As the door of the safe swung open, the contents were laid bare before Huangfu Jue. He reached in and took out the topmost photo album, his gaze sweeping over the photograph of Qian Xueying with a man, causing his handsome brows to knit slightly.
The man in the album seemed vaguely familiar, and from his looks, he probably had East Asian ancestry. Huangfu Jue wondered who this treasured person in the photographs could be...
Extracting his phone from his pocket, he snapped pictures of the photos in the album and continued to examine the safe’s contents.
Besides the album and some documents, the safe also held some cash and documents; time being short, Huangfu Jue didn’t look closely, merely capturing everything meticulously with his phone camera.
At the end, he extracted a heavy rectangular box and casually opened it to reveal a sleek handgun inside, with two magazines and a silencer nestled beside it in the foam cutouts.
Huangfu Jue glanced at the gun inside the box, raised an eyebrow, and replaced each item as it was. He then closed the safe door to a position similar to how he had found it, stood up, took two steps forward and then stepped back, extending a finger to lock the safe completely.
A soft sound signified that the safe had automatically locked.
Approaching Qian Xueying’s side, he bent down; with just one palm, he helped her up from the floor, gently cracked open the door of the study, ensured no one else was passing by, and immediately dragged the drowsy Qian Xueying back to her room, tossing her onto the bed without ceremony.
Outside the window, the rustling of leaves could just be heard.
Huangfu Jue looked out warily; with no wind to disturb the peace of the evening, and no birds in sight, there shouldn’t be any noise of leaves rustling. Noticing the large tree outside the window, he narrowed his eyes and quickly closed the curtains with a swish.
Then, he rapidly searched Qian Xueying’s bedroom again, going through jewelry, clothes, and cosmetics... Apart from the cigarettes and alcohol hidden in her closet as somewhat peculiar items, there was nothing else out of the ordinary in her room.
Glancing at Qian Xueying, who was sprawled on the bed like a dead pig, Huangfu Jue turned and left her bedroom, pulling off his gloves as he briskly descended the staircase.
Hearing his footsteps, Xiuyi and Will both rose to greet him.
Huangfu Jue headed straight for the entrance, "Let’s go!"
"Yes!" Will said, hurrying after him.
"Duke!" Seeing his grim expression, Xiuyi followed with confusion, "The young lady... Why hasn’t she come down?"
"Humph! You’d better go ask her yourself!"
Huangfu Jue left him with those words, sliding into the car. Xiuyi tried to speak again, but Will was already blocking him with an arm, giving him a meaningful look to remind Xiuyi that the Duke was not in a good mood and not to ask further questions.
Shortly, Huangfu Jue’s car had already driven out of the Duke Residence.
Xiuyi watched the car disappear into the distance while standing on the steps, then immediately turned and ran up the stairs into the main bedroom to find Qian Xueying lying sprawled on the bed, mouth open wide, sound asleep and snoring contently.
He called out to her, but Qian Xueying responded with an exaggerated snore.
Xiuyi shook her shoulder, and Qian Xueying turned over, mumbling and continuing to sleep.
Xiuyi frowned and shook her shoulder more forcefully.
"Miss, Miss, wake up. The Duke has left..."
Qian Xueying muttered in a half-conscious grumble, collapsing onto the bed and falling back to sleep. Her appearance alone made it clear she had drunk too much, and Xiuyi could only shake his head in resignation.