The prison had prepared a temporary office for Lin Wanshuang on the first floor of the office building. Aside from a few bare necessities, there were no other decorations. Even if Ming Jiao wanted to sit down and rest for a moment, she had to go outside and carry a chair in herself.
Ming Jiao walked into the office holding a chair in one hand, wrinkling her nose and sniffing herself as she walked.
Although the protective suits and masks blocked most of the odors from clinging to them, they had spent a solid amount of time inside those suits. No matter how she smelled it, she felt a bit like she was being pickled in the stench.
“Director Lin, are you absolutely sure I don’t smell?” Ming Jiao asked with a face full of suspicion. She felt that right now, besides the smell of disinfectant, she was covered in that odor of rotting corpses.
Lin Wanshuang didn’t even look up, completely unwilling to answer her. After all, from the moment they came out until now, the other woman had asked her this exact question no less than ten times.
Unfortunately, Lin Wanshuang’s cold dismissal did not discourage Ming Jiao, instead, it made her even more energetic. Carrying her chair, she sat right next to Lin Wanshuang, looking exactly like a pair of best friends whispering and chatting during a school evening self-study session.
Oh, there was a difference. The only difference was that normal best friends wouldn’t press their noses right against each other’s shoulders while chatting.
The tip of Ming Jiao’s nose lightly brushed against the fabric of Lin Wanshuang’s shoulder. With a slight breath, a floral fragrance flooded her nasal cavity, rich, sweet, and oddly familiar.
She remembered. Last time in the laboratory, Lin Wanshuang had released her pheromones once to help soothe the pain in her gland.
Ming Jiao was momentarily dazed by this faint fragrance. When she straightened her back, she was still a bit stunned, completely unaware that her fingers had unconsciously gripped the hem of her own clothes.
The moment she was touched, Lin Wanshuang noticed the action. But before she could call her out, Ming Jiao had already consciously pulled away.
“What are you doing?” Lin Wanshuang frowned, turning her head to stare at Ming Jiao.
Ming Jiao’s bright red tongue instinctively darted out to lick her dry lips. Her throat bobbed slightly as she explained, “I was just smelling you to see if you still stink.” Her platinum-gold eyes were half-hidden beneath her eyelashes, making her look quite harmless.
Lin Wanshuang tilted her head slightly, looking at her at her own leisure, and asked testily, “And? Do I stink?”
Ming Jiao didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she fell silent for a moment before saying, “No… it’s very sweet.”
Lin Wanshuang froze for two seconds upon hearing this. She had never expected Ming Jiao to answer like that. Saying she didn’t stink was understandable, but why was she sweet?
She raised her own arm to the tip of her nose, and sure enough, she caught a whiff of her own pheromone scent.
Seeing this, Ming Jiao spoke up probingively, “See, I wasn’t wrong, it is sweet. And it’s the scent of your pheromones, isn’t it?”
Her curled eyelashes trembled slightly, and she placed her raised arm back onto the desk. Lin Wanshuang turned her head away, refusing to look at her, humphing an acknowledgment from the depths of her throat before dropping the subject.
That fragrance was indeed the scent of her pheromones. Although she wore a device that completely suppressed the function of her gland, pheromone scents didn’t just emanate from the gland, trace amounts of pheromones remained in bodily fluids.
Working in that protective suit earlier had indeed caused her to break out into a light sweat.
Having received confirmation from Lin Wanshuang, Ming Jiao instantly grew curious. She intentionally closed the distance between them and lowered her voice to ask, “So, what exactly is Director Lin’s pheromone flavor? I’ve smelled it twice now and still can’t guess it. I just think it’s a floral scent, right?”
Lin Wanshuang stopped her work once again. Taking a deep breath, she turned her head to stare fixedly at Ming Jiao. The tips of her ears, hidden beneath her hair, had already flushed a faint red, the heat making her a little irritable.
“Don’t you think asking about my pheromone scent is an offensive thing to do? What’s the difference between this and me asking you what color underwear you’re wearing today?” As she spoke, Lin Wanshuang even rolled her eyes at her.
Ming Jiao straightened up and pulled back their distance, looking thoughtful, as if she were genuinely pondering Lin Wanshuang’s words.
Seeing this, Lin Wanshuang nodded in satisfaction. Just as she was about to resume her work, Ming Jiao’s voice drifted into her ear.
“True.”
“I’m wearing white.”
“So what flavor are you?”
Lin Wanshuang: “…”
In the end, Ming Jiao never found out what Lin Wanshuang’s pheromone scent actually was. Instead, she received a swift punch and a kick from Lin Wanshuang for absolutely nothing, though she did behave herself a lot better afterward.
It wasn’t until Lin Wanshuang finished writing today’s report that the two of them packed up, ready to head back to the hotel together.
The sampling at the grand auditorium had ended long ago, and Yu Xiuxiu along with the sampling team had already left.
The two emerged from the office building and walked all the way toward the exit. As the sky gradually darkened, their two figures quietly passed by one streetlamp after another.
Ming Jiao wanted to talk more with Lin Wanshuang, so she proactively looked for topics to chat about. From why the stars in the sky didn’t speak, to whether the fish in the sea could actually grow legs, all sorts of whimsical topics seemed to turn into interesting little stories when coming from Ming Jiao’s mouth.
Lin Wanshuang listened intently, occasionally offering a response, finding it quite amusing. Her mood, which had been tortured by work all day, gradually relaxed.
Seeing Lin Wanshuang finally unwind, Ming Jiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. During their time living together, she had gradually figured out some of Lin Wanshuang’s little habits.
Lin Wanshuang loved her job very much, so she was more susceptible to having her mood affected by it. Every time she came home from work, she would silently curl up in a beanbag chair to quietly recharge her energy.
But there was no soft beanbag chair here, so Ming Jiao had to step up herself. In any case, she was more than willing to speak a few extra words with Lin Wanshuang.
By the time they returned to the hotel, both of them were so ravenously hungry they were practically out of shape. At times like this, the benefits of having someone waiting at the hotel became apparent.
Xia Chan was a girl who knew exactly how to read a situation. Knowing they were on their way back, she hurriedly put on her slippers and ran downstairs to fetch food for them, completely transforming into a dedicated delivery worker and a free one at that.
The hotel room only contained a single simple round table and two chairs. While Ming Jiao and Lin Wanshuang sat on the chairs eating, Xia Chan squatted on the bed, listening to Ming Jiao recount her observations of the prison.
“Why are you so interested in prisons? Do you want to go live in one?” Ming Jiao pulled out a tissue and handed it to Lin Wanshuang, her eyes fixed suspiciously on Xia Chan.
“Teacher, what are you saying!” Xia Chan said righteously, “How could a good kid like me ever end up in prison!”
Ming Jiao gave a light chuckle, “Then change the subject. Stop talking about prisons, I’m afraid you’ll talk yourself into actually wanting to go in.”
Xia Chan curled her lips and mumbled, “Fine, I won’t ask then.” As she spoke, she genuinely remembered something.
“By the way, Teacher, I saw a familiar face downstairs in the hotel lobby today.” Xia Chan’s expression turned a bit strange. “It’s those two tables of guests we encountered in the restaurant at noon. The table wearing windbreakers, do you remember them?”
Hearing this, Ming Jiao’s eating motions slowed down, her expression gradually becoming serious. However, Xia Chan hadn’t noticed yet and continued talking.
“In the afternoon, I played games with the older sister at the front desk for the whole afternoon, and I never saw them come downstairs. They clearly came here to travel, yet they stayed in the hotel all afternoon. Having that kind of travel partner is truly a blessing in life.”
Lin Wanshuang also gradually realized the implications. She still remembered the restaurant proprietress saying that those two tables of guests had also come to climb Mount Xinsong, and upon learning that the mountain was closed, they stated they would leave right after finishing their meal.
Yet looking at it now, not only had they not left, but they had also moved into the exact same hotel as them and hadn’t even come downstairs once.
Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?
Ming Jiao and Lin Wanshuang exchanged a glance, knowing immediately that both of them had thought of the suspicion within this.
Ming Jiao set down her chopsticks and swallowed the food in her mouth. “We guessed before that it was impossible for the Sang family to only arrange manpower inside the prison. Having people on the outside to coordinate an attack from both inside and outside is indeed highly possible.”
Lin Wanshuang wiped her mouth with the tissue Ming Jiao had given her earlier, speculating, “Since the people they arranged have already moved into this hotel, then the time to strike should be tomorrow?”
Ming Jiao nodded, “Very likely. Tell Captain Li to have everyone be extra careful tomorrow.”
“What’s highly likely?” Xia Chan suddenly appeared, squatting by the edge of the table, her arms crossed on the tabletop, her chin resting on her arms. Her head turned from her teacher to her teacher’s wife, a face full of curiosity.
Ming Jiao reached out and flicked her forehead. “Adult matters, children shouldn’t pry.”
Xia Chan glared fiercely at her teacher, then turned to look pitifully at Lin Wanshuang, “Dearest Teacher’s Wife, look at her.”
Lin Wanshuang couldn’t help but reach out and pinch her cheek, not addressing her directly but instead changing the subject to ask, “Did you go buy clothes this afternoon? The temperature might drop tomorrow.”
It was Xia Chan’s first time being cared for by an older Omega, and the experience felt a bit wonderful. She shook her head with a smile, “No, I spent the whole time playing games.”
“If the temperature drops tomorrow, I just won’t go out.”
Lin Wanshuang: “Mm, it’s best if you don’t even go downstairs. It’s very cold down there too.”
Xia Chan: “Okay~”
The next morning, exactly as Lin Wanshuang had predicted, the temperature plummeted. When she woke up, her entire person was dazed by the cold.
Lin Wanshuang, who already had a bit of morning grumpiness, forced herself to go to work, her face dark and silent as she followed Ming Jiao toward the prison.