Chapter Thirty-Eight: Compensation

Bai Wei suddenly spoke up, cutting off the conversation between the police and Jiang Hu.

Jiang Hu looked up at her with a nonchalant glance.

Bai Wei stiffened all over, instantly regretting having waded into these troubled waters. If it weren’t for Mo Niannian treating her so well, if she weren’t afraid that Mo Niannian might come to harm in the hands of this lunatic Jiang Hu, how could she possibly have come here?

The more Bai Wei thought about it, the more she regretted her decision.

Yet her words successfully caught the attention of the police.

Jiang Hu looked downcast. “Of course I’m worried. My sister and I have depended on each other for so long—we’ve never been apart for this long.”

Now that things had come this far, Bai Wei decided she might as well see it through. Gritting her teeth, she pressed on, “I don’t see the slightest bit of sadness from you. And as soon as Niannian left, you moved in here. It’s hard not to suspect there’s some kind of scheme going on.”

“What Miss Bai said is exactly what confuses us. Mr. Jiang, please answer truthfully,” one of the officers added.

Jiang Hu was silent for a moment before continuing, “I hadn’t wanted to speak of this, but since you’ve all brought it up, I can’t avoid it any longer.

“I assume you all know that my sister and I aren’t related by blood.”

With that, Jiang Hu began, in his low, gentle voice, to recount a tale of unrequited love—eight parts truth, two parts fabrication.

In short: Mo Niannian couldn’t accept his feelings and left. Before leaving, she gave him the house. He had been searching for her ever since, and only moved because he didn’t want to make things harder for her.

He hoped she could come home, and that she wouldn’t give up her own home because of him.

The two officers exchanged glances.

Bai Wei found herself in a daze—thinking back, it seemed plausible. That night, it was clear Jiang Hu was deeply in love with Mo Niannian, though Mo Niannian herself seemed unaware. She’d even thought of playing matchmaker between the two of them.

Most of them believed his story.

“So, Mo Niannian really isn’t here?”

Jiang Hu was just about to confirm when, out of thin air, a door appeared on the wall and Mo Niannian emerged weakly from within.

Jiang Hu’s entire body tensed, and he stood up reflexively.

Mo Niannian walked down slowly. “I’m here.”

The police were utterly stunned. In all their years on the force, they’d never encountered anything so bizarre.

Jiang Hu’s eyes darkened instantly as he silently calculated the odds of killing all three in front of him without being discovered.

He would never allow anyone to take his sister from his side!

Mo Niannian was exhausted from even that short walk, though she didn’t show it on her face.

Seeing the police still dumbfounded, she quickly completed Jiang Hu’s lie. She said that after she left, she regretted it, found Jiang Hu, and agreed to be with him. However, since she was technically his elder, all her relatives and friends knew of their relationship. She was too embarrassed to stay where she was before, so Jiang Hu had brought her here.

Bai Wei and the police officers were speechless.

Thunderstruck.

Even a novel wouldn’t dare make up such a story. So what was this?

There were so many holes in this account that for a moment the officers didn’t know where to start. They hesitated for a long time before finally asking, “Are you sure you’re here of your own free will?”

Mo Niannian nodded firmly. “Yes.”

The two police officers’ faces twisted in disbelief. Honestly, they’d never seen a case so odd—there was just too much to say.

Jiang Hu’s heart slowly settled—was his sister covering for him?

So, she did care about him after all and couldn’t bear to see him go to prison, right?

He gazed at Mo Niannian with deep affection, holding her hand tightly, unable to contain his excitement.

“I simply forgot to close the case at the station. Sorry to trouble you all to come here,” Jiang Hu said, his mood much improved and his attitude far more pleasant.

Though she’d been found, there were still some suspicious points, so the two officers stood up. “We’ll still need you both to come to the station and give statements.”

“All right,” Mo Niannian immediately agreed, rising to her feet.

Jiang Hu’s grip on her hand tightened, his face darkening by degrees.

So… was this her real motive?

Did she actually think she could escape by leaving here?

“Mr. Jiang?” the officer prompted.

Jiang Hu quickly smoothed away his cold expression and smiled obediently. “I’ll go with my sister.”

With that, he put his arm around Mo Niannian’s waist, talking to her affectionately.

Mo Niannian, having just established the illusion that they were a couple in love, couldn’t break character now. She had no choice but to let Jiang Hu hold her tightly.

“Do you really think you’ll get away with this, sister?” Jiang Hu whispered.

Mo Niannian remained noncommittal—she hadn’t really expected to escape, anyway.

It was just... an excuse to disappear for a while.

The time was almost up; the system’s portal was about to be established. This villa was practically impenetrable, and Jiang Hu wanted nothing more than to stick to her every second.

If she were to perform a vanishing act right in front of him, the loopholes would be impossible to patch.

The male lead’s luck was too strong, and she couldn’t simply erase his memory.

In a word: troublesome.

Originally, Mo Niannian had been ready to just let things unravel. If Jiang Hu saw her leave, then so be it—fixing the loophole would be Heaven’s problem.

But when opportunity presented itself, how could she not seize it?

Jiang Hu remained plastered to her side, whispering in her ear, “How did you get out, sister?”

He patted his pocket for his keys, unsurprised to find them missing. His eyes curved in amusement. “I underestimated you again.”

Mo Niannian had indeed stolen his keys and unlocked her chains to escape.

Jiang Hu didn’t mind. His eyes softened. “You do care about me, don’t you?”

Mo Niannian let out two cold laughs.

Of course she cared—for him to die and be ground to dust, that is.

Jiang Hu continued, undisturbed, “You could have exposed me in front of them and solved everything, but you didn’t. What a pity.”

The more he thought about it, the happier he became, his eyes curving into crescent moons with purest delight.

“Don’t overthink it. I just didn’t want the hassle,” Mo Niannian replied coldly.

Jiang Hu was overjoyed. “I understand, sister, I really do.”

She was just too adorable—tough on the outside, soft on the inside. He just wanted to stay with her, never to part.

While the two of them whispered together, Bai Wei sidled up to Mo Niannian. “Niannian, are you really doing this willingly?”

She still felt something was off; the excuses the two had given were simply too far-fetched.

Mo Niannian didn’t want to drag anyone else into this, so she nodded gently. “Sorry to have worried you all over this.”

Bai Wei scratched her head. “I didn’t really do anything—maybe I even made things worse.”

Perhaps this was just some kind of game between the two of them, and here she was, foolishly treating Jiang Hu like a criminal.

But she still couldn’t understand why Jiang Hu hadn’t just admitted it from the start. Was it really just because he didn’t want others to know about their relationship?

She had always thought that if Jiang Hu ever got together with Mo Niannian, he’d want to shout it from the rooftops for all the world to hear.