After Jia left, only Mu Anxiao and Mai Liang remained. What surprised Mu Anxiao was that after Jia departed, Mai Liang fell silent, even.. when Mu Anxiao looked at her, she carefully avoided her gaze.
Conversely, even though Mai Liang deliberately dodged, Mu Anxiao did not avert her gaze from Mai Liang's face, but instead openly observed Mai Liang's facial expressions.
At the same time, Mai Liang acutely sensed Mu Anxiao's gaze. Without turning her head, she whispered, "Why are you looking at me?" She deliberately turned her back.
"I feel like something is not right with you," Mu Anxiao stated directly, seeing no need to conceal her thoughts.
"What's not right with me? I..." Mai Liang said, tilting her face slightly, "I just have a phobia of you and don't want to look at you..."
"No," Mu Anxiao interrupted suddenly.
Mai Liang was startled and turned to look at Mu Anxiao, who had suddenly interrupted her. She said with feigned composure, "What's wrong now?"
"..." Mu Anxiao looked at the hint of impatience showing on Mai Liang's face, then recalled Mai Liang's behavior of ignoring her as soon as she appeared, and the words she had spoken. Her eyes darkened, and she quickly walked to the back door.
Seeing this, Mai Liang quickly said, "Mu Anxiao, what are you doing?"
"Mai Liang," Mu Anxiao said, extending her hand. The moment she touched the back door, it opened, "As expected."
Mai Liang was completely bewildered, "What do you mean by that?"
"Mai Liang, where has Mai Xia gone?" Mu Anxiao asked, withdrawing her hand and turning to look at Mai Liang.
Mai Liang, as before, dodged her gaze.
"Speak," Mu Anxiao was no longer being polite.
Just then, Jia stopped at the threshold, looking at Mu Anxiao, who had pushed open the back door, with surprise. After a moment's thought, before he could speak, Mai Liang said first, "Mai Xia was captured." Only then did she muster the courage to fix her gaze on Mu Anxiao's face.
Mu Anxiao looked calm, "By the Madam."
"Mm," Mai Liang nodded, no longer as defiant as before, becoming much more submissive. "That Madam took Mai Xia from the prison, so I followed her here. Who knew, just as I was about to rescue Mai Xia, that Madam suddenly appeared, and at that moment..." As she spoke, she couldn't help but recall the Madam's terrifying face and shivered.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao looked puzzled, "Why aren't you speaking?"
"That Madam is no ordinary person," Mai Liang stated directly.
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao's expression froze along with Mai Liang's truthful statement, "So, she wanted to use you to kill me." She then fixed her gaze on Mai Liang.
Mai Liang nodded.
At the same time, Jia crossed the threshold and stood beside Mu Anxiao, suddenly understanding, "So, you asked me to capture you because you wanted to kill..." He glanced at Mu Anxiao, "Kill her."
".." Mai Liang nodded again.
Jia looked astonished, then looked up at Mu Anxiao's face. He then suddenly remembered Ouyang Ye, who was insistent on marrying her, and said with a forced smile, "It seems you've thought of things too simply."
"Huh?" Mai Liang heard Jia's words but didn't understand what he meant.
"..In short, it's fortunate you told the truth early, otherwise," Jia glanced at Mu Anxiao, "things wouldn't have been as simple as me taking you away."
"..." Mai Liang heard other meanings in Jia's words. She thought for a moment and then shifted her gaze back to Mu Anxiao's face.
Mu Anxiao, picking up on Mai Liang's words, guessed, "Were you looking for me just now?"
"Yes." Mai Liang, seeing that Mu Anxiao was not easily fooled, decided to tell the truth.
Mu Anxiao: "You saw us at the mansion gate and then followed us here." She noticed that the cold air at the mansion gate was exactly the same as the cold air here now, and thus drew this conclusion.
Mai Liang didn't know how to answer, so she responded with an "Mm."
Mu Anxiao's eyes darkened, and she looked down at Jia, "Why so fast?"
"There was no one inside."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's put it this way, I checked every guest room and every corner of the back courtyard, but I didn't find any trace of them," Jia replied truthfully.
After Jia said this, Mai Liang averted her gaze.
"Why are you avoiding my gaze?" Mu Anxiao happened to notice Mai Liang's reaction.
Mai Liang felt awkward upon hearing this, "My eyes are uncomfortable, so..."
"Where are they?" Mu Anxiao, knowing Mai Liang wouldn't speak plainly, interrupted.
Mai Liang: "..." She hesitated.
Regarding this, Mu Anxiao couldn't help but become immensely curious about Mai Liang's series of reactions, "What do you mean by this? Speak." Her attitude became cold.
Jia was also truly startled by Mu Anxiao's attitude.. and dared not speak.
Mai Liang shivered in fear, looked at Mu Anxiao, and said in a low voice, "It's the same as I said before, they want me to kill you."
"..Elaborate." Mu Anxiao had roughly understood Mai Liang's meaning, but.. she wanted to understand the Mu family's intentions more clearly, so she deliberately made things difficult for Mai Liang.
Mai Liang: "They know you are not someone to be trifled with, and they know you are lucky, so," she said, her eyes full of caution, "they told me to kill you and then bring you back."
"Kill.. do you think you can?" Mu Anxiao asked deliberately.
Mai Liang was embarrassed, "At first, I thought I could do anything for Mai Xia, and killing you wouldn't be a big problem. But now I realize.. I was wrong, you're not as stupid as I thought." As she spoke, she hid the dagger she was holding behind her back.
Coincidentally, Jia saw Mai Liang's small movement. However, to avoid alerting her, he didn't dare to make a sound. Instead, he quietly reached out and grabbed Mu Anxiao's finger.
Mu Anxiao frowned slightly and looked down at Jia, who had suddenly grabbed her, asking, "Why are you grabbing me?"
Jia knew Mu Anxiao would ask such an oblivious question, so he had already prepared his next move. "That person named Yue Ci.. why did he leave?" As he spoke, while Mai Liang was lowering her head to prepare, he shifted his gaze towards Mai Liang.
Immediately, the moment Jia mentioned 'Yue Ci', Mu Anxiao couldn't help but think of the leisurely dagger. It was at this moment that she suddenly remembered Mai Liang's truthful statement and deliberately replied, "I don't know." Then, following Jia's gaze, she looked at Mai Liang's hand that she was deliberately hiding behind her back.
Jia understood Mu Anxiao's reply, released her hand, and took a step back.
Mai Liang came back to her senses, looked at Mu Anxiao, and smiled.
Conversely, Mu Anxiao's face darkened.
Seeing this, Mai Liang became even more nervous, "What kind of expression is that?"
"Mai Liang, what are you hiding behind your back?" Mu Anxiao asked directly, stepping back half a pace.