Shang Yu supported her shoulders and slightly pulled back to create some distance, his gaze full of affection, "Haven’t had dinner yet?"
Li Qiao shook her head, "I went to the hospital to see Charles, his injuries weren’t serious, and he gave me a notebook."
"Went for a drink at the vineyard?" The man’s tone shifted, his deep eyes narrowing slightly with a hint of displeasure.
Li Qiao glanced at the messy test papers on the ground and curled her lip, "What do you think?"
Shang Yu rubbed the top of her head and, with one hand in his pocket, turned and led her downstairs.
After dinner, the time had passed half-past eight.
Li Qiao and Shang Yu were sitting in the study, with the vintage desk lamp illuminating the stock trading notes.
"The third letter of each word contains dots and dashes of Morse code."
Li Qiao pointed at the neat handwriting and turned a page, where the lamp’s light clearly revealed some letters with emphasized strokes.
Shang Yu sat lazily watching Li Qiao focused on decoding the message, the corner of his lips curved slightly, resembling a Husband-Watching Stone.
Before long, Li Qiao listed all the letters that Jing Yilan had incorporated with Morse code.
After reviewing them for a few moments, she looked up at Shang Yu, leaned back in her chair, and raised her eyebrows, "This is double encryption."
Jing Yilan was more cautious than she had imagined—the Morse code concealed yet another layer of Bacon’s cipher.
The man’s arm rested on the armchair, and he asked with a deep chuckle, "Tired?"
Li Qiao gave a soft snort, "Not tired, just thinking that if Jing Yilan is this cautious, the content we decode might have some hidden implications."
"Evidence that can bring down a noble, she has to be cautious," he reasoned.
Li Qiao gave a noncommittal response and again leaned forward to begin decrypting the second layer of Bacon’s cipher.
In the meantime, Shang Yu felt an itch in his throat and casually picked up a cigarette case from the desk before heading to the study’s balcony.
Li Qiao glanced at his silhouette and twirled her pen, her expression somewhat helpless.
Twenty minutes later, both codes were deciphered, revealing an address.
Li Qiao set down her pen and pinched the bridge of her nose, her gaze settling on the notes, as if in deep thought.
It wasn’t long before Shang Yu returned to the study and saw Li Qiao engrossed in her phone.
He leaned on the desk with one hand and rested the other on the back of the chair, his eyes taking on a playful hue as he caught sight of the address Li Qiao had written down.
Li Qiao, looking up a map of British Imperial territories, hadn’t finished typing the address when a reminder came from above her, "Parliament Building."
"The House of Lords’ Parliament Building?"
Shang Yu pressed the corners of his lips, picked up the notebook from the desk, and said profoundly, "Hmm, not far from the Royal Academy."
Li Qiao tapped her fingers on the tabletop, a spark of inspiration flashing in her eyes...it seemed they would have to trouble Xi Luo once again.
An ordinary member of the House of Lords was not to be wasted.
Li Qiao spoke while looking at Shang Yu, their eyes meeting, and she couldn’t help but yawn, "When shall we visit Lawrence Manor?"
"Tomorrow," the man said, eyeing her weary expression, his fingers lingering at the corner of her eye, "Sleepy?"
Li Qiao pulled his hand to her face and rubbed it gently, murmuring, "If Jing Yilan really hid something in the Parliament Building, it would indeed be a good place that’s hard to find."
Who would have thought that the evidence to overthrow a duke would be right under their own noses?
Even if it wasn’t there, Li Qiao still had the intuition that the evidence was somewhere in British Imperial territories.
"After the fireworks festival, we can take a look," Shang Yu suggested, casually closing the notebook, "The Scripture Pavilion is indeed a good place to hide things."
Li Qiao stood up and followed him for a couple of steps before suddenly raising an eyebrow in realization, "You knew?"
Shang Yu looked back at her, a smile curving up his lips, "Hmm, I’ve been there."