Chen Qing noticed that Lina no longer rejected him. His eyes lit up slightly and he said seriously, "Seventh Princess, perhaps it's a little too late to say some things now, but I still want to tell you that you're outstanding. You're the one and only you. No one can replace you."
Lina was slightly stunned. Her dim eyes instantly lit up, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily curled up. She smiled and said, "Thank you for saving me last night. If it weren't for you, I might have been bullied by Wright."
"Seventh Princess."
"Yes?"
"I hope you won't thank me in the future." Chen Qing looked at Lina seriously and revealed a young smile, like a high school student confessing to a girl he loved. "What I did for you was what I wanted to do."
Lina looked at Chen Qing in confusion. Even if Chen Qing wanted to do those things, she should still thank him.
After a long time, Lina asked, "Why?"
Chen Qing looked at Lina's confused face and subconsciously raised his hand to rub Lina's head. His fingertips were filled with her gentle hair. He was slightly stunned and retracted his hand with red ears. "Seventh Princess, go out and rest first. I'll change my clothes."
Lina nodded and turned to leave.
…
Five days later.
Mark's Manor.
Qiao Nian looked down at the tablet in her hand. The video was a surveillance video of Mark's Manor for the past half a month. The video had not been tampered with, but there were no traces of Song Ling entering or leaving Mark's Manor.
What surprised Qiao Nian the most was that when she and Lina went to the bas.e.m.e.nt, they did not find Song Ling.
Qiao Nian put the tablet aside and changed out of her guard uniform with Lina.
After changing her clothes, Qiao Nian walked up to the tablet and said to Gu Zhou, who was on the phone, "I really didn't see Song Ling. I almost treat the bas.e.m.e.nt as my house now, but I still didn't see any traces of anyone living there."
Gu Zhou looked at the information in his hand and said coldly, "When did you all go to the bas.e.m.e.nt?"
Qiao Nian thought for a moment and nodded. "We've already figured out the information about the guards on duty. The guards in the bas.e.m.e.nt are on three shifts. Lina and I have been patrolling separately, but we haven't seen Song Ling."
Seeing that Qiao Nian had been frowning, Lina comforted her, "Maybe it was a bad timing when we went. Let's look carefully tomorrow!"
Qiao Nian tilted her head and looked at the window in the distance. Facing their window was Mark's castle. She frowned slightly and said thoughtfully, "Could Song Ling be staying in Mark's room? When we saw Song Ling that day, she actually just happened to appear in the bas.e.m.e.nt?"
How could a person live in a dark bas.e.m.e.nt all the time?
It was precisely because of this that Qiao Nian felt that Song Ling didn't usually live in the bas.e.m.e.nt, but in the castle.
Lina followed Qiao Nian's gaze and frowned slightly.
Gu Zhou's agreeable voice came from the tablet. "When we went to the bas.e.m.e.nt, it was Lina and Wright's engagement day. There were many international friends in Mark's manor. Outsiders didn't know Mark and Song Ling's ident.i.ties, so she was temporarily hiding in the bas.e.m.e.nt."
Qiao Nian nodded and continued, "I think so too. There are no outsiders in the manor now. She could go back to Mark's room."
When Lina heard Qiao Nian's words, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Are we going to search Mark's castle next?"
One had to know that the reason why she and Qiao Nian could enter and leave the bas.e.m.e.nt at will was because a portion of the bas.e.m.e.nt belonged to the president. In addition, Qiao Nian had directly hacked into the management system there and changed two people's names in the system.
However, the guards of the castle where Mark lived alone were not ordinary people. Those guards were all famously in front of Mark. The guards knew one another, and ordinary people could not sneak in.
Even if they went in, that was where Mark lived and Mark's study was there. They might even see Mark, and the danger factor would increase exponentially.