Chapter 21
After filming ended, Wen Zhiling saw the message as she saw the production crew off. Zong Linhan was standing next to her at the time, and she put her phone in her pocket, pretending not to see it. She didn't reply, and Li Xu didn't send another message.
The next morning, Wen Zhiling stood in front of the island counter in her pajamas preparing breakfast. The coffee machine hummed softly as it preheated, and the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans wafted out. The toaster clicked, and a piece of toasted bread popped out.
The expansive floor-to-ceiling windows offer a panoramic view of the distant green mountains and clear waters, creating a truly pleasant atmosphere.
A black sedan drove along the road, stopped at the security office, and then the gate opened. The car was bathed in sunlight, and its license plate flashed with a gold edge.
Wen Zhiling is extremely familiar with license plates; she used to wipe Uncle Wen's car countless times.
Li Xu has arrived.
Upstairs, Zong Linhan had just finished washing up. He had been interrogating prisoners with Meng Run at the police station late last night, and on the way there he had also met with Pingping and completed a written interview for a fashion magazine. He had exhausted all his energy and was so tired that he could barely lift his eyelids.
But the aroma of coffee was too enticing, and he drifted off to sleep, half-awake. Wen Zhiling's old, run-down apartment smelled the same every morning. He wanted to hug her from behind, just like before, and watch her make coffee. He knew he had to be careful about his words and actions once he left; after today, he might not have another chance.
The footsteps were hurried and rapid. Thinking of her, he saw her appear at the top of the stairs, wearing that white cotton nightgown, looking up at him.
Zong Linhan's heart softened. He leaned against the wall with his right shoulder, opened his arms, and said casually, "Baby, so enthusiastic so early in the morning..."
Wen Zhiling rushed upstairs, bending down to avoid Zong Linhan's enthusiastic welcome. Her footsteps echoed through the corridor to her bedroom door, accompanied by the words, "I'm not feeling well, I'm going to sleep first!" The door slammed shut.
At the same time, the bell at the gate rang several times, and Zong Linhan felt empty in his arms, feeling somewhat lost.
Li Xu stood outside the door, not wearing a baggy trendy brand, but a light-colored sweatshirt, looking more gentle than usual. The yard was full of white flowers, which made him look more civilized.
Zong Linhan opened the door, and Li Xu handed him something in his hand: a priceless Da Hong Pao tea, which he said his family had bought and was giving to a family friend.
This gesture deserves our gratitude, Zong Linhan asked with genuine concern, "Is this on your way?"
Li Xu: "It's on the way."
One lives in the east of the city, the other in the west. Last time, after leaving the dinner party, we went home separately, each driving in a different direction on the highway.
Zong Linhan smiled and said, "I'll find some time later to send it to my family."
Li Xu's home is only a few kilometers away from his parents' home. They would rather go through half the city to deliver it to his remote address. It's hard to guess who they're doing this for.
Li Xu stood motionless at the door. Zong Linhan waited a few seconds, and seeing that he still showed no sign of leaving, he asked, "I'm making breakfast. Have you eaten yet?"
As Li Xu walked from the living room to the island counter, his gaze swept over the entryway, the decorative paintings, the bookshelves, and the pile of documents on the coffee table, along with the colorful colored pens—clearly not Zong Linhan's. A white mini-skirt lay carelessly on the back of the sofa, as if it had been tidied up; he could immediately picture Wen Zhiling wearing it.
Li Xu: "Where's your cousin?"
Zong Linhan: "Still not awake. He's a night owl. He won't wake up until the afternoon."
Wen Zhiling prepared a portion for two people. Zong Linhan then added sliced ham and bacon, wrapped the sandwich with plastic wrap, cut it in half, and handed one portion to Li Xu.
Li Xu: "Is she really your cousin? I've never seen her when we were kids."
Zong Linhan chuckled, "When I found out about this, my reaction was no less than yours. However, she used to be frail and was raised in the old house. Of all the family members, I was the one who saw her the most. Zong Yue was too young back then to remember her."
Li Xu subtly hinted, "Someone suddenly appearing out of nowhere, could it be an imposter?"
Zong Linhan replied naturally, "The investigation and evidence collection have been completed, and there won't be any mistakes. Every family has its own problems. My second uncle and sister-in-law also kept it from my parents. During the Spring Festival, the family had a huge fight over this matter."
Li Xu stroked the edge of the plastic wrap, "We still have to be careful."
Zong Linhan: "That's what my parents reminded my second uncle too—'Would you like a latte?'"
Li Xu wanted to ask more, but held back and said, "Mm."
Zong Linhan slowly made coffee, using milk foam to create a heart shape, and handed it to Li Xu, asking, "Will the filming schedule affect your concert schedule? Are you going on tour?"
The topic was naturally moved on, and Li Xu lowered her head to drink her coffee, vaguely responding with "No." In the back and forth, she also asked about Zong Linhan's schedule.
From the moment Li Xu entered, she had been observing Zong Linhan, paying attention to his expression and reaction when Wen Zhiling was mentioned. This man was a superb actor, adept at using both sides of the story, leaving no room for doubt. His performance was natural, as if he genuinely believed that Wen Zhiling was his family's found cousin.
As the saying goes, "You can tell what a person will be like at three years old." Based on their most genuine understanding of each other from childhood, Zong Linhan's authenticity to Li Xu wasn't based on his actions, but on intuition. Zong Linhan's lack of flaws was perhaps too natural, leading Li Xu to immediately conclude that the two were not cousins.
There was nothing left to talk about; the topics that could have been used up by their youthful friendship had been exhausted in just ten minutes.
Before leaving, Li Xu glanced back at the living room and asked, "Is it just the two of you living here?"
Zong Linhan: "Mm."
Zong Linhan was wearing a dark gray loungewear set, made of soft material, with a V-neck that was slightly open to the sides. The gray color accentuated the delicate, fair skin around his neck. When he was making coffee earlier, he had rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, revealing his slender forearms. He appeared far more powerful than his soft appearance suggested, possessing a natural attraction to the opposite sex.
Li Xu felt inexplicably uneasy. "Is there no one else?"
Zong Linhan curled his lips, as if he didn't understand the implication, "It's more convenient to film here. It doesn't matter if people find out the address, since I don't live here often anyway."
The door slammed shut with a loud bang, which was clearly heard upstairs.
Wen Zhiling hugged the teddy bear she won at the night market shooting contest, looking worried, waiting for Zong Linhan to come and question her.
Fifteen minutes passed, and it was quiet downstairs. She put down the bear, walked out of the room and down the stairs, just in time to hear the second door close.
Zong Linhan also went out, leaving a note on the refrigerator: "I'm going out to run some errands. There are groceries in the fridge."
Wen Zhiling finished reviewing the key points of the variety show in the afternoon, quickly watched the games from the previous season, and after dinner, she watched two horror movies, but Zong Linhan still hadn't arrived.
With her flight at 1 p.m. the next day, Wen Zhiling couldn't stay awake any longer and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, she vaguely heard footsteps in the corridor. Half asleep, she turned over and was awakened by a faint scent of citrus.
At three in the morning, the corridor was pitch black, except for a sliver of white light shining through the crack under the door.
Wen Zhiling raised her hand to knock on the door, but the citrus smell from just across the door made her feel a little uncomfortable. Her throat was itchy and she was thirsty. She ran downstairs and gulped down 500 milliliters of tomato juice before knocking on the door again.
There was a sound of fabric rubbing in the room, like something being cut. After the knocking, the sound paused, the fabric rubbing became louder, and then footsteps approached the door.
The room was brightly lit, with all the lights on. Zong Linhan stood in the doorway, his fair skin gleaming in the light. He braced himself against the door with one hand, his right arm wrapped in a white bandage, the unwound portion dangling from his arm, almost touching the floor.
Wen Zhiling glanced at the blood-stained cotton ball on top of the trash can in the corner of the room. "You're injured? Is it serious?"
Zong Linhan narrowed his eyes slightly, avoiding the question and changing the subject, "Baby, you knocking on the door in the middle of the night will scare me to death."
Wen Zhiling: "What's the problem?"
Zong Linhan: "What if I'm doing something else?"
The drawn-out tone and deliberately lowered voice were ambiguous, tickling the heart, but unfortunately, it tickled Wen Zhiling's heart, which was as straight as steel.
Wen Zhiling: "Impossible."
She cited evidence: "I listened at the door for a while, and you kept cutting the bandages."
Zong Linhan: "..."
When the other party refused to listen and his attempt to act like a thug failed, Zong Linhan raised his hand to let the person in.
Wen Zhiling had seen Zong Linhan's room during the day; it was clean, tidy, and well-organized. At night, it resembled a murder scene: the soft carpet was covered with materials, photos of various sizes and shapes, two or three pairs of scissors of different lengths, and medicine jars lying haphazardly, all covered with foreign language labels.
"Your next project is a suspense drama?" Wen Zhiling couldn't find a place to stand, and saw a document on the table leg with the red stamp of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations. "Is it because of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations?"
“Yes, Meilan Island is newly developed, and communications are often disrupted by typhoons and heavy rains. It’s not easy to contact us in case of emergencies, so we should make some preparations in advance.” Zong Linhan propped up one leg on the carpet and bent down to wrap bandages.
The citrus flavor was stronger than before. Wen Zhiling recalled the taste of tomato juice and tried to suppress it, but her gaze followed Zong Linhan's hand, unconsciously staring at his arm. The pale blue veins on the inside were hidden beneath the thin, tender skin. One bite and...
Suddenly, Zong Linhan asked, "I received an inhibitor injection, and you could smell it too?"
Wen Zhiling pursed her lips. "Hmm, it's thicker than before. Did too many injections cause the inhibitors to become ineffective?"
Seeing that she hadn't sat down yet, Zong Linhan moved the things beside his legs onto the low table. "I have a lot of wounds these past two days and haven't fully recovered, but the medicine is specially made. You won't be able to smell it in about twenty minutes."
As Zong Linhan spoke, he quickened his pace in tying the bandages. Wen Zhiling, with her hands behind her back, remained motionless. "Then you'd better be careful when you look for the light circle. Losing too much blood will be a disaster for me."
Zong Linhan raised his bandaged hand to Wen Zhiling, who asked warily, "What are you doing?"
Zong Linhan: "My hands are too weak, help me tie them tight."
Wen Zhiling hesitated for two seconds, assessing her self-control, before sitting down on the carpet.
Zong Linhan stretched out his long legs on the soft white carpet, leaned against the edge of the bed, and turned his head to look at Wen Zhiling, "We're leaving tomorrow."
Wen Zhiling tied a bow on the bandage. "Mm."
She couldn't wait to get rid of the citrus scent, but Zong Linhan grabbed her wrist. "If we don't do something tonight, we won't have another chance."
His slender fingers bent slightly, the fingertips tracing her skin, lightly scratching along the lines of her arm to her palm, making light and heavy lines in her hand. His voice was drawn out, deliberately lowered and ambiguous, "...Do you want me?"
Wen Zhiling still considered herself human, and the habit of drinking blood was never a good thing, but the allure of the citrus scent was overwhelming. It would be a lie to say she didn't want it. She struggled for a moment, "If you want it, will you give it to me?"
Zong Linhan saw that the fish had taken the bait and coaxed him gently, "Say something nice to me. It's the same principle as giving up sugar. You have to do it gradually. You can't give it to them, but you can't spoil them either."
Wen Zhiling coldly brushed his hand away. "Then stop flirting with me. And stay away from me after filming starts. Who can stand having ingredients waving around in front of them every day?"
Zong Linhan: "..." Ingredients.
The attempt to create an atmosphere failed completely; there wasn't a trace of romance. Zong Linhan leaned back, his neck line forming a beautiful curve, looking utterly dejected. "Coming to argue with me in the middle of the night?"
Wen Zhiling sat up straight. "By the way, did Li Xu come to see you this morning?"
Zong Linhan was surprised that Wen Zhiling would bring up Li Xu. He lifted his eyelids slightly and asked, "Hmm?"
Wen Zhiling hesitated: "There's something I think we should... talk about."
Wen Zhiling is like an oyster that refuses to open its shell; she won't reveal a single word about what she doesn't want to disclose, making her even better at keeping secrets than the specially trained members of the Bureau of Investigation.
The knocking at the door in the middle of the night, though not in a flirtatious way, still made Zong Linhan feel good, giving him a pleasant sense of being trusted.
His heart softened, and his voice became much gentler, "Yes, go ahead."
Wen Zhiling: "The Li family and your family have a good relationship, so they should know your family's situation very well, right? Will it affect your plans, such as knowing that I'm not a member of the main branch, or exposing my identity or something..."
Zong Linhan: "Don't worry, with all the identity information complete, firstly, they can't prove you're not who you are. Secondly, so what if they find out? This won't cause any conflict of interest or competition for resources."
Wen Zhiling breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
She tossed aside the cushion, grabbed the bed frame, and stood up to walk towards the door.
The hem of her nightgown was tugged back, and Zong Linhan grabbed it tightly. "Isn't there anything else?"
Wen Zhiling pulled the shoulder strap up. "Anything else?"
Wen Zhiling thought for a moment, "I've already written the part about the secret exchange, you..."
The carpet under the table was covered with documents. She said, "They're definitely in this pile. Look for them."
Zong Linhan: "That's it?"
Wen Zhiling: "That's all."
Zong Linhan narrowed his eyes slightly. "Do I still smell? Citrus?"
Wen Zhiling honestly replied, "Yes, it's quite strong." Isn't it supposed to take more than ten minutes to take effect? It hasn't been that long.
Zong Linhan asked bluntly, "Do you want to bite?"
His tone was very firm, like a supermarket having a year-end sale with rock-bottom prices, grabbing a passing customer and forcing them to try a bite.
Wen Zhiling was shocked, and shamefully, her heart fluttered. "...Is it okay?"
Zong Linhan stood up and put his arm around Wen Zhiling's shoulder. "Opportunities are fleeting."
He pushed Wen Zhiling out of the room. "Of course not. Just bear with it. Remember to bring some cherry tomatoes with you on the way tomorrow."
The door slammed shut behind him, and Zong Linhan roared in a fit of impotent rage, "Go ahead and eat your cherry tomatoes to grind your teeth."
Wen Zhiling: "..."
The ingredients, instead of being tempting, became angry and embarrassed.
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