Volume 1, Chapter 43: Capturing Something Spectacular

"Certainly." Jiang Shuwei smiled and nodded. "However, you paid a high price to win this book at the auction. Are you willing to share it with me?"

"A book is merely a tool to transmit knowledge. There is no reason it cannot be viewed," Qin Weizhou replied generously.

Musing to herself, Jiang Shuwei calculated that if she studied Qin Weizhou's book and combined it with the first volume she kept at home, she could fully absorb the entire knowledge of the Golden Acupoints. That way, she would also be able to completely inherit her mother's art of acupuncture.

With this objective in mind, Jiang Shuwei immediately smiled and nodded. "What President Qin says makes sense. Then I can help you annotate the obscure content within it. However, I have been rather busy with work lately, so I'm afraid I won't be able to spare too much time for this. It might take a bit longer."

Qin Weizhou glanced up at her and said calmly, "I hope you can be a bit quicker."

"I will. I will definitely carve out the time to help President Qin with this favor," Jiang Shuwei nodded earnestly.

Nearby, Zhou Zirui and Yan Feiye were communicating through glances. They exchanged looks back and forth, as if words were echoing silently between them.

Glancing inadvertently at the two men who were so expressive with their eyes, Jiang Shuwei froze slightly in surprise.

Zhou Zirui suddenly let out a laugh, as if something had greatly pleased him.

Yan Feiye merely shrugged, wearing the helpless expression of someone who acknowledged a lost wager.

"Let me calculate... that car seems to be worth... fifty million, and there are only twenty of them in the entire world..." Zhou Zirui was already burning with impatience to flaunt his spoils of war.

Qin Weizhou cut short his excitement. "Don't use my affairs to place bets."

Baffled, Jiang Shuwei raised her gaze to look at the three men. What bet?

Zhou Zirui promptly closed his mouth, though his eyes remained dancing with amusement.

Jiang Shuwei offered some polite remarks, expressing her gratitude one by one for the help the three men had provided.

"Miss Jiang is somewhat different from the rumors. Look at this poised and graceful demeanor, extraordinary courage, and resourcefulness. But tell me, how on earth did you offend that person from the Zheng family?" Zhou Zirui asked curiously while enjoying his meal.

Jiang Shuwei offered a helpless smile. "It's a long story. It's a grievance from a few years ago."

"I take it Miss Jiang isn't very old. A grievance from a few years ago—surely Zheng Dongsheng wouldn't bully a minor, would he?" Zhou Zirui scoffed mockingly.

Lowering her gaze, Jiang Shuwei's expression turned somber. "It was when I was eighteen that I offended him."

Qin Weizhou was dining with quiet elegance nearby without speaking. Yan Feiye's younger sister happened to be eighteen right now; upon hearing this, his gaze lifted, and he looked straight at Jiang Shuwei. "What did that asshole do to you?"

"What else could he do?" Jiang Shuwei scoffed self-deprecatingly. "Except that he didn't succeed, and I smashed a wine bottle over his head, leaving him with a scar. I suppose he's held a grudge against me ever since."

"What nerve does he have to hold a grudge against you? He was clearly the one acting maliciously in the first place," Zhou Zirui argued on her behalf.

Hearing this, Jiang Shuwei smiled gratefully. "Thank you for your concern, Young Master Zhou. The reality, however, is that power suppresses others. No matter how much evil he commits, I cannot put him behind bars to face justice. That is reality."

Jiang Shuwei's words caused the atmosphere to instantly freeze over.

They were all individuals occupying the very pinnacle of power, and Jiang Shuwei's words mirrored their own shadows, to a greater or lesser degree.

Realizing she might have spoken out of turn, Jiang Shuwei hurriedly picked up the wine bottle and poured wine for the three men one by one.

The meal lasted for about an hour before Zhou Zirui lazily stood up. "I need to visit the restroom."

"Wait a moment, Young Master Zhou," Jiang Shuwei stood up a step faster than him. "Don't rush to pay the bill."

Zhou Zirui's expression froze as he looked at Qin Weizhou. "Miss Jiang's reflexes are fast enough."

With that, Jiang Shuwei grabbed her handbag and walked out.

Left with no choice, Zhou Zirui sat back down. "This is a first—eating a meal paid for by a woman. The three of us are really making strides."

Qin Weizhou said coldly, "It's just that your legs are slow."

"You're blaming me?" Zhou Zirui looked utterly aggrieved. "Yan Feiye, say something."

Yan Feiye added fuel to the fire. "How come we didn't notice you needing to pee during the meal? Now that it's over, you suddenly need to go. Miss Jiang isn't stupid."

"You guys..." A massive sense of speechlessness was written across Zhou Zirui's face. He had tried to rush and pay the bill only to be mocked—where was the justice in that?

Having paid the bill, Jiang Shuwei was walking back when she happened to see the three men emerging from the private dining room.

"President Qin, Young Master Zhou, Young Master Yan, are you leaving?" Jiang Shuwei stepped forward to ask.

"Yes. Thank you for the dinner; we thoroughly enjoyed it," Zhou Zirui said with a smile.

"It's only right. And President Qin, I'm returning your umbrella," Jiang Shuwei said, hurriedly pulling the umbrella out of her bag.

Just as Qin Weizhou reached out a hand, Zhou Zirui preemptively intervened. "Keep the umbrella, Miss Jiang. Young Master Qin has a rule: once he gives something away, he never takes it back."

Qin Weizhou shot Zhou Zirui a chilly glare. Since when did he have such a rule?

Nearby, Yan Feiye watched the show with an amused smile.

Noticing that Qin Weizhou made no move to take the umbrella back, Jiang Shuwei turned her lovely eyes toward him.

"Indeed, keep it," Qin Weizhou was forced to say.

"Thank you," Jiang Shuwei murmured gratefully. The next second, Qin Weizhou handed over the book on Golden Acupoints he was holding. "Take it for your research. Sorry to trouble you."

Reaching out to take it, Jiang Shuwei carefully placed the book back into her handbag and told Qin Weizhou, "Alright, I'll decipher the contents for you as soon as possible."

Zhou Zirui clapped his hands lightly from the side. "Splendid. The token of affection has been delivered."

Qin Weizhou rewarded him with another icy glare, causing a peach-blossom blush to instantly bloom across Jiang Shuwei's pretty face.

"Don't mind him, Miss Jiang; he simply can't utter anything civil," Qin Weizhou remarked, before turning his tall, upright figure away with an air of haughty indifference.

"Young Master Qin, you know my mouth is blessed—everything I say comes true. If you don't believe me, ask Feiye how much he lost to me in wagers," Zhou Zirui protested discontentedly from behind.

Yan Feiye rolled his eyes. "Zirui, some things are meant to be understood intuitively rather than spoken aloud. Do you understand?"

Qin Weizhou wished he could box up these two toxic friends and mail them away; if they had no use for their mouths, they might as well donate them.

Watching the three men continue to bicker as they departed, Jiang Shuwei bit her lip and laughed softly.

It seemed that with friends like these keeping him company, Qin Weizhou wouldn't be able to remain gloomy even if he wanted to.

Deliberately waiting until the elevator carrying the three men had departed, Jiang Shuwei finally decided to leave.

At that exact moment, a figure flickered down an adjacent corridor and vanished without a trace.

Su Mian was riding in a car away from her company when her phone rang.

"Miss Su, there's news regarding the task you gave me to have someone track Jiang Shuwei," the caller said excitedly.

"What news?" Having worked all day, Su Mian was rather tired, her tone indifferent.

At that moment, her phone buzzed incessantly as someone sent over a dozen photographs accompanied by a short video.

Su Mian spotted Qin Weizhou, alongside Jiang Shuwei standing right beside him.

She bolted upright in her seat, her fingers tightening around her phone until they turned white.

A glare of jealousy flashed through her fatigued eyes. "Why would Jiang Shuwei end up at a restaurant with those three men?"

Finishing the last of the photos, Su Mian realized the four of them had actually been dining together.

"How is this possible?" Su Mian found it explosive. She knew firsthand how difficult it was to secure a meeting with Qin Weizhou; private gatherings with him were entirely out of the question.

Qin Weizhou's movements were secretive and low-profile. Because of the sensitive power wielded by the Qin family, much of the information regarding him was tightly locked down. Yet now... Qin Weizhou was actually having dinner with Jiang Shuwei.

"The Golden Acupoints?" From the final five-second video, Su Mian watched as Qin Weizhou handed the ancient text on Golden Acupoints to Jiang Shuwei, who carefully tucked it into her handbag.

The fires of jealousy within Su Mian flared up as if a layer of oil had been poured over them, bursting into an intense blaze.