The Favored Heiress
Chapter 433: Madam Xiao

Chapter 433: Chapter 433: Madam Xiao

Anyway, in the end, Li Qiao couldn’t remember what she said or did last night.

She had no recollection of calling Shang Yu with the calmest tone and the most sickeningly sweet nickname, "Baby."

Ten minutes later, she went out to find Xia Siyu.

As she approached the lawn, she saw the young lady squatting on the stairs, plucking the weeds from the ground, stripping several patches of the lawn bare.

Luoyu, by her side, saw Li Qiao and called out in a light voice, "Miss Li."

Li Qiao nodded to her and sat down beside Xia Siyu on the steps, "What did the weeds ever do to you?"

Xia Siyu glanced at her, wiped her face with an indescribable look, and seemed about to speak, but hesitated.

It was only this morning that she found out she had called Yun Lih over eighty times; she didn’t know whether he had blocked her or not.

Anyway, in her call history, there were over eighty...

After suppressing her feelings for so many years, how come they burst forth after just a bout of heavy drinking?

As she was thinking, her phone suddenly displayed an incoming call.

Xia Siyu took it out and her breath stopped.

Yun Lih was returning her call.

But... she dared not answer.

Especially this contact name, she dared not let Qiaoqiao see it.

Resigning herself, Xia Siyu declined the call without showing any emotion, yet her heartbeat uncontrollably quickened considerably.

Before long, Li Qiao’s phone also rang.

She shot a glance at Xia Siyu and casually asked while answering, "How come you have time to call me?"

Yun Lih’s voice, dark and obscure, came through, "Have you been in contact with Xia Lao Wu recently?"

When his subordinate discovered that the phone number from last night belonged to Xia Siyu, it took him a long time to remember who she was.

He didn’t quite remember Xia Siyu’s full name, so he habitually referred to her as Xia Lao Wu.

Li Qiao raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "Yes, she’s right beside me, what’s up?"

Yun Lih’s breath hitched, "She’s in the South Sea?"

Li Qiao affirmed, "Hmm, she and Shen Qingye are both here."

Yun Lih, lips clamped around a cigarette, legs stretched out on top of the desk, paused for a moment and then laughed, "What a coincidence, I happen to be free recently, I’ll head to the South Sea this afternoon and see if Xia Lao Wu’s skin is itching for a beating after all these years."

Li Qiao didn’t think much of this, and after hanging up, she looked at Xia Siyu with amusement, "What did you do to Yun Lih? He’s coming over tonight."

Xia Siyu startled, and her phone slipped from her grasp onto the lawn.

Her pupils froze in place, filled with anxious confusion, "I didn’t do anything. I, I’m going back in the afternoon."

"You’re not meeting him?" Li Qiao rubbed her temple, lazily raising her eyebrows at her, "He’s coming especially for you, isn’t it appropriate to see him?"

Xia Siyu’s breath caught, and she lowered her eyelids, her smile tinged with bitterness, "Is that so?"

Probably, only Qiaoqiao would believe such an excuse.

If she weren’t in the South Sea, why would Yun Lih possibly come?

"It’s not often you’re here, what’s the rush to go back?" Li Qiao said, standing up from the steps, "Come on, accompany me to the lab."

Xia Siyu watched Li Qiao’s retreating back, pursed her lips, and ended up saying nothing.

Just thinking of seeing Yun Lih in the evening made her heart tumultuous.

...

Li Qiao returned to the living room, didn’t find Shang Yu, and learned from Liuyun that he was in the study.

After thinking it over, she walked up to the second floor.

The door to the study was ajar, and Li Qiao raised her hand to knock. The door opened a wider gap in response to her action.

The sunlight outside was abundant, streaming through the large floor-to-ceiling windows and dispelling the gloominess of the dark decor.

At that moment, the man stood with his back to her by the window, not smoking, yet the room was filled with the scent of tobacco.

He was surrounded by daylight, and his shadow on the floor stretched out long and askew.

But from his back, Li Qiao inexplicably sensed a profound loneliness.

Shang Yu seldom showed much emotion in front of others, always appearing aloof and noble, indifferent and unapproachable.

Like this, standing alone in the sunlight, yet feeling no warmth from it, was a desolation she had never seen before in his solitude.

Li Qiao walked up to him with light footsteps, tilting her head to look at his profile.

The man seemed to be immersed in his thoughts, his gaze distantly overlooking the mountains outside the window, when he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "What is it?"

Li Qiao slipped her hand into his palm, and unsurprisingly, it was slightly cool to the touch.

Shang Yu’s expression flickered, and as he turned to look at her, his deep gaze gradually focused. He grasped Li Qiao’s hand firmly and with a slight pull, he drew her into his embrace, "Are you going back?"

Li Qiao nodded, "Xiaxia and I will go back to the lab. Yun Lih is coming over tonight."

The man wrapped his arm around her waist, leaned down, and kissed her forehead, advising in a low voice only after a long moment, "Drink less."

"Mhm..." Li Qiao replied softly, clutching his cold fingers, and said thoughtfully, "When I was leaving Chong City, Shang Qiongying said something to me."

"What did she say?" Shang Yu held her, his gaze returning to the window once more.

Li Qiao recalled the person Shang Qiongying had mentioned several times, her tone neither hurried nor slow, "She said that you don’t want me to meet someone named Madam Xiao..."

"Buzz buzz—"

The man’s phone on the desk suddenly rang.

They both turned their heads at the same time, and when Li Qiao saw the name displayed on the screen, her pupils contracted sharply.

Madam Xiao.

Shang Yu looked at the phone with a detached expression, his Adam’s apple moved as he glanced down at Li Qiao, and then he stepped forward, picking up the call right in front of her.

The volume on the earpiece was well controlled, but since the two of them were so close, Li Qiao could hear everything clearly.

The first sentence from Madam Xiao: Shaoyan, if anything happens to your brother, I will make sure you pay with your life.

Her voice was very gentle, the kind that felt like a spring breeze.

Yet the words uttered were piercing to the heart.

Brother?

Shang Lu?

At this time, Shang Yu’s jaw was set tight, his deep eyes were cold and devoid of any warmth, "You seem to care deeply for your stepson."

The second sentence from Madam Xiao: "At least he is willing to call me ’Mother,’ which is a hundred times better than you, heartless and ungrateful creature."

Such venomous words should be accompanied by a fierce tone.

Yet, Madam Xiao’s voice remained warm and gentle, delivering the most heart-wrenching statements.

Currently, Shang Yu was still holding Li Qiao’s hand, and perhaps even he did not realize that he was squeezing it continuously.

Her bones ached as they were gripped in his hand, but Li Qiao said nothing.

He looked straight ahead, his handsome face grim, his chest rising and falling without change, but his entire being seemed shrouded in a layer of dark mist, even his deep-dark eyes were overcast with a layer of gray.

It took a long time before he responded in a low and cold voice, "Even if I am heartless and ungrateful, it is a trait inherited from you."

At this point, some things became self-evident.

Madam Xiao was his biological mother.

And at the same time... she was also Xiao Yeyan’s stepmother?

This relationship truly shocked Li Qiao.

She had indeed not expected a birth mother could say such things to her own son.

So, had she remarried into the Ducal Family?