The living room fell quiet again.
Jiang Tingwan clearly still hadn't recovered from the earlier commotion. She continued staring blankly in the direction Wen Ning and Bo Yan had left.
There was something indescribably strange about all of Wen Ning's reactions today.
She had actually started speaking up for Bo Yan and protecting him.
Apparently, Wen Ning had also been the one to call the police last night, and she had even hit Bo Xubai for Bo Yan's sake.
It was simply too strange.
Before last night, Wen Ning had never done anything like this. Never mind speaking up for Bo Yan-she wouldn't even spare him a proper glance. All her attention had been on Bo Xubai. In their previous life, even her death had been for Bo Xubai.
But just when Jiang Tingwan felt Wen Ning was starting to act unlike herself, Wen Ning had inexplicably snatched that bowl of bird's nest congee from her.
Of course she knew that bowl of bird's nest had been drugged.
That woman Wen Ning had been the one to arrange for someone to drug it!
Although that drugged bowl had led to her reconciliation with Bo Xubai in her previous life, both the drug and Bo Xubai that day had tormented her badly.
She didn't want to experience that suffering a second time. Besides, who knew whether eating this bowl of bird's nest in this life might lead to some other mishap?
So she had only been putting on a show with that bowl of bird's nest. She had never intended to swallow any of it!
As for Bo Yan, she had considered warning him that he had been drugged, but after thinking it through carefully last night, Jiang Tingwan had decided to let him take the drug.
She would appear and save him when he was suffering most.
This was a rare opportunity to farm Bo Yan's favorability and make him fall in love with her!
But now, Wen Ning had suddenly snatched the congee...
It didn't exactly disrupt her plan, but Jiang Tingwan couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Why on earth had Wen Ning snatched that bowl of congee?
Had she changed her mind about drugging her and no longer wanted to force her and Bo Yan together?
Or had she only done it for A-Xu?
And then there was that string of prayer beads on Wen Ning's wrist that she couldn't help dwelling on...
For a moment, Jiang Tingwan's thoughts scattered wildly, her mind tangled like hemp.
She had stared in the direction Wen Ning and Bo Yan had left for too long. When Bo Xubai turned and saw her looking so distracted, he thought she was watching Bo Yan, and anger immediately rose in him!
Ordinarily, Bo Xubai would certainly have suppressed his anger. They had only just argued last night, and he didn't want to keep fighting with the person he loved.
But at some instant as he looked at Jiang Tingwan, the scene of Bo Yan pinned to the ground beneath him last night suddenly flashed through his mind again-
Bo Yan's face had been covered in blood.
Moonlight had fallen across his face, making it look even more sinister and terrifying, like an evil ghost.
The evil ghost had smiled and said, "If you don't kill me, I'll definitely kill you if I get the chance. Just try me."
Bo Xubai had already stopped hitting him at that point, but those words, and the expression Bo Yan had worn as he spoke them, had sent a chill down his back and plunged him into boundless panic.
Deep down, Bo Xubai was actually afraid of Bo Yan. Or rather, he feared people like his father.
Bo Yan was too much like their father.
When Bo Xubai was very young, he had witnessed firsthand how his father had driven those veteran directors who opposed his takeover of the Bo Group to their deaths.
Anyone who posed a threat to his father would be eliminated.
If Bo Yan said he would kill him, then he definitely would!
He couldn't give Bo Yan the chance to kill him!
And so he had thrown punch after punch, punch after punch...
If not for those kicks from Wen Ning, Bo Xubai might really have beaten Bo Yan to death last night!
Afterward, his father had summoned him to the study.
By the time he came out again, several bloody whip wounds marked his back.
Once he had applied medicine, Jiang Tingwan had returned too. He had thought the person he loved would show him concern and sympathy, but instead, she had immediately demanded to know whether he had hit Bo Yan.
Everything that had happened in the study was still vivid in his mind.
Bo Xubai had also fully realized that Bo Yan had said those things deliberately!
He had deliberately goaded him, deliberately made him lose control!
That bastard had wanted to drag him down to hell with him!
Even now, remembering the look in that bastard's eyes sent a shudder through Bo Xubai.
His malice toward Bo Yan flared anew!
Especially when the person he loved was still staring after Bo Yan, unable to tear herself away!
Just like last night, Bo Xubai lost control again. In front of the child, he grabbed Jiang Tingwan by the throat, his phoenix eyes blood-red, and said in a low voice, "Jiang Tingwan! Are you that reluctant to part with that bastard?!"
Jiang Tingwan was already in a terrible mood. When Bo Xubai inexplicably flew into a rage, she grew angry too.
Soon, the sound of an argument rang out from the main house.
Meanwhile, Wen Ning and Bo Yan had already returned to their coffin.
The instant the door closed, Wen Ning spun around and pinned Bo Yan against it, switching on the wall light as she trapped him behind the door where he had followed her inside!
If she ignored the icy atmosphere and her own anxious, panicked heart, that combo had been pretty cool.
All the way back, Wen Ning had kept an eye on Bo Yan's condition, her brain working furiously to figure out how to resolve this situation!
Only at the moment she stepped into the basement did Wen Ning make up her mind!
By now, something was clearly very wrong with Bo Yan. When they had first left the main house, he had only been medium-rare; now he was almost well-done!
At this point, Bo Yan would have been an idiot if he still hadn't realized he had been drugged.
His reactions were much slower than usual. He lifted his heavy eyelids, his pitch-black eyes fixed unblinkingly on her.
Unfortunately, the drug was taking effect, forcing his pupils to grow unfocused and hazy and dulling some of the ferocity in his gaze.
"So hot..." Bo Yan gritted his teeth and shook his head, trying to clear it, but the drug was too potent. He nearly fainted.
Wen Ning reacted quickly and caught him.
Through the thin fabric of his shirt, Bo Yan felt waves of warmth spreading through his arm.
It felt so comfortable...
But soon, as though he had come to his senses, he wrenched his arm free and braced himself against the wall, retreating several steps to the side. "You... you crazy woman! What did you put in my water?" he snarled.
Under the light, Wen Ning suddenly broke into a smile and approached him step by step. "Take a guess~"
Bo Yan shook his head. When he raised it again, he lunged straight for Wen Ning's throat!
But he had no strength left in his body. Before his left hand could reach her neck, Wen Ning caught it.
Holding his gauze-wrapped hand, Wen Ning smiled slightly, then forcefully pulled it toward her. Under Bo Yan's trembling gaze, she pressed his hand against her chest.
Softness filled his palm. Bo Yan's cold, unfocused peach-blossom eyes slowly widened in disbelief.
With one hand, Wen Ning held his hand against her chest. With the other, she hooked her neckline and gently tugged it down to her shoulder.
Her lustrous shoulder was exposed, a sweep of snowy white.
Bo Yan immediately turned his head and closed his eyes, the tips of his ears blood-red.
Wen Ning chuckled. "You can't blame me for this, hubby. Who told you to keep only that woman in your heart and leave no room for me? You don't like me, so I can only resort to other methods."
"Don't worry." Forcing herself not to give anything away, Wen Ning deliberately leaned close to Bo Yan's ear and blew softly against it. "I'll help you," she whispered.