Chapter 152: Li Qixiao

Lu Qi'an saw the "typing..." indicator on the chat screen and immediately initiated a video call.

Seeing the man on the screen, Qin Miaoyu finally confirmed that Lu Qi'an had indeed not gone to that bar.

"Alright then, I must have been seeing things. It’s rare to see someone with a build so similar to yours, so I didn't think twice about it."

Lu Qi'an couldn't help but be curious: "Is he really that similar? I don't recall you ever mentioning anyone else having a back like mine before..."

Lu Qi'an’s words suddenly trailed off. He remembered someone from five years ago!

"Miaoyu, which bar did you say that person went into?"

Qin Miaoyu glanced at the sign, read the name aloud, and then asked, "Is this person very important?"

"Yes, very important. It's late; you should head back early. I have some things to take care of here."

"Alright, I'm heading home then."

Qin Miaoyu hung up, glanced back at the bar once more, and thought about the figure she had seen. It still felt remarkably similar; she just wondered what he looked like from the front!

Meanwhile, Lu Qi'an hung up and called Gu Feng to drive him to the Black Blue Bar.

On the way, he called Yang Linxue and asked straight to the point: "Do you know the owner of the Black Blue Bar?"

"I do, of course I do. Why are you looking for him, Brother Lu?"

"Just tell me who it is. I have some business."

Twenty minutes later, the owner of the Black Blue Bar, who had been waiting at the entrance, saw Lu Qi'an step out of the car and hurried over with a fawning expression.

"Mr. Lu, what wind blew you here today?"

Lu Qi'an gave the owner a polite handshake and headed straight into the bar.

"I'm here to find someone."

The owner fell into deep thought, wondering who this Mr. Lu could be looking for that would bring him all the way here.

Once inside, Lu Qi'an frowned. He rarely visited such garish bars, and the overwhelming noise made him uncomfortable.

He signaled to Gu Feng, who immediately understood and went to book a private room and order drinks.

The bar owner watched the transaction with glee, preparing to lead Lu Qi'an to the private room himself.

Lu Qi'an declined the owner's enthusiasm, saying, "I'm looking for someone. Take me to the surveillance room."

The owner looked troubled. "Mr. Lu, we don't have surveillance in the private rooms."

"I don't need the surveillance for the private rooms."

The owner hesitated for a moment before leading Lu Qi'an to the security room.

Lu Qi'an focused on the entrance footage from the time Qin Miaoyu had called. He saw the person she had described, and when he called Gu Feng over, Gu Feng also agreed that, from the back, the man looked exactly like Mr. Lu.

Lu Qi'an pulled up a front-facing shot, only to find a face he didn't recognize. Although it looked somewhat familiar, it was certainly not the person from all those years ago!

He pointed at the man and asked, "Do you know who this is?"

The bar owner squinted to get a better look. "That’s a regular who’s been coming in lately. I only know he goes by Li Qixiao. I’m not sure about his background, but he seems to have some money. The drinks he orders aren't extremely expensive, but they aren't cheap either. And the price of his orders has been trending upwards the last few days."

Li Qixiao? It was a name he had never heard before.

He studied the face closely, yet a bad feeling lingered in his heart. After leaving the bar, he told Gu Feng to immediately investigate Li Qixiao’s background.

Thinking of Li Qixiao reminded Lu Qi'an of the person Gao Qingqing had found years ago—the one who had almost landed him in prison. Before he could settle the score, that person had vanished. He had always suspected the Gao family had pulled some strings, but those he had watching the family had never found any evidence.

Lu Qi'an didn't leave immediately after getting into the car; he wanted to wait for Li Qixiao to emerge. But when the man hadn't come out by the early hours of the morning, and the bar owner confirmed he was still drinking, Lu Qi'an decided to leave.

Not long after Lu Qi'an departed, two bodyguards in black entered the bar and forcefully escorted a man out.

Had Lu Qi'an still been there, Gu Feng would have instantly noticed that the man being led out had a silhouette and build identical to Lu Qi'an’s!

Qin Miaoyu didn't sleep well that night.

Perhaps because she had been thinking about the tone of Lu Qi'an’s voice before bed, she had a nightmare. In the dream, she kept calling out to the Lu Qi'an in front of her, but when she finally made him turn around, it was a face she didn't recognize.

When she woke up, she was covered in cold sweat, her heart racing.

She sat up, feeling uneasy, and took out her phone to message Lu Qi'an.

[QMY: Did you find that person from yesterday?]

Lu Qi'an hadn't directly told her he was looking for someone who shared his likeness, but Qin Miaoyu had guessed it.

The reply came quickly.

[LAQ: Found him. It wasn't the person I was looking for.]

[QMY: I see. Nothing else happened, right?]

[LAQ: No, don't worry.]

Seeing the final message from Lu Qi'an, Qin Miaoyu felt much more at ease.

She got up, washed, and headed to the studio.

Coming out of the subway station and passing the bar from the day before, Qin Miaoyu couldn't help but steal another glance inside before walking on toward her studio.

"Miaoyu, look at those dark circles. Did you pull an all-nighter?" Pei Yixue asked with surprise, as Qin Miaoyu rarely stayed up late unless she was on a tight deadline.

Qin Miaoyu let out a yawn and shook her head. "No, I just had nightmares all night and didn't sleep well."

Just then, Xu Xiaoqi walked in, saw Qin Miaoyu, and said, "Miaoyu, I think I saw Lu Qi'an downstairs just now. Did he come to see you?"

Qin Miaoyu shook her head. "No, he didn't say anything about coming over."

She remembered that when they messaged in the morning, Lu Qi'an said he was at the office. Although the two places weren't far apart, it would take more than ten minutes to get there.

But...

Qin Miaoyu asked, "Xiaoqi, did you see which way he went?"

"It looked like he headed toward the building behind us, but I'm not entirely sure. I just caught a glimpse of him moving in that direction."

Qin Miaoyu hurried out of the studio and aimed her phone camera toward the building behind them.

Zooming in until the image was clear, she spotted the person whose back looked like Lu Qi'an’s amidst the crowd. She snapped a photo and headed back inside.

Looking at the photo and remembering that Lu Qi'an had said he would investigate this person's identity, she sent him another message.

Lu Qi'an had been very busy all morning. Once his back-to-back meetings were over, Gu Feng came to report on Li Qixiao.

However, the information they could dig up was incredibly limited!

This made Lu Qi'an even more suspicious; he wondered who was scrubbing the trail behind this "Li Qixiao."