She asked bluntly, the light in her fawn-like eyes seeming shrouded in gloom, void of any spirit.
"Shang Shaoyan?"
Li Cheng pulled back his long legs, leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees.
"You mean the one from Yanhuang Group?"
Li Qiao walked over, grabbed a bottle of energy drink from the table, gulped down a mouthful, and raised an eyebrow in response.
"Yeah. You know him?"
Li Cheng's sharp gaze settled heavily on Li Qiao's face.
After a few seconds, he shook his head vaguely.
"Never met him. Shang Shaoyan is known for being mysterious in Nanyang — like a dragon whose head you see but never its tail.
All these years, even getting a photo of him has been nearly impossible.
Why are you asking about him?"
Li Qiao casually sat down in a chair nearby, lowering her gaze to her slightly swollen right hand, distractedly replying,
"Nothing really, just curious.
Since he's Shang Lu's older brother, if the engagement hadn't been broken, technically, he would've been my big brother too."
At her words, Li Cheng shot her a strange glance.
"You short on big brothers?
There's already three of us at home. Isn't that enough?"
— Well, someone's jealous!
Li Qiao gave Li Cheng a silent, faintly amused look but didn't argue.
The two sat in silence for a moment in the lounge area.
Li Cheng lit a cigarette, taking a slow drag before speaking again:
"Qiao, don't get curious about Shang Shaoyan.
He's not a good person."
Li Qiao looked at the fierce, battle-hardened aura that clung to Li Cheng, and quietly swallowed back the words she almost said.
It seemed that no one wanted to talk too much about Shang Shaoyan.
But the more it was avoided, the stronger her fixation grew.
What kind of soul was hidden beneath that wild and striking face?
——
That night, after returning to the Li estate, Li Qiao locked herself in her room and didn't come out again.
At 10 p.m., feeling bored, she scrolled through the internet.
Suddenly, a WeChat message popped up on her phone.
Tang Family's Xiaoting: I have a secret… not sure if I should tell you.
Li Qiao: Then don't.
Tang Family's Xiaoting: …
Tang Family's Xiaoting: It's a huge secret! It's about your future happiness. Don't you want to know?
Tang Family's Xiaoting: [Giving you a chance to reorganize your words.jpg]
Li Qiao saw the messages but didn't respond.
Instead, she clicked back to Yanhuang Group's news page and continued browsing.
Three minutes later, a string of new messages exploded onto the screen.
Tang Family's Xiaoting: It's about Shang Lu.
Tang Family's Xiaoting: Don't you want to know why he broke off the engagement?
Tang Family's Xiaoting: Let me tell you — turns out he's sick!
Tang Family's Xiaoting: I overheard my cousin on the phone.
Tang Family's Xiaoting: Shang Lu has a medical issue — he can't touch women. Apparently, if he even makes contact, he throws up. Violently!
These messages popped up one after another, and at the end, Tang Yiting added three exclamation marks, as if trying to show just how shocked she was.
After reading all of it, Li Qiao slightly curled her lips, a faint gleam of realization appearing in her fawn-like eyes.
So that's how it is.
Not being able to touch women… it really could be considered a hidden illness.
But thinking back to how arrogant Shang Lu had been when breaking off the engagement — he certainly hadn't looked sick at all.
Which meant…
Li Qiao stared at the WeChat messages, took a screenshot without hesitation, and directly sent it to her third brother, Li Cheng.
If this engagement was going to be broken, it had to be broken thoroughly.
Tomorrow, she was actually looking forward to it.
That night, some slept peacefully, while others were restless with fear.
At the same time, in the Royal Apartments, Shang Lu was drinking with Lu Xiheng.
He kept shrugging his shoulders, feeling an inexplicable chill at the back of his neck.
Who the hell was plotting against him?
"You're really going to the Li family yourself to break the engagement tomorrow?"
The long-haired pretty boy Lu Xiheng, half drunk, mumbled as he kicked Shang Lu under the table.
Shang Lu, petty as ever, immediately stomped back with his leather shoes and rolled his eyes.
"What else can I do?
Big brother said I have to personally go and apologize — I can't just not show up.
But man, why do I feel so weird all of a sudden?
Lu Xiheng, did you hide some woman in this room or something?"