In such a scene, Li Qiao narrowed her eyes without a trace.
She had known Shen Qingye for many years but had never seen him be so courteous to a stranger.
Gently nudging Shang Yu, Li Qiao leaned in close to him and asked softly, "Master Yan, how do you know him?"
The man glanced at her from the corner of his eye, holding a cigarette to his lips, drawing in and exhaling smoke, his voice low, "Why don’t you ask him?"
Great, the boyfriend is feeling moody.
Li Qiao nudged him with her shoulder and pouted, "I want to hear it from you."
Indeed, it was Shen Qingye whom she had called, but his entrance was too flamboyant and showy.
The Intelligence Dog of the past was always so low-key.
A few years without seeing each other, he might have been stimulated.
Yes, Shen Qingye, one of the Border Seven Sons.
The skill he was most proficient in was gathering intelligence, thus nicknamed Intelligence Dog.
Li Qiao always knew he had a powerful intelligence department behind him, but she never knew it was the Sixth Bureau.
The Border Seven Sons had been through life and death together for many years, but each of them had many secrets.
Not to ask about origins, not to inquire about sources, was their unspoken agreement.
At this moment, Shen Qingye took several deep drags of his cigarette, and his roiling emotions also settled somewhat.
He lifted his eyelids, staring unblinkingly as Li Qiao and Shang Yu spoke and laughed in low voices, his Adam’s apple moving twice, unable to help but kick the coffee table with his dress shoe, "Are you treating me as if I don’t exist?"
The water glasses on the coffee table shook and spilled tea as a result of his kick.
Li Qiao raised her eyes, holding back the impulse to kick the table back, and looked at Shen Qingye expressionlessly.
After three seconds, Shen Qingye raised his hands in surrender, "All right, all right, pretend I didn’t say anything, you two continue."
Indulgence, acceptance, tolerance.
Shen Qingye’s attitude towards Li Qiao perfectly exemplified these words.
Naturally, Shang Yu also noticed that Shen Qingye’s attitude towards Li Qiao was quite unusual.
He curved his lips slightly, a faint light emerging in the depths of his eyes, "Your father, how has he been recently?"
At these words, Shen Qingye reflexively straightened his chest, responding like a junior, nodding, "Hmm, very well. He was just mentioning the other day that he wanted to drink with you, but he’s been busy with Sixth Bureau matters recently and can’t get away."
Shen Qingye’s father was indeed the founder of the Sixth Bureau.
At this point, everything became clear.
Li Qiao knew Shen Qingye, the second in command of the Sixth Bureau, and Shang Yu knew the head of the Sixth Bureau?
From a distance, Huo Mang couldn’t help but swallow, his fingers pinching the edge of the table, partly bewildered, partly nervous.
All these years, while Shaoyan wasn’t in Parma, had his influence really extended to this extent?
Fortunately, they were friends, not foes.
A man who could have a cheerful drink with the head of the Sixth Bureau must have intelligence information that no one could match.
And probably the most struck was He Xi.
It wasn’t long ago that she had claimed to be acquainted with someone from the Sixth Bureau, but the scene before her undoubtedly slapped her hard in the face.
Because the Little White Master she was familiar with didn’t even dare to breathe heavily in front of Shen Qingye.
The revered Master Bai Luhui from the Sixth Bureau, who held a high status among people, now seemed as quiet as a quail.
Shaoyan’s girlfriend, was it that they had misjudged, or was there some other inside story?
In the sofa lounge area, Shen Qingye was responding to Shang Yu with considerable politeness, and it wasn’t hard to discern the respect in his words.
Shang Yu bent forward to tap off his ash, raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Shen Qingye, seeing his smiling gaze continually shifting towards Li Qiao. The man paused in his movement, stubbing the rest of his half-burned cigarette in the ashtray.
He stretched out his shirt collar, stood up crossing his legs, and with dry palms, he grabbed Li Qiao’s wrist and said while walking, "Excuse us for a moment."
Shen Qingye opened his mouth, but before he could speak, he watched as Shang Yu walked out of the private banquet hall with Li Qiao.
If you have to leave, why take Li Qiao with you?
Shen Qingye snorted and sprawled into the sofa, beginning to smoke heavily.
Li Qiao had a boyfriend, and this was beyond his expectation.
Even more unexpected was the man’s identity.
Shang Shaoyan, the South Sea merchant, was very close to his father.
The intelligence information that Sixth Bureau had compiled over many years was unconditionally accessible to Shang Shaoyan.
With such a status, he was a legend in Sixth Bureau.
Shen Qingye would always remember his father’s warning: in this world, provoke anyone but never Shang Shaoyan, the South Sea merchant.
But if one could become friends with him, it would be all benefit and no harm.
His father, after all, was a senior director trained by the British Imperial MI6 who, after leaving the organization, founded the Sixth Bureau acclaimed in the black market.
That Shang Shaoyan could be a guest of honor in Sixth Bureau, such an honor made Shen Qingye extremely wary of him.
Why did it have to be Shang Shaoyan!
Outside the private dining room door, Shang Yu strode confidently with Li Qiao towards the adjacent guest resting suite.
The man pushed the door open and the room layout was warm and dreamy.
Soft purple light strips twined around the skylight, and through the panoramic window one could see the last traces of sunset glow outside the hotel.
This was an amenity of the private banquet hall; if a guest became drunk, they could rest and sleep in the suite.
At this moment, Li Qiao was being pulled into the room by Shang Yu’s hand.
She marveled at the beautiful lighting in the suite and had only taken a couple of steps forward when the door behind her closed. She was then pressed against the door panel.
The next second, her vision darkened, and she was overwhelmed by an intense kiss.
It was fiercer and more urgent than any before.
As if it held the power to topple everything in its path, it seemed to swallow her whole.
Li Qiao was caught off guard, her chin lifted by the cusp of his hand, trapped between the door panel and the man with no way to escape.
After the kiss, Li Qiao’s lips were unsurprisingly swollen.
She opened her doe eyes to stare at him, which were glistening moistly, making one’s throat tighten.
Shang Yu propped one hand behind her head against the door panel, his inscrutable eyes half-closed in a dangerous curve; he held Li Qiao’s chin, his gaze intensely fixed on her lips.
Li Qiao tried to speak, but her lips were captured again.
Her boyfriend was a bit out of control, she would have to soothe him.
So, Li Qiao looped her arms around his shoulders, her soft, warm palms gliding up and down his spine, soothing him like petting a cat.
After a long while, she finally had her lips to herself again.
Li Qiao licked the tip of her tongue; it was completely numb.
She tilted her head to increase the distance between them, her bun resting against the door panel, and then she tugged at the collar of his shirt, speaking faintly, "My mouth hurts..."
Her implication was clear: no more kissing, it was certainly broken again.
Shang Yu looked down at her, narrowed his eyes, and lifted her face to gently suck on her lips before speaking in a husky voice, "An old acquaintance?"
Ah, he meant Shen Qingye.
Li Qiao pursed her sore and numb lips, nodded, and spoke straightforwardly, "I knew him from the border. We had seven siblings, and he was the third oldest."
The man known by the nickname "Intelligence Dog."
The "Intelligence Dog" Shen Qingye sitting in the private dining room smoking: "..."
Shang Yu glanced at Li Qiao and leaned down, his Adam’s apple sliding continuously, "The one who used to be active on the border... the Border Seven Sons?"
Li Qiao raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Master Yan knows about them?"