Li Qiao gave a slight nod, set down her cocktail glass, and tilted her head toward the door.
"Lead the way," she said
Bodyguard: "Please."
…
1 a.m., and the Nanyáng Entertainment City parking lot was still packed with luxury cars.
Men and women indulging in pleasures of the night roamed freely — this sleepless city was the perfect breeding ground for all things ambiguous.
Following the bodyguard, Li Qiao arrived at the entrance. Under the starry sky, a fleet of luxury cars bearing the Yanhua Group emblem lined up beneath the grand staircase of the lobby.
The bodyguard led her to a Rolls-Royce Phantom in the center. He opened the back door and gestured politely. "Miss Li, please get in."
Li Qiao looked down at the open door. Inside sat Shang Yu, bathed in the soft glow of the interior lights — he seemed almost gilded in gold, dazzling to the eye.
A file rested on his crossed legs. As Li Qiao looked on, he flipped through the pages, occasionally jotting something down.
When he reached the third page, his pen paused. His voice, low and tinged with rasp, finally broke the silence. "You came alone?"
Li Qiao replied evenly, "Mm, alone."
Meanwhile, Tang Yiting, still playing pool: "…Huh?"
"Get in. I'll take you home," Shang Yu said.
Li Qiao slipped one hand in her pocket, the other fidgeting with the black-gold necklace at her collar. Her smile was casual. "But I drove."
Shang Yu didn't respond. He simply turned his head slowly to look at the girl standing outside the car.
His eyes were deep, like an abyss you couldn't see the bottom of, unreadable.
Yet between his brows was a weariness that even his cool demeanor couldn't fully conceal.
And something in Li Qiao's heart quietly softened.
She clicked her tongue, no longer hesitating. Sliding into the car, she pulled the door shut behind her, brows raised with flair. "Guess I'll trouble you, then, Master Yan. Almost forgot I had a drink earlier."
The man gave her a long look, then turned away. "Let's go."
…
On the way from Nanyáng Entertainment City back to the Li residence, the car was so quiet that only the soft scratch of Shang Yu's pen on paper could be heard.
Li Qiao sat beside him, mirroring his posture and even his color palette. After sizing him up, she leaned against the door and casually broke the silence.
"Master Yan, can I ask you something?"
His pen paused again. "Ask."
So cold!
Unbothered, Li Qiao pressed her lips together lightly, her eyes landing on the sharp angles of his profile.
"I want to know how that engagement between me and Shang Lu came to be."
Shang Yu glanced at her, eyes calm. "Didn't your father tell you?"
"Mm, not much. Just that the engagement was arranged when I was still in the womb. But Shang Lu's three years older than me — doesn't that make the whole thing kind of bizarre?"
There was a mischievous glint in Li Qiao's eyes, and her smile carried a trace of laid-back teasing.
Shang Yu didn't look at her again. His voice was steady and measured. "If you're already breaking it off, why care how it started?"
"Hm, fair point!" Li Qiao nodded as if seriously considering it, her eyes still on his face.
Li Qiao tilted her head slightly, voice soft and curious: "Then why wasn't the engagement with you instead of Shang Lu?"
The driver in the front nearly peed himself on the spot!
This girl had guts — she actually dared to joke around in front of Master Yan!
Because he lost grip on the steering wheel in shock, the car gave a slight jolt.
Shang Yu's expression darkened, his eyes lifting sharply to the rearview mirror as he warned, "Watch the road."
"S-sorry, Master! It won't happen again!"
Li Qiao glanced at Shang Yu's clearly displeased face, then looked at the driver who seemed scared out of his wits.
Wait… did she just ask a suicidal question or something?
How could such a simple comment scare the driver like that?