Once these words were spoken, Lu Man felt as if the entire world had suddenly fallen silent.

Even though Yu Qiao Qiao hadn't said anything, it was as if a clap of thunder had sounded in the world of the girl before her eyes.

After the thunderclap came total silence, followed by endless perplexity.

Lu Man was keenly aware of Yu Qiao Qiao's eyes losing focus.

She swallowed hard and then said to Yu Qiao Qiao, "Qiao Qiao, Qiao Qiao, are you all right?"

Under Lu Man's calling, Yu Qiao Qiao slowly came back to her senses.

She looked at Lu Man somewhat bewilderedly and then asked, "Sister Man Man, what did you just say? I don't think I heard you clearly."

Hearing Yu Qiao Qiao's words, despite having prepared mentally for a long time and having made up her mind, Lu Man suddenly felt shaken.

Facing Yu Qiao Qiao, she was momentarily at a loss for what to say.

So, in the end, she gave an awkward smile, and then said, "Nothing, nothing. You heard wrong."

It was a clearly lame statement, but Yu Qiao Qiao clung to it like a lifeline and exhaled in relief, saying, "Oh, is that so? I was wondering why I felt odd."

After she spoke, she asked Lu Man, "Sister Man Man, are you hungry? Should I make something?"

At this point, Lu Man dared not let Yu Qiao Qiao enter the kitchen. She quickly shook her head and said, "No. I'm not hungry. Are you hungry? I'll wash some fruit for you."

Having said that, she ran off toward the kitchen.

Meanwhile, after Lu Man had gone, Yu Qiao Qiao collapsed onto the sofa as if all her strength had been drained.

She gazed blankly ahead, her eyes showing a hint of helplessness, unsure of her thoughts.

Her ears were fine, so of course she had heard what Lu Man said.

After all, in that sentence were the two words she was most likely not to miss, and that mattered the most to her.

It's just that she really didn't want to hear it.

Because if she did hear it, she would have to face it.

And if she faced it, would the outcome definitely be good?

Yu Qiao Qiao felt her mind was in chaos, filled with numerous voices.

She tried hard to suppress her emotions to stay rational.

But... she couldn't do it.

To be honest, Yu Qiao Qiao... had some awareness of Chen Yan having more than one girlfriend.

After all, girls are sensitive, especially someone like Yu Qiao Qiao, who didn't enjoy gossiping and preferred to quietly observe—her sensitivity was even greater.

Chen Yan was not a meticulous person; he would always leave some traces.

Such as... with Yang Rou, and with He Mengxue...

Moreover, Yu Qiao Qiao, being the "main girlfriend," had joined the company in the early days of Chen Yan's entrepreneurship and had many good friends in the company.

Therefore, Yu Qiao Qiao would always find out something herself, or hear about something from others. It's just... she'd always pretended not to see or hear anything.

This ostrich approach had become her habit.

Now, with Lu Man laying everything bare, Yu Qiao Qiao was suddenly at a loss.

Fortunately, whether it was because of the years of grooming by Chen Yan or her maturity growing with age, after being confused for about ten minutes, Yu Qiao Qiao eventually calmed down.

She took a deep breath, then patted her round cheeks, telling herself to get a hold of herself.

Since the incident had already happened, continuing to evade it would be fruitless, so Yu Qiao Qiao bravely... took out her phone and sent a message to Lu Man.

[Sister Man Man, is it Sister Rou?]

...

At this moment, Lu Man, who was in the kitchen, was tidying up the knives.

Yu Qiao Qiao had been too frightening just now.

Although she didn't exhibit any aggression, she really seemed to have shattered her entire worldview, Lu Man was genuinely afraid she might harm herself in despair.

Just as Lu Man was still stashing away the knives, suddenly, her phone chimed with a "ding-dong."

Lu Man froze, reflexively feeling a bit guilty as if she was a thief, fearful it was Chen Yan looking for her yet also worried that it might just be seen by Yu Qiao Qiao.

So, she cautiously glanced toward the doorway, ensuring Yu Qiao Qiao wasn't nearby, before pulling out her phone to check her WeChat.

To her surprise, it wasn't Chen Yan reaching out to her, but Yu Qiao Qiao...

"Sister Man Man, is it Sister Rou?" Lu Man murmured as she read the message from Yu Qiao Qiao, "Qiao Qiao... you should start your sentence with 'Is,' not put it in the middle..."

Muttering to herself, Lu Man hesitated for a moment before sending out a simple "Yes."

After sending it, Lu Man thought for a moment and then tiptoed to the kitchen entrance to peek outside.

The kitchen corridor ended in the living room, and from the doorway of the kitchen, one could see Yu Qiao Qiao perfectly.

Lu Man checked Yu Qiao Qiao's expression to confirm her mood was relatively stable before sending out three more words, "Not just her."

Lu Man felt she was acting like a quack doctor practicing a crumbling technique.

But she thought that instead of cutting away piece by piece and waiting for Yu Qiao Qiao to find out about other people in the future, it was better to lay everything out frankly today and tell Yu Qiao Qiao all about it.

At least this way, Yu Qiao Qiao wouldn't have to fall apart over and over again...

...

Meanwhile, Yu Qiao Qiao in the living room had also seen the message from Lu Man.

After the first affirmative reply, there wasn't much of a stir in Yu Qiao Qiao's heart.

After all... it all was foreseeable, wasn't it?

The day when Chen Yan chased after Yang Rou out of the house, Yu Qiao Qiao had already sensed something awry between the two.

However, when Lu Man's second message arrived, Yu Qiao Qiao was momentarily stunned.

But then she chuckled bitterly and replied, [Is it He Meng Xue?]

This time Lu Man replied almost instantly.

[Yes.]

Yu Qiao Qiao let out a sigh. Honestly, it wasn't surprising...

After all, if such a beautiful and capable woman, with a good figure and family background, were relentlessly pursuing Yu Qiao Qiao, Yu Qiao Qiao... definitely wouldn't be tempted.

But she understood Chen Yan.

After all, He Meng Xue really was wonderful.

While Yu Qiao Qiao was making excuses for Chen Yan, her phone chimed again with another WeChat message.

Yu Qiao Qiao looked down to see Lu Man's fourth message, [Not just her.]

To be honest, for a moment, Yu Qiao Qiao thought maybe the message had been sent twice due to a network glitch.

Not just the two of them?

Were Yang Rou and He Meng Xue not enough?

Yu Qiao Qiao mentally counted and wondered who else it could be...

Surely it couldn't be... Phoenix?

The notion had hardly arisen before Yu Qiao Qiao shook her head to dismiss it.

No, it couldn't be.

Even if Chen Yan's taste had become a bit peculiar, Phoenix was not that kind of person.

Thinking of Phoenix, Yu Qiao Qiao couldn't help but remember something Phoenix had mentioned repeatedly over the past two years...

That was... that Chen Yan and Lu Man's relationship seemed a bit off.

Over the past two years, Yu Qiao Qiao had occasionally heard rumors, mostly regarding gossip about Chen Yan and Lu Man.

But... because boundaries between friends in the entertainment industry were quite blurred, and because rumors between celebrities and bosses always seemed dubious, and also because she had a good relationship with Lu Man,

So even though Yu Qiao Qiao had been somewhat puzzled once or twice, she never took it to heart.

Now, putting together the fact that Lu Man knew so much that she herself was unaware of, a chill ran through Yu Qiao Qiao.

She replied, [Are you involved too, Sister Man Man?]

This time, Lu Man took a very long time to respond.

It was so long that Yu Qiao Qiao considered going to the kitchen to talk face-to-face with her.

Eventually, Lu Man's WeChat message came, [Yes.]

Perhaps because Lu Man's silence had allowed Yu Qiao Qiao to mentally prepare herself, the outcome didn't surprise her much.

What surprised her was that, right after Lu Man seemed to have a bad network again, she sent another message, [There's more.]

Yu Qiao Qiao was silent now.

There were more?

Including herself, that made four.

Can a person's heart really be divided into so many pieces?

Thinking thus, Yu Qiao Qiao quickly reviewed the ambiguous figures around Chen Yan in her mind, and she locked onto a girl who she always felt somewhat questionable about.

This girl was her roommate she interacted with daily and her best confidante.

[Is it Yang Nuannuan?]

Lu Man's reply was much quicker this time, and surprisingly, her tone even conveyed a hint of gossip, [How did you come to suspect her? Do you think her relationship with Chen Yan is abnormal?]

Yu Qiao Qiao: ??

Lu Man's sudden counter-question left Yu Qiao Qiao baffled.

Is now really the time to be asking this?

Fortunately, although Lu Man's thoughts were sometimes erratic, she was reliable when dealing with serious matters.

After that brief detour, she straightened up and replied, [It's not her.]

Yu Qiao Qiao became even more puzzled.

Not Yang Nuannuan?

Yu Qiao Qiao didn't understand back then, but as she experienced more and more after graduation, she came to realize Yang Nuannuan's affection for Chen Yan and her complex feelings towards herself.

Moreover, Yang Nuannuan herself was very pretty and capable, and was now taking a prominent role in Chen Yan's company.

Yu Qiao Qiao had always thought she would be one of Chen Yan's girlfriends...

But it's not her?

Then who could it be?

Next, Yu Qiao Qiao let her thoughts wander, guessing Mei Li, Phoenix, Jiang Xiaoyun, the three girls one after another.

And you know, girls are all gossipy.

Originally, Lu Man merely wanted to clarify things for Yu Qiao Qiao, but then suddenly came across so many women related to Chen Yan, and so she inquired about each one, noting them down.

She planned to investigate the situation of these women when she had time, to see if Chen Yan was going to be drawn into more...

And so the two women, one in the living room and one on the sofa, communicating by WeChat although separated by less than 10 meters, chatted for more than ten minutes.

Finally, Yu Qiao Qiao couldn't guess any more.

After Lu Man had denied the seventh person, Yu Qiao Qiao finally asked, [Sister Man Man, please tell me directly. Who else... who are they all...]

[I almost guessed all the people around Chen Yan. If I keep guessing, I could only think of Brother Ying.]

This time, Lu Man's reply was swift, [Why don't you guess her then?]

Yu Qiao Qiao: ???

Yu Qiao Qiao was utterly bewildered.

Brother Ying??

Chen Yan??

In her mind, she couldn't combine these two names together.

They don't match at all...

And anyway... Brother Ying is in a relationship?

...

At this moment, Chen Yan was unaware that on Qin Island, Lu Man was doing exactly what he most wanted to accomplish.

He was still fretting over the matter of Zhao Qingtian.

Chen Yan had a plan on how to bring down Zhao Qingtian and the people behind him—leaving them with nothing.

But there was one critical problem that hadn't been resolved up to now.

That was... where exactly Zhao Qingtian and the people behind him were hiding that money.

Before, Chen Yan hadn't considered this an issue, but after Yang Rou had worked tirelessly for half a month, he thought it was a problem.

Thus, he pondered how to ascertain the whereabouts of that money.

The most convenient and direct method was for Chen Yan to approach Zhao Qingtian himself and try to ask him about the money.

Regardless of whether Zhao Qingtian was suspicious or not, as long as he thought of where the money went, Chen Yan would know.

But this approach had two problems: one was Chen Yan's concern that Zhao Qingtian could be like Yang Rou or Cao Weiguo—calm and steadied, not affected by him at all, not even considering the direction he wanted.

The other was... with Chen Yan's current hostile stance against Zhao Qingtian, it would be impossible to even meet him.

That left... only one other viable method Chen Yan felt might reveal the money's whereabouts: Zhao Xuan.

As Zhao Qingtian's adversary for many years, and now the Family Head of a Zhao family branch and a director after a merger, Chen Yan felt that with Zhao Xuan's acumen, he would have investigated where this money went.

So... perhaps he was the only one around Chen Yan who knew the location of that money.

Thus, the question became, how to meet Zhao Xuan...

Just as Chen Yan was mulling it over, Zhao Ying, dressed in training clothes, rushed in from outside.

Seeing Zhao Ying like that, Chen Yan was drawn out of his reverie and looked at her, asking, "What's wrong? Brother Ying. Why are you in such a panic?"

Upon seeing Chen Yan, Zhao Ying seemed to find her anchor, saying, "Chen Yan, is something wrong with my dad?"

Chen Yan looked puzzled, "Why would you say that?"

Zhao Ying said, "All of a sudden, I don't know why, I just feel anxious. Like something bad has happened..."

Chen Yan was startled, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

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