“Keep playing dumb.” Xuan Yanyu’s lips curved into a cool, detached smile. He grabbed Qi Qingchen by the collar and snarled, “If I hadn’t gotten involved in your business, how would I have ended up in that car accident? How would I have gotten tangled up with that troublemaker Shiyao? And she still can’t keep her mouth shut. You keep her hidden for the rest of your life — otherwise, I will not let her off.”

“If I’d known you were faking your illness, I never would have helped you.” Xuan Yanyu’s back teeth were nearly ground to dust.

Qi Qingchen’s brow furrowed lightly. “Yanyu, I really didn’t hide her. The car accident — that’s genuinely something I owe you an apology for.”

“And I wasn’t faking being ill either. It’s just that the last time you came abroad with Shiyao to see me, I lied — I said I was beyond saving. I only did it to test whether Shiyao truly had any genuine feelings for me.”

“Qi Qingchen……”

“Litt……Mr. Xuan, our President Qi has only recently come out of surgery.” Wu’an stepped in and caught Xuan Yanyu’s fist before it could land.

Xuan Yanyu shook Wu’an off, gripping Qi Qingchen’s collar tight. “Tell me. Where is Shiyao?”

Qi Qingchen shook his head without changing expression. “I don’t know.”

Xuan Yanyu gritted his teeth, released Qi Qingchen, and, with nowhere else to vent his anger, sent a fierce kick into the coffee table.

Qi Qingchen’s lashes moved once, and he let him take out his frustration.

By Shiyao’s account, she had inadvertently wrecked the relationship between Yanyu and Ningning — that was genuinely Shiyao’s fault.

He wasn’t trying to protect Shiyao. He was only worried that Yanyu, in this state, would do something reckless out of pure rage and bring harm down on himself.

It simply wasn’t worth it for Shiyao’s sake. Love could temporarily rob a person of their reason — he suspected that what Shiyao had said had terrified Yanyu into fearing that Ningning would find out.

But if Yanyu could calm down and think it through, he would realise that whatever Shiyao was stirring up could never truly damage what he and Ningning had.

Xuan Yanyu’s lips curled into a faint, bitter mockery. “Still protecting her? You love her that much — and she’s someone who can turn around and run off with someone else the moment there’s no money.”

“I’m not protecting her. I don’t know where she is.” Qi Qingchen sat back in his executive chair and went back to reading through his documents.

Xuan Yanyu tugged at his collar, his expression cold and dark, then glanced sideways at Ye Jian.

The latter shuffled sluggishly over to stand in front of Qi Qingchen. “President Qi, you may as well just tell us. We’ve tracked Shiyao to Qi Group. If you keep insisting you know nothing, Mr. Xuan is going to take it out on you.”

“You’ve just taken back the company — if a few more employees walk out, a few more projects start competing against you, and with your health barely recovered, the further stress and exhaustion might be more than your body can handle.”

Wu’an’s brow creased sharply. Someone was openly threatening their President Qi?!

“Didn’t I already say it — she came here to demand money from me, so naturally she came to the office. As for where she’s gone now, I genuinely don’t know.” Qi Qingchen looked at Xuan Yanyu with a resigned expression.

“Yanyu, be rational about this. Everything Shiyao has done has made you furious — I understand that — but she hasn’t done anything truly egregious. Even if you do find her, what would you actually do? Take the time she leaked information, for example — it didn’t even cause much damage. You haven’t even noti……”

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes darkened as he cut him off. “Qi Qingchen, what I do to her is none of your concern. All I need from you is her location.”

Qi Qingchen’s brow knitted together. “I don’t know.”

Xuan Yanyu gave a flat, cold laugh. “Fine. You don’t know.”

Seeing that smile with no warmth behind it, Qi Qingchen felt his heart give a sharp lurch. He had the distinct feeling that Xuan Yanyu wasn’t going to let this drop.

Sure enough, the next second, he heard Xuan Yanyu’s voice ring out, low and furious, beside him. “Trash the office.”

Ye Jian and Ye’an steeled themselves and each lifted a potted plant — among the least expensive items in the room — and stood there hesitating, silently willing Qi Qingchen to hurry up and call security to have them thrown out. Causing a scene at Qi Group like this was tantamount to completely tearing things apart between the two of them.

Their two companies still had business dealings together. This was not the time for a full-blown falling out.

“Wait.” Wu’an’s voice rang out, and Ye Jian and Ye’an both exhaled in relief.

“Mr. Xuan, rather than making a scene here, it would be faster to conduct your own search.” Wu’an said in a measured, courteous tone.

Xuan Yanyu gave a short, cold laugh. “Searching myself won’t be as quick as asking him.”

With Qi Qingchen deliberately shielding Shiyao, finding her on his own wouldn’t be easy.

“Even if you trash my office, my answer is still the same — I don’t know.” Xuan Yanyu’s anger clearly wasn’t something Qi Qingchen was about to give in to, and he was even less likely to hand Shiyao over under these circumstances.

“Alright. Since that’s what President Qi says — trash it.” Xuan Yanyu’s gaze drifted toward the rest area. His lips curved slightly. “Start with the rest area.”

Qi Qingchen tightened his fist but said nothing.

In the end, this was a debt he owed him.

Shiyao had caused the trouble — if he blocked Yanyu again now, it would only inflame him further.

Besides, Yanyu was gambling on the certainty that he wouldn’t stop him, and guessing that Shiyao was still here — which was why he was pushing this hard.

That said, it was only a guess. He wasn’t certain Shiyao was still on the premises.

“Ding dong.” Ye Jian, who had just taken a step toward the rest area door, received a call from the villa. Without a moment’s hesitation, he answered.

Upon hearing that Yan Yunning had woken up and wanted to leave, he immediately ended the call and looked at Xuan Yanyu. “Mr. Xuan, Miss Yan has woken up. She wants to go home. Should we head back to the villa first and come back another day to……”

Before the words were fully out of his mouth, the man — who moments ago had been seething with fury — was already out of the office at a sprint. Ye’an set down the flower pot and hurried out right behind him.

Ye Jian opened his mouth. Had he known earlier that Miss Yan had this much sway, he should have asked the housekeeper at the villa to call him on a set schedule before they left.

Qi Qingchen exhaled slowly and sank back in his chair, rubbing his temples wearily.

“President Qi, I apologise.” Ye Jian set down the potted plant as well, and sighed.

“Because of Shiyao, Miss Yan wants to call off her engagement to Mr. Xuan. That’s why Mr. Xuan threatened to trash your office.”

“We suspected Shiyao might be on the premises, so we came hoping you’d hand her over. Please don’t take any of this to heart on Mr. Xuan’s account.”

“After all, the root of all of this goes back to you. Our Mr. Xuan helped you and has been caught up in Shiyao’s scheming ever since, completely without cause. Even before all this, Mr. Xuan had already warned Shiyao — but she didn’t listen. She’s been hell-bent on attaching herself to Mr. Xuan.”

Ye Jian curled his lips with thinly veiled contempt. “Mr. Xuan never had any interest in her whatsoever, yet she kept pushing and stirring things up, and ended up being discovered by Miss Yan. Miss Yan has made it very clear that she wants to break up with Mr. Xuan — which is why Mr. Xuan will not let Shiyao off.”

“Even if you shield her, that only puts you at odds with Mr. Xuan and with Xuan Group. You should think very carefully about whether it’s worth it. And even with you sheltering her, we will find Shiyao eventually — it will just take a little more time.”

Qi Qingchen was frowning deeply, still wanting to ask something further — but Ye Jian had already left the office. Wu’an, seeing this, quickly locked the office door behind him.

“Go and bring Shiyao out.” Qi Qingchen’s expression was grim.

“Yes.” Wu’an walked to the rest area door and knocked. “Please come out, Miss Shi.”

Shiyao, her eyes red, opened the rest area door and rushed toward Qi Qingchen, her words tumbling out incoherently.

“A’Chen……I……what do I do? I just called Xuan Yanyu once, and Yan Yunning is going to break up with him. I……she……isn’t she being a bit too……”

“What exactly happened?” Qi Qingchen asked with impatient curtness.

Shiyao stiffened her neck. “What do you mean what happened? I just made one phone call to Xuan Yanyu, and Yan Yunning got jealous over it.”