Yu Minglang and Yan Yu just returned to Qian’s house and closed the door when they heard a knock. Yu Minglang quickly led Yan Yu into Qian’s room, signaling Qian to open the door.

"What’s up?" Qian asked Aka standing outside the door.

"I seemed to hear a loud noise from your house when I was sleeping, so I came to check. Are you okay?" Aka seemed normal, asking with a smile.

"It’s nothing. My sister bought a noise-making device. She just broke up with her ex-boyfriend today and wanted revenge on that jerk, so she bought this thing planning to install it next to her ex-boyfriend’s house. She just tested the effect, sorry for disturbing your sleep."

Aka twitched her lips, "It’s okay, as long as you’re okay. See you at school tomorrow, rest early."

"Good night."

Returning to the bedroom, Qian wrote a line on paper for Yu Minglang. She wrote: She can hear me talking; it doesn’t seem like tinnitus.

Yu Minglang smiled slightly; he understood lip reading, and surely the agent next door did too. This blond woman was too clever; she deliberately knocked to show Qian that her hearing wasn’t affected.

Aka returned to her room; the first thing she did was scan the seemingly messy furnishings with her eyes. Her room was messy, but she could remember even the position of a paper ball on the floor. If someone came in, she would be aware immediately. The room’s decor hadn’t been touched, and Aka cautiously looked at her bedroom door; the strand of hair was still there.

Whew, scared to death, a false alarm.

Aka patted her chest and sent a message to her boss, reporting Qian’s itinerary for the day and emphasizing that Qian was currently safe. Oh, right.

Aka glanced at the auction catalog on the table and added, I heard she seems to really like Zheng Banqiao’s works, boss aren’t you attending the auction? Buy a piece for her; she would be delighted.

After finishing these, Aka finally lay on the bed and rubbed her ears.

Damn, that noise nearly deafened her. Her ears were still ringing—luckily, she could read lips; otherwise, she’d be caught using eavesdropping equipment!

Yu Minglang sent Yan Yu off, then sat on the bed and sent a message. In those few seconds, he not only confirmed that Aka across the door was monitoring Qian but also saw that catalog. His instinct told him the catalog was useful. He needed someone to investigate matters related to the auction, feeling there might be information he needed in it.

Although Yu Minglang suspected the person across the door was sent by Mai, his cautious intuition led him to add something when sending the message.

Send me the list of participants for the auction at the end of the month in M Country.

Qian placed a warm belly patch on her stomach, lying on the bed with her hand quietly reaching for the chilled mineral water at the headboard. Yu Minglang was watching his phone for a response, yet he still sensed the intentions of a restless woman during her period, and he directly stood up to put the water back in the fridge; Qian heard him fiddling outside, seemingly boiling water.

Men who think drinking more warm water is useful are the worst...

While he was outside with the water, the phone rang, and Qian casually tapped on it, revealing a list of names.

The sender’s name was somewhat familiar to Qian, apparently one of Yu Minglang’s classmates, currently working in the capital and well-informed in this area. Xiaoqiang was busy with work but had his own network of connections, which Qian also admired.

Yu Minglang returned with a cup of brewed brown sugar water, "Is he there?"

"No... It seems most are Chinese." Qian didn’t see anyone from Mai’s side, because the names from that side were intimidatingly long.

"He might not go; maybe he’ll send someone else. I’ll go back and check these people’s backgrounds more carefully. Now, drink the sugar water."

"I don’t want to drink it... It’s so hard to swallow. By the way, I saw an acquaintance."

"Who?"

"The doctoral advisor my teacher asked me to apply for. His name is in pinyin, easy to recognize."

"That’s probably just a coincidence. Don’t think changing the subject will make me forget the main issue; hurry up and drink the sugar water!"

"... Straight guys are terrifying. Why insist on drinking this stuff? Westerners can run during their periods, and even swim with a tampon in."

"If you want to be on par with Westerners, should we clean the weapons right now?"

Qian choked; has he been watching too much Western stuff?

During her period, she didn’t feel like doing anything, just wanted to stay home and be a couch potato. Unfortunately, Qian had a group meeting in the morning, so Yu Minglang took her to school while he went to investigate the auction list.

As usual, Qian sat next to the big boss. Lv Xiaocha, claiming to be on good terms with Qian, sat next to her. The big boss hadn’t arrived yet, and Qian instantly spotted the blond Aka sitting closest to the door.

"Since when did our group have so many people?" Qian asked Lv Xiaocha. She had been busy handling household matters and skipped a group meeting; the only thing she knew was that Aka was an exchange student at this school, but she didn’t know she was in her group.

"Probably since the last time. Qian, you don’t know this, but this foreigner named Aka somehow joined our group, and she got rebuked terribly by the big boss. The big boss said she’s inferior even to freshmen. Has our school become this lenient towards foreigners?"

Lv Xiaocha felt a bit jealous; why was it so tough for locals to get in here, having to compete fiercely, while foreigners could just stroll in?

Qian twirled her pen, looking at the blond woman with eyes. This girl was planning and scheming to get close to her; was it really just for Mai wanting to date her? If Mai simply wanted to date her and used an inside man to monitor her, it seemed unnecessary, a bit redundant.

She had already figured out Mai’s line, and Yu Minglang also found out something’s up with the blonde. Now the real question was whether this blonde was in cahoots with Mai.

After Yu Minglang searched the blonde’s place, Qian now feels a surging malice when looking at her.

Aka realized Qian was watching her and tried to smile favorably, only for Qian to coldly turn away, meeting her gesture with indifference.

Sitting next to Aka was the senior Ju Hua, who had issues with Qian. When Aka turned, Ju Hua deliberately went closer to Aka to practice her English with the foreigner, but Ju Hua was bound to be disappointed. Aka’s Chinese was fluent to the point she could even speak dialects, and no one ever heard her speak a word of English.

"That’s the famous icy beauty Qian, right in our group. Isn’t she so aloof?" Ju Hua said to Aka.

Aka grinned at her, showing a brilliant expression. Ju Hua wanted to privately gripe more about Manager Qian when the big boss arrived, grabbing everyone’s attention.

While Ju Hua was watching the big boss, Aka quickly unscrewed Ju Hua’s cup and added a handful of laxatives. After completing all this, she again looked toward Qian’s direction, wondering if the goddess liked her!

No, Qian didn’t even look at her, not even sparing a glance.

This infuriated Aka a bit.

Isn’t this how female friendships are supposed to develop?