Chapter 350

“It’s not far. Just next door, in the building we recently re-leased thanks to your suggestion. If you’re really in such a hurry, why not just go to the lab next door?"

“But you don’t go there. Why do you have to come and fight with our project members for the lab? Did the Monroe family not only withdraw their funding when the project was terminated, but also take away the equipment?"

“But I haven’t heard about this. Isn’t this the matter we’re talking about? Natalie, did you do this on purpose, trying to get the director to sabotage our research and kill two birds with one stone?”

Josie spoke rapidly, giving no one else a chance to interject. She provided a comprehensive analysis of the situation, then looked at the others with an innocent expression.

If the circumstances had been appropriate, Ian would have wanted to applaud her. ‘Who said she is easy to bully? Her words are logical and well-supported, leaving the bad guys speechless. She’s simply amazing.’

Natalie was thoroughly exasperated, taking several deep breaths. She kept trying to interject and refute, but never found an opportunity. By the time Josie finally finished speaking, Natalie didn’t even know how to refute.

She could only foolishly ask, “Killing two birds with one stone? What are you talking about, Josie?”

Josie smiled. “I said that you are trying to undermine our research by using the director to make mistakes. In this way, your mother becomes the only person in the institute collaborating with David.

“If the research succeeds, all the glory will shine on your mother. And if she’s lucky, maybe your mom will become the next director of the research institute once the current one retires."

‘So this is her intention?” The plump director, infuriated, flung his arm.

He said, “Josie, don’t even think about sowing discord between me and Audrey. I am simply following established procedures and am not acting as anyone’s enforcer.

“I acknowledge that my handling of today’s matter was not sufficiently thorough. Whether your experiment is related to the project or not, I will follow the procedure and submit an inspection application to the dean before entering to inspect. I won’t disturb you today.”

He snorted coldly and glared deeply at Natalie. “Natalie, since there are many labs in the next building, you should follow the procedure and submit an application to your supervisor for their use. There’s no need to specifically target a lab already in use.”

He was almost taken advantage of by Natalie.

If he were to break into Ian’s laboratory, regardless of the experiment being conducted inside, Jeremy would likely report him to the dean on the grounds of disrupting research.

After all, Jeremy’s research had just succeeded, while David’s had been canceled. Natalie had some small achievements lately, but they were nothing compared to Jeremy’s.

Moreover, with the Reedshaw family protecting Jeremy, the Kinberg family would certainly not protect him, a mere director.

He was so muddled by anger that he tried to regain his dignity through Ian and the others, only to be taken advantage of by Natalie. Now that he thought about it, Audrey’s attempt to win him over surely wasn’t out of good intentions.

The chubby director turned and walked away angrily, never looking back, no matter how Natalie called out to him.

Natalie had not expected that, after she had finally persuaded the director to come and give Ian a show of force, the situation would be turned around by just a few words from Josie.

She glared at Josie, her face full of resentment, and said, “I really didn’t expect you to be so sharp-tongued; she must have been pretending before, Ian, don’t let her fool you. When all the hard work you put in ends up becoming hers, don’t you think that’s a loss?”

She gave a light snort. “Don’t get cocky, senior. Just because you won this time doesn’t mean you’ll keep winning. Once Professor Lawson’s project gets going, you’ll be out of the picture.

“Besides, you’ve seen all the papers I’ve published recently, haven’t you? I doubt you would have achieved such results even if you had stayed with the team, let alone now that you’ve chosen such an unpopular field.

“Let’s see how you managed to get the upper hand over me by acupuncture.”