Chapter 64: Shut Your Mouth

Chapter 64: Shut Your Mouth

Le Feng looked at Sweet Sister Jin holding a branch of red plum in his arms, showing a satisfied smile at his widened eyes.

But the next second, he watched as Sweet Sister's gaze shifted from shock to speechlessness, and from speechlessness to blazing anger, and without a word, Sweet Sister took that branch of red plum and slapped it across his face!

Le Feng instinctively leaned back tactically.

He dodged the face-targeted slap and looked at Chen Shijin with a puzzled and innocent gaze, tilting his head.

This reaction from Sweet Sister wasn't right; he had seen so much entertainment, usually, when handsome and strong men give flowers to beautiful women, the women's reactions are to blush shyly and look down, then to proactively offer a kiss as a tribute, right?

Thus, Chen Shijin realized that not only did this guy not reflect on breaking the plum branch for him, but he even used his face to accuse him of being heartless, which was laughably absurd.

At this time, there should be no further nonsense, just directly taking action to teach him a lesson.

The hot-tempered Sweet Sister immediately resorted to slapping, but Le Feng was never one to passively take hits. So, as the other exiles arrived, battered and trembling, what they saw was these two frolicking and chasing each other at the entrance of the Plum Garden, seemingly unaffected by the recent dangers of the garden, as if starring in some beautiful idol drama.

Hah.

They even dared to use plum blossoms as props!

This chase finally stopped when the tailcoat butler frantically ran after them with a sign.

When they stopped, the plum branch in Chen Shijin's hand was left with only the branch, devoid of any blossoms.

And Le Feng's face was full of joyous laughter.

Chen Shijin: ...

He suddenly realized that he shouldn't nitpick over such trifles with this kind of person, or he'd be dragged down to the same line of

After regaining his senses, Chen Shijin immediately wrote to proclaim his innocence: "Not my circus, not my monkeys! He broke the branch, I shouldn’t bear the blame."

The tailcoat butler, seeing Chen Shijin's writing board, smiled with a smirk that seemed laced with malice, and began to leisurely write back.

"Oh dear, guest, that’s a tough one to argue. After all, isn’t that broken plum branch in your hand right now?"

Chen Shijin narrowed his eyes.

By this time, the burly gardeners of the Plum Garden had also run over. Chen Shijin noticed that there were still three gardeners, but their shadows were all normal.

Chen Shijin showed his writing board to the three gardeners, hoping they would be reasonable and understand the facts.

Only to see the three gardeners revealing a more lecherous and malicious grin than the tailcoat butler.

The three gardeners also had their own writing boards and immediately brought them out: "Whoever holds the flower branch is the one who broke it!"

After displaying their shameless words, the three gardeners silently grinned with malice and charged at Chen Shijin with their large shears.

Sweet Sister Jin’s face showed an expression of speechlessness, then he slowly began to smile.

So, this is how you want to play?

Let’s take it up a notch, then!

Just as the three gardeners were about to cut him, the blond Sweet Sister promptly threw the plum branch in his hand backward, accurately landing it in the hands of the tailcoat butler.

The smile on the tailcoat butler’s face paused abruptly: .

The three gardeners also paused their shears.

Fortunately, the tailcoat butler reacted swiftly, tossing the plum branch back into Chen Shijin's hand, but Chen Shijin, with an even quicker response, had already dodged. Moreover, he even laughed coldly in front of the gardeners and other exiles, leaped up to break another plum branch, and then threw it back to the gleaming-eyed Le Feng.

Le Feng immediately became happy.

He always said Jin was the cutest and most understanding sweetheart! He must have been thrilled with the flower just now, so now he's returning the favor!

So, while the other exiles quickly distanced themselves from Le Feng, fearing he might throw the plum blossom at them, Le Feng, beaming, showed the plum blossom in his hand to the three gardeners.

Why would he throw the plum blossom?

This is the unique snow plum his sweetheart gifted him!

The three gardeners: ...

The three gardeners could only grimace and attack Le Feng.

But that damn Sweet Sister hadn't finished yet!

She leaped up again, breaking off four more plum branches, throwing one to the naturally rebounding Wu Qingyu, who, upon catching the flower, curved her lips and then tossed it to a nearby exile.

That exile, nearly screaming in fright, reflexively threw the plum blossom to someone else. And so, it passed from person to person... much like the game of passing the parcel.

The other three plum branches in Sweet Sister's hand were crazily thrown at the tailcoat butler.

Tailcoat butler: .

Throwing one only for another to be thrown, always ensuring he had a branch in hand no matter what.

Tailcoat Butler: This is retaliation! Blatant retaliation!!

Fortunately, the flower-passing game without drums finally came to an end—

Besides the treasured plum blossom Le Feng kept, the remaining four blossoms were coldly stuffed by the irate Sweet Sister into the hands of the three gardeners, who were jointly restrained by the exiles.

The expressions on the faces of the three gardeners, looking at the broken plum blossoms in their hands, were indescribably twisted.

Why did they have to write that sentence?!

The Tailcoat Butler internally rolled his eyes countless times, then somewhat helplessly lifted his writing board: "Dear guests, it's about time to head back, rest up, and then we can have lunch."

"In the afternoon, you can choose to relax in the hot springs or enjoy the snowy spring scenery in the glass greenhouse. Of course, you have five more days here to rest and explore the entirety of Silent Manor at your leisure."

"Silent Manor is beautiful and tranquil, the perfect place to rest and sleep~"

Chen Shijin felt that the last four words seemed a bit ominous, evoking a sense of a final resting place.

However, he won't be heading to the hot springs or specifically admiring the glasshouse this afternoon. He plans to observe all the manor's staff to see if their shadows match his suspicions.

By then, the Tailcoat Butler was already preparing to leave with the sign, but some exiles were frequently looking towards the deeper parts of the Plum Garden.

"Butler, please wait, we still have four companions who haven't come out, we're not all here yet. Only thirteen people."

The Tailcoat Butler slightly curved his lips upon reading this, writing lightly on the board: "No need, we're all accounted for."

In that moment, even the most stable squad of five showed surprised expressions on their faces.

Chen Shijin saw the woman with long, sharp, black nails accidentally cut her own finger with her dark nails.

The burly man next to her widened his eyes in shock.

How is that possible?

The shadow died?!

However, the tailcoat butler wouldn't offer them any explanations, and these people wouldn't risk re-entering the Plum Garden now with unknown dangers lurking.

Thus, the remaining thirteen individuals, each with their own thoughts, followed the tailcoat butler back into the villa's main hall.

Upon entering the villa, a warm breeze greeted them; the maids had prepared hot tea and delicious pastries, even offering warm towels for face cleaning.

Everyone sat at the grand dining table, sipping hot tea and feeling as if they had come back to life. The atmosphere might have been better if not for the nine now-empty seats.

Just went to admire the plums, and four people were lost in the process.

Those who took off their cloaks sat silently at the table, drinking tea and eating snacks without engaging in conversation.

In contrast to these exiles, silent due to the loss of their teammates, Chen Shijin, who was alone, was quite at ease.

He thoroughly enjoyed his tea and cake, relishing the fact that he didn't have to speak or socialize.

If it weren’t for the man-eating monsters and exiles who blamed their companions' deaths on him, watching him closely and wanting to kill him, this place would indeed be a wonderful spot for a vacation and relaxation.

Chen Sijin glanced at the few exiles glaring at him darkly, thinking, why not settle this once and for all now? What’s the fun in just glaring?

As he raised his clipboard to signal the maid for another glass of milk and a small cake, he suddenly heard a faint cough in the silence, uncontrollable even if muffled by a hand.

Chen Jin, holding his writing board, paused and turned his head towards the direction of the coughing sound.

Not just him, all the exiles sitting at the table looked towards the source of the cough.

They saw a beautiful woman with wide, terrified eyes, desperately covering her mouth.

She belonged to the team where everyone was remarkably attractive, led by a blond gentleman.

This team now had four members left, and the one coughing was a woman with long curly hair.

As everyone's gaze turned to her, her expression tightened further, perhaps causing her to lose control over her coughs, turning her face red despite trying to hold them back.

"Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough! Hu, hmm! Cough, cough, cough!"

The more she coughed, the more fearful and panicked she became, desperately trying to write on her writing board.

[I didn't! I haven't done anything! Why can't I stop coughing?! I haven't broken any rules! I dodged a rabbit's attack in the plum garden!]

She wrote with great force, her face reddening even as she couldn't stop coughing more and more.

Listening to her cough, Chen Sijin felt an itch in his throat, tempted to cough along.

Then, he actually heard other coughs—

He was one of the five-person team that suffered the least losses, who hadn’t really laid hands on him, yet he felt was the most dangerous.

Oh, it's a four-person team now. The shadow assassin who wanted to kill him is already dead.

The coughing came from a tall, thin man with a somewhat greenish complexion. His coughing grew louder and more forceful, similar to that of the long-haired beauty, as if he was about to cough out his heart and lungs.

However, unlike the long-haired beauty who was now unable to control her coughing, this thin man with a green face used his abilities to heal himself from the moment he started coughing.

He seemed to be a very powerful healer.

After healing himself, his condition improved significantly, at least enough to try to suppress the urge to cough.

Yet, Chen Sijin noticed that his complexion had turned from a lively green to a more ghastly green than before.

[My cloak was pulled off while I was in the Plum Garden.]

He wrote down the reason for his wind-cold coughing.

Everyone understood.

So, the long-haired woman who was coughing might have also lost her cloak and suffered from the cold, causing uncontrollable coughing.

However, upon seeing this explanation, the woman shook her head in disbelief, coughing as she cried out:

"No, no! Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough! You've got it wrong, cough, cough, I didn't! My cloak didn't fall off, cough, cough, cough, cough—cough, cough, cough! My cloak didn't fall off!! Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!"

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough—puh—"

As she sharply insisted her cloak hadn't fallen, her continuous coughing suddenly ceased; she abruptly clutched her chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Chen Jin saw her life value plummet to 0.

She died from coughing right in front of everyone.

To the end, she didn't understand why she died from coughing.

Chen Jin watched the long-haired woman collapse not far from him, slowly, gradually shifting his gaze upwards to the face of the blond man who had just finished his dessert and was wiping his mouth with a napkin.

If he wasn't mistaken, the person in the plum garden who attempted to control a gardener to attack and couldn't kill the sister, ending up getting his cloak pulled off by the rebounding gardener, was this guy right here.

When did he transfer his own afflicted state to that unjustly deceased long-haired lady?

Ah.

As he entered, he courteously extended his hand, assisting the long-haired girl by undoing her cloak.

Seeing the unexpectedly gentle smile the blond man offered him, Sweet Sister Jin silently scoffed.

Look, a man's unsolicited attentiveness invariably signals ulterior motives or deceit. Ladies, beware.

As he thought this, suddenly, a small plate with a plum blossom-shaped dessert that looked exceedingly beautiful and charming was extended from the opposite side.

Sweet Sister Jin coldly looked up, only to see the playful figure opposite him making a silly grin, eagerly offering his attention with a sign.

[Sweetie~ Try this! It's the best!]

Sweetheart Jin: …………

Alright, he retracts his earlier comment.

A man's unsolicited attentiveness, apart from ulterior motives or deceit, might also simply be for amusement.

Bah! Eat your grandpa!

Yue Feng smiled with his eyes curving up: [It's super energizing.]

Sweetheart Jin: …Really? He was skeptical.

After a pause, Sweetheart Jin still picked up the plum blossom pastry and popped it into his mouth.

Wow.

So it's delicious and packed with energy?

Does the manor's master treat guests differently?!