Lu Shicheng, without missing a beat, took the vocabulary notebook from her hands and wrote a line on it.

[I remembered something I wanted to ask Miss Wen, so I came to see if you’d left yet.]

Wen Tingli’s expression relaxed. “What did you want to ask me?”

Then, suddenly remembering she wasn’t wearing shoes, her face flushed and she said quickly, “Please wait a moment.”

With that, she retreated in the same hopping fashion as before, saying as she went, “You could have knocked before coming over — I thought you were Mother Liu.”

She pulled the door shut behind her.

Lu Shicheng was left standing in the hallway. He looked around with a skeptical expression — unless he was mistaken, this was, in fact, his own residence.

Fortunately he only had to wait outside the door for a little while before Wen Tingli opened it again, this time with her shoes properly on.

“Go ahead and ask,” she said. After putting her shoes and socks back on, the pain seemed to have gotten worse, and she could only lean against the doorframe as she spoke.

Lu Shicheng glanced at her foot and, considerately, pointed toward the sofa inside the room. [Go sit down. I’ll ask my question and then leave.]

Wen Tingli looked a little shy. “It’s fine, you can just say it here.”

Lu Shicheng thought it over and was about to write on her notepad when voices came down the hallway.

“This way please, Dr. Louis. Oh — Young Master is here too?” Steward Chen looked, astonished, from Lu Shicheng to Wen Tingli and back.

Wen Tingli said quickly, “Mr. Lu had something he wanted to ask me.”

Steward Chen didn’t press further. “This is Dr. Louis — he’s very experienced with external injuries. Miss Wen, please go on in.”

Then, to Lu Shicheng: “Should Young Master ask his question first, or shall we have Dr. Louis examine Miss Wen first?”

Lu Shicheng glanced at Wen Tingli — once he’d finished his question, he’d have an excuse to leave. But she seemed to be in a good deal of pain, so out of courtesy, he gestured toward the room — let her be examined first.

Just then Mother Liu returned. Seeing the situation, she quickly set down her tray and helped Wen Tingli into the room.

Lu Shicheng could hardly follow them in, and so found himself once again left standing in the hallway.

Inside the room, Wen Tingli was speaking to Dr. Louis in English, describing her injuries.

Her tone was light and cheerful, and her English was grammatically sound.

Listening, Lu Shicheng thought to himself — sure enough, before long, Dr. Louis would grow chattier too. And indeed, before long, Louis’s tone had lost the seriousness it held when he’d first entered the room, and he even let out a couple of hearty chuckles. Mother Liu, too, had clearly taken a liking to Wen Tingli, fussing over her the whole time she was in the room, fetching water and medicine.

Lu Shicheng slid his hands into his pockets and walked away. He had grown quite used to this sort of thing by now. Turning around, he discovered Steward Chen was still standing behind him — and judging by the look of astonishment on Steward Chen’s face, he too was clearly taken aback by Wen Tingli’s remarkable gift for social conversation.

Lu Shicheng left the hallway first. Steward Chen came back to himself and said, “It’s almost seven — I’ll have them bring Young Master’s dinner up.”

Twenty minutes later, Dr. Louis came out carrying his medical bag.

“The surface wounds on her arms and knees have been treated. The more serious injury is soft tissue swelling in the left ankle — not too bad. I’ve bandaged and splinted it for Miss Wen just now; a few days’ rest should do the trick.”

Lu Shicheng shook hands with Dr. Louis in thanks, and Steward Chen had someone see the doctor out.

The sitting room fell quiet again. Taking advantage of the lull, Lu Shicheng went to his study to answer a few letters, and before long, servants were setting the evening meal in the side hall. “Young Master Cheng, dinner’s ready.”

Just as Lu Shicheng came out, he saw Mother Liu helping Wen Tingli out of the room.

Wen Tingli, taking difficult steps, was saying, “Mother Liu, you don’t need to see me out any further. Dr. Louis said my injury isn’t serious at all, and it doesn’t even hurt now that it’s been treated — I can walk on my own.”

Bandage wrapped around her left ankle, from a distance it looked rather like she had a giant garlic bulb strapped to her foot.

Looking up and seeing Lu Shicheng standing by the table in the side hall, she stopped and said, “Thank you for having the doctor called, Mr. Lu. Oh, right — what was it you wanted to ask me earlier?”

Of course Lu Shicheng had no question to ask, but if he didn’t ask anything, his earlier behavior would look thoroughly suspicious and sneaky. As it happened, there was something he’d been curious about for quite a while, so he made a show of having paper and pen brought over — and then his eye happened to fall on the food set out on the table.

But given the hour, having her leave right after he’d finished his question hardly seemed like proper hospitality.

So he only wrote:

[Miss Wen’s foot is injured — why not have dinner here first before I ask you my question later?]

He’d expected Wen Tingli to offer some polite refusal, but instead she only blinked in surprise, then smiled shyly. “Then it would be rude of me to refuse.”

Lu Shicheng’s expression didn’t change; he immediately had another set of chopsticks and a bowl brought out.

Wen Tingli quietly asked Mother Liu where the telephone was, saying she wanted to call home.

Lu Shicheng continued standing there waiting. Before long, he heard Wen Tingli say “Zhou Sao” into the phone, and then, in a different, adorable tone, say with a soft laugh, “Has Xiao Taozi been good today? Of course Sister’s been good! You and Zhou Sao eat dinner first — yes, you have to finish everything on your plate, or else Sister won’t buy you candy when she gets home.”

Lu Shicheng guessed privately that this must be Wen Tingli’s younger sister. Kuang Zhilin had said her father was gravely ill, and that these days, the entire Wen household rested on Wen Tingli’s shoulders alone.

But ever since he’d first met her, he had never once seen a trace of sorrow on her face—

Lost in thought, he noticed Wen Tingli had hung up and returned to the dining room.

Seeing Lu Shicheng standing by the table waiting for her, she suddenly grew flustered. “You’re being far too courteous — please, sit.”

Just then Steward Chen, having finished his own dinner, returned and, seeing this scene, seemed a bit at a loss — but he recovered quickly, hurrying over to pull out a chair for Wen Tingli, saying with a smile, “Young Master said the dishes might be a bit plain, and wasn’t sure whether they’d suit Miss Wen’s taste.”

Looking at the table, Wen Tingli saw there were only three dishes and a soup — Lu Shicheng seemed to be quite casual about his meals, which explained why, when she’d hosted him last time, he’d complained she’d ordered too much food. She hadn’t really meant to mooch a meal off the Lu family; she’d only wanted an excuse to linger a bit longer — if someone happened to call Lu Shicheng while she was there, she might just overhear something useful.

She waved her hands quickly. “I’ll eat anything — I usually eat quite casually for dinner too. Please don’t go to any more trouble.”

Even so, Lu Shicheng still had Steward Chen tell the kitchen to add a few more dishes.

The Lu household’s kitchen worked astonishingly fast — the new dishes arrived in barely ten minutes.

The first was braised hairtail fish, and the other two were oil gluten stuffed with meat, and a soup of dried bamboo shoots with bean curd skin. These were all dishes she had ordered the last time she’d hosted him, and every single one happened to be something she loved.

Wen Tingli glanced up at Lu Shicheng — this man’s good breeding was etched right into his bones. She had met plenty of wealthy people who merely pretended to be well-bred, capable of keeping up appearances for only so long. Not like Lu Shicheng, who truly understood how to observe and consider other people’s feelings — so perceptive, so respectful, and all without leaving a trace of effort behind. Even in inviting her to a spur-of-the-moment dinner, there was nothing perfunctory about it at all.

She picked up her chopsticks in a most ladylike manner. She had never been one to fear socializing with people — yet tonight was the first time she found herself acting shy in front of anyone.

They ate the meal quietly. The servants cleared the table and brought tea, and Lu Shicheng began asking his question.

[How did you come to know the people of the Weiying Gang?]

Wen Tingli stared blankly at that line on the notepad. The Weiying Gang? What Weiying Gang?

The air fell silent. Lu Shicheng’s gaze grew a shade cooler as he waited quietly for her reaction.

“I can’t tell you that.” All at once, as if enlightened, Wen Tingli shook her head playfully. “Although Mr. Lu did help me out a great deal that time, I’m afraid I can’t go into detail about this particular matter.”

Her smile was sweet enough to melt anyone.

Lu Shicheng lowered his eyes. Although she had clearly hesitated for a moment at first, everything she said afterward gave nothing away — and it matched what Kuang Zhilin had found in his investigation: that she kept her silence out of gratitude for a debt she owed the Weiying Gang.

He let the matter drop at the right moment.

[It’s getting late. I’ll have someone see you home.] He stood and looked at her.

He had no idea that cold sweat had already broken out across Wen Tingli’s back.

That question just now had caught her completely off guard. “Weiying Gang” — she was certain she had never once heard that name.

In that split second of blankness, she’d quickly combed through her memory for anyone or anything connected to those three characters and come up with nothing. But she knew this question of Lu Shicheng’s must relate to some shared experience between the two of them. Yet she and Lu Shicheng had barely interacted more than a few times — and then it hit her, the incident that other day. Could he be asking about that group of old ladies?

After all, she herself had been curious about their background afterward, only Li Chengying, to protect those women, hadn’t told her a single extra word.

To keep Lu Shicheng from pressing further, she’d had to take a gamble, answering deliberately vaguely and cutting herself off at the right moment. In a situation like this, the more she said, the more openings for suspicion she’d create.

Fortunately, her gamble had paid off — Lu Shicheng showed no sign of doubting her.

She didn’t dare let him see that her legs had already gone weak with fright. Bowing her head to drink her tea, she lingered a while longer at the table.

Lu Shicheng didn’t press her to leave either — but to Steward Chen, watching this, it looked as though Wen Tingli was deliberately reluctant to go. He thought to himself, amused: even a girl this bold has her shy side, it seems.

When Wen Tingli finally rose, Lu Shicheng had someone help her out. Turning around, he saw Steward Chen’s face wearing a smile full of meaning.

Wen Tingli noticed it too, and immediately understood the misunderstanding Steward Chen had formed. Well, there was no good way to explain the situation. She stole a glance at Lu Shicheng beside her — if even Steward Chen could tell she’d been acting strangely earlier, Lu Shicheng, sharper by a hundredfold, must be thinking who knows what about her by now.

Lu Shicheng, however, appeared entirely unaware, and simply gestured toward the entrance of the sitting room.

Steward Chen straightened his expression. “Shall I have the driver take Miss Wen home?”

“There’s really no need,” Wen Tingli said quickly. “There’s a tram right at the school gates — I can take that home.”

Lu Shicheng glanced down at her feet. Wen Tingli followed his gaze — her left foot was wrapped up like this; putting up any more pretense of toughness would just look like she was performing.

“Then, thank you, Mr. Lu,” she said softly.

Lu Shicheng walked outward, his expression unmoved, while Steward Chen sent for Mother Chen to come support Wen Tingli.

Just as they’d reached the front steps, the telephone in the sitting room rang.

Steward Chen happened to be outside giving instructions to the driver, so a servant inside answered the call. “It’s for Young Master.”

Steward Chen quickly called from outside, “Tell them to wait — he’ll call back later.”

The servant was about to hang up, but whatever was said on the other end made him flustered. “Young Master, it’s Boss Lou from Tianxing Warehouse — he says it’s very urgent, and he wants you to come to the phone right away.”

Lu Shicheng gave Steward Chen a look. Steward Chen quickly said, “Hang up for now.”

Wen Tingli’s heart raced faster. Seizing the moment, she said, “Thank you so much, Mr. Lu, thank you, Steward Chen, thank you, Mother Liu. Goodbye.”

With that, she bowed to those at the top of the steps and bent to get into the car.

Lu Shicheng turned back into the sitting room, gesturing toward the telephone as he walked.

“Shall I call Boss Lou back?” Steward Chen asked urgently.

Lu Shicheng was about to nod, but then changed his mind.

He was remembering the brief moment of blankness Wen Tingli had shown while he was questioning her earlier.

In his eyes, Wen Tingli was like a cunning little fox — every time he grew suspicious of her motives, she always found some way to dissolve his doubts without leaving a trace.

And yet, without quite realizing it, this was already the second time he had shared a meal with her — and this time, she had openly had dinner at his house, no less.

Thinking it over carefully, she always seemed to find some legitimate reason to get close to him. And looking at Steward Chen and Mother Liu beside him — they, too, didn’t seem to dislike her at all.

Lu Shicheng couldn’t put his finger on what felt wrong. He paced a few steps with his hands in his pockets, stopped, and made a gesture toward the telephone. Steward Chen looked puzzled. “You want Mr. Kuang? — And Boss Lou’s call — all right, I’ll ring him back right away.”

Following Lu Shicheng’s instructions, once the car left the Lu residence, the driver headed straight for the residence on Bell Road.

Along the way, Wen Tingli replayed over and over in her mind how the evening with Lu Shicheng had gone. However thoughtfully he’d treated her, she couldn’t be certain he hadn’t grown suspicious of her — Lu Shicheng was, after all, far too deep and far too still a person to read.

But Li Chengying was right — it was impossible to keep him from suspecting her at all. As long as Lu Shicheng couldn’t produce proof that something was wrong with her, there was nothing he could do about it.

And now, she had no choice but to take the risk.

That call about Tianxing Warehouse just now sounded like it was some kind of specialized freight operation, and the tone on the other end had been so urgent — if this call had anything to do with that shipment of medicine, this was clearly an opportunity too good to pass up.

If she called Li Chengying right away, that side would move quickly.

But if she did, Lu Shicheng would know for certain that she was the one who’d leaked the news — after all, when that call came in, she’d been right there beside him.

But she was still studying at Wushi. No — it wasn’t just this stretch at Wushi. If she offended the Lu family, her position in Shanghai would only become a hundred times harder than when Mr. Qiao and Mrs. Qiao had targeted her before.

Could she bear such consequences? She asked herself honestly.

The whole way, an intense inner struggle raged inside her. As they neared home, she suddenly remembered how Deng Yuanzhang had looked, gravely wounded and unconscious, that day at the hospital. She couldn’t hesitate any longer — Deng Yuanzhang was in tremendous danger, and every chance missed to investigate meant another threat to Deng Yuanzhang’s life.

And besides Deng Yuanzhang, there was Li Chengying’s whole group behind her — if she wanted to, she could turn around at any moment and betray them to Lu Shicheng, and yet they had held nothing back, showing her their contacts, their meeting places, and each person’s “backing,” even including the fact of their dealings with the Weiying Gang — no, she couldn’t betray the trust they’d placed in her. At least, now was absolutely not the time to think only of her own interests.

After getting out of the car, she thanked the Lu family’s driver profusely several times over. Once the car had driven off, she immediately went to find a nearby telephone exchange and called Li Chengying.

“Sister Li, it’s me… yes, Tianxing Warehouse. It sounds urgent on their end.”

After making that call, Wen Tingli sat at the telephone exchange in a daze. She knew Li Chengying’s ability and speed of action exceeded her imagination — the moment Li Chengying moved, the Lu family would be sure to notice something was afoot.

At the latest by tomorrow — no, perhaps even tonight — Lu Shicheng would be certain something was wrong with her. If the Lu family suffered a major loss because of this, she hardly dared imagine how Lu Shicheng might deal with her.

Unconsciously she buried her hands in her hair, sitting there in a daze. Before the Lu family could take action, she needed to prepare an escape route for herself and Xiao Taozi that very night.

Maybe she should go hide out in Nanjing or Hangzhou for a while — yes, leave first thing tomorrow morning.

Her large checks and bank notes were hidden in her undergarments; her jewelry was usually kept in her book bag. She could leave at any moment.

Besides that, Lawyer Bao had signed a contract with her before, promising that in compensation for the risk she’d taken, he would, in the name of the Shuguang Law Firm, pay her two thousand silver dollars in the future. Such a large sum of cash, together with what she currently had on hand, would be enough to sustain her and Xiao Taozi for a few years. As for what to do once she reached Hangzhou or Nanjing — she trusted that she’d find a way when she got there.

The thought no sooner occurred to her than she called the Xiangsheng Car Company and booked three train tickets to Nanjing (note), instructing them to deliver the tickets to Cixin Hospital as soon as possible, while also booking a taxi to take her to the hospital shortly.

Coming out of the telephone exchange, Wen Tingli hurried back to her lodgings to pack. She packed seasonal clothes for herself and Xiao Taozi into an old suitcase, tucked in the contract she’d signed with Lawyer Bao before, and left the house carrying the suitcase.

At the roadside, she sat on the suitcase waiting for a car. She waited a good long while without the Xiangsheng car turning up — but instead, a very familiar black car pulled up.

As it drew near, Wen Tingli realized the person inside was Meng Qiguang.

He’d come without a driver, driving himself.

Wen Tingli, though a little surprised, quickly greeted him through the window. “Mr. Meng.”

Meng Qiguang rolled down the window. “Where are you headed?”

“Back to Cixin Hospital.”

Meng Qiguang glanced at the suitcase by Wen Tingli’s feet, then at her injured foot. “Get in, I’ll give you a lift.”

He got out of the car.

“There’s no need,” Wen Tingli said quickly. “I’ve already called for a car from the car company. Thank you, Mr. Meng.”

Meng Qiguang suddenly smiled. “Has Miss Wen taken me for some kind of scourge? Why else would you keep avoiding me like this?”

Wen Tingli was taken aback.

“Is it because of Xingchu?” He looked directly at Wen Tingli, his gaze as though it could see straight into her heart.

“What?” Wen Tingli kept up her puzzled expression, but her eyes drifted aside.

“You keep refusing my help — is it because of Xingchu?”

His tone was steady, yet so sharp with it — two sentences in and he had already backed her into a corner.

Wen Tingli didn’t know what to say for a moment. Meng Qiguang looked at her, understanding. “Xingchu pursued you once, and then couldn’t protect you — that experience brought you great humiliation and hurt, so you were thoroughly disillusioned with him, and from then on you didn’t want anything more to do with anyone connected to the Qiao family. And since I’m Xingchu’s young granduncle, naturally you don’t think well of me either.”

Wen Tingli said nothing.

Meng Qiguang gave a short laugh. “But don’t forget — I, Meng Qiguang, am not Qiao Xingchu. What he couldn’t protect doesn’t mean I can’t.”

Wen Tingli’s lashes trembled. She rose up on her toes to look down the road, saying with feigned confusion, “Why hasn’t the car come yet? I should go back and call to hurry them along. Mr. Meng, why don’t—”

She’d just turned when Meng Qiguang stopped her. “What are you afraid of?”

Wen Tingli looked up; Meng Qiguang was looking down at her from above.

“Afraid I’m just acting on a whim?” He watched her, smiling.

Wen Tingli’s breathing grew a little uneven. She glanced at him and shot back, “Since it’s not just a whim, then it seems Mr. Meng means to be serious for once. In that case, may I ask — just how long does Mr. Meng intend to be serious about me?”

Meng Qiguang froze.

Wen Tingli smiled faintly. “It seems Mr. Meng hasn’t considered that question at all. You’ve simply taken a sudden fancy to me, without any intention of being responsible for these feelings, or any thought of where this relationship might lead. You’re only after satisfying your own curiosity and your urge to conquer. Well, then let me make it clear to you too: right now my whole focus is on getting into university, and I have no intention of being distracted by anything to do with men. Mr. Meng, please go home.”

She turned to leave.

But she heard Meng Qiguang say behind her, coolly, “And what about Lu Shicheng, then?”

“What?”

“You keep turning up in front of him again and again — aren’t you afraid he’s just playing with you too?”

Wen Tingli turned back angrily. Meng Qiguang went on: “As far as I know, Lu Shicheng has spent these past years busy dealing with his two uncles and hasn’t had the mood to bother with women. And given Miss Wen’s temperament, unless you wanted to, there’s no way you’d keep showing up around him again and again — so, you’re the one choosing to associate with him.”

For a moment Wen Tingli couldn’t think how to counter him. Then it struck her — she’d only just come out of her lodgings, and Meng Qiguang’s car had appeared right then. This meant that when the Lu family driver had dropped her off, Meng Qiguang’s car must have already been nearby, otherwise he couldn’t have appeared so promptly.

Which meant he must know she’d stayed at the Lu residence tonight until past eight o’clock before leaving.

Meng Qiguang glanced at the suitcase at Wen Tingli’s feet, and changed the subject. “Or — is it that your reasons for getting close to the Lu family have some other purpose?”

If he kept pressing her like this, he might sense something was off, and if he traced it back to Li Chengying, that would be very bad indeed. Wen Tingli said outright, “Who I associate with and who I don’t is none of your business, Mr. Meng. All I know is, young Mr. Lu would never make things this difficult for me the way you’re doing right now!”

But Meng Qiguang wasn’t cowed by this at all, and gave a sharp laugh. “I only wanted to remind Miss Wen that even if there’s a man out there right now who could be your protector — it certainly won’t be Lu Shicheng.”

This was practically a plain declaration — so why wouldn’t he just come out and say he liked her? This man was too arrogant, too shrewd, too good at holding something back!

He stepped closer to her. “As long as you’re with me, whatever you want, I can give it to you.”

His eyes, like his tone, were full of temptation — like a snake flicking its tongue, needlessly stirring up one’s heartstrings.

But Wen Tingli quickly stepped back. “I think Mr. Meng doesn’t quite understand me yet. I don’t want to be ‘with’ any man — I only want to arrange my own life freely! Mr. Meng, please have some self-respect.”

Meng Qiguang was silent for a long moment, his expression unchanging as he looked toward the street corner. “Actually, the car from Xiangsheng arrived a while ago — I just had the driver wait over there. Wait here about half a minute and the car will come around.”

With that, he walked to the roadside and opened his car door. Wen Tingli let out a breath of relief.

Meng Qiguang had already started the engine, but suddenly hit the brakes again. “Don’t blame me for not warning you — the waters at the Lu house run deep. Lu Shicheng’s relationship with his grandfather and uncles has always been strained. Not only has he now brought down his second and third uncles, he’s taken sole control of the Lu family business. A man like that, if he doesn’t bother making trouble for people, fine — but if he ever truly sets his mind to making trouble for someone, he’ll never give you a chance to refuse it. If you run into any trouble, you can always come find me again. Whatever happened tonight, I won’t hold it against you.”

He hit the gas and drove off. Wen Tingli was so furious she laughed — this man had finally stopped playing the gentleman in front of her. She had no idea what she’d done wrong that required his magnanimous forgiveness.

No sooner had Meng Qiguang left than the Xiangsheng car appeared. The driver helped Wen Tingli load her luggage, and she climbed in, dragging her injured ankle step by step.

At Cixin Hospital, Wen Tingli lay in bed in the ward, barely sleeping a wink all night. Fortunately, she’d already packed everything — she could flee at any moment.

Meng Qiguang’s words had deepened her fear.

She waited anxiously for dawn to come.

On one hand, she hoped the leads she’d provided would help Li Chengying successfully uncover the mastermind behind everything; on the other, she also worried about what would happen to her afterward. She could simply take Xiao Taozi and Zhou Sao and leave — but what about her father?

Because she couldn’t stop thinking of him, Wen Tingli got up now and then to check on her father, and eventually just dragged over a stool to sit by the bed, gazing at her father’s face.

While Deng Yuanzhang had been well, her father’s condition had noticeably improved. The moment something happened to Deng Yuanzhang, some of her father’s vital signs had worsened again. After two months of this, her father had wasted down to practically a dried husk of a man.

If she couldn’t continue studying for university entrance in Shanghai, how would she explain it to her father? And even if, worst case, she could switch to taking the exams in Nanjing, Hangzhou, or even Peiping instead — how could she possibly abandon her father at a time like this?

No, she couldn’t leave her father behind at Cixin Hospital. If they had to go, the whole family would go together! But given her father’s current physical state, he absolutely couldn’t withstand the jolting of travel, so she’d need to plan out carefully how they’d manage the journey. The more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. Exhausted to the point of collapse, she fell asleep leaning against her father’s bed.

Half-asleep, someone shook her. “Little Wen, Little Wen, there’s a call for you.”

Wen Tingli jerked her head up — it was Head Nurse Liu.

The caretaker and Zhou Sao were both snoring; Xiao Taozi was sound asleep too. Looking at the clock on the wall, it was only five-thirty.

At this hour…

Wen Tingli followed Head Nurse Liu out without a word. Of course there was no actual telephone call — Li Chengying was waiting for her in the medicine storeroom, same as last time.

Wen Tingli quickly closed the door behind her. “How did it go?”

Li Chengying’s lips carried the ghost of a smile. “The other team has confirmed it was the White Dragon Gang’s doing. The White Dragon Gang has been secretly colluding with the Third Master Lu for some time now. As soon as word reached Peiping, they began positioning people both inside the White Dragon Gang and around the Third Master. I came specially to tell you: your part of the mission has been completed successfully. From now on, you don’t need to keep getting close to Lu Shicheng or Kuang Zhilin.”

Wen Tingli was stunned — the news had come so suddenly she couldn’t hide the delight in her eyes.

“Really?!”

Li Chengying nodded with a smile. “That Tianxing Warehouse you heard about yesterday is an old established firm from Ningbo, with ten warehouses in Shanghai. Yesterday evening, someone seized an important shipment of Tianxing’s goods in Hankou. With no other options, the owner turned to Lu Shicheng for help — and wouldn’t you know it, before this even happened, our own people had already traced the real man behind Tianxing Warehouse to Lu Shicheng himself. And here’s the coincidence — the ones giving Tianxing Warehouse trouble were none other than the ‘Lizui Trading Company.'”

Lizui! That shipping company in Hankou with the shady record.

“Once we looked into it, it turned out Lizui Trading Company has crossed swords with Tianxing Warehouse more than once — Tianxing has repeatedly intercepted Lizui’s shipments too. But we all know Lizui only opened for business a year ago and shouldn’t logically have the strength to go up against Lu Shicheng. For Lu Shicheng to strike back in earnest, and for the other side to have the strength to retaliate, there’s only one possibility — the White Dragon Gang and the Third Master Lu. Once we learned this, our people staked out at the docks began investigating the Ningbo gang overnight — the Ningbo gang currently hates Lizui Trading Company bitterly, and it didn’t take long to trace Lizui’s backer to someone who isn’t even in Hankou but in Peiping, since all of that company’s drafts have always been sent to Peiping first. Combined with the various clues we’d gathered before, we’ve now confirmed that the medicine shipment Deng Yuanzhang sent to the front — that was precisely the batch the White Dragon Gang had commissioned the Third Master Lu to privately bring in from Nanyang.”

Being a member of the Lu family himself, yet resorting to smuggling drugs for profit — if old Master Lu found out, he certainly wouldn’t let it slide. So the Third Master had to use the White Dragon Gang’s name to put the medicine on the market at a high price. But before it could officially go up for sale, Deng Yuanzhang had intercepted it. Once the White Dragon Gang learned the truth, they naturally couldn’t let Deng Yuanzhang live.

Which was why the assassination attempts had followed, one after another.

Wen Tingli felt her mood lighten several degrees, realizing Lu Shicheng had nothing to do with the attempt on Deng Yuanzhang’s life.

“There’s one more piece of good news — Deng Yuanzhang can speak now, and wants to see you. I’ll take you to her in a bit.”

Wen Tingli’s mind went blank; overjoyed, she covered her own mouth. Li Chengying suddenly added, “Xiang Zhi says you had your suitcase moved into the hospital ward? What, were you planning to run off somewhere in the middle of the night?”

Wen Tingli laughed a little sheepishly. “I—”

Li Chengying, helpless, pulled a five-thousand-silver-dollar bank note out of her pocket, along with a small box of gold bars. Wen Tingli stared at them, dumbfounded. Li Chengying sighed. “When we first asked for your help, we promised we wouldn’t put you in real danger — but just in case, we made preparations on both fronts anyway.”

“Sister Li…” Wen Tingli said, a little ashamed, walking over and, like a child, resting her head on Li Chengying’s shoulder. Li Chengying’s expression softened, and she gently stroked Wen Tingli’s head, full of tender understanding.

Wen Tingli suddenly lifted her head again. “So what about Lu Shicheng’s side—”

At that very moment, Lu Shicheng was also waiting for news at the Lu residence.

He knew perfectly well: if Wen Tingli were one of Lu Kejian’s people, the moment she’d left the Lu residence last night, she would have immediately reported to Lu Kejian that Boss Lou had come looking for him urgently.

And earlier, in order to confuse Lu Kejian, he had arranged for goods to be placed at several different checkpoints and warehouses in separate batches. The moment Wen Tingli made that call, Lu Kejian would soon know that the Tianxing Warehouse shipment was the crucial batch — and given that man’s usual style, he would mobilize every resource overnight to move that shipment stranded in Hankou.

In fact, that batch of raw material had taken the Ningbo factory a good half year to accumulate; this move of Lu Kejian’s was bound to hurt him badly.

But after receiving the news last night, he’d only had Tianxing Warehouse keep exchanging messages with the Hankou side, while secretly choosing to wait and watch from behind the scenes.

He had to first figure out just who Wen Tingli really was.

To adjust his strategy in time, he’d barely slept at all the night before.

He stood by his desk, staring intently out the window. Without his noticing, the entire garden had become wrapped in the pale blue light of dawn.

Over in Hankou, things should be settled by now too.

As he pondered this, he heard a stir from the driveway in front of the garden. Moments later, Kuang Zhilin hurried into the study.

Kuang Zhilin’s expression was quite relaxed. The moment he entered he said, “Our people in Hankou successfully moved Tianxing Warehouse’s shipment out.”

Lu Shicheng’s eyes flickered.

[And Lu Kejian’s side?]

“No movement all night.”

Lu Shicheng went still.

Kuang Zhilin continued: “With a chance like that, by rights Lu Kejian shouldn’t have let it slip by. I hear he’s even been eyeing the smuggled-medicine trade to raise funds — if he’d intercepted that shipment in time last night, it would’ve been enough for him to stage a fine comeback. Yet there was no response from that side at all last night — unless—”

Unless Wen Tingli wasn’t one of the Third Master’s people at all.

After all, once Lu Kejian learned the news, there was no way he wouldn’t act — even if he couldn’t intercept the shipment in time, he’d have burned the cargo ship overnight instead. This third uncle of his had always been like that, willing to do whatever it took to damage his interests.

Lu Shicheng paced a few steps before his desk, and when he turned back around, his expression had noticeably brightened. He pointed at the shipping manifest — no more waiting, get the shipment to Ningbo immediately.

“Already arranged,” Kuang Zhilin said cheerfully. “As for Miss Wen — just to be safe, I’ll still have Wushi keep an eye on her a while longer, but judging by what happened last night, she doesn’t seem to have any real problem. I hear Miss Wen still plans to enter the beauty pageant too? I’ll say it again — a lively girl like her, suddenly finding herself in front of someone like Young Master, wanting to get close again and again, even doing a few outlandish things to catch Young Master’s eye — there’s nothing so strange about that.”

He looked at Lu Shicheng, smiling.

Lu Shicheng sat down on the sofa, leaned back, and closed his eyes. All he knew was that the three characters “Wen Tingli” had lately been claiming no small share of his attention.

Since she wasn’t one of Lu Kejian’s people, then whatever she wanted to do was her own business.

That was her freedom; he had no right to interfere. All he needed to do was, as he’d originally planned, keep his distance from her starting today.

She was a bit noisy. He preferred quiet.

He told himself this in his heart.

But even as he thought it, he said nothing for a long while. Kuang Zhilin, reading the room, smiled and quickly changed the subject. “I’ll have them bring breakfast up.”