Chapter Ninety-Eight: Sneaking Around

By the time Jian Anan arrived at Song Wanning’s little courtyard house, a crowd had already set up a table in the yard and was eating heartily.

Her sudden appearance surprised everyone. They all set down their chopsticks and looked at her.

With a gentle smile, Jian Anan said, “You all seem to be enjoying yourselves. You wouldn’t mind one more person, would you?”

She was overjoyed. This trip had clearly been the right move.

The group was seated in a circle, with only one empty spot beside Wen Jingxing. Shen Yue, on the other hand, was seated two places away and clearly wished she could cling to Jiang Mingzhao instead.

Without waiting for Song Wanning to say anything, Jian Anan walked into the courtyard, picked up a stool, and sat down beside Wen Jingxing.

She did not forget to wave at Jin Jianyi, urging him to hurry over and eat as well.

Who would have thought that the moment she sat down, Wen Jingxing would stand and say to Song Wanning, “Let’s change seats.”

“Hm? All right.”

Song Wanning said nothing more and switched places with him.

The livestream had just started, and the audience caught the scene at once.

“So this is where they are? Tonight’s food looks amazing!”

“This must be where Song Wanning lives. Why are they eating here today?”

“What’s going on? Why did Wen Jingxing change seats with Song Wanning?”

The next second, Wen Jingxing added, “It’s too cramped over there.”

Hearing that, Jin Jianyi glanced at Jian Anan and felt puzzled too. Why had she gone and sat so far away from everyone, especially from him?

Being called out directly by Wen Jingxing, Jian Anan felt a little awkward. She casually looked at a dish on the table and found an excuse. “I like that one, but I couldn’t reach it, so I had to sit a little farther over.”

Jin Jianyi nodded in sudden understanding.

Song Wanning, on the side, was utterly speechless. Couldn’t anyone see that Jian Anan was lying? She had never once seen her pick at that dish.

Her mood had been fairly good at first, but ever since Jian Anan arrived, it had gradually turned irritable.

That woman was full of little schemes, constantly manufacturing minor mishaps whenever she had the chance.

Either a piece of meat would fall from her chopsticks, or she would accidentally knock over a drink; even her tone of voice had become cloyingly sweet.

Just how adorable did Jian Anan think she was?

It was only because Jin Jianyi was a real talent that he spent the whole meal catering to her, peeling shrimp and cracking crab shells, providing her with every kind of thoughtful service.

Jian Anan’s plan had been to create a little accident so that Wen Jingxing would notice her.

But the other man had eyes only for one person: Song Wanning. It was enough to make her furious.

“Jian Anan is acting so strangely tonight. So many accidents.”

“Especially every time something happens, her first glance is always toward Young Master Wen.”

“Could she like Young Master Wen?”

“What? Is Jian Anan changing targets? Then what about Jin Jianyi? He likes her so much.”

“What do you mean, what about? Don’t come here and disgust our Wen-Wan couple, okay?”

“Exactly. Song Wanning and Young Master Wen are already so close now. What is Jian Anan doing barging in like this?”

No matter how carefully Jian Anan hid her intentions, observant netizens still noticed the oddity and began discussing it.

Of course, the final conclusion was absurd: whichever one Young Master Wen liked, they would like too.

On top of that, while Song Wanning had initially left a very poor impression on the viewers, her image had improved greatly later on, so most people still leaned toward favoring Song Wanning as the one who had come first.

After the group finished eating, Jiang Mingzhao made a swift escape.

As soon as he left, Shen Yue followed.

Nan Yan, however, chose to stay a little longer at Song Wanning’s little courtyard house.

Song Wanning naturally welcomed her warmly.

But Jian Anan had the thickest skin imaginable. Even when Song Wanning said outright that she did not want her to stay and told her to leave quickly, Jian Anan acted as if she could not understand human speech and remained planted on the sofa in the living room.

In the end, Song Wanning simply stopped bothering with her.

As long as Jian Anan sat there and kept quiet, everyone would treat her like air anyway.

Wen Jingxing, who had been paying attention to Song Wanning all along, suddenly noticed in the corner of his eye that one person was missing.

He looked over, but could not remember who had just been sitting there.

As the sky darkened, Nan Yan announced that she was leaving.

Only then did Jin Jianyi, who had been waiting for Jian Anan all this time, realize something was wrong.

Why had Jian Anan gone to the bathroom and still not come back after so long?

“Could something have come up and she went back first?” Nan Yan suggested.

But the cameramen all said they had not seen anyone go out.

So the few of them searched through Song Wanning’s little courtyard house from top to bottom, but they still could not find the living, breathing Jian Anan.

Jin Jianyi could only comfort himself first. “Maybe she really had something to do and went back. I’ll go back and check. Maybe she really is there.”

“Should I go with you?” Nan Yan asked, seeing how worried he looked.

But Jin Jianyi still refused. “With such a big living person, how could she just vanish? Everyone doesn’t need to worry too much. Maybe by the time I get back, she’ll already be waiting for me in the little house.”

“All right then…” After her kindness was refused again and again, Nan Yan did not insist.

Seeing that Nan Yan was not very happy, Yun Ze took her away first.

In the end, only Song Wanning and Wen Jingxing were left.

Song Wanning crouched in a corner of the room, looking at the injured shell and saying, “The cameraman told me there might be a pearl inside.”

“He told me that you should help it end its suffering.”

Song Wanning: ???

How could the cameraman tell him everything?

“Come on, that doesn’t sound like something I’d say.”

She instinctively denied it.

Wen Jingxing asked, “Didn’t you want to eat it? Why didn’t you eat it in the end?”

“Mm... because after hearing the cameraman explain how pearls are formed, I felt sorry for it. I’d better not eat it.” Song Wanning shook her head.

Wen Jingxing gave a soft laugh. How could she be so adorable?

“If you don’t want to eat it, you can give this shell to me. I’ll have someone remove the pearl, and it won’t die.”

“Really?” Song Wanning’s eyes lit up.

“Yes, really.”

That night, Cheng Mu came as usual to deliver company documents. Wen Jingxing handed him the glass tank containing the shell and instructed him that the shell must appear alive and well before him.

Cheng Mu took the glass tank with a strange expression and immediately sent a message to Chen Shaoyuan.

Cheng Mu: Brother! This is truly haunted today! Young Master Wen actually asked me to rescue a shell!

Chen Shaoyuan replied calmly: Nothing unusual. It must be that Miss Song said something again.

Meanwhile, when Wen Jingxing returned to his room, he immediately noticed that something was off.

His room was simply furnished: a table, a set of chairs, and a bed.

His luggage was kept under the bed. He took things out as needed and put them away afterward, never placing anything on the table.

Yet now, a piece of fabric hanging beneath the bed had been folded into several distinct creases.

Wen Jingxing paid close attention to small details, so he would never have created those marks himself. That could only mean...

Someone had entered his room.