Back to the Peak

Chapter 48: Apprenticeship

Although he didn’t think Cheng Hong would continue to contact them, for safety’s sake, Gu Changjin opened up a space underneath Cheng Ran’s bed. In this way, if something unexpected happened, Shi Qingyang could hide first thing.

In addition, Gu Changjin had to make the bed; now that the bowl of soup had spilled over, Cheng Ran’s entire bed had to be changed. If there hadn’t been a specialized machine for cleaning it up, Gu Changjin would definitely have been furious.

After changing his clothes and fixing his makeup, Cheng Ran sat on the bed again and started playing games. The reason why the online game called ‘Radiant Warrior’ had been popular for so many years was that many details were very realistic. For example, after someone chose pharmacist as a profession, they could see a lot of medicinal prescriptions. There were even two options for mixing medicine. One was to directly synthesize, and the other was to mix by oneself.

The success or failure of the former depended on the system and probability, while the latter… If someone had a foundation in this regard and got all the steps right, they would never make mistakes.

Cheng Ran chose the pharmacy profession for himself, and then dived into it. He began to collect herbs and refine medicines, and had a lot of fun.

On the contrary, it was Shi Qingyang who was not interested in playing this kind of unreal game. Finally, he went to the next room to exercise with his specially made-up “haggard face”.

With the existence of the Almighty Elixir, he could overexert himself again and again. Naturally, he needed to work harder.

When Shi Qingyang once again challenged his limits, the contact terminal on his hand suddenly vibrated. This was an agreement between him and Gu Changjin. Once there was a situation, Gu Changjin would contact them like this, and they needed to be ready immediately and wait for “inspection”.

He hurried down from the exercise equipment. Shi Qingyang quickly wiped away the sweat from his body. He was glad that the cosmetics he had bought would not melt in water. Then he went downstairs. During this period, he didn’t even have time to take a break.

Shi Qingyang was like this, and so was Cheng Ran. He was sitting in bed, but now he laid down quickly. Then he applied the oxygen mask and some instruments to himself. Not only that, he poured some of the medicine he needed to drink on the quilt.

The person that Gu Changjin let in this time was You Liangping, dean of Spark Academy.

Although You Liangping was subsidized by the Cheng family, he had always been in contact with Cheng Hong. Therefore, like Gu Changjin, he worked for Cheng Hong.

For this reason, when Cheng Xuze was there, he just followed other people to meet him without saying anything. On the contrary, after Cheng Xuze left, he chose a time to visit.

You Liangping came here this time with some examination materials from Spark Academy. After all, when Shi Qingyang was given a ‘freedom pass’, he was allowed not to go to the school, but the additional condition was that he had to pass the exams.

The examinations at Spark Academy were relatively few. There was one mid-term exam and one final exam. Now the time limit for the mid-term exam was about to expire.

“Gu Changjin, why haven’t you contacted me these days? What’s the matter with you?” Seeing Gu Changjin’s red eyes and ugly face, You Liangping asked in surprise.

“The young master is seriously ill.” Gu Changjin gritted his teeth.

“Why? When I saw the old man off, the young master was fine.” You Liangping looked worried. Cheng Ran was Cheng Hong’s son. What would he do if something happened to Cheng Ran in Spark City?

“The young master fell ill suddenly,” Gu Changjin said.

“Then why don’t you take the young master to the hospital?”

“This is the master’s order. We can’t send the young master to the hospital.”

You Liangping didn’t believe it. His eyes fell on the whole set of bedding in the living room.

This was the quilt that Cheng Ran replaced the day before. Now it had been washed and dried. Gu Changjin was a little stunned and immediately put on a face of sorrow: “The young master vomited blood just earlier.”

“Can I go and see the young master?” You Liangping asked. Cheng Hong once asked him to pay more attention to Cheng Ran and report anything wrong to him… He didn’t encounter anything wrong before. Now that Cheng Ran was ill, this was definitely a big problem.

Vomiting blood so that all the bedding had to be changed…

“The young master is upstairs.” Gu Changjin took him up.

Cheng Ran laid there dying in bed. He was trapped in a huge quilt, making him look smaller. There was a faint smell of medicine and blood in the room. The data displayed on various medical equipment nearby were very low numbers.

You Liangping could not even react: “Gu Changjin, what are you doing? Do you want him to live?”

“Dean, Ranran is like this because of a severe rejection of radiation energy… No one wanted this to happen,” Shi Qingyang answered. He failed to rest after the extreme training, which made his body a little weak.

You Liangping knew nothing about medical skills. He didn’t know what the problem was with Cheng Ran, and didn’t dare to touch Cheng Ran who was still attached with some tubes. He only knew that Cheng Ran looked like he was in a critical state now. Even putting Cheng Ran aside, Shi Qingyang next to him was also in a bad state. His breathing was unstable, his limbs were weak, and his face was even worse. He likely hadn’t had a good rest these days.

Cheng Ran’s current situation was really a big problem!

“I want to contact the master,” You Liangping immediately said, and then quickly opened the contact terminal in his hand.

At this time, in Yangtze City, Cheng Hong just learned that if he wanted to practice that set of skills that could allow him to have a breakthrough and raise his level, he had to stay in Yangtze City for three months. His expression immediately changed: “Dad, what do you mean? Do you want to force me to stay here?”

Cheng Xuze frowned. He just told the truth. Why did his son have so many ideas?

They were both his sons. Why was the difference so big? If he really wanted to keep Cheng Hong in Yangtze City, how could Cheng Hong have left to Anhang City before?

Cheng Hong always thought that he was partial to Cheng Hui, but in fact, that wasn’t the case at all. What did Cheng Hong not have in the beginning? It was true that he often kept Cheng Hui by his side but didn’t take Cheng Hong with him, but this was also for a reason.

Cheng Hui was a natural radiant energy person. He adapted to radiant energy very well. The environment outside the city was nothing to him at all. Even if Cheng Xuze took him out of the city, it didn’t matter. But Cheng Hong was different. He didn’t have any radiant energy as a child. How dare he take him outside? Cheng Xuze could only make up for it after returning to the city. At that time, he spent more time on Cheng Hong than Cheng Hui every time he returned.

Moreover, at that time, Cheng Hui followed him as a father. Didn’t Cheng Hong have his mother, Cheng Xuze’s wife by his side?

“If you really think so, you don’t have to learn, or you can just learn later,” Cheng Xuze opened his mouth.

Cheng Hong’s face became more and more ugly: “Would you like me not to learn?”

There was no winning either way. Cheng Xuze was more and more helpless. At this time, Cheng Hong’s contact terminal rang.

Seeing that it was You Liangping’s communication, Cheng Hong answered it and switched to privacy mode, although he didn’t know why You Liangping was looking for him.

It was Cheng Ran’s bed again, and Cheng Ran’s business… Cheng Hong only listened to half of it, but he lost patience: “You don’t have to worry about his matters in the future, and you don’t have to tell me about it.” As soon as he finished speaking, he hung up the communication.

Seeing this, You Liangping was unable to react. Gu Changjin sighed: “You see, that’s what happened.”

“What the hell is going on? They are father and son…”

“There are some things we can’t interfere with.” Gu Changjin paused: “You can go. You’d better not come in the future.” Gu Changjin had also confirmed the situation just now. You Liangping was not sent by Cheng Hong.

So Cheng Hong really didn’t care about Cheng Ran… Gu Changjin felt that a large stone in his heart had fallen to the ground.

You Liangping also knew that he can’t do anything about these matters. He didn’t stay long and soon left. After he was gone, Shi Qingyang sat on the floor and began to use medicine to rub his muscles. Cheng Ran saw this and soon got out of bed to help Shi Qingyang.

“Ranran, your father treats you this way. Does it make you feel bad?” Shi Qingyang asked. Cheng Hong was so eccentric that he didn’t treat Cheng Ran as his own child. If it were him, it would be very uncomfortable.

“It’s uncomfortable, but he’s always been like this.” Although Cheng Ran called Cheng Hong ‘father’, after all, they hadn’t gotten along much. Even if there were feelings, it was one-sided and not deep. Moreover, Cheng Hong had always treated him like this. Therefore, after seeing that Cheng Hong was indifferent to himself, he had a feeling that he actually felt that way, too: “In fact, I just thought about him too well before. If I don’t think about him, it’s nothing.”

“That’s good.” Shi Qingyang smiled. Cheng Ran’s thoughts were very simple. If Shi Qingyang made more efforts, he would probably be able to get Cheng Ran to have no feelings for Cheng Hong.

Cheng Ran was seriously ill. Although Cheng Hong didn’t care much about his son, Gu Changjin reported Cheng Ran’s situation to him every day.

At the beginning, Cheng Ran had been struggling on the edge of life and death, but with the passage of time, his physical condition slowly recovered… Cheng Hong was not surprised by this result.

Although Cheng Ran was a failed product, there were also some places where he was far beyond ordinary people. For example, his resilience was very strong. It was said that he almost died several times in the laboratory, but he still didn’t die in the end.

After knowing this, Cheng Hong paid less attention to Cheng Ran. He just asked Gu Changjin not to let Cheng Ran have more contact with outsiders. Then he stopped caring and began to practice with Cheng Xuze and Cheng Hui.

Although he almost quarreled with his father, Cheng Hong would never give up such an opportunity that may improve his strength.

After taking the Almighty Elixir every day and practice for two hours… Cheng Xuze and Cheng Hui didn’t feel anything at first, but finally found that their state seemed to be getting better and better. For a while, they believed what Shi Qingyang said even more.

Cheng Hui, in particular, had been depressed since his injury. He did not dare to think about raising his level. At this time, he suddenly had hope and even began to exercise with great enthusiasm.

Unlike Cheng Hui, who was full of enthusiasm, Cheng Hong felt more and more wrong, and even suspected that his father was playing tricks on him. However, looking at his brother and father, he could only veto this idea.

However, even if he thought that this set of martial arts was real, Cheng Hong could hardly make himself fully believe it. He could only grit his teeth and keep on.

At this time, the first batch of 5000 bottles of Almighty Elixir was put onto the market. The price of these potions was not low, and their efficacy was not exaggerated. Even so, they were sold out within an hour after they were just put on the online counter.

Those who rushed to buy were not buying one bottle or two, but dozens of bottles at a time.

Almost all the Almighty Elixirs were bought by the great aristocratic families in Yangtze City. The Cheng family had made no achievements in pharmacy before. Most people didn’t notice the Cheng family at all. That is, these aristocratic families only kept an eye on the Cheng Family after the press conference.

These people should want to study the prescription, but how could the prescription be so simple? Moreover, because of the addition of two brand-new medicinal herbs, the ingredients of the current Almighty Elixir could not be studied at all.

Ran Xue was relieved to see that the inventory had turned to 0. Now the equipment in the factory had been verified. In the future, as long as the raw materials were sufficient, the Almighty Elixir could be produced nonstop. She finally had time to sleep!

Now free, Ran Xue suddenly thought of the video that Cheng Xuze brought back. Cheng Xuze had already given her the contact information of the teenager who made the Almighty Elixir in the video!

This month, Cheng Xuze also contacted Cheng Ran several times, but Cheng Ran didn’t connect. They just sent messages to each other. Cheng Xuze hadn’t contacted Cheng Ran before, so he thought it was because Cheng Ran didn’t like video calls, and didn’t take it seriously. He knew nothing about Cheng Ran’s “illness”. During this period, he also told Cheng Ran about Ran Xue.

How many people vied to have the advice of a senior pharmacist? Naturally, Cheng Ran was also very interested in this matter, and had saved Ran Xue’s contact number. Therefore, Ran Xue’s number just lit up on Cheng Ran’s contact terminal, and he already knew who person calling was.

The young man, pale and seemingly recovering from a serious illness, finally became Ran Xue’s apprentice through the Internet. At the same time, he also emphasized once again that Ran Xue could not tell others about his existence.

Ran Xue was not a gossip at all. Naturally, she fully agreed. However, time passed quickly in the process of teaching and learning. In a twinkling of an eye, more than a year passed.