The message was brief, perfectly matching his style.
[Report to Echo Café on the east side of Griffin’s north gate this afternoon.]
Wow!
Mr. Jiang, such a busy and important figure, had actually arranged this for her so quickly.
She knew about this café.
As the best aristocratic school, Griffin’s surrounding businesses were all under the Griffin umbrella.
Echo was the most high-end coffee brand.
Not long ago, it had even trended on social media due to its exceptionally high hiring standards—even regular staff were required to have both good looks and high academic qualifications.
Of course, correspondingly, the pay was definitely high.
She had looked into it earlier—there were no work-study positions within the aristocratic school, and high-end shops outside never hired part-timers.
Without Jiang Yuan’s help, she really wouldn’t have known how to both attend school and legally earn money.
The girl immediately replied:
[Okay~ Thank you, Mr. Jiang. You’ve really helped me a lot. Wishing you a pleasant day~]
Pressing send, she looked up and met Lin Qi’s tightly furrowed brow.
The boy stared at the corner of her mouth, his tone inexplicably stiff:
“Who is it?”
Yan Sui hadn’t expected Lin Qi to suddenly ask such a question. When she looked up, the smile at the corner of her mouth hadn’t yet faded.
“Just a kind person I met before,” she said vaguely, clearly not wanting to elaborate.
He felt that pressing further would seem strange.
But not asking left him inexplicably uncomfortable.
Lin Qi moved his lips, swallowing down the many comforting words he had wanted to say earlier.
The car fell silent.
Yan Sui, however, was in an excellent mood and was already looking forward to the afternoon.
Her major was philosophy.
This, of course, was also arranged by Lin Jian.
Philosophy was the safest, least result-oriented subject.
It was easy to muddle through and graduate, making it a popular choice for young masters and misses just looking to coast through their degrees.
But Yan Sui unexpectedly liked it.
Her socialization was actually quite limited. Back in the mountains, the Godfather had taught her things that were too hardcore.
She was completely clueless about so-called substance and existence, feelings and pursuits, ethics and morality, and the various rules of social interaction.
Before she left, the Godfather found a few TV dramas about worldly affairs and told her to watch them.
He said that after watching them, she’d fit right in.
It was indeed useful—she was good at applying what she learned and handling things with ease.
But that didn’t mean she understood everything.
Now, exposed to this entirely new framework, she was brimming with interest.
She never missed a class and completed all her assignments seriously.
So, when reporting to the café this afternoon, she definitely needed to properly discuss her part-time schedule to ensure her class times were free.
Outside the car window, the scenery receded.
In the quiet, Lin Qi couldn’t help but glance awkwardly at Yan Sui again.
Yan Sui didn’t notice his awkwardness at all.
At the same time, he was also wondering what exactly he was unhappy about.
Was it because he got slapped?
Or was it because Yan Sui smiled while replying to that message?
Who could make her smile like that?
The stinging slap mark on his face, thanks to timely icing, was now only slightly red.
He glanced at his profile in the rearview mirror and thought, It healed way too fast.
Wait, wasn’t healing fast a good thing?
Lin Qi irritably shook off the jumbled thoughts in his head and spoke up:
“Are you going back to the dorm, or shall we grab a meal together?”
Yan Sui smiled at him: “I’ll head straight back. I have a lot to do this afternoon.”
“Thank you again for today. I would have been terrified without you.”
Lin Qi unconsciously straightened his back, the earlier annoyance completely swept away, and he couldn’t help but curl the corners of his mouth.
“It’s what I should do. Sis…”
He wanted to call her “sis” to show closeness, but the word got stuck halfway, unable to come out.
He choked slightly, then swallowed it back.
The car stopped, and the young girl stepped out, waving at him:
“Bye~”
She returned to her room.
Upon stepping through the door, she paused and carefully scanned the surroundings.
Every detail was as usual, no different from when she left—
Or was it?
Her gaze lingered on her bedside.
She was used to leaving a glass of water by her bedside. When she left earlier in a hurry, she remembered there was still more than half a glass left.
Now, the water level seemed slightly lower than before she left.
Just a tiny bit, barely noticeable.
Her slender fingertips brushed over every possible hiding spot, confirming that no one was monitoring her here.
Then she sat down at the desk, took out a pencil, and gently scraped the lead.
Black powder fell, quickly accumulating into a small pile on the white paper.
She used a tissue to pick up the glass, then carefully scraped the black powder with a knife and lightly sprinkled it onto the surface of the glass.
Soon, messy fingerprints gradually became clear.
All of them were her own.
Wait…
Found you.
Several fingerprints were noticeably larger than her own, overlapping hers. If not examined closely, they could easily be overlooked.
Yan Sui licked her lips and gently lifted the unfamiliar fingerprints with tape.
They weren’t very clear, but at least two things could be confirmed.
First, someone really was following her, had entered her room, and touched her things. It wasn’t her imagination.
Second, this person was likely a head taller than her, with a moderately slim build and long fingers.
It was a man, meticulous and skilled.
Recalling the fleeting glimpse of clothing in the hospital corridor, the profile matched.
Yan Sui began to imagine who would win if she confronted this person directly.
She was agile but lacked strength. The Godfather often tapped her head for being clever but lazy.
She was good at stabbing from behind or dealing with someone with no combat skills face-to-face.
But if she were to confront this stalker directly, she wasn’t entirely confident.
Fortunately, the other party meant no harm for now.
Yan Sui wondered if the Godfather had attracted the police’s attention and if they had discovered her connection to him.
Could the cops be secretly investigating her?
But that seemed unlikely.
That old fox, the Godfather, wouldn’t leave traces so easily.
Even if he did, he would have warned her long ago.
But aside from that, what other reason could there be for someone to follow her?
How strange.
And drinking her water… even stranger.
The young girl scratched her head.
She carefully placed the lifted fingerprints on a piece of white paper and tucked it between the pages of a book.
Then she stretched lazily and glanced at the glass again.
Hmm…
Should she keep using this glass?
After finishing his work, Jiang Yuan stared blankly at the message on his phone.
Yan Sui’s reply had been directly screenshotted and set as his lock screen.
The little wavy symbol was as vivid as her smiling eyes.
How could she be so adorable…
After a while, as if remembering something, he touched his lips again.
His brows furrowed, but the tips of his ears turned an odd shade of red.
Since the last time he was almost discovered, he had become much more cautious.
Only when he was certain Yan Sui was not in the dormitory and would not return immediately would he carefully go in to absorb her scent.
And before leaving, he would erase all traces of his presence.
Disgusting, like a rat that cannot see the light.
How pathetic.
He had already made up his mind with the help of medication to stop doing such things.
But after seeing her, after hearing her, he found himself completely unable to restrain it.
But he would definitely keep it under control, absolutely.
If one day he became like his father.
He would definitely kill himself first.
The office phone suddenly rang.
His emotions were interrupted, and his temples throbbed faintly.
However, upon hearing what the other person said, his heart skipped a beat.
“President Jiang, Student Yan Sui has come to the shop. Everything has been arranged as you instructed.”