Chapter 64 This is Jealousy

With his head buzzing, Lai Shen finally understood what had happened and why none of the bodyguards who had been prepared in advance had moved. It turned out that Lai Yunjiao had replaced them all.

He never intended to play any underhanded tricks; his goal was simply to lure people onto the ship, take them to international waters, and give them a good beating. Even if Qiao Wu and Lu Xuan didn't cooperate, with so many bodyguards, there were plenty of ways to make them.

He stared intently at Lai Yunjiao, "Lai Yunjiao! You're siding with outsiders?!"

"What are you saying?" Lai Yunjiao walked over with a smile, leaning comfortably against the railing with the sea breeze. "I'm helping you, little brother."

She lightly kicked his shin with the tip of her high heel: "Father just punished you, why don't you learn your lesson? If I hadn't stopped you today, do you know how much trouble the Lu family would have gotten into if they investigated later? You're really stupid."

"you……"

How do you know each other?

Lai Shen suddenly remembered that when he went after Qiao Wu, Lai Yunjiao unusually didn't argue with him.

Did she already think of that back then?!

But how could she know what she was supposed to do!

Looking again, Lai Shen realized that Qiao Wu had completely changed, with a confident and composed demeanor and a smile in his eyes. How could Lai Shen not know that he had fallen into the trap set by these two?

He gritted his teeth: "You're not the Lu family's butler at all."

“Why not?” Qiao Wu said with a smile, “I am.”

"How could it be that Lu Yingchi and Lu Xuan treat you so specially!"

Qiao Wu raised his eyebrows: "Why is it impossible? The butler is in charge of the whole family, including them."

Lu Xuan stepped on him and said, "Who I treat differently is none of your business."

But he was also very curious about what exactly happened and how Qiao Wu got involved with the Lai family.

Lai Yunjiao felt a bit cold and was too lazy to waste words with Lai Shen, so she said to the bodyguard, "Put him here and let him cool off in the breeze."

He then looked at Qiao Wu: "Go in?"

"Um."

Once back inside the ship and seated, Lu Xuan's gaze never left Qiao Wu: "Now you know, right?"

Lai Yunjiao, who was sitting on the small sofa, heard the sound and carefully looked around between the two people.

It's no wonder Lai Shen questioned it; Qiao Wu and Lu San's way of getting along was nothing like that of a master and a housekeeper, and was even more genuine than the hypocritical family affection in their family.

She found it hard to believe that a person could change so much in such a short time.

But if it were the current Qiao Wu who said he wanted to assist the Lu family in taking power, she would find it reasonable.

So she didn't rush to speak. Instead, she took out a new glass, poured herself a glass of wine, and handed it to Qiao Wu and Lu Xuan. She then sat down and listened.

Qiao Wu was worried about Lai Shen, but she trusted Lai Yunjiao. So she took a small sip from the new cup, as if the two had successfully completed their initial collaboration.

Only after putting down the cup did she tell Lu Xuan the whole story.

Half an hour before she received the invitation, a guest arrived at her door.

It had been a long time since they last met, but Lai Yunjiao was still the same as she remembered.

Lai Yunjiao is the third daughter of the Lai family. Her father had some patriarchal ideas and never thought highly of her. Among all his children, he sent her abroad to be raised for a long time.

Lai Yunjiao is known for her outstanding achievements in the industry. Even after being sent abroad, she still managed to stand firm among the rich second-generation and become a person with a lot of influence.

Unlike others who indulge in sensual pleasures, she had already set clear goals and built her own social circle by the time she was in school. Even in the glamorous world, she was never blinded by temptations and was willing to humble herself to learn about business management in various places.

Even if she was a girl that her family didn't value, she never showed weakness in front of outsiders. Therefore, she didn't hesitate to teach people a lesson when her family's private affairs were exposed.

He is decisive and has great patience.

Qiao Wu had investigated her before she came to the port area.

Qiao Wu was not surprised that Lai Yunjiao was able to get the opportunity to return to the Hong Kong area, have a place by her father's side, and even participate in the family business.

Having endured so many years, Lai Yunjiao would not refuse the opportunity to take another step forward if given the chance.

So even if there had been unpleasantness before, she wouldn't let this opportunity pass.

Qiao Wu had no intention of interfering in other people's family struggles, nor did she ever think of deliberately trying to clear her image in other people's eyes. However, she had resources at her disposal, and Lai Yunjiao could resolve all the hidden dangers in the port area, so she didn't mind making an exchange with her.

Lai Yunjiao stood outside the door, not bothering with pleasantries, and went straight to asking, "What do you mean by 'owing a gift'?"

Qiao Wu smiled and said, "If you hadn't thought of it yet, you probably wouldn't have come looking for me."

"Would you like to come in and continue the discussion?"

Without waiting for Lai Yunjiao's reply, he turned and went into the room.

Less than three seconds later, the door behind me slammed shut.

Qiao Wu grabbed a cup: "What would you like to drink?"

"I'm not drinking anything." Lai Yunjiao sat down directly on the sofa and said frankly, "I don't think we're the kind of people who can sit down and have a nice chat."

Qiao Wu never wanted to pick up the messes from the past and take responsibility for them herself. The so-called debt of gifts was just an excuse, so she didn't insist and sat down opposite Lai Yunjiao.

"Take care of your brother," she said bluntly. "I can let you take someone else's place and develop your career on the mainland."

Lai Shen won't be able to go to the mainland in the short term, but the other two might be able to. In any case, Lai Yunjiao is not the best choice.

"You?"

Qiao Wu remained noncommittal: "You just need to answer whether you're willing or not."

"If you're so capable, why don't you deal with him yourself?"

"Why take the long way when there's the simplest and quickest way?"

Indeed, there are many ways to deal with Lai Shen, but ultimately it is still in Hong Kong. Qiao Wu needs to spend more time and energy, which will delay the progress of other things, and it will not be worth the loss.

Helping Lai Yunjiao isn't difficult, and besides, if Lai Yunjiao goes to the mainland to develop her career, it will only benefit her in the future.

She spoke casually, and even when Lai Yunjiao said she didn't want to drink anything, she leisurely drank her juice without any hurry.

Lai Yunjiao had to re-examine and scrutinize the person in front of her.

She seemed to have been reborn, exuding an air of nobility from the inside out. Her eyes, though smiling, were exceptionally powerful. No one who saw such a woman for the first time would dare to underestimate or belittle her.

Lai Yunjiao even doubted whether the person who was foolish enough to expose someone else's wounds abroad was the same person in front of her.

If her first meeting with Qiao Wu had been like this, she would definitely have reached out her hand to him.

But now she has become more suspicious.

She said calmly, "I believe that making a deal requires putting up some leverage."

Knowing she would say that, Qiao Wu wasn't in a hurry.

Instead, he took out his phone and sent a few messages, saying as he typed, "Since Lai Shen went to the mainland, you should also know who the top people on the mainland are now."

"What, are you going to say again that you and Lu Jinzhi are childhood sweethearts and a match made in heaven?"

"..." Qiao Wu was unusually embarrassed, but this time she remembered to defend herself, "He and I are just friends."

For Lai Yunjiao, both versions of the story are equally plausible.

However, since the Lu family dared to entrust the foundation to Qiao Wu, there must be some hidden reason behind it.

After all the messages he sent had received replies, Qiao Wu handed his phone screen to Lai Yunjiao.

Lai Yunjiao glanced at it, her gaze pausing slightly.

Several of the pinned posts are by members of the Lu family, including Lu Jiang, the former president of Lu Corporation, and each of them had a very recent contact with Qiao Wu.

Especially Lu Jinzhi, who still has an unread message pinned to the top of his chat list, asking if Qiao Wu has arrived yet.

Besides these, below them are Qin Lian, Qin Tianrui, and even the Zhong and Shen families.

While abroad, she often paid attention to the developments in China to plan for the future. Naturally, she knew that the Zhong family had been prominent figures in the past. She even admired Zhong Hejing. She admired all women who could stand at a high position by their own efforts.

These are some of the people who replied to Qiao Wu's messages in the last few minutes; the others are still unknown.

But... that's enough.

“I’ve only been back in China for a short time,” Qiao Wu said. “Right now, I’m just a bargaining chip.”

Lai Yunjiao handed the phone back: "Just because of that good-for-nothing Lai Shen?"

"Of course not." Qiao Wu replied to everyone who sent him messages of greeting, and then sent a message to Lu Jinzhi saying that he had arrived, before continuing, "I just don't want to deal with business partners like Lai Shen in the future, which would cause endless trouble. Besides, I would prefer you to go to the mainland rather than your other two brothers."

"You know them very well?"

Her two older brothers also had their own abilities; otherwise, she wouldn't have been left to fend for herself all this time.

“In fact, I don’t know them at all.” Qiao Wu smiled and looked up. “But people always have selfish motives. There’s always a difference between doing business with people you know and doing business with strangers.”

Humans are bound to have selfish desires.

If Qiao Wu said she had no plans of her own, Lai Yunjiao would not believe her.

She finally let go of her reservations: "I'm starting to doubt if the person I saw abroad back then was you. Aren't you going to apologize?"

"I've already given the gift I owed. As for the apology," Qiao Wu chuckled. "Didn't you suspect that person wasn't me? In any case, it's not the current me, so I won't pay for someone from the past."

“If anyone says that, I will have her thrown out of here.”

That's outrageous.

But there was something more important than throwing people away, so Lai Yunjiao took out her phone and dialed the number she had saved but never called.

Qiao Wu's phone rang within two seconds.

“My number,” Lai Yunjiao said. “I promised you, he knows you’re at the hotel, but I promise I won’t let him bother you.”

Qiao Wu saved the phone number: "Okay."

Qiao Wu's original plan was to have Lai Yunjiao deal with Lai Shen.

But she didn't expect Lai Shen to come to her so quickly, so much so that she didn't have to put in much effort to know what he wanted.

Lai Yunjiao acted swiftly, replacing everyone on the ship with her people before Lai Shen even arrived at the dock, and she remained in one of the rooms the entire time.

The reason Qiao Wu pretended to be just a lowly butler and even brought Lu Xuan along was because there was a video recorder on the ship.

It's one thing for Lai Shen to bully a butler, but if he sets his sights on the third young master of the Lu family, then there's no going back.

He has offended two of the three brothers in the Lu family, so he can forget about developing his business in mainland China in the future.

After hearing the whole story, Lu Xuan sat there, his mind blank.

He knew Qiao Wu was always smart and quick-witted, but he never expected her to have planned so far ahead.

"So after Lu Yingchi had a conflict with that bastard outside, you knew what to do?"

He reminded Jiang Yuan to leak the information to the Lai family, and also anticipated that Lai Yunjiao would find out. He stayed at the Lai family's hotel to lure Lai Yunjiao to meet him, thus completely eliminating Lai Shen and also building a network of connections for himself in the port area.

His tone was complex: "How could you..."

Qiao Wu sipped his wine: "Hmm?"

Lu Xuan swallowed the rest of his words.

He wanted to say, "How come you're just like Lu Jinzhi? Sure enough, business people are all dirty-minded!"

"How are you so amazing!" Lu Xuan grabbed her arm.

Lu Jinzhi's filth is astounding as Qiao Wu's.

Qiao Wu slapped his hand away: "Get off me."

"I didn't believe you when you said you had a good relationship with the Lu family." Seeing this, Lai Yunjiao across from her recalled how Lu Xuan was always clinging to Qiao Wu in the video, and said with great interest, "But I believe it now."

“We grew up together.” Although he was pushed away, Lu Xuan was in a great mood. He had already impressed Qiao Wu, so he answered Lai Yunjiao’s question enthusiastically, “Childhood sweethearts, you know?”

"Hmm?" Lai Yunjiao raised an eyebrow. "Isn't your childhood sweetheart Lu Jinzhi?"

Qiao Wu: "..."

Lu Xuan: "?"

"You and Lu Jinzhi get along like this too?" Lai Yunjiao asked with genuine curiosity. She couldn't imagine Lu Jinzhi being clingy. "You said you and Lu Jinzhi are the closest, so you must be even closer?"

Lu Xuan: "???"

"The best?" He turned his head and stared intently at Qiao Wu.

“You’re all the same.” Qiao Wu didn’t need to look at him to know what was causing his outburst. “You all have to quit. No one is more noble than anyone else.”

Lu Xuan didn't get seasick, but Lai Shen, who was held down on the deck the whole way back from international waters, did.

Lai Yunjiao had him lifted up: "I'll hand him over to my father. This time, I owe you a favor."

She said she would deal with the people, but in the end it was Qiao Wu who came up with the idea; she only provided the people.

But she was unwilling to give up Qiao Wu's connections, so she wrote her own IOU first.

"It's nothing," Qiao Wu said. "My brother has been filming in the port area recently, so please take care of him if it's convenient."

"Brother!" Lu Xuan corrected repeatedly, "I said call me brother!"

Qiao Wu glanced at him: "Are you still going to quit or not?"

Lu Xuan frowned: "You have to quit this too?"

It's quite difficult.

Lai Yunjiao, standing beside her, looked even more intrigued: "Are you still in the port area tomorrow? What are your plans? If you're free, I'll treat you to dinner."

"I took Lu Xuan to the film set this morning, and she has to go to an auction later," Qiao Wu said. "Before dinner?"

She had looked at some of the items at the auction and wanted to bid on a teacup for Qiao Zhiyi.

"Let's go together then." Lai Yunjiao nodded slightly. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

After everyone left, Lu Xuan got into the car.

"Are you going to an auction again?" His anticipation was barely apparent. "No need to spend so much money, always buying gifts."

Qiao Wu suppressed a laugh: "I didn't intend to buy it for you."

But if you see a suitable one, it's not impossible.

"oh."

After a few seconds, he couldn't help but ask again, "Really?"

Qiao Wu chuckled: "You're acting like an older brother today. I'll buy you a gift."

Lu Xuan's eyes lit up immediately: "Actually, it's nothing special. I've been practicing all along."

Thinking about his 100,000 yuan this month, he touched his stomach and lifted a corner of his shirt: "Does the sugar daddy want to see my abs?"

Qiao Wu suppressed his smile and turned his head away: "Fifty thousand."

"..."

Depend on!

I've been insulted again!

Qiao Wu pressed his temples, thinking that this guy had no sense of boundaries even after all these years, and could only remind him: "As an older brother, you can't just show your abs to your sister, you know?"

"But you are the sugar daddy."

Lu Xuan was displeased, "I feel like you're the one who's at a disadvantage."

“Even if I were a landlord, it wouldn’t work.” Qiao Wu pointed to herself, “I’m female, and you’re male.”

"I……"

Lu Xuan hesitated for a moment, his gaze lingering on her face for a second before he finally murmured, "I understand."

He belatedly realized what strange thing he had just done, and his ears turned bright red. Luckily, it wasn't noticeable from inside the car, so he awkwardly changed the subject: "Why didn't you do anything about that bastard today?"

"Tube?"

"Like Qin Tianrui."

Qiao Wu scoffed, "I'm not a bodhisattva."

She was tasked by Qin Lian to discipline Qin Tianrui, and later, because Qin Lian had also given her some favors, she also took charge of Guan Congyi.

As for other people, no matter how good or bad they are, what does it have to do with her?

Her target was always Lai Yunjiao, so she wouldn't even touch Lai Shen.

As for how they decide to handle it later, that's their business.

Looking at her in the darkness, Lu Xuan had a strange feeling that Qiao Wu really resembled Lu Jinzhi in many ways.

This made him particularly unhappy.

Why does a perfectly normal person have to act like a monkey?

At this time, on the mainland.

Hu Zhuo was overjoyed to receive Lai Shen's message, which meant that he still had a chance to curry favor with Lai Shen. So he tried every means to send the video to Lu Yingchi. He went through many people before he finally found a classmate of Lu Yingchi and sent the video to him.

They had no idea that Lai Shen had been dragged home like a dead dog.

In the Lu family library, Lu Yingchi yawned: "Are you done revising?"

Lu Ning kept her head down: "It'll be ready soon, just bear with it a little longer."

Lu Yingchi put his phone on silent, intending to play a couple of games, but suddenly received a photo from Ye Liang: "Brother, someone asked me to send this to you."

Lu Yingchi knew who the person on the screen was without even clicking on it.

Lu Xuan leaned intimately on Qiao Wu's shoulder, and Qiao Wu looked at him sideways without showing any annoyance or resistance.

Lu Yingchi gripped his phone tightly, his pupils suddenly dilating.

He even doubted whether his eyes were broken, so he clicked on the picture, zoomed in, and carefully observed whether the two people were really that close.

"Don't shake him." Lu Ning stopped his trembling hand. "I haven't seen clearly yet. Huh, what are Qiao Wu and Lu Xuan doing?"

Lu Yingchi retorted angrily, "I fucking want to know too!"

Qiao Wu only touched his hair!

But she allows Lu Xuan to lean against her like this?!

Why should I?!

"Why are you in such a hurry? Is it your possessiveness that's getting to you?" Lu Ning glanced at him and said nonchalantly, "Don't be so impatient. We'll get back together eventually. Being too possessive will make you disliked."

Lu Yingchi's hair practically stood on end: "I haven't claimed it yet!"

No, he has to make a phone call and question them, and tell them to keep their distance!

Just as he was about to exit full-screen mode, he suddenly noticed that there was another face in the background.

"Holy crap!"

Lu Yingchi was startled, dropping his phone to the ground and pushing the table in front of him far away. He pressed himself tightly against the edge of the table, exclaiming, "There's something dirty here!"

He said!

A library like that must be unclean!

Lu Ning knew he was afraid of ghosts, so she patted him on the back and looked around, saying, "How could that be? Before you came back, I was writing here by myself every day... Aa ...

There was someone standing behind them at some point.

He was tall and big, wearing a black suit, with a cold expression, like a sinister ghost.

Even if two people were screaming and howling in front of him, he didn't react at all.

A few seconds later, he bent down and picked up the phone from the ground. The picture on it was still so eye-catching, and he stared at it for a long time without blinking.

"Stop yelling!" Lu Ning, snapping out of her daze, pulled Lu Yingchi, who was almost crawling under the table, out of his reverie. "It's Second Uncle."

Lu Yingchi, half-souled, was pale as he exclaimed, "Damn it, Lu Jinzhi, can't you do anything right?!"

He took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart: "Give me back my phone."

In the past, Lu Jinzhi would always glance at them with his malicious eyes, but this time he simply tossed his phone over and then turned and left the library.

They came silently, and they left silently.

Lu Yingchi was a little unaccustomed to not being mocked for his empty talk.

"How rude! He didn't even say hello. I'm going to report him," Lu Yingchi said, holding his phone. "What happened to him? Did someone finally poison him and make him mute?"

Lu Ning, who saw through everything, stroked her chin and said, "He also has possessiveness."

Honestly, can't these uncles be a little more sensible like her?

As Lu Jinzhi emerged from the library, he walked slowly back to his room. The cold wind cooled his throbbing forehead slightly, but the scales in his heart continued to sway wildly.

At both ends are that precarious family bond and Qiao Wu.

The last time Qiao Wu and Lu Xuan shared a room, he didn't have such obvious emotional fluctuations; he just felt it shouldn't be like this.

But now he can't control himself.

Qiao Wu said she knew what she was doing and that we should trust her.

Lu Xuan is not Shen Yan; they are childhood friends, and their relationship should be closer than that of others.

But, but...

Back in his room, Lu Jinzhi sat on the sofa that had been rearranged.

Qiao Wu hasn't come up here since he bought it.

He couldn't sort out his thoughts; many questions had been bothering him for a long time, and he was trying to find the answers.

After staying in the dark for a few minutes, he turned on the light and took out the mirror that Qiao Wu had given him.

I gazed quietly into those familiar yet strangely unfamiliar dark eyes.

I'm not happy.

Why are you unhappy?

Because of possessiveness.

The person who was helping him quit during the day was now intimately close to someone else at night, and that person wasn't him.

Lu Jinzhi extracted a word from that unhappiness.

A psychological state of rejection and hostility towards those who are lucky.

It's called jealousy.