"That's Wang Juan next to Professor Xie, everyone calls her Juanz. Don't look at how pretty she looks, she has a lot of wicked ideas!" Hu Dajie obviously didn't quite like that Juanz, and there was a hint of disdain in her tone when she spoke.

  "What's wrong, did she offend you?" Gu Mei rarely heard Hu Dajie talk about others' right and wrong, but today she suddenly said this, and her tone wasn't very good either.

  "She has offended many people, and it doesn't matter if I'm one of them." Hu Dajie curled her lips and continued: "The people in our archives department don't like her very much. Every time she borrows something, she never returns it on time, always making us ask her three or four times, as if we owe her a favor. I just can't stand the way she acts so self-important with no real ability and yet still manages to be unpopular."

  Gu Mei looked again in the direction of Juanzi and found that Juanzi's mood seemed to be good, chatting and laughing with people around her.

  "Watching her laugh so happily, I'd know what she's excited about even if I couldn't hear," Aunt Hu muttered.

  "What's she so happy about?" asked Gu Mian.

  Sister Hu put down her chopsticks, shook her head and said: "That Juanzi is also a temporary assistant like you. You know that our assessment of assistants here is very strict, and there are only a few formal ones. Juanzi has been here for two years now, but the word 'temporary' has never left her head. She says it's because older people with seniority are blocking her way, so she hasn't been able to pass the assessment. But in fact, we all think it's because she doesn't have enough ability, so we've never given her a spot for the assessment. However, this morning as soon as work started, news came out that Juanzi had been allocated a spot for this year's assessment."

  "You also said she's been here for two years, maybe the leaders upstairs think she's qualified enough." Gu Mian didn't care about this.

  Although she can't participate in the assessment this time, she wouldn't be someone who feels uneasy when seeing others participating.

  "You don't understand this." Sister Hu lowered her voice and said to Gu Mian: "Although the list of people who can participate in the assessment will be uniformly announced later. But before that, those who are eligible will receive notifications, it's just up to them whether they want to say it out loud or not. Isn't Chen Peng next to Professor Wang qualified to take part in this assessment? That Juanzi has been wanting to get this quota for a long time, if the leaders really favor her, how could she possibly only mention it now, wouldn't she have been shouting about it everywhere?"

  "What... what do you mean?" Gu Mei also stopped holding her chopsticks and stared at Hu Da Jie.

  Hu Dajie glanced at Juanzi, who was chatting with the person next to her, and said to Gu Mian: "I saw her giving gifts to the director just the night before last. At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but... today I heard that Juanzi can participate in the assessment this time. Alas, such flattery is not uncommon. It's just rare, and I don't know who Juanzi replaced this time."

  The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional, and Gu Mian's body stiffened slightly.

  She heard from Professor Wang's words that someone was sabotaging her, and she lost the qualification for the assessment. But it just so happened that today, Juanzi spread the news of getting a quota.

  In addition to what Sister Hu said, although she didn't want to think in that direction, but couldn't control her own heart, constantly thinking in her mind whether it was because of Juanzi that she lost this opportunity for a regular promotion assessment.

  Because of this thing in her mind, Guo Jing's spirit couldn't concentrate on doing things in the afternoon.

  At this time, her mobile phone on one side rang.

  She picked up her phone and found it was a call from Qin Sheng.

  Soon, Gu Mei pressed the answer button: "Hello, what's up?"

  "There's nothing much. Didn't you say before that you've always wanted to buy a special medicine for rheumatism, but couldn't find it? A few days ago I went on a trip out of town and happened to see the kind of special medicine you mentioned, which someone had brewed themselves with various medicinal herbs over ten years or more. I saw how anxious you were at the time, so I brought some back for you. Happened to be passing by this way today, wondering if you're free to come out and pick it up." Qin Sheng's low, magnetic voice came from the phone.

  "Are you here?" Gu Mian was stunned for a moment, then continued: "Wait a minute, I'll be right out."

  "Alright." Qin Sheng replied.

  Gu Mei couldn't care about those disturbing thoughts in her mind anymore. She quickly tidied up and then walked towards the gate.

  The management here is relatively strict, if there is no prior notice or accompanied by someone familiar. Outsiders are not allowed to enter casually.

  Gu Mei hadn't even reached the gate when she saw Qin Sheng standing there with a small jar in his hand, seemingly chatting with the gatekeeper.

  "Sorry to keep you waiting." Gu Mian quickened her pace and walked towards Qin Sheng.

  "No." Qin Sheng nodded slightly towards Gu Mian.

  The gatekeeper saw Gu Miao coming to pick someone up and didn't intentionally make things difficult, after simply making a record he let Qin Sheng in.

  Gu Mei didn't think it was a good idea to bring Qin Sheng to the office, so she led him to the small garden at the back.

  This small garden is not big, but it's well laid out. The trees planted are relatively tall and provide a good place to cool off in the summer.

  "I just casually mentioned it back then, didn't expect you to remember it in your heart." Gu Mian and Qin Sheng sat together on a long stone bench.

  "It wasn't intentional, I just happened to see it. I've asked others and this medicine is very effective, so it should work for your grandfather's rheumatism." Qin Sheng handed the small jar to Gu Mei.

  "How did you know the medicine I was looking for was for my grandfather?" Gu Mian asked curiously.

  "I knew it." Qin Sheng's mouth corners slightly curled up.

  "You guessed it right, thank you so much! I've been looking for this for a long time." Gu Mengxi was overjoyed and hugged the small jar in her arms, gazing at the yellowish-brown liquid inside, feeling very pleased.

  This prescription for treating rheumatism is not difficult to make, but what's difficult is that the medicine needs to be soaked for many years before it takes effect, and the longer it soaks, the better the effect.

  Grandpa's legs have always had rheumatism. Whenever it rains or the weather gets cold, he loves to get sick. In severe cases, he can't even leave the house.

  Gu Mei has always wanted to find this medicinal wine for her grandfather before the weather gets cold, but unfortunately, she ran to many places and couldn't find a suitable one.

  "I also asked, and they said that this medicinal wine is best applied now. After a while, when the weather gets colder, rheumatism will be much lighter." Qin Sheng saw Gu Mei's excitement and his mood improved as well. At least his good intentions were not wasted.

  "This medicinal wine mustn't be cheap, right? How much is it? Tell me and I'll pay you." Gu Mian also didn't want to take advantage of Qin Sheng's kindness, so he hastily spoke up.

  "No need, it didn't cost any money. This is something a friend of mine brewed himself. His rheumatism was cured by this medicinal wine." Qin Sheng waved his hand at Gu Mian.

  "How can this be good? Not only did you exert yourself, but also owed others a favor." Gu Mei looked at Qin Sheng with embarrassment.

  "This is what you call human feelings, nothing big. We are all friends, just a little favor, no need to be so polite." Qin Sheng paused for a moment, and then continued: "I have an ulterior motive for doing this, there's something I want to ask for your help with."

  "If there's anything I can help with, just say so." Gu Mei heard that Qin Sheng needed her assistance and immediately perked up: "Is there something that needs my appraisal?"

  Qin Sheng shook his head: "This time it's not to ask for your help in appraisal, but to invite you to attend an exhibition with me."

  "An exhibition?" This was really beyond Gu Miao's expectations.

  "After a while, there will be a grand exhibition and I'm honored to be invited. Everything is set except for one thing - a female companion. There isn't anyone suitable around me either, so after some thought, I ended up thinking of you." Qin Sheng looked at Gu Mian and asked softly: "I wonder if you can grant me this favor?"

  "Do you have to bring a girlfriend to an exhibition?" Gu Mian asked instead of answering Qin Sheng.

  "The organizer of the exhibition is an important client I want to win over, and he happens to be fond of various Chinese cultural relics and antiques. If I were to bring a male companion, it might seem somewhat inappropriate, but you have your own unique insights in this area, so I think you're the most suitable person for this task. In case the other party has any questions, you can also help me out." Qin Sheng said slowly, his tone filled with sincerity.

  "There's such a thing." Gu Mian smiled slightly at Qin Sheng, holding up the small jar between them: "Just because you specially brought back this rare medicinal wine for me, I'd be unreasonable not to accept your invitation. Let me declare in advance, if anything goes wrong, I'm not responsible!"

  "I have confidence in you, there won't be any mistakes." Qin Sheng heard Gu Mei answer and a smile also appeared on his face: "Right, you've been working here for a while now, how do you feel?"

  "It's just like that, I've only just arrived, everything needs to be learned." As soon as this aspect of things was mentioned, Gu Mian's mood which had barely improved took a turn for the worse.

  "It's all like this at first, just get used to it slowly." Qin Sheng was keenly aware of Gu Mei's emotional changes and wisely stopped mentioning anything about it.

  "Never mind, let's not talk about that anymore. Tell me about your exhibition, what kind of exhibition is it? Is there anything I need to pay attention to?" Gu Mian shook her head and took a deep breath before speaking.

  "Is..." Qin Sheng's words had yet to leave his lips when the two of them heard what sounded like someone approaching.

  "What are you doing dragging me here? Didn't you say it's best not to let others know about our relationship for the time being?" A dissatisfied voice filled with feminine tone entered the ears of Gu Mian and Qin Sheng.

  (Second update is here, throwing flowers, asking for subscription and pink... Thanks to Bing Zhīyín and Guīzhìzhìtóu for the pink, thanks everyone for your support...)

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