Qin He arranged Di Shishi’s room on the second floor.
Currently, she, Ming Yuzhu, and Di Shishi lived on the second floor, while Xu Wanwan and Qin Yun lived on the third floor.
In the evening, Qin Yun returned from the company, and Qin He specifically discussed the matter they had agreed upon earlier with him.
In the living room, Qin Yun’s expression was serious.
Qin He sat beside him, "Brother, we can now confirm that Shen Yizhong is still alive, and he's even crazier than before. Our Wanwan is not in a good state to move around, so it's unlikely for us to send them on vacation. Please arrange for more people to keep an eye on our surroundings when we're not home recently."
Qin Yun nodded with a grave expression, "I understand."
As they were talking, Xu Wanwan came out from the adjacent side hall after playing Mahjong.
"Husband is back."
Xu Wanwan, holding an orange, ran into Qin Yun's arms with a pampered air.
Qin Yun took the orange and started peeling it for her. Their sweet affection made Qin He sigh beside them.
"Xu Wanwan, you've completely changed. So sweet and gentle now."
Xu Wanwan leaned against Qin Yun’s embrace and secretly winked at Qin He, "That's right. Are you envious?"
Qin He chuckled twice.
Qin Yun broke off half of the orange and offered it to her, "Don't be envious. Brother also dotes on you."
"Thank you, but I can't eat it," Qin He let out a relieved laugh.
Qin He and Qin Yun had finished their conversation. Seeing their affectionate display, she didn't linger in the living room.
"I'll go back to my bedroom first."
Upon returning to her bedroom, Qin He washed up and, as usual, video-called Gu Qishen. After chatting for a while, Qin He felt drowsy.
Gu Qishen’s voice was gentle, "Rest early."
Qin He mumbled a response, not hanging up the video call.
Expecting Gu Qishen to hang up, Qin He was deep in thought the next morning when she woke up and found her phone dead. After turning it on, she looked at the video call record spanning over ten hours.
After washing up, Qin He drove to Gu Corporation. Upon arriving at Qingsui, the department was bustling with activity.
Recently, Qingsui was planning to launch a new perfume series, consisting of five fragrances.
The signature scent was a perfume formula Qin He had prepared earlier, while the other four were the results of meticulous refinement by Li Ai and the perfumers in the department.
Based on the timeline, by the time the series was launched, the renovation of Qingsui's location on Beili Road should be nearing completion. Qin He and the others confirmed the scent profiles and names again. After finishing her work, she went to the raw material room.
She found a few materials she needed and placed a piece of agarwood under her nose, sniffing it carefully. Li Ai was very attentive when selecting raw materials; all the spices and woods were carefully chosen high-quality items.
Just as Qin He was halfway through her selection, a commotion arose outside.
She got up and glanced outside, and soon there were hurried knocks on the door of the raw material room.
"What's wrong?" Qin He turned her head, seeing Li Ai enter the room with a tense expression.
"Sister Qin He, something has happened."
Qin He furrowed her brow, put down the incense wood in her hand, and followed Li Ai to the office.
The perfumers in the office were all staring at a tablet on a conference table in the center. Qin He leaned over to look.
Weibo's trending topics?
Li Ai nodded solemnly.
This wasn't the first time Qin He had appeared on the trending list, but this time it was about Qingsui.
She frowned deeply, looking at the title on the screen.
[Gu Corporation’s New Brand Qingsui Accused of Copying Caifang Perfume Formula.]
"What is going on?"
Qin He knew that Caifang was Zhang Caiyu's perfume brand. After the last competition, Zhang Caiyu, having found some influential investor, managed to make the news about Caifang using illegal mica fade away.
Recently, she had started promoting herself online again.
Qin He was well aware of Zhang Caiyu's character, "Did any of you fail to keep your formula safe, allowing Zhang Caiyu's people to get their hands on it?"
She didn't suspect anyone from Qingsui.
The perfumers exchanged glances. Li Ai said cautiously, "Sister Qin He, it's your Wild Tea."
Qin He's brow furrowed sharply. Wild Tea was the signature scent for this launch.
She clicked on the trending topic and saw the ingredients for Wild Tea listed, with a date earlier than the launch.
Qin He’s face turned cold. She had created Wild Tea years ago, long before Zhang Caiyu had released any products. However, the formula had remained in her mind and had not been written down. It was only when preparing to launch new products that she finally wrote it down and handed it to Li Ai.
"Alright, I understand. I will investigate this matter," Qin He said with a frown. "You all continue preparing for the new product launch."
Li Ai looked worried, "The new product launch event is scheduled for ten days from now. If this isn't clarified within these ten days, we will be in a very passive position at the launch."
Qin He sighed, "Don't worry. Since Zhang Caiyu dared to resort to such petty tactics, she must have left some traces."
Qin He reassured the perfumers at Qingsui, but with the urgent matter at hand, she lost the mood for perfumery and left the seventeenth floor.
The perfumers in the Qingsui department were discussing in low voices. Many of them were among the top performers in that competition.
They had worked with both Qin He and Zhang Caiyu, and they all knew Zhang Caiyu's character.
"This Zhang Caiyu is truly a persistent nuisance."
"What can we do about it? I suspect she’s holding a grudge against Qin He because of the competition, but where did she get the perfume formula?"
Li Ai stood rooted to the spot, her gaze complex as she looked at the Weibo trending topic.
Zhang Caiyu was her cousin, after all. Although they had broken off contact, Zhang Caiyu had indeed visited her a while ago.
That day, Zhang Caiyu first visited her mother in the hospital. Li Ai rushed to the hospital upon receiving the news, fearing Zhang Caiyu might harm her mother.
What followed was an argument. Zhang Caiyu spoke to her nicely, but Li Ai, not forgetting how this woman had exploited her in the past, directly drove Zhang Caiyu away.
Li Ai frowned, trying to recall the events of that day.
Sister Qin He had given her the formula for Wild Tea that day. Fearing it would get lost, she had put such important information in her bag at the time.
Li Ai’s face tightened. The argument that day had been so intense that she couldn't remember if Zhang Caiyu had touched her bag.
However, given the current situation, it was possible that Zhang Caiyu had secretly seen the formula in her bag that day.
Li Ai’s hands trembled slightly. Sister Qin He had brought her away from Zhang Caiyu, rescuing her from a difficult situation, and then made her the deputy director of Qingsui.
Yet, this had happened now.
This was her fault.
Li Ai gritted her teeth. She had to confront Zhang Caiyu and ask if she had stolen the formula from her!
She felt a pang of fear. If Sister Qin He found out about this, would she be kicked out of Qingsui?
After leaving the perfumery department, Qin He went directly to Gu Qishen's office on the top floor.
Upon entering the office, she saw Gu Qishen looking at the news on his tablet. The voice emanating from the tablet was reporting that Gu Corporation's subsidiary brand, Qingsui, had its flagship new series, Wild Tea, plagiarized from Caifang Perfume Studio's Ku Fang’s new fragrance.