grandson to grow up. As long as the eldest brother has an heir and the eldest brother is capable, 90% of our eldest son's family property will be his."
That's the problem with the Ye family's rules.
The son who is not the heir to the family business can only receive a maximum of 10%.
If the brothers had divided the family property equally, there wouldn't have been so many conflicts.
The situation is now either you die or I live!
Liang Meiyun couldn't help but grumble for a while before finally saying, "What inhumane and ridiculous rules!"
After listening to his wife's complaints, Ye Kaisi said, "If it weren't for this kind of inheritance, would Ye Qingtang and Su Man Jewelry still be in the hands of our eldest son's family? They would have been divided up by everyone long ago."
As Liang Meiyun combed her hair, she said, "I felt a bit strange at the hospital today."
"What's strange about it?"
"I can't quite put my finger on it. It just feels weird. Something's not right."
Ye Kais ignored her and went out.
*
Ye Baoling waited in her room until 12:30, but her second uncle was still in the study.
She couldn't get into the secret room unless her second uncle left.
She had no choice but to call Ye Huaizhang to tell him what was going on. "My second uncle may have had a fight with my second aunt. He's staying in the study and won't leave."
Ye Huaizhang advised her, "It's getting late, you should go to sleep early and we can talk about it tomorrow."
Ye Baoling had no choice but to agree to reschedule.
The next morning, Sister Ping brought in oat milk and muttered to herself, "They sent the baby to the second son's hospital for a check-up right after birth, and they said everything was normal and the baby was very healthy. The old man was so happy that your father also benefited from it."
"What are the benefits?" Ye Baoling asked as she drew her eyebrows.
"I heard that the matter of Ye Qingtang going public is going to be handed over to your dad!" Sister Ping fanned herself as she stirred her milk.
Ye Qingtang herbal tea will be launched next month, and the basic preparations have been completed. Ye Kaimin is just going to lend his name to it so that he can get a good reputation without having to work hard.
It seems to be a good thing that actually has benefits.
Sister Ping complained, "God really has no eyes."
Ye Baoling comforted her, "Don't be angry, it has nothing to do with us."
"That's true. The old man even stripped the second wife of her power in managing the household."
Ye Baoling asked in surprise, "Such a fast speed?"
“This morning, Uncle Xing came out and told Sister Yin that if there’s anything, just ask Aunt Xing directly, instead of asking the Second Madam. I guess once that woman finishes her postpartum confinement, the management rights will be handed over to her.” Sister Ping touched the glass with the back of her hand. “The temperature is just right, drink it quickly.”
Ye Baoling drank oat milk, went downstairs and ate some pig's feet with ginger and noodles before rushing off to work.
She walked to work today, deliberately taking a longer route and going around in circles.
Passing by a large bookstore, she went inside and bought almost every financial newspaper and magazine in the store.
Of the three speculative stocks, she only found one.
The other two are unclear whether they haven't been listed yet or haven't changed their names; there's no news on their future.
She arrived exceptionally early today; it was only 8:30 when she got to the office, and she was the first one there.
After flipping through several newspapers, she found a news item about Dapeng Port in an obscure newspaper called "Tumbleweed Financial Weekly".
The reporter followed them to Shenzhen and, after in-depth investigation, discovered that in addition to Haihua Construction, another large state-owned infrastructure enterprise from the mainland was also stationed at Dapeng Port.
The Haihua Construction team at Dapeng Port had very few members and had not been working outside the port.
Reporters suspect that although Haihua Construction had the support of its major shareholder, Gangtong Industrial, it could not compete with state-owned enterprises on price and ultimately failed to win the construction rights for Dapeng Port.
Such a big thing?
Ye Baoling immediately picked up the phone and called Ye Huaizhang. As soon as the call connected, she asked, "Haihua Construction was rejected?"
"You're very well-informed," Ye Huaizhang said, still in the car.
Ye Baoling's anger flared up instantly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Didn't you buy Hong Kong Tong Industrial but not Haihua Construction?"
"Yes, I didn't buy it!" Ye Baoling said and hung up the phone.
angry!
But she knew she had no reason to be angry, and that was what made her even angrier.
Liu Haonan shouldn't be at the company yet at this time, so she paged him and told him to come to the office immediately.
She then grabbed her handbag, went out, and hailed a taxi to Qiyuan.
I ran into Lu Baohua, who had just arrived at work, at the company entrance. He asked, "Ah Lin, so early... Where are you going?"
Ye Baoling smiled and made an excuse: "I have some things to take care of in the logistics department."
That's the advantage of having two departments; she can appear very busy but can slip away at any time.
More than ten minutes later, I arrived at Qiyuan Investment. Chen Yulan was already there, but Liu Haonan had not yet arrived.
Just as I was about to page him again to urge him on, Liu Haonan pushed the door open and came in.
"Why did you call so urgently? Something happened?"
Ye Baoling: "We need to clear out all of Haihua Construction before Gangtong Industrial releases its press release this afternoon."
Judging from the boss's tone, Liu Haonan could roughly guess that Haihua Construction had failed to win the Dapeng Port project.
He didn't ask any more questions, only saying, "Haihua Construction has a small market capitalization. If we dump our shares directly, we'll definitely break through the framework, and we might not be able to keep our previous profits."
Ye Baoling knew that time was indeed too tight; there was still half an hour before the market opened, and she had to think of a solution quickly.
She asked, "If we don't smash them and ship them out slowly, how many can we ship in a morning?"
"Uncertain. The worst-case scenario is that everyone who knows the news dumps their shares at once, then very few shares will be sold."
Have you heard of the Tumbleweed Financial Weekly?
"Never heard of it. What's wrong?"
Ye Baoling showed Liu Haonan the copy of "Tumbleweed Financial Weekly," which was only in its second issue.
Liu Haonan analyzed: "The circulation of this new newspaper should be very small. There are definitely not many people who can see this news and happen to have bought Haihua Construction. In the newspaper I read yesterday, everyone was still reporting on the impact if Haihua Construction takes over Dapeng Port."
Not many people know about it, so there's still time.
Ye Baoling asked, "What is our current unrealized profit?"
"The unrealized profit is 52%."
They've already made quite a bit of money.
Ye Baoling thought for a moment: "Don't we have several accounts? Try to raise the price as much as possible to sell. If you can't raise it, that's okay too, just don't let it drop too much today. Find more securities traders to help you operate and give them more commission."
With the boss's words, "Give me more commission," the operation became much easier. Liu Haonan said, "I'll go find someone to help me right now."
Ye Baoling actually had other options to reduce her losses.
That would involve mobilizing people to buy up all the copies of "Tumbleweed" or calling radio stations to spread false information and confuse the public.
But this method is really despicable. She's making money now, not losing everything. There's no need to go to such extremes.
Let's compete on skill and technique, and make as much money as we can this round.
After the conversation, she went back to the company.
As soon as I arrived at the company, my colleagues dragged me to inspect the factory workshop, and I didn't get back to the office until almost 2 p.m.
Chen Yulan paged her every hour to let her know the progress.
By 2 PM, 90% of the shares had been sold.
With only half an hour left before the 2:30 PM announcement, 10% of the positions were being sold off at an accelerated pace.
With only 10% remaining, Ye Baoling could finally relax, no matter what.
There will be a departmental meeting this afternoon.
The two deputy managers first gave a summary of their work this week.
Speaking of consumer market research for new products, Qu Zhengming said, "This time it's a little different. We received two research reports. You two have both read them, right?"
"I saw it."
How would you rate it?
Lu Baohua smiled and said, "Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Generally speaking, the thicker one is more comprehensive."
Xu Chengping put it more directly: "The thicker version is a better summary."
Rongjie whispered to He Jiayi, "Who's being generous and who's being stingy?"
He Jiayi still held onto a sliver of hope, shaking her head: "I don't know. Ours is quite generous, isn't it? Three pages."
Qu Zhengming opened the folder, holding a market research report in one hand. The difference in thickness between the two reports was so obvious that Sister Rong couldn't help but widen her eyes.
How many pages are there in them?
Qu Zhengming: "The consumer market research report, jointly completed by Gu Baolin and Gao Lizhen, used a total of 500 consumer questionnaires as statistical basis. The 16-page report is detailed and thorough, combining text and graphics, and the conclusions are clear. From this report, I saw the true attitude of consumers towards our new product, which is that our jasmine herbal tea neither pleases the traditional herbal tea market, nor does it have a strong flavor that attracts the interest of other beverage lovers."
This result surprised everyone.
Sister Rong immediately objected: "People who like this herbal tea do so because they love its rich flavor. Since when has a rich flavor become a weakness?"
Qu Zhengming countered, "How many consumers did you survey to arrive at this conclusion?"
Sister Rong fell silent, after all, the 80 questionnaires they had completed were all done with the help of the convenience store owner.
"The reason we conducted this survey is because the sales of jasmine herbal tea have been extremely low since its launch. If we only survey consumers who like this tea, what's the point of the survey? We should ask consumers of other brands of tea beverages why they don't like our jasmine herbal tea."
He Jiayi questioned, "After all, it's a new product. Could it be that those who say they don't like it have never even tried our jasmine herbal tea?"
Ye Baoling: "We gave each of the respondents a bottle of jasmine herbal tea. The respondents tasted it before they participated in the survey."
Rong Jie and He Jiayi remained silent.
Qu Zhengming placed the two reports on the table: "In less than a week, Gu Baolin, as a newcomer, along with Gao Lizhen, who is also a newcomer, completed a market research report comparable to that produced by a professional research company. I can imagine how many difficulties they overcame. How can 500 high-quality questionnaires be completed in such a short time? Our company's computers do not have professional statistical software, so how should we solve this problem? If this were given to you, how would you handle it?"
No one spoke in the meeting room, and it was impossible for anyone to answer.
After a short while, Xu Chengping said, "The questionnaire was done by Gu Baolin through her cousin who hired college students to do it part-time; as for the software issue, Gu Baolin used her connections to get the computer and software from the survey company, and it took her a day and a half to efficiently complete the professional statistical analysis."
Qu Zhengming: "So, Gu Baolin didn't have three heads and six arms. She overcame the difficulties one by one through her own efforts. Seeing our new colleagues' spirit of putting in all their effort and refusing to admit defeat to complete the task has given me a lot of inspiration. I still haven't done enough. I reflect on this. All of us, including myself, should learn from Gu Baolin."
Ye Baoling believed that Qu Zhengming's praise for her was genuine. Anyone would be happy to be praised, but what she wanted was not praise, but trust.
As for whether this praise will cause trouble, she would definitely worry if she had just started working there.
But now that she has a good understanding of her colleagues in the product department, she is no longer afraid of offending anyone.
Of course, there's no point in offending people or making enemies, so she smiled and said modestly, "This questionnaire was prepared by Sister Rong and Jiayi. We only made minor adjustments before using it directly. It was also Manager Xu's decision to divide the work into two groups. The two sets of data can be compared to help colleagues see things more clearly. The two reports have different focuses and observation points, so there is no superior or inferior one."
Ye Baoling spoke graciously and appropriately, offering consideration from all sides.
Rongjie and He Jiayi, who originally had a lot of opinions about Ye Baoling, instantly calmed down.
Qu Zhengming gave Ye Baoling's investigation report to his colleagues and asked them to make several copies so that the group could analyze it.
After the meeting, Qu Zhengming called Ye Baoling into the director's office.
How do you feel about working in our product department?
Ye Baoling smiled and said, "It's fine."
"The marketing department has run into some issues lately..."
Ye Baoling knew about the situation in the marketing department because she was the one who created it.
According to Qi Yuxiu, Liu, the director of the marketing department, has been suspended from his duties pending investigation. It is still unknown how he will be dealt with.
It may take some time for the two factions to fight each other to reach a conclusion.
Qu Zhengming said, "I may have to take on two roles for the time being, managing both product and marketing. I'm currently short of capable people, and you happen to be someone who can get things done. I want you to work alongside me from now on, running between the product and marketing departments."
Ye Baoling is fine with this. As long as she doesn't run into the Ye family, she's willing to do more and extend her reach further.
Yes, she appears humble, but she is not at all; she knows her own abilities.
"What do you think? Are you willing to come with me?"
Ye Baoling nodded and smiled, "President Qu, you appreciate me, of course I have no problem with that."
Qu Zhengming liked this kind of clever girl. "If you have no problem, I'll promote you two levels next month, and your salary will be the same. Those who are capable should do more, but those who do more should also be paid more."
Otherwise, the company will not be able to retain talent.
Qu Zhengming understands this principle.
Ye Baoling said happily, "Thank you, President Qu."
"Your investigation report has really given me a lot of inspiration. Are you really just a Form Four graduate?"
"I did graduate from Form Four, but after graduation I didn't formally look for a job. Instead, I did a lot of part-time work. I've done a lot of jobs, including market research. So I have some experience." Ye Baoling could lie without batting an eye and make her story coherent.
Qu Zhengming suggests: "If you have time, you can study at an adult university while working. You need to have the ability and the degree, otherwise the first half of the journey will be easy, but the second half will be difficult."
This suggestion is very thoughtful, which shows that Qu Zhengming is a more practical and considerate boss than Qi Yuxiu.
Ye Baoling said she would seriously consider it.
Back at her workstation, she immediately took out her pager and saw two messages from Chen Yulan.
The message sent at 2:45 PM read: "Sold out."
The message sent at 3 o'clock reads: Profit margin 51.2%.
Ye Baoling finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although she did not achieve her goal of doubling her earnings this time, she still made 51% under the circumstances, which was already quite impressive.
She quickly calculated that she would receive a whopping 40.8 million.
You work hard and toil away, earning a monthly salary of 3,000, but then you make a fortune in the stock market with just a little effort!
Of course, her current funds are far from enough to compete with her grandfather's, and she still needs to work harder.
After getting off work, she rushed to Qiyuan. Liu Haonan had been working with great concentration for most of the day and was now exhausted. He was sitting in a chair with his eyes closed, resting.
Upon meeting Ye Baoling, he smiled and said, "Actually, we made nearly 55% in the morning, but unfortunately, in the last half hour, Haihua Construction's stock price plummeted, especially after Hong Kong Tong Industrial announced the news. Institutions panicked and sold off their shares, and some of them sold at a loss."
Ye Baoling was very satisfied with the results this time. The funds would not arrive until next Monday, and the commission was to be paid out on Monday.
*
At 12:30 a.m., Ye Baoling finally entered the secret room in the study on time.
Down to the wine cellar on the third basement level, she tried to divide the twelve wine racks into two hexagrams, following the method Ye Huaizhang had written for her.
Then, following the map, press down on each floor tile one by one.
When the last tile corresponding to "Up" was pressed, the tile did indeed sink noticeably.
She quickly looked up and scanned the four corners, and sure enough, she saw a familiar curve in the northeast corner.
Ye Baoling went forward, but she didn't dare to push the door open rashly, for fear of startling Ye Huaizhang inside the tunnel. She first knocked on the wall bricks.
"Hey! Are you there?"
Soon, knocking sounds came from behind the wall, and Ye Huaizhang responded from inside the tunnel.
"I pushed the door open."
She pushed hard, but only a little, and the threshold seemed to get stuck.
With another push, a loud "thud" was heard outside, followed by Ye Huaizhang's muffled scream of pain.
"What's wrong?!"
After pushing the door open, the flashlight shone over and saw Ye Huaizhang squatting next to a beam, which had hit his foot.
Ye Baoling also squatted down: "Let me take a look."
His ankle was hit and scraped, and it was bleeding.
"If the beam fell down, wouldn't you have dodged?"
"..." It was so dark at the time, why didn't he hide when he could have?
She asked again, "Can you get up?"
He was slightly annoyed. "I can't get up."
Ye Baoling had no choice but to reach out and help him up.
She glanced around with her flashlight and said worriedly, "Another beam has fallen. Will this place collapse?"
"No. It's reinforced with steel and cement." He had studied it.
She helped Ye Huaizhang into the wine cellar, and the two walked around half of it.
Ye Huaizhang took out the wine bottle and examined it closely: "Something must have happened to the Ye family in 1946."
"Yes, they're all French red wines from 1946. Do the second wife's family have some too?"
That makes it difficult to verify.
After all, they couldn't enter the second son's room to check if there was a secret room.
Ye Huaizhang: "But I took some time these past two days to check the 'Chronology of the Ye Qingtang Family,' and there were no special events that occurred in 1946."
Where can I find a chronological table of events?
“Every branch of the family has one; the one from your eldest branch should be in your grandfather’s possession.”
Ye Baoling didn't want to ask her grandfather for it, lest the old man suspect her of having ulterior motives. "Let me borrow your third branch's [item] to take a look."
"It's in my study. Take it if you want to see it."
I walked around the wine cellar again, feeling that there was some secret that hadn't been discovered.
However, there are not many clues at the moment.
It was getting late, and Ye Huaizhang looked up at the stairs leading to the study on the second floor of Xihetang. Since he had injured his foot earlier that day, he decided not to go up.
As they were about to part ways, he turned back to look at her and asked, "Aren't you going to take me home?"
Ye Baoling wanted to slack off, but seeing that he couldn't walk any further, she had no choice but to say, "Alright, I'll take you first."
-----------------------
Author's note: Ye Baoling: Nothing good will come of going back.
Ye Huaizhang: I am free from worldly desires, so don't overthink it.
Ye Baoling: [rolls eyes]
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