She kept putting herself down, hoping Qing Muyye would have the self-awareness to stay away from her.
“So, besides me, how many other men do you have?”
Qing Muyye’s large hand gripped her wrist tightly, as if intending to crush her bones.
It hurt.
She winced from the pain but managed to endure it. Tilting her head, she thought for a moment and said casually, “Let me see. In high school, I went to a hotel with a guy I liked, but he got scared and ran off before anything happened. In college, I truly fell for someone, my first love. We often went to hotels together.
Later, I found out my first love wasn't capable, so I dumped him and found another. I found a tall, strong guy with a sports specialty. We 'played' together until graduation. He went abroad, and we lost contact.”
The word ‘played’ was used quite artfully.
Meng Jingwei practically painted herself as a promiscuous girl, doing her best to make men think she was fickle and easily swayed, so she would be rejected.
“You’re lying. The first night you mistakenly entered Ye Se Apartment, you were still a virgin!”
“What are you talking about? That thing is just a membrane. I had it restored every time I changed partners. I just enjoyed the thrill. Sigh, you don’t even know this, how boring.”
Meng Jingwei pushed Qing Muyye’s hand away and turned to face the bookshelf, pretending to look for a book.
In reality, the corner of her mouth twitched, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn it, after blackening herself to such a point of no return, acting as if she had no self-respect, would this scoundrel still be interested in her?
“Fickle, debauched!”
Just as Meng Jingwei was secretly speculating, Qing Muyye’s deep voice suddenly sounded from behind her.
Although his voice wasn’t loud, she could hear it clearly.
Meng Jingwei casually picked up a blue-covered book, flipped to a random page, turned back to look at Qing Muyye, shook her head, and said with disdain, “You’re just not forward-thinking enough. Think about it, what era are we in? It’s the 21st century. The era where men could have multiple wives is over. Shouldn’t it be the era where women can have multiple husbands? Even if traditional concepts don’t allow it, it’s not illegal. Don’t you agree?”
Saying this, Meng Jingwei closed the book in her hand, tilted her head, and her clear, moist eyes scanned him up and down. “Actually, you’re quite handsome. If you weren’t so overbearing, I might consider being with you. As long as you agree that I can find boy toys or handsome studs, then we can be together.”
“Fine.”
Qing Muyye raised an eyebrow, reached out, and hooked her chin. “If you dare to find one, I’ll kill one.”
“Tsk tsk… so full of malice.”
Meng Jingwei shook her head with an indifferent demeanor, as if completely unfazed by Qing Muyye’s threat. She sighed softly, “Alas, life is short, enjoy it while you can. I just like money and handsome men. If you can’t accept that, then we’re destined not to be together. But Xiao Cheng is different. Xiao Cheng knows I’m fickle, and he can accept me looking for other men. Speaking of which, Qing Muyye, your love is too overbearing.”
What kind of nonsensical logic was this? Morally corrupt.
Even Meng Jingwei felt guilty after saying all that, but she forced herself to keep up the bravado.
Adhering to the plan of making Qing Muyye believe she was a ‘scumbag girl’, she became increasingly unrestrained.
“You think I’ll believe you?”
“Believe it or not, it’s up to you. If you really don’t believe me, you can investigate after we leave here. My first love, the one I mentioned often went to hotels with, his name is Ji Lanfeng.”
To add credibility, Meng Jingwei actually gave Qing Muyye her ex-boyfriend’s name.
“Ji Lanfeng…”
Qing Muyye murmured Ji Lanfeng’s name, his eyes narrowed slightly, holding a skeptical attitude towards Meng Jingwei’s words.
“Qinghui Yeshi, San Zi Jing, Qing Gong Mi Shi, Yin Zu Mi Shi…”
Meng Jingwei casually flipped through a few books and muttered, “What is all this? I’ve never heard of them. They’re probably ancient storybooks.”
She looked at the book in her hand, “Yin Zu Mi Shi,” and turned to a page. Before she could prepare to read, Qing Muyye said, “It’s getting late, let’s go.”
“Oh~~”
Meng Jingwei placed the storybook back on the shelf, and the two of them walked towards the study door.
After only a few steps, Qing Muyye’s footsteps stopped abruptly. “Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing his sudden reaction and serious expression, Meng Jingwei’s heart skipped a beat, and she became nervous.
“Did you hear that? There’s water.”
Qing Muyye released Meng Jingwei and turned back. He scanned the large study and finally his gaze landed on a black-sealed jar placed on a供桌 (altar table) against the wall.
He walked over, and Meng Jingwei followed. For some reason, as they got closer, the sound of water from the jar grew louder.
It was like the sound of water sloshing when disturbed by an external force, a very distinct gurgling sound, as if something was inside.
Meng Jingwei, being a girl after all, felt a sense of dread and tugged on Qing Muyye’s sleeve, whispering, “Holy crap, what if there’s a ghost? No one has been here for so long, and the jar is sealed so tightly. Anything inside would be dead by now.”
No matter how brave a person is, they will feel extreme fear when facing the unknown.
“You stand back.”
Qing Muyye pushed Meng Jingwei back a few steps. He then reached out and untied the rope sealing the jar, and uncovered a layer of faded cloth, beneath which was a layer of mud.
The mud effectively sealed out air.
He took a dagger from his pocket, a knife he had found in another room, used it to pry open the mud, and then opened several more layers of cloth. The innermost layer was sealed with cowhide paper.
The complex and cumbersome sealing process indicated extremely high confidentiality.
But as the opening of the jar was about to be revealed, the sound of water from inside grew even louder.
As he prepared to open the last layer of oiled paper, Qing Muyye glanced back at Meng Jingwei. “Stand further away.”
“Um… perhaps we shouldn’t open it. It’s quite scary.”
Although she said they shouldn’t open it, her curiosity drove her, making her desperately want to see what was inside the jar.
Following Qing Muyye’s instructions, Meng Jingwei stepped back a few paces. The sound of water inside the jar gradually diminished, finally returning to silence.
Qing Muyye picked away the paper. Instead of looking directly, he looked at his phone, turned on the flashlight, and brought the phone closer to take a picture, avoiding direct contact with his face to prevent any unknown danger.
*Click, click*—
After taking several photos, he walked to Meng Jingwei’s side. They opened their phones and zoomed in on the photos, only to find, with eerie discovery, that the jar contained only clear water, so transparent that the patterns of the black jar could be seen.
They both breathed a sigh of relief and looked at each other. Their eyes shifted, and then they looked back at the jar, a silent understanding passing between them as they walked closer.
The sound had clearly come from inside the jar, but why was nothing visible in the photos?
“Stop there. There’s a bowl over there. I’ll pour it out to investigate,” Qing Muyye said.