The smile at the corner of Shang Yu's lips faded, replaced once again by his cool, distant demeanor. His icy gaze silently landed on the left pocket of Li Qiao's hoodie.
At that moment, her hand was still tucked in the pocket. Noticing his stare, a sudden thought came to her. She pulled out her hand, revealing the small, crumpled charm pouch in her palm. "Someone just gave me a safety charm," she said lightly. "Supposedly it protects you wherever you go. If Master Yan likes it, I'll offer it as a gift."
The gloom on Shang Yu's face visibly lessened. He stopped twirling his fingers. To Li Qiao's surprise, he reached his arm out the car window and, with deliberate elegance and pride, took the charm from her hand. "Mm. I'll take it."
As he picked it up, the rough pad of his finger brushed against her palm. It tickled. It tingled. Like a current of electricity seeping under her skin, it left her heart quietly rippling.
Li Qiao lowered her head, a faint smile tugging at her lips. The heavy fog in her chest seemed to finally lift.
Kind of adorable.
So even the mighty overlord of Nanyang could get jealous over something like this?
Was that what this was—jealousy?
"What brings you to the old district?" Shang Yu was now idly playing with the still-warm charm pouch, which seemed to carry the lingering heat of her hand.
Li Qiao brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, shrugged lazily, and replied, "Had something to take care of. You?"
Shang Yu looked at her, his gaze unreadable. "Same."
"Then… I'll let you get back to it, Master Yan. I'm heading home." Li Qiao pointed her thumb twice toward the street.
Shang Yu glanced down at the red charm in his hand, his thin lips curving ever so slightly. "Alright. Drive safe."
The word "safe" seemed to come out a bit heavier, more pointed than the rest.
Li Qiao had a feeling the true culprit here… was that charm.
She sighed silently, bid Shang Yu farewell, and walked toward her parked Mercedes down the street.
Behind her, as the automatic door of the black business van slid shut, the red charm pouch fell—without hesitation—into a nearby trash can on the sidewalk.
…
That afternoon, Li Qiao received a phone call from her uncle, Duan Yuanhui, informing her that her thesis defense would be held the next day.
Over the call, Li Qiao lazily asked, "Is there a verdict on Jiang Yi's situation yet?"
Duan Yuanhui answered while casually flipping through the report on his desk. "During her time at school, she displayed poor conduct and even spread malicious rumors behind the scenes, causing chaos on campus. The school has decided to expel her."
That was a serious consequence.
A student on the verge of graduation, now losing her diploma because of a scandal—it really wasn't worth it.
Li Qiao responded with a flat, unsympathetic "Oh."
Duan Yuanhui took a sip of tea, then brought up another matter. "Did you know your thesis was plagiarized?"
Li Qiao paused just as she was about to hang up. "No."
"If it was just the earlier issues, I might not have pushed for such a harsh penalty. But yesterday afternoon, during a routine review of your thesis outlines, the committee discovered that Jiang Yi's and yours had 50% similarity—especially in the source materials from the Bio Research Institute and the experimental procedures. They were practically identical.
And as you know, in bioengineering, plagiarism is taken way more seriously than personal scandals. Even if we didn't expel her, she'd never graduate on time."
Li Qiao raised her brows with mild amusement. "So how did you confirm she copied mine?"
Duan Yuanhui chuckled dryly. "You think I don't know that you're the only student in the entire school with access to the Bio Research Institute's records?"
"Oh, Uncle, you're amazing," Li Qiao praised lazily, not sounding impressed at all.
"Little brat," he muttered, then hung up.