Better to rely on yourself than to ask others.
Jiang Xiao fiddled repeatedly with the handcuffs. They weren’t simple iron bracelets; the inside was lined with a layer of fluff. Clearly, these weren’t any kind of proper restraint.
But it was precisely this little gadget that Jiang Xiao absolutely could not undo. He felt the keyhole on the inner side, but he had no key.
“They’re gone.” Jiang Mu’s voice approached from afar, the meaning clear—
No one was coming to save you.
Jiang Xiao stopped his attempts to pick the lock. “In that case, you should keep your promise.”
“Don’t you want to know what I said to Wen Xu?” Jiang Mu’s tone held a hint of mischief and probing. “Or are you just disappointed right now, because in Wen Xu’s heart, you’re not actually that important either?”
Every sentence, every word from Jiang Mu conveyed an implicit message to Jiang Xiao:
No one else will truly love you, except me.
But Jiang Xiao could also understand it. After all, Jiang Mu hadn’t yet officially become “family” with him, yet Father Jiang had already given him one of the companies under his name. This was enough to show that Jiang Mu was not just smart but also possessed extremely high emotional intelligence.
Playing mind games with this kind of person was terrifying, because the moment you slipped, you’d fall into an endless abyss of their making. You might even mistake their false sweet lies for reality and swallow them down gratefully.
“I think you care about Wen Xu more than I do. You wouldn’t happen to have a thing for him, would you?” Jiang Xiao swiftly hit back. As expected, Jiang Mu was completely choked by this sentence.
“Xiaoxiao, that joke isn’t funny at all.”
“Then don’t bring him up in front of me.” Jiang Xiao frowned slightly. “What exactly do you know?”
But Jiang Mu didn’t speak, until even Jiang Xiao grew puzzled. Finally, he opened his mouth and said slowly:
“I got the birthday plan arranged by Wen Xu from the butler. I knew he’d have someone deliver the cake at 11:30 PM. So, I asked the butler to cut the power to your room circuit at that time. In the darkness, I entered your room along with the attendant.”
“Then, in those few minutes when none of you could see, I saw you sitting on the sofa. You looked completely oblivious at the time. I originally planned to just leave my gift and go, but I couldn’t resist and secretly kissed you…”
“What?” A wave of shock, like a tidal wave, surged in Jiang Xiao’s heart. “That person at that time… was you?”
“Of course, it was me.” Jiang Mu sounded surprised. “I thought you would remember. After all, we dated for a year. You couldn’t have forgotten the feeling of our kisses?”
As he spoke, Jiang Mu suspiciously narrowed his eyes. His voice became light and slow, like a venomous snake hissing as it slithered up to Jiang Xiao. If the answer wasn’t to its liking, it would bite him to death in one bite.
“Could it be… you mistook me for someone else? Just who else have you kissed?”
Jiang Mu had suddenly discovered a blind spot. He narrowed his eyes, scanning Jiang Xiao’s expression.
But besides shock, Jiang Xiao’s face also revealed a hint of bewilderment, as if he truly had completely forgotten.
“We broke up so long ago. Who still remembers what a kiss feels like.” Jiang Xiao had no intention of lingering on this topic. He instead posed another question. “How could you find me accurately in a pitch-black room? What if you had accidentally found the wrong person?”
“Absolutely impossible,” Jiang Mu said coldly. “My night vision is very good. And besides, are you trying to play dumb again now? I haven’t even asked you to take responsibility.”
“You’re the one who kissed me. Why should I take responsibility?” Jiang Xiao couldn’t grasp this logic.
“Then I can take responsibility for you,” Jiang Mu amended.
Jiang Xiao: “…No, no need. I’m not interested in you right now.” He thought for a moment and pressed further. “At that time, what else did you see?”
“I mean, when you left, where were the other people?”
Jiang Mu seemed to ponder for a moment. “At that time, besides the attendant lighting candles, none of the others were in the guest room. They all seemed to have headed toward the storage room. But I didn’t look closely. I left after kissing you.”
With these words, Jiang Mu had once again completely overthrown Jiang Xiao’s deduction.
He had originally thought that during the blackout, only two people would have gone to the storage room: one being Qin Guan, the other the murderer. But if Jiang Mu hadn’t lied, all four other people had gone to the storage room! What exactly had happened at that time?
Furthermore, if Jiang Mu was telling the truth, it meant Ying Weizhu had lied. But why would he lie? How did he even know Jiang Xiao was being kissed by someone else at that time? And wasn’t he worried that the person was someone in the room who could contradict him on the spot?
Those short three minutes had now turned into a massive, bewildering serial drama, with suspicions multiplying.
“You… drank alcohol?” Jiang Xiao asked, stepping closer and sniffing lightly. It wasn’t an illusion; there was definitely the scent of peach wine.
He had already known just moments ago that Jiang Mu had been drinking.
But why was it such a coincidence? Bo Xiting, Ying Weizhu, and Jiang Mu—all three had drunk peach wine.
“You only love peach wine. If I drank anything else, you wouldn’t let me kiss you,” Jiang Mu said.
Jiang Xiao: “Oh… I see.”
His expression was complicated.
So these three, just because he liked it, all chose to drink peach wine?
Not necessarily.
“Any more questions?” Jiang Mu said. “It’s very late. Aren’t you tired?”
Jiang Xiao was wide awake. He said seriously, “Then what about the gift you gave me? I didn’t see it.”
“I left it on the sofa at the time. You could go look for it,” Jiang Mu said. “Maybe someone took it.”
“I have no more questions for now.” Jiang Xiao lifted his cuffed arm. “Can you unlock this for me now?”
“I can’t unlock it for you now.” As expected, Jiang Mu was just as rational as Jiang Xiao had predicted. “If I unlock it, you’ll run the moment I do.”
“I won’t run.”
“You will.” Jiang Mu raised his hand again and pinched Jiang Xiao’s cheek. His skin was thin, reddening easily from just a little kiss or pinch, like fragile crystal, yet with an unbreakable hardness at its core that no one could shatter.
“I know what you’re thinking. Get what you need from me and then run. Xiaoxiao, that trick is far too heartless.” Jiang Mu said flatly, “I won’t feel at ease without cuffing you.”
“You can’t expect me to sleep like this all night, can you?” Jiang Xiao protested. “I won’t be able to sleep well!”
“What if I extend the chain a bit? Will that do?” As Jiang Mu spoke, he actually moved to loosen Jiang Xiao’s side. But it was still only just enough to barely stretch out his arm. If he tried to leave the bed, the chain would clatter loudly.
“Forget it if you don’t believe me.” Seeing that neither soft nor hard tactics worked, Jiang Xiao held his patience and said, “I want to take a shower. Take this thing off me first. Put it back on afterward. Okay?”
“You can shower,” Jiang Mu smiled. “But taking this off? No. And I’m going into the bathroom with you.”
Jiang Xiao: “???”
Say that again?
“So now, does Xiaoxiao want to sleep, or shower?” Jiang Mu’s eyes were dark and deep, his meaning profound. “I’ll accompany you either way.”
