The Favored Heiress
Chapter 254: Taking Things Softly

Chapter 254: Chapter 254: Taking Things Softly

Shang Yu was back.

Li Qiao heard Liuyun and Luoyu calling, curved her lips slightly, and then strode back to her room.

If Shang Fu really chose to join hands with Tu Anliang, that would be quite disappointing.

This Elder Sister Shang, known for her ruthlessness, didn’t seem as clever as expected.

...

A good night’s sleep.

The next afternoon, the internal gathering of the five families was drawing to a close.

At that moment, Li Qiao and Li Yan stepped out of the villa, and just as they passed the porch, they saw Shang Yu and Li Guangming walking side by side near the lawn not far away.

Li Qiao paused in her steps and exchanged a look with Shang Yu from a distance.

Li Yan, on the other hand, glared at Shang Yu surreptitiously, not daring to be too obvious, he could only roll his eyes and look up at the sky.

Before long, under Li Guangming’s watchful eye, Shang Yu turned and walked towards the manor’s exit.

Seeing this, Li Yan subconsciously sighed in relief and looked at Li Guangming approaching, asking, "Dad, has he left?"

"Yes, he said he had matters to attend to, so he left first," Li Guangming replied warmly, but his composed face couldn’t hide the mirth.

Li Yan glared at Shang Yu’s retreating figure a few more times, then turned his head and collided with Li Qiao’s cool gaze. He clenched his fist to his lips and coughed, "Well... let’s go too."

Li Guangming glanced in the direction of the manor gate and gently patted Li Qiao’s shoulder, his expression kind, "Girl, you and your second brother go ahead and get in the car; I’ll go say goodbye to a few old friends and then I’ll come."

Having said that, Li Guangming walked briskly into the villa, clearly in high spirits.

Soon after, the siblings got into the car first, and the vehicles of the other families were parked one after another near the manor gate.

After closing the car door, Li Yan peered at the driver in the front and nudged towards the window, "Uncle Liu, you go have a smoke, Qiaoqiao and I have something to talk about."

"Eh, sure thing, Second Young Master."

Once the driver, Uncle Liu, had stepped out of the car, Li Yan turned to Li Qiao with a grave tone, "Qiaoqiao, does anyone else know about your relationship with him, besides me and third brother?"

At the moment, Li Qiao was looking down at her phone screen, seemingly texting someone on WeChat.

She glanced sideways at Li Yan, shook her head, "No one."

Most of those who were aware of the situation were Shang Yu’s trusted aides.

Hearing this, Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief, propped one knee against the leather seat and advised, "I don’t care if your relationship with him is real or not, but listen to your brother, don’t let outsiders know about this."

Li Qiao’s finger paused on the screen, her eyebrows furrowed at Li Yan’s serious demeanor, "Why would I tell outsiders?"

"Tsk, although you say that, do you think others won’t suspect if you don’t tell? You don’t understand Shang Shaoyan, you have no idea what being with him entails."

"Oh." Li Qiao replied indifferently, then looked down to continue texting.

Seeing her indifferent manner, Li Yan rubbed his forehead irritably, "Qiaoqiao, your brother isn’t trying to scare you.

Let’s not even talk about the rest, those four old guys were privately inquiring about your relationship with Shang Shaoyan just yesterday, and Uncle Tang also asked me about it.

Think about it, if they find out you two aren’t ordinary, in their eyes you will become a stepping stone to get closer to Shang Shaoyan in the future.

To put it bluntly, more and more people will use you, approach you, target you, causing endless trouble."

Is Shang Shaoyan even a good person?

As much as people flocked to him, there would be others who would stand against him.

Li Qiao’s existence was a bargaining chip for these people.

Hearing this, Li Qiao curled her lips and silently finished texting. She leaned back in her seat, slowly closed her eyes, and threw out a somewhat wild statement, "If they want to use me as a stepping stone, they might not be qualified to do so."

Li Yan, having talked himself hoarse, was left speechless by Li Qiao’s remark.

Fine then, as long as the Li Family protected her, no one would dare to mess with her for now.

...

At four o’clock that afternoon, two cars from the Li family returned to the Li family villa, while Li Qiao had the driver take her directly back to the laboratory.

When getting out of the car at the villa, Li Guangming hummed a little tune all the way in, leaving Li Yan dumbfounded.

Suppressing his restlessness, he followed Li Guangming and asked, "Dad, what did you and Shang Shaoyan talk about at the estate?"

Li Yan wondered if his dad had sold Qiaoqiao off?

Hearing this, Li Guangming’s eyebrows flinched, and he waved his hand dismissively, "you second-hand dealer, why ask so many questions?"

Second-hand dealer Li Yan: "?"

He looked puzzledly at Duan Shuyuan, who chuckled and explained, "Well, he puts interests first. I heard that he talked business with you dad alone, planning to establish a medical cooperation factory with the Li family, with profit distribution at forty-sixty. Can you blame your dad for being happy?"

Li Yan was stunned, it was over.

His dad had become indebted to someone!

Li Yan wanted to ask a few more questions, but Duan Shuyuan had already started making phone calls to book flights, as the international fashion week was about to begin again.

...

Time flew by, and Wednesday came in a blink of an eye.

After the gathering of the Five Giants, Li Qiao plunged back into the research in the laboratory.

That evening around five, Li Qiao drove out of the laboratory, planning to visit her grandfather in the hospital.

In recent days, the research progress in the laboratory had noticeably slowed down.

She rarely stole some leisure time out of her busyness.

But just after driving out two intersections, the car radio broadcasted a traffic report.

"Dear drivers, according to the latest news, slight crustal activity has occurred near South Sea Mountain. To prevent accidents, please try to take a detour..."

Li Qiao slowed down her speed, looking at the traffic light ahead, turned on the indicator, and pulled over to the side road.

After some consideration, she dialed Shang Yu’s number.

After a while, no one answered.

Li Qiao frowned, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, and dialed again, but the result was the same.

Was he in a meeting or socializing?

Li Qiao rubbed her fingers over the screen and quickly brought up Liuyun’s number, dialed it, but was met with the tone that the other party’s phone was turned off.

She called Luoyu once, out of service area.

Li Qiao: "..."

If no one’s phone was going through, it wasn’t a coincidence.

Li Qiao calmed down, flipped through her phone contacts, and found the WeChat of the Yan Emperor Group’s One Zero One receptionist assistant. She sent a message, and soon the receptionist replied: The Chairman and the others didn’t come in today. [Shush]

Hmm, there was definitely a problem.

Li Qiao replied with a thank you, started the engine, and decided to head straight for the South Sea Mansion to check things out.

She skillfully maneuvered the steering wheel, rounding the side road’s corner, and just as she was about to accelerate, a Mercedes sedan behind her apparently wanted to switch lanes, failed to dodge in time, and crashed right into Li Qiao’s G-Wagon.

Everything was quite coincidental.

Li Qiao abruptly hit the brakes, narrowed her eyes, and glanced in the rear-view mirror, her gaze growing heavy.

By then, the driver of the car behind had already hurriedly come out, bending over to assess the situation of both cars’ collision.

Li Qiao lowered the window, watching the driver from the side mirror, who turned and whispered something to someone in the back seat of his sedan.

It seemed like there was a woman sitting in the back seat.