The next evening at 8:50, at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, the Tingfeng Tea House.
A fine drizzle drifted through the night sky, and the entire tea house was sealed shut.
Because of Mu Linjiang’s arrival, the place was under a complete lockdown tonight. Black-suited bodyguards had cleared the perimeter. No one could get in—except Mu Linjiang himself and specially approved guests.
A black Mercedes-Benz was hidden in the shadows outside the tea house.
Song Shan glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes to nine. I’ve already bribed the janitor who hauls away the discarded tea leaves through the back door—double the price. He’ll sneak you through the staff passage into the bamboo grove. Remember, you only have five minutes to get inside.”
Du Youling gripped her hand with unwavering determination. “Best sister! For life!”
Song Shan returned the same resolute gaze, patted her own shoulder, and pointed at it. Your sister’s shoulder—you can lean on it!
“But if the plan falls through tonight and Mu Linjiang decides to drown you in the sea, before you get thrown overboard, whatever you do—don’t rat me out!”
Du Youling: “…”
“Go on, toughest bone in Haicheng. Go defend your dignity!” Song Shan made a charging gesture.
Du Youling rolled her eyes and shoved the car door open.
Under the cover of night and drizzle, she slipped into the dense bamboo grove behind the tea house.
The night wind whipped icy raindrops around, rustling the bamboo leaves.
The entire Tingfeng Tea House was eerily silent tonight. The elegant antique-style lighting that usually glowed was all extinguished, replaced by the high-frequency flashlights in the hands of the bodyguards outside.
Every time a beam of light swept through the bamboo grove, Du Youling nearly died of fright. She pressed herself flat against the bamboo stalks, holding her breath, not daring to make a sound.
She swallowed hard, her palms slick with cold sweat and rain.
If his bodyguards caught her and pinned her to the ground as a suspicious intruder tonight, the Du family’s face would be completely ruined—let alone getting Du Ningyang to call her auntie. She might even get dumped straight into the sea!
She finally made it to the edge of the easternmost corridor on the second floor. Du Youling had just poked half her head out, trying to count the private room partitions, when hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the end of the hallway, accompanied by the static crackle of a walkie-talkie.
“Anomaly detected in Zone A. An outsider has infiltrated. Clear the area immediately!”
Du Youling froze, her heart pounding with terror. Wasn’t it supposed to be five minutes of absolute safety?!
This time, she hadn’t even laid eyes on Mu Linjiang before triggering a full-scale alarm!
The next five minutes became the most harrowing nightmare of Du Youling’s life.
Every light in the Tingfeng Tea House blazed on in an instant. Swarms of black-suited bodyguards poured out from every passage.
Desperate not to be tackled on the spot, Du Youling scrambled frantically through the antique tea house, ducking and weaving.
One moment she slipped into an empty pantry, the next she used a waist-high decorative celadon urn as cover. To dodge a team of patrolling guards, she squeezed into a dead corner behind the potted plants in the side hall, holding her breath until her face turned bright red.
The moment the guards’ footsteps faded, Du Youling shoved aside the plant leaves and half-emerged from the corner, exhausted. But when she looked up, she ran straight into another squad of guards sweeping in from the connecting corridor.
A blinding beam of light locked onto her instantly.
“There! Grab her!”
With a sharp shout from a bodyguard, the dense clatter of leather shoes erupted from every direction.
Du Youling’s eyes widened in despair. “Damn! Even heaven blocks my path!”
Before she could finish, she took off running.
“Stop!”
Du Youling’s mind went blank. Clutching her already-ruined skirt, stumbling on those killer high heels, she bolted desperately toward a corner private room on the second floor where no guards were stationed.
At this moment, she regretted it to the depths of her soul.
Why had she listened to Song Shan’s nonsense? For the sake of some damn tactical aesthetics, she’d insisted on wearing these stiletto heels to play a game of life-or-death speed?!
If she’d worn sneakers, she’d be leaving afterimages in this hallway right now!
To hell with graceful swaying—her life and her auntie dignity were both about to be destroyed!
But she was running too fast, too recklessly. The stiletto heel on her right foot snapped with a sharp crack.
She dropped a few inches in an instant. With only two meters left to the door that symbolized safety, she wobbled like a stilt-walker who’d suddenly lost his balance, stumbling forward three more steps.
“Ah—!” That was Du Youling’s miserable shriek.
Carried by momentum, she pitched forward in a graceless, kneeling sprawl.
Even worse, her flying body hit the half-open door dead-on.
Bang! The door burst wide open.
Du Youling slid across the smooth marble floor in a ridiculous, face-down sprawl, finally skidding to a halt right in front of a pair of impeccably crafted black custom leather shoes.
Inside, the rich scent of agarwood filled the air.
The atmosphere went dead silent in that instant.
Du Youling grimaced in pain, propping herself up on the floor and lifting her head.
There, seated in the ornate armchair, the man lowered his gaze slightly. His black hair gleamed under the light.
His collar was open at two buttons, his sleeves casually rolled up, his entire bearing exuding the innate elegance and unhurried composure of one born to power.
At that moment, those narrow, elongated dark phoenix eyes were gazing down at her from above.
Du Youling froze on the spot, a torrent of curses flooding through her mind.
Damn it all!
She had calculated every possibility, imagined countless versions of herself making a stunning, breathtaking entrance—but never in her wildest dreams had she expected to come crashing down before Mu Linjiang in this pathetic, kneeling, crippled posture!
“Get them! They’re in this—”
With a sharp, urgent shout, the lead bodyguard captain stormed into the private room with a squad of burly men in black, murderous intent radiating from every step.
But the moment they took in the scene inside, their faces drastically changed, and they slammed to a collective halt at the doorway.
The air froze once more.
Mu Linjiang slowly lifted his eyelids, his expression inscrutable.
“M-Mr. Mu…”
The bodyguards’ faces went pale as they bowed their heads in unison, bending at the waist at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
“We’re sorry, Mr. Mu! We failed in our duty and disturbed you!”
“We’ll drag this lunatic out and deal with him right away!”
Drag her out? No way!
She had fought through countless trials and tribulations just to get to the feet of this great Buddha—if she got dragged out now, would that do justice to all the suffering she’d endured tonight?!
Just as the bodyguards were about to move in and grab her, Du Youling, summoning courage she didn’t know she had, gripped Mu Linjiang’s suit trousers with both hands, using every ounce of strength she had, pressing most of her body against the man’s leather shoes.
She abruptly tilted up her face—covered in strands of hair, yet still breathtakingly beautiful—met the man’s unfathomable gaze, and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Hello! Marry me!”