Overnight Riches! My Factory Spans Past and Present – Chapter 25

Ch 25: I Can’t Guarantee How Much I Can Procure

Chen Jinyue focused her mind and sensed the small courtyard in her head. The courtyard gate had closed because she’d been out too long. Now, it seemed, she could hear knocking from outside the door?

Her thoughts shifted slightly, and she quickly guessed it was probably Jiang Qi’an who had arrived.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Chang Hongbo noticed her distracted expression and asked with concern.

Chen Jinyue snapped back to reality. “Sorry, Lawyer Chang, I just remembered—I didn’t lock the warehouse door when I left!”

If Jiang Qi’an suddenly appeared in the private dining room, how terrifying would that be?

The real issue wasn’t just the shock—it was the fact that her secret could be exposed, which was an entirely different matter.

Using this as an excuse, she hurriedly prepared to leave.

She declined Chang Hongbo’s offer to escort her, apologized repeatedly, promised to treat him to a meal next time, and then got up and left.

Chang Hongbo: “???”

He was a bit baffled.

Wasn’t this meal something the two of them had planned?

Yet one of them didn’t show up, and the other left early, making it seem like he was the only one with free time!

…

Jiang Qi’an returned to the city and headed straight for that shop.

But when he pushed the door open, the empty shop had nothing inside.

Just like last time.

Miss Chen wasn’t in the shop, so he couldn’t get in.

He remembered that he had originally agreed with Miss Chen to come pick up dried rations after dark today.

But now, more than two hours had passed since nightfall.

He had broken his promise.

Time and again, he pushed the door open, only to see the same bare surroundings. His heart sank inch by inch into an icy, snow-covered abyss, gripped by a suffocating panic.

Driven by some unknown impulse, he stood at the door. Instead of pushing it open again, he knocked with a heart full of hope.

Deputy General Yang saw this and couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Your Highness, that girl might already be resting. It’s late. I’ll take a squad to search the city, and you can come back tomorrow…”

*Creak—*

The door slowly swung open.

Deputy General Yang’s voice cut off, and Jiang Qi’an froze in place.

For a brief moment, he was dazed, unsure whether he had accidentally pushed it open or if someone on the other side had opened it.

But soon his eyes lit up, because the interior was no longer empty—it was the familiar chaotic darkness he knew.

Chen Jinyue listened to the knocking in her mind, which started faint and urgent before growing softer.

Each knock carried a heavy sense of disappointment.

With a slight stir of her thoughts, she swiftly raised the shop’s rolling shutter and, at the same moment, mentally pushed open the gate of the courtyard in her mind.

Just as she turned on the lights, a familiar figure stepped inside quickly.

“Miss Chen!”

“…”

Chen Jinyue turned to look at the person, her gaze lingering for a moment.

Jiang Qi’an was dressed in a deep blue cloak, its surface covered in snow. His face was paler than the snow itself, his hair slightly disheveled, and a faint smell of blood clung to him.

Large patches of water stained the cloak—it was impossible to tell whether they were from melted snow or soaked-in blood…

“A battle?” Chen Jinyue asked instinctively. “Did you go to the battlefield too?”

Jiang Qi’an nodded, then shook his head. “I didn’t fight, but General Xiao was injured and running a high fever. I rushed to Xiurong City overnight. I’m truly sorry for delaying the pickup time.”

Chen Jinyue understood. She knew he wouldn’t break a promise without reason. She nodded and pointed to the compressed biscuits.

“They’re all here—twelve thousand boxes. That’s all the stock in the county town. If you need more later, I’ll have to get a food processing plant to make them for you.”

“There’s no rush for these.”

As he spoke, Jiang Qi’an handed her a box. “This is a deposit. Could I trouble you to buy another batch of medicine for the wounded? And some strong liquor for cleaning wounds!”

Chen Jinyue’s eyelid twitched. She didn’t take it right away.

Her mind raced. Among all of Chen Jianguo’s channels, there didn’t seem to be any pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The amount he wanted was surely large—drugstores wouldn’t have enough.

Her silence made Jiang Qi’an’s heart, already hanging in suspense, sink sharply. As the deputy general had said, medicine during wartime was rarer than gold. Even this girl might not be able to help.

Holding the box with one hand, he lifted his cloak with the other and dropped to one knee.

“As long as you’re willing to help, I’ll agree to any terms…”

“No, no, no!”

Chen Jinyue quickly reached out to stop him.

As someone raised with egalitarian ideals, the sight of someone kneeling before her was utterly shocking.

Meeting his pleading eyes, she took the box from him. “I’ll accept the deposit, but I can’t guarantee how much I can procure! It’s the middle of the night—buying too much medicine would draw too much attention!”

She was now a prominent figure in the county town. Reselling other goods was one thing, but stockpiling medicine would raise suspicions.

Jiang Qi’an, of course, knew how scarce medicine was. Hearing her agree, his brows lit up with uncontainable gratitude.

“Thank you, Miss!”

“Wait here. I’ll be back soon.”

Since this warehouse had become their regular trading spot, Chen Jinyue had placed the courtyard gate here.

Unless Chen Jinyue didn’t open the door, preventing Jiang Qi’an from entering, once he was inside, he could stay as long as the gate remained.

Watching Chen Jinyue rush out without even glancing at the box, Jiang Qi’an’s eyes shone faintly.

This girl was kinder and more generous than he’d imagined.

Despite her own shortage of money, she’d passed up a perfect chance to extort him.

…

Chen Jinyue wasn’t particularly kind or generous—she just couldn’t afford to let her big client’s men all die, could she?

A few hundred meters to the right of the warehouse was a street lined with several drugstores.

Chen Jinyue bought a little from each one.

She purchased the most alcohol, claiming the warehouse needed a big cleanup and that she had to buy extra since her staff wasn’t ready yet.

The clerks recognized her, aware of her “legend,” and even warmly asked if she needed delivery.

Chen Jinyue declined, then used the same excuse at the next store.

After sweeping through several stores for alcohol and filling a small cart, she moved on to the next one.

She was still thinking of excuses when she noticed an unfamiliar face.

Perfect—they didn’t know her!

Chen Jinyue grabbed a haul of painkillers, hemostatics, anti-inflammatories, fever reducers, and various sprays.

The clerk eyed her curiously. She gave a wry smile and said, “Company team-building trip—camping and rafting. The boss decided at the last minute, so us workers are stuck running errands!”

The clerk nodded sympathetically. “Some bosses are like that—totally erratic! Like that batch of fever reducers and hemostatic powder in our warehouse. There’s nothing wrong with them, but the manager just messaged saying not to sell them and to return them tomorrow!”

Chen Jinyue frowned, puzzled. “If there’s no problem, why return them?”

The clerk pursed their lips. “Who knows? We’ve sold some already with no issues, but now they’re suddenly saying the quality’s unstable and needs a recall.”

Chen Jinyue asked, “How do you know there’s no problem?”

“That same batch—my friends at private clinics took some, and not one reported any issues…”

More importantly, she had insider info: the manufacturer was local to the county town and was under investigation these past few days.

The Drug Administration and top officials had shown up.

But they hadn’t found any problems.

In short, it was commercial sabotage—the manufacturer had been maliciously targeted.

Hearing that clinics had used it, Chen Jinyue thought for a moment before saying, “Anyway, this isn’t enough for me. I’ll need to hit a few more stores. Why don’t you sell me everything? You can tell your manager that by the time you saw the message, it was already gone.”