In the evening, Lin Jie returned home to have dinner with the An sisters and Lin Miao.

Halfway through the meal, Lin Miao noticed something unusual and asked, "Brother, is your appetite not good today, or do you not like the dishes? And why are you constantly covering your cheek?"

"It seems only my dear sister cares about me. You noticed it, while someone here doesn't seem to care at all."

Lin Jie glanced at An Kexin with a bit of resentment and said gloomily, "Today I suddenly felt a sore swelling in my left back molar, so I went to the dental office for an X-ray."

"As expected, it's wisdom teeth, and they're growing sideways. I've decided to have it extracted tomorrow morning."

An Kemeng exclaimed, reminding him, "Brother Jie, it's almost the Spring Festival."

"Can't you wait until after the Spring Festival holiday to get the tooth pulled?"

"After getting the tooth extracted, you won't be able to eat properly for a few days!"

Lin Jie felt a bit comforted and said, "Kemeng, thank you for your concern."

"This tooth must be pulled tomorrow because there will be several surgeries scheduled after the Spring Festival."

"At that time, if the extraction wound hasn't fully healed, it will seriously affect my performance in surgeries."

Lin Miao said with concern, "Brother, I'll accompany you to get your tooth pulled tomorrow."

"As for not being able to eat properly for the few days after the extraction, don't worry. Once you're healed, I'll make you delicious food every day to make up for it."

At this moment, a bowl filled with various dishes was placed in front of Lin Jie.

An Kexin said with care, "Eat more now while you still haven't had the extraction."

"Is there anything else you'd like to eat?"

Lin Jie rolled his eyes at her and said, "I'd like to eat lobster, eight-treasure duck, crab roe lion's head, steamed bass, and things like that, but you can't cook them either."

"I can't cook, but I have money."

"If you want to eat something, you'll naturally have it, but you'll need to wait a bit."

Seeing An Kexin wanted to make a call, Lin Jie stopped her and said, "Forget it, forget it. We've made enough dishes today. Calling for more would be wasteful, so I'll just make do with what we have."

An Kexin, seeing him pick up the bowl and eat heartily, felt a bit relieved, but then said rather indignantly, "Ah Jie, the reason I didn't notice your poor appetite is because I've been preoccupied with a worrisome matter."

"What worrisome matter?" Lin Jie asked.

"I know, I know!"

An Kemeng quickly said, "Today when we were out shopping, we ran into Luo Family's Luo Shanshan and someone from Zhengda Pharmaceutical... who was that again?"

"It was Cai Yanhe, Luo Pengyi's newlywed wife!" Lin Miao added.

An Kemeng acknowledged with an "oh" and continued, "Yes, her. After my sister saw them, that's when she started to feel heavy-hearted."

An Kexin explained, "Running into those two wasn't the issue; the main problem was that there was another person with them."

Before Lin Jie could ask, she directly said, "That person was the office director of Tiande Medical Technology Research Institute and also the wife of the director."

Hearing this, Lin Jie understood and comforted her, "The institute has already signed a contract with the company to jointly produce Life Healing Boxes and other equipment. They shouldn't breach the contract."

"Are you worried about the Luo Family, or about Zhengda Pharmaceutical behind Cai Yanhe?"

"Ah Jie, things aren't as simple as you think. A contract isn't foolproof either."

An Kexin said with a worried expression, "I'm mainly worried about Zhengda Pharmaceutical."

"Aside from being a leading pharmaceutical company, Zhengda also has associated medical equipment companies, and they are not small in scale."

"Those few wouldn't be shopping together for no reason. I'm a bit suspicious that Zhengda Pharmaceutical is also interested in the application prospects of the Life Healing Box."

"Even though we signed a collaboration deal with the institute a while ago, Zhengda Pharmaceutical is financially strong. If they pay a breach of contract penalty to get the institute to cancel the agreement, they can do it."

"Or perhaps, Zhengda Pharmaceutical might directly invest in or acquire the institute; that's another possibility."

She pondered and said, "Ah Jie, I suspect that the Luo Family, Zhengda Pharmaceutical, and others have been monitoring things related to you, and if they find anything profitable, they might want to step in or take over."

Lin Jie slightly furrowed his brows and said, "Many things on my end are hard to keep secret. If someone pays a little attention, it's impossible to hide."

"Kexin, the company and the institute's collaboration, we hold a contract. If the other party wants to back out, they will have to pay a significant breach of contract fee. At least the company won't lose out."

"What do you mean by 'won't lose out'?"

An Kexin said somewhat indignantly, "It's not about the money at all."

"I have high hopes for the Life Healing Box equipment, aiming to develop it into the company's flagship product to boost the company's reputation and character."

Lin Jie questioned, "So, if your concern turns out to be true, do you have any coping strategy?"

An Kexin slowly shook her head and helplessly said, "The breach of contract penalty stipulated in the agreement is only 30 million."

"If Zhengda Pharmaceutical is also optimistic about the product's prospects, to them, 30 million is nothing."

"As for acquiring the institute, we definitely can't compete with Zhengda Pharmaceutical; we simply don't have that much funding."

Lin Jie thought for a moment and slowly said, "The Life Healing Box isn't a patented product."

"This equipment has some technical aspects like the mineral solution, waterproof spray, and the breathable and water-passing fiber cloth. The integrated design of the equipment also has some technical content."

He pondered and said, "I have the creative idea for this trough equipment, so at least we hold the moral high ground."

"If the institute wants to back out of the contract, it would be their unethical move. Since they are being unethical, we won't adhere to morality either."

"We can't compete with the research institute financially, but we should be able to poach a few people, right?"

"The penalty for breach of contract is thirty million. If we put up ten million, or even more, we can definitely poach a few key engineers."

"With my support, the Life Healing Box we produce is the genuine product, while those produced by others are just imitations."

"As long as the quality and price are right, sales won't be bad."

An Kexin was nodding as she listened, and slowly a smile spread across her face. She praised, "Ah Jie, I must say, your idea is really good."

"I've always wanted to establish a research and development department. Maybe we can take this opportunity to set up the department."

She said cheerfully, "I will have a good discussion with my father about the specific operational measures to address my speculation."

"Ah Jie, let's eat first..."

The next morning, Lin Jie got up, exercised for fifteen minutes, then washed up and left the bedroom.

As soon as he reached the living room, a pair of small hands covered his eyes from behind.

"Brother Jie, let's play a trust game. Follow my lead and walk, one-two-one, one-two-one..."

Lin Jie was a bit speechless, but he went along with this fellow to play such a childish game.

After walking a few dozen steps, he couldn't help but twitch his nose a few times and laughed, "It smells so good. Miaomiao, what delicious thing did you make?"

"Why ask Miaomiao directly, without asking my sister or me?" An Kemeng protested.

Lin Jie scoffed, "Although my Miaomiao has only been cooking for a few months, her skills have long surpassed you and your sister."

"Such a nice aroma, you and Kexin wouldn't be able to produce."

"Hmph, this pleasant aroma isn't something Miaomiao could make either. See for yourself!" An Kemeng let go of his hands.

Lin Jie saw a table full of dishes in front of him, with large lobsters, eight-treasure duck, steamed bass...

He looked at An Kexin beside him and asked, "These dishes?"

An Kexin laughed, "These dishes weren't made by Miaomiao, nor by the Nautilus girl."

"Even though I'm not good at cooking, I am quite wealthy, hehe..."

Lin Jie said emotionally, "You are so thoughtful..."

Just before nine in the morning, Zhu Jiahui, the deputy director of the dental department at the Affiliated Hospital, hurried into his office, changed into a freshly dry-cleaned white coat, and put a tongue depressor, pen, and small flashlight in his chest pocket.

At this moment, a nurse came in to report, "Director Zhu, the dental correction patient scheduled for nine-ten this morning has been postponed to ten o'clock."

"This time..."

Zhu Jiahui wasn't in the mood to listen to her and walked out of the office briskly past her.

He quickly arrived in front of the two elevator doors in the middle of the floor, only to find two doctors from the same department there as well.

"Dr. Kong, good morning!"

"Dr. Zhao, good morning!"

"Dr. Zhu, good morning!"

The three greeted each other briefly and then stood silently in front of the elevator, with no one pressing the up or down button.

Zhu Jiahui looked at the two and said solemnly, "Dr. Kong, Dr. Zhao, I know who you're waiting for."

"However, I have an appointment with Expert Lin. Therefore, I specifically postponed a previously scheduled patient."

"So, gentlemen, please leave."

Dr. Kong said with a doubtful look, "Dr. Zhu, as far as I know, yesterday evening Expert Lin just took an X-ray and only told Dr. Shi who took the X-ray that he'd come to have a tooth extraction this morning, but didn't make an appointment with any doctor."

Dr. Zhao asked skeptically, "Dr. Zhu, are you lying to us?"

"I know that you're the least honest person here, always full of tricks."

Zhu Jiahui snorted, "You're right, yesterday evening Expert Lin only came to our dental department to take an X-ray and didn't make an appointment with any dental doctor."

"But..."

He chuckled with self-satisfaction, "I can volunteer. Last night, I took the initiative to call Expert Lin, and well, you all know the result."

Upon hearing this, both Dr. Kong and Dr. Zhao looked annoyed and were about to leave when the elevator door opened.

"Expert Lin, this wisdom tooth of yours is small, I guarantee it will take no more than two minutes to extract it."

Hearing this voice, the three were all surprised.

They saw that the department head, Dr. Dong, along with Lin Jie and three beautiful ladies, appeared in the elevator.

Dr. Dong also saw them and nodded in greeting, "Dr. Kong, Dr. Zhu, Dr. Zhao, good morning. I just happened to meet Expert Lin in the parking lot and learned he needed a tooth extraction."

"Such a good opportunity to serve Expert Lin, of course I couldn't miss it!"

Zhu Jiahui was infuriated but couldn't show it on his face.

He was just about to trick his two colleagues into leaving, only to run into an old fox.

What do you mean 'just happened to meet'?

Damn it, your parking space and Expert Lin's parking space aren't even in the same parking area, alright?

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