The Favored Heiress
Chapter 551: Is It Necessary to Be So Clingy?

Chapter 551: Chapter 551: Is It Necessary to Be So Clingy?

Zhui Feng...

It’s been a long time since she heard that name; she thought Shang Yu would just leave him in Parma to fend for himself.

The man ended the call, his thin lips pressed together, his gaze sharp and piercing.

Li Qiao looped her finger through his, and asked casually, "Is the issue with Parma resolved?"

"Yeah, almost," Shang Yu said as he poured her a cup of tea, "Are you going to Cloud City tomorrow?"

Li Qiao hummed a confirmation, "I’m going to see Xia Lao Wu, should be back by evening."

Without waiting for the man to respond, she inquired, "Are you free?"

Shang Yu’s brows rose slightly, his dark eyes locked onto Li Qiao as if analyzing the meaning behind her question.

Li Qiao scratched at the wisps of hair by her temple, returning his gaze with an open face, "Cloud City is quite close to Suhang Longhuai."

The Suhang Longhuai area in golden autumn, I’ve heard, has quite a unique scenery.

At that moment, Shang Yu’s gaze trembled slightly, radiating an intense, burning heat, "Want to take a break?"

"No," Li Qiao denied promptly, her fingers weaving through his, interlocking them, "It doesn’t matter whether I need to ease my mind or not, I just want you to accompany me."

After speaking, she looked unwaveringly at Shang Yu as if waiting for his answer.

The thought of going on a trip was just a whim.

Since returning from British Imperial, they had shouldered too much; their emotions were too heavy. Taking a trip to the mountains and waters might be a good way to release.

And her initiative to ask for his company might give him a sense of being needed and depended upon.

Sure enough, right after Li Qiao spoke, Shang Yu brought her hand to his lips for a kiss, his eyes filled with a deep smile, "Alright, I’ll arrange the itinerary; we’ll go together."

He had always been responsive to her requests.

...

That evening, when Yun Lih received a call from Li Qiao, her statement almost made him curse out loud.

He got up with his phone and left the noisy bar to an outdoor smoking area, lit a cigarette, and chuckled sarcastically, "Is Shang Shaoyan so free these days? You go to Cloud City, and he goes too?"

What’s the problem, does he need to stick so close?

Then, Li Qiao’s indifferent voice came through the phone, "I asked him to accompany me."

Yun Lih’s gaze stalled, and he blurted out, "Isn’t my company enough for you?"

No sooner had he said it than he realized the ambiguity of his words.

And in the receiver, Li Qiao’s brief silence made Yun Lih somewhat restless and frustrated.

He took a fierce drag of the cigarette, looking up at the dark night sky, "Fine, if he is going with you, I won’t. I still have some unfinished business in the South Sea anyway. You guys go and come back early."

"Yun Lih." Li Qiao suddenly called his name softly, "Was it you who woke Xiaxia up that time?"

Yun Lih licked his lips and glanced down at the cigarette in his hand, "Her injuries weren’t severe to begin with; even without me, she would have woken up."

"Okay, hanging up."

After the call ended, Yun Lih stared at his phone’s dim screen; his eyes were cold, devoid of any warmth.

He knew Li Qiao too well; that untimely remark must have given her a hint of something.

That’s why she would mention Xia Lao Wu, as if to remind him of something.

But he couldn’t, the human heart is too small, once filled by one person, it has no room for anyone else.

If it wasn’t Li Qiao, he would rather spend his life alone.

...

Meanwhile, Li Qiao leaned on the recliner in the master bedroom of the mansion, a floor lamp turned on casting a gentle, warm light in the room, its soft yellow glow on her cheeks creating a somewhat dreamlike haze.

Her fingers brushed over the screen, her gaze drifting off into the night sky as a light sigh escaped her lips, carrying a tinge of melancholy.

Yun Lih and Xiaxia’s affair was beyond Li Qiao’s help.

One had a heart as firm as iron; the other was addicted to a secret love.

Even though she had created opportunities time and after time, it seemed nothing could change.

Shang Yu appeared behind her at some point, wearing a black satin pajama set, exposing a patch of well-defined chest, casually leaning on the back of a chair with one hand, and leaning down, "Why the heavy sighs?"

Li Qiao looked up to see his open collar, and her gaze moved upward to his handsome face, which was moist from a shower.

The man had just bathed, and the damp hair on his forehead hung softly, losing the usual severity, replaced with a homely softness.

Li Qiao’s gaze flickered as she tugged at the corner of her lips, pulling him to sit down, "What do you think of Yun Lih and Elder Xia?"

Without much thought, Shang Yu pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes, "They’re not suitable."

Li Qiao raised an eyebrow, "Reason?"

The man’s gaze swept over her with a smile, his finger lightly grazing her nose tip, "You can’t sleep because you’re thinking about those two?"

"Not really, just feeling... a bit regretful."

The deep gaze of Shang Yu concentrated for a moment, then he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace, his husky yet attractive voice suggesting, "Instead of making wild guesses here, why not do something else?"

"I wasn’t..." making wild guesses.

Regardless, Li Qiao didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence, as it was barely past nine-thirty, and the long night stretched ahead.

...

The next day, at ten in the morning, the private jet arrived at Cloud City International Airport.

Cloud City, seated in the Jiangnan region, enjoyed an especially comfortable temperature in September.

After deboarding the plane, Li Qiao and company were greeted by two Mercedes-Benz vans waiting nearby.

Half an hour later, they reached Cloud City Hospital.

As Li Qiao walked into the hospital building, Luoyu followed with a basket of fruit in hand.

In the hospital room, Xia Siyu was biting an apple, one leg propped up. Though her head was wrapped in gauze, her complexion was far better than before.

Upon hearing the knock, an attendant hurried to open the door.

Seeing who it was, Xia Siyu’s eyebrows lifted in a smile, "Oh, you’ve arrived."

Li Qiao took the fruit basket from Luoyu, asked her and the attendant to wait outside, and strolled into the room, surveying Xia Siyu, "You’re alright?"

Xia Siyu tossed the half-eaten apple onto the bedside table and sat cross-legged on the bed, "What could be wrong? Just a knocked head, a minor injury, not worth mentioning."

Li Qiao perched on a wheeling chair, leaning back with her legs propped up, "Is there anything you want to ask?"

At that, Xia Siyu frowned slightly and looked at her, leaning on the mattress, and got straight to the point, "Why hasn’t he contacted us?"

"Differing positions," replied Li Qiao, using the same words Xiao Yehui had once said herself—it was also the truth.

Xia Siyu, capable of being one of the Border Seven Sons, was certainly not a brainless fool.

Her lips moved several times, attempting to articulate a full sentence, but to no avail.

Touching the bandage on her forehead, Xia Siyu lowered her head, and after a long while, she let out a light chuckle, "Does it mean what I think it means?"

Li Qiao’s gaze was serene as she simply responded, "Mhm."

"My dear..." Xia Siyu turned her head slowly, her eyes extremely complex, "Do you think I’ve really hurt my brain, or else why would I suddenly feel like there’s more to this car accident?"

At this point, further probing was unnecessary as the implication was clear to everyone.

Li Qiao slowly lowered her eyelashes and said nothing, yet it conveyed more than a thousand words could.

Xia Siyu just looked at her, not knowing how much time had passed until she suddenly laughed, hugging her knees.

She thought the sunlight must be too dazzling today; otherwise, why would her eyes feel so sore?