A series of deaths had cast a shadow over the people in the hotel.
When Gu Moleng and Jiang Du brought Wen Yaoyao to the lobby, they happened to run into Wen Sisi. However, Wen Sisi merely glanced at Gu Moleng before walking away as if she hadn’t seen him.
Gu Moleng quickly caught up and grabbed her arm. "Sisi, do you realize how worried everyone was when you disappeared yesterday?"
"Oh, really?" Wen Sisi shook off his hand. "So there are still people here who care about me?"
Gu Moleng frowned. "Sisi, this isn’t the outside world. Stop being unreasonable."
Wen Sisi had a fiery temper, and her face immediately twisted with irritation. "Is today the first day you’ve known me to be unreasonable? From the moment you met me, I’ve always had this bad temper. If you don’t like it now, is that your problem or mine?"
Gu Moleng had always prided himself on being a gentleman. In the past, he wouldn’t have engaged in verbal sparring with the sharp-tongued Wen Sisi, and even now, he suppressed his displeasure. "You need to calm down. You were lucky nothing happened to you yesterday. If you keep acting recklessly, no one will be able to save you."
Wen Yaoyao trotted over and took Wen Sisi’s hand, pleading, "Sisi, don’t be angry. Brother Gu is just concerned about you. He was so worried last night that he couldn’t sleep at all."
Wen Sisi turned her head sharply. "How do you know he didn’t sleep all night? Did you stay with him?"
Wen Yaoyao’s expression faltered. Under Wen Sisi’s aggressive gaze, she shrank back, letting go of her hand and lowering her head.
Gu Moleng suddenly snapped, "Wen Sisi, if you want to throw a tantrum, don’t drag innocent people into it. Yaoyao was also worried about you all night. She only came to me to figure out where you’d gone."
"Oh? So using me as an excuse justifies a man and woman spending the night alone together?"
Tears welled up in Wen Yaoyao’s eyes. "I… Brother Gu and I are innocent…"
Jiang Du stepped forward, pulling Wen Yaoyao away and handing her a tissue.
Gu Moleng’s pent-up emotions finally boiled over. He knew that if he didn’t resolve things with Wen Sisi now, he would never have the right to stand by Wen Yaoyao’s side in the future.
"Wen Sisi, enough. If you hadn’t impersonated Yaoyao’s identity and made me believe you were the girl who saved me when we were kids, I would never have been with you!"
Wen Sisi froze. "What did you say?"
Gu Moleng grabbed her wrist, revealing the scar there. "If you hadn’t deliberately deceived me with this trick, how could I have mistaken you for someone else?"
Ten years ago, Gu Moleng had been kidnapped. A girl had been taken with him. At the time, he was feverish and felt like he was dying, but the girl encouraged him not to give up hope, giving him the strength to survive.
When they tried to escape, the girl’s arm was slashed by their captor’s weapon while pulling Gu Moleng to safety, leaving a scar.
When Gu Moleng first met Wen Sisi, she seemed familiar. Later, he noticed the scar on her wrist. Overcome with emotion, he asked her how she got it, but Wen Sisi claimed she’d been sick as a child and forgotten many things, including the origin of the scar.
Gu Moleng had believed she was the girl he’d longed for all these years—until he met Wen Yaoyao and realized how wrong he’d been. Wen Sisi had merely coincidentally had a similar scar and lied about not remembering, manipulating him into being with her.
"Out of consideration for your pride, even after learning the truth, I never brought up ending our engagement. And to spare your feelings, Yaoyao never dared to admit she was the real girl from back then. But you’ve grown increasingly spoiled, constantly bullying Yaoyao. I can’t take it anymore." Gu Moleng’s voice was low. "Wen Sisi, let’s call off the engagement."
Wen Sisi’s mind went blank for a moment. When her thoughts finally cleared, she shoved Gu Moleng away and sneered, "So, Gu Moleng, what you loved was just a scar all along."
Gu Moleng’s expression darkened.
"You couldn’t even recognize the person you loved—what a joke. I’m the one who should be breaking off the engagement. A fool like you isn’t worthy of being my fiancé!"
With that, Wen Sisi stormed out.
It was a sunny day, and by the rules, the guests weren’t allowed to idle in the hotel.
Gu Moleng’s face was stormy, a nameless fury burning in his chest.
Wen Yaoyao approached, anxiously clutching his hand. "It’s dangerous outside. Sisi shouldn’t be alone. Brother Gu, this is all my fault. I caused your fight. Please go after her and let’s explain everything properly, okay?"
Gu Moleng looked at Wen Yaoyao’s delicate face, and his heart softened. "Yaoyao, Wen Sisi and I were long overdue for an end."
Wen Yaoyao sniffled quietly. "I never meant to hurt anyone…"
Gu Moleng’s gaze met Jiang Du’s from across the room. Neither man backed down. From now on, he finally had the right to compete with Jiang Du.
---
On her weekend off, Xia Miao was bored at home and flipped through a historical chronicle of the town she’d borrowed from the library.
Surprisingly, according to the records, the town’s founder was a woman. After her husband’s death, she inherited a fortune and left her sorrow behind, moving to this picturesque place with her child.
She loved white roses, so she had vast fields of them planted, living with her child in a villa surrounded by the flowers.
Not long after, a plague struck, claiming many lives. Her child fell ill and passed away. With nothing left to live for, her health deteriorated until she, too, succumbed.
Xia Miao was halfway through the book when a feather drifted down from above. She looked up.
A dark figure clung to the ceiling.
It was a young man with his long hair tied into a ponytail, the ends swaying slightly in the air. He clung to the ceiling like a spider, his head twisted 180 degrees, a dead pheasant clamped between his teeth. Blood smeared his pale face, and his eerie, unblinking stare could stop a heart.
Xia Miao: "...What are you doing now?"
He crawled down from the ceiling and opened his mouth—a pile of small animal carcasses, including the pheasant and a rabbit, spilled out, forming a grotesque little mound.
The black-haired young man lifted his innocent face and said softly, "Miao Miao, food. For baby."
