The White Powder in the Glass Bottle

“Huh? Lost in thought again?”

Ye Feng put down his chopsticks and stared at his empty bowl, lost in contemplation. Ever since Xie Yuyan had left without a word, he would often find himself zoning out, unsure of what was wrong with him...

Why... why couldn’t he remember anything from that day?

Ye Feng found it strange. Logically, he hadn’t been poisoned, and his body showed no signs of discomfort. So why had he completely lost his memory of that crucial night?

According to Xie Yuyan, he had been conscious at the time. He only vaguely remembered a strange sensation washing over him, and then all memories of that night were gone.

Was there really something wrong with his body?

As Ye Feng picked up his bowl and chopsticks and walked to the sink, he suddenly noticed a small transparent glass bottle in the trash bin next to the kitchen cabinet.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

First, Ye Feng ruled out the possibility that it was some kind of seasoning. The bottle was far too small to hold any significant amount of seasoning.

Setting the dishes aside for a moment, Ye Feng pulled the small glass bottle out of the trash bag and examined it closely. However, he couldn’t find anything remarkable about it. It looked just like an ordinary glass bottle.

Noticing some white powder residue on the inside of the bottle, Ye Feng couldn’t help but swallow hard.

Could this be some kind of strange drug? Did Xie Yuyan have something like this?

For some reason, Ye Feng reached out and lightly dabbed his finger into the powder, observing it curiously. Finding no obvious characteristics, he even felt the urge to taste it.

Should I... try it?

It’s probably fine, right?

Ye Feng hesitated for a long time, staring at the powder on his fingertip. But as the image of Xie Yuyan slowly appeared in his mind, he made up his mind and licked it off.

......

Hmm...

After consuming the powder, Ye Feng didn’t feel anything unusual. Apart from the sound of his own heartbeat echoing in the quiet room, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“Cough, I told myself I was just overthinking it. How could anything happen?”

Ye Feng chuckled and stood up. Just as he was about to wash the dishes, a sudden wave of dizziness hit him.

“Wh...what? This... this feeling!”

Ye Feng swayed unsteadily, eventually retreating to the dining chair and gripping the armrest to steady himself as he sat down.

At the same time, his limbs began to lose strength, and his consciousness started to blur.

“Could it... could it be...”

Ye Feng’s lips parted slightly as if he wanted to voice his suspicion, but before he could, his eyes closed tightly.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he woke up at the dining table.

“Ugh... my head...”

Pressing a hand to his forehead, Ye Feng opened his eyes and glanced at the wall clock. Over ten minutes had passed since he had blacked out. During that time, his body had been completely unresponsive, and he had no idea what had happened.

“So that’s it! The powder in that glass bottle... Xie Yuyan had it all planned from the start!”

“No wonder I lost consciousness without any warning that day... That woman had it all figured out from the beginning...”

Ye Feng had initially thought that he was the one who had “poisoned” Xie Yuyan, but it turned out that Xie Yuyan was the one who had poisoned him. The sudden realization left Ye Feng stunned.

“Sigh.”

With that thought, Ye Feng didn’t say much more. He simply let out a heavy sigh, picked up the glass bottle, and carefully placed it on the display cabinet in the living room.

When that girl comes back, I’ll make sure she learns why the flowers are so red. How dare she scheme against me like this!

“Achoo~”

Meanwhile, in a dimly lit underground location, a figure cloaked in black sneezed, then raised a delicate, pale hand to rub their nose.

“Oh my, is little Feng Feng missing me again? So impatient~”

But don’t worry, once I’ve cleared out all the obstacles standing in the way of our love, I’ll be back. Until then, you’ll just have to wait patiently for me, okay~

As the black cloak was pulled down again, a pair of deep blue eyes disappeared into the endless darkness...

“Hmm...”

Looking at the large sum of money that had appeared in his account, Ye Feng narrowed his eyes, unsure of how to handle it. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he quickly put on his coat and left the house.

“Hello, sir. How may I assist you today?”

At a real estate office, a sales agent greeted Ye Feng as he walked through the door.

“Hello, I’d like to take a look at some properties.”

“Of course, sir. What are your basic requirements for the property?”

“Basic requirements...”

Ye Feng thought about the promise he had made to Xie Yuyan to prepare a home of her own. Given what had happened between them, he couldn’t possibly let her down.

“I’m looking for a three-bedroom, one-living-room unit with an independent kitchen and bathroom. Do you have anything like that available?”

The sales agent’s eyes lit up at this.

This was a big client!

“Yes, of course! Would you prefer a ready-to-move-in property or one that’s still under construction?”

“Ready-to-move-in, preferably. I’d like something I can settle into right away.”

Ye Feng didn’t want to go through the hassle of buying a place and then spending time renovating it. After all, this was Xie Yuyan’s home. Any renovations could wait until she returned and decided for herself.

“Understood. If you’d like, you can add my contact information, and I’ll keep you updated on any developments via phone.”

“Sure.”

After sorting out the details with the sales agent, Ye Feng had just stepped out of the office when a car pulled up in front of him.

“......”

Ye Feng recognized the car immediately—it was a model from the Li family. Could it be that Li Jing needed something from him? But Ah Fu hadn’t mentioned anything this morning.

As the car window slowly rolled down, Ye Feng’s confusion was cleared up.

“Good afternoon, teacher~”

Li Mucheng greeted Ye Feng with a smile as she stepped out of the car, having rolled down the window first.

Dressed in a long black dress with a red ribbon tied around her chest, Li Mucheng exuded a cold yet alluring charm. Her outfit seemed carefully chosen, as if she had prepared for this moment.

“Mucheng? What are you doing here?”

“Well... it’s quite a coincidence, really. Because of the manor, I’ve moved to the city center. I was on my way to my father’s company when I happened to see you on the side of the road. What a small world, huh~”

Was it really a coincidence?

Ye Feng had just stepped out, and Li Mucheng had appeared at the exact same time. The timing seemed a little too perfect.