Chu Yanxiu’s large hand pressed against Mu Jiujiu’s lips suddenly tightened, a hint of red quickly spreading to the corners of his eyes.
He looked directly at Mu Jiujiu, who was standing on the sofa, his large hand gripping her small face—dangerous yet restrained.
“Mu Jiujiu, listen!”
The light in Mu Jiujiu’s eyes was too scorching, so much so that the threatening words turned into an explanation by the time they reached his lips.
“Someone in Chu Manor is trying to harm me. If they find out I’m awake, they might make a move against me again.”
Mu Jiujiu took a few seconds to process his words, the excitement on her face gradually fading.
Her expression shifted to one of shock.
In a muffled voice, she asked, “Could the car accident be…”
At the mention of the car accident, Mu Jiujiu immediately became furious, her eyes turning red.
Chu Yanxiu’s palm was blown on with warm breaths a few times, the damp heat intensifying, stirring an itch in his heart. He pinched Mu Jiujiu’s little cheek with the web of his thumb, warning, “There’s someone outside!”
Right on cue, a knock sounded at the door.
Mu Jiujiu nodded at Chu Yanxiu. He lowered his gaze, suppressing the complexity in his eyes, and then released his grip.
If Mu Jiujiu didn’t cooperate, even if he could restrain her, it would only be temporary.
Mu Jiujiu reached out and grabbed Chu Yanxiu’s lowered hand, speaking to the person outside through the bedroom door, “I’ll change my clothes and come downstairs.”
The butler Guo Xi outside the door said, “Young Madam, I just heard you talking to someone.”
Mu Jiujiu: “Mm, Jiujiu was talking to her husband.”
Chu Yanxiu narrowed his eyes sharply.
The person outside also fell silent, waiting.
Mu Jiujiu continued, unhurried, “Jiujiu was afraid her husband would be bored lying there all the time. Jiujiu thought her husband must be able to hear her voice.”
A faint, ambiguous chuckle came from outside: “Young Madam is right. Breakfast is being prepared downstairs. I thought if you were awake, I’d ask what you’d like to eat.”
In truth, she had come upstairs to eavesdrop.
Mu Jiujiu: “Anything is fine. Jiujiu isn’t picky.”
The servant went downstairs, and Chu Yanxiu gazed at Mu Jiujiu with deep, probing eyes, feeling that something was off.
Reacting so quickly, spinning lies at the drop of a hat—could she really be a fool?
Could it be that the information Jiang Yun had found had discrepancies?
“Husband, you’re really handsome.”
Chu Yanxiu’s mind was in the middle of a storm, and being caught off guard by the little woman’s compliment, he was momentarily stunned.
Meanwhile, Mu Jiujiu took the opportunity to cling to him again, hugging him like a shameless flirt: “Husband, don’t be afraid. Jiujiu will definitely protect you.”
Chu Yanxiu’s dangerously narrowed eyes slowly looked down at her, as if to say: Flirting openly and getting handsy—she really doesn’t act like a proper lady!
His rough, large hand came down without ceremony. As Mu Jiujiu let out a startled yelp, Chu Yanxiu’s other hand clamped onto the pale nape of her neck, forcing her head down. He leaned close to her ear and said, word by word, “Mu Jiujiu, are you sure you’re not just… asking for it?”
What, did she think Chu Yanxiu couldn’t play this game?
Mu Jiujiu, hurt by the grip, jumped up in shock, shoving Chu Yanxiu away and springing out of his arms.
“Ah! Jiujiu can’t be without clothes during the day—how embarrassing!”
With that, she fled like a frightened little rabbit, hopping off the bed and darting into the dressing room.
Chu Yanxiu: “…”
She’s got decent logic.
Looks like the days ahead won’t be boring!
When Mu Jiujiu came out of the dressing room, Chu Yanxiu was already leaning against the headboard.
Ready to play the part of a vegetative man.
Chu Yanxiu asked Mu Jiujiu, “You reacted pretty quickly just now?”
Chu Yanxiu meant it as an interrogation, but Mu Jiujiu thought he was praising her.
Her brows immediately curved into a smile: “Mm, because Jiujiu talks to her husband every day.”
Chu Yanxiu: “…”
That was true.
Mu Jiujiu looked at Chu Yanxiu with sparkling eyes: “Husband, when you couldn’t move, could you hear Jiujiu talking to you?”
Chu Yanxiu: When her voice was loud, she was like a fly; when it was soft, she was like a mosquito.
But then again, ever since his mother passed away, he had never slept well, mostly drifting between half-awake and half-asleep.
Whether she disturbed him or not, it was all the same.
“No!”
Mu Jiujiu pouted in slight disappointment, but a glimmer of light quickly flashed in her eyes: “Then just now, was Jiujiu good?”
Whether she was good or not, he didn’t know—he only felt she was even noisier than a few days ago!
Chu Yanxiu suppressed the irritation rising in his throat.
This was a critical moment; there was no need to get angry at a little fool.
Under Mu Jiujiu’s eager anticipation, Chu Yanxiu, extremely perfunctory, tossed her a scrap of praise like coaxing a fool: “Not bad.”
Mu Jiujiu, however, was overjoyed, like a child rewarded with candy: “Husband praised me. Husband is so kind.”
As she spoke, a smile bloomed at the corners of her lips, and a faint blush spread across her cheeks, like freshly blossomed peach petals—beautiful beyond words.
“Husband, do you know who’s trying to harm you?”
Chu Yanxiu knew, but he needed evidence: “I don’t know. I’m investigating, so I can’t tip them off.”
Mu Jiujiu, upon hearing this, grew inexplicably excited: “Jiujiu will be her husband’s spy and definitely catch the bad guy!”
“Just don’t sell me out. Much obliged.”
With a faint, mocking remark, Chu Yanxiu lay back down and played dead.
Mu Jiujiu clenched both hands into fists, cheering herself on: “Husband, trust Jiujiu. Let’s work hard together!”
Chu Yanxiu coldly closed his eyes.
Mu Jiujiu suddenly crouched down and asked in a low voice, “But we can talk about my in-laws, right? They must be good people.”
Chu Yanxiu gritted his teeth and forced out a few words: “Repeat my order from last night!”
Mu Jiujiu tilted her little head: “…We talked about a lot of things last night, what was the first sentence again…”
Chu Yanxiu’s face darkened with irritation: “Don’t tell anyone that I’ve woken up!”
“Oh.” Mu Jiujiu thought for a moment, then suddenly realized: “The more people who know, the more danger there is. Jiujiu understands, Jiujiu will definitely keep it a secret!”
Chu Yanxiu: “…”
Ha, she understands nothing!
Chu Kuo and Qiao Yu—neither of them was worth a damn.
One abandoned his wife and child, the other was a homewrecker who climbed up through an affair. Both were beasts in human clothing!
At the thought, Chu Yanxiu pressed his lips tightly together, and the imposing aura that commanded respect without anger, along with the cold aloofness that kept others at a distance, returned.
Beneath the thin blanket, he pulled off the string of black Buddhist beads from his wrist and clutched them tightly in his palm.
He had thought he would never marry in his lifetime, but who would have guessed that after a car accident, Qiao Yu would arrange a marriage for good luck for him.
To outsiders, she, the stepmother, appeared virtuous and generous!
In reality, she was simply finding someone to keep watch over him day and night under the guise of legitimacy.
He had spent two years breaking through the bottleneck that had stalled Shengshi Group for a decade, using ruthless tactics to multiply its assets by dozens of times and pushing the company to the forefront of the imperial capital. After Chu Kuo reaped the benefits of the GEM board reform from him, he had gradually begun to favor him.
As for the two sons Qiao Yu had given birth to—one was a prodigal who lost money nine times out of ten at gambling, and the other was a little brat who got his parents called to school every other day.
Chu Kuo now valued him, and her own sons were troublemakers, so after orchestrating the car accident, Qiao Yu didn’t dare touch him right under Chu Kuo’s nose.
But that “didn’t dare” didn’t extend to after he woke up.
After all, someone capable of hiring a killer was most likely a mad dog.
According to his original plan, he would have needed at least ten more days to slowly wake from his slumber, with his bodily functions gradually recovering right under Qiao Yu’s watchful eye.
If he suddenly stood up from the bed, Qiao Yu would feel shock and fear.
But if he recovered day by day—opening his eyes, sitting up, holding the bed to walk, then using a cane to go to the company and fight for power—the slow simmer of torment would be enough to drive Qiao Yu mad, gradually destroying her sanity until she couldn’t resist orchestrating a second “accident.”
However, for now, Mu Jiujiu couldn’t be relied upon, so he would have to adapt and counter each move as it came.
Mu Jiujiu finished breakfast and went upstairs.
Chu Yanxiu, pretending to sleep, checked his phone messages while she was in the bathroom, and only started sleeping after confirming there was no unusual activity at the dining table.
When he woke up, it was already past noon.
This was the deepest sleep he’d had in years—he hadn’t even noticed when Mu Jiujiu went out to eat or when she came upstairs into the room. It was utterly baffling!
He closed his eyes, listening to the sounds in the room, and keenly sniffed the air before slowly opening his eyes.
At that moment, the only person in the room was Mu Jiujiu, quietly sitting on the sofa reading a book.
He observed her for a while, then finally turned over and pressed his right thumb onto a spot on the headboard where no trace of anything unusual could be seen, retrieving a phone from the opened hidden compartment.
[Xin Zhang: No unusual activity. Big Chief Chu and Qiao Yu haven’t returned at noon. Chu Xiaoyuan hasn’t returned either. Guo Xi is sitting in the dining room shelling beans while watching a drama on her phone.]
Xin Zhang was the cook at the villa called Chu Garden, a man Chu Yanxiu had placed there as his own months ago.
Chu Xiaoyuan was Qiao Yu’s eldest son, Chu Kuo’s second son, three years younger than Chu Yanxiu.
Guo Xi was the housekeeper here, having worked for five years, and was Qiao Yu’s trusted confidante.
Xin Zhang reported to Chu Yanxiu every hour during the day, and at night, Chu Yanxiu’s bodyguard would take over, keeping watch over Chu Garden’s movements from the shadows.
Mu Jiujiu heard the sound, put down her book, carefully locked the door, and rushed over to Chu Yanxiu.
She spoke with concern: “Husband, does your head hurt? Is there anywhere on your body that feels uncomfortable?”
Clearly, she was still convinced that Chu Yanxiu waking up was thanks to her marriage for good luck.
Chu Yanxiu put down his phone and looked at Mu Jiujiu with a still cold gaze, though the hostility from last night was gone: “I’m fine.”
Mu Jiujiu let out a sigh of relief: “Then is husband hungry? Thirsty?”
Chu Yanxiu furrowed his brows slightly, clearly starting to grow impatient, but considering she had succeeded as his “spy” today, he remained polite: “No nee—”
Before he could finish the word, Mu Jiujiu had already taken milk and bread from the bedside cabinet and eagerly presented them to Chu Yanxiu.
“Jiujiu secretly brought them up, husband, eat quickly.”
A wave of wheat fragrance hit his nose, and Chu Yanxiu’s stomach suddenly cramped.
His throat bobbed as he hesitated whether to reach out and take them, when the girl said eagerly: “Husband, is Jiujiu good? Can Jiujiu cuddle with husband tonight?”
Chu Yanxiu: “…”
So his body was only worth a piece of bread and a bit of milk?