When spring river waters warm, ducks are the first to know.

He had seen those green duck eyes embroidered in silk before.

When spring was at its finest in Jiangnan, that person remained unforgettable in his thoughts.

Jiang Yuanchao’s lips lost their smile, his expression becoming cold and stern as ice and snow. He grabbed Qiao Zhao’s wrist and pulled her into the office.

The Jinlin Guards’ jaws dropped.

The two Jinlin Guards who had recognized Li Guangwen exchanged glances, thinking in perfect understanding: Too hasty, too hasty! At least wait until the girl’s father leaves!

Li Guangwen flew into a rage: “Bastard, let go of my daughter!”

Though slender in build, he erupted with considerable strength at this moment. The Jinlin Guards, confused by their Lord Shisan’s behavior, were scattered in all directions by his charge.

Jiang Yuanchao didn’t look back, leaving behind a single command: “Please escort them to sit in the room first!”

With Jiang Yuanchao’s words, the Jinlin Guards knew what to do and immediately forcibly “invited” Old Madam Deng and the others into the room.

Qiao Zhao hadn’t expected Jiang Yuanchao to suddenly lose his mind. Caught off guard, her body stumbled, aggravating her wound. Unable to speak, she was in such pain that tears immediately rolled down her face.

Unexpectedly meeting the young lady’s tearful eyes, Jiang Yuanchao froze and instinctively released his grip.

Qiao Zhao stood straight, looking at him silently.

Jiang Yuanchao reached out and slammed the door shut with a bang.

In the small room, only the two of them remained.

“Where did this come from?” Jiang Yuanchao yanked the pouch from Qiao Zhao’s waist and held it before her.

This pouch?

Qiao Zhao’s eyes flashed.

Could it be that when she had inadvertently saved Jiang Yuanchao years ago, he had noticed this pouch?

This man was indeed from the Jinlin Guards—even after several years had passed, he could remember so clearly a pouch worn by a girl he’d met by chance?

“Why aren’t you speaking?” Jiang Yuanchao pressed Qiao Zhao against the wall, his eyes seeming to have hooks that firmly locked onto her.

Qiao Zhao closed her eyes.

This was truly an unexpected complication.

On her eyelids, warm weight suddenly fell—the other person’s fingers.

“Open your eyes.” The man who always smiled now coldly commanded while stroking her eyelids with his fingertips.

This coldness wasn’t without temperature, but rather like a volcano buried under ice and snow, ready to erupt at any moment.

Why did he care so much about this? Miss Qiao was both annoyed and puzzled.

She still opened her eyes.

That person was so close she could feel his breath.

“Where exactly did you get this?” Jiang Yuanchao’s eyes seemed to be on fire, wanting to burn through the thoughts of the person before him.

His voice lowered, but the warning was too obvious: “Miss Li, I don’t want to ask a third time.”

Either defeat the opponent with words or with force—unfortunately, Miss Qiao currently possessed neither ability. Though extremely annoyed, she could only resignedly bow her head and grab Jiang Yuanchao’s hand.

Jiang Yuanchao looked down.

The young lady’s hand was slender and delicate, much smaller than his own. She extended her index finger and began writing characters stroke by stroke in his palm.

“Pain.” The young lady first wrote one character, then looked up, quietly gazing at Jiang Yuanchao.

Jiang Yuanchao suddenly didn’t dare to meet the young lady’s eyes.

He had indeed… been too impulsive just now!

“Miss Li, you can’t speak right now?”

Qiao Zhao blinked.

What else? Did she have nothing better to do than send him flirtatious glances outside the office earlier?

Jiang Yuanchao felt somewhat apologetic, but the pouch was something he urgently needed to know about. Even with his patience, he couldn’t suppress this eagerness.

“Is this pouch yours?”

Qiao Zhao nodded.

“Why do you have such a pouch? Why did you embroider the duck’s eyes green?” Jiang Yuanchao closed his eyes, then opened them again, staring directly at Qiao Zhao. “I’ve seen such a pouch before. Don’t tell me this is just a coincidence.”

He stepped forward, his finger gently lifting the young lady’s chin, saying lightly: “As a Jinlin Guard, I generally don’t believe in coincidences. Miss Li, you’re a smart person—please don’t test my patience, alright?”

He leaned down, whispering in Qiao Zhao’s ear: “Don’t forget, your parents and relatives are all drinking tea next door.”

Qiao Zhao’s eyes suddenly tightened.

Jinlin Guards were indeed all cold-blooded, ruthless bastards!

In their previous meetings, this person had at least maintained his composure, appearing decent on the surface. But once it involved matters related to himself, his true nature was revealed.

But it was just a pouch—why was he so fixated on it?

Qiao Zhao was completely bewildered for the first time.

If it had been the moody Chi Can, she wouldn’t have found it strange. But Jiang Yuanchao gave her the impression of being quite scheming—how could someone young enough to sit in the position of Jinlin Guard Commander lose his composure like this? Pulling her into the room in full view of everyone—had this man lost his mind?

“What exactly is your relationship with the Qiao family of Jia Feng?”

Qiao Zhao’s body trembled.

Jiang Yuanchao looked directly into Qiao Zhao’s eyes and asked again: “Or rather, what is your relationship with the eldest daughter of the Qiao family?”

Qiao Zhao instead calmed down. She wanted to curve her lips but couldn’t, so she extended her finger and wrote stroke by stroke in Jiang Yuanchao’s palm: “What is your relationship with Miss Qiao?”

Jiang Yuanchao was stumped by the question.

What was his relationship with Miss Qiao? Of course, they had no relationship whatsoever.

The only relationship was his secret, one-sided feelings for Miss Qiao—feelings that Miss Qiao could never know about now, and that he would never have the chance to express.

The young lady’s eyes were pitch black like ink, clear and bright. Even in such circumstances, they showed no panic, only tranquil composure.

Such a gaze made him instinctively lose focus, again and again, reminding him of that person.

Jiang Yuanchao couldn’t explain where this impulse came from. Meeting such eyes, he slowly said: “I like her.”

Yes, it was that simple. Because he liked her, having never possessed her before losing her completely, he always wanted to grasp every trace that the girl who had moved his heart had once left in this world.

Including such a pouch.

The moment she heard this answer, Qiao Zhao was stunned.

Jiang Yuanchao liked… Miss Qiao? Miss Qiao referred to her, which meant Jiang Yuanchao liked her.

Jiang Yuanchao liked… Qiao Zhao?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” The young lady’s strange expression made Jiang Yuanchao feel somewhat flustered, and his rationality suddenly returned.

He must be crazy, talking about this with a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl.

“Miss Li, now it’s your turn to answer me.” Jiang Yuanchao spread his palm, indicating for Qiao Zhao to continue writing.

Qiao Zhao raised her hand, her fingertip like a green onion shoot about to touch the other person’s hand, but suddenly couldn’t continue writing.

This was too strange—she needed to go back and process this.

She instead hastily wrote a few characters on the wall: “It’s a long story.” Then she pointed to her mouth.

Jiang Yuanchao was silent for a long time before finally nodding: “Very well, when you’re better, I’ll come find you.”

Qiao Zhao breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, urgent knocking sounded at the door.