Chapter 78
Ye Yunjian answered first, "I stayed for one night." Although he tried to be as concise as possible, the pleasant and ambiguous tone was still very obvious.
Qiao Yu noticed that Song Wanzi's expression instantly softened, her eyes fixed intently on Ye Yunjian with a chilling intensity. Qiao Yu pursed her lips, trying to minimize her presence among the three people, almost wishing she could disappear on the spot.
After a long silence, Song Wanzi's gaze left Ye Yunjian and moved to Lu Shangyi. "You went too."
Lu Shangyi then turned her eyes and let out a barely perceptible "hmm" from her nose, which was her way of acknowledging it.
The moment Lu Shangyi spoke, Qiao Yu felt a bad premonition. Sure enough, the next second Song Wanzi smiled at her brightly, her beautiful face almost dazzling Qiao Yu's eyes. Song Wanzi's smile was radiant, almost irresistible, especially when her eyes, filled with tender affection, gazed intently and deeply at someone, making the other person feel as if their bones were melting.
But Qiao Yu had no time to appreciate the beauty's affectionate eyes. She was on high alert, ready to run away at the first sign of trouble.
When Song Wanzi smiled, her tone was also very gentle. She slightly curled the corners of her lips and said, "It seems I've missed it again."
She sighed softly, seemingly with regret, "What a pity."
The woman's words clearly had a hidden meaning, and Qiao Yu dared not utter a sound. She obediently stood to the side, holding her hands and remaining motionless. After a long while, Song Wanzi showed no sign of looking away, so Qiao Yu remembered to save herself and quickly changed the subject, saying, "I have to go now."
Song Wanzi squinted and glanced over, and Qiao Yu immediately straightened her back. "Young Master An said that he has been in frequent contact with my cousin recently because of a certain project, which seems to be related to the government, so I have to go back and investigate."
Mentioning An Yilin also drew Ye Yunjian and Lu Shangyi's attention. Being stared at by three alphas at the same time made Qiao Yu feel a chill run down her spine. However, in order to leave as soon as possible, she could only continue to drag An Yilin and Qiao Junhao down with her, "Such a good thing should of course be shared by everyone."
With a feigned innocent smile, Qiao Yu continued her act, "Once I've secured An Shao and the project, I'll also give some nice things to Auntie and Sister."
Lu Shangyi remained unmoved, Ye Yunjian seemed thoughtful, and Song Wanzi thought for a moment before suddenly exposing her, "You wouldn't be using getting the project as a pretext to get close to An Yilin, would you?" Her tone was already somewhat certain, "You like him that much?"
Qiao Yu was bewildered: "?" I didn't, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!
She tried to explain, but the three of them were clearly already taking it to heart and didn't seem likely to believe her explanation.
Qiao Yu hesitated, but ultimately didn't dare to explain. She could only watch as the three alphas' faces darkened with the same displeasure, their eyes filled with a dangerous glint that made one suspect they were about to join forces to grind An Yilin, that liar scumbag, to dust.
She secretly patted her chest, thinking to herself that she was lucky to have been well-behaved and honest these past few months and hadn't been fooling around with other women.
Otherwise, you won't even know how you died.
Everyone's attention was clearly focused on An Yilin, so Qiao Yu took the opportunity to find an excuse to hail a taxi and leave. Finding the taxi too slow, she simply carried the main road on her back and ran, finally reaching safety before the three men could react and confront her.
Ye Yunjian turned around and glanced at Lu Shangyi, seemingly wanting to ask something, but in the end she opened her mouth but didn't ask anything and left directly.
Song Wanzi stood beside Lu Shangyi with her arms crossed. "This An Yilin is something else." Seeing Lu Shangyi looking at her calmly, Song Wanzi smiled slightly. "Don't you think so too?"
She didn't think Lu Shangyi would easily believe a man's lies.
Lu Shangyi did not refute, but simply asked Song Wanzi, "Have you handled your own affairs?"
Upon hearing this, Song Wanzi's smile immediately faded, and her tone became flat, revealing neither joy nor anger. "It's being dealt with." Mentioning this matter clearly put Song Wanzi in a bad mood, and she had no desire to waste any more time with Lu Shangyi. "I've run into some trouble these past two days."
"But none of that is a problem."
Lu Shangyi nodded. "That's good."
The woman turned around decisively without lingering. Song Wanzi stared intently at Lu Shangyi's ramrod-straight back, her brows furrowing slightly. Although she and Lu Shangyi had known each other since childhood, she found herself increasingly unable to understand her lately.
How can an Ega have so many complicated thoughts? I bet he's even thinking about how to mess with people in his dreams at night.
Rubbing her temples, Song Wanzi felt increasingly agitated as she thought about all the mess the old man had made.
After taking a deep look at Lu Shangyi, who had bent down to sit in the back seat, Song Wanzi didn't have the energy to inquire about or guess what the other party had been planning and arranging lately. In any case, this fire would not affect her.
Lu Shenghui glanced down at his expensive watch. Ten minutes later, his assistant jogged in with a document. "Mr. Lu, all the information you asked me to find about An Yilin is here." The assistant neatly placed the document on Lu Shenghui's desk and explained simply, "An Yilin grew up abroad, and there's very little information about him in China. He only recently returned to China with his family's resources, and that's when he gradually gained fame."
The assistant glanced at Lu Shenghui's expression and continued, "In the past few days, An Yilin has been in contact with almost every prominent figure in Beijing, including Miss Lu."
Lu Shenghui continued without pausing, "And then there's more."
"And then there's President Ye, Miss Song, and Miss Qiao." The assistant paused for a moment before continuing, "But the one he's closest to is Qiao Junhao."
"I heard that it's because An Yilin's stepfather has some connections in China that he got her a government-related project. Right now, Qiao Junhao is eager to prove himself to Old Madam Qiao, so he's trying to curry favor with An Yilin and quietly snatch the project away."
After his assistant finished speaking, Lu Shenghui remained silent for a long time. Three minutes later, Lu Shenghui closed the documents in his hand, put them into the shredder next to him, and casually said, "You can go now."
The man leaned casually against the desk, his deep-set brows expressionless.
A few minutes later, Lu Shenghui picked up the phone. "Your dad's 80th birthday is in a couple of days, right? Invite someone for me..."
Lu Shenghui hung up the phone and looked up to find Jiang Mei standing quietly at the door, not uttering a sound to disturb him. After a moment's thought, he said calmly, "You'll come with me then."
Jiang Mei lowered her head, her attitude neither humble nor arrogant, her voice devoid of emotion, "Yes."
Qiao Yu rushed to the afternoon tea party with her group of girlfriends in the group chat, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that no one was following her. She had barely sat down, and before she could even warm the chair, Tang Shu leaned over and asked her shyly, "How have you been lately?"
Qiao Yu was puzzled. "Okay, very good."
Tang Shu's expression froze slightly for a moment, but she continued, unwilling to give up, "I heard that Qiao Junhao is doing very well lately." She stared at Qiao Yu probingly, finally revealing a hint of her purpose, "Aren't you worried at all?"
Qiao Yu was surprised. Even Tang Shu had heard about this?
An Yilin's actions are truly arrogant. Nodding, Qiao Yu retorted, "Why should I be in a hurry? My parents should be the ones who are worried."
Tang Shu was speechless for a moment, and it took her a long time to finally manage to say, "You are truly a blessing to your uncle and aunt."
"Thank you." After politely thanking her, Tang Shu's eyes immediately turned disdainful. Taking a sip of milk tea to moisten her throat, Qiao Yu stared at Tang Shu, who was still there. "What exactly do you want?"
Based on her clear understanding of the superficiality of their friendship, she didn't believe the other person genuinely cared about her.
Tang Shu's cheeks flushed slightly, and she looked a little awkward. "There's something I'd like to ask you." She clenched her fingers and pursed her lips, revealing a rare expression of reluctance. Qiao Yu raised an eyebrow in surprise. She'd never seen the little princess be shy in her lifetime!
After mentally preparing herself, Tang Shu closed her eyes and asked quickly, almost like a chatterbox, "It's just... how do you coax your girlfriend when she's angry? I know you have a set of coaxing techniques, so could you teach me a little of your method that can even make a dead person sound alive?"
"I don't need to learn everything, just two-tenths of your skills will be enough."
Qiao Yu looked at him with a completely bewildered expression: "???" Are you praising me or insulting me?
Qiao Yu suddenly became very unhappy and refused Tang Shu without thinking, "No way."
Tang Shu stared at her incredulously, her eyes filled with hurt. Qiao Yu felt uneasy under her gaze and quickly moved away, casually saying, "What's with all the sweet talk? Just take off your clothes and lie down in front of her; that's more effective than any sweet words."
Tang Shu frowned, her expression complex, clearly finding it hard to accept.
However, after a moment, she seemed to gradually accept this reality, and her expression changed from a furrowed brow to a thoughtful look.
Qiao Yu blinked. No way? This person actually took it seriously?! She was about to ask the other person to come up with another idea when Tang Shu bowed to her and then quickly disappeared.
Qiao Yu: "..." What a sin.
She had no time to care whether Tang Shu had seriously implemented the plan she had made up on the spot. Instead, she was sitting in the EGA group, carefully eavesdropping on all the information related to An Yilin. "I heard that Young Master An is going to Grandpa Zhao's birthday banquet in a couple of days. I wonder if he has found a female companion he likes."
After a round of teasing, the girl quickly blushed and stopped everyone from talking at once, saying, "Young Master An is so handsome and rich, he probably wouldn't even look at a girl like me."
The others immediately comforted her, "How could that be? If you really like him, a few of us sisters will go and tie him up and bring him to you right away."
"Exactly, does he dare to disagree? If he does disagree, I'll kick his skull off for you."
Qiao Yu: "..." She remembered that when she first met this group of EGAs, they were all delicate and helpless, like Lin Daiyu who could scare people to death if they spoke too loudly. How come they have become so fierce after only a few days?
The blushing girl blushed even more, looking at Qiao Yu with a flustered expression, unsure of what to do. Qiao Yu immediately straightened her back, patting her chest solemnly, "Go ahead and tie it up, I'll cover for you if anything goes wrong!"
The system's face twitched repeatedly. It felt as if its host was already on a one-way road to becoming a masochist.
He sighed with some worry. At this rate, how many bandit alphas would the host have to bring back?
Qiao Yu was unaware of the system's inner thoughts. She figured that since An Yilin was going to Old Master Zhao's birthday banquet, she definitely couldn't be absent. With so many people around, she was sure she could find a suitable opportunity to get information out of An Yilin.
After carefully planning her options, Qiao Yu was pondering who to choose as her date when An Yilin sent her an invitation: "Miss Qiao, do you have time in three days? I would like to ask you to be my date."
"May I."
Qiao Yu held her phone and thought for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry."
Undeterred, the other person initiated a few more conversations, and only after confirming that Qiao Yu would be attending did he say "See you then," before gracefully ending the conversation. Qiao Yu pondered this carefully, then sighed in approval, "No wonder he's a scumbag; the boundaries of his conversation are certainly comfortable to be around."
The system immediately perked up its ears and asked hesitantly, "Host, you're not planning to learn from this scumbag to improve yourself, are you?"
Qiao Yu paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "That's right! How come I didn't think of that?!"
System: "???" Oh no, it seems I've accidentally opened the door to a whole new world for the host...
Is it too late for it to withdraw now?
Grandpa Zhao is a very prestigious figure in Beijing. Although he has been retired for one or two decades, the Zhao family home is still bustling with visitors. Today, many people have come to celebrate his birthday. Not only have the entire Ye and Lu families come, but even Bai Yiyu's grandparents have specially returned to Beijing from their retirement town in the south.
Qiao Yu felt a little guilty staring at Lu Shangyi, who was glowing white in the crowd not far away. She subconsciously tried to slip away from Lu Shangyi's line of sight. But as soon as she turned around, An Yilin gentlemanly stopped her and said with a very eye-catching smile, "Miss Qiao, what a coincidence."
"Did you just arrive? Me too."
Qiao Yu maintained her smile and gave a curt "hmm" in response. There were too many people here, and she didn't want to get involved with An Yilin, but the other party didn't seem willing to let her go.
An Yilin's target today is Qiao Yu. Over the past few days, he has carefully investigated the capital and found that only Qiao Yu, who is a young woman who has just come of age and has little experience in love, is easy to control and manipulate. Therefore, he specially sent people to keep an eye on Qiao Yu's every move, in order to create various chance encounters and coincidences to win the heart of the young girl.
An Yilin glanced behind Qiao Yu and gave a standard gentlemanly and polite smile. "Miss Qiao seems to be all alone."
"I happen to be single too, so why don't we team up?" He quickly interrupted Qiao Yu before she could speak, "so that people won't laugh at us."
Qiao Yu smiled slightly and nodded reluctantly, "Alright then."
An Yilin kept finding topics to talk about along the way, while Qiao Yu looked around and inadvertently noticed Tang Shu's less-than-pleasant expression. She immediately turned back to An Yilin with an apologetic smile, "I saw my friend, see you later."
Although An Yilin was unwilling, she didn't dare to show too much eagerness, so she could only agree in a good-natured manner, "Okay."
Qiao Yu rushed towards Tang Shu. Before she could even speak, Tang Shu, her face ashen, complained, "What kind of terrible ideas are you coming up with? Do you know that because of you, I haven't been able to get out of bed for three whole days!"
Qiao Yu's feelings were mixed, and she couldn't help but show an envious look. Tang Shu shivered and quickly moved away from her. "I didn't expect you to like this kind of heavy taste." After a pause, she said with disdain, "You and Aunt Ye and Aunt Bai are a perfect match."
She muttered to herself, "E'e is so delicate, yet she kept me in bed for three days. If it were someone like Aunt Ye or Aunt Bai, you probably would have died young."
Qiao Yu: "???" How can you curse someone's life to their face like that?
She grabbed Tang Shu, wanting to argue with her, but Tang Shu quickly shook her off and limped away. Qiao Yu, not to be outdone, immediately chased after her. An Yilin watched the two juggling and couldn't help but smile. The Tang family's daughter wasn't bad either; she was a naive and rich little lamb.
But his joy didn't last long. He felt the temperature beside him suddenly drop, and when he turned his head, he found that it was Lu Shangyi, who was dressed in a cool and aloof manner.
An Yilin frowned and stepped aside, but the other person did not leave. Only those cold, indifferent eyes swept over her without any warmth.
Recalling the rumors he had heard yesterday, An Yilin raised his chin and looked up at the woman. "Miss Lu, I know you are interested in Yuyu, but pursuing a woman is always a matter of skill, and the capable will prevail." He confidently curled the corners of his lips. "I believe that one day Yuyu will be moved by my sincerity."
As soon as she finished speaking, An Yilin saw the woman laugh with what seemed like disdain. Then, with a superior’s indifference and coldness in her deep eyes, she said indifferently, “You won’t have that opportunity.”
Author's Note:
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