Becoming a Scum A in an Old-School Melodramatic Novel - Chapter 34

Early in the morning, Lin Qinghan went to the hospital and looked for Lu Jianbai.
“Dr. Lu, I’m here to return the dress from last night’s banquet.”

Lu Jianbai quickly stood up and walked toward Lin Qinghan, “Qinghan, listen to me about what happened yesterday. My mother really didn’t mean what she said…”

Lin Qinghan interrupted him, cutting off his explanation, “Dr. Lu, I believe I made myself very clear yesterday. From now on, we’ll only be ordinary colleagues. You don’t need to concern yourself with my personal matters.”

Veins popped on Lu Jianbai’s forehead as he questioned her, “Is it because of Shen Xian? You’ve rekindled your old feelings for her, haven’t you?”

Lin Qinghan glanced at him calmly and replied, “That’s between me and her. It has nothing to do with you, Dr. Lu. I have work to do, I’m leaving.”

Lu Jianbai had raised his voice during the conversation, so many people in the department heard them. But everyone pretended to be busy with their own tasks. For a moment, only the voices of Lin Qinghan and Lu Jianbai echoed through the department.

Lu Jianbai stood there with a dark expression, watching Lin Qinghan’s figure walk away.

Meanwhile, Shen Xian had just received her new car registration. Since everything was settled, she decided to head to a 4S dealership to look at cars.

In her previous life, she owned countless luxury cars and had long been immune to material things like vehicles. She picked a white Land Rover, priced at around 400,000 yuan. Shen Xian thought it would be more than enough for picking up her little one and Qinghan.

Once the license plates were installed and the paperwork completed, Shen Xian drove off and headed straight to a shopping mall. She made sure to buy seat cushions and a child safety seat for the car.

Afterward, Shen Xian went to the relevant government office to register her company. Once everything was processed, she returned to her rented office space to supervise the workers on-site.

By the time she finished all these errands, it was already past 5 p.m. After giving the workers some instructions, Shen Xian drove off to pick up her little one.

Sure enough, Shen Xian hadn’t waited long outside the kindergarten when the children were dismissed. Little Shen Tian immediately spotted her mommy in the crowd, and with her short little legs, she quickly ran toward Shen Xian. Shen Xian bent down and caught her in her arms.

“Mommy, Tian Tian missed you! What were Mommy and Mom so busy with yesterday? Why didn’t you come to pick Tian Tian up?” Shen Tian pouted, speaking in her soft, childish voice.

“Mommy and Mom were busy with work yesterday. But we finished everything, so I came to pick Tian Tian up right away. Mommy even bought a new car — now it’ll be much easier for us to go home,” Shen Xian said while carrying her little one and holding her small backpack.

“Yay! Tian Tian wants to ride Mommy’s car!” Many parents at the kindergarten owned cars, but Tian Tian knew how hard Mom (Lin Qinghan) worked to make money, so she never mentioned cars in front of her.

Now that Mommy told her they had a car, Tian Tian was overjoyed.

Shen Xian carried her little one to the parking area, where the child safety seat was already installed in the backseat. She placed Tian Tian in the seat, buckled her in, and reminded her, “Sit properly, Tian Tian. We’re going to pick Mom up from work.”

“Okay~ Let’s go pick up Mom!” Shen Tian obediently nodded. Shen Xian closed the back door and got into the driver’s seat.

The little one’s curiosity soon took over. Her big eyes looked around nonstop, examining everything excitedly.

While driving, Shen Xian noticed her daughter’s curious antics in the rearview mirror and couldn’t help but laugh.

Before long, they arrived at Lin Qinghan’s workplace. Shen Xian stayed in the car and called Lin Qinghan. Within a few minutes, she saw Lin Qinghan walking out of the hospital.

Shen Xian got out of the car to greet her, skillfully taking Lin Qinghan’s bag from her hands.

“Where’s Tian Tian? She should be out of school by now.”

“She’s in the car. Qinghan, I just bought a new car, so you don’t have to ride that little scooter to work anymore. I’ll drive you and Tian Tian from now on,” Shen Xian said with a smile.

Lin Qinghan looked puzzled, “Where did you get the money to buy a car?”

Though Shen Xian had improved a lot recently, even the cheapest car costs over 100,000 yuan. How could Shen Xian suddenly afford that?

“I made some money recently. I’ve been helping Xiao Xi manage a fund, and I earned a commission from the profits. Don’t worry, it’s all legitimate,” Shen Xian hurried to explain.

As they spoke, they approached the car. “Qinghan, sit in the back and keep Tian Tian company,” Shen Xian offered, opening the right-side door and blocking the doorframe with her hand as a gesture for Lin Qinghan to get in.

Lin Qinghan glanced at Shen Xian, a little surprised at how considerate she was now. Her ears flushed slightly, and she softly replied, “Thank you,” before sitting next to Tian Tian.

Once Lin Qinghan was settled, Shen Xian closed the door.

The little one was even more excited seeing Mom arrive. She grabbed Lin Qinghan’s hand and happily said, “Mom, we have a car now! Tian Tian likes it so much!”

“Good girl, Tian Tian is the best,” Lin Qinghan gently ruffled the soft hair on her daughter’s head.

Shen Xian watched the interaction between Lin Qinghan and Tian Tian through the mirror and couldn’t help but smile.

Earlier, quite a few people outside the hospital saw Shen Xian driving to pick Lin Qinghan up. Zhao Qing and Liu Wenwen were among them.

“Wenwen, wasn’t Lin Qinghan’s ex-wife supposed to be a good-for-nothing? How come she’s suddenly driving a Land Rover? Even the cheapest model costs over 300,000 yuan, right?”

“Who knows where she scammed that money from? Only someone like Lin Qinghan would fall for her. How could a useless woman like that ever compare to Dr. Lu?” Liu Wenwen sneered in disdain.

“Mm, yeah, but this is good too. Now that Lin Qinghan has her ex-wife, she won’t be able to cling to Dr. Lu anymore.”

“True.”

After Shen Xian found a parking spot downstairs and parked the car, she first went to open the car door for Lin Qinghan, as usual protecting Lin Qinghan’s head with her hand. Once Lin Qinghan got out of the car, Shen Xian went to the other side and carried the little one out. The little one looked very excited, holding Shen Xian’s hand with one little hand and Lin Qinghan’s hand with the other, chattering away nonstop.

In the evening, after the little one fell asleep, Shen Xian sat in the living room tapping away on her laptop. She was working on drafting the company’s operating regulations. The post she had put up on the Linhai University forum had already received quite a few responses. The company didn’t need too many people in its early stages, so Shen Xian planned to recruit four university interns first. Once the office renovations were mostly done, she could start conducting interviews.

Seeing Shen Xian busy with her laptop, Lin Qinghan went to the kitchen to heat up two glasses of milk and placed them on the coffee table.

Lin Qinghan glanced at Shen Xian a few times before pushing one glass of milk over. “Busy? Have some milk and take a break.”

Only then did Shen Xian look up. Being so engrossed in work had made her feel like she hadn’t changed at all from her previous life. It was Lin Qinghan’s words that interrupted her and made her realize things were a little different now.

After all, in her past life, she was always busy, yet in the end, she was left with nothing but herself. But now, things were different. She had parents, the little one, and Qinghan by her side. Shen Xian smiled at Lin Qinghan. “Thanks, Qinghan, I was just thinking I wanted something to drink.”

“What are you working on so seriously? Can I take a look?” Lin Qinghan asked, curious about what Shen Xian was writing.

“Of course.” Shen Xian scooted over next to Lin Qinghan and handed the laptop to her. “I’ve listed out the main business categories for the company. In the early stages, we’ll mainly focus on private wealth management. Once we’ve accumulated enough capital, I can start doing venture investments. After the office renovations are done in a few days, I can start hiring.”

Lin Qinghan wasn’t from a finance background, so she didn’t really understand what Shen Xian meant by venture investments. But seeing Shen Xian getting everything on track made her feel genuinely happy. The distance between them, which had felt like two people apart earlier, now closed to just two fists apart.

“Honestly, Shen Xian, no matter what, seeing you like this now makes me really happy.” Lin Qinghan didn’t look at Shen Xian as she spoke, staring at the glass of milk on the coffee table instead.

Shen Xian smiled and took a sip of the milk from the coffee table. Even though Lin Qinghan hadn’t added sugar, Shen Xian still found it sweet. Is this the happiness that comes from a good friend warming milk for you?

“Like this, with just the two of us raising Tian Tian, I’m pretty happy too,” Shen Xian said with a smile to Lin Qinghan.

Lin Qinghan didn’t look at Shen Xian, but a faint flush crept up her ears. She picked up her glass of milk and took a sip, then got up and said, “I’m heading to bed. You shouldn’t stay up too late either.” She spoke without looking at Shen Xian and went straight to the bedroom.

“Alright, I’ll sleep after I finish this.” Shen Xian responded cheerfully. As she looked at Lin Qinghan’s retreating figure, she noticed that the favorability number above Lin Qinghan’s head had changed from [‘0′] to [“5″]. Shen Xian nearly cried from the sudden rush of emotion — this was the first time Lin Qinghan’s favorability toward her had turned positive! Shen Xian figured Lin Qinghan must want to be friends with her now!

In the following days, Shen Xian was busy with the company’s renovations. Once the renovations were finally done, she rushed to several office supply stores to buy furniture, then scheduled interviews with several senior students from Linhai University.

Shen Xian had the 120-square-meter space divided up: one room for her office, one for the employees, and a small meeting room. At the moment, Shen Xian was interviewing the students in her office. They were all seniors, some still had classes and theses to complete. Plus, Linhai City’s average salary wasn’t very high, so Shen Xian offered a monthly internship salary of 2800 yuan.

Naturally, students from wealthy families weren’t interested in this, but Shen Xian still managed to recruit four relatively satisfactory interns. After signing contracts and confirming work schedules, most of the day had passed. Shen Xian hurriedly grabbed a quick meal before rushing to pick up the little one and Lin Qinghan.

During dinner, Shen Xian wasn’t very hungry since she had just eaten earlier, so she barely touched her food.

Lin Qinghan noticed and asked, “Why are you eating so little? Is the food not to your liking?”

Shen Xian shook her head with a smile. “No, I had lunch around four, so I’m not that hungry.”

Hearing that, Lin Qinghan frowned slightly. “Why did you eat so late?”

“I was busy interviewing those students today. It took a lot of effort to finally pick four usable ones, and I didn’t finish until after four,” Shen Xian explained.

Lin Qinghan furrowed her brows and reminded her, “You need to eat on time. Eating irregularly like this can lead to stomach problems. From now on, eat your three meals regularly — don’t delay lunch that late.”

Hearing Lin Qinghan’s nagging, Shen Xian didn’t find it bothersome at all. In fact, she felt genuinely happy that someone cared for her — something she never had in her previous life.

“Qinghan, you care about me, huh? Don’t worry, I’ll eat on time from now on,” Shen Xian said with a smile.

“Who cares about you? I’m going to wash the dishes.” Lin Qinghan hurriedly denied it and got up to head to the kitchen.