Chapter 258: Chapter 258

Anna slapped her forehead, "Right, let’s just go ask," so she dragged Li Xianglu, who was still reciting, back to their dorm, and after they put down their things, they headed to the study room. They found the place where Wang Ke and the others were studying, but Iro, who was supposed to study with her, was nowhere to be seen. Upon asking, Wang Ke said that she left just half an hour after she arrived.

It was already four o’clock in the afternoon. They had come to study after two o’clock, which meant that she had been gone for an hour and a half. She hadn’t returned to the dorm, so where could she be?

Not finding her in the study room, Anna suggested checking the library, perhaps she was there.

Li Xianglu followed her to the library. Iro usually studied on the second floor of the Chinese library, but they couldn’t find her even after searching everywhere. Not giving up, they went downstairs to check the foreign language and newspaper section, but still, no sign of her.

Anna, a bit agitated, scratched her head and said, "The school has been on lockdown for the past two days, no one is allowed in or out without the office’s approval. Where could she have gone?"

Li Xianglu shook her head, and the two followed the path towards the back of the library.

Behind the library was their secret base where they often chatted, and where they first met Basra. It was a meaningful place, but they had been too busy recently, and the three of them rarely met up.

Just five meters behind the library was the school’s boundary wall, covered in green ivy at the end of June, lush and refreshing to look at.

As they turned the corner, they heard voices. Anna, with her sensitive ears, almost immediately grabbed Li Xianglu to stop, and they stood still.

Suddenly, the sound of an argument carried over, a woman’s voice crying, "No, I can’t, this is not okay!"

The man’s voice was also audible, but very faint, indistinct. But even so, both of them changed color, the woman was Iro, they couldn’t mistake her.

Anna carefully peeked out half of her body to look, and saw Iro wearing a white dress, her long hair flowing behind her, and the man she was facing was very familiar - it was him.

Anna withdrew her gaze, looking somewhat displeased as she stood at the corner of the wall. Li Xianglu, curious, tried to take a look, but Anna pulled her back.

Soon, the sound of footsteps approached them, and the two remained standing as they were, Anna’s face still looking bad, Li Xianglu wanted to leave but was held back. Iro came closer, saw them without surprise, her face streaked with tears, and said faintly, "You saw it all?"

Li Xianglu awkwardly nodded, reaching out to nudge the dazed Anna.

Anna was startled and then turned to look at Iro, annoyed to see the obvious loss of weight on her face, "Is it because of him? Him?"

Iro was perplexed, not knowing what Anna meant by ’him’, but she nodded, "Yes, we are dating."

Li Xianglu hadn’t seen the man and didn’t know whom the two were talking about. She didn’t ask, but Anna firmly shook her head, "He can’t be, you know that, he just can’t."

Iro nodded painfully, "I know, I know all of it, but I can’t control myself."

Anna saw her childhood friend’s distressed look and walked over to embrace her shoulders, saying, "Then break it off, nothing has happened, just break it off."

Iro shook her head desperately, "No, I can’t stand it!"

Anna was about to say more, irritated, but Iro ran off first, quickly turning a corner and disappearing.

Anna wanted to chase after but lost sight of her, slapping the wall in frustration. When the pain hit, she held her hand and cried out in pain.

Li Xianglu helplessly dragged her companion back, asking as they walked, "Who was that man just now?"

Lu Anna glanced at Li Xianglu and after a moment of thought, replied, "It was Teacher Jiang."

Teacher Jiang? Teacher Jiang is only 29 this year, and Iro is 22; there’s a bit of an age gap, but they could still date. Teacher Jiang would be a great person to date — so many girls like him.

Seeing the puzzled expression on Li Xianglu’s face, Lu Anna explained, "Families like ours can’t do that. Our family has already said that we can’t socialize with people who have returned from abroad in recent years. Haven’t you noticed that even if we really like Teacher Basra, we keep our distance?"

Li Xianglu raised an eyebrow in thought and couldn’t help but think of the spies her grandfather spoke about. Considering the statuses of the Lu family and the Ailuo family, that did make sense. If someone pretended to be an aspiring suitor returning to pursue a leader’s child, marrying them, then it would be even easier to steal information.

Lu Anna saw the changing expressions on Li Xianglu’s face and knew she was overthinking, so she explained, "It won’t even get to the point of marriage; it wouldn’t pass the political vetting." What Lu Anna didn’t say was that her dormitory mates and close female classmates had already been screened by their families, and only after confirming there were no issues would she be allowed to interact normally with them.

Alright, that reason was difficult to argue with, but what about Iro?

However, Lu Anna asked somewhat strangely, "Earlier, we heard Iro shouting that it was not okay, not possible. What does that mean?"

Li Xianglu thought for a bit and said, "Does it mean she disagrees with something?"

Lu Anna rolled her eyes and asked, "Disagree with what?"

Li Xianglu waved her hand and said, "I don’t know that, we have to ask the person involved."

After the two returned to the dormitory, besides eating, they just waited there. Li Xianglu did not go out and instead kept reciting information in the dormitory.

But no matter how long they waited, there was no sign of Iro; the other dorm residents gradually returned, yet Iro was nowhere to be seen.

Lu Anna couldn’t help it anymore. She changed into her outdoor dress and stood at the dormitory door. The dorm supervisor had to give her some face, but even by 11:30 p.m. when the lights went out, no one had appeared.

Li Xianglu walked to the door and saw the dorm supervisor struggling with the person standing at the door. She approached and said, "Anna, how about we let the auntie lock the door first, and we wait inside?"

Lu Anna glanced once more towards the east and west but still saw no one. She returned with a resigned heart.

The dorm supervisor breathed a sigh of relief and quickly locked the door. Both of them finished washing up, so they moved a long bench from the dorm supervisor and sat by the door waiting.

Gradually, it was midnight and all the lights were out, aside from the slash of yellow light at the dormitory entrance.

Li Xianglu, tired, yawned, while Lu Anna’s face looked particularly troubled; she couldn’t sit still any longer and suddenly stood up. Li Xianglu quickly grabbed her and whispered, "What are you going to do?"

Lu Anna frowned and said, "I’m going to call the security office; it’s so late and she hasn’t come back yet."

But Li Xianglu shook her head and said, "She might have stayed there; haven’t you thought about that? Do you want the security office to search other people’s dorms and drag her out?" How could Iro face anyone after that?

Lu Anna stood there, chest heaving, incessantly looking out the window.

It didn’t take long, and soon it was 1 a.m., with still no sign of her returning.

ps: The card is still high, see you tomorrow.