Chapter 37
The next morning, a "Knowledge Competition on the Island" was held. The waves were high at the beach, so Tao Tao and her friends stayed up all night preparing the questions. They even found someone to design them late at night and printed them on hard cards on the island. There was a dark circle under her eyes.
The questions covered a wide range of topics, but as the discussion progressed, they gradually shifted towards music history. During the intermission, Wen Zhiling overheard Tao Tao muttering softly, "None of this was prepared by me..."
Lin Li's comments on Wen Zhiling were sharp: "Incomplete answers," "Superficial understanding," and "Lack of depth." As the competition progressed, she became increasingly aggressive, and the others began to notice something was wrong. The director then used the excuse of not having enough time to stop the game.
The atmosphere on the beach was oppressive. Lin Li walked towards Wen Zhiling. Li Xuben was sitting and watching the sea. When he saw this, he wanted to follow, but Li Wan grabbed his arm and hinted that he shouldn't cause trouble.
Wen Zhiling was helping Tao Tao tidy up her props when Lin Li spoke to her, "Knowledge can't be truly understood through last-minute cramming. Without a background, it's difficult to grasp the cultural depth behind music. And that's not all; if you want to enter this industry, how can you succeed without any skills? You should..."
She spoke with the demeanor of a senior, delivering her suppressive statements with unhurried ease. Her language was like an eel, treading on muddy water with blurred boundaries; it could be described as harsh, or it could be said to be for your own good.
Wen Zhiling listened quietly, having prepared herself mentally, and calmly posed as a humble student in front of the camera.
"Knowledge is not for arrogance, Teacher Lin," Zong Linhan said with a smile as he walked up to the two of them.
Many staff members present looked over, and Lin Li's expression showed surprise for a moment. She did not expect Zong Linhan to attack her so directly in front of the camera. This was not something the usually composed Zong Linhan would do.
Zong Linhan: "I've heard my father mention your youth. You must have put in tremendous effort to get to where you are today."
His words were ambiguous, and several staff members' eyes lit up. Was there going to be a major scandal today? Everyone was used to Zong Linhan's gentle approach and thought he would say something tactful to give Lin Li a way out. But after waiting for a while, all they saw was Zong Linhan taking the card from Wen Zhiling and handing it to Tao Tao, who was waiting, "It's going to rain soon, let's go back."
Lin Li: "..."
The rain came suddenly at the beach, and when we got back to the villa, many people who walked slowly got soaked, and the living room was noisy.
At the sink, Wen Zhiling dried her hair with a brown towel and saw Lin Li push the door open and enter through the mirror.
The atmosphere in the cramped space was heavy. Lin Li said in a low voice, "You're quite something to have gotten involved with the Zong family."
Wen Zhiling: "Thank you."
Unexpectedly, she retorted directly, and Lin Li raised an eyebrow.
Wen Zhiling: "I am indeed very capable. I am very happy to have received Teacher Lin's recognition."
Lin Li could barely maintain her smile, while Wen Zhiling got a taste of the joy of teasing someone.
Suddenly, Lin Li smiled easily and turned on the tap. "Perhaps you think that I'm targeting you specifically because of Xiao Xu."
She pulled out a tissue to wipe her hands, her tone unhurried, "But what's wrong with protecting your son? You should also know why people are wary of you."
She glanced at Wen Zhiling and said, "People are always more afraid of the unknown."
Wen Zhiling looked up in surprise.
"Seeing Zong Linhan protecting you like this, I feel relieved," Lin Li threw the tissue into the trash can. "You used to be afraid and didn't dare to speak up, but now that someone is taking care of you and you can be yourself, I'm quite gratified. What did the old gardeners always say? The branches and leaves will grow as they are meant to grow, and the branches and leaves that block the sunlight will eventually find their own place."
The island's storms came and went quickly, and soon the sky was clear again, sunlight streaming into the kitchen where Wen Zhiling and Lu Siyi were cutting fruit. Wen Zhiling's knife skills were swift; she cut an apple into the shape of a little rabbit, which Lu Siyi held admiringly, reluctant to put down.
With a thud, an apple rolled to the ground, and on the cutting board, the hand holding the knife handle trembled violently.
Lu Siyi was completely unaware. She bent down to pick up the apple, turned on the tap and washed it. "Wasn't it super tiring to look for things yesterday? I could only look in a few places before I was exhausted. I don't have any strength in my hands today either."
If there were a camera filming from the front at that moment, it would honestly record Wen Zhiling's reaction. She covered her nose and throat with the back of her hand, choked several times, as if she were surrounded by thick smoke or had a rope strangling her throat, making it impossible for her to breathe.
She braced her slender hands against the edge of the tiled sink. "I'm going upstairs to get something."
Wen Zhiling put down the knife and disappeared into the corridor before Lu Siyi could respond.
It failed too quickly, in less than twelve hours.
She tossed the empty medicine box into the trash can. Wen Zhiling's legs felt weak as she stepped down the stairs. As she passed the first floor, light refracted from the direction of the glass greenhouse. She only glanced at it, but the light was so bright that she could hardly open her eyes.
Lin Li left the program after lunch.
The afternoon activity was making desserts, and in the evening, they would sell them at the market, with the person earning the most winnings. Unsurprisingly, Zong Linhan and Wen Zhiling took the championship. Before the recording ended, they requested to use their half-day rest right away, saying they wanted to get a good night's sleep the next morning, earning envious glances from the other guests.
As night fell and past midnight, the two descended from the high-rise building, stepping on the protruding brick seams and landing steadily on the ground.
Stealing in the middle of the night was both tense and exciting. Wen Zhiling's face was flushed. Zong Lin chuckled at her, "It doesn't feel like an adventure, it feels like a spring outing."
Wen Zhiling was a little embarrassed by the teasing, and pretended to be cold as she urged, "Of course we have to take the important matter of returning to normal life seriously. Stop dawdling. It would be best if you could come back first thing tomorrow morning. I need to sleep for five hours."
“They’ve gone,” Lu Qin said to the person on the phone, lifting the curtain.
Under the starry sky, the two disappeared into the darkness.
He rubbed his temples: "Do we need to go that far to provoke her?"
"I know she doesn't remember me, but what does that have to do with what happened before? I'm not soft-hearted. As for you, don't blame me later."
...
The street scene at night is different from that during the day; the distant waves are deep black, and the streetlights illuminate the narrow alley.
In the abandoned industrial park, the two turned into an unfinished building and entered an underground passage.
The air was thick with the smell of metal and rust. The only light source was the powerful flashlight in Zong Linhan's hand, its beam illuminating the concrete floor and the moldy walls.
"Stay close," Zong Linhan said in a low voice.
The sound echoed slightly in the confined space. Wen Zhiling carefully stepped into the shallowest part of the puddles. This underpass was not far from the market; the buildings above ground were an abandoned industrial park, and the area was quite large.
When we passed by in the car on our way here, the director introduced it as a famous unfinished building. They had spent a lot of money to hire a foreign architect to design it, but the developer went bankrupt halfway through construction.
The passage gradually widened, and a heavy metal door appeared ahead. There were no signs, only a mechanical combination lock, its surface covered with rust, indicating that it had been there for quite some time.
“This is it.” Zong Linhan did not immediately enter the password. Instead, he carefully shone the flashlight on the door frame and keyhole, then looked down to check the footprints near the door. Finally, he gently ran his fingers over the metal surface and pulled out an extremely thin thread.
Wen Zhiling guessed that he was making sure no one else had been there. If someone had opened the door, the silk thread would have fallen to the ground.
Zong Linhan entered the password to open the door.
Feeling like she was in a spy movie, Wen Zhiling watched with a bit of excitement. The moment the door opened, Zong Linhan asked seemingly casually, "Are the pills still in their original place? There might be some surprise room filming in the next few days."
He deliberately asked when she was excited, but Wen Zhiling avoided this trap. She resisted the urge to emphasize that she had no desire to eat and calmly replied, "Okay, I'll go back and find another place."
Zong Linhan's gaze fell on her hand holding the flashlight steadily, staring at it for two seconds before looking away.
In order to effectively stop Zong Linhan from bringing up the medicine again, Wen Zhiling casually mentioned, "You're not just a family member of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations, are you? Family training includes scaling walls, unlocking locks, and crime scene investigation?"
Zong Linhan had considered that she would guess this sooner or later, and sighed, "A little closer."
Wen Zhiling: "Members of the investigation team or something?"
Zong Linhan nodded: "More or less."
Wen Zhiling asked doubtfully, "Team leader?"
Zong Linhan replied, "More or less."
Wen Zhiling was silent for a moment, then raised her voice slightly, "You wouldn't happen to be some high-ranking person, would you?"
Zong Linhan glanced at her, "Find out the details and then disappear?"
Wen Zhiling: "I didn't say that."
With a soft click, the heavy iron gate opened, leading into a long, dark passage, where a second iron gate could be vaguely seen at the end.
The passage from the first door to the second door was narrow and the ceiling was low, making it feel very oppressive. If both doors were closed, it would be no different from being trapped in a coffin, which made Wen Zhiling feel a sense of crisis, and the spring outing turned into an adventure.
She seemed to hear something running quickly above the iron roof, perhaps just a ventilation duct. Zong Linhan drew a military knife from his waist, its cold, hard metallic gleam in the dim light.
Wen Zhiling felt a lump in her throat; the sound might not be an illusion, something really had run past from above.
The two remained silent in the darkness for a while. Zong Linhan then sheathed the knife, checked the door using the same steps, and entered the password.
Wen Zhiling's heart was still pounding, but Zong Linhan acted as if nothing was wrong and chatted with her casually, "Are you angry?"
Wen Zhiling listened carefully to the sounds around her. "No. Trust isn't that easy. Everyone has secrets." As she spoke, her hands, which were in her pockets, seemed to still retain the feel of tin foil packaging.
Zong Linhan lowered his eyes, "I've only kept this matter and my brother's affairs from you."
Wen Zhiling: "Your brother?"
The password clicked loudly in the night.
With his slender hand on the doorknob, Zong Linhan said, "He's missing. The last signal was on Meilan Island, which is here."
Wen Zhiling: "So after you found the aperture, you kept going out at night?"
Zong Linhan: "Mm."
Wen Zhiling: "Is there any news about him?"
Zong Linhan shook his head. "No. I couldn't sense any vital signs from him anywhere."
The moment the door opened, a red light flashed from Zong Linhan's coat pocket. The two of them looked down at the same time, Zong Linhan's expression one of astonishment.
Wen Zhiling: "Is he nearby?"
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Author's note: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone! -v-
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