In the prenatal checkup room, Li Qiao lay on the examination bed entirely at ease, her head turned towards Shang Yu with full interest in her eyes.
The man flipped through the instruction manual and then started up the ultrasound machine.
Li Qiao didn’t disturb him, the smile deepening on her lips as she withdrew her gaze and waited patiently.
Suddenly, Shang Yu lifted the corner of her top, his rough fingertips grazing over her flat abdomen.
His tender gaze turned to Li Qiao as he skillfully picked up the medical ultrasound coupling agent and spread it on her belly.
Sensing Li Qiao’s slight tremble, Shang Yu raised an eyebrow, "Cold?"
Li Qiao tugged at the corner of her mouth, signaling him to continue.
The man spread the ultrasound coupling agent evenly over her lower abdomen, and as the ultrasound probe was placed down, images began to appear on the screen gradually.
Li Qiao observed his technique, which did not seem like that of a novice, "Have you studied medical imaging?"
"No," Shang Yu replied, focusing on the ultrasound images, glancing at her from the corner of his eye, "Why?"
Li Qiao pressed her lips together with a smile, "Can you understand it?"
The man shifted slightly, moving the probe deftly, and asked calmly in return, "Is it difficult?"
Li Qiao grinned, tapping her fingers on the edge of the bed beneath her, "Is there a gestational sac?"
Shang Yu didn’t answer, removed the probe and set it beside the machine, and began to carefully wipe her abdomen with tissues.
Li Qiao watched his face intently, her brows involuntarily furrowing.
Was nothing detected?
Li Qiao propped up her upper body, her dark gaze locked on Shang Yu’s profile.
It wasn’t until the sound of the printer reached her ears that she looked towards it, to see that the ultrasound report had already been printed.
Shang Yu dried her skin, fixed her rolled-up top, and handed over the ultrasound report to Li Qiao.
Even though he hadn’t said a word, Li Qiao could still clearly discern the smile in his eyes.
On the report, a very small early gestational sac was vivid before her eyes.
Caught up in the sight, Li Qiao unintentionally curved her lips, and the instant she lifted her eyelids, Shang Yu’s handsome face was already within inches of her own.
The man leaned in and captured her lips, impatiently parting them and deepening the kiss with an exploratory fervor.
Shang Yu was not out of control, but he was more passionate than usual.
The ultrasound image he had personally taken recorded the child’s initial appearance in this world authentically.
So much so that throughout the entire pregnancy, the development of the young cub was all meticulously documented by Shang Yu.
As the noon was approaching, a low-profile business car drove from the Mansion platform towards the Li family villa.
Li Qiao was completely absorbed in replying to WeChat messages by the window.
After a while, she pressed the send button, having selectively replied to over thirty messages, and then rubbed her temples before her gaze collided with Shang Yu’s deep and cool eyes.
Li Qiao put down her phone, lifting her eyebrows slightly, "The trending topic about Duke Charlman, did you have someone push it up?"
The man narrowed his eyes, glancing at her phone, his voice deep and tinged with slight displeasure, "Finished with your business?"
"It’s just a small cold, not that serious," Li Qiao said with a smile, leisurely leaning against his shoulder. "I asked Cheng Mo yesterday, and he said you’ve arranged for three red hacker teams to continuously attack the firewalls of the Charlman estate’s entire information network, which has already drawn the attention of other international hackers."
Shang Yu lounged against the chair back, glancing at Li Qiao’s profile, "It’s fine."
Li Qiao gave him a sidelong glance, her voice light with amusement, "The red hackers are surely capable, but by attacking Charlman’s LAN and computers on such a large scale, have you decided for sure that they won’t have time to deal with the trending searches online?"
The popularity of Duke Charlman remained high, something that normally couldn’t be ignored.
Aristocratic honor is paramount, and all rumors and whisperings of scandal must be preemptively suppressed, true or false.
Now that the hot search is still fermenting, the Charlman Family has yet to make a move, unless the massive attack from hackers has left them too overwhelmed to respond.
At that moment, Shang Yu glanced at the street scene outside the window and curled his lips playfully, "It’s not that they’re too busy to care, it’s that they can’t take it down."
Li Qiao crossed her slender legs and shook her toes, "Is it because of the information erasure system developed by Cheng Mo?"
"Not only that." The man’s dark eyes were impenetrable as he gently took her hand in his, his voice low and authoritative, "The servers of the British Imperial social media are within the jurisdiction of the diocese of the association leader."
Li Qiao suddenly realized and shook her head with a chuckle.
The Charlman Family surely faced a loss this time.
What could have been retracted with power, now the jurisdiction over the servers was in Shang Yu’s hands, unless he ordered otherwise, the hot searches could never be withdrawn.
"Could it be too easy?" Before long, Li Qiao touched her chin and pondered, "Besides the firewall attack, what else did you do?"
With Charlman’s influence and family strength, could a mere firewall attack leave them stretched thin?
Shang Yu squeezed her hand a bit harder, recalling the scene where Li Qiao had a high fever and could not take medication, his eyes shadowed, "The staff team switched sides."
Before Li Qiao could ask further, a message quietly sent by Wang Yue from the backseat arrived on her cellphone.
Wang Yue: Madam, hot off the press news.
Wang Yue: This time, the boss mobilized a hundred hackers to perform a cross-border firewall attack, with the red hacker team responsible for infiltrating the Charlman Family’s staff team. I heard that a significant number of staff have been seeking help at the manor every day.
Wang Yue: [Awesome.jpg]
After reading the message, Li Qiao looked back and saw Wang Yue sitting by the window, enjoying the view with an unconcerned attitude.
The prestige of the Charlman in British Imperial heavily relied on the upper echelon’s staff team, which also meant capital support.
For the aristocracy, the staff team was like wings to a tiger.
Once they defected, their reputation and honor would be greatly discounted.
Li Qiao understood and curved her lips, compared to the staff team, the trending searches really weren’t worth mentioning.
At the Li family villa.
Li Guangming was not around; only Duan Shuyuan was idly tinkering with the plants in the sunroom.
Li Qiao went up to the second floor. After exchanging a few pleasantries with her mother, they got down to business.
Duan Shuyuan raised her eyebrows in surprise, "There’s something in the swaddle?"
Her astonishment didn’t seem feigned; leaning against the flower stand, Li Qiao explained the situation in a subdued voice.
Hearing this, Duan Shuyuan became even more perplexed, "I have washed it but never unpicked it. Baby, what exactly is it, and is it important?"
Li Qiao lowered her lashes and shrugged her shoulders, "It might be."
She didn’t know what it was; the clues seemed to have been cut off.
If Duan Shuyuan had never unpicked and washed it, perhaps the item in the swaddle had already been taken by the time she was sent to the South Sea.
Could it have been Shang Zonghai?
But Li Qiao didn’t think it likely.
Considering Shang Zonghai’s obsession with the Mu Family, if he had had the item from the swaddle, he would have given it to her.
Li Qiao’s thoughts were heavy; it wasn’t so much about the importance of those things.
She was wondering what the person who had mended the small quilt, by taking away the evidence, intended to do,
Seeing Li Qiao deep in thought, Duan Shuyuan brushed off the petals from her hand and comforted her, "Don’t worry, when I have a moment, I’ll ask your grandfather; maybe he remembers something."