The Favored Heiress
Chapter 674: The Files of That Year

Chapter 674: Chapter 674: The Files of That Year

That night, Li Qiao finished her bath and returned to the bedroom, picking up her phone from beside the bed only to see a missed call notification.

Just as she was about to call back, the other party called again.

Li Qiao slid to answer, and Gu Chenn’s lazy voice came through, "Busy?"

"What’s up?"

Standing on a street corner in Britain, Gu Chenn looked around and chuckled, "You wouldn’t believe it, but Charlman City’s management is strict. It took me two days just to get in."

Li Qiao raked her wet hair, "And then?"

"If nothing goes wrong, I’ll go straight to the Ducal Residence with a lawyer this afternoon. I’ve heard that outsiders are searched upon entering, so it’s likely that even my phone won’t be usable. Wait for my message."

Kicking off her slippers, Li Qiao sat cross-legged on the bed and squinted her eyes, "Be careful with everything."

Gu Chenn curled his lip, "I’m not an invalid, hanging up!"

Li Qiao: "..."

She’s quite confident indeed.

...

The next day, Li Qiao and Shang Yu set off for the Parma Literary Garden.

Today, this area has been listed as a symbol of Parma Culture, reflecting the city’s historical and cultural heritage everywhere, also showing how profound was the influence of the Mu Family back then.

The Cultural Garden has become a sightseeing spot, and there are even many drama troupes shooting scenes here.

At half past nine in the morning, the person in charge was already waiting in the parking lot.

He had never met Shang Yu, but he recognized Luoyu.

In the whole of Parma, the only person who could make Luoyu so deferential was that figure.

The person in charge hurried forward, nodding and bending slightly, "Master Yan, I am the person in charge of the garden area. You can just call me Xiao Cheng."

This person in charge, who was over forty, was being overly polite.

The group walked through the cultural and art gallery, with old items displayed in the showcases on both sides.

Li Qiao, walking among them, keenly observed everything around her.

After renovation and reconstruction, no traces of the Mu Family could be seen in the Cultural Garden anymore.

One could vaguely feel that the area covered at least over five thousand square meters, comparable to a small neighborhood.

The person in charge walked ahead, explaining the structure of the Cultural Garden, and when passing through a section of old western-style buildings, Li Qiao looked at the mottled walls and fences preserved as they were and asked softly, "Is this area not open for visitors?"

"Uh..." The person in charge hesitated for a second, then immediately put on a smile and said, "The building has been around for many years, and also..."

Before he could finish, Shang Yu spoke indifferently, "Open it."

The person in charge: "..."

Seeing his hesitation, Luoyu glanced at him, "Do you need Chief Ning to personally give you the order?"

The person in charge immediately nodded, "Please wait a moment, I’ll go get the keys."

He turned and hurried around the corner, starting to make a phone call to report the situation.

Li Qiao looked at the residential building in front of her, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, "Seems like... someone doesn’t want us to visit."

This part of the Cultural Garden was the only place that retained the original living traces of the Mu Family.

Li Qiao didn’t have much desire to probe; she was purely curious.

At that moment, Luoyu’s phone in her pocket rang, and she stepped aside to answer it. After a brief conversation, she returned and said, "That person in charge made a call soon after leaving, it seems he was asking for instructions from someone."

Shang Yu, with his arm around Li Qiao’s shoulder, lifted the corners of his lips with a chilly curve, "Check it."

The wait wasn’t long, but it did exceed five minutes.

Li Qiao, bored, twirled her toe on the ground, surveying the area, "Are the others nearby?"

Lately, Shang Yu went out only with Luoyu by his side.

It was a departure from his usual style.

Though Parma was arguably safer than the South Sea, Shang Lu still had to be wary of the Shang’s collateral branches.

Hearing her, Shang Yu lowered his eyes to look at her. His pupils, reflecting the sunlight, were deep and distant, "Mhm, convenient."

Li Qiao curled her lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

A few minutes later, the person in charge returned the way he came.

He was carrying several sets of keys, nodded a greeting, and then went ahead to unlock the large gate of the enclosure, inviting them in.

The sights inside the mansion left Li Qiao quite disappointed.

Apart from the full-bodied sense of an era in its decorative style, there was... nothing else.

The furniture, tables, chairs, paintings on the walls—all had been removed, leaving the building standing like an empty shell in the Cultural Garden.

Looking down the corridor, the desolation was even more pronounced.

Li Qiao lost interest immediately, lazily walking a few steps before not bothering to explore further.

The person in charge kept rattling on about other sections of the Cultural Garden, but Li Qiao, already hooking her arm into Shang Yu’s, gestured towards the outside of the building, "Let’s go to the next place."

The Cultural Garden wasn’t worth the visit.

After so many years, there wouldn’t be any clues left.

...

It took only half an hour for Li Qiao and Shang Yu to leave the Cultural Garden, the person in charge standing behind them watching until finally, he sighed like one spared from death.

Once in the car, Li Qiao looked back once again, "Has this land been confiscated?"

The Mu Family had been annihilated, and their former residence had become the Cultural Garden, so confiscation wasn’t surprising.

Luoyu, looking in the rear-view mirror, saw that Shang Yu had no intention of speaking and so ventured cautiously in a lower voice, "Currently, the land belongs to the Ming family."

Li Qiao’s eyelids flickered for a moment, and through the mirror, she caught Luoyu nodding slightly, a faint surprise in his eyes.

So it belonged to Ming Dailan’s family.

No wonder the retired Ming family heir could still afford to buy expensive antiques from antique shops. It seemed that this family of cobblers was also a hidden wealthy clan.

The parcel of the Cultural Garden alone could bring in a rental fee hefty enough for them to make a killing every year.

Li Qiao turned to Shang Yu, who spoke little, "Do you still have dealings with the Ming family?"

The man curved his lips, rubbing the top of her head, "No."

As far as he remembered, the Ming family and the Shang’s had very little to do with each other.

Even during his youth, he had visited the Ming family’s home, but the so-called grandparents on his mother’s side were always cold towards him and Shang Lu.

Over time, the two families became more distant, until eventually, they completely lost contact.

At this moment, Li Qiao stared incessantly at Shang Yu, her fingers threading through his as they tightly clasped together, "When did you look into the Cultural Garden matter?"

"Before coming to Parma," the man replied, looking down at their interlocked palms, his thumb caressing the back of her hand, "You can take a closer look at the Mu Family’s annihilation case files later. There might be something to discover."

Li Qiao’s eyebrows slightly raised, inadvertently tightening her grip on his fingers, "Okay."

Even though he clearly expressed his wish for her not to get involved with the Mu Family’s past, he still did everything he could.

It was not easy to retrieve archives from several decades ago.

An hour later, Li Qiao sat in the archive room at Parma Police Department Headquarters, flipping through the age-old files in her hand, feeling for the first time a wave of helplessness.

The case file on the annihilation was very thin, not even ten pages thick.

Apart from a few gruesome photos of the crime scene, the rest was all handwritten notes.

The final investigation result was still unresolved to this day.

It had become a cold case, and the statute of limitations had already passed. Unless evidence of the perpetrator’s crime was found, it was difficult to reopen the investigation.