Even Shang Qia, despite how deep his schemes ran, could barely maintain his expression at this moment.
His face flushed from holding it in, and he finally forced out a sentence: "Xinlei is fine. She... has plans tonight."
"But it's so chaotic outside. She could be in danger!" Qian Gongyu said anxiously. "As soon as I heard about the explosion at the Shang Family, I went to look for her. I found no one in her room, then saw them preparing to go out and look for you. I thought Xinlei had come to find you too... Uncle, you haven't seen Xinlei?"
Shang Xuanwen did not answer. Instead, he asked in return, "Thousand Family Head, you are still under house arrest, are you not? Do you know that fleeing your place of confinement without permission adds another charge to your crimes?"
"Huh?" Qian Gongyu blinked and scratched her round beast ears. "Now that you mention it... I guess it does... But I was looking for Xinlei, and she's your daughter. You'll definitely help me, won't you, Uncle? Besides, I just saved you. You wouldn't deny me this little favor, would you?"
As she spoke, she patted Shang Xuanwen on the shoulder and put on the ingratiating smile of someone asking for a favor. But perhaps because of her tiger-like face, her smile was filled with pure, innocent sincerity.
This is bad, Shang Qia thought.
His father valued debts and faults separately above all else. Punishing a fault before bestowing a favor was even more central to his father's way of managing people. Qian Gongyu had practically handed his father leverage on a platter. His father would surely make an issue of it, teach her that the law had to be respected, and then compensate her afterward. Shang Qia had seen