"If my Miao family had done it, she would never have had the chance to go missing!" Miao Tong said this with immense confidence on his face.
He knew in his heart that it was only a matter of time before the Miao family and the Tang family settled their differences.
The Miao family was destined to win!
"If your face weren't so badly beaten, I might have believed you," Xia Qingtian said, patting Miao Tong's shoulder and chuckling.
Hearing Xia Qingtian's laughter, Miao Tong became agitated. "How can this be the same? This is... hiss..."
He became too excited, and before he could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain from the wounds on his face. Miao Tong winced, looking like a monkey with its tail caught.
"Pfft." Xia Qingtian couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "You should focus on healing your wounds first, alright, dear?"
After saying this, Xia Qingtian casually tossed her long hair and turned to leave.
"I... hiss..." Miao Tong was so angry he wanted to stomp his foot, but his body ached too much, so he had to give up.
It was a moment of carelessness, and the people who attacked him were ordinary individuals. He couldn't use his Gu poison carelessly unless he had no other choice, otherwise, wouldn't he be no different from the treacherous Tang family?
He, Miao Tong, was not that kind of person.
Even the group of people who had beaten him up this badly were only knocked unconscious by him.
As for the ringleader, he had only administered a fear Gu, which would at most cause him pain all over for ten days to half a month. As long as he didn't ingest urobilinogen, the Gu poison wouldn't be triggered and attack his heart and lungs.
However, he figured no normal person would drink urine, so there was no possibility of the poison progressing further and attacking his internal organs.
Let him suffer!
It took Miao Tong a while to recover from the unbearable pain. As he was about to go upstairs to his room, he ran into Xia Qingyu, who was coming downstairs.
Xia Qingyu was stunned when she saw Miao Tong's face. "How did it get so much worse?"
She had left for school early that morning and hadn't seen Miao Tong upon her return, so she was unaware of the attack he had suffered the previous night.
Recalling what had happened before, Xia Qingyu's heart leaped into her throat. "Did you encounter Nie Qingkong again? Was it him who did this?"
The last time she encountered a group of thugs with Nie Qingkong in the small park, she had seen news of the thugs being crippled on Xia Honglang's tablet the next day.
Although she hadn't confirmed it with Nie Qingkong, the location and marks of the cigarette burn were too coincidental.
Now that Miao Tong was so badly injured, Xia Qingyu was reminded of that incident again. Anger and guilt flooded her heart.
"No, no, no!" Seeing Xia Qingyu's reaction, Miao Tong immediately denied it and then said in a low voice, "I ran into a bunch of troublemakers at a late-night snack stall. It has nothing to do with your classmate. Don't misunderstand. You can just say I was unlucky."
"Really?" Xia Qingyu looked into Miao Tong's eyes, still harboring doubts.
"Of course. Don't worry. Although I look pretty badly injured, they are even more so!" Miao Tong patted his chest, trying to flash a proud smile. However, the pain made him wince again, like a monkey with its tail caught.
"Is... is that so?" Xia Qingyu's suspicion deepened with this statement.
How come she felt like Miao Tong had been one-sidedly beaten?
"Anyway, don't worry about me. I'm your little uncle! How can a niece worry about her little uncle?" Miao Tong said, his words punctuated by hisses: "I'm going back to my room to take some medicine."
"Okay, be careful." Xia Qingyu moved aside to let Miao Tong pass.
Watching Miao Tong's retreating back, Xia Qingyu's gaze grew serious.
Did this really have nothing to do with Nie Qingkong?
She didn't believe it.
"What are you thinking about?" a female voice came from behind Xia Qingyu, startling her.
"Nothing." Seeing the person behind her, Xia Qingyu's eyes lit up, and she smiled. "Are you going out?"
"No, I just got back," Xia Qingtian said. "Are you participating in some national joint examination?"
"Yes," Xia Qingyu replied. "The top three in this competition can represent the country in a world-class event."
"Then don't feel pressured," Xia Qingtian said, placing her hand on Xia Qingyu's shoulder. "Tell me anytime if you need anything."
"You just need to take care of yourself and not distract me," Xia Qingyu said with a smile, her eyes sparkling. She spoke with her usual arrogance: "Don't have any problems while I'm taking the exam and hold me back."
"I wouldn't..." Xia Qingtian, recalling her own difficult past, spoke without much conviction. "Where is the national joint examination taking place?"
"Kyoto," Xia Qingyu replied. "Next weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday."
"Next weekend..." Xia Qingtian's beautiful eyes flickered. She also wanted to go to Kyoto to find out about the Tang family. "How about I accompany you to the exam?"
"You'll accompany me?" Xia Qingyu was a little surprised. "Aren't you busy?"
"It's the weekend anyway, and it's only a two-day matter. It's no trouble to accompany you," Xia Qingtian said. "It's settled then."
"Alright," Xia Qingyu's smile deepened. She felt like she had inexhaustible energy at this moment.
She would do a few more practice problems tonight and also pull Li Xiaozhong to re-examine the allocation of her current liquid funds to see if there were any stocks with good prospects that she could analyze, build a position in, and increase her holdings.
That evening, while Xia Qingyu and Li Xiaozhong were conducting a conference call and operating separately, Nie Qingkong was also staring at the computer screen, monitoring all of Xia Qingyu's operations.
"Tch, not bad taste." Nie Qingkong's fingertips moved across the computer keyboard, his lips pursed downwards.
He had been watching this stock for a while, and now was indeed a good opportunity to buy in.
"Selling?"
His fingertips paused on the computer keyboard for a moment. Nie Qingkong narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering why Xia Qingyu would sell off another stable and growing medical stock.
Just as Nie Qingkong was hesitating, a call came in. The caller spoke German and reported the latest news to Nie Qingkong.
"I understand." After replying, Nie Qingkong hung up the phone and decisively sold off this stock as well.
His expression became more solemn. There were internal problems within this pharmaceutical company, and the information was being kept very tight, leaving no trace.
If he hadn't placed people inside, he might not have known to sell at this time.
How did Xia Qingyu know?
Nie Qingkong did not believe that Xia Qingyu possessed stronger connections and information networks than himself.
After re-checking Xia Qingyu's operations on other trading platforms, Nie Qingkong leaned back, narrowing his eyes slightly.