Chapter 323: What Do You Know

"Hello?"

Seeing the woman walking towards him, Li Xian frowned. 

He didn't recognize her, and he had heard from Lai Yunhao that she was from the provincial Policy Research Office. Since he had no acquaintances there, he assumed she was following some instruction from Secretary Sun.

However, when the woman reached him, she extended her hand and said, "Hello, I'm Xue Ling."

Li Xian hesitated for a moment but then shook her hand, asking, "Hello, do we know each other?"

Xue Ling smiled gently, "Not really. I just overheard some of your opinions in the corridor and thought they were a bit off. I wanted to discuss them with you."

"Oh." Li Xian frowned and turned away decisively.

Where did this argumentative person come from? Does she think I'm idle?

Seeing Li Xian walk away, Xue Ling was taken aback but quickly chased after him. However, due to her shorter height, she couldn't keep up with his long strides and could only rapidly shuffle in her medium-heeled shoes, panting as she asked, "You said you're optimistic about Longjiang's short-term prospects but not its long-term ones. Why do you think so?"

Li Xian ignored her.

"I looked at the data for your company. If you're not optimistic about Longjiang's long-term prospects, why are you investing in products like toilet paper, sanitary napkins, liquor, health products, and pickles? Your fixed assets in Longjiang are nearly a hundred million now. Don't you think the resources are too dispersed and the management costs too high? If you're not optimistic about the long-term, why invest in businesses with high costs, slow returns, and difficult exits?"

Li Xian continued to ignore her and kept walking.

Seeing that Li Xian wasn't engaging with her or even acknowledging her, Xue Ling quickly stepped in front of him and said, "Ah! I understand now. You must be putting on a show to catch Secretary Sun's attention and deepen his impression of you, but instead, you've angered him, right?"

Looking at the woman in front of him, who was panting with her disheveled hair sticking to her face, Li Xian frowned.

"You…"

"You know nothing!"

After throwing this remark, Li Xian disregarded the stunned Xue Ling and got into a taxi.

---

Last night, Wang Zhiyue had arranged accommodation for Li Xian's family.

Li Daoyun and Li You stayed in a business room, while Li Xian and Su Ya each had a standard room.

Returning to the hotel, Li Xian first went to the business room.

Li You and Li Daoyun were both in poor condition. One had been bedridden due to severe motion sickness, while the other had been exhausted from over-excitement and had been restless throughout the night.

Li You opened the door. After a night's rest, he looked much better. Li Daoyun, sitting cross-legged on the business room's large bed and smoking, also appeared in good spirits.

Seeing Li Xian enter, Li Daoyun waved him over.

After a restless night, Li Daoyun, now feeling better, began to worry about his grandson.

"Grandson, about the yellow hero, what's your plan?"

Hearing this, Li Xian scratched his head.

The situation with Huang Yingxiong was somewhat complicated. Although he had not accepted the man's overtures in the morning and had instead issued a stern warning, he did not plan to escalate the conflict further for now.

According to Xu Chaoyang, the development project was still in the planning stage within the Forestry Group and was expected to be announced no earlier than a month from now.

Thus, this matter was not urgent, and he planned to set it aside for the time being.

The more pressing issue was the pile of miscellaneous tasks at hand.

Liu Weihai was due to return from the capital in a couple of days. According to the agreement with CCTV, from the first of next month, the new project could start rolling out. By then, the business of Bangye Liquor would face its biggest impact since its inception.

Before that, there were many tasks to complete.

After nearly a year of development, the business had grown to a certain scale, and more tasks now required his direct attention rather than just the department heads' decisions.

Li Xian had been receiving more frequent calls recently, and more matters required his personal handling and communication. It seemed increasingly urgent to establish a headquarters or even a group company in Ice City.

He planned to address this within the month after Liu Weihai and Zhu Feng returned.

Even if it was a tight schedule and some matters couldn't be completed immediately, setting up offices for the toilet paper and liquor factories in the provincial capital was a must.

He wanted to ensure his grandfather didn't have to worry and could rest well, so he asked about Su Ya.

Li Daoyun chuckled and pointed to his grandson. "I don't know. I haven't seen Su Ya since this morning. You should check for yourself."

Not seen since this morning? That didn't seem like Su Ya's character.

Knowing that Li Daoyun and Li You were unwell last night, why didn't she come to take care of them?

Tilting his head, Li Xian walked toward Su Ya's room.

After knocking on the door for a while with no response, he started to think Su Ya might have gone out when the door finally opened.

"Hey, I thought you guys had left me behind and gone home!"

Before he could fully react, a soft, warm body fell into his arms.

"Eh?"

Instinctively supporting Su Ya in his arms, Li Xian was startled when he saw her flushed face and felt her unusual condition. He shouted, "Something's wrong!"

Su Ya's face was exceptionally red, as if a fire had been lit on her fair skin. The fire was so intense that her normally moist and tender lips had become dry. Her eyes were slightly closed, with red around them, and tears were occasionally spilling from the corners of her eyes.

Li Xian immediately placed his hand on her smooth forehead.

As expected.

His somewhat cold hand felt like it was touching a furnace the moment it touched her forehead.

Recalling that Su Ya had been outside in the freezing cold last night with only a sweater while standing outside the courthouse, Li Xian slapped his forehead.

She must have caught a cold!

Immediately, he picked Su Ya up in a horizontal position. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

However, Su Ya, already in a semi-comatose state, suddenly opened her eyes wide at the mention of the hospital and grabbed Li Xian's arm, shaking her head vigorously as if encountering a terrifying ghost.

"You have a fever. Be good, let's go to the hospital!" Li Xian thought Su Ya was confused from the fever and patted her cheek, trying to comfort her like a child.

But Su Ya, seemingly possessed, struggled in his arms as if the place he was taking her to was a hellish nightmare.

In her struggle, Su Ya's sweater ripped open, revealing a strip of her white waist.

Seeing this, Li Xian quickly patted her back. "Alright, alright, we won't go. We won't go to the hospital. I'll help you back inside."

With this reassurance, and feeling Li Xian helping her back to her room, Su Ya finally tilted her head, fell into a deep sleep, and passed out.

Li Xian carefully helped Su Ya back to her room and laid her down on the bed. He then covered her with a blanket and went to get some water and a fever reducer from the hotel's front desk. When he returned, he gently helped Su Ya take the medication and made sure she was comfortable.

Despite the concern, Li Xian had to get back to addressing the issues at hand. He knew there was no time to lose. Once Su Ya was settled, he made a call to Liu Weihai and Zhu Feng, informing them of the situation and setting plans in motion to handle the immediate business needs.

His thoughts kept returning to Su Ya's condition. The cold weather had clearly taken a toll on her health. Li Xian felt a pang of guilt for not being more attentive.

As he was busy organizing things, his phone buzzed with a message from Wang Zhiyue, inquiring about the progress and offering further assistance if needed. Li Xian appreciated the support and quickly responded with updates and thanks.

With Su Ya finally resting and the critical issues lined up, Li Xian knew the days ahead would be challenging. He had to balance his responsibilities and ensure everything went smoothly, both for the company and for Su Ya's recovery.

Finally, he settled into a chair beside Su Ya's bed, waiting for her to wake up. He hoped she would recover quickly and be back to her usual self soon.