Chapter 103#

Mouths can lie, but eyes cannot.#

“I told… Dad that I wanted to come in and see how you were doing.”

Jian Yunchen turned his head away, his voice cold. “You’ve seen it. I’m right here; I haven’t run away.”

Jiang Yunhan looked at him and suddenly let out a soft sigh.

Then, he took off his outer coat.

The black coat hit the floor with a dull thud, but his hands didn’t stop. He continued to strip off his inner layers; his sweater was pulled up, revealing a glimpse of a fair waistline.

Jian Yunchen watched his actions with wide eyes, his body shrinking back. He interrupted, “What are you doing?!”

Jiang Yunhan stepped forward and covered his mouth, using his eyes to stop Jian Yunchen from saying anything else.

He deliberately lowered his voice and whispered, “Don’t you want to get out? Put on my clothes and leave. I’ll stay behind.”

Jian Yunchen frowned at him, unable to understand his behavior.

“Why?”

He pulled Jiang’s hand down and asked softly.

Jiang Yunhan blinked and tilted his head slightly.

“You look like you really want to go find Qin Mu.”

Jian Yunchen instinctively looked away, denying it with a dry voice, “I don’t—”

“You helped me once,” Jiang Yunhan interrupted. “So I want to help you too.”

Jian Yunchen lowered his eyes slightly and pursed his somewhat pale lips.

After a long silence, his movements paused, and he whispered, “Thank you…”

Jiang Yunhan’s eyes widened slightly; he even suspected he had misheard.

This “thank you” was more distant than any he had offered before, lacking that layer of an indecipherable “sweet trap.”

Yet, it was from the heart.

He let out a soft laugh.

The two of them swapped clothes with agile movements. Before leaving, Jian Yunchen hesitated, his feet refusing to move forward.

He looked at Jiang Yunhan, his voice sounding a bit dry. “You don’t mind… me going to find Qin Mu?”

Jiang Yunhan finished buttoning up, looked up at him, and upon seeing the clear hesitation in the depths of Jian Yunchen’s eyes, spoke tentatively: “Why would I mind? Do you… not want to go?”

Jian Yunchen’s gaze flickered. He lowered his eyes, unable to explain even to himself what he was afraid of.

“I don’t know… if I should go find him.”

Given his current identity, he had no reason to go to Qin Mu.

He couldn’t even articulate the reason he wanted to see Qin Mu—was such behavior considered absurd?

Jiang Yunhan looked at him blankly. This was the first time he had seen such obvious indecision on Jian Yunchen’s face—a face that was always competitive and always confident.

He grabbed Jian’s wrist and whispered a sentence into Jian Yunchen’s ear.

As Jian Yunchen listened to the words, his eyes slowly widened.

Wearing Jiang Yunhan’s coat, Jian Yunchen pushed open the door. The bodyguards standing watch outside peered through the gap in the door until they saw the figure curled up on the floor, only then gradually withdrawing their gaze.

The door slowly closed, and Jian Yunchen began to walk forward.

After taking only a few steps, he was suddenly stopped by a voice.

“Young Master!”

Jian Yunchen realized the person was calling “him.” His footsteps faltered slightly, but he did not turn around.

Time had been tight; besides changing clothes, they had no tools to replicate the birthmark. As long as one was careful, the difference between the two could be recognized.

The footsteps behind him drew closer, step by step, until the person stood right behind him.

Jian Yunchen’s breathing slowed; his body was tense.

A hand reached out beside him, and a mobile phone lay quietly in the palm.

“Young Master, this is Jian Yunchen’s phone. Could I trouble you to hand it over to President Jiang?”

Jian Yunchen slowly began to breathe again. He nodded slightly and took the phone from the man’s side.

Just as he was about to leave, his arm was suddenly grabbed.

He whipped his head around and looked at the burly man behind him. The bodyguard’s brow was furrowed, his gaze fixed intensely on the shoes on Jian’s feet.

Jian Yunchen’s heart skipped a heavy beat—he hadn’t changed his shoes!

He shook off the man’s hand, intending to run forward.

The person behind him didn’t even have time to give chase.

At that exact moment—

The silent manor was suddenly filled with a piercing alarm.

Confused and hurried footsteps echoed from downstairs, accompanied by several shouts of “Fire!”

Through the window, billowing white smoke was drifting nearby, exceptionally conspicuous in the lonely night.

The bodyguard panicked instinctively for a moment. By the time he turned back, the spot where Jian had stood was already empty.

Jian Yunchen flew down the stairs, not daring to stop for a single step. His breathing was ragged and his heart raced as if some demon were chasing him from behind.

Lights flickered on one by one, but everyone in the manor was preoccupied with the “fire”; no one bothered to notice the figure sprinting downstairs.

At the corner of the stairs, a hand suddenly reached out and pulled Jian Yunchen into a tight embrace.

“Ah!”

Jian Yunchen let out a startled cry, but his mouth was clamped shut, leaving the unfinished scream stuck in his throat.

Jian Yunchen’s eyes shook violently, his mind racing through various emergency measures.

However, the man leaned close to his ear. The warmth of his laugh brushed against his ear canal, and a pair of hot arms wrapped tightly around him, greedily inhaling his scent.

“Jian Yunchen.”

The man’s voice sounded, and Jian Yunchen’s heart suddenly hammered faster.

“Caught you.”

The chaotic noise outside gradually weakened, and the piercing “alarm” was finally deactivated. It had been nothing more than an accidental trigger; not even a spark of fire was found.

By the time the servants re-entered the house, the stairwell was empty, with not a soul in sight.

Under the moonless night, two figures ran swiftly, one after the other, their hands tightly clasped.

Their shadows projected onto the ground, moving closer and further, strengthening and weakening, constantly distancing and constantly overlapping.

After running for an unknown amount of time, Jian Yunchen truly couldn’t run anymore. He tugged at the hand of the person in front, stopping to gasp for air.

He bent over slightly, bracing his hands on his knees. “No… I can’t… I need to rest for a bit…”

The sentence came out in fragments; he had clearly reached his limit. His originally fair face was flushed with a thin layer of red from the run, and the stray hairs on his forehead were soaked with sweat, sticking to the side of his face.

Looking at his disheveled state, Qin Mu laughed wantonly, his eyes looking as if they were filled with starlight.

He laughed loudly, the sound echoing through the empty night.

“Jian Yunchen, you’ve only run this far and you’re already spent?”

Jian Yunchen looked up to glare at him, refusing to yield.

But when he saw the scene before him, he froze in surprise.

The thick clouds had been swept away by the wind at some unknown point, revealing the moonlight. The silvery-white light spilled over Qin Mu’s face, tracing an ambiguous, hazy veil around him.

Qin Mu’s smile was radiant. In the night, he was more dazzling than the scattered stars in the sky.

Jian Yunchen suddenly remembered the words Jiang Yunhan had said to him before he left.

Jian Yunchen slowly calmed his breathing, yet his heart began to beat even more violently than before. He took two steps forward and cradled Qin Mu’s cheeks with both hands.

The smile in Qin Mu’s eyes hadn’t faded; he merely looked at Jian’s actions with a hint of confusion, but he did not resist.

Jian Yunchen gazed into Qin Mu’s eyes.

His heartbeat gradually steadied.

“You like me.”

Qin Mu seemed not to have expected Jian Yunchen to suddenly say this; his eyes widened slightly.

Jian Yunchen looked deep into his eyes.

He began to smile softly.

Mouths can lie.

Eyes cannot.

He repeated the words again with a smile, his voice exceptionally certain:

“Qin Mu, you like me!”