Qiao Ying sat on the new sofa with a laptop on her lap, tapping the keyboard.
The room had been restored to its original state. The damaged items were replaced with new ones, and the bloodstains on the walls and floor were completely cleaned up.
The air was fresh. No one would have thought a corpse was lying on this very spot last night.
As her fingertips danced across the keyboard, the codes on the screen changed rapidly.
She easily hacked into the Capital City resident database and successfully screened out an old acquaintance from among tens of millions of records—Red Heart K.
This old acquaintance had casually mentioned to her that he would retire in the Capital City, and he really came.
—Wei Qingyuan,
he even gave himself such an artistic name.
The strongest branch under the Dark Shadow was hidden in the Capital City. Qiao Ying was not sure if this branch was now taken over by the retired Red Heart K.
After all, no matter who it was, even those few big shots who held sway over everything, as long as they didn't die, they could never completely break away from the Dark Shadow.
Retirement was just an excuse to change identity and continue shady business.
As Qiao Ying casually browsed the new identity of this old acquaintance, she found the new background very clean. He even posed as a philanthropist.
As Qiao Ying looked at the familiar face on the screen, she narrowed her eyes slightly, with a trace of brutal excitement flashing through them.
She always preferred taking the initiative to attack, rather than sitting back and waiting for them to come looking for death themselves.
She would start with this one.
Red Heart K, Wei Qingyuan.
It was about time. This great philanthropist would host a charity auction under the name of public welfare in two days.
With Red Heart K’s current identity, those who would attend were definitely no ordinary people...
Two days later,
A large-scale charity auction was held as scheduled at a private mansion in the city center of the Capital City.
All kinds of top-level luxury cars arrived one after another. Most of the who’s who in the Capital City came, many bringing their families.
It was a charity event, so everyone wore simple clothes, but if you looked closely, they were also very meticulously dressed from head to toe, with extraordinary temperament.
They could be summarized in one sentence – they looked rich.
They were all familiar faces from the same circle. They chatted while having their invitations verified and entered the venue.
Qiao Ying got out of a taxi,
wearing a T-shirt and black fitted casual pants.
She successfully attracted everyone's attention.
Not to mention her simple outfit and low-key transportation stood out too much. The moment the deep blue, dusty, noisy taxi that had been running for who knew how many years pulled over, it automatically “won” over everything.
Such a taxi was already an oddball on this street, let alone parking in front of this mansion.
Living up to everyone's curiosity, the girl headed straight for them after getting out of the car.
Was she also here to attend the auction?
The staff member wearing Bluetooth headset at the door stopped the girl smoothly and sized her up subtly. Still with the same polite and respectful tone as with previous guests, he said, “Please present your invitation.”
Although dressed simply with transportation that was...low profile, her face and temperament were anything but simple or low profile.
Moreover, some rich people just loved to travel low-key.
Sure enough,
the girl handed out an invitation.
The staff member took it, opened it, and another staff member holding a laptop immediately looked up and verified her name on the guest list.
After confirming she was on the list, he nodded.
The staff member folded the invitation and respectfully bent down to gesture for her to enter, “Miss Qiao, please come in.”
“What’s with the Wei Mansion to actually invite riffraffs to an event like this?” Su Lingwei blurted out.
As soon as Su Lingwei uttered those words,
her father admonished her, “Lingwei, watch your words.”
Su Lingwei pouted and withdrew her gaze from Qiao Ying, turning to follow the staff into the hall.
Qiao Ying leisurely followed the staff to the hall, taking in her surroundings.
Along the way, she saw many honorary certificates of philanthropists hanging on the walls.
Qiao Ying: “Mr. Wei really has a loving heart.”
“Mr. Wei has been dedicated to charity throughout his life. He is also the vice chairman of the national charity federation. He’s a well-deserved living Buddha reborn.” The staff said sweetly,
not seeing the sarcasm in Qiao Ying’s eyes and at the corner of her lips.
“Miss Qiao?”
Someone suddenly called out to her from behind. The footsteps drew near.
Qiao Ying turned around, eyebrows slightly raised.
“Miss Qiao, it really is you?” Qin Yuchen looked surprised and delighted.
Qin Yan: What a nice surprise!
In such a big city as the Capital City, what were the odds of running into her!
Seeing the visitor, Qiao Ying subconsciously glanced back at the empty space behind Qin Yuchen, "Where is your Third Uncle?"
Then she greeted Qin Yan, her eyes asking in passing: Where is Qin Hanyue?
Qin Yuchen: “My third uncle doesn’t like this kind of occasion. He usually lets me handle them.”
Qiao Ying nodded slightly. So Qin Yuchen was the key cultivation target of the Qin Family. Even Qin Hanyue's right-hand man was lent to him.
Qin Yuchen: “What brings Miss Qiao here?”
Qiao Ying: “Just want to broaden my horizons.”
No matter how many times Qin Yan heard these nonsense words from Qiao Ying, he still couldn't help but think: You need to broaden your horizons?
Then Qin Yan squeezed in a quiet, careful reminder, “Miss Qiao, this is a charity auction.” A public welfare event for spreading love. No fighting or killing allowed.
Qiao Ying: “I’m here to spread love.”
Qin Yan gave a dry laugh. Images flashed through his mind - just two days ago, Qiao Ying was standing calmly with a bizarre corpse lying next to her.
Qin Yuchen smiled and followed up, “Miss Qiao still has such a warm and loving heart. Shall we go in together then?”
Qiao Ying didn't say much and agreed.
Qin Yan walked behind them, watching Qin Yuchen whose eyes were blinded. He shook his head secretly.
He sneakily took out his phone and snapped a photo.
In the office,
Qin Hanyue looked up from a pile of work, casually grabbed his phone to check,
Qin Yan sent him a photo.
At first glance he recognized Qiao Ying's back profile, and walking side by side next to Qiao Ying was Qin Yuchen. In the photo, Qin Yuchen had his head turned sideways speaking to Qiao Ying, half of his grinning face visible.
There was still more than half an hour before the auction started. Qiao Ying, Qin Yuchen and Qin Yan sat in the middle row of seats in the hall, with Qin Yan on the innermost seat, Qiao Ying on the outer seat, and Qin Yuchen in between.
Qin Yuchen: “I never had a chance to properly thank Miss Qiao. I wanted to treat Miss Qiao to dinner last time to express my heartfelt gratitude, but I didn’t get the opportunity either. ”
Qiao Ying: “I took your money to save my life. Young Master Qin doesn’t need to keep thanking me.”
Qin Yuchen smiled, “But my life is worth more than 100 thousand.” No matter how he tried, he could never repay this debt of gratitude.
Qiao Ying looked at him, “Then why did you give so little?”
She was short on money back then.
Qin Yuchen didn't expect her to say that. He was at a loss for words for a moment.
Qin Yan shook his head. Young Master Qin is still too young.
“At the time, I saw that Miss Qiao was still a student. I was afraid that too large an amount would be difficult for Miss Qiao to handle properly. My vision was too narrow.” Being asked so directly, he was not embarrassed, just a little awkward.
“If Miss Qiao is willing, can you give me another chance to repay your kindness? Or is there anything you fancy later in the auction? I can bid for it and give it to Miss Qiao as a gift?”
Qiao Ying: “No need. I’m not short on money now.”
Qin Yuchen was tongue-tied again, then smiled. Deeply attracted by Qiao Ying’s straightforward and refreshing personality.
Later, Qin Yuchen found an opportunity to ask, “I heard from Assistant Qin that Miss Qiao met my Third Uncle while traveling in M Continent during summer vacation? You got acquainted with him there?"
Qin Yuchen had always been puzzled about a high school girl traveling alone to M Continent during summer vacation.
Qiao Ying responded with an “Mm”, and probably also felt going on vacation was a bit far-fetched. She added, “Things were chaotic over there. Fortunately your Third Uncle took care of me.”
Qin Yuchen instantly pictured all kinds of scenarios in his mind about his Third Uncle rescuing the beauty heroically.
He completely ignored the constipated expression on Qin Yan’s face next to him.
“In fact, after I was taken out of Yun City, I wanted to thank Miss Qiao in person, but I was injured at that time. So I asked my Third Uncle to go to Yun City on my behalf.” Qin Yuchen always felt like his Third Uncle and Qiao Ying met before the M Continent.
The biggest possibility was when his Third Uncle went to Yun City on his behalf.
Qiao Ying's eyebrows ticked slightly. She realized then that only Qin Hanyue and Qin Yan were in the car.
People gradually filled the seats.
The auction started.
The host stood on stage delivering opening remarks.
After saying a bunch of words of thanks, he announced, “Next, let us welcome the host of this charity auction, Mr. Wei Qingyuan!”
Subsequently, an old man surrounded by several bodyguards appeared on stage.
