The Favored Heiress
Chapter 231: Master Yan, Did You Make Your Move Tonight?

Chapter 231: Chapter 231: Master Yan, Did You Make Your Move Tonight?

At that moment, Li Qiao stopped drying her hair, pondered a bit, and then asked, "Before he left, did he look for you?"

Tang Yiting snorted in displeasure, "Look for what? If I hadn’t gone to Blue Night and asked around, I wouldn’t even know he resigned.

Moreover, his phone number has gone out of service. What kind of person is he? After all, we knew each other. He just left without a word—negative review!"

Hmm, just as she expected, everything Wen Shi said last night was a lie.

Li Qiao picked up her phone and got off the floor, tossed aside the towel, sat at the desk, and turned on the computer, her tone laced with mild mockery, "Then do you know that Wen Shi isn’t a graduate student?"

On the computer screen, an encrypted document opened by Li Qiao appeared.

It displayed Wen Shi’s sparse personal information, so scant it was abnormal.

On the other end of the phone, Tang Yiting inhaled sharply, her voice suddenly much more composed, "What do you mean? If he isn’t a graduate student, what is he? Wasn’t it said that he comes from an ordinary family and was working hard and saving money at Blue Night?"

Li Qiao scrolled with her mouse, her voice slightly cool, "Not only that, it’s possible that even the name ’Wen Shi’... is fake."

Tang Yiting cursed, stood up, and walked out of the private billiard room, leaning against the wall with a tense expression, "Qiaoqiao, there’s something... I’ve never told you about."

"Mhm, is it related to him?" Li Qiao looked at the screen, her fingers pausing for a moment.

Tang Yiting nodded on her own, gave a brief account, and then muttered heavily, "At first, I thought he had a crush on you, which is why he seemed to be inquiring about you and Boss Shang from me.

But now it seems, it definitely isn’t that simple. Don’t worry, though. He asked me several times, but I always deflected, and I didn’t tell him anything."

Having been brought up in a wealthy family, Tang Yiting knew very well from her upbringing and what she had been exposed to what she should and shouldn’t say.

Especially when it came to matters involving Li Qiao and that boss, she dared not speak!

At this moment, Li Qiao’s eyes were deep as she raised the ends of her eyebrows, silent for a moment before saying, "Understood."

Then, after exchanging a few more casual words, they hung up the phone, and Li Qiao focused once more on Wen Shi’s information.

This was discovered last night; the results were not too surprising but rather made sense.

The unexpected appearance of Wen Shi beneath the research building, followed by his silent departure from South Sea, however you looked at it, the whole affair was odd.

As Li Qiao was pondering, with narrowed eyes, Shang Fu’s figure inexplicably surfaced in her mind.

The timing was indeed a bit too coincidental.

Shang Fu appeared, Wen Shi disappeared...

Li Qiao furrowed her brows, hoping she was overthinking it.

...

About ten minutes later, Li Qiao re-tagged Wen Shi’s information and then returned to bed, holding her phone and sending a WeChat message to Shang Yu.

Li Qiao: [What’s baby doing.jpg]

This picture had become her standard opening line.

It was already close to eleven at night; she wondered if he was asleep.

As expected, the message was like a stone sinking into the ocean.

Li Qiao waited a few minutes without getting a reply, tugged at her lips, waved her hand to turn off the bedside lamp, and prepared to sleep.

All was silent, and the bright moonlight shone through the night window.

In her half-asleep, half-awake state, Li Qiao felt the phone under her pillow vibrate lightly.

She reached out gropingly, squinting at the screen to see the man had replied to her message.

Shang Yu: Asleep?

Li Qiao turned over, rubbed the corner of her eyes, and tapped a few words: Not yet.

Then, a quick reply that followed made Li Qiao pause.

After that, she got out of bed, rummaged through the wardrobe for a sweatshirt and jeans to put on, and headed straight out the door.

And the smartphone she’d left on the bed, displaying the WeChat page, had a message from the man with just two words: "Come down."

...

The stars and the moon shone in competition, and occasionally the early summer night was pierced by the chirp of a cricket.

Li Qiao, clutching the front pouch of her hoodie, walked out of the dormitory building, her soft hair strands hanging down on both sides of her chest. A breeze whisked by, gently playing at the corners of her eyes and eyebrows.

In front of the building, beneath a street lamp, stood a figure, shrouded in a silvery glow, like the most vivid scene under the moonlit ink sky.

Li Qiao’s lips curled up slightly as she walked leisurely towards him.

Maybe it was an illusion, but tonight Shang Yu seemed more dashing and graceful than ever before.

He wore a well-tailored black suit with a hint of a wine-red handkerchief peeking out of the breast pocket.

Such formal attire, as though he’d just returned from a banquet or similar event.

Li Qiao stopped in front of him, looking up by the light of the lamp at the steady and mature man, her heartbeat a little erratic.

He looked very handsome tonight.

His hair was impeccably styled, and the contours of his face were softened by the lamplight.

In comparison, Li Qiao felt her own attire was too casual.

She reached a hand up to brush aside the hair fluttering at the corner of her eye, her doe eyes twinkling with stars, and asked crisply, "Have you just finished with your work?"

Shang Yu answered in a deep voice, and the next second he stepped forward, enveloping her in his arms, "Why aren’t you asleep yet?"

Li Qiao, resting against the man’s chest, was about to reply when she suddenly caught an unusual scent.

There was the smell of blood on him.

Even masked by the fragrances of ebony and smoke, it couldn’t escape Li Qiao’s sensitive nose.

Without showing any change in her expression, she furrowed her brows slightly and subtly shifted in his embrace, searching for the origin of the bloody scent, "I was about to sleep, but your message woke me up."

As she finished speaking, Shang Yu drew back, supporting her shoulders to create some distance. The corners of his thin lips curved slightly as he looked at the strands of hair beside the girl’s mouth and gently brushed them aside with his forefinger, "It sounds like it’s the boyfriend’s fault."

Li Qiao glanced at him, her grip playful but not quite smiling as she took hold of his wrist.

Found it!

The strong scent of blood was coming from the palm of his hand.

Li Qiao blinked innocently, rubbing her cheek against the back of his hand with a casual tone, "I didn’t say that."

This seemingly coquettish action also confirmed for Li Qiao that his hands had been stained with blood tonight.

Li Qiao lowered her gaze, her eyes quickly sweeping over his fingers, symmetrical and clean, with no apparent difference.

Could it be that he was injured?

Thinking this, the corners of her lips fell unconsciously.

Just as she was about to find a way to probe further, Shang Yu was already leaning in slightly, his dark eyes locking onto her cheeks, "After smelling for so long, what did you detect?"

Li Qiao paused, and since he’d discovered her intentions, she gave up on hiding them and boldly sniffed his wrist, "Master Yan, did you get into a fight tonight?"

She phrased it very tactfully, but she believed he would understand.

At that moment, a hint of amusement flickered in the depths of Shang Yu’s eyes. He withdrew his hand from hers and casually took out the wine-red handkerchief, deliberately wiping his fingers, "Just a small lesson as a bigger warning."

Hearing this, Li Qiao didn’t ask for details.

Having once seen him fire a gun in the valley, she knew that this man always acted with restraint. There was no need for her to be nosy.

At this time, Li Qiao’s gaze swept over Shang Yu’s figure, and although the black suit was sleek and elegant, it also made it difficult for her to discern any blood stains.

She was a bit annoyed, pursed her lips, and retorted, "What about you? Are you injured?"