He walked softly towards her, his gait from the shadows not suggesting sneakiness or hidden malice.
Before Meng Jingwei could speak, the person sat by the bedside and said, "I know you're not asleep."
She had found the figure somewhat familiar as she watched, and sure enough, it was Xiao Cheng.
Meng Jingwei remained silent, her body tense, wary of him.
"Does it still hurt?"
He asked in a gentle tone.
His voice lacked the harshness from the basement earlier.
Meng Jingwei didn't know how to respond to this question.
To say it didn't hurt would be a lie.
Xiao Cheng was a martial artist, and the kicks he had delivered earlier, with all his might, were as if she were an enemy, almost beating her to death.
Even after several hours, Meng Jingwei still felt pain at the slightest touch.
"I'm sorry."
Xiao Cheng apologized sincerely, "I bought you a bottle of medicinal water. Apply it yourself."
He placed a bottle of medicinal water on the head of the bed and then fell silent again in the darkness.
Meng Jingwei's emotions were complex, and she was unsure how to face Xiao Cheng.
After much hesitation, she asked, "Kidnapping Qing Muye wasn't your idea?"
She vaguely recalled that in the basement, Xiao Cheng had mentioned that forcing her to come here wasn't his intention.
This implied someone was behind it.
"If I say it wasn't, would you believe me?"
Xiao Cheng asked after a moment of silence.
Meng Jingwei understood Xiao Cheng's meaning and then asked again, "What do they want by kidnapping Qing Muye and bringing me here?"
"I don't know."
"Am I going to die?"
"You probably won't die," Xiao Cheng replied uncertainly, unable to give Meng Jingwei a definitive answer.
"Is the person behind you the leader of the Black Hand Society?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know, or you don't want to say?"
"I don't know."
Xiao Cheng spoke the truth.
He genuinely did not know.
Despite the simple conversation, Meng Jingwei had asked many questions but received no concrete answers, leaving her heart in suspense and her unease growing.
The bedroom was dimly lit, one person lying down, the other sitting, all very quiet.
The silence was such that one could hear the footsteps of the patrolling guards outside, and the rustling of leaves as the night wind blew.
Seeing that Xiao Cheng wasn't leaving, Meng Jingwei deliberately began to breathe evenly, hoping to prompt Xiao Cheng to leave quickly so she could rescue Qing Muye.
However, Xiao Cheng seemed to know her thoughts and intentions perfectly.
"This place is heavily guarded, with a world-class security system. It's as difficult as reaching the heavens to get Qing Muye out of here." He reached into his pocket, felt for a cigarette, pulled one out, and lit it with a click of his lighter.
The dark room suddenly lit up, and Meng Jingwei opened her eyes, her gaze falling upon Xiao Cheng's slightly weary profile.
The scar she had inflicted on his face with her necklace half a year ago was still clear and prominent, like a ferocious centipede.
He took a deep drag of the cigarette and exhaled a faint stream of smoke from his nostrils, filling the room with the scent of nicotine.
"Whether you and Qing Muye have truly broken up or are faking it, if you want to live, you'd best abandon that thought."
Xiao Cheng issued a well-intentioned warning.
This was what made Meng Jingwei struggle the most.
If Xiao Cheng had always intended to harm her, just as he seemed to have done to Qing Muye, she could have hated him with all her heart.
But it was precisely because Xiao Cheng still harbored feelings for her and protected her at every turn that she was caught in a struggle between hatred and not-hating, even experiencing some pain.
"I said that his subordinates are monitoring my family. If I don't rescue Qing Muye, they will take action against my family."
Meng Jingwei clung to this reason.
"I've already sent people to your hometown, and those individuals have been quietly dealt with," Xiao Cheng said, slowly turning his head to look at Meng Jingwei.
In the otherwise dark room, the glowing ember of his cigarette, as he took a puff, illuminated her troubled expression.
"I don't believe what you say."
Meng Jingwei hadn't expected Xiao Cheng to act so quickly. A thought struck her, and she added, "Unless, unless you let me leave, I'll rush back myself to protect my parents."
After she said this, it was as if a stone had been dropped into a deep pool, creating no ripples.
Meng Jingwei waited for Xiao Cheng's reply, but after a long while, he remained silent.
Just as she was losing patience and about to question Xiao Cheng, he flicked the ash from his cigarette, took another puff, and with the cigarette dangling from his lips, said, "Xiao Weiwei, you're becoming more and more disobedient."
Disobedient?
The way he said it made her feel like a pet.
"If you dare to step out of this castle, I'll kill Qing Muye immediately," he warned again.
With that, Xiao Cheng got up and left without waiting for Meng Jingwei's reply.
As he reached the door, he turned to close it and reminded her, "Don't try to rescue Qing Muye. I told you, this place is a fortress. Unless you have the power to fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, all your attempts are wishful thinking."
Click.
The door closed.
Silence returned to the room.
Meng Jingwei lay on the bed as if she had lost her breath, filled with despair.
From Xiao Cheng's words, it seemed Qing Muye wouldn't be harmed today.
She should still have a chance.
Two more hours passed, it was three-thirty in the morning.
Meng Jingwei locked the bedroom door, went to the balcony, glanced outside to confirm there were no patrol teams, avoided the surveillance cameras, and leaped down to the first floor.
She crossed a path, concealed herself in the grass, and then, moving cautiously, headed towards the building on the east side.
Five minutes later, she successfully reached the second floor of the eastern building and entered the study.
Before coming here, Song Ci had given Meng Jingwei a map of the area, and she found the study by memory.
She turned on a computer in the study and raced against time to crack the system.
Indeed, as Xiao Cheng had said, the security was tight, with enhanced safety systems, so it took Meng Jingwei a full half hour to successfully access the system.
By this time, she was already sweating profusely from anxiety.
First, she used the computer to secretly contact Song Ci, sending him Qing Muye's exact location, and then shut down the castle's internal security system before leaving the study.
Afterward, Meng Jingwei returned to her room.
Fortunately, no one discovered her absence.
Next, Meng Jingwei lay on the bed, quietly awaiting Song Ci's rescue.
Although Meng Jingwei also wanted to help, the situation was still unclear. She couldn't ascertain Qing Muye's reason for breaking up with her, and she still felt that Qing Muye might be setting up a plan.
If she acted rashly, she would ruin his grand scheme.
It was better to pass the information to Song Ci, and she trusted that Song Ci would know what to do next.
Time, at this moment, felt incredibly long.
Meng Jingwei almost watched with open eyes as the pitch-blackness outside the window gradually gave way to light.
She never received any news from Song Ci.
At six-thirty in the morning, Meng Jingwei got up.
As she went downstairs, she saw Xiao Cheng in the lobby.
"Have you washed up?" Xiao Cheng sat on the sofa, reading a newspaper.
Meng Jingwei nodded.
"That's good. Come and have breakfast," Xiao Cheng said, putting down the newspaper and leading Meng Jingwei to the dining room.
A lavish Western breakfast was prepared. Xiao Cheng handed her a glass of milk, saying, "Drink this. After you finish, I'll take you to meet an acquaintance."