Chapter 117: Chapter 117 Eternal Vigilance

“Second Miss Qiao, Second Miss Qiao! Are you there?”

Just as Qiao Yi had changed her clothes and come out, before she could return to the venue, an aunt from the Qiao Family came looking for her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Second Miss Qiao! The master and the lady are asking you to come down quickly; they said there’s a special guest who has brought you a birthday gift, and they want you to come down in person!”

The aunt’s face was full of urgency; it was clear she had been looking for Qiao Yi for quite a while.

What kind of guest could make Qiao Benqing and Zhao Wenjing so anxious?

Qiao Yi followed the aunt with curiosity, while Lu Yanchuan thoughtfully stroked his chin and hesitated for a moment before following.

“Yiyi, where did you run off to? You almost missed something important!”

“What’s so urgent? I heard from Aunt Zhao that someone is bringing a gift, and that I’m to personally receive it?”

As soon as she came downstairs, Qiao Yi ran into an extremely anxious Qiao Benqing and Zhao Wenjing. Upon seeing her, the two hurriedly came over and took her by the hand to lead her outside.

Now Qiao Yi was even more curious. The Qiao Family, admittedly not as prestigious as the Lu Family, was still a notable family in Capital City.

Besides those families that stood on equal footing with the Lu Family, there were few who could make Qiao Benqing so attentive.

Moreover, even among the well-established families, if it weren’t for a particularly important member of the family making an appearance, it wouldn’t warrant such anxiety from Qiao Benqing.

Who exactly was the visitor?

“Mr. Qiao, Mrs. Qiao.”

It wasn’t until they reached the entrance of the venue that Qiao Yi finally saw the appearance of the guest.

Dressed in a black tailcoat, like a noble from the middle of the last century, he was composed and aristocratic. Although his face wore a gentle smile, the smile somehow felt thousands of miles away.

This was a man inherently imbued with pride.

Yan Xiyu quietly observed Qiao Yi. Was this the woman who had managed to move Lu Yanchuan, who they thought would remain indifferent?

Although this woman was somewhat attractive, with a nice figure and decent poise…

But there were plenty of women with similar attributes, so why did Yanchuan fall for her of all people?

Yan Xiyu mulled over this in her head but maintained a meticulously polite smile on her face.

“I am here on behalf of LQ International to deliver a birthday gift to Miss Qiao.”

As soon as Yan Xiyu uttered these words, the entire room was shocked.

Such a high-profile appearance and gift-giving had already attracted a lot of attention. Everyone had been speculating about the man’s identity, wondering what made him so special that Qiao Benqing treated him with such regard.

But now that Yan Xiyu had revealed her identity, they understood Qiao Benqing’s attitude wasn’t the least bit surprising. They figured that they would have probably reacted even more excessively than Qiao Benqing.

LQ, that’s LQ for you!

Tomorrow is LQ’s election meeting, and the Qiao Family is also one of the candidates.

Now LQ is proactively giving a gift to the Second Miss Qiao; could this be LQ’s way of making a public statement?

Could it be that LQ has already decided to award the project to the Qiao Family!

As for why no one thought LQ was giving the project to the Lu Family?

One reason was that the Lu Family did not participate in the election at all; those with connections knew that the documents the Qiao Family submitted for the election were prepared with the help of Lu Yanchuan.

The second reason was Yan Xiyu’s address to Qiao Yi.

She came to the birthday banquet and only sought out the Qiao trio and did not look for the Lu Family. This further proved that she was here for Second Miss Qiao, not for the Third Young Master of Lu’s wife.

For a time, the guests within the venue were abuzz with speculation, all trying to guess what LQ’s gesture was all about.

“Thank you.”

Qiao Yi took the box from Yan Xiyu’s hands and passed it on to the aunt next to her, with no intention of opening it.

Yan Xiyu’s eyes flashed darkly, and suddenly her smile widened somewhat as she spoke to Qiao Yi.

“Miss Qiao, don’t you want to have a look? This is a gift personally chosen by our president for Miss Qiao.”

Qiao Yi was taken aback; it was highly impolite to open someone’s gift in public unless they were a particularly close friend.

Clearly, Yan Xiyu was not such a friend to Qiao Yi.

So why would he say this? Perhaps because he had been abroad for so long and was too influenced by foreign customs?

Since the giver himself had suggested it, Qiao Yi had to open it even if she didn’t want to.

The gift box wasn’t too big. Qiao Yi unwrapped the exterior in a few moves, revealing a velvet-covered box inside.

“This… this is too valuable! I can’t accept it!”

Under the lights of the venue, the necklace in the box Qiao Yi held refracted a dazzling light.

A blue diamond, the size of an adult man’s knuckle, was set on a necklace, with earrings and a ring made from the same blue diamonds beside it.

It was not merely the blue diamond jewelry that surprised Qiao Yi.

What surprised her was the provenance of this jewelry set!

“This is the unique creation of Master Karan Dai from Country Y, produced in the 1920s. A famous jewelry designer crafted this set especially for his wife to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, his wife passed away due to illness on their anniversary day. Heartbroken, the designer never released any work to the world after that.”

“This is the ‘Eternal Vigil,’ the masterpiece of Master Karan Dai!”

Someone in the crowd recognized the origin of the jewelry set and explained to their bewildered companions.

“The last time ‘Eternal Vigil’ appeared was at an auction in the capital of Country D three years ago, where it was auctioned off for 180 million euros.”

“180 million! Euros!”

There were exclamations of astonishment. What did 180 million euros mean? Converted at today’s exchange rate, some families present weren’t even worth 180 million euros!

The crowd’s gaze towards the box of jewelry became complex and excited.

Just how profound were LQ’s resources, that they could give away 180 million just like that!

The capital LQ spent on opening the domestic market certainly would not ignore this amount!

Almost everyone looked at Qiao Yi with a different gaze.

Just now, Yan Xiyu had said that this gift was personally chosen by their president; could it be that LQ’s president had taken a fancy to Qiao Yi?

This thought occurred not only in the minds of the guests at the scene but also in the minds of the Qiao Family trio.

Qiao Yi, of course, didn’t know what Qiao Benqing and Zhao Wenjing thought; she only knew that she was feeling exasperated and embarrassed.

She absolutely couldn’t accept such a precious gift.

But with the LQ election imminent, if she rejected this gift in public, and if the president of LQ felt that he lost face, wouldn’t the Qiao Family be directly disqualified?

But if she accepted…

The image of Lu Yanchuan’s face suddenly flashed before Qiao Yi’s eyes.

If she accepted this gift, would Yanchuan… would he be jealous?

Qiao Yi was torn and exasperated, but Qiao Xin hiding behind a pillar at the venue was driven mad with jealousy.

Why should Qiao Yi have such a showy birthday celebration!

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