At 10 a.m., inside Maan Coffee.
Leaning by the window, Li Qiao lazily stirred her coffee with a spoon, her face showing signs of fatigue. With her cheek propped on the back of her hand, her eyes looked drowsy and unfocused.
Across from her, Tang Yiting took a sip of her coffee, then stabbed her phone screen with frustration.
"Tell me—was it Jiang Yi? I'm betting it was her, 100%, no doubt about it!"
Li Qiao glanced at her, then turned her gaze out the window, calm and unhurried.
"We'll find out soon enough. No rush."
"What do you mean no rush?" Tang Yiting slammed her palm on the table, exasperated. She raised her phone in front of Li Qiao's face.
"Come on, look at this! The post has over a thousand comments already! Aren't you even a little worried about getting your graduation delayed for 'improper conduct'?"
Li Qiao arched a brow, voice lazy and unbothered.
"I've got my own way."
"What way?" Tang Yiting leaned in, eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Wait—are you finally making a move? You're not letting Jiang Yi off the hook this time, are you?"
Li Qiao gave a faint smile, just a little cocky.
"Something like that, yeah."
…
After lunch, she and Tang Yiting went their separate ways.
The gossip post on the university forum had already been locked by the admin, but that didn't stop the rumor-hungry crowd from buzzing with curiosity.
Li Qiao sat in her Benz, one hand on the steering wheel, glancing down at the forum page.
Boring.
If people had even half a brain, they wouldn't be getting yanked around by some second-rate gossip post.
She considered something for a moment, then pulled up Li Shaoquan's number and gave him a call.
It rang for a while before he finally picked up.
"Who the hell is calling at this hour?"
His voice was groggy and annoyed.
Li Qiao glanced at the time on the dashboard.
"Quit whining. Time to get to work."
Silence on the other end for a beat—then a loud thud, followed by a wail.
"Aargh! I just fell off my bed!"
The future godfather of the Red Hacker Alliance had just crashed to the floor.
Muttering curses, he gulped down some stale tea from his nightstand and asked,
"So? Who am I tracking this time?"
"No one," Li Qiao said lazily. "Just crash Med Uni's forum."
He didn't even ask why—just started limping toward his study.
"That's it? Pfft. This is beneath me. I mean, come on, I'm the future Red Hacker godfather, and you've got me doing—"
Beep—beep—beep.
She hung up.
Scratching his head and yawning, Li Shaoquan sighed in resignation and got to work.
Crashing the forum? Child's play. He had it down in minutes.
After the forum went dark, he sent Li Qiao a WeChat:
[Forum's down. Any other commands, boss?]
Five minutes later—
Li Qiao: [Document]
Li Qiao: Take the server down until next Monday. Then post this pinned at the top.
He opened the file, skimmed it, and his sleep vanished instantly.
"Holy crap… That's brutal. Straight-up gangster move."
Next Monday? Wasn't that the university's thesis defense day?
Yeah… his boss wasn't someone you wanted to mess with.
…
That evening, dusk was thick in the air.
Li Qiao drove to the intersection of the East Suburb highway and main road, pulling into the East Suburb Sports Complex.
It was a high-end facility that included golf, bowling, darts, shooting—basically every kind of luxury recreation you could think of. The grounds were massive.
She cruised straight into the underground lot, parked, then called Nan Xin.
"I'm here."
Nan Xin's cheerful voice came through the speaker:
"Babe, hurry up! I'm in Bowling Room 2. Just follow the plot of a CEO romance novel—"