The Favored Heiress
Chapter 529: Miss Zong is in Trouble

Chapter 529: Chapter 529: Miss Zong is in Trouble

In the surveillance footage of the parking lot, Li Qiao easily located the positions of the Bentley cars.

From their arrival to their departure, it all took less than fifteen minutes.

And throughout the whole time, no one got out of the cars.

Li Qiao found the closest surveillance point to the Bentley cars, and half a minute later, she plunged into deep thought while watching the playback.

Should one say that the other party was too clever or too cunning? The camera had clearly captured the moment when the middle Bentley lowered its window.

But neither the angle nor the position could capture the faces of those inside the car.

As for the white glove she saw, it had appeared when someone rested their elbow on the window, with their forehead propped on their hand.

Li Qiao tapped her fingers on the desk, an idea on the verge of breaking through.

The Bentley cars, exclusively used by the Royal Family, the flag that signified status, the configuration of the six cars—it was not impossible that they belonged to the Charlman Family.

Li Qiao paused the surveillance video and zoomed in on the image, carefully examining the hand wearing the white glove—slender and straight, yet it was difficult to discern whether it belonged to a man or a woman.

However, even if a woman wore European court gloves, they shouldn’t be this kind of plain white.

While she thought about this, Li Qiao didn’t dwell on it for too long. She logged out of the surveillance system, shut down the computer, and left the study.

What’s meant to come will always find its way.

Soon after, she was flipping through medical case files in her own bedroom.

When she came across the third set of typical symptoms, Li Qiao stopped turning the pages, her gaze lifting to the thick black night outside the window, her thoughts drifting.

At that moment, the vibration of the cell phone under her pillow reached her.

Li Qiao casually took it out and slid to answer when she saw the number.

The caller didn’t need her to speak, summarizing a few details in just a few words.

In conclusion, they added, "As for information about Ming Dailan, this is all we can find for now. The rest appears to have been destroyed, and it seems that when she married Parma’s Shang Zonghai, it was not of her own free will."

Li Qiao didn’t say a word before the phone was hung up.

She set down the phone, was silent for a moment, and then got up to go to the mini-bar in her suite. She took out a bottle of brandy, poured herself half a glass, and drank it in one gulp.

Three years ago, Ming Dailan indeed visited Dian City, but no one knew what she had done there.

The information showed she only stayed in Dian City for a day before hurrying back to the British Imperial, and a month later, the eldest son of the Charlman suddenly inherited the title.

This move broke the convention that the title could only be inherited after the duke’s death and also sparked much speculation from the outside world.

There were rumors that Duke Charlman had been seriously ill and was beyond saving.

The Royal Family, valuing the Ducal Family, had tacitly permitted the duke to abdicate and his eldest son to succeed.

But in the face of suspicions about this matter, both the Charlman Family and the Royal Family remained silent.

Moreover, Ming Dailan was the second wife of Charlman, and the couple had a daughter who was now fourteen years old.

Li Qiao drank three glasses of liquor before she could digest all the information.

Although it was not comprehensive or detailed, it was enough to offer some insights.

Li Qiao sat at the mini-bar, sipping the foreign liquor in small sips, her fingertips lightly tracing circles on the table.

Suddenly, a message lit up the screen of her phone.

Li Qiao unlocked it to see a satellite overhead image of a manor in its entirety.

The manor covered an extensive area, the resolution was not particularly clear, and there was a sentence in Burmese annotated below the image: "Charlman Manor."

Li Qiao glanced at the vastness in the image which was hard to estimate, placed the phone aside, and poured herself another half glass of brandy.

She had begun to analyze calmly, considering the odds of facing the Charlman Family with the help of Shang Yu.

The Ducal Family, backed by the Royal Family, was not to be taken lightly.

...

The next day, Li Qiao still left a bodyguard for Zong Yue, and she herself went to Myst Town with another.

She had slept very late last night and had been dozing off in the car on the way from the city center to the town.

Next to her seat, the medical records that Su Moshi had given her were still there; she hadn’t left them at the hotel because she was worried that Shang Yu would see them.

By nine o’clock in the morning, the car arrived in Myst Town.

Li Qiao stepped out of the car leisurely, lifting her slightly red eyelids to look up.

A heavy fog enveloped the sky, oppressive and suffocating.

Li Qiao, rubbing her temple, walked up the path, the bodyguard closely following behind her.

Following the route in her memory, she arrived at Su Moshi’s office, where his voice could be heard on the phone through the slightly ajar door.

"Dad, how can you still be so capricious at your age?" His teasing tone was tinged with a slight displeasure.

"..."

Whatever the other person said caused a flash of sharpness in Su Moshi’s eyes, "If you still insist on relocating, don’t just talk about a strike—they might even take to the streets and protest."

"..."

"Fine, as long as you don’t change your mind again, no one will cause a fuss."

Through this brief conversation, Li Qiao started to understand.

It seemed... there had been a change in the relocation plans.

She lowered her head and slightly curved her lips, her eyes filled with amusement.

Perhaps it wasn’t his father who had changed his mind, but that unscrupulous capitalist.

Shortly after, Su Moshi hung up the phone. He raised his eyebrows and looked outside the door, teasingly said, "Aren’t you coming in, or are you waiting for me to invite you?"

Li Qiao nudged the ajar door open with the tip of her foot and walked lazily to him to take a seat, crossing her legs and arching an eyebrow, "No need to relocate?"

It wasn’t that she had intentionally eavesdropped—after all, Su Lao Si made the call without closing the door.

With a suppressed smile on his lips, Su Moshi spoke with an air of seriousness, "Your method worked. I specifically arranged for some people to spread the news yesterday afternoon, claiming that if the headquarters moved, there would be a strike.

My dad must have heard about it, too. He just called me to say that he’s not relocating and asked me to appease the emotions of the committee members."

Li Qiao pursed her lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

In the time that followed, Su Moshi took her to the research lab of a specialist in mental illness.

This was also Li Qiao’s first foray into the field of paranoid personality disorder.

Throughout the day, she soaked up all related knowledge like a sponge under pressure, trying to absorb it all.

She gradually gained a rudimentary understanding of the symptoms of the illness and methods of suppression.

Time flew by, and two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Li Qiao spent her entire day in Myst Town, even cutting down her sleep time by several hours.

Because she stayed there to exchange and learn, Shang Yu also postponed his return date.

As for Zong Yue, she spent her days playing around London Port, but after two days, she grew tired of it.

After all, even the most entertaining attractions were enough after one visit.

That evening, Li Qiao was still in the research lab, discussing with the expert Reid the periodicity of the onset of paranoid symptoms and the manifestations of the illness.

A stack of documents about half a meter high was placed on the desk.

Li Qiao casually picked up a document and began to discuss and consult with Reid in a standard British accent as she flipped through it.

With a signing pen in hand, she wrote and drew on the document. Just as she raised her third question, someone knocked on the lab door from outside.

Reid’s assistant went to open the door, and outside was Li Qiao’s bodyguard. He reported gravely, "Miss Li, something has happened to Miss Zong."