The Porsche made a U-turn and headed toward the training center's address, which it remembered. The butler got into a business MPV and instructed the driver to follow.
The training course was held at the home of a mathematics professor. The professor was senior and retired, and would select one or two students he liked to tutor each year. This was only Qiao Lele's second time participating in the tutoring, and she was not familiar with the environment.
The Qiao family's villa is in the suburbs, while the old professor's home is in the Wencheng University staff quarters in the city center, which is quite far apart.
The family compound is very lively, with a diverse mix of people coming and going.
Du Xiaoruo floored the accelerator and drove the car incredibly fast. If something happened to Qiao Lele because of her mistake, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life.
When the original owner brought Qiao Lele here in the morning, the car only went as far as the entrance of the family compound. The old professor personally picked her up and took her inside, saying that the roads inside the family compound were narrow and difficult for the car to navigate.
Therefore, Du Xiaoruo did not know which building and number the old professor lived in.
The Porsche stopped at the entrance of the family compound, just as the Qiao family's driver and housekeeper arrived.
The road was winding, and Du Xiaoruo drove like she was speeding. The MPV following her didn't dare to relax either. After a few turns, the old housekeeper turned pale and started retching as soon as he got out of the car, leaning against a tree trunk.
"Madam, it's only Mr. Qiao who's been contacting the professor. We don't have his contact information, and Xiao Le's phone is still not being answered."
The butler leaned against the tree trunk, his voice barely audible.
"Call Qiao An and ask him for the old professor's contact information." Du Xiaoruo was very anxious, but on the surface she remained calm and her tone was relatively composed.
Her words surprised the butler. In the end, it was all Du Xiaoruo's fault. He thought Du Xiaoruo would try her best to keep it from Qiao An, but she took the initiative to contact Qiao An.
The housekeeper took out his phone and dialed Qiao An's number. After three rings, the call was answered. The housekeeper put the phone on speakerphone and handed it to Du Xiaoruo.
Du Xiaoruo took two steps back. "Just ask."
"Hello?"
Qiao An's voice came through the receiver. His voice was gentle and languid, with a slight upward inflection at the end, which was very different from the cold and deep voice of the domineering CEO that Du Xiaoru had imagined.
The housekeeper briefly recounted the events over the phone.
Qiao An immediately replied, "I'm at the factory. I'll text you the professor's number. Report to me any updates."
After giving his instructions, he paused and added, "Don't rush, Xiao Le won't act recklessly."
The butler nodded repeatedly and said yes.
After hanging up on Joan, the housekeeper immediately dialed the old professor's number.
The professor's voice was slow and deliberate, which made Du Xiaoruo anxious.
The gist of it is that Qiao Lele left as soon as the tutoring time was over, and told them not to worry, as a nine-year-old child already has the ability to distinguish right from wrong.
After hanging up the professor's call, the butler asked,
"Madam, what should we do now?"
Du Xiaoruo habitually pursed her lips. Before the housekeeper even raised the question, she had already quickly come up with several solutions in her mind.
There's a well-developed commercial street nearby. If Qiao Lele hasn't encountered any accidents, there's a high chance she went there to eat, drink, and have fun.
"Housekeeper, could you call and ask Xiao Le about his friends?"
“You…” Du Xiaoruo couldn’t remember the driver’s name for a moment, so she pointed at him and said, “You come with me to the commercial street, and we’ll split up to look for him.”
In the original owner's memory, Qiao Lele was a very handsome child with big, watery eyes, long and thick eyelashes, red lips and fair skin, and a head of fluffy little curly hair. He had the appearance of a soft and cute little prince.
A child with such an appearance would stand out in a crowd. Every time Du Xiaoruo saw a curly-haired child, she would rush over to take a closer look and only leave after confirming that it wasn't Qiao Lele.
After searching for a long time in the arcade in the commercial street, Du Xiaoruo felt a little suffocated by the murky air and flickering lights, which made her even more anxious.
Fortunately, the phone rang at that moment. Du Xiaoruo took out her phone; it was the housekeeper calling.
"Madam, Huang Longyu said that Xiao Le mentioned wanting to go to the Dream Ice House for ice cream, and I'm on my way there now."
Du Xiaoruo hung up the housekeeper's call, immediately opened the map, entered "Dream Building Ice House," which was very close to her current location, less than 500 meters away.
She followed the navigation to the Dream Ice House. About 100 meters away from the ice house, she saw Qiao Lele sitting on a high stool through the floor-to-ceiling glass, swaying her curly hair and eating ice cream with gusto.
Du Xiaoruo stood at the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
Knowing that Qiao Lele was alright, it seemed that the hard shell of social anxiety in her heart had grown back, making her not even have the courage to step into the ice house.
Du Xiaoruo often feels that she has intermittent social anxiety. When she is facing something she is interested in or something she is in a hurry to do, she will temporarily forget about her social anxiety and be able to devote all her enthusiasm and energy to it.
Once this is over, she will grow a hard shell in her heart, shut herself off inside, and be afraid of seeing people and socializing.
In the real world, Du Xiaoruo is a workaholic, precisely because she can hide in her workshop and constantly level up and create desserts that give her a great sense of accomplishment. Desserts are her safe haven; she can even chat with others about desserts for hours on end.
But once she steps out of this comfort zone, she feels like she could turn into a mushroom, and her mood becomes very emo whenever she interacts with strangers.
Seeing the housekeeper and driver rush into the ice house and frantically coax Qiao Lele out, Du Xiaoruo turned and left, thinking that as long as she ran fast enough, they wouldn't be able to catch her.
Sure enough, just as the butler and his companions reached the parking lot, they saw the Porsche disappear from sight as if fleeing for its life.
The Qiao family's villa is located in the most scenic part of Wencheng, nestled against the mountains and beside the water. When Qiao An's father, Qiao Rukun, was still alive, he bought half of the mountain here and built this private villa.
The resort has its own golf course, a garden with mountains and water, and buildings consisting of a main building and two annex buildings, as well as several small courtyard houses.
The main building is now occupied by Qiao Rukun's widow, who is also the mother of Qiao Qingchuan and Qiao An. Qiao Qingchuan's family lives in the annex Jiangshan Building, and Qiao An's family lives in the annex Fengyue Building.
The names of the two annex buildings were also chosen by Qiao Rukun, taken from the ancient poem "The landscape and the moon have no permanent owner; the idle one is the master."
Du Xiaoruo drove back to the manor. It was still very hot outside, and there were not many people walking around in the garden. She drove smoothly back to Fengyue Tower.
Upon reaching the second floor, Du Xiaoruo went straight into the bedroom.
The servants noticed that she looked unwell, so they didn't approach her. It wasn't until the housekeeper and the others returned that the downstairs area became lively again.
Du Xiaoruo ate dinner in her room. The maid simply left the food cart at the door and left, which didn't cause Du Xiaoruo any discomfort.
After dinner, she prepared to take a bath to relax, but there were two more knocks on the door.
Du Xiaoruo opened the door a crack and saw the housekeeper standing outside.
"Madam, Mr. Qiao is back. Please come downstairs." In the Qiao family, everyone calls Qiao Qingchuan "President Qiao," so Qiao An naturally calls him "Young President Qiao."
Du Xiaoruo's heart, which had just been at ease, was now in suspense again. She guessed that he had forgotten to pick up Qiao Lele today.
She pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and decided to avoid seeing Qiao An for now. Du Xiaoruo had used up all her social media influence, and she didn't have any extra energy to deal with it.
"I'm not feeling well, tell him to wait until next time."
After whispering these words, Du Xiaoruo closed the door.
The housekeeper stood awkwardly outside the door, recalling that what Mr. Qiao meant just now seemed to be to tell her to come downstairs, rather than to discuss with her whether she could come downstairs.
You just rejected me like that?
In this family, she seemed to be the first person to refuse Mr. Qiao.
Du Xiaoruo pressed her ear to the door and heard the housekeeper's footsteps as he left. She felt a little relieved and didn't dare to take a bath anymore. What if someone suddenly came in while she was taking a bath?
Although the door could be locked, Du Xiaoruo still felt unsafe in someone else's home.
Fortunately, Du Xiaoruo didn't go for a bath. Just as she sat down on the sofa, there were two more knocks on the door.
This time, it was Qiao Lele standing outside the door. Du Xiaoruo's gaze followed Qiao Lele's fluffy head upwards and found that behind him stood a very tall man—Qiao An.
Du Xiaoruo's alarm bells went off.
Qiao An pushed open the door and walked straight into the room, sitting down on the sofa as if she were in her own home.
Du Xiaoruo stood at the door, not wanting to go near Qiao An.
"What are you doing?" Qiao An crossed his long legs, which were encased in his suit trousers, raised his handsome eyebrows, and looked at her teasingly.
“Standing at the door, trying to take a stroll? Where are you going to stroll to? The Qiao family’s territory is within a 20-kilometer radius.”
"Come here, I won't eat people," he commanded again.
Du Xiaoruo felt like she was about to die of nervousness. She frantically scratched her thumbnail back and forth on the pad of her index finger. The oppressive feeling emanating from Qiao An made her feel completely at a loss.
Qiao Lele, who was standing next to Du Xiaoruo, slowly moved closer to Qiao An and stood there.
"Apologize," Qiao An said sternly.
Du Xiaoruo shuddered and subconsciously said, "I'm sorry."
Qiao Lele's fluffy head drooped almost to his chest, and he whispered, "I'm sorry."
Du Xiaoruo, "?"
Qiao Lele looked up, staring at his large, clear black and white eyes. "Hmm?"
Joan rubbed his forehead, then ran his hand across his face and pressed his temples.
"No, why? Do you have to rush to apologize? Qiao Lele, apologize to your mother and say that you were wrong today and shouldn't have run around on your own, making her worry."
"Oh." Qiao Lele pouted, clearly unconvinced, and repeated, "Mom, I was wrong. I shouldn't have run around like that and made you worry."
Du Xiaoruo's heart was racing, but she still replied relatively calmly, "It's nothing."
She pursed her lips, wondering why they hadn't left yet.
"Is there something wrong with you today?" Qiao An looked Du Xiaoruo up and down with her gray-blue eyes. "If something happened, you can tell me."
He felt that Du Xiaoruo was acting strangely today.
Qiao An is very handsome, even more so than the celebrities Du Xiaoruo has seen on TV in the real world.
Because of his mixed heritage, he has a very special eye color, a clear grayish-blue.
His skin was very white, a dazzling white, with a high, straight nose and sexy M-shaped lips. When he spoke, his Adam's apple would move up and down under his thin skin.
It was this incredible handsomeness that brought Du Xiaoruo's sense of oppression to its peak. In this stark contrast, she felt that she must look like a silly bear. She was so nervous that even her fingers began to tremble slightly.
Joanne continued to watch her.
Under immense pressure, Du Xiaoruo began to experience physical symptoms, including trembling, dizziness, and nausea.
She glanced at Joan and then rushed into the bathroom to retch.
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