Chapter 97: The Secret Recording

“Will there be any side effects?” Bai Zhihui asked, a little worried.

Bai Qiming immediately shifted his waist and said smugly, “Do I look like someone who has side effects?”

Only then did Bai Zhihui’s doubts fade. Amused and exasperated, she said, “Then you’d better properly thank Mr. Jiang. He’s the one who gave you your vigor back.”

“Of course.”

Bai Qiming nodded.

Then, as though remembering something, his expression changed.

“What is it?” Bai Zhihui asked, baffled.

Bai Qiming let her go, got out of bed, and said, “I need to call Mr. Jiang. I have something for him.”

In a villa on the eastern outskirts of Mapleleaf City, Jiang Hao did not sleep peacefully that night. He dreamed constantly, and every dream was chaotic, disjointed, without the slightest logic.

Just as he began to feel uneasy and was preparing to rise and replace sleep with cultivation, the phone on the nightstand suddenly rang sharply.

Puzzled, he switched on the bedside lamp, picked up the phone, and looked at the screen.

When he saw the caller ID, he was even more confused.

Why was Bai Qiming calling this late?

Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?

Though he was puzzled, Jiang Hao still answered. Bai Qiming’s voice immediately came through the receiver.

“Jiang Hao, are you asleep yet?”

“Not yet.”

He had already gone to bed, but said otherwise so as not to embarrass the man.

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I have to thank you properly. That medicine of yours is truly miraculous. After I took the one you gave me, even my wife said it was good!”

Bai Qiming laughed heartily.

Jiang Hao also smiled.

The medicine Jiang Hao had given Bai Qiming was specifically designed to improve a man’s performance in that regard.

A man’s potency is at its peak in his late teens and early twenties; by middle age, it begins to decline, and even exercise and health regimens cannot fully reverse that trend.

Yet Jiang Hao’s medicine could make up for precisely that deficiency.

More importantly, it was prepared by traditional medical methods and had no side effects at all. The only drawback was that the herbs were quite precious, making the cost somewhat high.

“I’m glad my medicine worked. Uncle Bai, just take it on schedule, and don’t take too much in a single day. Medicine is still medicine; if taken carelessly, it can do harm as well as good,” Jiang Hao reminded him.

“I understand. I know that principle,” Bai Qiming said with a laugh. Then he continued, “Jiang Hao, I didn’t call just to thank you. I have something else for you.”

“Something? What is it?”

Jiang Hao asked, frowning as he stepped out of bed and stood on the floor.

“It’s a secret recording,” Bai Qiming said mysteriously.

A secret recording?

Jiang Hao grew even more puzzled.

What recording?

Whose voice was on it?

Before he could ask, Bai Qiming began speaking in a rambling stream. “Before, my father’s kidneys were failing, and he urgently needed a transplant, but we couldn’t find a matching donor. Then, by chance, I came to know Zhang Lihua from the Su family.”

“Zhang Lihua told me she had a matching kidney donor, so I went to meet her.”

“But we all know that searching for a donor privately without going through the hospital, and even paying a high price for one, is illegal.”

“So, to be safe, whenever I met Zhang Lihua, I kept an extra eye out and recorded our conversations on my phone.”

“What I’m sending you now is one of those recordings. I thought there were some things you had the right to know. As for whether it can help you, I can’t say.”

When he finished, Bai Qiming quietly waited for Jiang Hao’s answer.

If Jiang Hao did not want it, he would destroy the recording at once. But if he did, Bai Qiming would send it immediately.

Jiang Hao was genuinely surprised.

He had never expected Bai Qiming to possess a recording of his conversations with Zhang Lihua.

For Bai Qiming to treat this recording so seriously, could there really be some secret hidden within it?

Without hesitation, Jiang Hao nodded. “I want it. Uncle Bai, send it to me now.”

“All right. After I send it to you, keep it safe. I’ll destroy everything I have here,” Bai Qiming said.

Soon after, the recording arrived.

It was an MP3 file that could be opened with any player.

The call was still connected, and Bai Qiming said, “Jiang Hao, I also know about you and Su Qingli. If you truly want to divorce her, I won’t stand in your way. But you must think it through carefully before you decide.”

“Thank you for your advice, Uncle Bai. I’ll give it serious thought,” Jiang Hao said heavily.

After hanging up, he hesitated for a moment before finally opening the recording.

At once, two voices sounded in the empty room.

“I never expected, Mr. Bai, that you would be so filial, willing to spend such a great price to buy a donor kidney. If my daughter could be as dutiful as you in the future, I would be satisfied indeed!”

Needless to say, that was Zhang Lihua’s voice.

Bai Qiming’s voice followed closely. “It is only right for children to show filial devotion to their parents. I believe your daughter, Su Qingli, will certainly do her utmost to be filial to you.”

“Ah, Mr. Bai, you don’t know this, but ever since my daughter Qingli married that good-for-nothing Jiang Hao, she has changed completely. I even wonder in her heart whether Jiang Hao matters more, or whether I and her father do.”

“Jiang Hao is Su Qingli’s husband, so it is only natural that she cares about him... Still, let us speak of the donor kidney. Madam Zhang, this kidney donor you mentioned—who exactly is providing it? Is he reliable?”

“Rest assured, absolutely reliable! There will be no problem at all!”

“Oh, that’s good. If possible, could you tell me the person’s identity? I’d feel more secure that way.”

“Well, let’s not. It’s really not convenient...”

At that moment, a series of footsteps sounded in the recording, followed by a man’s voice.

“Aunt Zhang, the matter you asked me to handle is already done. As long as Jiang Hao comes to our hospital, I guarantee I’ll make sure his...”

“Shut up! Can’t you see I have a guest here?”

After Zhang Lihua barked at him, she said with a smile, “Mr. Bai, this is Wang Jun’an, one of the surgeons at Mapleleaf City Hospital.”

“I see. Dr. Wang, please do your utmost concerning the donor kidney my father needs.”

“Certainly.”

Then Bai Qiming’s voice rang out again. “By the way, where is your daughter, Su Qingli? I don’t seem to have seen her at all...”

“I sent her away. She mustn’t know about this... no, that’s not what I mean. Mr. Bai, look at me—meeting you, the future head of the Bai family, I’m so nervous I can’t even speak properly...”

Then came Zhang Lihua’s shrill laughter.

The recording ended there.