Chapter 52.2

After spending the morning playing, An An formed a deep friendship with the little playmates and affectionately called them “Guo Guo.”

Lele also liked this little sister a lot. As they were leaving, he even gave An An his own safety bracelet. Jiang Rou wanted to stop this, but Ms. Song stopped her, smiling as she said, “An An is Lele’s lucky star. With An An around, this bracelet isn’t so important anymore.”

If it hadn’t been for An An’s birthday, Jiang Rou wouldn’t have taken her to the amusement park, and she wouldn’t have saved Lele.

Children didn’t understand the value of things. To An An, the beads in her hand were less valuable than the hairpin on her head. However, since An An didn’t have those little trinkets, she had to take off the hairpin from her head and earnestly give it to the young man, reminding him, “It’s very expensive.”

Lele accepted it with great care and said, “Thank you, little sister.”

The four adults looked on and laughed.

Boss You still didn’t know anything and waved to them, saying, “Come out and play often in the future.”

“Sure, as long as you don’t mind.”

In the span of a meal, Boss You had gone from being called “Brother You” to just “Brother.”

After getting into the car, Jiang Rou couldn’t help but repeat the conversation to Li Xiao and then asked, “Did I say too much?”

Perhaps due to the deep influence of her past profession, she couldn’t help but speculate when she saw a case. She wasn’t sure how other teachers conducted their classes, but the teachers who had taught them back then loved to expand their thinking in class, asking them to deduce cases based on clues and then verify each one. Every group assignment almost always ended in arguments.

Li Xiao knew Jiang Rou’s temperament. If there wasn’t something she found unusual, she wouldn’t have brought it up. “It’s okay to say a bit more. Mrs. Song and Boss You are not people who think the worst of others. Even if you don’t find anything in the end, they won’t blame you. Besides, there was indeed something wrong this time. It was just that they trusted their family members too much and didn’t think of other possibilities.”

Jiang Rou perked up immediately and straightened her posture. “You also think there’s a problem.”

Li Xiao was driving, keeping her eyes on the road ahead. Upon hearing this, she chuckled lightly. “I’m not a fool. The bystander sees more clearly. First, there was the piano teacher, then Boss You’s sister’s child got sick and took leave, then Boss You’s nephew happened to have diarrhea at the amusement park, the nanny and child were suddenly scattered, and a human trafficker appeared. Each of these points is a coincidence, but with so many coincidences happening together, it’s not just a simple coincidence anymore.”

“If I were Boss You, I would check the piano teacher’s and the nanny’s accounts afterward to see if there was a large sum of money recently deposited.”

“Just take the simplest case: if Lele went missing, who would benefit?”

Li Xiao’s thoughts aligned with Jiang Rou’s suspicions about the little aunt.

Jiang Rou fell silent and asked, “What do you think would happen if Lele really went missing? How would Boss You and his wife react?”

Li Xiao replied, “They would probably search constantly. If they couldn’t find Lele, they might even adopt a poor child to help them continue the search when they grow old and can no longer look for Lele themselves.”

Jiang Rou hadn’t expected Li Xiao to respond this way; her thoughts were similar. She couldn’t help but say, “I even suspect that his little aunt might bring that human trafficker’s sick child into the You family.”

Li Xiao seemed to find this reasoning quite plausible and nodded, saying, “If I were his little aunt, I would probably do that too. Since they’ve come this far, there’s no need to soften their heart.”

Jiang Rou felt very distressed after hearing this. “How can there be such terrifying people?”

Li Xiao shrugged, “Who knows? The human heart is difficult to predict. When such enormous wealth is at stake, it can change everything just because of the birth of a child.”

In this world, there are people like Jiang Rou, who are unmoved by things that don’t belong to them, while others might kill or commit arson over trivial gains.

—o—o—o—

A few days later, Jiang Rou heard from Li Xiao that Boss You and his wife had sent his sister’s family abroad and reclaimed all the previously given assets. This was also Mrs. Song’s decision; she didn’t feel secure leaving them in the country.

Jiang Rou hoped never to see that couple or that child again in her lifetime.

Jiang Rou didn’t pay much attention to what happened next because a major event occurred at school recently, so significant that even Li Xiao had heard about it.

—o—o—o—

On the early morning of November 2nd, a highly skilled obstetrician at the G University Affiliated Hospital was killed by a patient’s family member.

Jiang Rou heard about it from her classmates when she went to school that morning. Ning Xin said with sorrow, “Last night, a pregnant woman showed signs of difficulty during childbirth. The doctor recommended a cesarean section, but the family refused to agree, saying it was too expensive. They believed that others give birth directly and that cesarean sections are just a way to extort money.”

The main issue was that the patient’s mother-in-law thought the baby was a girl and didn’t think it was worth spending money on.

When the family refused, there was no way to proceed.

“Finally, a baby boy was born early in the morning, but he was all bruised and died shortly after. They managed to save the mother barely. The family blamed the doctor entirely, saying the baby had been alive when he came out, and that it was the doctor’s fault. At five in the morning, Grandma took a knife and attacked the doctor, who died on the spot despite rescue attempts.”

“That doctor had been practicing for decades and was also a professor at our school. She was very experienced, and many pregnant women wanted her assistance with childbirth.”

Because of this incident, the mood in class was quite somber. Some classmates even spontaneously bought a bouquet of flowers at noon to send to the obstetrics department of the nearby affiliated hospital.

Jiang Rou went with a few classmates to the hospital’s obstetrics office. There, she saw a crowd of people gathered outside. The medical staff’s eyes were red, and many parents had come with their children to offer chrysanthemums.

When Jiang Rou returned home that evening, Li Xiao had also heard about the incident. He frowned and said, “How can being a doctor be so dangerous? Do you want to switch majors?”

Jiang Rou didn’t hesitate to reply, “No. What profession isn’t dangerous?”

Li Xiao didn’t press further, knowing that more discussion wouldn’t change her mind.

A few days later, he brought back some good news, saying that Mrs. Song had helped him secure a five-second GG slot for the Spring Festival Gala. ^[1]“GG” refers to “广告”（guǎnggào), which means “advertisement” in Chinese. Specifically, it’s used to denote commercial slots or ad spots, particularly those … Continue reading

When he mentioned this, Jiang Rou was sitting on the bed studying. She looked up abruptly and asked, “Is that true?”

It was the Spring Festival Gala, after all.

Li Xiao wiped his head and sat on the bed, looking unusually pleased. “Of course, it’s true. Mrs. Song has a wide network. Right now, it’s the auction period for the Spring Festival Gala GGs. Some have already been auctioned for tens of millions. She helped me secure a five-second GG for three million, just a few minutes before the Gala started. The GGs during and after the Gala are more expensive, and she couldn’t get those as they’re reserved by big enterprises.”

Jiang Rou recalled that when she was younger, she hated the GGs during the Spring Festival Gala and didn’t understand why so many ads were inserted until she grew up and realized those GGs were bought for millions or even billions. Later, the government intervened and reduced the number of GGs.

But now, it was different—Li Xiao’s brand was going to be on TV.

Jiang Rou hurriedly asked, “What’s next? Are you going to hire big celebrities for the ad?”

Li Xiao shrugged. “There’s no money for that. I plan to find people to film it myself.”

Jiang Rou nodded, realizing that the three million was probably all he had.

Li Xiao was a serious person. Although he said he would find people to film it himself, he wasn’t just going to slap something together. He borrowed some filming equipment from Chen Feng, who ran an entertainment company and had plenty of such equipment. Chen Feng’s only request was to include a few people in the shoot.

Li Xiao was eager to comply. He was struggling to find suitable people and had originally planned to use a few workers from the factory. He wanted to shoot scenes of the factory in operation and workers at their tasks, perhaps including some dialogue. However, he found that the seemingly sharp-eyed individuals he had chosen were completely camera-shy, unable to speak properly or even move comfortably on camera.

After two days of filming with no progress, Jiang Rou couldn’t bear to watch it any longer. She suggested that he find a mix of elderly, middle-aged, and young people, while she and Wang Yan went to the market to purchase festive Chinese clothing, shoes, hats, hairbands, and decorations.

She also asked Li Xiao to rent a space typically used for filming GGs from Chen Feng. Li Xiao followed through and rented a space for three days. For the first two days, Jiang Rou and her team decorated the background with festive items. They hung red lanterns and ruyi knots from the branches of trees, and even put up couplets on a small house, which was painted onto the backdrop with only the door area having real couplets. From a distance, it looked quite authentic.

On the third day, Li Xiao brought the chosen people to the set. Zhou Jian was also there, and everyone, including An An, was dressed in the clothes Jiang Rou had bought. Both adults and children had their faces powdered.

The GG content consisted mainly of three questions and answers:

What gifts are appropriate for elders? The twelve zodiac animals.

What gifts are suitable for friends and family? The twelve zodiac animals.

What gifts are good for children? The twelve zodiac animals.

Li Xiao found the GG content a bit childish and Jiang Rou replied tersely, “Then come up with something yourself.”

Li Xiao said, “Forget it, let’s go with this.”

A few elderly-looking people and Li Xiao’s group appeared on either side. Li Xiao and Zhou Jian held gift boxes featuring the twelve zodiac animals, and they performed a New Year’s greeting by bowing to each other and then presenting the gifts. Next, young people appeared, shaking hands and exchanging gifts. Finally, a group of children ran over happily, and Li Xiao and the others picked them up to give them gifts.

The final scene showed everyone holding snacks shaped like the twelve zodiac animals, all saying in unison: “Send twelve zodiac gifts during the New Year and festivals.”

An An, dressed like a New Year picture doll, stood in the middle of the group, held by her father, holding a box of zodiac candy and smiling sweetly.

The whole process was simple, but the filming had its share of issues, especially with the children. They would stop running suddenly, and An An even started unwrapping the snacks before finishing her last line.

Held in her father’s arms, she wasn’t scared at all.

After a whole day of shooting, the video was to be edited into a five-second clip by professionals, which wasn’t Jiang Rou’s concern.

Once filming was over, An An skipped over to Jiang Rou and handed her some snacks, saying in a sweet voice, “Eat.”

Jiang Rou smiled and accepted them, “Thank you, little An An.”

When the video was finally edited, Li Xiao took the disc home and watched it repeatedly. That night, he tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, and asked Jiang Rou, “Do you think it will pass the review?”

Jiang Rou, exasperated, replied, “What’s there to review? The money’s already spent.”

Li Xiao held her and asked, “Do you think it will sell well?”

Jiang Rou patted his head and said, “It will definitely sell well. So many people spend money on GGs—do you think they’re fools? If it didn’t make money, they wouldn’t be willing to bid so high.”

Li Xiao was thrilled to hear this and kissed Jiang Rou loudly on the cheek. “Right. I’ll be going to the capital soon. What do you want?”

“I want to eat roast duck.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Rou never expected that her casual remark would lead to Li Xiao bringing back ten roast ducks from the capital.

“……”