Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 316 - 10. Only fear leaving scars on the heart (2nd update 2)
He walked downstairs with a light step, looking up to see her staring into the void, smiling foolishly. He couldn’t help but gently tap her forehead with his lambskin glove.
"What’s so funny?"
Shi Nian quickly came to her senses, her cheeks reddening: "Good morning, sir. Sorry to interrupt your breakfast. Is your appetite good?"
He descended the last few steps and stood with her on the flat ground. Nevertheless, he still looked down at her from above due to his height: "No."
Shi Nian stuck out her tongue: "It’s all because I came too early. Sorry."
"No."
He raised his chin high, naturally carrying an air of arrogance: "It’s not that you came early, but that today’s breakfast is really hard to swallow."
The servant at the second floor staircase bowed repeatedly in apology.
Shi Nian was slightly surprised and opened her mouth wide.
Suddenly, his mood lifted again. He looked up and hummed lightly: "I’ve suddenly changed my mind. Leave the breakfast; I’ll reheat it and eat it tonight. It’s not right to waste food, is it?"
.
A few people moved like the wind, heading out to the car.
Xia Zuo lowered his head, dialing his phone, and informed seriously: "The sir will arrive in half an hour. Be prepared."
The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Shi Nian gripped her bag strap tightly and turned to look at Huangfu Huazhang: "... Is Xiong Jie in danger?"
Huangfu Huazhang’s gaze glided lightly over to her: "Still alive."
Shi Nian immediately breathed a sigh of relief and wisely remained silent, allowing the Rolls-Royce to glide forward soundlessly.
As for Huangfu Huazhang, it seemed his good mood hadn’t yet dissipated. Supporting his head with his hand, he quietly observed her: "Earlier, when you were distracted... you were looking at that copper bell."
Shi Nian smiled: "Yes. Using a copper bell as a communication tool between the upstairs and downstairs servants, I’ve only seen that in British dramas. I thought it was an old relic from before the phone was invented. I didn’t expect your household to have a living example."
He nodded happily with a smile: "That would be because you haven’t been to the second floor, where you’ll see my servant use an electric iron to press the newspaper, making it neat and tidy before giving it to me to read."
Shi Nian opened her mouth wide in surprise.
"I only knew that the handkerchiefs used by Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Palace had to be cut neatly and tested by palace maids with their cheeks to ensure they were soft enough not to cut the skin before handing them to the Old Buddha..."
"Hmm," he responded lightly: "The rules of nobility, ancient or modern, foreign or domestic, are always the same. Such ritualized rules are used to differentiate between commoners and nobility, to highlight their noble bloodlines and high status."
Shi Nian listened, slightly surprised, and turned to look at him.
"In my eyes, sir is a natural noble, graceful in demeanor and speech... but from your tone, it seems you don’t like these noble family rules?"
He snorted: "What’s in my bones is my own, and those household rules are passed down from Europe. What do they have to do with me?"
Shi Nian was slightly surprised inwardly.
But she changed the subject: "What’s the reason for ironing the newspaper... Is it necessary to make the corners so perfectly square?"
His gaze drifted afar: "That’s only one aspect. The main reason is that newspapers in the past were ink-printed, and European nobility, wearing white shirts and using precious silk napkins, naturally didn’t want to be stained by ink. Thus, servants needed to iron the ink dry beforehand, so it wouldn’t stain the cuffs and napkins."
Shi Nian laughed: "But newspapers nowadays don’t use ink anymore."
He shrugged: "Yes, and even people are reading fewer newspapers. News on electronic devices is updated faster, and print media is finding it harder to survive."
Shi Nian blinked: "Yes, that’s why we journalists are feeling more pressure to survive. I’m relatively better off, but Xiong Jie isn’t avoiding danger."
His palm pressed against the cane, suddenly silent, as he turned to seriously gaze at her profile.
Shi Nian met his gaze: "Sir, what is it?"
He gently shook his head: "You don’t need to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you, nor will I let ’Deep Throat’ go under."
Shi Nian smiled: "Thank you for your kind words."
.
Half an hour later, the car arrived at the mountain villa area.
Xia Zuo got out of the car, but instead of opening the door, he first walked into the white wooden house alone. Immediately, several figures flashed swiftly within Shi Nian’s view, disappearing into the surrounding shadows of trees.
Shi Nian focused her gaze intently, but the distance between the car and the house, coupled with the swiftness of those figures, made it impossible for her to see their features clearly. She could roughly discern four people, judging by their silhouettes, one of whom appeared to be a woman.
"Is that the sir’s mysterious team?" Shi Nian’s eyes lit up: "Are they as cool as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"
Huangfu Huazhang unexpectedly chuckled, "They don’t have superpowers."
Xia Zuo walked back and opened the car door. Huangfu Huazhang stepped out first. Xia Zuo lowered his voice and said a few words to Huangfu Huazhang, as if reporting something; Huangfu Huazhang nodded briefly, then turned and personally held the car door open, helping Shi Nian out of the car.
It was already winter, the yellow leaves in the mountain forest were like gold, yet the wind blowing through the mountains still carried a biting chill.
Shi Nian hurriedly tightened his coat, looking somewhat tense towards the little wooden house, "Is Xiong Jie inside?"
Xia Zuo nodded, not saying much.
Shi Nian hesitated slightly, "...Shouldn’t we notify the police?"
Huangfu Huazhang’s gaze turned cold, standing proudly in the winter wind, exuding a chill all around him.
Xia Zuo looked over, squinting his eyes coldly, "Has anyone reported to the police? If not, why notify them? Does Xia Jie want to hand over our hard work to the officers for them to claim credit effortlessly?"
Shi Nian also felt a bit apologetic, "Of course, I didn’t mean that. I’m just saying that society has rules, punishing evil is the police’s duty. Notifying them can help in tracing who brought Xiong Jie to this place."
"Let’s see her first." Huangfu Huazhang wrapped his long coat tighter, squinting over, "Ultimately, Xiong Jie is the one involved. She has more right to decide than we do."
With that, Huangfu Huazhang strode toward the house first.
"The gentleman is right, let’s see what Xiong Jie thinks." Shi Nian hurried to catch up.
.
The three of them walked into the house together, and the woman sitting inside suddenly appeared in Shi Nian’s sight.
Shi Nian was suddenly stunned.
That woman huddled on the sofa, eyes sunken deep, hair disheveled, trembling in a state of panic—was she still the Xiong Jie he once knew?
The Xiong Jie of old was always bright and sharp, wearing professionally tailored suits and ten-inch high heels even while chasing news.
Back when Shi Nian had just entered the industry, during a breaking news scene, there were officers pursuing a suspect on the street. Her cameraman lagged behind, stuck in the crowd. Xiong Jie got anxious, snatched the camera, hoisted the bulky device onto her slender shoulders, then tore open the skirt of her dress for easier movement, and charged up the street in her high heels...
In the competitive world of "Deep Throat" as well as in subsequent professional rivalries, though Shi Nian had faced quite a bit of hardship from Xiong Jie, she respected Xiong’s professionalism from a peer perspective.
But who would have thought that she would become like this...
Shi Nian couldn’t help but let out a light sob, rushing forward to kneel by Xiong Jie’s side.
"Xiong Jie? Are you okay? It’s me, I’m here."
.
A few days of absence, and Xiong Jie seemed to have aged ten years. Her eyes were dry and lifeless, turning mechanically to the sound, lowering her head to look at Shi Nian.
"You... who are you?"
Shi Nian, startled, grabbed Xiong Jie’s hand, "How can you not recognize me? I’m Shi Nian, your old rival Shi Nian! Didn’t you always dislike me, love to scold me? Look at me, even if you scold me again, it’s fine!"
Xiong Jie stared at her numbly, then shook her head, "Ten years? Ten years is a long time. Have I been here for ten years?"
Shi Nian was frightened, hastily checking Xiong Jie’s body.
Xiong Jie had no obvious injuries, only marks on her wrists and ankles indicating she’d been tied up. The skin had been chafed and bled from struggling against the bonds, but that was it.
...That’s it, she’s apparently fine, so how did she suddenly become like this?
Shi Nian found herself unable to control her emotions, suddenly thinking of her mom, of how her mom had suddenly become just like Xiong Jie when she heard that Dad would never come out of surgery!
Her mom no longer recognized her, yet still smiled and held her hand, asking her to call Dad, asking if it would be alright to steam some sweet pear syrup that night, saying Dad had been smoking so much while working on the case, he was constantly coughing...
The images of Xiong Jie and her mother overlapped before Shi Nian’s eyes. She couldn’t help but grip Xiong Jie’s shoulders, shaking her forcefully, "Xiong Jie, wake up, wake up! I’m Shi Nian, the Shi Nian you hate the most. Wake up and argue with me, continue writing articles criticizing me... Just wake up, and I’ll forgive you, never hate you again, okay?"
－
[I’ll try to update more tomorrow~ The magic of a detective novel lies in laying out clue after clue, and yet, faced with the same clues, people might head in different directions~~ Take it slow, don’t rush~]
cards: 800 Ground Burial
cards: No Destiny from the Start
cards: Many Fish, 15852834750, xhqgwj
card: Zhang Mingjun + Flowers, Saturnian on Earth
