Chapter 3125 — The Disappointing Phone Call

"What do you mean, accept you?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "Let me be your girlfriend!" Xiao Jiu said. "Didn't you say that if you can't change something, you don't change it?" "What I meant was, we're childhood sweethearts—what does that have to do with you being my girlfriend?" Wei Zhao could not help but smile bitterly; Xiao Jiu really did know how to push her luck. "Isn't a childhood sweetheart a girlfriend?" Xiao Jiu retorted. "Qiqi and I are childhood sweethearts too, so is she my girlfriend as well? Then aren't the two of you both my girlfriends?" Wei Zhao shot back. "Exactly, who says otherwise?" Xiao Jiu said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "Dry Daddy has so many wives!" "..." Wei Zhao was momentarily speechless. "Let's not talk about that for now. That... you know as well as I do, a Successor can't do that sort of thing... so the girlfriend business, let's put it on hold..." "I know, we just won't sleep together for now, that's all... hugging and cuddling is still fine," Xiao Jiu said. "...Xiao Jiu, when did you become so impure..." Wei Zhao was sweating profusely. "Do you expect a girl who spends all day online mingling in forums to be pure? I'm almost losing track of who's male and who's female myself..." Xiao Jiu said. "..." Wei Zhao was speechless. "Then can we talk about this in person? Such a serious matter can't be explained clearly over the phone." "Fine!" This time Xiao Jiu did not argue further with Wei Zhao; she knew when to stop. If she had not already learned from Yang Qiqi about the change in Wei Zhao, she would not have been able to press him so relentlessly today. With the old Wei Zhao, he might well have simply stopped speaking altogether! "Oh, right, Xiao Jiu, the reason I called you this time is that there's something I'd like to ask your help with!" Wei Zhao said. "Are you any good at encrypting the programs inside microcontrollers?" "Microcontrollers? As far as the ones currently on the market go, most of them can be decrypted. Why do you ask?" Xiao Jiu was a little puzzled as to why Wei Zhao would ask about such a thing. "It's like this..." Wei Zhao then told Xiao Jiu about Han Jingyi's invention of an automatic pill cauldron capable of refining pills. "Oh, that's easy. Send me the source program, and I'll encrypt it for you, then put it into a kind of microcontroller that my Dry Mother and I developed back when we had nothing better to do. There's no documentation for this microcontroller anywhere on the market, and its encryption is formidable to begin with—decrypting it would be extremely difficult," Xiao Jiu said straightaway. "All right, I'll send it to your email in a bit." Having settled one matter, Wei Zhao let out a breath of relief. "Mm. And then, didn't you say you wanted to generate several kinds of programs? Tell me what appearance and functions you want for each one, and I'll help you reintegrate and encrypt them," Xiao Jiu said. "No problem." Wei Zhao nodded in agreement. "How has Qiqi been lately?" "Same as always. After Little Seven Sister learned she no longer needed to run herself ragged over my illness, she threw herself body and soul into helping you search for things like the blue crystal. She'll let you know the moment there's any news," Xiao Jiu said. "Fine. Once things quiet down a bit, I'll come back and visit," Wei Zhao said. After ending the call with Xiao Jiu, Wei Zhao hesitated for a moment. Then he dialed Liu Jinghan's number directly. This time, Wei Zhao did not go to Liu Tianyi first—he went straight to Liu Jinghan. Wei Zhao did not know why, either; perhaps he wanted to prove something? "Mr. Wei Zhao?" Liu Jinghan picked up quickly, her voice sounding somewhat delighted, yet also somewhat worried. "Miss Liu Jinghan. I hear the bank has started pressing for repayment?" Wei Zhao asked, coming straight to the point. "Yes. The Liu family incurred a great deal of external debt previously." Liu Jinghan did not conceal it either, but answered truthfully. "But Jinghan is already working hard, striving to find new money-making projects..." "No need to look. I'll give you one." As he spoke, Wei Zhao told Liu Jinghan about Han Jingyi's invention, the automatic first-tier pill cauldron. "There's... such a marvelous thing? Jinghan truly admires the person who invented it..." Liu Jinghan said with a trace of guilt. "For Jinghan to just get it for nothing like this... isn't that a bit much?" "There's nothing much about it. It's the inventor herself who said she wanted to give it to your Liu family. She is very important to me, and her words are very important to me as well, so it goes to your Liu family as a favor!" Wei Zhao said. "Mm-hm!" Liu Jinghan's whole being suddenly grew agitated. "What did you say?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lin, Jinghan has lost her composure. It's just that this thing is so marvelous that Jinghan is extremely excited. I imagine that once this product reaches the market, those hidden families and ancient sects will all come to curry favor with the Liu family..." Liu Jinghan said from the bottom of her heart. "Good. The marketing plan for this matter is yours to handle." Wei Zhao nodded and said no more to Liu Jinghan. "I hope you won't let my friend's efforts go to waste. You must make a success of this pill cauldron!" "Please rest assured, Mr. Lin. Jinghan will go all out!" Liu Jinghan promised. "That's good. I won't say more." Wei Zhao said. "However, as for the sample and such, you'd best come to Donghai City to fetch it in person. After all, I'm not entirely at ease mailing it to you, and you've never come into contact with the principles of the pill cauldron either—I want to explain them to you in person..." In truth, all these words of Wei Zhao's were merely an excuse. A very stubborn notion had suddenly taken hold in Wei Zhao's heart: he wanted to see Liu Jinghan! Liu Jinghan, Jingjing, Han Jingyi—could there be some connection among them? Yet Wei Zhao also felt it was unlikely. Still, that "Mm-hm" from Liu Jinghan earlier had seemed to touch something deep in the bottom of Wei Zhao's heart, making him determined to see her! "All right, then I'll set out today, and we can meet tomorrow." Liu Jinghan agreed readily, without the slightest hesitation, which left Wei Zhao somewhat disappointed. It seemed that certain of his ideas must be wrong after all. "Then I'll see you tomorrow!" Wei Zhao nodded and hung up the phone, his interest gone. After that, Wei Zhao began once more to study the fire of condensation and forging. By now Wei Zhao's technique in condensing the forging fire was growing more and more proficient, but he still did not dare rashly attempt to condense the jade pendant space, because the materials in his hands were extremely limited. If the refining were ruined, Wei Zhao would have nowhere to cry. This thing, like pill refining, had a success rate; although failure would not damage the jade pendant, the materials would be wasted. Therefore Wei Zhao had to be at least eighty percent certain before he dared to begin. That evening, Wei Zhao was in the midst of condensing the jade pendant space when he suddenly sensed a car pulling up outside the villa, and the two people inside the car were both cultivators! Wei Zhao had been on guard against Dongfang Ying's arrival all along, so his divine sense and mental power had been locked on the area outside the villa's courtyard the entire time. (To be continued...)