Chapter 57

I reflexively raised my hand to touch my cheek, and it felt warm to the touch. Where was it burning?

As Qiao Yu was wondering, the other person chuckled softly, gently placing a finger on her chest and slowly tracing its path. A strange and unfamiliar emotion slowly rose within her. The wild rose scent emanating from the woman was quite pleasant, lingering faintly in her nostrils as she approached, impossible to shake off.

Her nose, filled with a strong pheromone, also seemed to carry a faint sandalwood scent, delicate and subtle, almost like an illusion. By the time she tried to smell it more closely, it had already vanished.

Feeling a tickle on her chest from Lu Shangyi's fingers, Qiao Yu quickly grabbed the restless fingers and denied it with a stiff neck, "No way." Swallowing hard, Qiao Yu turned her face away, revealing her fair and delicate ear to Lu Shangyi, "Sister, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Holding the magazine in one hand, the slightest movement of his eyes would bring the image of a sizzling woman into view, which, combined with the current atmosphere, was quite exciting.

She swallowed again and quickly looked away; if she looked any longer, her face would really burn.

Lu Shangyi watched her lie quietly, without moving aside. She pulled her finger away from Qiao Yu's grasp and gently tapped the magazine in Qiao Yu's arms. "Probably." Changing the subject, she added, "When do you plan to find the article for me?"

To help her turn the pages more easily, Lu Shangyi pulled her onto a chair with one hand and said, "Look for it here."

The other person seemed determined to find it, leaving Qiao Yu on the verge of tears. She flipped through the pages extremely slowly, like a snail. Lu Shangyi wasn't in a hurry, calmly observing her every move.

Qiao Yu felt a chill run down her spine and could only read through the headlines one by one with utmost care. After about ten minutes, as she was nearing the end, Qiao Yu's eyes suddenly lit up, and she pointed to a headline and looked up excitedly, "Here! Here!"

Who would have thought that there would actually be financial management articles in this kind of thing?

She raised her pair of bright, sparkling eyes, as clear as stars. Her eyelashes drooped down in a flash. Lu Shangyi's gaze swept over the title and then over the text. It was completely off-topic; the article was simply about the romantic escapades of a playboy.

Without upsetting the child, Lu Shangyi slowly put the magazine away, saying, "Study hard, and don't do it again."

She narrowed her eyes, "If I catch you looking at this kind of thing again..."

Qiao Yu quickly shook her head, "No, no, I love learning. Learning makes me happy. If I don't study for a day, I feel so uncomfortable that I feel like I'm going to die."

Lu Shangyi: "..." Heh.

After taking the magazine and leaving, Lu Shangyi sat at her desk, casually flipped through a couple of pages, and then tossed it into the trash can next to her without any expression.

Qiao Yu breathed a long sigh of relief. After this incident, she dared not pick up any books from Lu Shangyi's lounge anymore. She obediently picked up her review materials and studied for a long time. Qiao Yu suddenly longed for the college entrance examination to arrive quickly. Unfortunately, she still had to continue studying under Lu Shangyi's supervision until he got off work.

Whether her mother had really asked Lu Shangyi for help or not, Lu Shangyi would pick her up in his car every morning and take her to the company together. Then he would lock her up in the office all day, not even allowing her to step out of the office for meals.

Bored, Qiao Yu fidgeted with her chopsticks, feeling restless.

Just then, the EGA group chat started discussing where to have a party tomorrow, and Qiao Yu was itching to join in.

However, Lu Shangyi was also in the group chat, and she could immediately sense any movement from her. After suppressing her impulse to watch them chat for a while, someone finally remembered her, the old group admin, "Huh? Why haven't we seen Yuyu these past few days?"

"It seems so. We haven't seen her since her relationship with Song Wanzi was exposed."

"Oh dear? Could it be that she's been imprisoned and lavishly loved by an alpha while being kept in a gilded cage?!"

“This… Song Wanzi shouldn’t be that kind of alpha, right? She’s a public figure, and doing this won’t do her any good. She doesn’t need to ruin her reputation like this.”

"So which alpha is holding her captive now?"

Qiao Yu thought to herself that it wasn't an alpha who locked her up. Who said that only alphas were dangerous in this world? Not every ega is gentle and harmless, okay?

She was engrossed in what she was watching when a cool voice suddenly sounded behind her, "What are you looking at?"

Qiao Yu shuddered on the spot, quickly put down her phone and obediently started eating. She shoveled a mouthful of food into her mouth and mumbled, "I didn't look at anything, I just looked up some information online." She tried her best to look innocent, and Lu Shangyi raised an eyebrow and curled his lips into a half-smile.

The woman leaned closer, a smile in her eyes, "That would be best."

After saying that, Lu Shangyi rubbed her head and said, "Eat quickly, and then continue reading."

These past few days, Qiao Yu has spent almost every waking moment with Lu Shangyi. The longer she spends with him intimately, the more she understands his temperament. Beneath his delicate appearance lies a subtle but undeniable strength; no matter how much you plead, it's useless. Qiao Yu couldn't help but secretly feel sorry for Lu Shangyi's future alpha.

Anyway, she would be able to break free from Lu Shangyi's control after graduating from high school, but Lu Shangyi's future partners would be different.

I'm afraid I'll be under Lu Shangyi's complete control for the rest of my life.

After making the comparison in her mind, Qiao Yu immediately felt at ease and no longer felt that being controlled by Lu Shangyi every day was so bad. After all, her suffering was only temporary, while others' suffering lasted a lifetime. Compared to that, she was simply incredibly lucky, like luck had opened the door for her.

Tonight, Lu Shangyi is flying to a neighboring city for a meeting, which means Qiao Yu will finally no longer have to live under her nose.

Although she was incredibly excited inside, Qiao Yu didn't show it on her face. She respectfully saw Lu Shangyi into the car, and then stared at the woman with reluctance. "Sister Lu, how many days are you going to be gone?" she asked, putting on a dramatic performance. "If you're gone for too long, I'll miss you terribly."

Lu Shangyi looked up and smiled, "Then I won't go."

As she was about to get out of the car, Qiao Yu was startled and quickly reached out to stop her. "How can you do that?" she said righteously. "Of course, work is more important."

Lu Shangyi sat back down, his deep eyes fixed on her without blinking, until the driver coughed, reminding Lu Shangyi that time was running out. Only then did Lu Shangyi slowly roll up the car window and softly urge her, "Study hard."

“Of course,” she replied obediently.

A minute later, the car Lu Shangyi was in had already disappeared from sight, and Qiao Yu still felt a little unreal. Just as she was about to leave, carrying her bag, a girl behind her called out in surprise, "Miss Qiao?"

Qiao Yu turned around and saw Mu Siyan walking over in small steps. "Miss Qiao, it really is you."

She looked the girl up and down, then asked softly, "Miss Qiao, are you also here to look for someone?"

"No, no," Qiao Yu quickly denied. "I was just passing by."

She didn't want to have anything to do with anyone here anymore, so she smiled at the other person and was about to leave when the other person stepped forward and stopped her. "Miss Qiao, Jiang Mei, she..." Mu Siyan's ears turned a little red and her voice became even softer, "Is she at the company now?"

"That's right, she's come to the right person!" Qiao Yu immediately perked up. "Yes." After thinking for a moment, she added, "But she seems to have come down in the elevator just now. You can ask the front desk."

Qiao Yu had already told her everything she knew and really didn't know anything more. She thought Mu Siyan would stop there, but to her surprise, the other party continued to pester her, speaking softly: "I heard that you and she are very good friends."

Her eyelashes fluttered twice, and Mu Siyan unconsciously clenched her fists. "Back when you were in the same school, you were always inseparable, weren't you?"

Sensing the probing intent in Mu Siyan's words, Qiao Yu narrowed her eyes. In the book, Mu Siyan was gentle, kind, and sincere; she only silently loved the female lead and never pushed her. Therefore, Qiao Yu had initially felt quite fond of her.

Perhaps sensing the meaning behind Qiao Yu's silence, Mu Siyan slowly loosened her fingers. "Miss Qiao, please don't misunderstand. I was just a little curious."

She stepped aside, saying, "Sorry to have taken up your time."

Qiao Yu gave her a deep look, then left.

Mu Siyan stared at her back and gently gritted her teeth, feeling a little conflicted, but that last bit of struggle quickly turned into a trace of resentment.

After staring at her for a while, Mu Siyan took a deep breath, concealing her emotions. Just as she was about to turn around and go inside to find Jiang Mei, she saw the other woman hurrying out. Mu Siyan's eyes lit up, and she quickly ran over, "Are you done with your work...?"

Before she could finish her question, Jiang Mei interrupted her, "Have you seen Yu Yu?"

She stood ramrod straight in the snow, her beautiful eyes darting around anxiously, searching for the other person. From the moment she arrived until now, she hadn't even spared a glance for him. Mu Siyan slowly lowered her eyes and heard herself say in a very low voice, "No, I just arrived too."

The people around her immediately fell silent. Mu Siyan couldn't help but look up and ask, "Are you free tonight? I'd like to invite you to the restaurant we discussed last time."

Without any hesitation, the other party immediately replied, "No time."

Her indifferent tone betrayed no joy, and even carried a hint of impatience. Mu Siyan stared at her, her eyes glistening slightly. "When will you be finished tonight? I'll wait for you."

"No need." Another extremely cold response.

Jiang Mei turned around, "I haven't had any time lately."

Looking down at Mu Siyan, whose eyes were red, she couldn't help but compare: they were both EGAs, but Yu Yu didn't cry so easily to gain other people's sympathy.

However, she quickly realized that gentle yet powerful EGAs like Yu Yu were rare, and how could a delicate girl like Mu Siyan compare to her? Yu Yu was one of a kind in the world.

Jiang Mei disregarded her own feelings, causing Mu Siyan's face to pal slightly. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but Jiang Mei had already impatiently turned and strode away, as if her trip was merely to chase after a figure that had just left.

Mu Siyan stood in the snow. Passersby cast curious glances at her. She pursed her lips and felt a sense of embarrassment for the first time.

The group dinner was scheduled for today, and Qiao Yu went to great lengths to find out the address. She immediately took a taxi and rushed over, but before she could even sit down, she bumped into Ms. Qiao and Bai Yiyu, who were also there for dinner. Without hesitation, Qiao Yu quickly abandoned her EGA friends and ran towards the two of them.

She was dressed exquisitely and beautifully, like a butterfly, and arrived in front of Bai Yiyu in the blink of an eye. "Aunt Bai, what a coincidence!"

Mrs. Qiao looked at her coldly, "You've been nowhere to be seen these past few days, where have you been gallivanting off to?"

Mrs. Qiao was too busy with work to take care of her daughter. Although she had vaguely heard people say that Lu Shangyi had taken her to the company, she didn't quite believe it. Qiao Yu was so disobedient; there were very few people in the world who could control her, especially since Lu Shangyi was only an EGA at the moment.

Hearing her mother's words, Qiao Yu was very dissatisfied, "No way, I've been studying every day lately."

She pulled out a chair and sat down, her eyes shining as she stared longingly at the woman who had dressed up for the first time. "Aunt Bai, why didn't you invite me when you came out to eat? I was starving too."

She was a little thirsty as she spoke, so she blinked and asked, "Aunt Bai, could you pass me some water?"

It was dinnertime, and the shop was busy. The waiters were too busy to serve tea immediately, so Qiao Yu had to fetch it herself. However, the cup was a bit far away, so she asked Bai Yiyu for help. But when Bai Yiyu looked up, she said, "Call me Mom."

Qiao Yu paused for a moment, then stared hesitantly at the dignified woman. "Mom."

Bai Yiyu: "?"

Author's Note: Aunt Bai: This is outrageous.