Madame is Pretending to be an Academic Slacker Again!

A certain mythical beast, belatedly realizing, found itself deceived by a more powerful and cunning man.

Ao Xinghao calmly glanced at Hu Yi, ”Stop insulting him, we’re still staying in his place. He probably doesn’t mean any harm, just doesn’t want us to find Sister Xin so quickly.”

Huo Zhen: ”Right, he likely knows we’re Sister Xin’s friends, that’s why he provided us with accommodation and the food in the fridge.”

Hu Yi scratched his head, ”But I still feel like he played us, damn it, makes us seem like we have low IQ.”

Ao Xinghao: ”Even without his help, your IQ isn’t very high.”

Huo Zhen: ”I second that.”

Hu Yi grumbled, ”Whose side are you guys on!”

Ao Xinghao: ”Alright, stop arguing. Let’s clear our thoughts. Since Master Tu doesn’t want us to see Sister Xin and has kept us here, it suggests that Sister Xin is likely not here anymore and won’t be coming back. More likely, she’s already left Qingcheng.”

Hu Yi: ”That makes sense! Ao Chongchong, your IQ’s not bad.”

Ao Xinghao rolled his eyes, ”Idiot, get in touch with your uncle and see if you can check the recent lists of trains, flights, and ferries leaving Qingcheng. If Sister Xin left, it’s probably one of these three modes of transportation.”

Hu Yi suddenly posed what he thought was a very smart question, ”Why wouldn’t Sister Xin just drive away herself?”

Ao Xinghao, speechless, ”Because there’s no race car here that’s up to her standards.”

Hu Yi: ”Makes a lot of sense...”

==

Qin Xin declined Xiangxiang’s invitation for lunch and left the Imperial Royal Academy.

Assuming the hacker identity of Huo Tingzun, she sent the website’s program design draft to Xiao Bailu, receiving a thumbs up in response, but the woman on the other end didn’t seem very enthusiastic, not as warm and energetic as before.

Qin Xin recalled standing her up last time, not going to the meeting, which left a nagging feeling.

So she suggested, ”Last time you said you wanted to meet and talk in detail, are you free for a lunch meeting today?”

Big companies often have these kinds of meetings, discussing work over lunch, relaxed and flexible.

Xiao Bailu, somewhat listlessly, agreed, ”Alright.”

The two agreed on a lunch location, and Qin Xin printed the materials and took a cab over.

Meanwhile, Xiao Bailu was feeling quite annoyed.

Since coming back from Qingcheng, she hadn’t met with Huo Tingzun.

To be precise, she couldn’t meet him.

She was a junior assistant, he was a big CEO, with vast distances between them.

Her daily work only required reporting to the lawyer mentoring her.

However, on her first day back at the law firm, she felt the office atmosphere was a bit off, and everyone looked at her differently.

It wasn’t that everyone was hostile towards her.

Rather, people cautiously avoided her, polite but distant, like when she went to make coffee in the break room, the colleagues who were happily chatting there immediately dispersed, as if she was some kind of virus.

Xiao Bailu thought, even though I came back from Qingcheng, I didn’t catch some deadly disease, I can’t possibly be contagious to you all.

Finally, before finishing work at noon, she understood what was going on while using the restroom.

She overheard a few female colleagues gossiping while touching up their makeup in front of the mirror:

”Do you think that new vixen, how did she manage to seduce the CEO? Even made the CEO personally send out an email to clarify?”

Xiao Bailu didn’t understand, just about to open the restroom stall door, but held back.

Huo Tingzun sent out an email to clarify?

Clarify what?