Chapter 32

The camera in the upper left corner silently recorded the scene in the study. Wen Zhiling walked to the piano and said, "Teacher Lin likes the piano very much. Why don't we say that this piano was specially arranged for her?"

Lin Li's favorite succulents were placed by the window of the room, and the light shone through the greenery onto the surface of the piano.

Zong Linhan was watering the plants one by one. "Teacher Lin went back and turned on the TV to watch the program. The first episode's behind-the-scenes footage showed that the room was exposed all along. He communicated with the program team overnight, canceled the score, and exposed the inside story."

Wen Zhiling smiled: "I hope Teacher Lin will go easy on me."

Zong Linhan looked up and said, "Have some confidence, little sister. We can't compete with anything else, but we can outdo the large-scale collage art and New Year couplets downstairs in terms of festive atmosphere."

Wen Zhiling: "What occasion is this appropriate for?"

Zong Linhan kept everyone in suspense, saying, "You'll find out when the time comes."

Wen Zhiling sighed: "It's all because of insufficient program funding. If Teacher Lin is not satisfied, then blame the production team."

Zong Linhan chuckled lightly at the opportune moment.

A summer breeze blew through the window, and the study, which wasn't air-conditioned, only had a fan spinning in the corner, emitting hot air.

Zong Linhan held a small white watering can and lightly sprayed water along the edge of the pot. The small leaves were covered with water droplets and looked lush and green.

Wen Zhiling fiddled with the leaves, "Can you smell the scent of oranges?"

The small spray bottle pauses briefly before slowly moving to the next small basin.

Zong Linhan: "No. This succulent doesn't taste like oranges either."

Wen Zhiling rubbed the tip of her nose. "I didn't want to eat oranges, so how could I smell oranges?"

Under the camera's lens, the two openly exchanged messages that only they knew.

Perhaps it's an adaptation to the suppressant, or perhaps it's a mood swing.

However, Wen Zhiling reacted normally, only smelling the scent rather than having a blood-sucking urge.

Wen Zhiling placed the succulents, which are sensitive to sunlight, in a shady place. "I don't usually like to eat oranges."

Zong Linhan suddenly glanced at her and said, "Don't be picky about food. Oranges are good. Eat more oranges."

Wen Zhiling: "..."

"Want some oranges?" a voice came from the doorway.

Lu Qin walked into the study, carrying a basket of tangerines. "Teacher Lin hasn't arrived yet, but her gift has come first. Please share some."

A strong, rich citrus scent wafts over, sweet and pleasant.

Wen Zhiling's eyes lit up. "What a coincidence! I was just saying I wanted to eat oranges."

With the basket placed on the table, Lu Qin said, "It's from Jingnan, and it has a sweet and sour taste. Siyi especially likes it. If we distribute it any later, it will all end up in her stomach."

Wen Zhiling immediately peeled an orange. The orange peel split open to reveal the flesh, and the aroma was incredibly comforting, dispelling her worries.

Lu Qin introduced himself with a smile, like a very approachable older brother. Noticing a pair of observant eyes coming from the opposite side, he looked up and met Zong Linhan's gentle smile.

Lu Qin picked up an orange. "Lin Han, aren't you going to eat one?"

The orange flew out of his hand in a parabolic arc.

With a slight upward movement of her fair hand, Zong Linhan easily caught it. "Thank you, Brother Lu."

"Good catch, I thought it was going to be thrown out." Lu Qin pushed up his glasses, as refined as ever. "Then you guys eat, I'll go and get back to work."

Zong Linhan followed him with his eyes, observing his walking posture, quickly scanning his long limbs, muscular strength, and the back muscle lines hidden under his shirt.

Director Tao Tao covered the phone and peeked out from outside the door. "Teacher Zong, your assistant and agent are here. They say there's a contract that's urgent and they have to sign it today."

The tabby cat rolled around on the grass. A black sedan was parked nearby. Meng Run was sweating profusely. He took a brochure about the island and fanned himself and the captain with it.

Zong Linhan lowered his eyes to read the letter, then folded it and stuffed it back into the envelope.

"What do you mean? Is the situation optimistic?" Meng Run took the envelope and, with Zong Linhan's permission, began to read it.

The situation is not optimistic. The Bureau of Surveillance's current technology is unable to distinguish between genuine and fake apertures, and no one can guarantee that rashly using the aperture key to analyze it will not damage the aperture's contents.

Meng Run glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then asked, "What does that thing actually look like? Is it the same as what the bureau speculated?"

Those who have seen the aperture are all top-secret agents. Meng Run has only heard the version that the general public uses their imagination to guess, like in Hollywood blockbusters, that in the darkest place, there is a glowing softened glass screen with a code-like cipher system underneath.

Zong Linhan: "What are the bureau's speculations?"

It's not good for the leaders to know that everyone is discussing this level of confidential information in private.

Meng Run wisely shut up.

Zong Linhan curled his lips into a smile. "Next time Director Yu sets a trap for you, remember to bring out this fully defensive face."

Meng Run laughed awkwardly: "It's been so many years since he set me up..."

"Captain, what are you planning to do next? You're only going to take your sister to the scene?"

"Hmm." Zong Linhan rubbed his temples, trying his best not to involve Wen Zhiling.

Although I had always suspected that something was amiss in things going smoothly, I still held onto a sliver of hope.

He asked, "Did the deputy director ask you to bring me anything?"

“Oh right, the deputy director asked me to bring this to you. I mainly brought it here.” Meng Run opened the trunk.

A rectangular black metal box was taken out, and a seal was affixed to it.

At Zong Linhan's prompting, Meng Run, who had been so curious along the way, almost forgot military discipline and made a mistake.

The box is opened.

*Smack*

The box was closed.

Meng Run was drenched in cold sweat.

"Coward." Zong Linhan's disdainful comment.

Meng Run's heart pounded, her hands pressed tightly against the black box, her head darting around to avoid being seen. "No! It's here, you know this is... Oh my god, where are you putting it?!"

Zong Linhan took it and weighed it in his hand, remaining calm: "Under the pillow."

Meng Run: "..."

So you can rest easy with this thing, right?

When Zong Linhan returned to the villa, the corridor was filled with the scent of citrus.

Lu Siyi sprayed air freshener around, claiming it was to create a pleasant atmosphere.

Zong Linhan found Wen Zhiling in the backyard. After learning that she had the skill of gardening, the production team temporarily assigned her a new job, and the garden area was also included in their assessment scope.

Wen Zhiling held a pair of floral shears, listening to Zong Linhan's hint that the situation had changed and that it would be best to get a half-day free slot.

The scissors sniped away the stray leaves, and Xiao Wen declared confidently, "I'm confident!"

She went downstairs and glanced into the kitchen. Under Lu Siyi's maximalist approach, it was incredibly cluttered, with refrigerator magnets lining the walls like a scene of a frozen corpse.

The glass garden had been neglected for a long time, its branches and leaves growing lush and overgrown. Wen Zhiling, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, bent down and carefully trimmed them.

Sweat dripped from her forehead, and the light reflected off the glass, making her face flushed.

She moved nimbly, and soon she had shaped the rough edges of an uneven patch of grass, clearly showing that she was a very experienced person.

Zong Linhan also picked up a pair of garden shears, observed her movements, and casually asked, "Is it difficult to learn this?"

The moment he asked the question, he regretted it.

He hadn't yet had a chance to glean any useful information from Li Xu to piece together Wen Zhiling's past. He wasn't sure if his words would touch upon a part of her heart that she was unwilling to reveal to him.

Before it's clear whether the citrus scent is a misunderstanding or a sign of weakened drug effects, anything that causes Wen Zhiling emotional distress could expose her vampire side.

Wen Zhiling seemed not to hear the question, neatly cutting off the miscellaneous branches and piling the remaining leaves and branches to the corner.

Zong Linhan was about to casually ask a gardening question to change the subject, "These..."

"It wasn't particularly difficult. My mentor was very patient and a very nice person."

Wen Zhiling looked up at him, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I learned it when I was sixteen. Do you want to hear it?"

-

Li Xu was wringing out a rag by the sink, feeling agitated.

All I could think about was the red mark below Wen Zhiling's collarbone, which I had seen unintentionally.

Ms. Lin will be arriving tomorrow, and he can't let his mother know that he has special feelings for Wen Zhiling, otherwise it will definitely cause her trouble.

Li Xu silently recited the little trick that Zong Linhan had taught him a long time ago: the fastest way to disguise oneself is to get into character from this very moment.

He took a deep breath and began the brainwashing.

He was someone who was indifferent to Wen Zhiling.

He didn't care what was on her neck.

What's on my neck?

What the hell could those marks be?!

The rag was wrung out tightly into a single strip, even drier than a salted fish strip.

"Are you doing field training here?" Lu Qin glanced over as he passed by. "There are plenty of kitchen rags, both dry and wet."

"Really?" Li Xu unfolded a rag, turned on the tap to wash the rag, tried to calm her breathing, and changed the subject, "Why is it so quiet outside? Did everyone go out to slack off?"

"Just two fewer people on the first floor, and you're so perceptive?" Lu Qin chuckled.

Li Xu wrung out the towel he had just wet in his palm, and tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Who's missing?"

"Lin Han and his sister are capable, so they've been assigned to the backyard to fix the flower arrangement," Lu Qin said casually. "But it seems like the back is a blind spot for the surveillance cameras, so they probably won't be able to capture their interaction while fixing the flower arrangement, which is a real shame."