Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Impossible to Guard Against

Qiao Xin somehow managed to stay on this project.

Qiao Yi asked Lu Yanchuan, but he said it was Old Mr. Lu’s idea and he couldn’t interfere, so Qiao Yi had no choice but to let it go.

Initially, they thought Qiao Xin’s involvement would be more of a hindrance than help, but surprisingly after a few days, she was merely skimming the surface and showed no intention of causing trouble, leading Qiao Yi and Xiao Ting to tacitly accept her presence.

The more they worked together, the more Qiao Yi and Xiao Ting came to appreciate each other.

Qiao Yi admired Xiao Ting’s decisiveness and competence, as her position as Lu Yanchuan’s chief assistant testified to her strong abilities.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ting appreciated Qiao Yi’s ingenuity. On top of the project’s solid foundation, Qiao Yi always came up with brilliant ideas and even keenly spotted flaws that Xiao Ting herself hadn’t noticed.

Without comparison, there would be no hurt feelings. With Qiao Xin, who was always half-hearted and sometimes even disruptive, Qiao Yi’s strengths were magnified manyfold.

“There are no problems with the construction site; we can start work at the end of this month.”

Qiao Yi relaxed her body and stretched leisurely.

On their first meeting, Qiao Yi still made sure she was well-dressed, but as the project proceeded and they became more familiar with each other, she stopped caring about her appearance.

“Tomorrow we can start procuring materials, this part should be handled by…”

“I’ll take care of this part.”

Xiao Ting was interrupted by Qiao Xin. Qiao Yi and Xiao Ting both turned to look at Qiao Xin, who unflinchingly took the documents from Xiao Ting’s hand and repeated herself.

“The procurement of materials will be my responsibility; since I’ve joined this project, I should contribute something.”

Qiao Xin’s words were righteous and plausible. If Qiao Yi and Xiao Ting didn’t know her nature, they might have been fooled by her.

However, since she put it that way, Qiao Yi and Xiao Ting couldn’t just deny her proposal and had to agree for the time being.

Qiao Xin walked away with the documents, satisfied, leaving Qiao Yi and Xiao Ting looking at each other before they let out a simultaneous sigh.

“Let’s hope she genuinely wants to do something for the project.”

Qiao Yi nodded perfunctorily, not truly believing that Qiao Xin would change her ways so easily, but she kept some thoughts to herself in front of Xiao Ting.

That evening, Lu Yanchuan, as usual, came to the Qiao Family’s headquarters to pick up Qiao Yi from work and immediately noticed her preoccupied look.

“Is the project proving to be troublesome?”

“No… it’s just that Qiao Xin’s behavior today was really strange! Not just today, but since she inexplicably appeared on this project. She never wanted to be involved with any project before!”

A person who was usually lazy suddenly becoming diligent must be keeping some dark secret.

“The procurement of materials… Why does Qiao Xin insist on taking over that task?”

The only doubtful point lay in the procurement of materials. Unable to come up with an answer herself, Qiao Yi leaned in closer to Lu Yanchuan, waiting for him to provide a reasonable explanation.

“Just have someone keep an eye on her.”

Lu Yanchuan refrained from pondering and simply offered the most straightforward and brute-force solution.

Qiao Yi pouted. Alright, she conceded!

“Xiao Ting will monitor the situation on Lu Group’s side. I’ll have additional people watch Qiao Xin closely. We can’t let her ruin the project between both families!”

“Do you really care about the partnership between the Qiao Family and the Lu Family?”

Lu Yanchuan caught her off guard with the question, and it took Qiao Yi a moment before she nodded affirmatively.

“Of course, if it weren’t for maintaining the relationship between the two families, I wouldn’t have married Lu Ming, and that incident wouldn’t have happened…”

“So, should I thank Qiao Xin?”

Lu Yanchuan, with a long reach, pulled Qiao Yi into his arms.

“We agreed not to mention that!”

Annoyed and embarrassed, Qiao Yi glared at Lu Yanchuan while holding on to his collar.

Lu Yanchuan was unfazed and even wore a smile in his eyes.

“Do you regret marrying me?”

“Regret it! Regret it to death! You lousy rogue, let me go!”

Qiao Yi blushed uncontrollably while struggling unsuccessfully to break free from Lu Yanchuan’s hold. Rather than a struggle, it was more like playful fighting between the two, completely ignoring their driver, Ma Yu.

For the umpteenth time, Ma Yu regretted his decision to become Lu Yanchuan’s personal assistant. Is there any way he could decline this dog food (display of affection)?

As it turns out, one cannot simply decline the boss’s dog food.

When Lu Yanchuan finally got out of the car still holding a limply yielding Qiao Yi, Ma Yu had already ascended to a state of unflappable tranquility.

He was still young and without a girlfriend; if things continued like this, he’d either develop an illness or become a monk on the spot! He was surely going to be traumatized by these two show-offs!

Qiao Xin returned home with the documents for material procurement, and when Lu Ming saw the documents in her hands, he excitedly hugged her.

But the next moment, she pushed him away. “I’ve done what you asked for. Now it’s your turn. If you can’t make me Lu Yanchuan’s wife before the end of this month, I assure you that you won’t get a penny of my share!”

Qiao Xin coldly tossed the contract on the table and walked out of this so-called home.

Perhaps for Lu Ming, this was home, but for Qiao Yi, it was merely a temporary shelter.

Due to distrust in Qiao Xin, Qiao Yi ordered a thorough inspection of the materials handled by Qiao Xin every time they were delivered for the following five days, demanding that any non-compliant materials be immediately returned for reshipment.

Yet, despite such precaution, there was still a problem with these materials!

“What happened!”

The incident happened at dawn. Qiao Yi was woken up by a phone call at three in the morning, reporting a small-scale collapse at the newly begun construction site, suspected to be due to substandard building materials!

“Has Lu Group been notified?”

While rushing to the construction site, Qiao Yi urgently called Xiao Ting and Qiao Xin.

“Xiao Ting! There’s been a collapse at the construction site, possibly due to a problem with building materials. Please come to the site as soon as you can.”

“Building materials? Is it Qiao Xin?”

“We don’t know the specifics on their end yet; I’m on my way to the site.”

After exchanging a few words with Xiao Ting, Qiao Yi hung up, but couldn’t get through to Qiao Xin.

The first to arrive at the site was Qiao Yi, who inspected the point of the accident before Xiao Ting arrived.

“Fortunately, the collapsed area is a newly constructed part, so no one was injured, but this will delay the work by a few days.”

“No injuries, that’s good. Have we found the exact cause of the collapse? Is it related to the quality of materials? Why hasn’t Qiao Xin arrived yet?”