The Favored Heiress
Chapter 459: That Miss Li is no ordinary person

Chapter 459: Chapter 459: That Miss Li is no ordinary person

At this moment, Li Qiao was standing beside the man, watching the scene with an incredibly nonchalant gaze, not even her eyes betrayed a ripple of emotion.

Zuo Tang stood to her left and slightly behind, at just the right distance to catch every move Li Qiao made.

She observed Li Qiao and clearly noticed that her reaction to everything around her was so calm it bordered on indifference.

This training ground was a secret base of the Third Halls; unless one ventured deep into South Sea Mountain, the average person would never discover the hidden mechanisms here.

Even the airspace above South Sea Mountain was a no-fly zone.

This vast mountaintop training ground seemed to surprise her not at all, let alone amaze her.

Zuo Tang couldn’t help but think about the time the hall master was ambushed, when Zuo Xuan came back and said a phrase, "That Miss Li, is not a common person."

Now, it seemed she was indeed very special.

Zuo Tang discreetly sized her up, her eyes filled with intense curiosity.

So when Li Qiao quietly turned her head and met Zuo Tang’s not-quite-concealed gaze, Zuo Tang was slightly taken aback and then nodded and smiled faintly at her.

Li Qiao’s feelings towards Zuo Tang were somewhat complex; looking at her candid expression, she tugged at the corner of her mouth and then shifted her gaze away.

Before long, Shang Yu led Li Qiao around the training ground for a walk, and after observing for a while, Li Qiao asked in a faint voice, "What is under this training ground?"

The outdoor training ground was on the mountain peak, so it was likely there was more to the structure of the mountain below.

The man sat with her on a wooden bench set aside for rest and looked sidelong at Li Qiao as he smoothed her untidy hair away from her ear with his well-proportioned fingers, "Below is the Third Halls’ fighting arena."

"Zuo Xuan is the hall master of the Third Halls?"

Li Qiao looked towards the Zuo siblings a few meters away; he was also wearing the Third Halls’ training attire, and these people had appeared before during Yun Ling’s attack on South Sea Mountain.

However, what Shang Yu said next made her slightly surprised, "The hall master of the Third Halls is Zuo Tang."

Li Qiao raised her eyebrows and looked into the man’s eyes, her peripheral vision drifting towards Zuo Tang’s missing left leg.

The man held her hand and toyed with her fingers, his deep gaze locked onto Li Qiao’s steady eyes, "She has been the hall master for three years, despite the accident. Up to now, no one from the Third Halls has challenged her, so her position remains. As for Zuo Xuan, he helps me manage the entire Secret Hall as my deputy."

So that was how it was.

But Li Qiao caught onto another key point, "Was it the accident that happened three years ago?"

"Yeah," Shang Yu responded deeply, a dark chill passing through his eyes.

Li Qiao pursed her lips as if suddenly understanding.

Being a branch hall master of the Secret Hall, her ability was evident.

And having lost a leg, being taken in as an adopted daughter by Shang’s was a form of compensation.

But no one from the Third Halls challenged her, probably due to the pride of those underlings.

For a man to defeat a female hall master with a physical disability was not exactly something to be proud of.

Li Qiao and Shang Yu stayed in the training ground’s rest area for a while when a research team member approached via the nearby escalator.

The person whispered a few words in Zuo Xuan’s ear, prompting Zuo Xuan to frown and stride over, "Hall master, there seems to be a problem with the research team downstairs; you might need to go take a look."

The man’s thin lips pursed slightly as he stood up, knee propped up, still holding Li Qiao’s hand. In a deep voice, he asked, "Will you come with me, or wait here for me?"

Li Qiao tilted her head back to look at him and after a moment’s thought, she shook her head, "This scenery is quite nice. I’ll sit for a while; you go ahead."

"Hmm," Shang Yu let go of her hand, as he casually stroked her cheek, "If anything comes up, just instruct Zuo Tang."

Li Qiao smiled, urging him on, but caught a glimpse of Zuo Tang watching them with a smiling gaze.

As Shang Yu, together with Zuo Xuan and the scientific researcher, moved down the escalator and away from the training ground, Zuo Xuan stepped down another stair, pondering before he asked, "Master, will Miss Li participate in the assessment today?"

Shang Yu, with one hand in his pocket, stood tall on the escalator, his profound and cool eyes looking ahead as he dropped a single word, "No."

Zuo Xuan nodded thoughtfully, then probed with ambiguous meaning, "Recently, the other three masters of the Third Halls are not around. If Miss Li does participate in the assessment, do I need to give them a heads-up in advance?"

Upon hearing this, the man slowly looked at Zuo Xuan, his indifferent gaze seemingly laden with deep meaning, "No need. Let them give it their all because anyway..."

He paused for a second, the thin lips lifting in a faint smile, "they are no match for her."

Zuo Xuan, who had been mulling over giving Li Qiao a backdoor advantage: "..."

It wasn’t that he looked down on Miss Li; it’s just that to date, no one from the four divisions of the Secret Hall had passed all the assessments.

For instance, Master Qiu and Young Master Ou, both failed to pass even the simplest informational exchange operation assessment of the first hall.

...

Meanwhile, after Shang Yu left, Zuo Tang maneuvered herself near Li Qiao using the wheelchair joystick.

She appeared quite curious about Li Qiao. Although they did not communicate, her eyes always landed on her, if somewhat distractedly.

The training ground at the mountaintop was open and vast, with the breeze carrying the scent of grass from the woods blowing gently, dispersing the heat and adding a refreshing comfort.

It was when Zuo Tang sneakily glanced at her for the third time that Li Qiao finally turned her head to meet her eyes, "Have you had your fill of looking, Miss Zuo?"

Although Zuo Tang’s scrutiny held no malice, that unignorable gaze once again made Li Qiao feel like an exhibit monkey.

Zuo Tang’s gaze faltered, her face with a thread of a warm smile slowly dropped, "I apologize, Miss Li, It was presumptuous of me."

Li Qiao curled the corner of her lips and turned her attention back to the training ground, "Are you very curious about me?"

"Yes, I don’t think there’s anyone in the Secret Hall who isn’t curious about you." Zuo Tang raised her head, looking into Li Qiao’s delicate eyes, her voice warm as she added, "The matter of you going into South Sea Mountain alone to save the Master has been the talk of the Secret Hall for a while, and everyone speaks highly of you."

Li Qiao glanced at her sideways, her forthright demeanor appearing quite sincere, "It was nothing."

Zuo Tang smiled gently, "Miss Li is too modest. The situation that night, no one else could have gone into the mountain so single-mindedly to save someone. I couldn’t have done it either."

Li Qiao raised an eyebrow, noticing her slowly caressing the stump of her left leg, then shifted the topic, "Aren’t you wearing a prosthetic?"

Though her entire leg was gone, there was still a stump left, which should make it possible to wear a prosthetic.

Zuo Tang looked at herself with a soft gaze, "I do wear one, but it rained a few days ago. The wound stings during damp weather, and the friction with the prosthetic becomes uncomfortable, so I took it off."

The conversation between the two halted there, with neither speaking further.

It wasn’t long before Shang Yu returned, and upon his arrival, Zuo Tang moved her wheelchair to once again wait a few meters away in silence.

From beginning to end, she was like an outsider, never overstepping, never acting rudely, like a spring breeze leaving no trace.