At this moment, Li Qiao was strolling leisurely toward the dorms, sunglasses on, having just walked past the university's Mingyuan Lake.
Her graduation thesis was still on her dorm room computer, and her defense was scheduled for next week.
"Qiao Qiao—!" someone called out by the lake.
Li Qiao paused slightly, lowering her chin and glancing over the top of her sunglasses to see Tang Yiting.
Standing beside her was a familiar figure—Wen Shi, the bartender from the entertainment district club.
Tang Yiting quickly walked over, her eyes scanning Li Qiao from head to toe. Tilting her chin proudly, she asked, "Boss, did you forget something?"
Ah, she was reminding her about that Chanel handbag.
Li Qiao casually jerked her chin toward the campus gate. "It's in the trunk. Go grab it yourself later."
"Thanks, Boss!" Tang Yiting immediately clung to her arm with a shameless grin. "Come on, tell me—who was that big shot you left with that night?"
Just then, Wen Shi also approached, a gentle smile playing at the corners of his lips.
Li Qiao didn't answer Tang Yiting's question. Instead, she looked at Wen Shi and asked in a calm voice, "What brings you to the medical university?"
"I'm here with my advisor for some business. Ran into Xiao Tang by chance," Wen Shi replied with a mild smile.
Back when Tang Yiting often accompanied Li Qiao to the lounge at the entertainment club, she had become quite familiar with Wen Shi.
Unhappy that Li Qiao had changed the subject, Tang Yiting pinched her wrist and whispered, "Wen just told me… that you left with Shang Shaoyan that night? The Shang Shaoyan—the devil of Nanyang? Is that true?"
Li Qiao arched a brow and glanced at Tang Yiting's eager face—it was clear her gossip instincts were in full blaze.
Lifting her sunglasses slightly, Li Qiao simply shook her head without confirming or denying anything.
Tang Yiting straightened her neck in disappointment and slapped her thigh. "Ugh, I knew it. There's no way you'd know someone like Shang Shaoyan. Then you—"
Before she could finish, Li Qiao cut her off expressionlessly, "He's not a devil."
Tang Yiting froze: "!!!"
She didn't say anything out loud, but her lips clearly mouthed: Holy… shit?
Li Qiao raised her brows coolly. "I'm heading to the dorm. You two talk."
"No way, I'm coming too. Xiao Wen, have fun on your own!" Tang Yiting ditched Wen Shi and hurried after Li Qiao with zero hesitation.
Wen Shi stayed where he was, watching Li Qiao's slender, aloof figure disappear into the distance. His gentle gaze flickered with a trace of quiet mockery.
…
Li Qiao and Tang Yiting arrived at the dormitory building together. Just as they reached the entrance, they ran into Jiang Yi, their roommate.
Jiang Yi eyed Li Qiao with undisguised hostility. Plain T-shirt. Plain jeans. Then she glanced at her own designer dress, and a sense of superiority welled up inside her. "You staying here tonight?"
Li Qiao glanced at her through her sunglasses and replied coldly, "No."
The truth was, Jiang Yi had held a grudge against Li Qiao for years. The root of it went back to their first year—Jiang Yi, confident in her looks, had expected to become the campus beauty, maybe even the medical university's top goddess. But all that spotlight had been stolen by Li Qiao.
Jiang Yi remembered the campus beauty competition vividly—eighty percent of the male students had voted for Li Qiao. She had lost in utter humiliation.
From that moment on, Jiang Yi had seen Li Qiao as a thorn in her side—constantly throwing shade, spreading rumors, even scheming in the dark. It had gone on for four full years.
"Oh, off to 'work' again?" Jiang Yi sneered sarcastically.
So what if she was pretty? Still just a broke girl selling her body to pay for tuition.
Tang Yiting couldn't take it anymore. Just as she was about to fire back, Li Qiao calmly called out, "Let's go."
Fuming, Tang Yiting followed behind her. Once inside the dormitory building, she was still stomping her feet. "We're about to graduate—why are you still letting her get away with this crap? What does she mean, 'off to work again'? You should've just dropped your dad's name and crushed her!"
Li Qiao only smiled, unconcerned. "My dad doesn't let me flaunt our wealth."
And that was true.
When she was seven, she'd been kidnapped.
Since then, very few people knew that the precious daughter of the Nanyang Li family was actually named Li Qiao.