Inside the woodshed.
Xiao Mu Anxiao stood at the door, her face pressed against it, peering through the gap. "Where are you?" she asked. The maid was crouching, so Xiao Mu Anxiao couldn't see her at all.
The maid replied, "I'm right at the door. I want to tell you a secret."
Hearing this, Xiao Mu Anxiao squatted down and then happened to glance through the door gap at the maid crying nearby. "What secret do you want to tell me?"
The maid sobbed, unable to catch her breath. "I'm going to find the key now. You wait for me."
"Don't you want to tell me a secret?"
"In a moment," the maid said, raising her arm to forcefully wipe the tears from her face before standing up.
Immediately, Xiao Mu Anxiao stood up with the maid, knocked twice on the door, and asked, "What secret do you have to tell? Why don't you just tell me?"
From a young age, Mu Anxiao had always been impatient. If someone told her about a secret, she had to know it immediately, or she would feel uncomfortable.
Right now, she was very uncomfortable.
"..." The maid completely ignored Xiao Mu Anxiao's feelings and turned to leave.
Mu Anxiao watched the door panel, which swayed from Xiao Mu Anxiao's knocking, then turned to look at the maid who was hurrying away. She lowered her gaze.
Feng Qishi asked, "She said she was going to find the key... Mu Shazi, after that... what did she tell you? Do you remember?" he was curious.
Mu Anxiao replied, "She invited me to play hide-and-seek, other than that..." She trailed off, remembering the scene of being drugged, and her heart sank. "I don't remember."
"What's wrong with you?" Feng Qishi saw that Mu Anxiao's complexion wasn't good.
Mu Anxiao said, "I feel like I can't breathe." As she spoke, she clutched her chest.
"Can't breathe..." Feng Qishi said, thinking of the three words he had just said to Mu Anxiao, and added softly, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing to me?" Mu Anxiao asked, confused.
Feng Qishi explained, "Ever since I told you, 'I love you,' you've felt chest tightness and couldn't breathe. So, it's all my fault. I'm sorry."
"Don't misunderstand. I never take words like yours to heart. I just..." Mu Anxiao stopped midway, then lowered her eyes and exclaimed excitedly, "I remember!"
"Remember what?" Feng Qishi frowned.
Mu Anxiao declared, "I haven't eaten much from morning until now. That's right, the fact is, I'm hungry." She looked around, "Huh? Isn't the kitchen over here?"
"Isn't this your home?" The wolf demon looked at Mu Anxiao's foolish expression and twitched his mouth.
Mu Anxiao stated, "I've never been to the kitchen."
"..." Hearing Mu Anxiao's words, the wolf demon thought about her status in the family and sighed, "Indeed, someone as unfavored as you would definitely be restricted. Then... let's look for it."
"There's no other way," Mu Anxiao agreed with the wolf demon.
A quarter of an hour later.
Mu Anxiao and the others arrived at a particularly decorated kitchen.
"This is really clean," Mu Anxiao said as she walked to the wooden table laden with delicious food and exchanged glances with the three people beside her.
Lin Yan warned, "If you eat, you'll be discovered immediately."
Mu Anxiao smelled the aroma of the dishes, glanced at Lin Yan, and said, "If I don't eat, I'll starve to death."
"Then their lives might be lost because of you," the wolf demon added.
Hearing the wolf demon's words, Feng Qishi recalled the young man and woman who were brutally killed by the housekeeper. His eyes darkened. "Your father is an official, yet you live like half royalty, and you even kill people indiscriminately. Really..." he said, "Isn't anyone going to do anything about it?"
Mu Anxiao had never considered this question. But with Feng Qishi bringing it up, she couldn't help but wonder, "Yes, he's just a minor local official. If he lives like this, isn't he afraid of... his property being confiscated?"
Feng Qishi's expression showed surprise when he heard this. "Are you even part of this family? It's fine for me to say this, but for you to say it, it's not appropriate."
Mu Anxiao glanced at Feng Qishi indifferently and said, "Brother, this time tomorrow, I won't belong to this family anymore. What's wrong with me saying it? Besides, I'm actually quite curious if they don't feel guilty doing this." She sighed, "I really don't know what that old man is thinking. This is too disgraceful to our ancestors."
Feng Qishi thought that Mu Anxiao would no longer be angry after listening to her mother, but he didn't expect her to still be upset.
He then chuckled dryly, looked down at the dishes, and tried to change the subject, "Are you eating, or not?"
Mu Anxiao pondered, "Eating will harm others, but if I don't eat, I'm hungry. What should I do?" She touched her rumbling stomach.
"Eat a flatbread," the wolf demon suggested, pointing to a stack of flatbreads on a plate.
"..." Mu Anxiao stared at the stack of flatbreads, hesitated, and said, "What if there's a limit to how much can be taken? Then I'd still be harming others."
Before coming here, she had been thinking of feasting in the Mu family's kitchen, but... compared to her imagination, reality was still so cruel.
Her eyes glazed over, and she turned to leave.
"You're not eating anymore?" the wolf demon asked, looking at Mu Anxiao's retreating back.
Mu Anxiao raised her hand and said, "I'm not eating. What's there to eat? Eating would just harm others." With that, she walked out.
The three of them exchanged glances again and shrugged simultaneously before leaving.
In the blink of an eye, Mu Anxiao and the others arrived at a pavilion in the back garden, and Mu Anxiao sat down.
"Why don't we take action now?" the wolf demon stood opposite Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao tilted her head back, her eyes blankly staring at the wolf demon, and said, "Mu Xi's death is also tomorrow. Right now, I just want to..." She covered her stomach, "eat something."
"Isn't this a bit too exaggerated? You were fine just now outside the woodshed, how did you suddenly get so hungry?" the wolf demon said helplessly.
"Hunger, isn't it just... sudden..."
Mu Anxiao stopped speaking as the maid entered the pavilion with Mu Xi carrying a food box. She swallowed her unfinished words and shifted her gaze to Mu Xi and the maid.
Lin Yan exclaimed, "Huh? Shouldn't he be with that woman?"
The wolf demon chimed in, "Huh? Didn't she go to find the key?" He said, turning his head to look at Lin Yan, who was staring at him speechlessly.
The next second, Lin Yan glared at the wolf demon for imitating him, then turned back to Mu Xi, who had stopped and turned to face the maid. "What is he doing?"
"Who knows," Feng Qishi said, crossing his arms.
Mu Anxiao stood up, took two steps forward, and stared at the food box in Mu Xi's hand, saying, "So hungry."
Seeing this, the wolf demon was surprised. "What is she going to do?"
"She's not going to snatch the food box from her brother, is she?" Lin Yan guessed.
After Lin Yan's accurate guess, the wolf demon clearly began to trust Lin Yan's thoughts and asked, "Are you sure that's what she's thinking?"