Within this year, Su Mu had built a solid foundation and planned to return home to develop her career. However, she didn’t tell Ling Wei, intending to give her a surprise; she only told her she would be back in a few days to celebrate her birthday.
“Weiwei, I’m flying back tomorrow. Remember to wait for me at home,” Su Mu said happily, propping up her chin as she watched Ling Wei dry her hair.
“Mhm, waiting for you to come back.” Ling Wei stopped her movements, a smile on her face and her eyes sparkling as she looked at Su Mu.
Looking at Ling Wei’s light smile, Su Mu’s gaze suddenly turned improper. Looking at Ling Wei’s exposed skin, she said wickedly, “Weiwei, have you been drinking a lot of milk lately? I feel like you…”
“Don’t talk about me, you’re not exactly lacking yourself,” Ling Wei noticed Su Mu’s gaze falling on her and reached out to pull her nightgown up a bit, though her words remained unyielding.
In this past year, Ling Feng had found all sorts of erotic books for his sister, striving to save her from the predicament of being the one “pushed down.” Having been “influenced,” Ling Wei no longer blushed or felt heart palpitations at Su Mu’s verbal flirting. Su Mu didn’t know whether to thank this brother-in-law for teaching her well or beat him to death for corrupting her pure Weiwei.
After chatting casually for a bit, Su Mu let Ling Wei go to rest while she prepared her things for the flight.
The next day, Ling Wei came home from work and sat on the sofa watching the news. Suddenly, she saw a report; the hand holding the remote control trembled as she pressed the back button.
“Last night, a flight from the US to the domestic airport encountered strong turbulence. Its current location is unknown. The flight number is…”
“Weiwei, I’m flying back today. Remember to wait for me at home.”
Ling Wei discovered the flight number on TV was exactly the same as the one Su Mu was taking. Her mind went blank. She wanted to go upstairs to get her phone but found her legs were weak and couldn’t move at all. She stared dazed at her surroundings, noticed the landline nearby, and dialed the number she knew by heart.
“Wife’s calling! Wife’s calling! …Weiwei, wait for me, Weiwei, wait for me…”
This ringtone came from a time Su Mu had done something dangerous and tried to get her cousin to hide it from Ling Wei. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Su Mu didn’t pick up her phone, Ling Wei never would have gone to her cousin to ask. Later, Su Mu tried to act like nothing happened, so Ling Wei hung up to show she was angry.
Later, unable to restrain herself, she called back to ask about the injury on Su Mu’s hand, only to find the ringtone had been changed to this. During a video call, she gave Su Mu a glare and considered her forgiven; she really couldn’t do anything about this person.
Now, hearing the familiar ringtone, Ling Wei kept praying: Pick up, pick up quickly. If she picked up, it meant she had gotten off the plane and was safe.
“Amy, book me a flight to the US, the fastest one. Postpone everything else,” Ling Wei said quickly to her secretary after finding she couldn’t get through to Su Mu.
“Yes, CEO,” Amy replied quickly, hearing the panic in Ling Wei’s voice.
On the other side, just as Su Mu was about to head to the airport, she received a call from Lin Qingqian telling her to follow Zhao Tianqi immediately for a transaction. Suspecting this matter wasn’t simple, Lin Qingqian specifically told Jamie to provide backup.
Time passed uneventfully. In the US, Su Mu had begun to touch upon the businesses under Lin Qingqian. No one would have expected such a woman to be involved with the underworld. Thus, what Su Mu was doing was not safe at all, but she hid it all from Ling Wei while doing tasks, fearing the “tsundere” little girl would freeze her to death if she found out. She didn’t know who Ling Wei learned it from, but when she got angry, she played the cold war card, which Su Mu couldn’t stand.
Thinking that if Ling Wei knew she wasn’t on the plane but doing this, she would definitely give her a cold face imagining Ling Wei’s wooden expression trying to scare her—Su Mu couldn’t help but curl her lips.
Because it was hard to explain, Su Mu didn’t tell Ling Wei that she wasn’t on the flight.
“Xiao Mu, this matter doesn’t look so simple,” Zhao Tianqi frowned, looking around. Her instincts told her something was wrong.
“Mhm, tell everyone to be careful,” Su Mu said alertly, putting away her wandering thoughts.
“System, detect if there is danger.” Su Mu asked for a check just to be safe.
“Host, there are at least twenty people ambushing in the dark, surrounding you,” the system opened the scan and found many red dots slowly closing in.
“Tianqi, it looks like tonight won’t be peaceful. Tell Jamie to wait with the car where we came in,” Su Mu quickly told Zhao Tianqi.
“Okay.” Just as they finished talking, the people for the transaction arrived.
“Boss Muller, what you’re doing seems unethical,” Su Mu preemptively stated as they met.
“Hmm? I don’t quite understand what you mean,” Muller denied, thinking his actions were well-hidden.
“Then can you explain what’s going on with the people around us?” Seeing him try to quibble, Su Mu directly called him out.
“Hmph, calling this many brothers to deal with you means I already think highly of you.” Hearing her words, Muller stopped hiding and exposed his killing intent.
“Why are you targeting us?” Zhao Tianqi frowned. Given the Boss’s strength, normal people wouldn’t do something so suicidal.
“Zhao Tianqi, you really are a busy person who forgets things. Have you forgotten Mu Gua, the person you killed a year ago? I didn’t come here today to live; I just want to drag you all down with me!” At the thought of his tragically dead son, Muller’s expression became distorted and he spoke viciously.
“You old geezer, if you want to die, go by yourself. Your elder sister here isn’t accompanying you,” Zhao Tianqi replied, remembering a traitor she had shot last year. Despite the current danger, she didn’t regret killing him; back then, he had nearly hurt Lin Qingqian—the person she cherished so much she didn’t dare hurt her herself.
As they spoke, Muller sent his men to surround them, planning to capture Zhao Tianqi and the others alive to torture them. However, seeing his brothers couldn’t last a few moves against Su Mu and Zhao Tianqi, he ordered a charge while he himself raised a gun to aim at Zhao Tianqi.
Su Mu had been secretly on guard during their conversation and hadn’t suffered any losses. Her sharp eyes caught Muller’s sneak attack, and she lunged forward to push Zhao Tianqi out of the way. As a result, the bullet hit Su Mu’s arm.
Ignoring the pain, Su Mu immediately helped Zhao Tianqi to retreat. In the process of escaping, they lost several more of their men. Now only she and Zhao Tianqi were left, and the bullets in their guns wouldn’t last much longer.
“Xiao Mu, I’ve dragged you into this,” Zhao Tianqi panted heavily as they hid inside a building.
“Don’t say that, this isn’t your fault.” Seeing Zhao Tianqi’s disheveled state, Su Mu smiled with a touch of dark humor. It was rare to see this image-conscious woman so miserable; it really wasn’t a total loss.
“Actually, I’m quite jealous of you that you can get her concern,” Zhao Tianqi said, rolling her eyes at Su Mu’s mischievous smile, finally speaking the words she had kept in her heart.
“?” Su Mu looked at her in surprise. Did she also like Weiwei? Impossible, right? Hearing “her concern,” Su Mu immediately assumed she meant Ling Wei.
“…Not your Weiwei, it’s Qingqian.” Seeing Su Mu’s expression, Zhao Tianqi knew she had guessed wrong and corrected her.
“You… Do you like Cousin?” Su Mu thought back to the slight hostility Zhao Tianqi had toward her at the beginning and realized the reason.
“No, I have loved her for ten years,” Zhao Tianqi leaned against the wall, looking at the sky outside with a mix of loss and happiness.
Su Mu looked at Zhao Tianqi’s lonely expression and guessed it might be unrequited love. Not knowing what to say, she chose silence.
“The first time I saw her, she was thirteen. She was sent to the training camp by her father with a cold face. I was already a top performer then, so I was one of the teachers who taught her. At that time, I…” As Zhao Tianqi spoke of the past, her eyes grew affectionate.
“If you want to talk about this lovey-dovey stuff, wait until we get out,” Su Mu interrupted. Zhao Tianqi’s tone was getting stranger and stranger.
“I might not have the chance.” Zhao Tianqi shook her head, trying to keep her consciousness clear.
“Tianqi, what’s wrong? You were shot, why didn’t you say anything!” Su Mu realized something was wrong, stood up, and found the spot where Zhao Tianqi was sitting was completely red. Checking her, she found she had been shot in the back. At this rate, she would bleed out. Su Mu spoke angrily.
“What a pity, I’m going to kick the bucket before I can confess to Qingqian. Truly f*cking unwillingly,” Zhao Tianqi said regretfully, letting out a curse at the thought of not being able to stay by Lin Qingqian’s side anymore.
Facing Zhao Tianqi, Su Mu didn’t notice that Muller’s men had quietly entered and aimed their guns at her.