strictlysupreme Chapter 1315: Yun Rui's sincerity: "Nightingale" project
Chapter 1315: Yun Rui's sincerity: "Nightingale" project
The wind on the rooftop was so strong that it made her hair messy. Gu Yunxi stood by the railing, holding a brown paper envelope in her hand, her back looking particularly thin in the night.
"Why are you here?" Yang Xiaotang walked up to her and spoke in a hard voice.
"Here's this." Gu Yunxi handed her the envelope. "The police just found it. This is Lin Xu's diary."
Yang Xiaotang took the envelope, her fingertips touching the rough paper, and her heart skipped a beat. She pulled out her diary, flipped to the first page, and saw the words: "I met Qi Ruixiang today. He seemed to be hiding something..."
Her heartbeat quickened, and her fingers flipped back rapidly. The diary contained fragmentary records of Lin Xu and Qi Ruixiang's interactions, mentioning a project codenamed "Nightingale" and suggesting that Qi Ruixiang seemed to be doing something illegal for the project.
"This... is this true?" Yang Xiaotang's voice trembled, and he couldn't believe what he saw.
Gu Yunxi looked at her shocked expression, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes: "I don't know. But I think Qi Ruixiang may not be as simple as we see."
Yang Xiaotang suddenly raised her head, looked into Gu Yunxi's eyes, and suddenly understood her intention.
She wanted to convince herself that Qi Ruixiang was a bad person who would do anything for profit, so that she could completely let him go.
"You don't have to do this." Yang Xiaotang stuffed the diary back into the envelope and handed it back to Gu Yunxi. "No matter what kind of person he is, I don't care anymore."
Gu Yunxi didn't answer, but just looked at her: "Don't you want to know the truth? Was Qi Ruixiang involved in Lin Xu's death?"
"The truth?" Yang Xiaotang smiled, a somewhat desolate smile. "The truth is often the most hurtful. I've had enough of this mess, and I don't want to be a clown anymore. I just want to recuperate and then leave here."
After saying that, she turned and left without any reluctance.
Gu Yunxi looked at her resolute back and suddenly sighed softly. She knew that Yang Xiaotang had begun to waver. If she gave her another push, she would completely stand on her side.
And the turmoil caused by Lin Xu's death will eventually drag everyone into it, leaving them with nowhere to escape.
When Gu Yunxi locked Lin Xu's diary in the drawer of the bedside table, the moonlight outside the window was creeping in through the gaps in the blinds, cutting out light and dark stripes on the floor.
Her fingertips traced the gold-stamped letters on the diary cover, and she suddenly recalled the time three years ago in the Cambridge laboratory when Lin Xu, in a white coat, held up a test tube and said to her, "Chemistry is the most romantic science. Every reaction has a traceable path."
There were stars in his eyes at that time, not as sinister as he wrote in his diary.
第二天清晨，顾允希在齐瑞祥的西装口袋里发现了张揉皱的便签。上面用铅笔写着串奇怪的字符：N-37，K2Cr2O7，16:00。
She stared at the sunlight for a long time, and suddenly remembered the "nightingale" that appeared repeatedly in Lin Xu's diary - it was a plant that bloomed at midnight, and K2Cr2O7 was potassium dichromate, an oxidizing agent commonly used in chemical experiments.
"Are you going to the gallery to see the new exhibition today?" Qi Ruixiang paused as he was tying his tie and looked at her in the mirror. "I'll have the driver take you there."
"No." Gu Yunxi folded the note into a small square and stuffed it into his sleeve, then turned to go to the kitchen to pour milk. "I want to treat my doctor to a meal. It's really hard for him to have a patient like me."
Qi Ruixiang froze in mid-air. If he asked the doctor out for dinner, would he meet Yang Xiaotang again?
He always felt that Gu Yunxi and Yang Xiaotang were getting too close recently, but he couldn't find a reason to object - after all, it was he who got Yang Xiaotang involved in this storm in the first place.
"Don't be too tired." He finally swallowed his worries, picked up his briefcase and walked out, then turned back and reminded, "Call me if you have anything."
Gu Yunxi stood at the entrance and watched his car disappear around the corner before he took out his cell phone and called Yang Xiaotang.
The wind was very strong on the hospital rooftop. Yang Xiaotang was wrapped in a thick coat, holding a piece of printed paper in her hand. On it was the project list of Miaoyin Media that she had secretly copied without Yan Wanqing's knowledge.
"The Nightingale Project was launched in March of last year." Yang Xiaotang handed the paper over, her fingertips red from the cold. "The person in charge column says Qi Ruixiang, but the person who approved it is Gu Yunqian."
Gu Yunxi pressed her fingertips firmly on the three characters "Gu Yunqian." Her cousin was always like this, handing the most challenging projects to Qi Ruixiang while he hid behind the scenes and reaped the benefits.
"Lin Xu's name appears on the collaboration list." Yang Xiaotang pointed to the small print at the bottom of the form. "It's labeled 'Technical Support.'"
"A chemistry genius providing technical support for a news project?" Gu Yunxi sneered, folded up the form and stuffed it into his pocket. "This is interesting."
The two stood on the edge of the rooftop, watching the traffic passing by below. Yang Xiaotang suddenly asked, "Do you really think Qi Ruixiang would do anything illegal?"
Gu Yunxi turned to look at her and found tiny ice particles on her eyelashes. "In London, there are usually only two possibilities for cooperation between news agencies and chemical laboratories,"
She counted on her fingers, her voice as cold as ice,
"Either they're reporting on chemical pollution, or they're...making news."
Yang Xiaotang's breathing suddenly stopped.
"A batch of ammonium nitrate was lost from Professor Lin Xu's lab last month." Gu Yunxi looked at the Thames River in the distance, where the fog had not yet dissipated. "The police said it was experimental supplies, but I checked the procurement records and the quantity is enough for three small explosions."
Yang Xiaotang's face turned pale in an instant.
She thought of the file bags marked "confidential" in Qi Ruixiang's office, and his furrowed brows as he sat in front of the computer late at night. All those details that she had ignored were now connected together, like a cold snake wrapped around her heart.
"I'll help you check the lab's surveillance." She suddenly grabbed Gu Yunxi's wrist, her knuckles turning white. "But you have to promise me, if... if Qi Ruixiang was wrongly accused..."
"I will personally admit my mistake to you." Gu Yunxi held her hand with his backhand, and the warmth of his palm came through the thin sleeves. "But before that, we must know the truth."
Yang Xiaotang looked at Gu Yunxi's determined eyes and nodded, but she felt mixed emotions. She didn't know whether her decision was right or wrong, but she knew that there seemed to be no better choice now.
After coming down from the rooftop, Gu Yunxi went straight home.
Qi Ruixiang hadn't come back yet. The house was quiet, with only the wall clock ticking.
She changed into a pair of soft slippers, walked to the sofa in the living room and sat down, her eyes unconsciously falling on the seat where Qi Ruixiang often sat.
In the past, she never cared about Qi Ruixiang's work and believed everything he said. But now, she felt like there was a knot in her heart, and she always felt that something was being hidden.
She knew that it was not a good idea to investigate in such a secretive way, but when she thought of Lin Xu's death and those suspicious clues, she couldn't control herself.
Not long after, there was a slight sound from the door lock, and Qi Ruixiang came back. He took off his coat and saw Gu Yunxi sitting on the sofa, with a smile on his face: "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"Waiting for you." Gu Yunxi stood up, walked forward and naturally took the briefcase from his hand, "You came back early today."
"Well, I came back after finishing the things at hand." Qi Ruixiang rubbed her hair, his tone a little tired, "I'm a little tired."