Tears welled up in Jiang Yi's eyes as she caught sight of the scene. With malicious intent, she choked out, "Lizhou, it was all her! She set me up! Why did you hit me?"
Chen Lizhou turned around abruptly and shot her a fierce glare. "You shut up. I'll deal with you later."
The next second, with anger still written across his face, Chen Lizhou suddenly bent slightly at the waist in front of Li Qiao and spoke in a tone full of guilt, "Miss Li, I sincerely apologize for today's incident. I'm truly sorry for disrupting your thesis defense."
Lu Wen stared in disbelief, and Jiang Yi's eyes widened in shock.
His apology—why did it sound so… humble and deferential?
Was Chen Lizhou out of his mind?
In contrast to their astonishment, Duan Yuanhui calmly leaned against the desk, sipping tea like nothing had happened.
Li Qiao tapped her phone screen with a fingernail, her expression indifferent as she tilted her chin and looked down at Chen Lizhou. Her tone was cool and composed: "Apology accepted. But I hope… there won't be a next time."
Chen Lizhou lowered his eyes to hide the guilt flashing through them and nodded earnestly. "Don't worry, Miss Li. I promise this kind of thing will never happen again!"
Li Qiao scrutinized him for a moment, then slowly stood up. She took a few steps toward the door before stopping and turning back.
"Oh right," she said casually, "That little thing about you helping Jiang Yi break into my dorm and destroy my thesis files… You and the secretary-general might need to offer a personal explanation for that."
At her words, Chen Lizhou's face went pale as death. She knew?!
Li Qiao cast Jiang Yi a faint glance, then waved toward Duan Yuanhui. "That's it for me. I'm heading out."
Duan Yuanhui put down his thermos cup and called after her, "Wait—do you want me to reschedule your defense or do you still plan to finish it today?"
Without looking back, Li Qiao pushed the door open and tossed out a line, "Reschedule it. I'm not in the mood today."
Once she left, a strange silence descended on the office.
After a while, Lu Wen, emboldened by her official-wife status, tugged nervously at Chen Lizhou's sleeve. "Dear… Who's the secretary-general?"
She'd been paying close attention—when Li Qiao mentioned that name, Chen Lizhou visibly trembled.
He shook off her hand and turned to Duan Yuanhui with an unreadable expression. "Director Duan, how do you think this should be handled?"
Feigning deep thought, Duan Yuanhui replied, "Here's how I see it. Since this is a private matter between you and your wife, the school won't interfere too much. But the disturbance caused on campus needs to be addressed—a formal letter of apology might help contain public backlash."
"As for Jiang Yi, she's still a student, and her actions will be reviewed by the school. Once a decision is made, the outcome will be publicly posted on the student forum. Do you have any objections, Mr. Chen?"
"N-No, no objections. We'll follow the school's decision."
…
Meanwhile, on the other side, after leaving the Academic Affairs Office, Li Qiao walked straight to the corner of the hallway and made a phone call to her eldest brother, Li Jun.
"Qiaoqiao, is everything resolved?" he asked.
Leaning against the wall, one leg casually bent, Li Qiao replied, "Did you tell Chen Lizhou who I am?"
In fact, while she was investigating Jiang Yi, she had accidentally discovered that Chen Lizhou worked for the Nanyang Secretariat.
And as luck would have it, his direct superior was none other than Secretary-General Li Jun.
Back when Lu Wen showed up in classroom 307, Li Qiao had already asked Nan Xi to contact Chen Lizhou.
What she hadn't expected… was that Nan Xi would report the school situation to her third brother, and after getting the full picture, Li San had gone straight to their eldest brother, Li Jun.