The milk tea shop had just opened, and there weren't many customers. The small store was filled with the sweet aroma of freshly brewed tea.
Mo Qi sat across from Li Qiao, holding his cup of milk tea with one hand, looking like he had something to say but didn't know how to start.
Li Qiao, on the other hand, was gazing at the succulent plants on the windowsill. Her slight turn of the head highlighted the graceful curve of her neck.
Mo Qi stared at her, his fingertips curling unconsciously, his gaze somewhat dazed.
"You want to say something?" Li Qiao suddenly turned to look at him, her tone neither warm nor cold.
Caught off guard by her direct gaze, Mo Qi quickly looked away and took a sip of his milk tea, trying to mask his embarrassment.
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then, after collecting himself, Mo Qi asked, "Xiao Qiao, why do you insist on becoming an undertaker?"
Li Qiao tapped the table lightly with her fingernails and replied succinctly, "Interest."
"But…" Mo Qi hesitated, carefully choosing his words. "You're a girl. Don't you ever feel afraid?"
In his eyes, Li Qiao had both wealth and beauty. To use a popular phrase—she was living the dream.
And the job of an undertaker, even now, was still viewed by many through a lens of prejudice.
There was no reason for her to subject herself to those strange looks and whispered comments.
At that, Li Qiao's brows eased slightly. She looked back out the window and replied with a light tone, "Senior, sometimes… the living are scarier than the dead."
Mo Qi was left speechless.
…
Less than five minutes later, Li Qiao left the milk tea shop first.
Mo Qi sat alone at the table, staring at the untouched cup of milk tea in front of him, his eyes filled with disappointment.
He'd been so nervous, he forgot—his junior sister never drank milk tea.
Outside the shop, a gentle breeze swept through the old street, ruffling the loose strands of hair at Li Qiao's temples.
Her pace slowed as she looked up at the softly swaying green treetops—full of vitality, as if reminding her that summer was just around the corner.
Which meant… it would soon be the third anniversary of Hui Zai's death.
At that moment, from the road behind her, came the steady rumble of a car engine, getting closer.
Standing under a camphor tree, Li Qiao caught sight of a low-profile black van slowly pulling up beside her from the corner of her eye.
The window rolled down just a sliver—barely ten centimeters—and through that narrow gap, a pair of chillingly cold black eyes stared straight at her.
Li Qiao raised an eyebrow and took a step forward. The backseat door slid open at just the right moment.
Inside the spacious cabin, Shang Yu sat casually in a single seat, dressed all in black, one long leg crossed over the other. A faint, unreadable smile played on his crimson lips—but his eyes were ice cold.
Li Qiao met his gaze, trying to read the sharp intensity behind it.
Even his chiseled, handsome face seemed to be covered in frost, radiating an overwhelming sense of aggression and distance.
Yet he was smiling.
Suppressing her doubts, Li Qiao stepped closer and asked calmly, "Master Yan, business in the old district?"
Shang Yu leaned back against the seat, his arms resting on the armrests. He gently rubbed his fingers together, his deep gaze flicking past her and toward the milk tea shop. His tone was low and cold: "Boyfriend?"
A handsome young man and a beautiful girl, meeting up in a milk tea shop in the old district—it really did look like the kind of romantic date a girl her age should be having.
Just moments ago, she left, he followed. They exchanged smiles, and she'd accepted the gift he gave her without hesitation. Every moment, every detail, pricked at Shang Yu's eyes.
So this was the reason she was so eager to break off the engagement with Shang Lu?
Li Qiao followed his gaze, glancing back—and through the half-open window of the shop, she could just barely make out Mo Qi's face peeking out, watching them.
She casually looked away, lips curving lazily into a smile.
Ah. So that's what this was about.
Her expression relaxed as she turned back to Shang Yu. Her eyes—bright and clear like stars breaking through the clouds—locked onto his.
"He's not my boyfriend. Master Yan, I'm single."