Whew!
Wang Ge looked at Zhao Yingjun, who had suddenly barged in, and his forehead was instantly covered with fine beads of sweat.
He then realized.
His voice had been so loud that Zhao Yingjun, who hadn't even entered the door yet, had heard... that Lin Xian was going to perform a [paternity test] with this little girl.
Actually, it wasn't his fault for being so shocked.
His wife was the director of the testing department at Donghai Second Hospital. He'd heard plenty of bizarre things during casual after-dinner conversations at home. Especially when it came to paternity tests, he considered his threshold to be very high. Ordinary gossip stories simply didn't pique his interest.
But today, Lin Xian's matter was simply too outrageous! He really couldn't help but shout it out.
If Lin Xian had come in today holding a small baby, saying he wanted to do a paternity test.
Wang Ge wouldn't have been surprised at all.
These days... young people, a moment of passion, sparks flying, it's completely understandable. Young people are impulsive, who hasn't been young?
Even.
Even if Lin Xian had brought in a five- or six-year-old child today, saying he wanted to do a paternity test, Wang Ge could have accepted it.
Lin Xian was 25 years old this year. Five or six years ago, he had just graduated from high school and was going to college, which was the easiest age to make mistakes.
If he had accidentally had something happen with a female classmate at that time, and then they separated, and the other party secretly gave birth to a child... Although this kind of plot was rather melodramatic, similar things did happen in reality.
But today.
The reason he was so shocked and lost his voice.
Was because the little girl on the sofa was too old!
She looked to be fifteen or sixteen years old... Even considering that she looked more mature, she was at least thirteen or fourteen years old.
Lin Xian was only 25 years old this year.
This simple subtraction...
Wouldn't that mean Lin Xian had a child when he was eleven or twelve years old!?
This was simply too absurd and unbelievable!
That's why he had reacted so strongly just now.
Of course.
Right now, these were all minor matters.
The key was that his loud voice had been heard by Zhao Yingjun, and Lin Xian had been caught red-handed!
No, this was his responsibility, and he had to salvage the situation for Lin Xian.
"Ahem."
Wang Ge cleared his throat and laughed loudly:
"President Zhao, what did you hear? How could such an outrageous thing be possible! Come, come, let me introduce you."
As he spoke, Wang Ge walked to the sofa, acting like he knew everything, and pointed at Yu Xi, saying to Zhao Yingjun:
"This little girl is Lin Xian's cousin from a distant relative's family in the United States!"?
Zhao Yingjun's right eyebrow twitched, and she squinted at Wang Ge:
"What did you say? Say it again?"
"It's Lin Xian..."
Wang Ge swallowed and repeated this tongue-twisting sentence, biting his tongue:
"It's Lin Xian's cousin from a distant relative's family in the United States."
"Heh heh."
Zhao Yingjun crossed her arms and couldn't help but laugh, turning her head to look out the window:
"I haven't heard such a clumsy, self-incriminating cliché in a long time."
Lin Xian sat in his boss's chair, twirling a pen, and very much agreed with what Zhao Yingjun said.
Of course.
If he wasn't the protagonist of this matter, it would have been better; he would have liked to complain about it too.
The "cousin from a distant relative's family in the United States" explanation was just something he had casually said to the driver, Xiao Li.
Who would have thought that this company would be so small!
In a short while, the news had reached Wang Ge's ears, and then Wang Ge's loud voice had reached Zhao Yingjun's ears.
Now, it was his turn to be embarrassed.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Zhao Yingjun tilted her head and looked at Lin Xian:
"This little girl looks like she's over ten years old. You should know very well whether she's your child or not. This... how could it be possible? Have you ever had a girlfriend before?"
"No," Lin Xian said truthfully.
"Then what are you doing?" Zhao Yingjun continued to ask.
"Oh, it's just a misunderstanding! Lin Xian is just curious!"
Wang Ge quickly ran between the two:
"This is obviously impossible! How old was Lin Xian a dozen years ago? He was still playing in the mud! You two are really something! Don't you know this basic physiological knowledge?"
"Lin Xian! Say something, Lin Xian! Tell President Zhao that this is just a joke! Explain it clearly to President Zhao!"
Zhao Yingjun chuckled and waved her hand at Wang Ge:
"Wang Ge, you're joking. Lin Xian doesn't need to explain anything to me. Speaking of... since Lin Xian wants to do a paternity test, your wife happens to be the director of the testing department at the nearby Donghai Second Hospital. Wouldn't it be fine to go there directly? Anyway, it's not far from here, and you can ask your wife to cut in line and expedite it."
Lin Xian stopped twirling his pen.
Wang Ge's wife was actually the director of the testing department at Donghai Second Hospital?
This was really the first time he'd heard about it.
Just as Zhao Yingjun said, wouldn't it be better to have an acquaintance? Things would be much more convenient.
He turned his head and looked at Wang Ge:
"Wang Ge, is your sister-in-law really at the Donghai Second Hospital?"
"Ah? Ah..."
Wang Ge wiped his sweat, looking a little confused, and timidly raised his head to look at Zhao Yingjun, his eyes full of inquiry:
"This... is your sister-in-law... is she... or isn't she?"
Zhao Yingjun didn't know whether to laugh or cry:
"Why are you looking at me? Everyone in the company has known about it for a long time. Don't you usually ask your wife for help when you go to the hospital for business?"
"Besides, this little girl isn't your child. Why are you so nervous? If Lin Xian wants to go, just take him. It's not a troublesome matter. Say hello and cut in line, and the results might be out in two or three hours."
Wang Ge turned his head to look at Lin Xian again:
"Lin Xian, are you really going? You have to think carefully!"
"Let's go,"
Lin Xian spread his hands:
"It's nothing."
Wang Ge gritted his teeth...
He understood.
Whether it was Zhao Yingjun or Lin Xian, since the mention of the paternity test with the little girl, the two of them had never spoken directly to each other!
It seemed like the two of them were talking to him, but in fact, he was just a mouthpiece, a shield, a buffer.
Zhao Yingjun was saying she didn't care... but she was the one who brought up that his wife was the director of the testing department! It was as if she wanted him to drag Lin Xian to do the paternity test.
And strangely, Lin Xian was also calm and composed, with an expression of indifference and no guilt at all.
Wang Ge really couldn't figure out what these two were up to.
Generally speaking, who would want to do a DNA paternity test if they weren't guilty?
He had originally wanted to protect Lin Xian.
But in the current situation... he probably couldn't protect him.
Zhao Yingjun clearly wanted them to do a paternity test, and the path to the hospital and acquaintances had been paved; Lin Xian was the same, he could see that he also really wanted to do a paternity test.
So.
Was the cousin from a distant relative's family in the United States really just a made-up excuse?
Sigh.
He gritted his teeth:
"Alright."
It's hard for an honest official to judge family affairs, he chose to lie flat:
"Then Lin Xian... let's go. Donghai Second Hospital is right next door. I'll call my wife and contact her. Let's cut in line and get this over with quickly."
"I'll call Xiao Li first and have him prepare to drive us there."
Lin Xian nodded, patted Yu Xi on the shoulder, and called her up from the sofa, following Wang Ge behind.
Suddenly!
Wang Ge felt a gaze that sent chills down his spine! Like an ice sword piercing him! Freezing him in place, unable to move!
He tremblingly turned his head and found that this terrifying gaze... indeed came from Zhao Yingjun!
"Ahem."
He understood.
He said softly:
"That... President Zhao? Would you like to go too?"
"Heh heh."
Zhao Yingjun smiled casually:
"I won't go, will I?"
Heh heh.
Wang Ge also smiled inwardly. Look, you're still pretending! You clearly want to go! You just want me to give you a way out:
"Oh, let's go, let's go! Anyway, we're not busy with work right now. You've helped me a lot with my daughter's school matters before. Your sister-in-law has always said she wanted to thank you properly!"
"Alright then."
Zhao Yingjun put down her crossed arms, put her hands back in her coat pockets, and looked down at her high heels clicking as she followed:
"Then I'll go with you."
……
Along the way, the driver, Xiao Li, drove the Alphard, feeling that the vehicle was particularly heavy and difficult to drive today.
In the back passenger compartment, there were a total of four people.
In the front two seats were Lin Xian and his cousin from a distant relative's family in the United States.
In the back two seats were President Zhao and Wang Ge.
They were clearly very familiar with each other...
But now, no one was talking, and the atmosphere was particularly heavy!
This inexplicable heaviness made him feel like he wasn't driving a top-notch Alphard business car today, but a bulky tanker or an overloaded truck... Even the steering wheel was a little difficult to turn.
Fortunately.
Donghai Second Hospital wasn't far from the Gemini Towers where Rhein Company and MX Company were located. They didn't even need to get on the elevated road; they just turned a few corners and arrived.
"We're... here."
Driver Xiao Li was concise.
He could clearly feel the current atmosphere and didn't want to say a word more.
Wang Ge was familiar with the way and directly led the family of three behind him... ah, spit spit spit, although it felt very much like a family of three, but in reality they were three unrelated people, to the testing department where his wife was.
It had to be said, the director was still the director.
She was knowledgeable and experienced.
When she learned that Lin Xian wanted to do a paternity test with this teenage girl, she wasn't surprised at all. In her position... she had seen too many outrageous things. What was this?
So she directly arranged for blood to be drawn. Lin Xian had a tube drawn, and then Yu Xi had one drawn.
Lin Xian also took a special look. The blood drawn from Yu Xi was no different from that of a normal person, which he had confirmed before when he treated her wounds.
"Will your future drug enhancements and gene editing affect DNA testing?"
While they were the only two in the blood-drawing room, Lin Xian asked softly.
"I don't know."
Yu Xi shook her head blankly, looking at Lin Xian:
"Why did you suddenly want to do a paternity test with me? I didn't say anything when they were all there just now... How did you come up with such an absurd thing? Don't you think you're my ancestor? That's why I traveled back to protect you?"
"There's that aspect to it,"
Lin Xian answered honestly:
"But there are other considerations... It's hard to explain many things. Since you don't know who your parents are, then from a logical point of view, anyone could be your parents."
"What kind of logic is that?" Yu Xi pressed the cotton swab on the blood-drawing wound.
Lin Xian also pressed the cotton swab on his wound:
"Considering that hibernation pods will soon be put into mass production, your parents may very well be people who exist in the current era. Although I don't know when you were born a few hundred years from now, isn't the purpose of hibernation pods to allow people to sleep agelessly for hundreds of years and wake up in the future a few hundred years from now?"
"So theoretically speaking, I may very well not be related to you by blood. Although I'm determined not to use a hibernation pod... people are fickle. What if one day I really have a whim and sleep in a hibernation pod, go to the future a few hundred years from now, and then have you with some woman?"
Heh heh...
Yu Xi couldn't help but laugh, lowered her head, took off the cotton swab, and looked at the wound on her arm that was already close to healing:
"Do you think we look alike? I don't think we look alike at all."
"I don't think so either,"
Lin Xian also took off the cotton swab and found that his needle wound was still bleeding, so he pressed the cotton swab back on it:
"So isn't that why we're here to find an answer?"
"I also know that my idea is absurd and cringe-worthy, like I really want to be a father. But... isn't this world absurd enough?"
"There are time travelers, time particles, and time laws that can be reversed against innocent people in this time and space, and the extremely mysterious Genius Club hidden in the long river of history, and digital lives that are more powerful than artificial intelligence and indistinguishable from humans... There are already too many absurd things. In comparison, the paternity test between a future person and a modern person seems too normal."
"Alright."
Yu Xi threw the cotton swab with only a little blood on it into the trash can, put on her sleeves, turned her head, and looked at Lin Xian:
"If you're so confident that you might be my father or elder... then who is my mother? Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Why do so many people like to ask such obvious questions?"
Lin Xian felt like he was being ridiculed:
"No."
"Then do you have any female friends you're close to? Or... do you suspect anyone of being my mother?" Yu Xi continued to ask.
This time.
Lin Xian was silent.
Suspects?
Of course, there were.
To be honest, the person who should be doing a DNA paternity test with Yu Xi should be Huang Que.
She was the biggest suspect.
Lin Xian himself was just an "add-on", a substitute to make up the numbers. It was easy to find a mother; whoever gave birth to the child was definitely the mother... Finding a father was difficult.
Although Lin Xian guessed that he and Huang Que should be husband and wife on a certain timeline.
But that was just a guess...
What if he was just a clown?
It was very possible that Yu Xi was Huang Que's child, Huang Que was Yu Xi's mother, and these two had nothing to do with him at all. This was all possible.
For some reason, Lin Xian thought of something.
He looked at Wang Ge's wife, Sister-in-law Wang, who had just finished packing up and was walking towards them, and asked:
"Sister-in-law Wang, I'd like to ask, will things like gene mutation and gene editing affect the accuracy of DNA paternity tests?"
Inside the blood-drawing room, Sister-in-law Wang, who was wearing a mask, smiled with her eyes:
"No, Lin Xian, you're thinking too much."
"But DNA testing doesn't test for a certain gene fragment or a few gene combinations, but rather examines the overlap on a large scale. Gene editing technology is not mature yet... But didn't the director of a private hospital get sentenced a few years ago for editing the genes of newborn babies?"
"So don't worry, when the little girl was born more than ten years ago, there was no such technology as gene editing. Even if there was, from the perspective of large-scale gene comparison, it wouldn't affect the paternity test results at all... Because if you edit genes, you'll definitely only edit individual benign genes, removing inferior and morbid genes."
"But genetic information is quite vast and complex. The small amount of genes that are edited is just a drop in the ocean, insignificant to the whole. So you don't have to worry that this kind of thing will affect the paternity test results... As for the matter of gene mutation, you don't have to worry about it even more. Variation and mutation are very common phenomena in biology and will not affect the gene test results at all."
"Alright, you can go out and wait after you've drawn your blood. I've expedited it for you, but there are still many procedures to go through according to hospital regulations and procedures; and for the accuracy of the results, it needs to be reviewed several times and many signatures... Therefore, you'll have to wait at least two hours before you can come back to get the results."
"I suggest you go eat first. It's lunchtime. The testing department doesn't get off work at night. Two hours later, you can go directly to the front desk to collect the results."
Lin Xian nodded.
He took off the cotton swab pressing on the wound, saw that his needle wound was no longer bleeding, threw it away, put on his clothes, and stood up:
"Thanks, Sister-in-law. Then we'll go out first."
……
Pushing open the door of the blood-drawing room, Lin Xian and Yu Xi, who was wearing large sunglasses, walked out.
"How is it?"
When Wang Ge saw the two of them come out, he stood up from the waiting chair with a whoosh and asked anxiously.
"The results aren't out that quickly,"
Lin Xian waited for Yu Xi to come out of the room before closing the door:
"We have to wait at least two hours. They said there are many procedures to go through."
He raised his head.
Only then did he realize... that Zhao Yingjun had actually stood up with Wang Ge just now!
And the look in her eyes at that moment seemed very concerned.
He couldn't help but think of Huang Que again.
There was no doubt that Huang Que and Zhao Yingjun were the same person, but they were not on the same timeline or the same world line.
Huang Que used to be Zhao Yingjun, but Zhao Yingjun's future may not be Huang Que's. It depends on how her future develops and which future she goes to.
But no matter which future she eventually goes to, her DNA will not change and will inevitably remain consistent with Huang Que.
So...
He looked at Zhao Yingjun, and their eyes met.
If he could get Zhao Yingjun and Yu Xi to do a DNA paternity test, that would definitely be the most reliable method, more reliable than doing it with him.
After all, who Yu Xi's father was was still a mystery. He was likely himself, but he couldn't rule out small probability events.
But no matter what, Huang Que, or Zhao Yingjun, was much more likely to be Yu Xi's mother than any other possibility.
It was just... how should he bring up this kind of thing, this kind of request?
"What's wrong?"
Zhao Yingjun blinked, looking at Lin Xian, who was hesitant to speak:
"You can say anything... We're so familiar with each other. Is there anything you can't say? If anything really happens, I'll help you and help you find a solution."
Wang Ge also nodded like a chicken pecking at rice:
"Yes, yes, Lin Xian, don't carry anything yourself if something really happens. We've been old friends for so many years. We share blessings and share hardships!"
Lin Xian also smacked his lips.
Forget it, they'd come all this way:
"Now that things have come to this, I'll tell you the truth. I didn't want to hide it from you, but I lied to Xiao Li at the beginning, which led to me never having a chance to tell you the truth."
"Actually, this little girl isn't my cousin from a distant relative's family. I just met her on the road. She's helped me a lot and has experienced many inexplicable things with me... And she's an orphan who doesn't know who her parents are. I was thinking about whether I could help her find her parents."
"Anyway, there are no clues right now. Meeting is fate. I thought I'd start with me and just try my luck, and also learn about what DNA paternity tests are all about, so I'd have an idea in my mind. So..."
He raised his head and smiled at Zhao Yingjun
"Although this request is quite inexplicable... but since everyone's here, and waiting is just waiting. Why don't you, President Zhao, also draw a tube of blood and do a paternity test with us?"
……
……
Silence.
Ice-cave-like silence.
It was as if time had frozen.
"Huh?"
Zhao Yingjun finally couldn't help but let out a puzzled sound.
This was truly a plot development that she hadn't thought of in a million possibilities. "Since we're here" ... was that how you used the phrase?
"Lin, Lin Xian! What nonsense are you talking about!"
Wang Ge had a stern look on his face, standing in front of Zhao Yingjun:
"What you're saying is a bit too much! There are some things you can say and some things you can't say recklessly!"
"Aren't you slandering President Zhao's innocence out of thin air? Everyone in the company knows that President Zhao is still single and has never had a ————"
He let out a painful howl.
He lowered his head.
He found that his expensive crocodile leather shoes had been stepped through a hole by even more expensive high heels... which was now slowly rebounding, but the stomp just now had been so forceful that he assumed it would not return to its original shape.
"Heh heh, interesting."
Zhao Yingjun tucked the stray hair on her cheek behind her ear, shook the hair that had fallen on her neck, smiled easily:
"Sure, why not? I'll do one with you."
After saying that, she strode forward with her high heels, straight into the blood-drawing room, and closed the door.
"Hiss..."
Wang Ge limped over, hobbling and gritting his teeth:
"Lin Xian, you're really lacking in EQ... How can you say such blunt things to a woman? Aren't you questioning President Zhao's innocence?"
"President Zhao is as pure as jade and cherishes herself. She hasn't had any contact with any man that has crossed the line for so many years... except for you. Saying that will make her sad."
"Besides! What kind of logic is that? You can't just randomly find a child on the street and ask President Zhao to do a paternity test with you, can you? Sigh... this act of yours is really bad. I don't even know what to say to you."
"But since you and President Zhao are one willing to hit and one willing to be hit, I, as an outsider, am not qualified to say anything. Look, as soon as you said it, President Zhao went straight in to draw blood... I can see her thoughts at a glance."
"What thoughts?" Lin Xian asked.
"Hmph!"
Wang Ge proudly snorted:
"Lin Xian, when it comes to guessing women's thoughts, you have to learn more from your Brother Wang. Do you know why President Zhao went in to draw blood