The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: The World’s Five Greats

Undercover Observation

Excluding a break of less than half an hour, Li Jianwei hadn’t slept for nearly thirty hours. Driving home in that state would definitely be a case of fatigued driving. While Li Jianwei really wanted to verify if her dream was some kind of prophecy, she wasn’t about to risk her life to do it.

After her assistant, Xiao Liu, drove the car to the entrance of the research institute, Li Jianwei changed out of her white lab coat into her regular clothes. Once in the car, she leaned back and closed her eyes to rest.

Xiao Liu, her assistant, was a talented student she’d hired two years ago—a high-achieving engineering graduate who had been discharged from the military. However, Xiao Liu himself wasn’t interested in working in a field related to his major; he preferred a relatively simple life.

The car moved smoothly through the streets, driven by Xiao Liu. In the back seat, Li Jianwei’s eyelashes fluttered. The brief dream she’d had earlier replayed in her mind.

It was like a montage of different clips, showcasing her next ten years in less than half an hour. At first, Li Jianwei didn’t see any problem with this future. If she wasn’t her mother’s biological daughter, then it was fine for her mother to hand over the business to her true, bl00d-related daughter. The business was built from the ground up by her mother, so how her mother chose to arrange things was her decision to make.

But all of this was based on her mother’s own will, not on being deceived and forced to transfer her shares to a biological daughter who was completely being used as a pawn.

Li Jianwei couldn’t gather much from the quickly flashing clips, but she keenly noticed that her half-sister, from the moment she was brought home to be recognized, was already a pawn in someone else’s hands. A pawn to seize the Li family’s business and to take over all of her research achievements.

…

“Jianwei, you’re back! Come sit next to me, it’s been so long since you’ve been home.” Seeing her daughter, her mom, Mrs. Li, was delighted and immediately put down her tablet to greet her.

“Mom,” Li Jianwei said, sitting down next to her.

“How do you have dark circles? Did you stay up all night doing research again?” Mrs. Li looked at her daughter with a pained expression. “I’ve told you before, you can take your time with research. No matter how long it takes, your mom will always support you.”

“Inspiration struck, so I just got a little busy,” Li Jianwei said with a gentle smile.

From a young age, Li Jianwei was always a model student—the kind every parent wanted their child to be. She was way ahead of her peers starting in kindergarten and went on to skip grades. By the time she was twenty, she was already a graduate student, and by the time most people were graduating college, she had finished her master’s degree and was starting her own research project.

Having such a brilliant daughter made Mrs. Li very happy. When she found out Li Jianwei wanted to do her own research, she generously invested a lot of money and even bought a suitable research institute to give to her daughter as a birthday gift.

After chatting for a bit, Li Jianwei asked, “Mom, where’s Dad? Did he go out again?”

“Oh, him. A few friends called him to go fishing. He left early this morning and hasn’t come back yet,” Mrs. Li said, a hint of a smile still in her eyes.

Mrs. Li started her business after graduating from college, building a simple daily-use chemical company from the ground up into her own brand. She was now a successful entrepreneur worth over a hundred billion yuan. Because she was so focused on her career in her youth, Mrs. Li didn’t get married until she was thirty-five. Her father was a full seven years younger than her mother. They met at a charity auction. Mrs. Li was there to increase her brand’s visibility in the philanthropic world, while Li’s father was a regular employee of the auction house.

Li’s father only had a vocational school education, but he had a handsome face. Over time, he and Mrs. Li became close and eventually married.

Li Jianwei’s impression of her father was quite ordinary. She only remembered that he loved socializing and would occasionally attend her parent-teacher meetings with her mother. Other than that, there were no special memories.

Remembering a specific clip that flashed in her mind, Li Jianwei nonchalantly asked, “Mom, is the company planning to launch a new product soon?”

“Yes, the one I mentioned to you before. We’re getting ready to release a new product for whitening and spot reduction. The domestic brands are pretty mediocre in this area; the products are just okay, and only the packaging has improved.”

“The one I’m launching is a new product that our research institute has been developing for three years. The ingredients have already been patented both domestically and internationally. It’s much better than anything else on the market.”

When the topic of the company came up, Mrs. Li became much more talkative. Marriage hadn’t affected her ambition at all; in fact, it made her want to grow the company even more.

“Mom, while I was doing my research, I synthesized a new compound. It doesn’t help with my current research topic, but it seems to have some anti-aging properties,” Li Jianwei said, carefully choosing her words. “Mom, maybe you could have one of your researchers come to my institute to see if they could develop a new product with it?”

“That’s a great idea, of course!” Mrs. Li’s smile brightened. Even at fifty-nine, with fine lines around her eyes, she couldn’t hide the radiant glow she exuded.

Li Jianwei smiled back. “I remember you mentioning that a researcher named Zeng is excellent. How about you have him come to my institute to collaborate for a while?”

“Okay, Xiao Zeng is indeed very good, and your dad appreciates him too,” Mrs. Li said casually. “If I didn’t know you were busy with research and had no time for romance, I would have been swayed by your dad to try and set you two up.”

“Dad wanted to set me and Xiao Zeng up?” Li Jianwei raised an eyebrow. “How come I never heard him mention it?”

“Because your dad discussed it with me first, and I immediately vetoed it, so he never brought it up to you,” Mrs. Li explained. “But you can take this opportunity to see what kind of person Xiao Zeng is. If you feel a connection, you can try dating.”

Li Jianwei didn’t refuse, because she knew her mom was just saying it casually. Someone who thought it wasn’t too late to get married at thirty-five wouldn’t think it was a problem for her twenty-four-year-old daughter to not be in a relationship.

Having her mom at home made it easy to relax, and Li Jianwei was no exception. After chatting with her for half an hour, her eyelids started to feel heavy, and she couldn’t help but yawn.

“Alright, you have dark circles. Go to sleep. I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner,” Mrs. Li said, lovingly stroking her daughter’s face.

“Okay, then I’ll go rest now, Mom.” Li Jianwei yawned again. After a moment of hesitation, she decided not to pick up the hair her mother had left on the sofa. After all, her sister would be coming tomorrow, and they would probably do a formal paternity test then. There was no need for her to make an extra fuss now.

“Go on, go on,” Mrs. Li said without thinking much about it. She simply watched her daughter go upstairs before picking up her tablet to read some documents.

Fifty-nine was a great time to be working hard. With a little more effort, she might even be able to double her assets. That way, no matter what her daughter wanted to research, she could always invest in her and pave the way for her future.

…

The sense of security her mom provided was undeniable. This time, Li Jianwei fell into a deep sleep without dreaming. Although she only slept for three hours, she felt mostly refreshed when she woke up.

Dinner was a family affair. From Li Jianwei’s perspective, her father was still a devoted husband, always taking care of her mother first before serving himself. The main dish on the table was a crispy fried fish that her father had caught today, made by their cook. It was very crunchy.

“Wife, be careful with the bones. Even though they’re fried, you still need to be a little careful. This kind of fish has a lot of small bones,” Li’s father said. “Tomorrow, I’ll go catch a bigger fish and make a braised one for you.”

Mrs. Li replied, “Okay, but the weather’s getting hotter. Can you handle going out day after day?”

“It’s fine, I’m in great shape,” Li’s father smiled. “I’m not bragging, but those young people who sit in offices aren’t as healthy as me.”

“Dad, who do you go fishing with?” Li Jianwei took the opportunity to ask.

“Just some old friends, fishing buddies I met,” Li’s father’s answer was a bit vague. “I don’t have any regular fishing partners. I usually just see who’s at the fishing spot. If I run into someone, we fish together. If not, fishing alone is a good experience too.”

“Fishing has an element of luck to it. If you plan to meet someone at a specific spot, you might end up empty-handed the whole day.”

Li Jianwei nodded and didn’t press her father about who he was with today. She went back to eating. It was better to catch up on her sleep deficit as soon as possible, or her brain would be sluggish when she needed it tomorrow.

“Jianwei, what about you? How’s your research going lately?” Li’s father asked, initiating a conversation.

“It’s going well, making some progress,” Li Jianwei said, putting a piece of sweet and sour pork in her mouth. “If everything goes smoothly, we can start recruiting volunteers for the Phase I clinical trials in a few months.”

Li’s father nodded. “What about the drug you were researching in college, the one for painful periods?”

“It’s already passed Phase II and has entered Phase III, which requires at least six months of observation. If all goes well, it could be approved for market next year,” Li Jianwei said, without hiding anything.

Li Jianwei’s major was biomedical science. The drug to alleviate painful periods was her undergraduate research topic. By the time she graduated, she had already completed preclinical research, and during her graduate studies, she began applying for clinical trials. She encountered some difficulties during the application process, but with her mother’s help in smoothing things over, they were officially able to enter clinical trials. All in all, it had been about seven years since the project began, longer than Li Jianwei had initially expected.