Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Gu Nian Is Missing

Feline senses of smell are extremely sensitive.

Yuan Shiyao could smell a myriad of scents on her.

Her wrists and the space behind her ears carried her usual perfume. Her dark hair, washed last night, gave off a faint fragrance, and her skin was veiled in the light scent of shower gel. And then there were her lips...

His long, dark lashes lifted, and his jade-green, cat-like eyes stared intently at the girl’s full, crimson lips.

An uncontrollable, restless itch and thirst surged in Yuan Shiyao’s throat.

’Does her lipstick have catnip in it?’

’Otherwise, why does he so desperately want to bite her lips and lick away every last bit of that shimmering color...’

Footsteps seemed to approach from outside the door.

The storage room was cluttered with junk from long disuse. Yuan Shiyao watched as Jiang Qingli looked around, as if searching for a smart device to lock the door.

But there was too much stuff piled up, and she couldn’t find it.

She frowned, a little frustrated.

For some reason, Yuan Shiyao found her expression amusing, and his lips curved into a slight smile.

His fingertips unconsciously reached out, lightly brushing the hem of her clothes as he drew imperceptibly closer.

Jiang Qingli was completely oblivious to his odd behavior. She craned her neck to peek at the situation outside.

When she saw their faces, she let out a breath of relief, only to immediately tense up again.

It was Lin Xiyue and another female.

Lin Xiyue had already reached the back door of the storage room, looking troubled. "What did the professor say he wanted just now? I just woke up and didn’t hear him clearly."

"I didn’t hear either," the other female said, scratching the back of her head. "The second the professor opens his mouth, it’s like he’s chanting an ancient sleeping spell. I really don’t get how Yuan Shimo became his prized disciple."

"It’s fine, let’s just go in and look for it."

As the two walked over, the other female suddenly asked, "Oh, right, where did Qingli go? We have to sign in for the lecture later. If she misses it, she won’t get any points..."

"I didn’t see her when I woke up. Maybe she went to the restroom?" Lin Xiyue said. "I’ll give her a call."

The words had barely left her mouth when the storage room door suddenly opened.

The two looked up to see the very girl they were just looking for standing in the doorway, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Lin Xiyue said. "Did the professor ask you to get something too?"

As she spoke, she started to walk inside.

There was no way Jiang Qingli could let her in.

If it were Yuan Shimo, it would be fine; he was one of her Beast Husbands, after all.

But it was Yuan Shiyao inside. If he were recognized, it would be impossible to explain, and the fact that Yuan Shimo had found a stand-in would be exposed.

"Don’t come in! It’s super dusty in here. I’ll find it in a second!" Jiang Qingli quickly stopped them.

"It’ll be faster if we look together..."

Just as the other female was about to step forward, Lin Xiyue grabbed her hand and said with a grin, "It’s fine. Let’s just wait for Qingli. We can trust her."

Jiang Qingli turned to the side, pretending to rummage through the storage room.

Her fingers fumbled in mid-air, her heart pounding.

From the outside, it just looked like she was searching through the shelves.

But no one knew that Yuan Shiyao was sitting right in front of her, face to face.

The girl’s slender, straight legs stood between the young man’s. Her white calf-high socks brushed against his crisp, gray suit pants, and her canvas shoes were pressed against his leather ones. Her clothes were less than three centimeters from his face.

All Yuan Shiyao had to do was tilt his head up slightly, and he could bury his face in her—

Suddenly, his hand brushed against a booklet.

Jiang Qingli froze for a moment, realizing Yuan Shiyao had found it for her.

The young man kept his face turned to the side, eyes shut tight, but the tips of his ears were suspiciously red.

Jiang Qingli didn’t dare linger. She whispered a "thank you," quickly grabbed it, and pulled the door shut as she walked out.

"Okay, let’s go." Jiang Qingli handed the booklet to the other female, who took it and began flipping through it.

She had just breathed a sigh of relief when Lin Xiyue leaned close to her ear and clucked in amazement. "To think of coming to a place like this... You’re really something else!"

Jiang Qingli’s heart leaped into her throat again. She lowered her voice and asked, "You saw?"

’No wonder she helped stop the other girl from going in...’

Grateful, but still shaken, Jiang Qingli asked her how much she saw.

"I didn’t see his face, but those clothes definitely belong to your husband," Lin Xiyue said with a sly grin. "I never would’ve thought the famous ice prince, Senior Yuan, would be so attentive. When you were on your tiptoes, he raised a hand to support you from behind."

* * *

Back in the storage room, a shrill ringing shattered the silence.

It was a call from a subordinate in the student council.

Yuan Shiyao answered. The person on the other end sounded frantic. "Secretary-General, this is bad! We’re really done for this time!" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"What’s wrong?" Yuan Shiyao’s voice was calm. "Speak slowly."

"You remember the special admission students from the Lower District? We can’t get in contact with one of them!"

"Have our contacts look for him. Do I have to teach you that, too?" Yuan Shiyao frowned.

"If it were any other special admission student, we could just write it off as a loss, but this one’s different!" the person on the other end wailed. "He belongs to Jiang Qingli!"

’Jiang Qingli’s person?’

His jade-green eyes narrowed. Yuan Shiyao stood up, his voice rising. "Who?"

The person on the other end said, "Gu Nian... It’s just... his file says his female master is Jiang Qingli."

"Aren’t we supposed to be processing their transfer enrollment next week? We needed to contact him for some documents, but I’ve been calling all day and he hasn’t responded." The person poured out his grievances. "What do you think is going on? He can’t really be gone, can he? I heard there are some underground organizations over there involved in human trafficking..."

Yuan Shiyao stood frozen, his mind roaring.

In that instant, a voice suddenly spoke in his mind—

’Just don’t do anything. Let Gu Nian stay missing.’

’His status is low. No one will care anyway.’

’If he dies, Jiang Qingli will have one less Beast Husband...’

The terrifying thought swirled in his mind. The cloying darkness that never saw the light of day seemed to sprout tentacles, coiling around his reason, coaxing him to abandon his usual indifference and step into the abyss.

As if bewitched, Yuan Shiyao began to speak, "Don’t bother—"

His fingers brushed the hem of his clothes, and he stopped abruptly.

The pads of his fingers, which had just touched the hem of her clothes, still held a residual warmth. The fragrance lingering in the air was proof that she had been there.

Yuan Shiyao suddenly remembered that she seemed to have recently joined some kind of animal protection group and was often feeding the cats and rabbits at school...

’A person like her... she wouldn’t approve of leaving someone to die, would she?’

"Bother with what?" The person on the phone hadn’t heard the rest of his sentence and asked strangely, "Secretary-General? What did you say?"

"First, notify the branch campus and have them make contact," Yuan Shiyao said, coming back to his senses. He found his voice and his reason, speaking strictly by the book. "If there’s no response after three days, notify the security patrol and the police department."

This was the standard procedure for any missing student.

’Still, for someone from the Lower District, even if he has a noble female master, he doesn’t really warrant the same treatment as a noble...’

The person on the other end paused for a few seconds before replying, "Okay, I’ll get right on it."

Yuan Shiyao stood where he was, stunned for a moment. Then he held a brief meeting with the student council, re-dyed his hair, and returned to the lecture.

During the second half of the lecture, Jiang Qingli couldn’t stay awake at all and fell asleep on Lin Xiyue’s shoulder.

Normally, she should have slept soundly.

But she vaguely felt like someone was glaring at her, and her sleep was quite restless.

After the lecture ended, Lin Xiyue went on a date with her Beast Husband, hand in hand.

Jiang Qingli had wanted to ask Yuan Shiyao something, but she looked around and couldn’t find him.

"He went to put away the teaching materials," the white-haired professor said, stroking his beard and chuckling teasingly. "You young people... the honeymoon phase is truly something else. He was staring at you the whole time, didn’t even pay attention to me, his professor!"

Jiang Qingli laughed dryly.

’That wasn’t love, it was anger...’

Since she couldn’t see him, Jiang Qingli couldn’t be bothered to look anymore. She waved goodbye to the professor and headed out.

Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw a tall, slender figure standing in the hallway.

The young man wore a baseball cap and a mask. A pair of black-framed glasses rested on his high-bridged nose, and strands of his white hair could be seen peeking out from underneath his cap.

He was turned to the side, his head lowered, seemingly texting someone.

Jiang Qingli slowed down, but when she was just a few steps away, she suddenly sped up and charged toward him.

She had originally intended to startle him.

But when he saw her, he just smiled and opened his arms, catching the lunging girl in a full embrace.

Jiang Qingli heard the sound of their impact and a muffled laugh.

Her cheeks grew a little hot. She glared at him fiercely. "What are you laughing at? Am I heavy?"

"Who said that?" Baili Jing’s narrow eyes blinked. "My Xiao Li is clearly lighter than a feather."

Jiang Qingli feigned annoyance. "You’re exaggerating!"

But the corners of her lips curled up involuntarily.

"It’s the truth."

Baili Jing stroked the top of her head, then suddenly froze and looked up at someone behind her.

"Mr. Yuan," Baili Jing said.

His brows lowered, and his gentle voice was laced with a chilling cold as he questioned him, word by word—

"Please explain why you are following my female master."