Time flies, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Since the early morning when Sui Yuesheng hastily set out for the Western Continent, time seemed to be sped up by an invisible hand, rushing forward with a relentless pace. He was so busy with a myriad of matters that he hardly had time to even drink water.

Things turned out to be much more complicated than he had anticipated.

The Tao family had been entrenched in Kyushu for many years, and it was only during Tao Fengche’s grandfather’s generation that they began to expand outward. The businesses that the Tao family had established in the Western Continent were the foundation laid by the old master back then.

That elderly man, Elder Sun, who had tried to assert his authority and seize power at Tao Zhixing’s funeral, was one of the people who had worked with the old master in establishing the Tao family’s empire.

On that day, Sui Yuesheng, unable to tolerate the nuisance, shot the white flower on Elder Sun’s chest. The old man trembled and had to be helped all the way back home, where he fell seriously ill.

However, it was clear to those with discerning eyes that Elder Sun’s illness was highly suspicious and was likely a cover for other underhanded actions.

The subsequent developments unfolded just as they had predicted.

Rumors spread that Sui Yuesheng and Tao Fengche were at odds, that Zhao Jiayang was suspected of murdering Tao Zhixing, and that the Tao family’s financial situation was in trouble—most of these rumors were released by Elder Sun’s side.

Sui Yuesheng had just returned to Jingpu not long ago, and the Tao family was going through a tumultuous period. Compared to the maniacal Red Gang, Elder Sun was nothing more than a clown, and his antics seemed like child’s play.

But even though flies don’t bite, their constant buzzing around can still be extremely annoying.

So, once Sui Yuesheng had some time, he instructed Assistant Zhou to deal with Elder Sun’s businesses and eliminated many of his followers, including a high-ranking official within the Tao family’s headquarters.

After this, Elder Sun suffered a heavy loss, became much more subdued, and rarely left his home.

Sui Yuesheng was satisfied with this outcome, thinking that Elder Sun wouldn’t cause any more trouble, and he put the matter behind him.

But he never expected that Elder Sun had not given up—he had instead set his sights on the Tao family’s production line.

The businesses that the Tao family had established in the Western Continent were the strongholds that Elder Sun had helped the old master to build back in the day. Elder Sun’s only son now held a position there, and many of Elder Sun’s old followers were also working in the Tao family’s branches in the Western Continent.

It wasn’t easy to make these people completely betray the Tao family, but it wasn’t difficult for them to turn a blind eye to certain things if they were indebted to Elder Sun.

After all, the Eastern and Western Continents are separated by half the globe. Even Tao Zhixing couldn’t keep everything under control, let alone the young and inexperienced Sui Yuesheng.

By the time he realized what was happening, the pharmaceutical formulations at a production base in Country C had already been completely disrupted, resulting in over a month’s work going to waste, with countless resources lost in the process.

If it had been any other medication, it wouldn’t have mattered much—such a loss would have been a mere drop in the ocean for the Tao family. But this batch of medications was different—it was the omega pheromone suppressants meant for Country C’s Ministry of Health.

July 31st was the latest delivery date specified in the contract, and the quantity ordered by the Country C government was enormous. If they missed the deadline, the penalty fees would not be a small amount even for the Tao family.

Moreover, missing the deadline would offend the Country C government. If that happened, it would be difficult for the Tao family to conduct business in Country C in the future.

With no other option, Sui Yuesheng had to fly to the production base himself, swiftly dealing with a large number of staff and then began mobilizing supplies from other global production lines. After a frantic rush, they finally delivered the batch of suppressants on time.

Having learned a hard lesson, and since he was already in the Western Continent, Sui Yuesheng took the opportunity to inspect the Tao family’s overseas businesses one by one and held a meeting at his brother’s branch company.

A month flew by, and Sui Yuesheng had only completed half of his work schedule, leaving him with no time to return to Jingpu. The only time he did go back was in a hurry to sign some contracts at the Tao family’s headquarters before rushing back to the airport, turning him into a frequent flyer. Naturally, this left him with no chance to meet Tao Fengche.

As the time apart grew longer, and with distance creating a sense of fondness, Sui Yuesheng’s anger gradually subsided, even though he still didn’t understand the reason behind Tao Fengche’s previous actions.

Work kept him too busy to think about Tao Fengche, but there were exceptions.

Whenever meetings ran late, his schedule would become uncontrollable, and Sui Yuesheng would sometimes work until one or two in the morning. He didn’t like coffee, so to stay alert, he would drink cup after cup of strong tea.

Assistant Zhou would wince just at the sight of the tea’s dark color, but Sui Yuesheng would down it without flinching, as if he had lost his sense of taste.

But everything comes with a price, and tea contains large amounts of caffeine, which doesn’t have the precise dosage control.

Sometimes, even late at night, after finishing his work for the day, Sui Yuesheng’s mind would still be buzzing under the influence of caffeine, yet his sleep time was limited—he would have to get up in the morning and dive into new tasks.

Instinctively, he would reach for melatonin or other sleep aids, just as he had done for many years.

But this time, as he reached out, something stopped him.

“Heat me a cup of milk,” he said to Assistant Zhou after a long pause.

What a strange request. Assistant Zhou was baffled but didn’t dare to question it and hurried to comply.

Assistant Zhou was an alpha who had grown up smoothly in a middle-class family, never having to cook. So when he was asked to warm up milk, he just put it in the microwave for a minute, producing something far from what Sui Yuesheng wanted.

It wasn’t entirely undrinkable, but it didn’t resemble the taste he remembered. Still, Sui Yuesheng took a sip and found himself inexplicably picky.

He swallowed that small mouthful of milk and set the white porcelain cup aside. “That’s enough.”

“Boss, was it not to your liking?” Assistant Zhou asked nervously.

“No problem,” Sui Yuesheng said, adjusting his glasses. “You can go back to the hotel. I’ll sleep here tonight.”

The office had a rest area with all the necessary facilities, and Sui Yuesheng often stayed there overnight, so Assistant Zhou was used to it. He nodded and quietly left.

But Sui Yuesheng didn’t go to shower immediately.

He didn’t take off his glasses but instead propped his head up with one hand and stared into space for a while. As his eyes caught sight of the milk by his side, he flipped through the stack of documents in front of him, and suddenly, he missed Tao Fengche.

…

What Sui Yuesheng didn’t know was that Tao Fengche was also missing him.

On the first day back at the research institute, Tao Fengche didn’t join his group directly but instead took a tour of the place with Jing Ning. The Director had intended to introduce him to the latest research developments and show off some newly acquired equipment, but Tao Fengche suddenly noticed that a few researchers were missing.

The Tao Family Research Institute had many researchers, and even Tao Fengche couldn’t remember everyone’s face. But these missing individuals were people he had interacted with to some extent, including a beta named Wu Xuan, who had worked on a small project with him earlier that year.

Moreover, the institute had only two betas: Director Jing Ning and Wu Xuan, which made Wu Xuan particularly memorable to Tao Fengche. Yet today, he was nowhere to be seen.

Research projects at the institute were highly confidential, and as a result, there was little staff turnover. It was extremely rare for researchers to leave.

So where did these people go?

Tao Fengche’s mind stirred slightly as he asked, “Director Jing, are some researchers on leave today?”

Jing Ning was momentarily taken aback, nearly caught off guard.

Should he say, “As expected of an alpha taught by Tao Zhixing”? This was too sharp of an observation.

Fortunately, he was prepared and replied without showing any sign of surprise, “Are you asking about Wu Xuan and the others?”

Tao Fengche nodded.

“Wu Xuan was sent on a mission to the Western Continent, and the others seem to have gone to the production base as consultants.” Jing Ning opened his work notebook and, after flipping through it, pretended to realize something. “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I almost forgot. One of them had some basic tasks. After he left, the rest of the team divided his work among themselves. Now that you’re here, why don’t you take over? If you don’t understand something, just ask someone.”

Tao Fengche: “…”

Faced with the sudden, overwhelming workload, he fell silent.

The difficulty of work depends on the person.

What might be simple tasks for the researchers, who mostly held master’s degrees or higher, was far from easy for Tao Fengche, who was still a high school student.

Even though he was naturally intelligent, learning and doing simultaneously for a whole day was utterly exhausting. He even did the unthinkable and worked overtime with the researchers, not getting home until after ten at night.

But when he got home, Sui Yuesheng was nowhere to be found.

Could he have gone out drinking again?!

Just as a small spark of anger reignited in Tao Fengche’s heart, Xu Song suddenly spoke up.

“Young Master, Young master Sui went on a business trip to the Western Continent.”

“……”

A storm of emotions hit him, and the small spark of anger pitifully burned into a wisp of black smoke before reluctantly dying out.

From that day on, Tao Fengche began a life of diligently “moving bricks” at the research institute, while also dealing with the occasional harassment from Wang Yuan.

【Wang Yuan】: [Image x10]

【Wang Yuan】: [Tao-ge! Tao-ge, let me tell you! The food at this place today is amazing. Have you ever had an apple pie that melts in your mouth?!]

【Tao Fengche】: […]

【Wang Yuan】: [Wanna play some games?!]

【Tao Fengche】: [Busy studying at the institute, not today.]

【Wang Yuan】: [Oh, you’re studying at the institute. That’s cool. But isn’t your guardian upset that you’re not going to the Z University summer camp?]

【Tao Fengche】: [He’s on a business trip.]

【Wang Yuan】: [Got it. So basically, you’re now a left-behind kid in Jingpu?]

【Tao Fengche】: […]

For a moment, he didn’t even know how to respond. His right hand clenched slightly, almost crushing the test tube he was holding.

So, when exactly was Sui Yuesheng coming back? Tao Fengche circled another day on the calendar.

He waited longingly, watching as Z University’s summer camp ended, Wang Yuan embarked on his eat-and-shop journey in Country A, and the project he was working on finally reached a milestone…

But still, there was no sign of Sui Yuesheng.

“Xiao Tao, come here for a moment.”

On August 13th, just as Tao Fengche was about to leave the research institute, Director Jing suddenly appeared at the lab door.

Tao Fengche was surprised. Just as he approached, Jing Ning spoke.

“I remember you started studying at the institute back in middle school, right?” Jing Ning’s face showed a hint of nostalgia. “Time really flies.”

Tao Fengche nodded and was about to say something when Jing Ning interrupted him.

“It’s time for you to step out of the ivory tower and see the world. Starting next Monday, you don’t need to come here anymore. I’ll have a researcher take you on a tour of the pharmaceutical production lines in Jingpu.” Jing Ning made the final decision.

Tao Fengche’s eyes lit up.

Finally, a chance for the “left-behind kid” to step out of the research institute and get some fresh air!