But who knew that Meng Jingwei would take the pair of brown shoes from Qing Muye's hand and put them on without hesitation.
She tested them on the ground, muttering to herself, "They actually fit quite well."
Then, she put on the other shoe as well.
With both feet in the shoes, she tried them out in place. "Not bad, quite comfortable," she said as she walked forward.
After a few steps, she noticed no movement behind her. Turning her head, she saw Qing Muye still standing in the same spot.
"What are you standing around for, waiting to die here?" she asked, her face twisted in displeasure.
Qing Muye faced her, his thin lips parting slightly, "Awei, you are very brave."
Although people today are not as traditional, rigid, and superstitious as they were in the past, many are extremely wary of the belongings of the deceased, finding them even repugnant or terrifying.
Some might even wish to never touch anything belonging to the dead their entire lives, yet Meng Jingwei did not resist with affectation but accepted the reality.
A glimmer of starlight flashed in the man's pupils, and he felt even more admiration for her.
Meng Jingwei understood what Qing Muye meant. She looked down at the pair of shoes on her feet and said helplessly, "I'm just borrowing them. When we get out of here, these shoes will be returned to that girl. Besides, we don't know how deep this secret room is, whether the ground is flat or uneven, or what other conditions there might be. If I walk barefoot, I might injure my feet, which would only slow us down. The longer we stay here, the greater the danger. I don't want to die here."
Meng Jingwei admitted she was resilient, but when she actually went to put on the shoes, she still felt some resistance, which was why she had asked Qing Muye to get them.
She wanted Qing Muye to encourage her. Since he dared to touch them, why shouldn't she?
Mentally cheering herself on, she decided to wear the shoes.
But no matter how scared she was, she didn't want to show it in front of Qing Muye.
Because Meng Jingwei knew that she truly had no other choice. If she walked barefoot, she would definitely get injured, and then contracting some bacteria or being unable to walk would only put them both in a more dangerous situation.
"I've always wanted to ask you, what's your master's background? How does he know how to use a gun?"
Qing Muye asked the question he had always been curious about.
Meng Jingwei grinned, raising her eyebrows proudly, "Tch, he's my master, of course he's capable of anything. He knows taekwondo and sanshou. His ancestors were soldiers. Old Chen head said his father was a sharpshooter who could hit a willow leaf from a hundred paces and personally taught him marksmanship. He was also an excellent shot in his youth, served in the army, and then retired to become an old hunter. I also heard Old Chen head say he used to rob graves, but since grave robbing was illegal, he washed his hands of it."
When Meng Jingwei mentioned Old Chen head, she seemed to have an endless stream of topics, and her whole demeanor brightened considerably.
"Quite interesting, just that the disciple he taught is too foolish."
Qing Muye teased, walking to her side and taking her hand. However, Meng Jingwei retorted, "Qing Muye, are you provoking me? Believe it or not, I'll tell my master, and see how he deals with you."
"Hush~"
The man held her hand tightly, and with his other hand, he made a shushing gesture. "We can't be sure if there's potable water here yet, so it's best to talk less and conserve our energy for now."
His words made a lot of sense. Meng Jingwei considered the current situation and didn't argue with him further.
She handed her phone to Qing Muye and put it in his pocket.
The man removed the palace lantern and stood in the middle of the passage. "Don't move, let's see the wind direction first."
In the secret room, there were candles, which could be used to find the wind direction and thus infer the presence of an exit.
As expected, the flames flickered.
The two continued to walk forward.
Time ticked by, and the two wandered for a long time in the vast secret room, eventually returning to where they had fallen.
Qing Muye's brows furrowed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "We walked for an hour and still ended up back here. If I'm not mistaken, it's highly likely that this is a '回' shaped maze design."
Meng Jingwei had lost the mood to argue with Qing Muye. Instead, she stood rooted to the spot with a worried expression, slowly closing her eyes, and carefully recalling the path they had just taken.
"In that case, let's walk through it again, but this time, we need to leave a mark."
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
The two held hands and set off again.
Fortunately, there were oil lamps on the walls of the secret room, so they could clearly see the way.
At every turning corner they passed, Qing Muye would hold the oil lamp and use the wick to scorch the wall for a moment, leaving a black mark.
Meng Jingwei took off her earring and used the fine needle of the earring to mark a '1' on the black marks Qing Muye had made.
The second corner was marked with a '2'.
"You're very smart."
Qing Muye praised the girl without reservation, feeling more and more like he had found a treasure girl, full of wisdom and secrets, making him increasingly curious and eager about her.
Meanwhile.
At the Qing family's old residence, they discovered that Meng Jingwei and Qing Muye were missing. They called, but the calls could not be connected.
Old Mrs. Qing and Song Ci were certain that the two had encountered danger, so they immediately reviewed the old residence's surveillance footage and searched for them.
However, the surveillance only covered the front and back courtyards of the old residence; other areas were turned off.
In the video, Qing Muye and Meng Jingwei first appeared walking out of the reception hall one after another.
Then...
No information could be found.
"Search, immediately deploy personnel secretly and spare no effort to find Muye and Jingwei."
Old Mrs. Qing sat in her grand armchair, reaching out to pat the table, her face full of worry. "Song Ci, immediately buy a plane ticket abroad in Muye's name, saying he's going on a business trip and won't be back for a while. This is to prevent the news from spreading and shaking the company's morale."
"Yes, Old Madam."
Song Ci nodded and immediately went to handle the matter.
As the CEO of Song Yu Group, Qing Muye had to deal with countless matters every day.
He was already busy with work on weekdays, and in the past few days, due to the events on his wedding day and the appearance of Li Yun'er at Old Mrs. Qing's birthday banquet, where she had 'self-exposed' those ugly incidents, causing a huge uproar.
Although it would not cause significant economic losses to the Qing family, it had attracted the attention of many media outlets eager for interviews with Qing Muye.
And with Qing Muye's disappearance, if even a hint of him going missing were to spread, it would likely be exaggerated and widely reported by media reporters, leading to a series of serious consequences.
After Song Ci left, Old Mrs. Qing said to Qing Sihai, "Sihai, can you manage the company for the next few days?"
Qing Sihai's face was filled with worry, and he sighed, "Since Muye is in trouble, I must handle it on his behalf. We are family, it's what I should do."
He lowered his head slightly, and in that moment, a glint of sinister coldness flashed in his eyes.