Chapter 171: Who Is Anno?

Julia was driving, and as Joan watched the route, she found it strangely familiar.

"Julia, where are you planning to go?"

"To see Anno, of course. His company isn't far from here."

Joan felt a flicker of curiosity. She remembered Julia mentioning that Anno was quite well-known in Jingcheng, but since Julia had never been keen on talking about him, Joan had never pried. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know his real name.

"Which company does Mr. Anno work for?"

Julia blinked. "Didn't I tell you? He works at the Lu Group. Anno is actually Lu Qi'an, the current CEO of the Lu Group. Oh, right, I think I only mentioned it once when you were drunk. I suppose I really haven't told you..."

Joan could no longer hear what Julia was saying. She only knew one thing: the Mr. Anno that Julia loved was actually Lu Qi'an! She never imagined things could be such a coincidence—the man Julia loved...

"Joan? Joan?"

Joan snapped back to reality. "What is it?"

Julia was a bit annoyed by Joan's distraction, but they were good friends, so she didn't dwell on it. She repeated, "We’re almost at the Lu Group. Why don't you come up with me? The Lu Group is quite impressive!"

Joan shook her head with a smile. "No, thank you, Julia. Since you're going to see Mr. Anno, I won't intrude. Just drop me off up ahead; I'll wander around here for a bit."

"Are you sure you don't want to come? You didn't have any plans for today, did you?" Julia asked.

Joan shook her head again. "No, you go ahead. You can spend more time with Mr. Anno—who knows, maybe you'll have a chance!"

As she spoke, Joan carefully controlled her facial expressions to avoid looking suspicious.

Julia felt a wave of gloom and muttered under her breath, "There's no chance of anything..."

The voice was too low for Joan to catch, and she didn't pay it any mind, signaling for Julia to pull over. As she watched the sports car merge into the flow of traffic, a glint of uncertainty flickered in Joan's eyes. She hadn't expected such a coincidence, but, come to think of it, this coincidence wasn't a bad thing at all.

Previously, Julia hadn't been very supportive of her "ideas" and "attitude," so it had taken a lot of persuading to get her to agree to take a private jet back to Jingcheng, which allowed Joan to return early as well. But now, since Julia also liked Lu Qi'an, and Lu Qi'an loved Qin Miaoyu...

Doesn't that put her and Julia on the same side?

Once they worked together to eliminate Qin Miaoyu, dealing with Julia would be a simple matter! A somewhat paranoid smile curled the corners of Joan's lips.

Unaware of Joan's schemes, Julia drove straight to the Lu Group. She wasn't stopped at the front desk and was instead escorted directly to a guest room.

At that moment, Lu Qi'an was stopped at a traffic light three minutes away from the company. He was focused on the signal, completely unaware of the person standing on the sidewalk whose expression was shifting rapidly.

Joan stood frozen in place. She had recognized Lu Qi'an's car at a glance and then saw him in the driver's seat. Nearly five years had passed, yet this man had only grown more perfect! One look was all it took to make her crave him even more. Her mother had said she would get her wish! But to ensure total success, she had to make sure Julia stood on her side. With an impulsive, reckless socialite like Julia involved, things would be much more interesting!

As soon as Lu Qi'an arrived at the office, he was informed that Julia was in the guest room. He had intended to head straight to his office, but changed his path toward the guest room instead.

Julia was overjoyed to see him, but his opening words made her smile freeze.

"Shall I arrange a flight for you to go back home now?"

"No!" Julia retorted loudly. She had just arrived; why would she leave? She glared at him, feeling a sudden, sharp annoyance. "I haven't done anything wrong! Can't I just come to Jingcheng for a visit?"

Lu Qi'an asked, "Just for a visit? Are you sure that's the only thing you've done since arriving in Jingcheng? Nothing else?"

Julia immediately thought of the task Joan had entrusted to her—finding Qin Miaoyu. But what did that have to do with Lu Qi'an? She was just standing up for a friend; what was wrong with that?

She felt righteous and replied in her native language, "Anno, do I need to report to you every time I come to Jingcheng? I haven't messed with your woman, so why are you being so overbearing?"

Lu Qi'an paused. If Julia wasn't there to make trouble for Miaoyu because of him, then why?

He asked calmly, "If you aren't bothering my people, does that mean you can bother others? Julia, this isn't back home."

"I know that! I know I need to follow the law, but I'm not doing anything shady. There's just some woman seducing my friend's boyfriend. I can't stand it, so isn't it fine for me to go and see what kind of person she is?"

"Seducing your friend's boyfriend? What exactly is going on?" Lu Qi'an asked.

Seeing that Lu Qi'an had stopped shouting, Julia’s tone softened, and she explained the sequence of events.

Lu Qi'an was intrigued. "Julia, aside from the friends you've grown up with, it's rare to see you stand up for anyone else. I'm quite curious about who this friend of yours is."

Julia shrugged. "I couldn't help it. It's rare to find someone who seems so pitiful but is still easy to get along with. I didn't have anything else to do, so I thought I'd help her look into the situation."

Julia's words set Lu Qi'an's mind at ease; at the very least, it meant she hadn't actually done anything yet.

"Have you been with her these past few days?"

"No. She has her own things to do. She's a native of Jingcheng and hasn't seen her family in five years, so she's been busy with them. I've been wandering around on my own. I wanted to ask her to come along, but she refused, so I came by myself."

At the mention of "five years," Lu Qi'an's heart skipped a beat. Perhaps because the five-year anniversary of Gao Qingqing's departure was approaching, and because Mrs. Gao had been trying to stir up trouble lately, hearing "five years" immediately reminded him of her.

He adjusted his thoughts, considering the Qin Miaoyu that Julia had gone to find, and said, "Julia, did you go to confront the woman seducing your friend's boyfriend all by yourself?"

"Yeah, so what?" Julia didn't understand why he was asking.

"Have you ever thought that you might have found the wrong person? You should have brought your friend along; at least then you wouldn't have mistaken the person, and it would have been more justifiable for her to speak up."

"How could I have found the wrong person! Joan told me the name of her studio and even told me the person's name was Qin Miaoyu. That woman even confirmed it herself at the time. How could I be wrong!"

Lu Qi'an's eyes narrowed. "Your friend's name is Joan? And she told you that Qin Miaoyu is seducing her boyfriend?"