When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 224: Wait and See the Drama

The competition soon officially began, and Jiang Shuyao stared intently at the time on her phone, almost counting down to the last second. The moment she heard footsteps coming down the aisle, she suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why so gloomy, Princess?" The clean scent of shower gel accompanied his low, lazy voice as it neared.

The air beside her seat filled, and her heart also settled down.

Jiang Shuyao turned her head to look at the person beside her.

Pei Yan was dressed in a shirt and casual pants, his hair tips slightly damp, looking as if he had just come over from the hotel after taking a shower.

After sitting down, he leaned quietly against the chair, lips pursed, suppressing the slight rise and fall of his chest, his profile looking somewhat tired.

But that trace of fatigue, when he turned his gaze to meet hers directly, conveyed an incredibly solid sense of trust.

"Cheer up, don’t look like that," Pei Yan teased, curving the corners of his lips, and lightly pinched her chin, "Afraid I would drop dead outside?"

Jiang Shuyao turned her face away with reddened eyes.

Knowing full well that she would worry, he still played disappearing acts.

The person most relieved by his return was Jiang Xubai.

Originally intending to let the young couple talk for a while, half a moment passed without hearing the voice of the lady boss. Not wanting to wait any longer, he eagerly turned to face them.

Before Jiang Xubai could speak, Pei Yan cut off the words he was about to say, "Ask whatever you want later, get ready for the defense first."

Look at that determination.

Worthy of being the boss.

While the host was delivering the opening remarks on stage, Jiang Shuyao took out water from her bag and silently handed it to him.

Pei Yan took it and drank more than half in one gulp. Their team’s presentation number was among the first, so Jiang Xu pulled out a USB drive and went ahead to the ready area to set up, casting a meaningful glance at the lady boss before leaving.

Jiang Shuyao subconsciously furrowed her brows and asked softly, "Have you been staying with your cousin these days?"

After the host finished speaking, students began to present on stage according to their numbers, gave explanations, and then faced questions from the panel of experts below.

Amidst the applause, the person beside her unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt, seemingly ready to take the stage for the defense.

"No," Pei Yan said carelessly, "He had business at his company and returned to Rong City the same day. I only went to consult with him about some professional issues."

So, where exactly did this guy hide for the continuous two days afterward?

As Jiang Shuyao pondered, she faintly heard their team’s number being called from the stage. Pei Yan propped his elbow on his knee and leaned over, turning his head to look at her.

They were now closer, and a cold fragrance once again filled her breath.

He was in front of her, his eyes smiling, whispering in a lower voice by her ear, "...Wait and see, there’s going to be a good show."

Having said that, he rose from his seat with a slight curl of his lips and walked straight to the front of the stage.

Watching his lean and erect back, Jiang Shuyao’s heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

A good show...

She had a premonition that it might have something to do with that matter.

All kinds of gazes landed on Pei Yan; regardless of his abilities, from the moment he stepped on stage, his outstanding appearance alone was enough to capture the attention of most onlookers.

Especially the girls, Lin Yan in particular.

Not far away was the Ligong University area where everyone watched quietly, but Lin Yan seemed to be unable to contain her excitement, making the solemn technical exchange seem like a small-scale fan meeting.

This scene caught in the eyes of Xie Anyu, sitting in the back row, felt somewhat repulsive.

Turning to ask Lu Chen, "Are you sure she’s a sophomore from your school? Is she crazy?"

There was no sign of movement from the person beside her, so Xie Anyu subconsciously turned her head.

Upon seeing Lu Chen’s frighteningly gloomy face, she frowned, "What’s wrong?"

The presentation on stage was proceeding methodically, with every word clear and the voice carrying a measured cadence that pierced through the eardrum, directly reaching the central nervous system.

The editor’s creative concept was a breath of fresh air for many, with its rigorous and meticulous logic structure; it was hard to imagine that it came from the hands of a freshman at this stage.

Midway through the listening, the audience beneath the stage was so focused that you could hear a pin drop. A professor in the front row had already begun to smile and set down his cup, and those adept at reading the room could clearly sense the difference in the panel of experts’ reaction to this round of work.

Unable to multitask, Xie Anyu reluctantly shifted her gaze from the stage, noticing that Lu Chen wasn’t paying attention to the defense above, but was staring intensely at the computer, seemingly browsing through an email.

From Xie Anyu’s angle, the email was extremely lengthy. As the scrollbar on the right inched downward, not only did Lu Chen’s face not improve, but he was also enveloped by a terrifying and chilling aura.

"Has something happened—"

Before she could finish speaking, Lu Chen abruptly closed his laptop, stood up from his seat without glancing at her, and strode towards the exit of the venue with his computer in hand.

Having known him for so long, she had never seen Lu Chen react so strongly to any difficult situation.

What on earth happened.

She began to feel a vague sense of unease.

After sitting for a while and still feeling uneasy, Xie Anyu picked up her handbag beside her and silently slipped away through the side aisle.

Outside, the air was scorching, and the heat made it even harder for those on the phone to remain calm.

Lu Chen stood by the flower bed ten meters away from the main entrance, the sunlight beating down directly, the frames on his nose reflecting a harsh glare.

He was so focused on his emotions that the fine sweat at his temples covered his forehead, and he didn’t notice someone approaching from behind.

"Track the address of that email immediately—the faster, the better!"

"Aside from you and me, no one knows about the loophole in the program, so it’s clear the other party had been plotting this for a while."

"Impossible. With the participants’ level of expertise, trying to crack the encryption system in such a short amount of time is pure fantasy."

"What I’m worried about is, if someone discovers something inside, it won’t be so easy for us to get away with it."

At that point, the person on the other end of the phone seemed to fall silent for a while before quickly relaying some information.

After listening, Lu Chen suddenly narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure?"

As if he had suffered a great insult, and although his expression was not visible, Xie Anyu could clearly feel his dignity collapsing in that moment through the tremor in his voice.

Because the voice on the phone said, "The IP address from which the email was sent is on the same floor as your hotel, room number 601."

601—

Lu Chen felt as if his chest had been hollowed out, his entire body cold.

Just then, the phone suddenly rang with the notification tone of a new email.

Lu Chen hung up the phone, clicked into his inbox, and studied the screen intensely as he read through. Unable to contain himself, he fiercely threw the phone onto the ground.

The unexpected action startled Xie Anyu, who let out a cry of alarm.

Lu Chen turned his head, his face ashen.

"I, I didn’t mean to..."

Xie Anyu, at a loss, took two steps back.

Faced with her unintended eavesdropping, Lu Chen did not lash out but instead turned his gaze toward the venue’s entrance not far away.

Xie Anyu saw Lu Chen like this for the first time.

Behind his glasses, his eyes were like soulless demons, filled with extreme frigid resentment, as if he wanted to shoot a hole through that door.