CH 56

Do you still have something to wear?

As Wang Wei immersed himself in his experiment, he lost track of time and only came back to reality when he noticed that the sun had already set.

As he twisted his neck and prepared to stand up, he suddenly noticed a black figure kneeling outside his doorstep.

His heart skipped a beat in fright, but he soon recognized Ming Qin, the shadow guard who had visited earlier that day.

It was already three hours later, and the young shadow guard had not left yet.

Would the shadow guard be punished if her performance did not meet the standard?

Wang Wei stubbornly turned his head away, avoiding her gaze, but his bladder was bursting, and unfortunately, Ming Qin was blocking the only door, preventing him from going to the restroom.

He cursed under his breath. Should he compromise and talk to her?

He felt that the one who spoke first would lose, but he couldn’t hold it any longer.

The stubborn and competitive 50-year-old man thought childishly to himself.

However, no matter how strong the bladder, there comes a point when it can’t hold any longer.

Wang Wei looked towards the window in the wooden house and decided to sneak out and relieve himself. Unfortunately, the mad scientist overestimated his abilities.

As Ming Qin pondered how to persuade Wang Wei, she saw the old man awkwardly opening the window and attempting to jump out. But as he took a step forward, his upper body suddenly straightened, and he fell out of the window.

Although she couldn’t hear the man’s screams of pain, Ming Qin knew from years of experience falling and getting hurt that the man was likely to have injured his bones and muscles with that posture and at that age.

Disregarding Wang Wei’s previous orders, she quickly stood up and rushed into the house, sticking her head out of the wide-open window. As she had suspected, she saw the old man lying on the ground, shaking slightly as he held onto his waist.

“I sprained something, I sprained something,” Wang Wei said, no longer caring about winning or losing, as he reached out to Ming Qin with a pleading expression. “Help me up, it hurts so much, please hurry.”

Ming Qin deftly climbed over the window and assisted the old man to the restroom. After he finished, she helped him back to the house.

“Hey hey hey, be careful not to touch my culture dish. My good bacterial babies are in there,” Wang Wei said, hanging limp on the shoulder of the young shadow guard. He trembled and dodged around the cluttered room, trying to avoid touching the various items scattered about.

“That’s my penicillin, don’t touch it! And that microscope, I worked so hard to put it together, don’t knock it over.”

Watching the bowls covered in mold and the haphazardly stacked glassware, Ming Qin obediently sidestepped them and helped the old man to his bed.

The room was small and cramped, surrounded by books and clutter, barely enough space to inhabit. Wang Wei groaned as he lay down, and Ming Qin pulled out a vial of medicated wine from her pocket and began applying it to his injuries.

The old man let out muffled moans of pain, and whenever she pressed too hard, he would cry out in agony, making her feel a little helpless.

All night long, Ming Qin fetched water and food, occasionally taking care of the “good bacteria babies” on the desk and performing various other odd jobs, keeping her busy without a moment of leisure.

When Wang Wei finally felt a little better and saw Ming Qin standing obediently by his side, he suddenly seemed a little embarrassed but still turned his head and said, “Don’t think that taking care of me like this will convince me to go back to the capital. My standards are quite high!”

“I didn’t plan on doing that,” Ming Qin said, feeling a bit confused, before suddenly asking, “What are the standards for convincing you to return to the capital?”

“Ah…”

Wang Wei had only casually mentioned it and didn’t expect Ming Qin to suddenly ask, so he absentmindedly touched his messy hair and thought quickly. “If you can sharpen 100 pipettes, I’ll consider it.”

(Pipettes are similar to straws and are used to draw and dispense liquids. They are often disposable and commonly used in medical, biological, and chemical laboratories.)

“Pipettes? What are those?” Ming Qin tilted her head, looking puzzled.

From his sleeve, Wang Wei took out two handmade wooden bamboo pipes. The center of the pipe was extremely small, as if it had been ground out bit by bit with an iron needle. (a very rudimentary version used in ancient times)

“If you can make a hundred of these bamboo pipes,” Wang Wei pretended to speak solemnly, touching his non-existent beard, “remember that each one has to be exactly the same, then they will be precise! I’m considering whether or not to go with you to the capital.”

After speaking, the irresponsible and crazy old man threw the bamboo pipes to the shadow guard, and then carefully turned around with the help of Ming Qin. He then covered himself with a blanket and fell soundly asleep, ignoring everything else.

When the rhythmic sound of snoring started, Ming Qin carefully rubbed the bamboo tube in her hand and pondered for a moment before taking the iron needle on the table and turning to leave the room.

Three days later.

When the young shadow guard, who he thought had been scared off by his high standards, suddenly appeared at the door, Wang Wei was very surprised.

Ming Qin took out a bag of carefully polished bamboo tubes and handed it to the man in front of her. There were a few bloodstains on her fingers, which were wrapped in bandages.

With a blink of her eyes, Ming Qin spoke hoarsely, “One hundred…pipettes, Doctor Wang…Uncle Wang, could you double-check the quantity?”

Her blurred vision made her uncertain whether there were 100 or 98 pipettes.

The old man looked at the items in his hand, feeling shocked to the point of almost dropping his jaw. It took him at least half an hour to handcraft just one or two pipettes, yet this young and unassuming shadow guard was able to produce so many in just a few days…

This shadow guard, Ming Qin, was truly impressive…

Dedication, too dedicated.

She could be selected as one of the top 10 outstanding young people, thought Wang Wei.

“So now, can you consider going with me to the capital?” Ming Qin asked, leaning in close to the man, afraid to miss his answer.

Three days earlier, when Ming Qin left the cabin, she found a pile of wood similar to the template of the bamboo pipes and began carving them with a dagger in a nearby shabby inn.

It’s unclear whether it was the stillness of the night or if Ming Qin was simply oblivious to her surroundings, but the young shadow guard sat by the window, her wrist moving constantly as she worked by the dim light of an oil lamp.

As time passed, her eyes grew increasingly sore and her vision began to blur.

Not yet.

With a determined blink, Ming Qin reminded herself that she had already consumed the medicine given to her by Song Shu Qing in small, chewed-up pieces.

Before returning to the capital, she couldn’t give up.

Her eyes were sore and hot, and tears flowed uncontrollably. She rudely wiped them away with her shoulder, but Ming Qin persisted stubbornly.

Her vision, already blurry, began to double, making it difficult for her to work on the wooden holes with the iron needle.

The sharp needle kept piercing her palm, leaving behind bright red bloodstains.

As expected, they say the fingers are connected to the heart.

No wonder even though her fingers didn’t hurt at all without any sense of pain, she still felt a sharp pain in her heart.

Yan Yan is waiting for me. I have to hurry up.

Drops of blood fell down and made a rhythmic sound in the quiet room, but whether or not Ming Qin lost her sense of hearing, she didn’t care and kept on carving.

It is precisely because of this tireless effort that Ming Qin was able to deliver what Wang Wei had specified to her in a short time.

“Uncle Wang, please come with me to the capital,” Ming Qin urged again, looking at the man in front of her who remained silent. Her injured hand grabbed his shoulder anxiously, and she was about to kneel down. “We don’t have time to waste.”

“I…”

Seeing the urgency on the young woman’s face, Wang Wei stuttered and sighed as if giving up. “… Alright, let me take a look at the case file.”

Upon hearing this, Ming Qin quickly pulled out a stack of papers from her pocket, afraid that Wang Wei would change his mind.

Reluctantly, Wang Wei opened the papers and began to read. As he read, his eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper, and his fingers gripped the papers tightly as if he wanted to tear them apart.

After a moment, he put down the papers and exclaimed in shock, “Do you still have anything to wear?”