vncnus Page 252
Page 252
She could sense that although Long Yan's attitude towards her was still cold, beneath that coldness seemed to lie an unspeakable sense of responsibility as a protector.
She would use this "sense of responsibility" to lure him step by step into the tender trap she had carefully woven.
That night, it was late and quiet.
Judy Tang, citing her gratitude for being saved and her desire to discuss security issues in person, once again invited Long Yan to her master suite on the third floor.
This suite is even more luxurious than the downstairs living room. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows lies the dazzling night view of Victoria Harbour. The room features soft Persian carpets, calming aromatherapy diffusers in the corners, and soothing jazz music playing in the air. 747
Instead of wearing those aggressively sexy nightgowns, Judy Tom changed into a conservative yet extremely soft beige cashmere dress. Her long hair was casually draped over her shoulders, and her face was bare of makeup. She lost some of her queenly aura and gained more of the gentleness and languor of a domestic woman.
Instead of immediately seducing him, she acted like a hostess, brewing Long Yan a cup of fine Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao tea.
“I know you don’t drink.” She handed the teacup to Long Yan with a faint smile. “Try this. It’s my father’s favorite tea. He said that truly good tea can taste the flavor of life.”
Long Yan took the teacup without saying a word, simply watching her quietly. He knew that tonight would be more than just drinking tea.
Sure enough, after exchanging a few pleasantries about trivial matters, Tang Judy slowly walked to the huge, professional-grade wine cabinet in the center of the room, large enough to accommodate seven or eight people.
“Mr. Long,” she said, her slender fingers gliding lightly over the rows of bottles labeled in French, “you may not drink, but with your knowledge, you must be able to help me appraise these collections left by my husband, right?”
She turned around and gave Long Yan a meaningful smile: "Just consider this... a lesson for this widow who knows nothing about wine, okay?"
Before Long Yan could answer, she took out a bottle of legendary red wine from the wine cabinet, labeled "1982 Romanée-Conti".
She gracefully opened the wine glass and poured the ruby-colored liquid into a crystal-clear Burgundy glass, designed to maximize the release of its aroma.
“They say that appreciating red wine involves three steps: looking, smelling, and tasting.” She held the wine glass, slowly walked to Long Yan, and handed it to him. Her beautiful eyes, under the dim light, seemed to be tinged with the color of red wine, becoming hazy and intoxicating.
"The first step is to observe its color." She guided Long Yan, "Look, the color of this wine, doesn't it resemble... the flame in the eyes of lovers in the throes of passion?"
Long Yan glanced down at the wine in his cup and calmly shook his head: "It doesn't seem like it. To this humble monk, this color is more like the last rays of the setting sun. Brilliant, yet fleeting. It foreshadows the inevitable return of all splendor to silence."
Judy's smile froze.
She never expected that Long Yan would deconstruct her romantic metaphor in such a "Buddhist" way.
“Well… well, a return to silence.” She forced a smile and continued guiding, “The second step is to smell its aroma. Smell it, this wine has a rich, layered aroma, with the fruity notes of blackcurrant, the fragrance of roses, and… a hint of leather wildness. Doesn’t that sound like the elusive, sweet yet dangerous scent of love?”
Long Yan brought the wine glass to his nose, took a light sniff, and shook his head again.
“It doesn’t seem like it,” he said calmly. “What this humble monk smells is the scent of soil that grapevines absorb as they struggle to survive; the silent lament of fruit being picked, pressed, and sealed; the decaying marks left by time on oak barrels. This is the cycle of arising and ceasing, formation, existence, decay, and emptiness, the suffering of reincarnation from which nothing can escape.”
Judy was utterly speechless. She felt like she wasn't flirting with a man, but rather attending a public lecture on "Buddhism and Winemaking" with a sage monk. The ambiguous and romantic atmosphere she had carefully cultivated had been shattered by him in a way that could only be described as a "dimensional reduction attack."
Looking at the man before her, whose handsome face, which even made her heart flutter, was filled with a solemnity and reverence that seemed to say "all is emptiness," Tang Judy suddenly felt that it all seemed absurd and somewhat laughable.
She couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing. This laugh was no longer the fake laugh filled with probing and seduction, but a genuine laugh from the heart, full of helplessness and appreciation.
"Hahahaha... Little monk, you... you are truly the most interesting, and also the most clueless, man I have ever met!" She laughed so hard that a single tear even welled up in her eye.
She downed the red wine in her glass in one gulp, then slammed the empty glass down on the table, looking at Long Yan with a slightly drunk but incredibly serious gaze.
“Fine, I won’t talk to you about romance anymore,” she said. “I only want to know one thing now. As a living, breathing person, do you really have no desires at all? Is your heart really made of stone?”
This question is remarkably similar to the one that Teacher He Min asked on the playground at sunset.
Long Yan's heart was gently touched once again.
He didn't answer, but silently placed the untouched glass of red wine back on the table.
To Judy, this silence was more meaningful than any answer.
She knew that the iceberg was truly melting.
Chapter 264 He Min's Tenderness, Judy's Jealousy
Following the swimming pool stabbing incident, police have raised security at the Wang family mansion to the highest level.
Using this as a pretext, Inspector Wong deployed more plainclothes officers, disguised as gardeners, electricians, and even deliverymen, to monitor the villa around the clock.
Using her position as a "specially appointed psychological consultant" for the police force, Ms. He Min obtained permission to visit. Her reason was perfectly legitimate—after experiencing such a traumatic event as an assassination, it was necessary to provide necessary psychological counseling to those involved, especially the first witnesses, Tang Judy and Zhou Xingxing, in order to assess their mental state.
Of course, everyone knows who she really wants to "guide".
That afternoon, He Min carried an exquisite thermos and came to the Wang family mansion again.
She was still dressed in her usual gentle and intellectual style. After meeting Zhou Xingxing and Tang Judy and conducting a routine "psychological assessment," she "inadvertently" found Long Yan patrolling in the back garden of the villa.
Afternoon sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled shadows.
Long Yan stood quietly under a huge banyan tree, his eyes closed and his mind focused, as if he had become one with his surroundings.
“Long Yan, classmate.”
Upon hearing He Min's familiar and gentle voice, Long Yan slowly opened his eyes.
"Teacher, what brings you here?" His tone remained calm, but upon closer listening, it seemed to carry a hint of warmth.
“I…I came to see you.” A faint blush rose on He Min’s face as she handed over the thermos and said softly, “I heard that the food here is very oily. Since you’re a vegetarian, I was worried that you wouldn’t be used to it and it would upset your stomach. So…I made you some soup myself, with yam, lotus seeds, and white fungus. It can…clear your mind and calm your nerves.”
Her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze in April, and her eyes were as clear as a mountain spring, without any impurities, full of pure concern.
This concern is completely different from the "interest" that Tom Judy has shown, which is full of a desire to conquer and a willingness to test.
Long Yan looked into her sincere eyes and fell silent. He didn't immediately take the thermos, unsure whether he should accept this overwhelming tenderness.
Seeing that he didn't speak, He Min assumed he was having an inconvenience and quickly explained, "Don't misunderstand, I didn't mean anything by it. I just... just as your teacher, I'm concerned about your health. What you're doing right now is very dangerous, you must... you must take good care of yourself."
As she spoke, her eyes reddened slightly. She was genuinely worried about him.
Seeing her on the verge of tears, Long Yan felt a slight sting in his heart.
In the end, he reached out and took the still-warm thermos.
“Thank you, teacher,” he said softly.
Upon receiving a response, He Min immediately stopped crying and started smiling. That smile was clean and pure, as if it could wash away all the gloom in people's hearts.
"Then drink it while it's hot, I... I won't disturb your work any longer." After saying that, she turned around and left quickly, a little shyly.
Long Yan stood there, holding the insulated container, motionless for a long time.
And this whole scene was seen clearly by one person from beginning to end.
On the second-floor balcony of the villa, Judy Tom held a cup of coffee, taking in the tender scene in the garden below.
0 ······Requesting flowers·· ··
She looked at the pure and gentle female teacher, at Long Yan's momentary hesitation as he accepted the thermos, and at the teacher's happy and contented figure as she left...
A strange emotion, unfamiliar even to herself, suddenly surged up from the bottom of her heart.
It's jealousy.
A primal jealousy that is purely a woman's.
She had always thought that her relationship with Long Yan was a cat-and-mouse game, full of wisdom and lust.
She enjoyed the process, the thrill of slowly melting an iceberg. She never considered anyone a true rival.
.... .... ....
However, upon seeing He Min, she felt threatened for the first time.
That female teacher wasn't as pretty, as rich, or as charming as her, and she certainly didn't have the means or allure to drive men crazy.
But she possesses the most precious thing she had long lost—a pure gentleness and sincerity untouched by the world.
And Long Yan falls for that.
Judy's hand tightened unconsciously around the coffee cup, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
Her bright eyes gleamed with a cold, competitive flame.
"Ha, plain porridge and side dishes..." she sneered, muttering to herself, "People who are used to delicacies will occasionally want to change their tastes. But, little monk, you will find sooner or later that only the finest liquor is worthy of a real man like you."
She drank the coffee in her cup in one gulp.
The bitter liquid slid down her throat, but it couldn't extinguish the ever-burning flames of jealousy within her heart.
Chapter 265 Wang Baiwan's Longevity Project
While the women of the mansion are caught in a web of emotional entanglements, two other "undercover agents" from the Wulong Temple are conducting a thorough and destructive investigation of the vast estate in their own unique way.
After the initial novelty wore off, Xiaolong and Choupiwen grew extremely weary of their jobs as gardeners and servants. Their restless, adventurous nature began to stir.
They firmly believed that a super-rich villain like Wang Baiwan must be hiding an earth-shattering secret in his home. It could be a mountain of gold bricks or a peerless martial arts manual capable of dominating the martial arts world.
So the two hit it off and decided to launch a secret "747" operation called "The Mansion Treasure Hunt".
Their actions were chaotic and extremely destructive.
On the first day, they tried to pry open the enormous wine cabinet to see if there were any hidden mechanisms inside. However, they used too much force and smashed two bottles of rare, six-figure-value wines; the strong aroma nearly intoxicated them. In the end, the old butler silently cleaned up the mess with a look of disgust.
The next day, they set their sights on the enormous, seemingly ancient safe in the study. The arrogant Wen, displaying his "scientific" spirit, tried to listen to the combination lock with a stethoscope. Xiao Long, on the other hand, was more direct, attempting to use his rudimentary kung fu skills learned at the Oolong Temple to kick open the safe with a powerful "Vajra Leg."
The safe remained unmoved, but Xiaolong's toes swelled up like carrots, causing him to hop on the ground for a long time in pain.
Two consecutive days of failure did not dampen their confidence. On the contrary, it made them feel that the higher the defense level of the villa, the more valuable the treasures inside would be.
That day, they set their sights on the large, classically styled study where Wang Baiwan often spent his life.
The study has a whole wall of bookshelves filled with all kinds of hardcover books.
"Senior brother," Wen, the arrogant fellow, pushed up his glasses and analyzed in a confident tone as if he were possessed by Conan, "Based on all the detective novels I've read, this kind of place almost always has a secret passage hidden behind a bookshelf! The switch is usually some inconspicuous book!"
"That makes sense!" Xiao Long nodded in deep agreement.
So the two of them started pulling books out of the bookshelf one by one, shaking each one before putting it back. They pulled out hundreds of books, making a complete mess of the study, but nothing happened.
Just when they were about to give up, Xiaolong accidentally knocked over a heavy globe on the desk that was meant to be used as a decoration.
With a "bang," the globe crashed to the ground.
Then, something incredible happened.
The seemingly ordinary wall next to the bookshelf suddenly made a soft "click" sound, then silently slid to one side, revealing a dark secret passage that could only accommodate one person at a time!
The two looked at each other, and saw extreme shock and ecstasy in each other's eyes!
Wow! It really exists!
Without a second thought, they immediately crawled inside. The passageway was short, ending at an elevator that required a fingerprint and password to activate.