Chapter 131: Chapter 131: White Cream_1
Huanmei Group.
At eleven o’clock in the evening, right after she finished her shift, Xiao Manlian stepped out of the company and a Rolls-Royce stopped in front of her.
An elderly man wearing a long robe got out of the car.
His name was Qiao Wenshou. He was the butler of Qin Dongrui, as well as his bodyguard and confidant.
Qiao Wenshou began practicing Martial Tao at the age of three and had now become a sixth-ranked Grandmaster.
Some matters that Qin Dongrui found inconvenient to handle in person were taken care of by Qiao Wenshou.
"Miss Xiao, please get in the car!"
Xiao Manlian sized up Qiao Wenshou and tried hard to recall anything she could about him in her mind.
In the end, she still found him unfamiliar.
"May I ask who you are? Why should I get into your car?"
"Mr. Qin sent me to invite Miss Xiao."
"Mr. Qin? Are you talking about President Qin from Sanrenhe Group?"
"Precisely."
Xiao Manlian got into the Rolls-Royce and Qiao Wenshou took her to Qinhuang Grand Hotel, inviting her into the presidential suite.
In the living room, Qin Dongrui was making Gongfu tea.
He was brewing tea from the mother bush of Da Hong Pao, worth several hundred thousand for just one gram and not something you could buy with money alone.
"Miss Xiao, please take a seat!"
Qin Dongrui handed her a cup of tea, saying, "I’ve just brewed it, why don’t you give it a try and see how it is?"
Xiao Manlian took the tea with a perplexed look at Qin Dongrui, but she didn’t dare to drink it.
She didn’t know what Qin Dongrui was up to.
After all, she was merely the director of research and development at Huanmei Group and wasn’t qualified to meet Qin Dongrui, let alone drink tea he personally poured.
Being suddenly favored in this manner left Xiao Manlian unsure of what to do.
Seeing that Xiao Manlian hadn’t drunk her tea, Qin Dongrui asked, "Miss Xiao, don’t you like tea?"
"No, no! I like tea, thank you, President Qin!"
Xiao Manlian hastily took a sip.
Although it was top-grade Da Hong Pao, Xiao Manlian was in no mood to savor the flavor of the tea at that moment.
Her heart was full of unease.
"Miss Xiao, would you like another cup?"
"Thank you, President Qin, no need."
Xiao Manlian carefully set down the teacup and plucked up the courage to ask, "President Qin, you called me here; may I ask if there is anything you need?"
Qin Dongrui took out a recipe and handed it to Xiao Manlian.
"I have a secret imperial formula here called White Cream. Take it and follow the instructions. As long as you can produce White Cream according to this formula, it’s bound to be a bestseller. However, this matter must be kept secret; don’t tell Yu Keqing."
With a look of incomprehension, Xiao Manlian asked, "President Qin, why can’t I tell Mrs. Yu?"
"Yu Keqing is no longer suitable to be CEO of Huanmei Group. Once you develop White Cream and launch it into the market, after its success, I’ll make you CEO of Huanmei Group."
Qin Dongrui’s words made Xiao Manlian uneasy.
She shook her head in refusal, "President Qin, I am only suited for R&D, not for being CEO. Mrs. Yu is more suitable for the CEO position."
"If you don’t want to be CEO of Huanmei Group, then get out along with Yu Keqing! She has allied herself with Haiyun Group and the Xue Family and is no longer one of the Qin Family."
Qin Dongrui snatched the recipe back and ordered Qiao Wenshou, "Send her away!"
Seeing Qin Dongrui getting angry made Xiao Manlian anxious.
She quickly changed her tune, "President Qin, I’m willing! I’m willing to be CEO of Huanmei Group!"
"Old Qiao, you take care of the rest and explain it to her downstairs."
"Yes, Mr. Qin."
Qiao Wenshou took Xiao Manlian into the adjacent suite.
This was the room where Qiao Wenshou stayed.
The outside room was his temporary office, and the inside one was his bedroom.
"Can you understand the contents of this secret recipe?" Qiao Wenshou asked Xiao Manlian.
Xiao Manlian recognized all the characters on the secret recipe.
However, when these characters were put together, she couldn’t understand them; she looked utterly confused.
The court’s secret recipes wouldn’t directly list the names of the medicinal ingredients but would instead use codes.
In ancient times, only the Imperial Physician could understand these codes.
In modern times, even the highest-level experts of traditional Chinese medicine would only partially understand them.
In Martial Tao, medicine and martial arts are inseparable. Qiao Wenshou was not only a sixth-degree Grandmaster but also a Divine Doctor.
However, aside from the Qin Family, he never treated anyone else.
This secret recipe for the White Cream was created by him.
Only, the recipe for the White Cream he had was incomplete.
When Qin Dongrui asked Qiao Wenshou to bring out the recipe for White Cream for Xiao Manlian to use, he wasn’t trying to revive the Huanmei Group and make Xiao Manlian the CEO.
He intended to use Huanmei Group as a weapon to devour Haiyun Group.
As for how to devour them, Qiao Wenshou had already designed a seamless strategy.
Huanmei Group would step by step fall into the trap.
Then, he would offer Huanmei Group to Haiyun Group and drag Haiyun Group into the abyss as well.
Xiao Manlian held the secret recipe and scrutinized it for quite a while.
In the end, she shook her head and said, "I can’t understand it."
"It’s okay if you can’t understand. Let me briefly explain it to you. For now, just follow what I tell you, and go back to formulate it. If you still don’t understand, you can contact me anytime."
"Thank you, Uncle Qiao."
Xiao Manlian thanked him first, and then Qiao Wenshou began to explain it to her.
After three or four hours, Qiao Wenshou finally finished explaining all the key points of the secret recipe.
Yet, Xiao Manlian still looked bewildered.
She felt as if she had listened to gibberish for several hours and hadn’t understood a single word.
However, Xiao Manlian remembered a few medicinal ingredients and jotted them down on a sticky note.
She also had a rough idea of how those ingredients needed to be processed and what proportions were required for the formulation.
She decided to quietly experiment with it at the company the next day.
The next day, at night.
After all her department colleagues had left for the day, Xiao Manlian took out the medicinal ingredients she had prepared in advance and began to concoct them.
After she finished her work, Yu Keqing saw that the lights were still on in the R&D department and curiously walked over.
As she approached the door, she smelled a strong scent of Chinese herbs.
Upon entering, she found Xiao Manlian was brewing medicine.
"Manlian, what are you doing?"
Yu Keqing’s sudden entrance startled Xiao Manlian.
But she quickly calmed down.
"I’m developing a new product! The two super popular products recently, whether it’s Youth-Keeping Cream or Imperial Concubine’s Beauty Cream, they are all made from Chinese medicinal herbs. So, I also looked for a secret recipe called White Cream. But I just got this secret recipe and I’m not sure if it will work or be effective, so I didn’t tell Mrs. Yu for now. I wanted to wait until it was successful and then tell you about it."
"Where did you find this secret recipe?"
"From a Chinese medicine practitioner, a very skilled one."
Xiao Manlian was making this up on the spot.
Secret recipe?
White Cream?
A very skilled Chinese medicine practitioner?
Putting all this information together, Yu Keqing thought of someone.
That was Qin Feng.
Could it be that this young man wanted to help her secretly, so he gave Xiao Manlian a secret recipe for White Cream?
"Finish up and go home early to rest. Don’t exhaust yourself. I’m leaving now; see you tomorrow!"
