Not far from the banquet, a man's gaze had been fixed on Qiao Xia ever since she appeared. He was a quite remarkable man, wearing a white shirt and a black evening suit that made him look as graceful as a gentleman, as if a scholar dressed in jade and lan. His brow bones were slightly prominent, giving his eyes an especially deep and focused look, with a high nose and thin lips that composed an extremely handsome and sexy, charming face.
There was an aura of dominance and irrefutability about him, with a touch of asceticism in his bearing that also made him seem excessively proud and indifferent, like a noble young master from a bygone era, observing every joy and sorrow of Qiao Xia.
The man in black standing behind him had been scrolling through his phone all the while. Despite looking very capable and cunning, he let out an unsophisticated laugh and raised his head to say, "Fourth Young Master, your little goddess is heartbroken. If you pity her, you'd better go and take her away."
"I assure you, she won't think you're crazy."
"Go on, Pikachu!"
The man with thin lips lightly opened them and said, "Xiao Wu, shut up!"
Gu Xiaowu said coolly, "Fourth Young Master, I've noticed that you have a serious peeping habit, really, it's very uncivilized and ungentlemanly. As your bodyguard, I must remind you that such behavior is quite dangerous."
The man's tone was indifferent, "Gu Xiaowu, the Somalia branch needs..."
"Fourth Young Master, I'll shut up!" Gu Xiaowu gestured zipping his mouth and inwardly made wild complaints, my lord is such a closet romantic.
Qiao Xia felt suffocated and wanted nothing more than to get far away from this suffocating place.
"Xiao Xia!" Qiao Lan, of all people, wouldn't let her escape. She came over arm in arm with Li Hui, looking like a victorious queen, her eyes filled with triumph as she looked at Qiao Xia, "You've come down. I was looking for you."
All eyes turned to Qiao Xia. Amid the glittering luxury around, Qiao Xia stood out in her white shirt and sky-blue jeans, with a nondescript watch on her wrist and an unknown brand of bag. In front of all these finely dressed women, she seemed unusually plain.
However, it was this very uniqueness that accentuated her natural beauty.
Joining them was a handsome man whom Qiao Xia recognized. It was Liu Yitian, the Third Young Master of the Liu family, notorious for his bad reputation and poor treatment of women. Though wealthy, he was on the women's blacklist of undesirable contacts. If one were unfortunate enough to catch his eye, then good luck to them.
"Third Young Master Liu, this is my sister, Qiao Xia. She's also been very keen on meeting you. I'll introduce you two, whether it works out depends on you both," she said.
Liu Yitian took a glance at Qiao Xia and, unceremoniously, touched her face, "Quite pretty."
Qiao Xia dodged Liu Yitian's hand and frowned at him, which displeased him.
"Unappreciative," he remarked.
Qiao Lan smiled, "Third Young Master Liu, please don't mind her. My sister has always been impolite; she's been spoiled at home."
The Liu family was one of the prominent families in City A, powerful and wealthy. With Qiao Lan's status, she couldn't possibly ask Liu Yitian to come. She deliberately had another guy, who fawns over dogs, invite him over. She knew Liu Yitian liked Qiao Xia's type.
As long as Liu Yitian took a fancy to Qiao Xia,
She would neither be able to live nor die at ease. Even if she was lucky enough to be liked by Liu Yitian, it wouldn't be a good thing. Liu Yitian was lecherous, so how would he offend both the Qiao family and the Li family for a woman?
"Third Young Master, I'm not close with Qiao Lan, so don't take her words to heart," Qiao Xia said. "In fact, we can even be considered enemies. When an enemy introduces you to me, you should know what kind of calculations she has made. With your intelligence, Third Young Master, I don't need to tell you what she thinks of you."
Qiao Lan's face changed colors, then she quickly said, "Qiao Xia, I sincerely wanted to introduce a boyfriend to you, you always said you wanted to meet some powerful figures. Third Young Master here is one, aren't you pleased? Third Young Master, I really want to connect you two, it's not what Qiao Xia said."
"What you think of me doesn't matter, who do you think you are?" sneered Liu Yitian.
Qiao Lan's face turned deathly pale. Today she was the princess, the center of everyone's attention. All the women were jealous of her, marrying the diamond king, Li Hui, who garnered so much admiration. She wanted all eyes on her, but now, being mocked by Liu Yitian, she was furious yet dared not express it.
In her heart, Qiao Lan despised Qiao Xia to the extreme.
It was all because of Qiao Xia. If not for Qiao Xia, how could she have been ridiculed by Liu Yitian and face such embarrassment?