The Favored Heiress
Chapter 363: The Damn Liking

Chapter 363: Chapter 363: The Damn Liking

Not long after, Li Qiao left the hospital and saw Luoyu standing by a Rolls-Royce waiting for her as she walked out of the inpatient department.

Luoyu opened the rear door of the car and asked, "Miss Li, are we heading to the Li Family residence or to the lab?"

Li Qiao pondered for a moment, then bent down to get into the car, "Let’s go back to the Li family residence first."

...

At the Li family villa on Huanan Road, once the car came to a stop, Li Qiao looked at the dates placed on the back seat, pursed her lips briefly, but still picked up the four boxes and entered the front gate.

In the living room, only the servants were busy all around.

Li Qiao put the dates on the coffee table, asked the butler, and then turned to go upstairs.

It wasn’t even eleven o’clock yet; Li Guangming hadn’t returned from the company, while Duan Shuyuan was leisurely arranging her flower arrangement on the open-air balcony.

Li Qiao walked up the stairs to the open-air balcony and, looking up, saw over a dozen different bouquets on the craft table, along with several vases already arranged into floral designs.

"Mom," Li Qiao called softly with a smile.

Duan Shuyuan paused in her stem cutting, looked up towards the stair entrance with raised eyebrows, and instantly her face brightened with a smile to greet her, "Baby, back from your business trip? Come see, how’s the flower arranging technique I’ve just learned?"

Li Qiao walked over unhurriedly, glanced at the arrangement, and nodded, "It’s nice."

Those two words might have seemed a bit perfunctory.

But they were also sincere.

Li Qiao stood at the table and joined Duan Shuyuan in arranging flowers, chatting idly with her mother now and then.

"Have your aunt and the others caused any more trouble recently?" Li Qiao said as she picked up a rose and snipped at the stem on an angle, handing it to Duan Shuyuan.

"Not at all," Duan Shuyuan glanced at her with a smile and said, "These are trivial matters; even if they come again, mom can handle them.

As for you, I heard from the butler a few days ago that you were on a business trip with the lab, so your dad and I didn’t dare to disturb you.

Qiaoqiao, not to nag, but those experiments would still get done even if you weren’t the one doing them.

Rather than work so hard, why not come home early and enjoy life with mom? Our family isn’t short on money; what’s the point of putting in so much effort?"

Li Qiao paused in her flower stem cutting, smiled, and chose not to respond.

Sometimes, effort isn’t all about money.

...

At noon, Li Guangming came home, and the family of three sat in the dining room waiting to start the meal.

Li Guangming took a sip of appetizer tea and gestured towards the living room with his chin, "Qiaoqiao, are those dates on the table brought by you?"

Duan Shuyuan hadn’t been to the living room after finishing her flower arrangement and looked surprised at the mention, raising an eyebrow, "What dates?"

At that moment, Li Qiao received her bowl and chopsticks from a servant and lied with open eyes, "Mm, they’re specialties brought back by a colleague from a trip."

Li Guangming looked noticeably more relaxed and then turned to Duan Shuyuan, "They are the coconut-flavored dates you used to love, from Parma, that well-established brand."

Seeing his comment, Li Qiao lowered her gaze, hiding the smile in her eyes.

The old couple was quite easy to deceive.

"From Parma?" Duan Shuyuan looked surprised at this, "It’s been many years since I’ve had them."

Li Qiao wiped her hands with a towel and mentioned casually, "Mom likes Parma’s dates? Next time I have a chance, I’ll have someone buy some more for you."

Duan Shuyuan and Li Guangming exchanged a fleeting look, and she toned down her expression, politely declining with a smile, "No need for that, they’re too sweet. It’s fine to sample them occasionally, but having them too often can become cloying."

Li Qiao put the towel on the edge of the table and nodded, saying nothing.

A single box of dates could cause her parents to be so secretive.

Li Qiao paid close attention and noticed that they seemed to have an inexplicable aversion to Parma.

Or rather, whenever she mentioned Parma, her parents would become very tense.

Yes, it’s a puzzle.

...

After lunch, Li Qiao chatted with Mr. and Mrs. Li for a while. Before two o’clock in the afternoon, she returned to her dormitory in the laboratory.

Having rushed around all morning, Li Qiao dragged her weary body to change her bedsheet and duvet cover. She intended to rest for a while before going back to the lab when, before she knew it, she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, in a private hospital’s high-end ward.

After Li Qiao left, Li San and Nan Xin found themselves alone in the same room, wordlessly staring at each other.

At that moment, one lay on his side on the bed with his eyes closed as if napping, while the other sat on the sofa touching her lips thoughtfully.

Before three o’clock, the sky outside the window was overtaken by dark clouds, and thick, oppressive clouds made the atmosphere seem particularly gloomy and suffocating.

A startling clap of thunder cracked the sky, followed almost instantly by rain pouring down in sheets.

The summer storm arrived suddenly, causing the pensive Nan Xin to jump at the sound of the thunder. Her usually seductive eyes revealed an uncommon clarity and self-mockery.

Perhaps having shielded herself with allure for too long, everyone assumed she was a seasoned veteran of love.

Not just others, even she was beginning to believe it was true.

The rain beat rapidly against the windows. Nan Xin blinked, her gaze uncontrollably drawn to the man lying on the bed.

Li San would never know that, not long ago, that was her first French kiss.

Nan Xin exhaled deeply, later bending forward to bury her flushed cheeks slowly into the palms of her hands.

She was done for.

Even though Li San had been quite rough at the time, now when she thought about it... damn it, she actually... liked it.

While maintaining her face-covering gesture, Nan Xin didn’t notice Li San, already having opened his eyes on the bed, was sneakily regarding her with a strange intensity.

This woman, covering her face and shivering her shoulders, sighing one moment and humming the next—what waves was she trying to make in this pouring rain?!

Thus, Li San imagined an entire drama in his head, envisioning Nan Xin nestled in the embrace of a man with expert kissing skills...flirting and quarreling playfully.

Damn!

The mere thought irritated him.

Li San took a deep breath, and with a taut face, sat up on the bed, bending one knee and resting his arm on it, squinting through the rain-blurred window with a cold voice, "Go buy me a pack of cigarettes."

He was doing it on purpose, looking for trouble!

At the sound of Li San speaking, Nan Xin quickly straightened up and lifted her head. At that instant, her face radiated a rosy, delicate charm, and her eyes brimmed with affection, "Huh?"

Li San ground his teeth, his cold eyes piercing as he stared at Nan Xin, full of spring, "Didn’t you hear me? Go buy me some cigarettes!"

In such a moment, he really wanted to know who that skilled kisser was.

Nan Xin swallowed, her gaze unintentionally falling on the cigarette box on the bedside table. She pointed and said, "Boss, isn’t there still some left?"

Li San said nothing, just raised his eyebrows with a stern expression that hid the faintest trace of pettiness.

Nan Xin couldn’t stand to see him like this; it was almost an instinctive fear and compliance.

She pouted, rose to her feet, and sashayed out of the room with a sway of her hips.

Li San’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently, feeling inflamed and hot-headed, with a hint of kidney-fire too.

In reality, Nan Xin wasn’t just putting on an act; she was Li San’s number-one enforcer known as Fire Rose in the border territory.

She was celebrated for her audacious seductiveness.

After all, most men would lower their guard in the presence of a woman full of charm.

The border territory’s Fire Rose typically used this to her advantage, striking a fatal blow at the very moment a man fell for her.

This identity made Nan Xin all the more enchanting and dangerous, like a siren moving through the world.