Chapter 3 Cold and Distant

• Jiang Mucheng silently ignored Huo Ciyi and stepped into the living room. She also looked the other way.
• Neither of them spoke, and they left the president of the hospital to continue talking.
• Distracted, Jiang Mucheng didn't listen to a word, as she couldn't figure out why Huo Ciyi called the president of the hospital. All she knew was that the president asked her to give Huo Ciyi a tour of the research labs.
• As soon as the president finished speaking, Huo Ciyi chuckled even more.
• He glanced over at the reluctant look on Jiang Mucheng's face before he got to his feet in sudden realisation. "Alright."
• The president of the hospital's gaze was stern. All Jiang Mucheng could do was grit her teeth and escort him out alone.
• The atmosphere between them was extremely awkward. It seemed like they deliberately didn't say a word.
• For their entire walk, neither of them looked at one another. Instead, their eyes were on the room of ice-cold apparatus and glass beakers till they reached the doors of the lab.
• Just then, Huo Ciyi finally opened his mouth.
• "What's wrong? Your hospital asked for such a big sum of money, and yet they send a mute to give me a tour?"
• Jiang Mucheng couldn't help but scoff. Out of all the well-spoken staff at the hospital, I wonder who was the one who deliberately chose a mute for the job?
• "Our team ran repeated tests for the new, highly effective drug on multiple clinical cases."
• "Our repeated tests show that it can cure cases of acute illnesses. Also..."
• Jiang Mucheng spoke with an ice-cold, robotic voice.
• He wanted her to speak, so she did.
• In her eyes, he was a sugar daddy who she would only talk business with. There was nothing else she wanted to talk to him about.
• "People say that this kind of drug has no side affects at all, so can you guarantee that this drug is completely safe for patients to use?"
• "Basically, yes."
• "A hundred percent?"
• "Nothing is guaranteed to work a hundred percent, nor can any person make that same guarantee," said Jiang Mucheng with a little attitude.
• "It's a huge feat for medicine of this kind to have minimised its after effects down to nothing."
• Just in that moment, a hint of amazement flashed across the corners of Huo Ciyi's eyes.
• "So Dr. Jiang, your standards haven't been much these past few years."
• Huo Ciyi's tone of voice sounded gentle as usual. It seemed as if there were even a hint of a soft chuckle in his voice, but his actual words were cold and cutting.
• "Why aren't you saying anything?"
• Huo Ciyi drew slowly closer. "Didn't I just say something?"
• Jiang Mucheng's gaze relaxed slightly. She didn't want to bother with Huo Ciyi's taunts, so she merely replied with one sentence. "If Mr. Huo feels that our project is not to your liking, then please..."
• Jiang Mucheng's tone of voice was cold and distant. It seemed like she didn't care about what Huo Ciyi just did.
• It wasn't like their past feelings for each other were ever going to have any new developments anyway.
• She simply didn't want to waste any more time on Huo Ciyi.
• "Your drug came just in time. Even if our company doesn't go ahead with the investment, there will be other companies fighting to invest first."
• But Huo Ciyi had no intention of leaving.
• Jiang Mucheng stared right at Huo Ciyi. Although she didn't say anything, her gaze said that she refused to comment.
• Huo Ciyi used to like it when Jiang Mucheng revealed her stubborn side once in a while.
• But now, he just wanted to cover that unequivocal glint in her eyes and... shatter her stubbornness.
• "But let me tell you this, what would other people think if I refused to invest in your project because of safety reasons?"
• What would they think? Of course they would think there was a problem with the quality!
• For the past few years, she may have not wanted to pay attention to Huo Ciyi, but the network was so big and so many people were interested in the research and development of his company's projects.
• In other words, when she was with Huo Ciyi, he was just a mere business person.
• He only knew how to use capital and business operations to gain power.
• But within three years, he had become a well-versed expert in the industry who was detail-oriented and highly strict on quality assurance.