Chapter 63.2
Editor: SimoB
Qin Yunsheng looked at Shi Qing, who was lecturing him so self righteously without the slightest hint of inner turmoil. He almost found it funny.
What in the world gave Shi Qing such confidence?
It was clear that he had stolen someone else’s research results, but he had the audacity to blame the person who exposed him for ‘tarnishing his reputation’.
The young Marquis was on a roll. Not only did he target Qin Yunsheng and Shi Yiyi with his remarks, but even the newcomer Tan Mingyi was not spared.
He lifted his chin, his fair face full of sarcasm. “Tan Mingyi looks like a little fool, but he turned out to be a tiger in disguise. What, does a civilian like him think he’ll get off scot free after plagiarizing and badmouthing me?”
Qin Yunsheng: “Mr. Shi, this research was indeed completed independently by Tan Mingyi.”
Shi Qing turned around sharply and looked at Qin Yunsheng with disgust in his eyes.
The officer who maintained his military posture noticed that Shi Qing’s hands had clenched into tight fists at his sides. “I knew it, you’re just like the others! You’re all Shi Yiyi’s people!”
Qin Yunsheng had only known that the two cousins were not on good terms with each other, but now it sounded like there was something more going on.
But he didn’t intend to get involved. To him, neither of those two were good people.
“Mr. Shi, I was just telling the truth.”
Shi Qing was furious, “Fine, you’re telling the truth, huh?! I’ll let you tell the truth!”
He took a step forward and tried to punch Qin Yunsheng, who swiftly countered the blow.
The young Marquis fell back a few steps from the resulting force, and he covered his arm where Qin Yunsheng made contact. Anger quickly filled his eyes.
“You actually dared to hit me!”
Qin Yunsheng didn’t even have time to explain that it was just him unconsciously defending himself. To be more precise, it was more like Shi Qing wanted to hit him but he raised an arm to block him. The angry Shi Qing geared up for a second blow.
Seeing that he was coming at him again, Qin Yunsheng didn’t block this time. Instead, he fluidly grabbed Shi Qing’s arm and twisted it behind his back.
“Ah!”
The spoiled Marquis had never suffered like this. He screamed and shouted in a wavering voice, “It hurts, get off me!”
Qin Yunsheng even seemed to hear a sob. The man froze.
He didn’t use much strength, just enough to stop the other person from making unnecessary movements.
In hindsight, he realized how soft the arm he was holding onto was. He could feel the tenderness even through his clothing.
It was nothing like the feeling when he’d grabbed his comrades in training.
He had only thought about it for a few seconds, but the captive Marquis was already angry enough to try and stomp on Qin Yunsheng’s shoes.
“Let go, do you hear me!”
Only then did Qin Yunsheng let go of his hand. Shi Qing covered his right arm almost immediately afterwards. Like a rabbit desperately trying to escape, he quickly backed away from him.
The young Marquis’s forehead was already dripping with sweat, and the corners of his pretty eyes and his nose were slightly red. Angry and aggrieved red eyes glared hatefully at the other man.
“What exactly did Shi Yiyi promise you for you to treat me like this!”
The anger and pain on his face didn’t seem fake, and his right arm was dangling unnaturally. The man scrunched up his eyebrows, strode forward, and grabbed Shi Qing’s hand.
The young Marquis immediately shrieked again, as if being grabbed by the arm was some life-threatening situation.
“You let go, let go of me!” He struggled and said. But he didn’t dare to move too much lest he increase the pain from the man’s hold.
Qin Yunsheng turned a deaf ear to this as he frowned and pulled up Shi Qing’s sleeve away to reveal the white arm inside.
At this moment, below the elbow, the originally porcelain skin was covered with several bruises in the shape of handprints.
Clearly they were left by Qin Yunsheng.
He was startled.
He was 100% sure that he hadn’t used any force at all just now. He had even decreased his strength after taking into account Shi Qing’s first blow.
It wasn’t that Qin Yunsheng had never fought an ordinary person before. He had used this move many times and no one had ever been hurt.
It wasn’t the move that was the problem, so was it the person?
The young Marquis who was afraid to struggle because his arm was in someone’s hand cursed bitterly instead.
“Qin Yunsheng, I always knew you were no good! You’re in cahoots with Shi Yiyi, aren’t you! You’re no baron, you’re just a lapdog! I won’t let you off easily!”
He gently gripped Shi Qing’s arm with one hand, and applied 1/12,000,000 of his strength to the fair skin with his other hand.
Shi Qing’s previously confident words immediately cut off. There was a trace of fear in his voice as he looked back with red-rimmed eyes.
He was obviously scared to death, but he insisted on threatening Qin Yunsheng with a trembling voice. “What are you doing! There’s cameras everywhere! If anything happens to me, you’ll never get away with it!”
Sure enough, by the time he lifted his hand again, the place underneath was red like it had been hit very hard.
He had known before that some of the n.o.bles from the more prominent families were spoiled and delicate, but who would’ve imagined that it was to this extent?
Knowing that Shi Qing wasn’t faking it, Qin Yunsheng raised his eyes and looked at the young Marquis, who was looking miserably at him with red eyes full of grievances. A strange hint of pity actually rose in his heart.
He gently loosened his hand and stepped back, “Sorry.”
The young Marquis held his arm vigilantly and glanced at the man several times, as if he was confirming whether or not he did it on purpose.
When he saw that Qin Yunsheng’s face was devoid of emotion, he seemed to find the courage to straighten up and snort dismissively. “I knew it! You and Shi Yiyi are all the same, changing faces like clothes!”
He always grouped Qin Yunsheng with Shi Yiyi for some reason. He hadn’t bothered to explain it before, but now, looking at Shi Qing who was as alert as a frightened rabbit, the young officer’s fingers twitched slightly.
“Mr. Shi, I must clarify that I have no relationship with Ms. Shi.”
Shi Qing’s eyes were still red, but his original arrogance had returned to his face.
“You still have the guts to say that you’re not her henchman after helping her frame me? Do you think I’m stupid?”
Qin Yunsheng thought that Shi Qing was an already dead duck stubbornly clinging to life, but he hesitated as he looked at the other person’s injuries, anger and unrestrained sadness.
He said, “This research was indeed completed by Tan Mingyi. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Bah!”
Shi Qing sneered, “I’ve put in so much energy and time into this. Does the fact that you say it’s his make it his?”
Perhaps it was because of the pain, but the Marquis seemed to have a nasal note of aggravation in his voice in addition to a tremor.
“Now the entire Inst.i.tute doesn’t believe me and everyone looks at me with disgust. Even my father rebuked me, so are you satisfied? Haven’t you achieved your goal yet?”
Qin Yunsheng looked at the red-eyed person in front of him, trembling with emotion.
He didn’t feel that this aggravation could be feigned.
For the first time, he began to doubt his own judgment.
“Mr. Shi, if it really is your research, you can confront Tan Mingyi.”
“And why would I do that?” Shi Qing sneered with an arrogance unique to an aristocrat, “Why should I waste my time confronting him? This wasn’t his to begin with. Even if he frames me, steals my results, and finds witnesses like you to prove it, he’ll forget to hide his tracks in the future. There’s no need for me to entertain you b.u.mbling clowns.”
Qin Yunsheng watched Shi Qing raise his chin. His fox demon face seemed to be saying, “I’ll just sit and wait for you guys to take your own lives”.
He did seem very confident.
The man in the military uniform: “But what if this was really developed by Tan Mingyi?”
“Impossible.”
The young Marquis’ words were riddled with sarcasm, “Father was recently worried about unmanned drone technology, and this chip was developed by me for that purpose. He’s a commoner that doesn’t even know our country is developing new drones, so how could he develop such a chip? Just wait, you’ll expose yourselves sooner or later.”
Qin Yunsheng realized that, no matter what the truth really was, the pride that practically oozed off of Shi Qing would prevent him from initiating a conversation about it.
The uniformed man thought deeply for a second before resolutely deploying the most useful provocation for someone like Shi Qing.
“Is Mr. Shi afraid of confronting him?”
As expected, Shi Qing, whose face was filled with ‘n.o.ble pride’, jolted.
“I’m afraid?!! I’m afraid?!! It’s not like I’m stealing someone else’s work so why would I be afraid!”
Shi Qing glared at Qin Yunsheng with bared teeth. He took a few steps forward and raised his left hand like he really wanted to punch the other man.
After two steps, he remembered the miserable state he was just in after injuring himself trying to beat someone else up. A trace of reluctance flickered in his eyes. He kept his head held high as he marched back to his original spot.
He scooped up the laptop on the table and huffed coldly.
“I’ll show you if I’m afraid or not.”
***
Tan Mingyi was currently working hard.
Everyone else in the room was quiet too.
In the midst of the peace, a loud bang was suddenly heard.
–Bang!
The iron door was slammed open from the outside. In front of everyone’s befuddled eyes, the young Marquis marched in, connected his laptop to the printer, and tapped on the keyboard a few times.
As he watched the printer work, he stood at its side and glared at Tan Mingyi with an icy rage.
Tan Mingyi: “…”
Although he was a genius, he was also young and good-tempered. He didn’t dare to make a peep when he saw how hostile Shi Qing was.
He only shrank back silently.
On the other hand, Shi Yiyi observed this scene with a hint of joy in her eyes. She came forward righteously and said, “Shi Qing, what are you up to now! Was stealing his research results not enough for you? How dare you threaten him?”
Shi Qing coldly glanced at his cousin
“Shi Yiyi, why are you so sure I stole it?”
Of course Shi Yiyi was sure, she knew best what kind of person Shi Qing was.
Her words were saturated with conviction. “I’m absolutely certain. Shi Qing, it’s not too late for you to show remorse and leave the Inst.i.tute.”
As soon as Qin Yunsheng entered, he saw the young Marquis lean forward slightly, his ruby red lips red spat two words at Shi Yiyi.
“No! Way! I won’t let you tarnish my reputation like this.”
Shi Yiyi almost laughed out loud.
She didn’t need to tarnish Shi Qing’s reputation, okay? It literally couldn’t go any lower just with him being himself.
So she sat back to watch the show. “Say what you like, but the truth won’t change. But I’m warning you now, I grew up with you so I know exactly what you’re capable of.”
“If you can really prove that this research is yours, I’ll eat the paper it’s printed on!”
The young Marquis’s “I’m so impatient” expression from just a moment ago immediately changed. He straightened up and even showed an eager smile.
“You’re the one who said it.”
Shi Qing’s movements became less hurried after that. He guarded the printer jealously, tapping his pretty, slender fingers on the casing like he couldn’t wait.
The printer kept spitting out doc.u.ments until, finally, it stopped.
Shi Qing picked up the doc.u.ments and strode directly to Tan Mingyi, throwing them in front of him.
“Any questions?”
Tan Mingyi glanced fearfully at the fuming Shi Qing and carefully picked up the doc.u.ments.
His eyes lit up with just one look.
Qin Yunsheng was listening from the side the whole time.
As a soldier who knew absolutely nothing about this area, to him, what Shi Qing and Tan Mingyi said sounded like:
“The way this runs ##$%…&*.”
“This design concept @#$%$$…”
“About @#$*$%…”
Although the terminology automatically turned into garbled ciphers when it reached his ears, Qin Yunsheng could see Tan Mingyi become more and more excited as the conversation progressed.
His gaze towards Shi Qing even showed a hint of worship.
Even the others were looking at Shi Qing like he was a deity.
Shi Yiyi was completely dumbfounded. She stared incredulously at her suddenly knowledgeable cousin as the edges of her vision darkened.
Shi Qing and Tan Mingyi exchanged ideas for over forty minutes, only stopping because Shi Qing said he was tired.
At the end, little Tan Mingyi exclaimed, “Shi-ge, you’re so cool! I have to apologize to you… Although we’re both working on computer chips, but yours is meant for the military while mine is meant for civilians. I definitely couldn’t develop your chip at all.”
The young Marquis raised his chin proudly, “It’s okay, I have to apologize to you as well. What you just said does prove that you developed your chip on your own.”
Then he stretched out his left hand and handed a page to Tan Mingyi, “Hold it for me. My right hand is indisposed right now.”
Tan Mingyi took it obediently, and then he saw Shi Qing’s left hand pull and tear all of the pages in two.
He was shocked. “Shi-ge, what are you doing?”
He knew that the file was still in his laptop, but seeing this ingenious research being ripped still made Tan Mingyi’s heart ache.
Shi Qing picked up another page and shoved it into his hand. He tore it while lifting his chin very arrogantly back at Shi Yiyi.
“I’ll tear it into smaller pieces so it’ll go down easier.”