"Comrade Ling, please don't do this. This is a public place. What kind of behavior is this!"

Zhou Jiuzhen remained sitting upright, his expression as serious as if he were facing his soldiers on a training ground.

Ling Huanwu wouldn't listen. She moved her chair closer to the table and even took off her little cloth shoes to tease him on purpose.

On the surface, she pretended to be hesitant and stammering, "I didn't want it to be like this either, but my husband has been sulking all this time. He's angry, but he can't explain why he's angry. You know, the purpose of having a mouth is to explain misunderstandings and to your dear wife. If he can't do that, you might as well not have a man!"

As she spoke, she deliberately lifted her toes under the foot table, and pinched the soft flesh between his thighs with her big toe and second toe.

In an instant, Zhou Jiuzhen's ears turned red, and he looked at her with red eyes, biting his lip as if he were an abandoned young wife.

If it weren't for the deep, husky tone of his voice, she would have truly thought he was the bullied little wife.

"Huanwu, do you love me?"

In the noisy state-run hotel, his voice was particularly abrupt, yet it struck her heart like a scorching hot hammer.

Ling Huanwu's eyes welled up with tears as she gazed at him quietly. Time seemed to stand still at that moment, everything around them blurred, and the world consisted only of the two of them looking at each other.

"Huanwu, I'm not actually hungry, I'm just very, very flustered. I'm afraid I won't be able to enter your heart..."

His voice choked with emotion; the rumors and gossip of the past few days, along with that inexplicably appearing little note, had almost driven him mad.

God knows how much he wanted to kiss and hug her!

For the first time, he felt like he was going crazy, and his feet under the table went from passive to active.

As Zhou Jiuzhen's feet gripped hers tightly, tears streamed down his face...

In the alley behind the state-run hotel, Ling Huanwu was wrapped in a military overcoat and pressed against a wall. A barrage of kisses rained down on her, almost making her breathless.

She could hear the man's suppressed murmurs, calling her "glutinous rice balls" and "baby," which made her blush and her two dangling feet tremble uncontrollably.

If Zhou Shuyao hadn't been lying in the hospital with so many things to deal with, she probably would have been completely taken advantage of by this guy long ago.

She had just explained to him why she was close to Song Panmei.

She knew she was married and wasn't someone who lacked discretion.

Actually, on the morning of the fire, she asked Song Panmei to drive her around the island to look for any place on Wantan Island whose geographical shape resembled a bird.

After all, the island relocation plan was imminent, and they had to find the treasure's location immediately to prevent it from being submerged by the storm surge, while the villagers would be forced to leave their homes and go to the Northwest to carry out construction.

That's why she used Song Panmei's identity as a pilot to scout out the geographical location, but she didn't expect to be caught by the whole village and misunderstood by Zhou Jiuzhen.

As for the little note that appeared out of nowhere, inviting her out, Ling Huanwu was completely bewildered.

As she held the note, unsure how to explain it to him so he would believe her, Zhou Jiuzhen pulled her to the back door and showered her with kisses.

The man's urgent voice was deafening, almost shattering her heart.

"Alright, Jiuzhen, we need to go back. We need to find a solution for Shuyao's kidney transplant immediately..."

Ling Huanwu urged him to get down to business, and only then did he stop dawdling.

When the two returned to the hospital ward, compared to their stern faces when they left, their complexions were now rosy, as if they had been pulled out of a honey pot and were radiant.

At this time, Chu Mei and Su Haiting had already left the ward, leaving only Song Yaoyao still guarding Zhou Shuyao's bedside.

Seeing Zhou Jiuzhen and Ling Huanwu return, Zhou Shuyao, lying in his hospital bed, was extremely anxious.

He wanted to tell Ling Huanwu that Song Yaoyao had killed Niu Guanfu and his son and framed her for it.

She also revealed that Song Yaoyao had told Chu Mei about her infertility, and soon the entire Wantan Island would know about it.

Zhou Shuyao had a lot to say.

But his throat still aches and burns from the smoke.

His hands were too weak to move, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Helplessly, he kept rolling his eyes, trying to get Ling Huanwu and Zhou Jiuzhen's attention.

Seeing his struggle to speak, Song Yaoyao pretended to be considerate and asked him what he needed, but actually whispered in his ear, "Zhou Shuyao, you better shut up, or I'll tell Ling Huanwu your secret. You don't want her to know your little secret, do you?"

Sure enough, the threat worked very well.

Zhou Shuyao, who was already unable to move, was now filled with despair, and even his eyeballs stopped moving.

Ling Huanwu, unaware of their thoughts, went out and filled a thermos with spiritual spring water before returning to the house.

With the other man's wife present, she didn't say anything more and went back to the island with Zhou Jiuzhen.

Along the way, the two reviewed the timing of the fire.

All the questions pointed to the lying widower.

He's lying, so he must know something.

As soon as they disembarked, the two headed straight for the widower's house on the east side of the island.

To their surprise, before they even reached Niu Guanfu's house, they saw several police officers with serious expressions setting up a cordon at Niu Guanfu's door, clearly investigating a case.

Ling Huanwu and Zhou Jiuzhen exchanged a glance, and a bad feeling arose spontaneously.

By this time, a crowd had gathered in front of Niu Guanfu's house, pointing and whispering about what was inside.

The village chief and the police officer explained, "I came to find Lao Niu last night to ask him about the fire at the cooperative. I knocked on the door for a long time but no one answered, so I went back first."

I remembered it again in the afternoon and came over again.

To my surprise, Old Niu's son was still sleeping under the covers in the bright sunlight. I went over to call him, but no matter how I called, he didn't move. That's when I realized something was wrong. I lifted the covers and saw that Old Niu's body was stiff.

Then I realized that Old Niu hadn't answered the door after I kept knocking, so something must have happened to him, and that's why... I came to you guys..."

The village chief was terrified, and his back was covered in cold sweat as he spoke, fearing that the police officers would suspect him of murder.

He pushed through the crowd and saw Ling Huanwu, who was equally shocked. He grabbed her as if she were a lifeline and called out, "President Ling, please speak! When you came over last night, you couldn't get anyone to open the door to the widower's house, could you?"

As he spoke, he pointed to Niu Shazi lying on the ground covered with a white sheet, "And what about Old Niu's son? Isn't he already lying motionless in the rocking chair?"

"Tell me quickly, did you come here last night?"

The village chief pressed for answers, and all eyes turned to Ling Huanwu.

She glanced around at the strange looks from the people around her, took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and nodded.

Ling Huanwu understood what she would face if she admitted that she was the closest person to the deceased's death.

She turned her head away from the blood on the ground, her eyes open and honest. "Yes, I was here last night!"