Siheyuan: Starting from the driver

Chapter 739 Xu Damao's Frenzied Search of the Double Room

The next day.

Materials Science.

The end of the college entrance examination is a relief for all the students.

However, for Li Kailang, the end of the college entrance examination also means that his night school graduation assessment is approaching step by step.

However, as he spent more time studying, his confidence in the assessment gradually increased.

Li Kailang sat upright in his chair, while Section Chief Qian opposite him could barely contain his excitement, holding several documents from the Materials Department in his hand.

"Section Chief Qian, this is the last batch of project summaries that need your signature and confirmation, as well as the key points for subsequent implementation."

Li Kailang handed over a neatly bound document with clear and legible handwriting, speaking in a calm tone.

"Okay, okay." Qian Weidong quickly took it, his face full of a sincere smile.

As he flipped through the documents, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Deputy Section Chief Li, look at this data! Look at this quality! The changes in the past two months are simply... simply earth-shattering!"

"I've worked my way up in the factory for so many years, and I've never seen any department transform so dramatically in such a short time!"

He put down the documents, looked at Li Kailang with burning eyes, his gaze filled with gratitude and the ecstatic joy of "finding a treasure".

Section Chief Qian had a clear understanding of the situation: these remarkable achievements were created under Li Kailang's management.

But all the credit will eventually fall rightfully on his head.

This was like a windfall, a huge pie falling from the sky and landing right in his arms!
Such a huge change and such solid achievements are like the thickest steps on the ladder of promotion!
Once the factory opens the promotion assessment, it's a sure thing that Section Chief Qian's name will be moved up a few places.
'Li Kailang is truly my lucky star! A benefactor, an absolute benefactor!'

The thought rolled over in his mind again, making him feel comfortable all over, and his gaze toward Li Kailang became even more "kind".

Li Kailang never expected that Section Chief Qian would have so many inner monologues.

"Section Chief Qian, you flatter me. It's all thanks to everyone's concerted efforts. All I can do is streamline the process and establish standards."

"Now that everything is in order, everyone just needs to follow the rules. The rest is up to your leader."

With the transfer of information and rights, he can now fully focus on his studies.

For him, the two months of practical experience in the materials science department was an invaluable gain.

"Alright, you go ahead with your work, I won't bother you anymore." Section Chief Qian took the documents, closed the door, and left.

Next, he will officially take over all matters related to the warehouse.

Just as Li Kailang was about to concentrate on his studies, a knock sounded on the door.

Then a figure squeezed in almost through the crack in the door.

It's Xu Damao.

"Xu Damao, what brings you here?" Li Kailang asked, somewhat surprised.

As soon as the door closed, Xu Damao took a few steps to Li Kailang's table, leaned forward slightly, and unconsciously rubbed his hands together.

"Li Kailang, my good brother! You have to help me out yesterday, I'm really in a tough spot right now!"

Li Kailang was completely baffled: "Xu Damao, what do you mean by that?"

Xu Damao immediately explained, "Do you have any more medicine? I need it urgently. I'm making things worse for you; many people are asking me for it, but I don't have a single bottle."

Upon hearing this, Xianmao immediately understood what Xu Damao wanted and said that Xu Damao would not come to the temple without a reason.

"Xu Damao, didn't I tell you about the medicine a long time ago? I'm not making it anymore, so it's no use you coming to me. I really can't help you."

"Don't say that, brother! You can't!" Xu Damao's voice suddenly rose. "Just help me this once! Just this once! I promise, there won't be a next time!"

"Here's the deal, after it's done, you take the lion's share, and I'll take the smaller share. You have to help me with this."

Xu Damao was also helpless. He could refuse others who asked him for things, but he couldn't refuse Li Huaide who asked him for things.

Li Huaide is the deputy factory director, his direct superior; he can't refuse to give it to him.

Xu Damao only had some stock, but those were ordinary prescriptions that were not good enough for Li Huaide, and he dared not deceive Li Huaide.

Li Kailang shook his head again: "Xu Damao still says the same thing, I stopped doing this a long time ago, it's no use you coming to me, I don't have any medicine left."

He said he wouldn't do it and he didn't. The key is that he really doesn't have any stock on hand, and he hasn't done anything in the past few months.

"No way!" Xu Damao shuddered at the thought of Li Huaide, fearing he would be in serious trouble if Li Huaide came after him.

“Well, didn’t you say you bought it from an old craftsman? Give me that old craftsman’s address, and I’ll go find him myself to get it.”

"Don't worry, I won't take this opportunity for nothing. I'll pay you, okay?"

Li Kailang shook his head. How could he give it to him? He was the one who made it up; he just made up a reason to fool Xu Damao.

Now I have to lie again to cover it up.

Even if I give you the address, you still won't be able to find it.

"How could that be? I know every street and alley around Beijing well. You think I'd be able to find it?"

Li Kailang shook his head again: "That old master left two months ago. He's already buried, and the grass on his grave is probably already growing. Even if I gave you the address, you still wouldn't be able to find it."

"Huh? Gone?! You're not kidding me, are you?" Xu Damao asked incredulously.

"Lie to you? Is it really necessary? If the person hadn't really passed away, would I have said I was quitting in the first place?" Li Kailang said seriously.

But Xu Damao didn't want to give up: "He's gone, but he might have left his things behind. At the very least, he has family, right? They'll definitely do something for him."

"What can I do if I'm all alone and have no descendants? Maybe the secret recipe will be burned too."

Li Kailang's words shattered Xu Damao's last hope.

"What!?" Xu Damao looked distressed.

Seeing that Xu Damao had given up, Li Kailang had achieved his goal: "Do you have anything else to say? If not, please leave. I have other things to do."

Xu Damao walked out dejectedly and returned to his office.

Looking at the last small box of medicine left in his drawer, which he had painstakingly emptied from his other pockets, he saw that it was the only medicine left.

This little bit of medicine won't fool Li Huaide; the effects are different, and he'll feel it immediately after taking it.

"and many more!"

Suddenly, an extremely dangerous thought flashed through Xu Damao's mind.

Recalling Li Kailang's resolute tone, a sinister suspicion quietly began to grow.

"It's impossible that they're really out of stock. This kid has fooled me a lot before, always taking medicine out of the drawer."

"Maybe this is another lie. They're definitely hiding it in the drawer, deliberately not giving it to me!"

Thinking of this, Xu Damao's hope was rekindled.

"Yes, that's right, Li Kailang is definitely still hiding in the closet."

An extremely bold, even crazy, idea sprouted in my mind: should I go and take a look at Li Kailang's office?

What if? What if we find something useful?
If we actually find the recipe, that would be even better.

At worst, Li Kailang might still have medicine in his drawer, which would at least give Li Huaide an explanation.

In short, this is entirely beneficial and without any drawbacks.

Once the thought appeared, it could no longer be suppressed, and the more he thought about it, the more "clear" it became, making Xu Damao almost instantly excited.

Li Kailang is still in the Materials Science Department, so he definitely can't go to his office, but he can still go to the Transportation Team, right?
Li Kailang used to take things from there; they might still be kept in the office there.

With that in mind, Xu Damao headed straight for the transport team.

"It's not easy to get in with so many people."

With so many people around, it was impossible for Xu Damao to avoid their gazes one by one.

"Since we can't avoid it, let's go through it openly and honestly!"

Xu Damao straightened his back and headed straight for Li Kailang's study room in the transportation team.

At that moment, Zhang Fen was cleaning his study room. "Knock knock!"

"Hello there!"

Zhang Fen looked over upon hearing the sound and saw it was Xu Damao.

He knew Xu Damao; he lived in the same courtyard as Li Kailang and they were acquaintances, so he didn't suspect him at all.

"Xu Damao, is there something you need?"

"Li Kailang asked me to come and pick up something. I don't know if it's convenient for me?"

Hearing that Li Kailang had asked him to come, Zhang Fen didn't suspect anything: "Sure, sure. Do you need anything? I can help you find it."

"No need for that. Li Kailang has already told me where it is. He said I can find it by looking in the drawer."

As he spoke, Xu Damao pretended to be calm and went behind the table, opening each drawer to check them one by one.

Seeing this, Zhang Fen was a little suspicious: "I wonder what Xiao Li needs? I can help look for it."

"I remember the exact name, but he said it was packaged in some kind of bottle or jar, and that you could find it by looking for the bottle or jar."

"Bottles and jars?" Zhang Fen frowned. Did Li Kailang have these things in his drawer?
During this time, he learned quite a bit about the things in this study room, but he didn't remember there being any bottles or jars in the drawers.

However, since 'Li Kailang' said so, it might actually be true.

"I'll help you look for it."

"Sigh, thank you for your help." Xu Damao said, his heart pounding with nervousness, but he forced himself to remain calm.

The two rummaged through drawers and cabinets, finding a lot of things, including several notebooks.

Xu Damao flipped through the contents, which were mostly study notes and technical drawings, but he couldn't find a single word about "Qianjin Fang" or special medicinal materials.

The table was covered with tools, professional books, and notebooks, filled with dense formulas and diagrams that made one dizzy.

"Damn it! Is there really nothing here?" Xu Damao anxiously tugged at his hair, the more he searched, the more uneasy he became.

"That shouldn't be the case; it was taken from here."

Thinking back to how Li Kailang always just grabbed things from the drawer, it's understandable that he couldn't find them no matter what.

"Did Xiao Li say where it was?" Zhang Fen asked, pulling through several drawers but still unable to find it.

“He said it was in the cabinet and easy to find; we probably just didn’t search carefully enough,” Xu Damao lied.

Zhang Fen remained unsuspecting and began searching again, examining everything carefully, but still found nothing.

"No, there really isn't. Did you hear me wrong? Or did you mishear?"

After searching for a long time, Xu Damao gave up: "I couldn't have misheard. That's exactly what Li Kailang said. I think he must have made a mistake."

"Okay, I'll go ask him again. You can look around sometime; maybe he's in some nook or cranny."

After saying that, Xu Damao pretended to be calm and left.

But the further they walked, the more lost and disoriented they became.

"Impossible! Impossible! Li Kailang clearly took the medicine from the drawer right in front of us before!"

"How could it just disappear like that?"

The thought that he had failed to produce the medicine Li Huaide wanted meant that not only was his promotion hopeless, he might even lose his lucrative job as a projectionist!
He might be transferred to the medical team by Li Huaide.

"No! Absolutely not!" Xu Damao suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Li Kailang! That kid is definitely hiding! He doesn't want to give it up! He's afraid I'll share his spoils? Yes! That must be it!"

Xu Damao's dark thoughts spun rapidly, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

"What? The old master is gone, all alone? Bullshit! You're kidding me! He must have found a better buyer and doesn't care about my connections! Fine, you're heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless too!"

Since the drawers in the "study room" are clean, where is Li Kailang's office in the Materials Science Department now?

He's still sitting there, and it's very likely that the medicine is kept in his office.

With that in mind, Xu Damao knew he had to find an opportunity to go in and take a look.

"How do we get in? He's right there." Xu Damao thought for a while, but still couldn't come up with a good solution.

I can only wait until lunchtime to go and check on him as soon as possible while he's out having lunch.

This is currently the only way. Unless something happens to the warehouse, Li Kailang is unlikely to make any moves.

Jingle Bell--

Finally, the lunch break bell rang.

Xu Damao was already prepared, just waiting for Li Kailang to come out.

Sure enough, a short while later, Li Kailang and several people from the Materials Science Department went out together.

As the group chatted, Li Kailang didn't notice Xu Damao hiding in the shadows.

"We've gone too far, it's time to go up."

After the others had gone some distance, Xu Damao couldn't wait to go up to Li Kailang's office.

The office door wasn't locked, so Xu Damao pushed it open and went inside.

Looking at the notes and books on the table, he scoffed, "Hmph, all pretentious, acting like it's the real deal."

Without paying much attention, Xu Damao opened the drawers one by one and checked them.

The first drawer contained several professional books, a stack of scratch paper filled with formulas and notes, several material catalogs, half a bottle of ink, several pens, and letter paper and envelopes printed with the words "Materials Department of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill".

Xu Damao was unwilling to give up, so he opened the second drawer: several thicker notebooks and some tool parts.

I checked several drawers in a row, but there were no bottles or jars! Not even a single thing that looked like a medicine bottle!
"No! Damn it! There's no way there isn't. It's probably hidden. I refuse to believe it!"

Sweat beaded on Xu Damao's forehead, alarm bells rang in his mind, and he moved even more urgently.

Some even roughly dragged the entire drawer out, reaching their fingers into the drawer back grooves and table seams to try and find any hidden compartments or secret spaces.

No! There really isn't any!

Xu Damao was as if he had lost his mother; he was completely distraught.

"There's really no medicine. How are we going to explain this to Li Huaide?"

at this time--

snap snap snap snap
A series of clear footsteps approached from afar, as if stepping on his most sensitive nerves!

Xu Damao was instantly terrified, leaping up like a startled rabbit, his back pressed firmly against the door, his ear pressed against the crack in the door.

He kept chanting in his mind, "Don't come in! Don't come in!"

As if Xu Damao's prediction had come true, the footsteps faded into the distance.

"Phew~ Thank goodness it wasn't Li Kailang." Xu Damao breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and looked at the somewhat messy desktop.

"We can't let Li Kailang find out, or we'll be in big trouble."

Xu Damao immediately set to work, trying to put everything back in its place, though it was impossible to do so completely.

After arranging everything as neatly as possible, Xu Damao cautiously opened the office door.

He peeked out like a thief, looking left and right to make sure no one was around, before slipping away like an eel and quietly locking the door behind him.

I walked briskly with my head down, avoiding all routes where I might bump into people, deliberately choosing stairwell corners, and stumbled my way to my office.

Fortunately, it's lunchtime now, and no one will be coming back to the office.

"Phew~ I just hope Li Kailang didn't find out."

Xu Damao prayed silently, but his immediate priority was to solve the problem of not having the medicine.

(End of this chapter)