The Favored Heiress
Chapter 411: I Don’t Need Your Protection

Chapter 411: Chapter 411: I Don’t Need Your Protection

Li Qiao was held in his embrace, her nostrils filled not only with his crisp scent but also with a faint medicinal odor.

Human emotions are sometimes like this—when stretched to a certain extent, they lose all urge to vent.

She listened to the man’s voice, laced with a light smile but tinged with helplessness. Her features showed no change; she simply hung her head low in his arms and slowly closed her eyes.

It could have been a long while, or perhaps just a few seconds.

Li Qiao reined in all her outward emotions and asked with composure, "What kind of injury?"

Shang Yu, sensing the girl’s suppressed displeasure, was now responsive, "A gunshot wound."

Li Qiao still kept her head bowed, said nothing more, then lifted her gaze, her clear eyes falling upon his left shoulder, "When was the bullet removed?"

"This morning," the man replied in a deep and husky voice. Li Qiao’s eyes shimmered lightly as she pursed her lips into silence once again.

At the moment she tried to video call him that morning, he might have been in the middle of having the bullet removed.

Zong Yue had said that his injury happened last night...

Having suffered a gunshot wound herself, she knew all too well the searing pain as it burned through flesh and bone.

The hand holding her medical record suddenly lost its strength, and the wooden clipboard dropped to the floor with a thudding, piercing noise.

Her voice barely holding together, she brushed twice over the gauze on his shoulder then, with a smile, took a step back, "Take care of yourself, I’m heading back."

As her words ended, in the midst of Shang Yu’s subtly changing expression, she turned and left the hospital room without looking back.

Throughout it all, there was not a single question, not a single complaint; she didn’t even glance at the other people in the room, seemingly obedient and sensible, intending to return the way she came.

"Qiaoqiao..."

Shang Yu called out from behind her, striding forward with long steps to follow, though it seemed someone behind him gave a cold reminder, "Shaoyan, you shouldn’t go out in the wind right now."

Li Qiao walked swiftly, so much so that Shang Yu expended some effort to catch up with her despite his large, meteoric strides.

In the bright, crowded corridor, countless bodyguards watched the dignified and upright man hasten to catch up with the girl with red-rimmed eyes.

Near the elevator, Shang Yu raised his hand and forcefully hooked Li Qiao’s shoulder, pulling her in towards the wall with little effort.

His left hand hung by his side while his right hand firmly grasped her shoulder, his body half-leaning on her, caging her between the wall and his embrace.

"Are you angry because I didn’t tell you?" His usually warm fingers were now cool as they touched her cheek.

His voice was still deep and magnetic, but Li Qiao could hear a hint of frailty in it.

Was he pretending to be pitiable, or was he truly hurt badly?

Feigning misery... She thought it unlikely.

Such a proud and powerful man, how could he possibly resort to playing the victim?

Li Qiao’s direct gaze fell upon the man’s collarbone. She was almost devoid of any emotional fluctuation as she stated flatly, "You have many things you don’t wish to tell me, should I be angry about them all?"

Shang Yu had been with Li Qiao for so long and had never seen her this detached before.

To call it detachment was not apt enough, for it was simply her nature.

But beneath the calm exterior, it felt more like a helpless indifference.

Shang Yu’s cool fingers lifted her chin, forcing the girl to look up and meet his eyes.

Only at that moment, under the glaring incandescent light, did he see Li Qiao’s reddened, bloodshot eyes.

His heart softened for a moment, accompanied by a subtle yet undeniable pang of heartache.

The man’s Adam’s apple moved as he bent his head, wanting to kiss her cheek, but she moved when his thin lips were still half a centimeter away.

Turning her face aside with pursed lips, she grasped his wrist and shifted a step to the side.

This was the second time tonight that Li Qiao had avoided Shang Yu’s touch.

"Master Yan..."

Li Qiao didn’t look at him, but she called out a name she hadn’t used for a long time.

Since they had been intimate, he didn’t like her calling him Master Yan, and she stopped doing so afterwards.

Even if she occasionally said it, it was only as a playful affection between lovers.

At this moment, Li Qiao calmly watched the deep ink of the night outside the window. Before coming here, she had so much she wanted to say.

She wasn’t devoid of senses—she could get angry, enraged, but more than that, she felt worried and anxious.

But his cool fingertips and the pale hue of his lips from the injury all combined to leave Li Qiao at a loss for words.

Argue? She wasn’t in the mood.

Confront? She had no standing.

If he had any intention of revealing even a word to her, she would not have used such a deceiving tactic to return to the South Sea from Chong City.

The fact that he never planned to tell her from the beginning made even questioning him seem like making an unreasonable fuss.

Li Qiao’s fingers curled, her gaze moving from the window back to her reddened eyes, which looked weary and lost.

She lifted her head and collided with Shang Yu’s tense pupils, murmuring, "Have you never thought about a future with me?"

With that one sentence, Shang Yu felt a surge of emotion, his thin lips instantly turning white with tension, his voice hoarser than ever, "Li Qiao, you can be angry with me, but you must not..."

"Not what?" Li Qiao slowly released his wrist, looking straight into his eyes, "Am I not allowed to speak my true feelings?"

She was too calm, so calm that Shang Yu could hardly see any love for him in her eyes.

Li Qiao’s curled fingers slowly relaxed, gradually lifting and tracing the lines of the man’s brows and eyes, "Has Master Yan never felt that I deserve to stand by your side?

Otherwise... everyone knows you’re injured, everyone is by your side in the hospital room, but you’ve never mentioned a word to me.

You went to great lengths to arrange the conference location in Chong City just to prevent me from being involved in anything related to you, right?

No matter the danger, no matter the injury, your only thought is to keep me away, but you’ve never asked if I’m willing to bear it with you.

Your intentions are undoubtedly good, wishing to protect me from risk, but this so-called protection, by keeping me out of your world, I actually... really don’t need it."

After finishing the last sentence, she let out a faint laugh, but her eyes still held back a deep surge of emotion.

Li Qiao didn’t know how she managed to say such a long speech in a calm and waveless tone.

Perhaps, it couldn’t be denied that it was influenced by Shang Qiongying.

Li Qiao knew very well the ill intentions Shang Qiongying harbored.

But Shang Yu’s actions precisely confirmed some of what Shang Qiongying said.

Tired.

She just felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness sweeping through her in the moment of emotional looseness.

The moment she saw Shang Yu sitting in the hospital room, draped in a shirt and smoking, she could only think of one thing—since he wasn’t injured badly enough to be bedridden, her rush back was an overreaction.

But then seeing his helpless and indulgent smile, and knowing he could still walk steadily, she even felt a faint sense of relief. As long as the critical areas weren’t hurt, it was a fortune amidst misfortune.