The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

Lanni felt her heart lurch in her throat when she saw her grandmother go back into the house. Would Luna be alright?

When no one else was noticing, Xiehan squeezed her hand. "Luna is good at this."

"I know. But I’m still worried." Her body was stiff with tension. Luna was pregnant. If anything happened to her or the baby, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"If you look anxious, they will start to suspect you." Xiehan leaned by her ear and whispered. He was right, so she took deep breaths and tried to calm down.

Glancing at her slightly parted lips, he pressed a kiss on them.

Her eyes went wide, then her cheeks flushed in embarassment. "What the hell are you doing?" There were other people around!

He grinned evilly. "Getting them to stop looking at you."

Well, he had succeeded. Xia Yuguang, who had been sneaking glances at her, was now playing on his phone while the maids at the side desperately found things to do and mind their business.

...

Upstairs.

Luna did not expect to find anything useful at first glance. However, she did find many suspicious aspects. For example, there was an unnoticeable fingerprint censor on the doorknob of the study room door, and if one was careful to notice, there was what looked like a jade rose above it. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a camera that must have been set to take pictures of intruders.

Luckily, hacking was her forte. Besides, she had been to this mansion when she was younger and knew her way around. From her observation earlier, not many things had changed. Even God was helping her.

Just in case she needed it, she had always carried a gel with her whenever she went. While it looked as harmless as a lipgloss, it was a gel virus with fatal effects; it could disable a fingerprint lock and force it open within seconds.

Once she got in, she used the desktop to disable and erase her movements from all the surveillance cameras in the house then proceeded to check around.

She didn’t have much time and could only use the chance to make herself familiar with the study. Her eyes almost popped out when she saw a painting that looked like what Lanni had described before.

Her gaze narrowed. This painting of Cedric’s great great grandfather should be in the Old Ji Mansion’s library. What was it doing in the Xia Mansion’s study? Because she was not sure, she took a picture to ask Lanni for confirmation later.

Just as she was about to touch it, she received a text message from Lanni. The old lady was coming upstairs! 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

She quickly exited the study and went to the communal bathroom nearby. By the time the old madam saw her, Luna was on her way back from the bathroom. She had even left her hands slightly damp as an alibi.

As expected, the old madam looked relieved when she saw that Luna had indeed gone to the bathroom. She even flashed a smile. "I’ve been meaning to say, don’t hold it in for too long or your stomach will hurt. You are expectant and should be more cautious."

Luna flashed back a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "Understood, grandma."

The old madam was visibly shocked. Luna didn’t ignore her!

She was used to Luna’s explosive temper from before. Not only could she explode at the slightest provocation, but she was also fond of giving people a penetrative stare, one that made people feel like she could see right into their hearts. Moreover, she held grudges for ages. The old madam had not treated her too well before, so logically, Luna should not be smiling and calling her grandma.

If it wasn’t for the slight curve on her lower abdomen, the elder madam would have been convinced that she was looking at Lanni.

While she was still trying to figure out what was odd about the young woman, Luna brushed past her. "Grandma, my family is waiting for me. I have to go."

The elderly woman frowned. What the heck did she mean? Was she trying to imply that she was not part of her family?

She was yet to figure this out when Luna disappeared down the stairs.

...

"What are you girls up to?" Xia Hanchen flicked the twins’ foreheads when they were on their way back.

"Ow, dad!" Lanni rubbed her forehead and looked up at Xiehan, who was sitting beside her, to complain.

Xingyu was sitting opposite them. He glanced at his fiancée, who was waiting for him to rub her forehead, then at Lanni and Xiehan. "I want to know too."

Lanni and Luna exchanged glances. If they told their dad and Xingyu about it, that would mean that more people knew about the matter.

"Dad, why don’t we tell you about it when it’s settled? Xingyu, you too." Lanni said reluctantly.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell them about it, but the walls had ears. They could only explain when they were certain that it was just the five of them.

Xia Hanchen harrumphed. "You better not be committing a crime."

"Of course not! We are innocent little babies. How could we go against the law?" Lanni chuckled as she put on an innocent face.

"Innocent babies?" Xingyu and Xiehan exchanged glances and laughed. Like anyone would believe that.

...

As soon as they arrived in B City, Lanni, Luna and Xiehan rushed to Lanni’s apartment. It was already 9pm and Xingyu would not let Luna go back on her own, so they brought him along.

After settling on the living room couches, Luna took out her phone and showed Lanni the pictures she had taken. "Is this the painting you saw in the Ji Mansion library?"

Lanni was shocked when she saw it. "This is it! Wait, there’s a slight difference. The one at the Ji Mansion does not have this signature." She pointed at a signature at the bottom left corner. It should be the original artist’s signature and pen name.

Luna was baffled. "One of them is a counterfeit?"

"I don’t think so..." Lanni frowned. She had touched the painting at the Ji Mansion and it didn’t seem to be counterfeit.

Xiehan looked over too, and saw what she was pointing at. However, "I don’t think any of them is a fake. They are both authentic. One of them must be a legal copy."

Luna frowned slightly. Her gaze met Lanni and she seemed to have understood something too. "Are you thinking what I’m thinking?"

Lanni made a search online and when she was done, she was baffled. "There are only two of this painting that have ever existed. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they happen to be with the Ji and Xia families."

Xingyu couldn’t make head or tail of what was going on so Luna explained it to him.

When he had grasped the situation, he thought about it and asked, "What about aunt Yuming’s appearance? Do you think it’s a coincidence that she was close to the Ji family for a while then married a man from the Xia family?"

"What the heck?" Luna almost dropped her phone.

Xiehan frowned, while Lanni gasped. "It sounds far-fetched, but it does make some sense. Why did our mother marry father? And why does she keep insisting that the Xia family is treacherous no matter what we tell her? Besides, what does she know that she thinks would put my life in danger?"

Xiehan tried to pin the facts together but he shook his head in the end. "Aunty Yuming got close to the Ji family because of me. As for why she married uncle Xia, I cannot make a guess."

Jiang Xingyu was at it again.

"What if you were just an excuse?" His words were directed at Xiehan.

Luna shot him a glare. "Can you not say such terrifying things?"

Xiehan cleared his throat. "What are we investigating again?"

"Right. The boss of Galaxis. But what if the Xia family also has something to do with him?" Luna contemplated. "Grandma is acting strange..."

"Grandpa too." Lanni added. "I don’t want to think this way but why does it feel like our dad is strange too? They might know something."

"Do you think we should ask him?" Luna suggested.

Lanni tilted her head to glance at her. "Are you crazy? If we think he is strange, why would we ask him?"

"Because he might know something. He might be acting strange because he knows that we are trying to uncover something that might put us in danger. Isn’t that what mother said to you?" Luna shrugged.

Xiehan thought about it and suggested, "Don’t interrogate him. We can just tell him a few details for the sake of testing his reaction."

"Good idea." the three of them agreed.

___

Meanwhile, Ji Feifei locked herself in her room and made a call. A deep voice answered after a single ring.

"What is it? Did you do it?"

"Boss, I think I’ve been found out!" She cried.

A series of curses resounded. "Stupid b*tch!" If she thought she was being suspected, why was she so brainless? Didn’t she know that her phone could have been bugged?!