Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Nan Mu gently patted her back as if coaxing a child.

Wen Miao’s nose stung. Her voice came out a little nasal as she asked, “Why are you here?”

“After you messaged me last night about Wen Xin and Wen Tangtang, I asked the company for leave…”

Because Nan Mu had suddenly remembered something he had forgotten.

Before he used the Time Machine to come back here and change Wen Miao’s fate of death, the first time Wen Miao died had been October 8, 2022.

After he learned that Wen Miao had been murdered, he had spent several days sunk in despair.

Back then, Wen Miao’s murder had caused an enormous stir. Every sector of society was paying close attention to it, so the police had placed the school under strict control.

Nan Mu had once thought about looking for Wen Tangtang to ask about the inside story behind Wen Miao’s murder. But at the time, as the victim’s family members, Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin were being closely guarded by the police. On top of that, the school was also worried that Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin might say something unfavorable about the school because of Wen Miao, so the two of them were arranged to live separately somewhere else. Ordinary students had no way of coming into contact with them at all.

The police lockdown lasted for nearly half a month. Immediately after that, an elderly family member of Nan Mu’s passed away, and he took leave to go home.

It was only later that Nan Mu learned the police had withdrawn from the school not long after he asked for leave. He had asked his classmates and found out that Wen Tangtang had already returned to the dormitory, but because she was in low spirits, everyone tried their best not to mention Wen Miao in front of her, afraid of making her sad.

On one hand, Nan Mu was immersed in grief over his maternal grandmother’s passing and had no energy to care about anything else. On the other hand, he thought the police would surely uncover the truth, and he also wanted to avoid asking Wen Tangtang directly and upsetting her. So he kept putting it off.

In the end, by the time he finished attending the funeral and returned to school, the situation had already changed: the police had failed to find the real culprit, and the case had dragged on until it became an unsolved mystery. He wanted to look for Wen Tangtang, only to learn that Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin had suddenly taken a leave of absence for no clear reason. Rumor had it that they were too overwhelmed with grief and had decided to suspend their studies for half a year.

The school was very understanding of the siblings’ feelings. It even announced publicly that it would send people to help counsel them and assist them in recovering their mental health as soon as possible.

At the time, it was not as though Nan Mu had never tried to contact the two of them through phone calls, text messages, and other means. But Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin never answered any calls from the outside world. None of their classmates could reach them either. Everyone assumed they were so grief-stricken that they did not want to come into contact with anyone or anything related to Wen Miao or the school. Gradually, no one called them anymore.

Nan Mu had believed that completely at the time. He thought the two of them really had been consumed by grief.

It was not until last night, when Wen Miao complained to him that the two of them were not replying to her messages, would not answer her calls, and would not respond to her texts-and that if the dorm supervisor had not said they had asked for leave, she would have suspected something had happened to them-that he suddenly realized this scene felt strangely familiar. Only then did suspicion slowly rise in him. He began to wonder whether Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin’s leave of absence back then had truly been caused by overwhelming grief.

Thinking about it now, there was something very odd about the whole matter. After all, Wen Tangtang had been his classmate for five years. He would not dare claim he understood her very well, but based on the personality Wen Tangtang had shown, she was someone warm on the outside and resilient within, not some fragile glass doll who could be knocked down so easily.

As for Wen Xin, although Nan Mu was not exactly close to him, after spending these past few days with him, he had gained some understanding of his temperament. He was not the kind of person who would blindly run away from pain when something happened. On the contrary, he seemed much more like the type who would not rest until he found the killer.
So once Nan Mu figured that out, he began to suspect that something might have happened to Wen Xin and Wen Tangtang. Since he knew they would definitely be fine later on, Nan Mu wasn’t panicked. And because he was afraid Wen Miao would worry, he hadn’t told her his theory over the phone yesterday.

But Wen Miao was clearly sharper than he had imagined. She had noticed what was wrong this quickly.

“Tang Tang and Wen Xin…”

There was a tremor in Wen Miao’s voice.

Nan Mu’s heart ached. He reached out, took Wen Miao by the shoulders, and looked into her eyes. “I know. But Wen Miao, you remember where I came from, right? Trust me. They’ll be fine. And it isn’t as bad as you’re imagining.”

At Nan Mu’s words, the string that had been pulled taut in Wen Miao’s heart suddenly loosened, and the tears she had been desperately holding back immediately fell.

Nan Mu lowered his lashes, staring at the droplets gathering on the back of his hand before sliding down. They were like scalding lava, burning straight into his heart.

He closed his eyes, pulled her into his arms, and couldn’t say a single word. All he could do was stroke her head again and again in silent comfort.

Only when the sobs in his arms gradually stopped did Nan Mu let go, intending to talk to Wen Miao.

But Wen Miao kept her head buried and clutched his lapel tightly, refusing to let go.

Nan Mu was puzzled. “Wen Miao?”

Wen Miao sniffled and asked, a little embarrassed, “Do you have any tissues?”

Nan Mu realized what she meant and found a pack of tissues to hand to her.

Wen Miao didn’t lift her head. Only after Nan Mu stuffed the tissues into her hand did she make a muffled request. “Can you close your eyes?”

Nan Mu said, “Hm?”

Wen Miao said, “Close your eyes, and cover your ears too.”

Nan Mu was at a loss. “Huh? Why?”

Wen Miao didn’t explain. She just stomped her foot. “Hurry up! Close your eyes and cover your ears!”

“Okay, okay.”

The crybaby was in charge, so he had no choice but to comply.

But covering his ears wasn’t all that effective. He still heard Wen Miao blowing her nose.

Nan Mu nearly laughed. He could more or less guess why she had insisted he close his eyes and cover his ears.

After a while, Nan Mu heard Wen Miao say, “You can open your eyes now.”

But Nan Mu kept his eyes closed and his ears covered, pretending he hadn’t heard.

It wasn’t until Wen Miao reached out and pulled his hands down that she said, “I said you can open your eyes now.”

Nan Mu feigned surprise. “Oh, I was covering them too tightly just now. I didn’t hear you at all.”

Seeing Wen Miao look satisfied, he smiled and asked, “Do you feel a little better now?”

Wen Miao’s expression instantly fell. “No. So… where did Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin go?”

Nan Mu shook his head and told her everything he knew. “I don’t know where the two of them went either, but one thing is certain: their lives shouldn’t be in danger.”

After listening, Wen Miao asked with a heavy heart, “Do you think this… could have something to do with Xu Lei?”

“Probably not. Judging by how those people operate, if Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin had stumbled onto something of theirs, they definitely would have eliminated the problem at the root. They wouldn’t have let them come back.”

“Then what else could they have gotten mixed up in? And who has that much power, to take both of them away without alerting anyone?”