Chapter 567: Chapter 567: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Now that they knew Yarn and Alton’s identities, Su Qing and the others did their best to avoid any further contact with the two men. Song Yufang, however, frequently found opportunities to chat happily with them under the pretext of practicing her English. She kept in close contact with Yarn and Alton right up until they left Qiyun Village.

Although Yarn thought the sight of Su Qing from behind was nearly identical to his memory of Miss Susan, he made no attempt to approach her. He felt that getting too close to Su Qing would be a betrayal of Miss Susan. Even though he had never managed to become her boyfriend, and likely never would have the chance to marry her, he just couldn’t bring himself to treat a stranger as her substitute.

Alton, on the other hand, was quite disappointed that he hadn’t had a chance to get closer to Su Qing. After her group had left, he sighed, "The girl I like doesn’t seem to have any interest in me."

He shook his head, a dejected look on his face.

Yarn glanced sideways at Alton. "Are you sure that if you started dating that girl, your family would approve of the marriage?"

Alton froze. His family was even more traditional than Yarn’s. Because they had blood ties to the Imperial Family, they were incredibly old-fashioned and conservative when it came to the marriages of their children, and their insistence on matching social status was even more stringent.

"But I genuinely like her, and she really doesn’t seem interested in me at all," Alton wailed. He felt he had truly fallen in love with Su Qing. He had never seen such a beautiful girl. Putting everything else aside, her aura alone was utterly captivating. He even found her more enchanting than the princesses of his own country’s Imperial Family.

"I’m afraid matters like these are out of our hands." Yarn’s thoughts drifted to Susan, and his voice turned downcast. He even felt Alton was luckier than he was. At least the girl Alton liked had a name and a background. She was a real person who could be found. But Susan...

Yarn sighed softly. He had no idea where to even begin looking for Miss Susan, or if he would ever again have the chance to see the girl who haunted his dreams.

"No, I think I can still fight for this," Alton said, psyching himself up. "Maybe I can convince my father. I want to marry the girl I love."

Yarn remained silent. He still hadn’t been able to reach an agreement with his family’s elders about Angela. The Walker Family, for their part, believed what happened to Angela was due to his negligence. All in all, it was a complete mess. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have fled to the Hua Country mainland in the first place.

Su Qing had no idea that long after she left, she remained the focus of Yarn and Alton’s conversation. She, in turn, had already put Yarn out of her mind. ’After all, what did the whole business with Susan have to do with her?’

However, just a few days after returning to school from the May Day holiday, Su Qing heard news about the Qiutian Clan.

In Mr. Li’s study, Su Qing asked Li Fenghuo, "Uncle, are you saying the Qiutian Clan is refusing to return the antique artifacts, and that the other ones are now missing?"

"That’s right." Li Fenghuo rubbed his temples. The situation was incredibly thorny. The artifacts the Qiutian Clan had on public display were all acquired through supposedly legitimate channels; no one had proof they were stolen from Hua Country. As for the other, illicitly acquired ones, they had vanished without a trace. "They won’t even admit that Qiutian Sanlang masterminded the theft of our country’s artifacts. Everyone in Japan connected to the case has disappeared. Meanwhile, Qiutian Sanlang and his men all dropped dead under mysterious circumstances, conveniently leaving no one to testify."

They clearly used a superpower user. Otherwise, there’s no way Qiutian Sanlang and his men could have been killed so suddenly while under such heavy guard. As a result, even with the testimony we managed to get from them, the Qiutian Family can just make baseless claims that it’s all a frame-up. They’ve even disowned Qiutian Sanlang, saying he had already been expelled from the Qiutian Family and that his actions had nothing to do with them.

"The Qiutian Clan actually abandoned Qiutian Sanlang," Su Qing said, surprised. "But isn’t he supposed to be their family’s most promising scion?"

Li Fenghuo sighed. "Things are never simple with these large clans. The Qiutian Family has more than one genius. Qiutian Sanlang used to outshine everyone else, so now that there’s an opportunity to bring him down, you can bet there are plenty of people willing to stab him in the back. Besides, at this point, Qiutian Sanlang’s very existence was a major liability to the Qiutian Clan. They had to eliminate him to feel secure."

Su Qing sighed. "Of course. There’s no room for sentiment in these large clans. It’s all about profit, first and foremost. That’s ruthless."

Li Fenghuo nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something to Su Qing but hesitated.

But Mr. Li, who had been listening from the side, frowned. "Fenghuo, you’re not thinking of asking Qingqing to do something, are you? Let me be clear: no outsiders can know about Qingqing’s special abilities. Otherwise, it could bring her serious trouble."

Mr. Li had never underestimated human greed. He could guarantee that no Li Family member would harbor ill intentions toward Su Qing, and he could vouch for the principles and integrity of his old comrades-in-arms. But who could guarantee that *everyone* wouldn’t covet Su Qing’s special abilities? After all, a talent like hers was exceptionally rare. Perhaps she was the only one in all of Hua Country who possessed it.

If it weren’t for the greed of certain people, the tragedy that befell Qiutian Sanlang’s brother and his family in Hai City would never have happened. And Qiutian Sanlang himself would never have had the chance to operate under an assumed name and wreak havoc in Hua Country.

"Dad, I haven’t said a word about Qingqing’s abilities to any outsiders," Li Fenghuo said. "I just wanted to ask Qingqing if she might have a way to find those antique artifacts the Qiutian Family has hidden." He continued, "I was just thinking, since they’re hiding the items and pretending they don’t exist, couldn’t we just secretly find them and ship them back? At least the artifacts they’ve hidden away could be returned to our country."

Su Qing smiled. "Exactly. Once we get them back, the Qiutian Family won’t be able to say a thing, even if they find out. After all, they’re ’non-existent’ items, right?"

Mr. Li still thought it was a bad idea. ’If Su Qing really gets involved, isn’t it highly likely that her special abilities would be discovered?’

’If that were to happen, it would surely attract the greed of others. And if Su Qing came to any harm because of this, wouldn’t he be responsible for it?’

"Absolutely not!" Mr. Li shook his head firmly. "I won’t allow it."

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