Surrounded by Wolves
Jiang Wu kept her head down and ate, refusing to say anything more.
The movie continued with a growing sense of agitation. The stepbrother caught his stepsister kissing her boyfriend and walked over to interrupt them.
As the atmosphere became increasingly inappropriate, Jiang Wu stood up with feigned composure. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
Huo Yingli said nothing. He listened to the patter of Jiang Wu’s slippers as she hurried away.
Such a childish excuse.
Before him, the shifting light cast the images from the screen across the room: an intimate, lingering kiss that belonged entirely to adults, tangled with desire, yet restrained by the weight of taboo, a smoldering tension that stopped just short of consummation.
It stirred an endless, maddening itch. Clawing at the most sensitive point of the heart, taunting relentlessly.
Ah Wu didn’t dare watch.
That was fine.
It was enough that she knew what he was watching.
Jiang Wu hid in the bathroom for a long time, calculating that if they had started kissing by now, approximately how long it would take them to finish.
Only after she decided enough time had passed did she walk back out as though nothing had happened.
The moment she stepped out, she saw the sister on the screen lying across the sofa in a slip dress while the stepbrother walked behind her. The dark tones of the scene heightened both the girl’s pale skin and the stepbrother’s ambiguous intentions behind her.
The surge of tension became even more intense.
To make matters worse, Jiang Wu had also dimmed the lighting in her room for the movie.
Only belatedly did she lower her head and look at her own slip dress.
“…”
Huo Yingli had stopped eating.
Jiang Wu awkwardly shuffled forward and raised her voice. “Brother, I’m tired.”
Huo Yingli had always known when to take a hint.
He understood what Jiang Wu was implying and teased her naturally. “So now that you’re full, you’re throwing me out?”
He said it, but he did not linger. He briefly cleared the table, then stood and walked toward her.
Perhaps the room was simply too dark, but beneath the purplish-red glow of the screen, there was one instant when Jiang Wu thought the look in Huo Yingli’s eyes resembled that of the stepbrother in the movie.
“Get some rest.” As Huo Yingli passed beside her, he deliberately imitated the stepbrother in the film and called her, “Little Sister.”
His voice drifted through the weightless air and slipped into her ears, sending a strange electric jolt straight to her scalp.
Jiang Wu wondered whether she had drunk too much today. Could champagne make a person lose their senses too?
She took a moment to steady herself. More likely, she was simply feeling guilty.
She had been angry, had drunk some wine, and in a haze had agreed to something like that with Eldest Brother.
So now, just watching a movie, her mind was running wild. Her thoughts were muddled as she slowly returned to the bedroom and flopped onto the bed.
She scrolled through her phone, hesitated, then opened her chat with Huo Qingzhi and typed:
[Eldest Brother, maybe we should reconsider…]
Jiang Wu deleted it halfway through and began thinking about how to phrase it properly. Yet another, indignant part of her mind argued that they were not biological siblings, so why couldn’t they?
She tossed and turned for a long time, running the thought over and over, until sleep finally overtook her before she could reach a conclusion.
When Jiang Wu woke the next morning, she was still clutching her phone.
The screen was now cluttered with notifications. Aside from chaotic news alerts and messages informing her that various cards had been suspended, there was also one message from Wen Ciying.
[I need to tell you something.]
Just that one line.
Still half asleep, Jiang Wu replied:
[Go ahead.]
Then she peacefully closed her eyes again.
She did not fully wake until a heavy knocking sounded at the door.
Jiang Wu jolted, climbed out of bed, and mumbled sleepily, “Who is it?”
The knocking continued through a third round.
Jiang Wu threw on a silk robe and went to open the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
The door opened, and Wen Ciying was standing right outside.
Wen Ciying’s gaze passed over Jiang Wu’s thin slip dress and the expanse of pale skin visible beneath the robe. She looked slightly surprised.
Jiang Wu became a little more awake under her gaze and instinctively tugged the robe closed. Her voice was still soft and drowsy. “What’s up?”
Wen Ciying did not explain at the doorway. She pushed the door open and guided Jiang Wu backward into the room along with it.
“Mm… you…” Jiang Wu had only just woken and had no strength. Wen Ciying pushed her inside with little effort.
The door clicked shut.
Once inside, Wen Ciying set down the equipment she had brought. “Have the things around you ever been checked?”
“What?”
Wen Ciying saw how thoroughly dazed she still was, answering in that soft, obedient voice, and had to look away. “With everything going on, I found a tracker the other day. You should regularly check whether anyone’s planted trackers or listening devices in your space.”
“Ah?” Jiang Wu finally came to her senses. “Then… then you have to check everything carefully for me.”
Wen Ciying opened her computer and connected the equipment. “I will.”
“You’re comfortable letting me handle your things?”
Jiang Wu sat on the sofa beside her, curled her legs up, and nestled into the cushions, still sleepy. “Go ahead.”
Wen Ciying asked curiously, “Why?”
“Because…” Halfway through, Jiang Wu drowsily closed her eyes again.
Wen Ciying was busy with her work and did not continue asking.
After a long pause, Jiang Wu slowly spoke. “Because if your father has been able to carry out classified work safely for so many years, he must have… a family people can trust completely.”
Wen Ciyin, whose eyes had been tracking code across her screen, turned to look at her.
Jiang Wu had rested with her eyes closed for a while, but at the mention of this, her drowsiness gradually faded. She opened her eyes and leaned against the side of the sofa, maintaining the same curled-up position.
They each remained quiet for a long time.
Only then did Jiang Wu remember to ask, “Did someone put a tracker in your room?”
“No.” Wen Ciying answered vaguely. “I found a watch that had one inside.”
Jiang Wu sat up. “Whose watch?”
Wen Ciying asked casually, “What kinds of watches do you wear?”
“I wear smart bands more often than watches, but I’ll wear one when the occasion requires it.” Jiang Wu could not immediately remember them all, so she took Wen Ciying to look through her cabinet.
The cabinet did not have many watches. Most of the collection consisted of smart bands, band accessories, bracelets, and bangles.
Wen Ciying did not spot the band she remembered, so she began checking the others instead.
Jiang Wu asked, “What did the one you found look like? Show me. Maybe I’ll recognize whose it was.”
“I already took it apart. You probably wouldn’t recognize it now.” Wen Ciying continued scanning her bands and jewelry. “No matter who it belonged to, you need to be careful.”
Jiang Wu nodded. “True.”
“Who would do something like that? That’s terrifying.”
Wen Ciying did not elaborate.
She was not someone who wasted words, nor was she obsessed with sowing discord just to gamble on whether another person would believe her.
Since Jiang Wu disliked having her privacy invaded and being watched, Wen Ciying would simply do what allowed her conscience to remain clear.
Like now.
Confirming that there were indeed no listening devices, surveillance equipment, trackers, or other forms of remote control hidden in Jiang Wu’s room or belongings was enough to accomplish her purpose.
Still, the result was rather surprising.
There was nothing.
Even the smart band from before was nowhere to be found.
She remained in Jiang Wu’s room until the afternoon and inspected every one of her belongings. Everything was safe.
Jiang Wu even used the opportunity to have Cherry come by and move two loads of luggage to the new house.
Meanwhile, Wen Ciying continued checking the room.
She still could not understand it. Could Huo Lingyi carry out his secretive little tricks on Jiang Wu when they were outside, but not here?
She scanned every corner of the room.
Nothing seemed unusual.
Only when she reached the walk-in closet did the detector register a faint signal fluctuation.
Yet it did not seem to originate from Jiang Wu’s room. It appeared more like an anomaly coming from Huo Qingzhi’s room next door.
Wen Ciying frowned deeply and carefully adjusted the sensitivity of the detector, trying to pinpoint the direction of the source.
When she turned toward a particular spot, a glaring red warning dot suddenly appeared on the screen, accompanied by rapid, piercing beeps.
Almost simultaneously, the alarm seemed to startle something.
A cat’s meow came through the wall. Wen Ciying was just about to switch off the alarm…
Suddenly, the wall in front of her moved!
Bingbing pushed open a revolving door disguised as part of the wall and stared at her warily.
Before Wen Ciying could even process the fact that the two rooms were connected, she looked straight through the opening… directly into the black wooden cabinet in the next room.
A pink wristband bracelet was displayed there. The very one Huo Lingyi had planted with a tracker on Jiang Wu!
It was placed there openly, in plain sight, inside the glass cabinet.
That bright, charming loveliness had been sealed away within a gloomy and secretive territory.
Suppressive, and carrying an especially ominous warning.
Wen Ciying stared in shock for a long moment. The detection alarm in her hand rang even more violently, the red dot flashing rapidly.
Only when Bingbing meowed at her did she come back to herself and turn off the alarm. Coincidentally, Jiang Wu was not in the room and had not heard the abnormal noise.
Wen Ciying stepped forward. Bingbing immediately shrank behind the door, revealing half a little cat face as he looked at her.
She held the rotating door, a chill running through her body, and quickly pushed the rotating door back into place and shut it.
So that was how it was.
From the moment that wristband was placed inside Huo Qingzhi’s room.
In Huo Lingyi’s location monitoring of Jiang Wu, Huo Qingzhi would appear as a shadow following her everywhere.
This was Huo Qingzhi’s warning. That was why nothing had been planted around Jiang Wu again. On the surface, it seemed like a good thing.
But Wen Ciying increasingly felt that Huo Qingzhi was somewhat of a terrifying person. He discovered it, but did not expose it or remove it.
He simply tormented the other person mentally like this, making the other party afraid to cross the line again.
If he touched her, he would be reminded of Huo Qingzhi, making them feel that he, too, was watching them.
Outside the walk-in closet, Jiang Wu returned. She called Cherry in as well to help her pack.
Jiang Wu pushed open the walk-in closet door and, seeing Wen Ciying, asked in passing, “Is everything all right in here?”
Wen Ciying moved her lips and answered with a complicated expression, “It’s fine.”
Jiang Wu nodded and confidently began packing.
By the time she came out of the walk-in closet, Wen Ciying had disappeared. Instead, there was an extra Huo Lingyi.
Jiang Wu circled the room in confusion. “Where’s Ciying?”
Huo Lingyi took the suitcase from Jiang Wu’s hand. “She said she had other things to do and left first.”
“Ah.” Jiang Wu was a little regretful. “She left just like that?”
“What, are you pretty close with her?”
“You should be closer to her.” Jiang Wu told Cherry to take the things to the new place first, and she would finish up here and go over afterward.
Huo Lingyi followed beside her. “I’m not familiar with her yet.”
Jiang Wu nodded. It was true that they had not known each other for long. “She’s a pretty good person. Same as you all.”
Huo Lingyi did not answer. “Is there anything else that needs packing?”
“All done.” Jiang Wu had already packed most of it earlier.
Jiang Yaping had demanded that Jiang Wu come home to accompany her on weekends and holidays.
So, Jiang Wu’s room at home would not be emptied. Her belongings and daily necessities would all remain.
There was no need to clean it out too thoroughly.
She leaned against the wall. “I just need to wait for Cherry to come pick me up in a bit.”
Huo Lingyi took out the keys to his YZF-R1. “I’ll send you?”
Jiang Wu perked up when she saw the keys. “Is that your new bike?”
She immediately pushed Huo Lingyi outside. “Hurry and show me. I haven’t seen it yet.”
Huo Lingyi brought Jiang Wu to the garage.
Most of Huo Lingyi’s vehicles were off-road cars and motorcycles. Bold, flashy lines, laced with a reckless, dangerous edge.
Jiang Wu spotted the black motorcycle at a glance.
Its metallic streamlines reflected the garage lights, naturally bursting with the vigorous tension unique to machinery and metal.
Huo Lingyi took a helmet and walked up to Jiang Wu. While Jiang Wu was still looking around at the motorcycle, he straightened her head.
At the center of Jiang Wu’s vision was Huo Lingyi’s collar.
She lifted her head slightly, only for Huo Lingyi to press it down with his hand again. “Don’t move.”
Huo Lingyi held the back of Jiang Wu’s neck. At a certain instant, he suddenly wanted to use a little more force and pull her closer.
His fingers brushed through her soft hair, hesitating, before he ultimately only put the helmet on her.
Jiang Wu did not notice anything odd about her brother at all. She was only focused on looking at that cool new motorcycle. “It’s so cool.”
After putting on the helmet, she walked to the side of the bike and touched the rear seat.
Huo Lingyi got on first and gestured for her to climb up.
Jiang Wu rarely rode motorcycles, so she was not very skilled at getting on. The seat wasn’t easy to hold onto, so she could only hold onto her brother.
Huo Lingyi remained completely still, feeling a flurry of touches on his waist, back, and abdomen as the bike wobbled for a while.
Behind his ear, there were also Jiang Wu’s own little mutters.
He did not interrupt her, nor did he mind her grabbing him a little longer. Best if she grabbed harder, hard enough to leave marks, even enough to draw blood.
Unfortunately, his younger sister had more restraint than he expected.
Jiang Wu did not use much force. She merely held onto him to get seated properly, stepped onto the foot pegs to steady her balance, then let go. “I’m ready, Brother.”
Huo Lingyi’s waist and abdomen felt empty. He tilted his head slightly.
The dark helmet concealed the dissatisfaction in his eyes. The next instant, Huo Lingyi suddenly twisted the throttle and stepped down on the starter.
The entire motorcycle body lurched forward with a buzz.
Jiang Wu cried out in fright, and following the force of inertia, she instinctively wrapped her arms around the firm waist of the man in front of her.
Only then did Huo Lingyi ask slowly, “Ready?”
“R-ready.” Jiang Wu had been frightened and no longer dared to let go. “Go slower, okay?”
Huo Lingyi did not answer. Only after she had hugged him properly did he start the bike and drive out of Cloud Peak Bay.
He did not drive too fast, still following traffic rules as they rode through the city at dusk.
But Jiang Wu rarely rode motorcycles, so being on the road still inevitably felt thrilling and novel. The humming vibration of the motorcycle made her heart surge even more.
The evening wind howled past through the helmet.
By the time Huo Lingyi drove to Kowloon Tong, Cherry had already arranged for people to tidy up the place.
Jiang Wu also took Huo Lingyi around to tour her new home.
Huo Lingyi asked as though casually, “Wen Ciying stayed with you all day today?”
“Yes.”
“What did she come to you for?”
“She said someone in our family seemed to have planted a tracker, so she came to help me check whether there was anything in my room.” Jiang Wu remembered something. “Right, don’t you understand this stuff too? Remember to help check her place when you go back. Don’t let her do it alone.”
Huo Lingyi chuckled silently. “You sure care about her.”
Jiang Wu placed the safe Cherry had delivered last into the new cold-storage room. “Aren’t I caring about you too? What if you run into trouble as well?”
Coaxing him again.
Huo Lingyi looked at her busy figure and walked toward her.
As Jiang Wu was placing the box, he raised his hand to help steady it. The narrow space formed by his arm and the cabinet silently trapped Jiang Wu inside. “You moved here for the convenience of work?”
Jiang Wu was still focused on arranging the box. “Yes.”
“Has the museum gotten back to you?”
Jiang Wu’s movements stopped. Still, she pretended to be relaxed. “Soon, probably.”
“Does it have to be here? I remember you received invitations from museums in America and Britain. If they don’t want you here, why stay?”
Jiang Wu was silent for a moment before turning around, only for a shadow to loom over her.
Huo Lingyi braced himself against the cabinet and lowered his head to ask her, “Do you want to leave with me? We can leave this place.”
Jiang Wu did not know when the position between them had become like this. Her body was tense, with very little room to move. “Where would we go?”
“Anywhere you want.” Huo Lingyi looked at her moving lips. “Somewhere no one knows us.”
Somewhere no one knew they were brother and sister.
Jiang Wu felt as though she was losing space to breathe. “Brother, you…”
Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came from outside.
Jiang Wu came back to herself, placed her hands on Huo Lingyi’s shoulders, and pushed him away. “Did Cherry forget something? I’ll go check…”
Jiang Wu pushed Huo Lingyi half a step away. Before she could leave, her wrist was caught and pulled back.
“Ah Wu…”
Before Huo Lingyi could finish, he locked eyes with the man who had just entered.
Huo Qingzhi stood at the doorway, staring at him without blinking.
Then his gaze dropped to Huo Lingyi’s hand gripping Jiang Wu’s wrist.
Huo Lingyi did not let go.
Jiang Wu’s reaction was quite natural. “Eldest Brother?”
“Why are you here?”
She walked forward and took the bag from Huo Qingzhi’s hand.
Discovering that inside was the dinner he had ordered, she said, “How did you know we haven’t eaten yet…”
Huo Qingzhi used the opportunity to stare at Huo Lingyi. Lowering his head beside Jiang Wu’s ear, he said in a voice only she could hear, “I came to discuss… about the marriage.”