While staring at each other with big eyes and small eyes, Xu Qiao held his breath and stared at him without daring to move.
Cheng Lang retreated a little, and left her lips, his voice was low and slightly hoarse: "Did I solve it?"
Why, your evil hand is still at the scene of the crime? Are you still innocent
"Isn't that me?" Xu Qiao's limbs were stiff and her face was trying to maintain her composure.
Cheng Lang rubbed his fingers on her back, and his Adam's apple rolled gently: "Accident." Seeing her nervous look, he thought for a while and said, "Shall I buckle it back for you?"
Xu Qiao buried her hot face into his arms and nodded.
Cheng Lang's other hand also went around her back, fumbling for the buckle through her gauze nightdress.
Wherever his fingertips passed, it was like clusters of sparks scalded.
Xu Qiao restrained her sensitive trembling, and changed the subject: "Are you okay just now?"
"Well," Cheng Lang's progress was a bit slow because of a layer of fabric, "It's better than last time."
"Then let's come here first."
Cheng Lang looked down at her disapprovingly.
"Enough is enough, don't exhaust the water, good boy." Xu Qiao raised her hand and scratched his chin.
"Then don't recruit me." Cheng Lang smiled and hid for a while, because of this action, the buckle in his hand loosened again.
Xu Qiao turned her head and glanced back: "Hey, can you do it?"
"It's not easy to button through the clothes."
"When you untie it, it's also through the clothes. Why do you see you so neatly?"
Cheng Lang continued to struggle with the buckle, thinking: "It's easy to go up the mountain, but hard to go down?"
"..." This is the man.
Cheng Lang finally buckled the buckle properly, picked up Xu Qiao who had slipped down a little, hugged her into his arms, and smoothed her hair: "Can I sleep here tonight?"
"Aren't you afraid of getting sick overnight?"
"Probably not, two quilts will do."
Xu Qiao shook her head: "No, I don't sleep well, I'm afraid that falling asleep and rolling into a bed will kill you."
"..."
Someone else's girlfriend: No, I'm afraid of what you'll do to me.
His girlfriend: No, I'm afraid of what I'll do to you.
Xu Qiao crawled out of his arms and leaned over to look at him: "We'll wait until you recover!"
Cheng Lang nodded: "Then I'll take you back to your room."
Just as Xu Qiao was about to get out of bed, before her feet touched the ground, she was hugged again by him.
"With you like this, I will become a mermaid without feet sooner or later." Xu Qiao murmured as she put her arms around his neck.
Cheng Lang smiled and carried her out, lowering his head and emphasizing: "It should be a mermaid."
Just as Xu Qiao wanted to praise her boyfriend for being really good at talking, she suddenly thought of the phrase "mermaid" to the mermaid series jewelry she conceived for the theme of the "deep sea" fashion show. I want to tell you something serious."
"Huh?" Cheng Lang carried her into the next bedroom and put her on the bed.
Xu Qiao sat up cross-legged, and said seriously, "Didn't I go to see Mr. Pan De yesterday? It was the British-Chinese fashion designer. He said that a jeweler was selling to him my jewelry designs in college, but Those original design drawings left in Xijiang Mansion should have been thrown away as tatters long ago, who will leak them?"
Cheng Lang frowned: "Is the other party selling the original manuscript?"
"No, it's just a scanned copy. That's why Mr. Pan felt that there was something tricky here. He came to me to confirm it."
Cheng Lang thought for a while and said, "Since you can't get the original manuscript, it means that the scanned copy is left over from the past. You can recall who you gave the original manuscript to, or whether you have scanned the drawings yourself."
Xu Qiao shook her head and denied: "I thought about this yesterday. I just draw casually at home, and put it in the study after I finish painting, and don't take it seriously at all."
"Who can come into your study?"
"I didn't do business in the past, and there were no valuables in the study. Everyone in the family could enter, and the servant didn't shy away from cleaning it."
Cheng Lang nodded thoughtfully.
"Which servant is it?" Xu Qiao doubted, "But I didn't show off at that time, who would have guessed that I would be famous in the future, and I scanned my design in advance to sell it for money?"
"This matter itself should not be a big problem. You can sleep peacefully first. I will contact Mr. Pan tomorrow morning and find out as soon as possible."
Xu Qiao hugged Cheng Lang's arm and kissed him on the chin: "Boss Lang is capable."
—
One leak was not the original manuscript, and the other Xu Qiao didn't take these early immature drafts too seriously. With Cheng Lang's reassurance that "the problem is not big", she didn't think about it anymore.
But the next evening, when Cheng Lang came to the studio to pick her up from get off work, she had a very solemn expression, which gave her a faint bad feeling.
She got in the backseat of Zeppelin and asked if he had found anything bad.
"How about dinner first?" Cheng Lang asked the driver to start the car.
"Is it because I won't be able to eat dinner after I know?" Xu Qiao said dejectedly, "You should tell me earlier, I think I might not be able to eat if I don't listen."
Cheng Lang was silent, and took a deep breath: "Your father told me about this before he left, and I hope I can keep it from you."
Xu Qiao was taken aback for a moment, and the result of this stone arousing thousands of waves was unexpected: "What is so serious..."
"Let's talk about your father first." Cheng Lang turned his head to look at her, "Don't you want to know his whereabouts? You never asked me these days."
Xu Qiao touched her nose: "I guess you should have a connection with my father."
Xu Qiao had guessed this a long time ago.
After all, Cheng Lang was the last person her father contacted before he left, and entrusting her with the most important trust to him was equivalent to entrusting her to him.
Then it is impossible to cut off the connection between the two of them.
"But my dad said in the text message that he asked me to wait patiently for him to contact me. I think he definitely doesn't want me to worry about him before his career is stable. I'm afraid that my question will put pressure on him instead?" Xu Qiao whispered.
Cheng Lang raised his hand and stroked her hair.
It seems that she has no heart for her family, but she is actually the person in the Xu family who knows the overall situation best.
"He has started a business in Southeast Asia for more than three months. Although he has not made achievements so quickly, his basic life has been stable. I asked him a year ago if he should arrange for him to return to China to meet you. He meant the same thing as you. He said that he wanted to come back to see you after his career improved, knowing that you are doing well and can show off your talents." Cheng Lang explained.
"Then you just said, what did he tell you to hide from me?"
"The truth about your stepmother and your brother leaving."
Xu Qiao was stunned: "Didn't my father arrange for them to live abroad?"
Cheng Lang shook his head: "Your dad used vague terms in the text message to guide you to understand this way, and he doesn't want you to worry. In fact, your stepmother and your dad had already agreed to divorce before that time. At that time, your stepmother took away the last transaction in the family Funds, take your brother away. Your father can only leave in a hurry because of this."
Shocked too much, Xu Qiao looked at Cheng Lang and remained silent for a long while.
"That is to say," she spoke very slowly because of surprise, "my dad doesn't know the whereabouts of my stepmother and my brother these days?"
Cheng Lang nodded: "I sent someone to pay attention, but they deliberately hid their identities and didn't have a specific direction. Finding someone like this is like finding a needle in a haystack. But today's news came that they are in New State, USA."
Xu Qiao seemed to think of something: "So my stepmother leaked my design drawings?"
"Well, she heard about your fame in the United States, and contacted a jeweler, planning to exchange your works for money."
"How did she scan my blueprints before?"
"I guess," Cheng Lang thought for a while, "She once consulted people in the industry with scanned copies of your design drawings, asking if these works are outstanding."
Cheng Lang didn't break the word, but Xu Qiao roughly understood it.
At the time, she was still in college and had no clear plan on whether she would enter the jewelry industry in the future. Yan Lizhen worried that she was too talented in jewelry design and inherited the family business before her younger brother graduated, so she might have secretly paid attention to her works.
Afterwards, where the files may have left a record.
Xu Qiao was silent for a long while, but she didn't know whether to be angry or laugh.
"Don't worry, since this matter has been exposed, her business will definitely not be completed. What I want to discuss with you is another more difficult matter."
"What?" Xu Qiao had received too much information at once, and she hadn't calmed down yet, and her reaction was a little slow.
"I remember that when you were in trouble at the bar last year, your brother helped you. You seem to have a good relationship, don't you?"
Xu Qiao nodded: "Although he often bickers, he is very protective of me. He actually didn't want to fight for any family property, but he was forced by my stepmother to learn this and that since he was a child."
Cheng Lang sighed: "Then do you want to take your brother back? He is having a difficult time now."
"What happened to him?" Xu Qiao straightened her back instantly, "Didn't my stepmother leave with money?"
Cheng Lang raised his eyebrows, nodded and said: "The specific situation is not very clear, roughly it should be—your brother was cheated by your stepmother back then, and when he arrived in the United States, after knowing the truth, he didn't take a cent of the money your stepmother took away." Willing to use it, and cut off contact with her."
Xu Qiao took a deep breath: "Then how did he spend the past few months alone in a foreign country?"
"Living on the streets, doing illegal jobs everywhere, your stepmother has been looking for him, but he doesn't want to see her, and avoids her in hiding."
Such a life, even Xu Qiaoguang's imagination felt suffocated.
"How is he now? Is he alright?" She hurriedly grabbed Cheng Lang's hand and asked.
Cheng Lang patted the back of her hand to comfort her: "I found the bar where he worked recently, and he is fine, but considering that I don't know what your brother is thinking, I haven't asked anyone to identify me for the time being, for fear of alarming him. Once he is also unwilling to see us, it will be even more troublesome to hide in another place. See if it is possible to call him and persuade him to come back to China?"
Xu Qiao was stupefied for a while: "My brother is a bit stubborn, and I don't know his specific situation these days. To be on the safe side, it might be better to pick him up in person. It's not difficult for me to find some time these days. How about I go to Xinzhou?"
Cheng Lang was also mentally prepared for this: "Okay, I'll accompany you."
Xu Qiao turned her head to look at him: "What a delay, it will take at least two days to go back and forth, just send an assistant to accompany me."
"This is a big family matter. How can there be any reason to let an assistant accompany you?" Cheng Lang called Gao Rui and asked him to arrange a flight for the two of them.
He said "family", as if everything was taken for granted, the affairs of the Xu family were his affairs.
Xu Qiao pursed her mouth, took his arm, and slid into his arms like a cat, sniffing with emotion.
Yesterday's husband's call was really worth it.
It turned out that she, Xu Qiao, was not raised to heaven, but was spoiled by this man.