Yang Zhen followed Su Mo’s line of sight toward the pond.
Then his eyes widened.
"...Wow."
Beneath the crystal-clear surface, enormous shadows drifted unhurriedly. Each fish was sleek and thick-bodied, muscles rippling faintly as they moved, exuding a sense of terrifying power.
"They’re almost the size of tuna!" Yang Zhen exclaid in disbelief. "I never knew archer fish could grow this big!"
Curiosity got the better of him. He crouched down and leaned closer to the water, squinting to get a clearer look.
Right then—
*Whoosh!*
A sharp, explosive crack tore through the air.
Before Yang Zhen could even react, a compressed jet of water scread past his face, missing his head by less than a finger’s width. The sheer pressure pushed his hair straight back.
*BOOM!*
The water bullet slamd into a tree dozens of ters away. The trunk caved inward violently, exploding with a thunderous sound. Bark and splinters sprayed everywhere as if the tree had been struck by artillery.
Leaves fluttered down.
Silence followed.
Yang Zhen remained frozen in a half-crouched position, his mind utterly blank.
Only one thought echoed inside his head.
’...I almost lost my head.’
Cold sweat seeped down his spine.
Behind him, Zhang Xulin cald down after seeing him alright. She crossed her arms to look unconcerned.
"See?" she said flatly. "I told you. Those things are scarier than sharks."
Yang Zhen slowly, chanically turned his head—first to Zhang Xulin, then to his sister, and finally to Su Mo.
Su Mo, anwhile, was pretending not to notice anything. He lifted his chin and gazed at the clear blue sky as though nothing had happened.
’Why, Su Mo?’ Yang Zhen wailed inwardly. ’I treat you like my brother-in-law, and you almost got killed!’
Tears welled up instantly. His nose stung, his eyes burned, and he felt unbearably wronged. This was the closest he had ever co to death.
"Just what are these..." he muttered weakly, "...monsters?"
Only after confirming her brother was unhard did Yang Qingxi finally relax. She let out a quiet breath.
"Let’s go back to the mansion first," she said. "I’ll explain later."
But Yang Zhen was still sitting on the ground, his face flushed a deep, humiliating red, his expression stiff and awkward.
"What’s wrong?" Yang Qingxi asked, noticing he hadn’t moved.
"Sister..." Yang Zhen said miserably, his voice trembling. "My legs are numb. I can’t stand."
Yang Qingxi rubbed her forehead as she looked at his pitiful state. She shot Su Mo a sharp glance before gesturing toward the guards.
"Help my brother inside."
"Yes, young lady."
The guard stepped forward and, without hesitation, scooped Yang Zhen up in a princess carry.
"Excuse , young master."
Before Yang Zhen could protest, the guard had already turned and started walking.
Yang Zhen covered his face with one hand, tears streaming down between his fingers.
’When in my life have I ever been this embarrassed?!’
Yang Qingxi followed a few steps behind, glancing sideways at Su Mo walking beside her.
"That was dangerous."
"If the shot had been aid at him, I would’ve intervened," Su Mo said casually, shrugging. "With my reaction speed, saving him would’ve been easy."
"And if you weren’t there?" Yang Qingxi countered calmly. "Are you certain their aim won’t be off next ti?"
Su Mo fell silent. Though he tried to look nonchalant, his guilty expression betrayed him.
After a mont, he looked at her seriously. "I promise. There won’t be a next ti."
Yang Qingxi nodded. "I believe you."
With that matter settled for now, she shifted to another topic of concern.
"What’s the situation at the police station? Did the insect you left on Song Jinyu send anything back?"
Zhang Xulin, who had been walking just behind them, nearly stopped in her tracks.
"Wait—what?" she blurted out. "You left an insect on a police captain to spy on her?!"
"Yeah," Su Mo replied easily. "To be precise—hair lice."
"Eww!" Zhang Xulin recoiled instantly, her face twisting in disgust. "Where did you even find sothing like that?!"
Yang Qingxi didn’t scold her interruption. In fact, she looked just as curious and slightly disturbed. For her, who loved cleanliness, it was very disgusting.
Su Mo stopped walking and turned to Zhang Xulin, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
"Take a guess."
"If I knew, why would I—" Zhang Xulin abruptly stopped speaking.
She noticed Yang Qingxi subtly stepping away from her.
Her eyes widened.
"...Impossible!" she snapped, pointing at herself. "There’s no way I have them! I take extrely good care of my hair!"
Su Mo chuckled, clearly enjoying himself. Her reaction amused him far more than he had expected.
"All right, all right," he said at last. "I never ant you. You guessed that on your own."
"You—!"
Before Zhang Xulin could explode, he added calmly, "It was Yang Zhen’s driver. I don’t know his na."
"Brother Hua?!" Yang Qingxi and Zhang Xulin exclaid at the sa ti.
Their expressions imdiately scrunched up in identical disgust.
Suppressing that unpleasant image, Yang Qingxi gestured for him to pause. "Let’s stop there. Get back to the topic."
"I did get so information," Su Mo said.
"The police are investigating He Xiong’s connection with Wang Cai, as well as the motive behind Ye Chen’s actions. Unfortunately, he refused to answer anything during interrogation."
Yang Qingxi smiled faintly and shook her head. "I’d be shocked if he could answer anything. You ssed him up pretty badly."
Su Mo shrugged, completely unconcerned.
[Wasn’t everything I did for you?]
Yang Qingxi’s lips curved slightly as she caught his inner voice.
Behind them, Zhang Xulin’s eyes widened in disbelief.
’Ye Chen? The murderer from yesterday?’
’How was Su Mo involved?’
’And what does Miss Yang an by that...?’
She felt as though sothing enormous had happened behind the scenes while she was busy eating snacks at the bar.
’Ugh... what did I miss?!’
"The Su sisters were also called in for questioning," Su Mo continued. "From the looks of it, they hate him now."
Yang Qingxi nodded, unsurprised.
If Su nghao could still fall for Ye Chen under those circumstances, then she could only bla the world’s absurd sense of correction. Thankfully, it seed heaven wasn’t quite that unreasonable.
"There’s one more thing," Su Mo added. "Ye Chen’s old enemy went to see him."
"Who?" Yang Qingxi asked.
"Gu Xuan."
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