The Favored Heiress
Chapter 717: Retreat in the Face of Difficulties

Chapter 717: Chapter 717: Retreat in the Face of Difficulties

"The Jing Family..." Shang Zonghai fell silent for a moment, "it’s good, after the Jing Family went bankrupt, they disappeared without a trace. Perhaps you’ll find some clues if you go take a look."

This statement had an implied meaning, or it seemed like a deliberate reminder of something.

Li Qiao leaned back in her chair with a slight smile on her lips, "Dad, I promised you that I’d investigate the truth, so don’t worry. Even if it’s not in Parma, I’ll continue to investigate the Mu Family’s affairs."

Shang Zonghai gave a few words of satisfied admonition. After hanging up the phone, he looked outside the tea room at the sky laden with dark clouds and heaved a sigh, his expression revealing a bit of helplessness.

Housekeeper Xiao, standing by his side, attempted to read his indecipherable mood and probed, "Master, what seems to be the matter?"

Shang Zonghai took off his Buddha Beads and rubbed them in his palm for a long time before letting out a wry chuckle, "A bold strategic retreat, it really caught people off guard."

"This..." Housekeeper Xiao didn’t understand.

Shang Zonghai glanced at him, shook his head, and sighed, "I thought she had chosen to seek revenge for the Mu Family, but looking back now... this girl is just trying to fulfill my wish to get some answers."

Housekeeper Xiao picked up the teapot to refill his cup, "You’re not satisfied?"

"It’s not about that," Shang Zonghai tapped the table with his finger, "it’s just that she is too rational, choosing to leave Parma at this point in time, something even I hadn’t anticipated."

Housekeeper Xiao pondered for a few seconds, "Haven’t you always said that no matter what she chooses, you would support her?"

Shang Zonghai lifted his teacup and blew on the hot steam, "I say that, but her appearance has already disrupted Parma’s situation, and she retreated from the battlefield without making a sound. What would you feel if you were me?"

Housekeeper Xiao thought deeply for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "Her heart is not set on the Mu Family?"

Shang Zonghai didn’t speak, his gaze solemnly lowered, hoping this was just a false facade she had crafted, rather than... where her heart truly lay.

Indeed, the sudden departure of Li Qiao and Shang Yu from Parma caught many by surprise.

The joint declaration by the Tribal Chief’s Council had conferred upon them unmatched honor.

At a moment when they should be reveling in the honor, they left with elegance.

Some speculated in secret, was their real purpose of returning, merely to purge the Shang Family Elders’ Hall?

At ten o’clock in the morning, a plane took off from Parma International Airport, bound for the South Sea.

Before long, another small business jet gradually ascended.

...

Noon timezone domestic, the small business jet landed at an airport on the outskirts of Yancheng City.

At the end of October, in late autumn, the temperature was slightly low.

Dressed in a dark long overcoat, Li Qiao slowly descended the airstair.

A black off-road vehicle was parked not far away, with Ah Chang waiting by the door, and he hurried forward upon seeing her, "Miss Qi, Jing Yifeng is in Tongliang County under Yancheng City’s jurisdiction, we can confirm he is indeed a person from the Jing Family of the past."

Li Qiao looked down at the ground, "Have you found out who leaked the information?"

Ah Chang shook his head solemnly, "The source of the information is very tricky. I tracked the online route of the source, and in the end..."

He paused, then spoke clearly, "The message seems to have come from the border."

Li Qiao’s eyelids suddenly lifted, her tone slow, "The border?"

Ah Chang answered seriously, "It cannot be wrong."

Li Qiao narrowed her eyes slightly, and her gaze turned frosty.

How could someone at the border know she was looking for the whereabouts of the Jing Family’s people?

And ’kindly’ relayed it to Ah Chang...

The original information about the Jing Family was provided to her by Uncle Shen from the Sixth Bureau, and she indeed had Ah Chang follow up on it later, but outsiders had no idea.

Li Qiao remained silent for a little too long. Ah Chang looked around, stepped forward, and whispered, "Before coming here, I investigated. Tongliang County has a permanent population of less than one hundred thousand. Jing Yifeng has always lived here, and many people call him Uncle Scar."

"Let’s go over and take a look."

...

The journey from the airport on the outskirts of Yancheng City to Tongliang County was over two hundred kilometers, taking roughly three hours.

Li Qiao let down the passenger seat and closed her eyes to rest.

If the person in Tongliang County was really Jing Yifeng, then who was secretly helping her?

If it wasn’t, what was their purpose in luring her to Tongliang County?

With such questions, at half-past two in the afternoon, the SUV entered the not-so-spacious roads of Tongliang County.

As Ah Chang had said, it was a small county town with a permanent population of less than a hundred thousand, where the tallest residential buildings did not exceed six floors, exuding simplicity and tranquility everywhere.

Tongliang County was surrounded by mountains on three sides, standing like a small city nestled in the midst of golden forests.

In front of a barber shop, colorful plastic streamers fluttered in the wind. Ah Chang parked the car, took a glance at the shop of about twenty square meters, and turned his head to Li Qiao saying, "This is the place."

Li Qiao looked through the car window at the old shop front and could vaguely see someone sitting on a sofa under the window.

She opened the door and got out, with Ah Chang following closely behind.

Opening the peeling wooden door, the shop was filled with the smell of shampoo.

Seeing customers, the middle-aged man reading a newspaper on the sofa stood up with a limp. His voice was abnormally hoarse, "A haircut?"

Li Qiao stood still and lifted her head, her calm gaze subtly fell on his neck that was covered in burn scars.

He was over fifty, hunched-back, with a limp, and slightly long hair that was almost completely white, appearing rather unkempt.

She stared straight at the man, whose eyes revealed astonishment, "Hello."

The middle-aged man’s eyes flickered, and within just three seconds they returned to calm, like a stagnant pool unable to ripple anymore, "Haircut or wash?"

He repeated the question, turned around with a limp and walked to an old-fashioned black shoulder chair, picking up the cape and shaking off the hair clippings.

Li Qiao gave Ah Chang a look, and he intuitively left the shop.

Within the cramped shop of twenty square meters, Li Qiao and the middle-aged man coexisted eerily and quietly, not far from each other.

Li Qiao observed his profile; scars extended from behind his ear down to beneath his collar. He must have suffered grave burns, as there was not a single unscarred patch of skin around his neck, and even his vocal cords were evidently damaged, giving him a husky voice.

The man once again shook the cape in his hand, "Are you going to get a haircut?"

Without a word, Li Qiao walked to the chair and sat down, looking through the mirror at the man behind her.

His features were still discernible, and there were scars on the side of his face, faintly revealing some familiar contours.

On the way here, she had examined Jing Yilan’s photos carefully; the middle-aged man’s abnormal behavior seemed to corroborate his identity.

Li Qiao had been seated for a while, but the man made no further move.

Their gazes met in the mirror, the middle-aged man’s fingers clutching the cape tightly, growing tenser, until he began to tremble, "Who are you..."

He struggled to utter an inquiry, with the corners of his drooping eyes reddening, staring intently at the reflection in the mirror.

Li Qiao stood up, turned around to face him, their eyes meeting, "I am Li Qiao."

The middle-aged man’s breath caught, and with a bewildered look, he mumbled with his mouth agape, "So you’re not a Mu..."

"Are you Jing Yifeng?" Li Qiao asked bluntly.

The man’s gaze wavered, "I am not, Jing Yifeng has long been dead."

Li Qiao pursed her lips and said nothing.

The middle-aged man’s throat produced another hoarse, unpleasant laugh, "Killed by his own younger sister..."