Why did you provoke me?

The girl stepped forward and extended her hand. "I'll help you up."

Yu Meng smiled and placed her hand on hers, using the pull to stand up.

The girl's hands were clean, with long, slender fingers. There were no calluses left from the hard work of country folk.

"Are you here looking for someone? I know almost everyone in the neighboring villages. Do you need me to help you find them?" The old woman's words rang in Yu Meng's ears.

Yu Meng shook her head. "I heard that the Jing family is a holy land for bone painters, so I wanted to go and see it, but I couldn't even get inside."

"Sigh, who can argue with that? I went there today for my niece too." The older woman sighed as well.

Yu Meng looked at the girl. "You want to send her to the Jing family?"

"Yes." He sighed after saying that.

"Is her phone number very high?" Yu Meng asked again.

"Mom, why are you saying all this? Let's go, or it'll be dark by the time we get home," the woman named Juanzi interrupted her mother.

Yu Meng looked at the little girl and said, "What can you do now? Peel dough, make beads, and pull aliens."

The girl looked at Yu Meng and asked, "You can do that too?"

Yu Meng's lines appeared, twirling nimbly on her fingers.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, their eyes fixed on Yu Meng's hand.

The girl's eyes were fixed on Yu Meng's hands. "How long have you been practicing?"

Yu Meng laughed, "You still haven't told me your phone number."

The girl glanced at the older woman, then at the so-called team leader.

"Teacher, how about we talk as we walk? Look, it's getting late," the team leader suggested with a smile.

Yu Meng shook her head, "I'm going to town, I'm not going with you."

"But it's a long way from here to town. It's getting dark, and it's not safe for you to be alone," the older woman advised from the side.

"That's not a problem for me." Yu Meng then looked at the girl. "Really not going to tell?"

The girl lowered her head and said, "I don't know you."

"You can take a gamble. I guarantee it will be several times better than going to the Jing family," Yu Meng said casually.

The girl was still hesitant. Yu Meng sighed, "Your kindness makes me willing to give her a chance, but it seems we are not meant to be."

He casually plucked two blades of grass from the roadside, quickly turned them into beads, and tossed them to the old lady, saying, "Consider this a return gift for the water you gave me; it's worth a little money."

The older woman took it hesitantly, saying, "It's just a sip of water, no need to return the favor." She silently thought to herself, "You haven't even had a drink yet."

Yu Meng brushed the dirt off her clothes. "Water is cheap, but kindness is. I'm leaving now. See you again someday!"

Yu Meng's lines appeared, wrapping around her legs. Without looking back, she quickly headed down the road into town, disappearing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

The girl stared blankly, while everyone else gaped in astonishment.

"Mom, where did you meet her? She seems really capable."

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"We were on the same bus in Jingjiaji, and we didn't speak to each other the whole way. After we got off the bus here, she started vomiting. I felt sorry for her, so I handed her a water bottle."

The girl looked up at the older woman. "Auntie, did I miss something?"

The captain sighed inwardly; who knew this guy had such a temper.

Looking down at the girl, he said, "You were right not to give your number to strangers. She seems a bit tough, but we don't know her background. If you go with her and encounter danger, we won't know where to find you."

"That's right." The older woman also took her hand. "This time when I went to the Jing family, I didn't meet the head of their household, and I didn't have a chance to talk about you. Next time, I'll go and ask again. Your phone number is high, they'll definitely accept you."

Yu Meng stood in the shadows, listening to their conversation, and finally shook her head. Even if the girl chased her for a while, she would turn back.

She could sense the girl's high talent, and she really wanted to train another one. After all, she was currently short-staffed.

But now, she's given up. She lacks her own opinions and her personality doesn't match. If she brought someone like that home, Nian Nian definitely wouldn't like her; they simply wouldn't get along.

This time, Yu Meng was really leaving. She didn't make things difficult for herself anymore and directly sent a message to Secretary Wu, asking him to send someone to pick her up.

Then there's the long-haired man and the cripple.

The two agreed to act that night. With the long-haired man's concealment formation, getting out wouldn't be difficult; the only problem was that the lame man's leg was still immobile. The distance they would travel was rather long.

But before they could take any action, something happened to the beautiful woman.

The cripple sat in the corner, listening to the news brought back by the long-haired man.

"What did you say? What do you mean the head of the family is missing?"

"How would I know? I just wanted to know what they lost. But what I heard was this."

"Um, you didn't leave anyone here or anything, why don't you go ask around?" The cripple stammered. These kinds of things are usually kept secret, and he was prepared for the long-haired man to get angry when he asked this question.

"Sigh, I'd like to, but I really don't have any."

The cripple was stunned. "When did you become so obedient?"

The long-haired man was furious. "Tell me, when have I ever been dishonest?"

"It's true that we're in such a miserable state, but you insist on pretending it's true." The lame man's voice was very soft, but the long-haired man still heard him clearly.

"If you don't say it that way, what do you want to say?"

The cripple fell silent. After a long pause, he spoke in a low voice, "Let's leave tonight. Otherwise, we won't be able to leave."

The long-haired man nodded silently. "Okay."

This beautiful woman was truly unlucky. That room with the white carpet was her tea room. Sometimes she would also entertain close friends and family there.

The loss of the alien mother crystal core greatly frustrated her, and the lack of results after a whole morning only fueled her anger.

During her midday rest, she went to the tea room and half-reclined on the small tatami mat. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she unconsciously slapped the tea table next to her.

In an instant, the mechanism under the small couch was triggered, and the person and the small couch fell into the underground dark room.

The floor above was restored to its original state.

And just like that, the head of the Jing family disappeared. When the old steward came to ask for the next instructions, he found that the man was nowhere to be found.

You might ask, "Why don't we just go inside and take a look? The tatami mat has disappeared; we can find out the reason and then locate the person responsible."

First of all, this tea room is the head of the household's private space, and it contains many things that are not meant to be seen by others. As the head of the household, she would never allow anyone to enter casually.

Secondly, she is a fake. Only by maintaining an air of mystery can she command respect and fear. Keeping people out of her private domain also demonstrates her authority.

The old butler searched everywhere the master might be, but in the end, he found nothing.

He sat on the stone steps outside the beautiful woman's lounge. His heart pounded; could it be that the lost item had been found, and the patriarch had gone into seclusion?

It made no sense that he wouldn't even be notified. He sighed, stood up, and looked at the door in front of him, but still didn't have the courage to push it open.

Therefore, in his capacity as steward, he issued an order for the Jing family to close their doors to visitors for three days, and to conduct a full-scale search for the thieves.

The Jing family compound is under complete martial law.

The long-haired man and the lame man, who had just crawled out of the secret passage, noticed that the style of the lanterns hanging at the entrance of the Jing family had changed, and couldn't help but feel secretly relieved, "We really almost couldn't get out."