"You don't need to explain to me. Don't you feel any guilt or self-reproach for that girl's death?" Meng Yao asked.
Hong Jiaxi recalled the vibrant girl who had once been in front of him and fell silent, unable to respond.
"The internet here isn't good. I'll book our flight back for next week." Meng Yao found an excuse, left the ward, and wanted to be alone for a while.
...
Song Jiaping had just finished his fifteen-day leave and returned to the company to report back.
In fact, after rushing over, he had been traveling for two weeks. He had only seen Meng Yao for a few minutes. Knowing she wasn't alone and was safe was enough.
On his first day back at work, he was summoned to the office by Huangfu Mengqi.
"Have you finished dealing with your family matters? Is everything alright?" Huangfu Mengqi asked with concern.
Song Jiaping merely nodded.
"That's good." Huangfu Mengqi didn't waste time with him and handed him a pile of documents. "Familiarize yourself with this information. I have a dinner appointment with Mrs. Lu tonight, and you'll be accompanying me."
"So soon." Song Jiaping hadn't expected her to be serious and didn't give him much time to consider.
Huangfu Mengqi said, "It's not soon. It's been half a month since we last met. Prepare yourself properly."
Song Jiaping stated, "I'm not going to any styling salon again. I'm quite happy with how I look today."
"Who asked you to prepare such things? I told you to familiarize yourself with the documents," Huangfu Mengqi waved him away dismissively. "You can go."
Song Jiaping returned to his desk with the documents, feeling that it wasn't too soon after all.
He had been at Huangfu Group for over three months. He needed to achieve something to gain faster access to the core business of Huangfu Group.
Huangfu Mengqi had already investigated Song Jiaping's family situation and found that he only had a mother.
When he was in his teens, he and his mother had moved to Lancheng and had always lived in rented accommodation. His mother had worked multiple jobs alone to support his education.
Now that he could support himself, his mother had to move into a nursing home due to poor health.
As for his relatives in his hometown, there weren't many left. Moreover, his leave this time was not to accompany his mother but to go abroad.
She had also had his flight records checked, and the place he had gone to was the same place Meng Yao had gone.
Could it be that he had gone to find Meng Yao?
But hadn't they already divorced? And Meng Yao hadn't returned with him.
Could it be that he still had feelings for Meng Yao?
Huangfu Mengqi shook her head. She shouldn't be so curious about Meng Yao's romantic affairs. As long as Song Jiaping's background was simple and she could use him, that was all that mattered.
She had always disdained matters of love and romance, only wanting to focus on her career and show her parents, who favored sons, that her abilities were the strongest among their three children.
Song Jiaping spent the entire day diligently reviewing the information about Lu Group.
Lu Group started in real estate and was now primarily involved in investment. They had successfully transformed into an investment company several years ago.
Mrs. Lu had graduated from a prestigious university with a degree in finance and had worked in the investment industry for many years, gaining considerable fame.
Currently, both she and her husband held significant power within Lu Group, so any agreement reached with her was essentially an agreement with Lu Group.
As a financial group, Huangfu Group needed to find various channels to invigorate its finances and make its money grow.
If they could establish long-term cooperation with Lu Group, it would be equivalent to building a pipeline for money to generate more money.
Huangfu Mengqi indeed had a sharp business mind. He had to admire her as a strong woman with great foresight.
After work, Song Jiaping and Huangfu Mengqi went to a teahouse together.
They arrived first and waited for a while. Mrs. Lu arrived with a female friend.
They introduced themselves and exchanged pleasantries upon meeting.
Mrs. Lu introduced her friend, who was involved in the medical device sector and recently wanted to open a health check-up center focused on women's well-being.
She thought of discussing cooperation with Huangfu Mengqi today and decided to bring her friend along so they could all discuss the market prospects for medical institutions specializing in the "two cancers" screening and early diagnosis for women.
While drinking tea and eating pastries, they first listened to Mrs. Lu's friend explain her ideas and plans.
After listening, Huangfu Mengqi felt that the market prospect for this sector was vast, but she showed no outward reaction, merely stating that she didn't know much about the operation of health check-up centers.
Mrs. Lu didn't offer her opinion but turned to Song Jiaping and said, "Dr. Song, you were an obstetrician. You should have the most say here. What do you think of a health check-up center exclusively for women? Is it feasible?"
Song Jiaping had to offer his professional opinion from a medical perspective, but he was merely Huangfu Mengqi's subordinate now and certainly couldn't make the final decision on such matters.
He concluded, "In Lancheng, there are quite a few health check-up centers, but a center exclusively for women is likely something no one has done before. As for the feasibility of this project, there should be sufficient market research to let the data speak for itself."
Huangfu Mengqi and Mrs. Lu both nodded.
Mrs. Lu's friend quickly added, "Alright, I will prepare a dedicated market research report. I hope for your support then."
"Of course," Huangfu Mengqi seized the opportunity and said, "This project of yours is the first one that Mrs. Lu and I will cooperate on. Why don't we have our people participate in your research as well? This way, the research results will be more convincing."
Mrs. Lu's friend readily agreed, "Yes, that's no problem. I think we can have Mr. Song, who has professional knowledge from your company, investigate with us. Mrs. Lu, what do you think?"
Mrs. Lu didn't answer but smiled at Song Jiaping.
Huangfu Mengqi directly said, "Jiaping, then you will be responsible for the research on this project. I'll await your good news."
Song Jiaping nodded and said, "Understood."
Mrs. Lu looked at Huangfu Mengqi and extended her hand to shake hers, saying, "May we have a pleasant cooperation in the future."
"Pleasant cooperation," Huangfu Mengqi knew Mrs. Lu was also a shrewd businesswoman.
Mrs. Lu didn't engage in pleasantries. She had brought a project with her tonight to test the sincerity of Huangfu Group's desire to cooperate with Lu Group.
Therefore, the success or failure of this project would be crucial for their future cooperation.
After the meeting, they first saw Mrs. Lu and her friend off.
Song Jiaping didn't want to ride in her car anymore and wanted to go back by himself.
However, Huangfu Mengqi insisted on giving him a ride. As soon as they got into the car, she complained, "I've drunk so much tea, I'm really not used to it."
Song Jiaping said calmly, "Drinking tea is better than drinking coffee, especially for women. They should drink more black tea."
"Oh, you're educating me on health knowledge. I'll gladly accept your teachings."
"Ms. Qi, if you insist on giving me a ride, is there something important you need to tell me?" Song Jiaping asked directly.
Huangfu Mengqi didn't beat around the bush. "Yes. Do you know how important this research is? It's related to the first batch of money we'll be investing through Lu Group's channels..."