Jingwei laughed awkwardly as he stared at the TV. It was now showing a nature documentary. A dead elephant's decomposing body was shown, and he hurriedly looked away.
"Hahahaha… why would you think so? I'm not scared at all." He insisted, but his eyebrow was twitching.
"Please lie better at the press conference. If not, you're going to die like that elephant in the documentary." Xue Ning said with all seriousness. The TV was now showing the scene of a flock of vultures waiting around. It felt frightfully ominous.
"That's so reassuring, thank you for that." Jingwei replied sarcastically. "I'm doing my best."
"You're welcome," she patted his hand. Jingwei gave her a grouchy look, but he took the chance to lace his fingers with hers. She pulled away, ignoring his confused look.
"That's why I think you should spend less time thinking about getting me into your bed, and more time pouring over those documents Shengli sent over."
"Oh, that's not possible." Jingwei said with all honesty. "Even if I don't hit on you, I'll still be thinking of you." He reached out to hold her hand again, and she let him, because if he did not listen to her she'll twist his fingers backwards.
"Well, stop it then!" Xue Ning insisted, as though it was as easy as turning off a light switch."You need all your brain power for the press conference! Stop using it to think of ways to seduce me!"
Clearly, she did not realise that she had all but taken over Jingwei's waking moments, and a majority of his sleeping moments too.
Even with the threat of the press conference looming closer with each passing hour, it was impossible to not think of her, especially when she was now living in his home, barely steps away from him.
He knew that despite her efforts to remain unmoved, she wasn't as unaffected as she claimed to be.
"You're wavering inside, aren't you? So close to surrendering to my attempts," Jingwei asked mischievously, and Xue Ning had to smack him again.
"See! This is what I'm talking about! Why are you focusing on the wrong thing?" Xue Ning scolded.
"Okay okay, I'll try to focus more on my press conference." He promised. "I'll make sure to devote the majority of my time to the asshole reporters that are ready to rip me apart at a moment's notice, instead of my beloved bodyguard wife that looks adorable in her sleepwear. Will that do?"
Xue Ning flushed. There he was, doing it again!
"Yes, exactly. And besides, I'm not your wife, I'm now your fiancee instead. You need to use the right words!" She insisted, glaring at him. "If not, we're going to have trouble at the press conference."
Jingwei nodded obediently. "Alright, as my fiancee says. But can this embargo from you begin from tomorrow morning onwards? It's hard for me to go cold turkey like this without warning."
"Cold turkey?" Xue Ning choked out a laugh. "I'm not a drug!"
Jingwei shifted closer to her, nearly enveloping her with her body as he looked at her intensely. They had kissed on this very couch just hours ago.
Their eyes met, and Jingwei knew, from the way Xue Ning's cheeks reddened and how her tongue quickly darted out to wet her lips that she was remembering it. He lowered his head further to murmur in her ear.
"If you could read my mind, there's no way you would think that. Do you know what you've done to me?"
Xue Ning swallowed.
"I can guess," she said weakly. "But that's why I say you should stop thinking of me now. In that way. At least until the press conference ends. If you don't, I'll rip off your fingers."
"...Okay." Jingwei breathed out a pained sigh, and sat back down on the couch as though it was a herculean effort to pull himself out of her orbit. "You have given me the most difficult test of my life, but for you, I shall endure."
She would scold him for being dramatic, but she was feeling off-kilter too.
"Good," she said instead, nodding to herself.
This was what she wanted, so why was she feeling disappointed?
"Now, I'll be going to bed now. You should sleep early too." She continued, leaving the couch, but Jingwei held her hand firmly.
"What?"
"Can I have a goodnight kiss? At least for tonight." Jingwei pleaded with puppy eyes.
"No," She said firmly. "There are no kisses until the press conference is over. Goodnight."
Jingwei stared at her in horror, as though he was struck. His hold on her loosened and she tugged her hand away and went to her room.
"Are you serious?" Jingwei whined plaintively after her, following her like a rejected puppy.
"Yes, sleep well." Xue Ning said, closing the door on his face, ignoring the crestfallen look on his face.
Jingwei sat on the couch, before a grin slowly spread across his face. No kisses until the press conference is over? This meant that she would be kissing him in future!
(Of course, assuming he didn't become Public Enemy #1)
With that cheering thought, he decided to look through Shengli's notes one more time. He felt more motivated than ever to get through the press conference!
===
While Jingwei and Xue Ning could still get a good night's sleep, Officer Tang was once again working late at night.
The results for the lab tests have returned. What was suspected to be a simple case of food coma wasn't that simple after all!
It turned out that the noodles were laced with trace amounts of sleeping pills. Whoever was responsible for cooking the food had crushed the pills into fine powder and mixed them with soup. The powder was relatively tasteless, so the soup was enough to disguise its presence.
Paired with noodles, fishballs and dumplings, no one was any wiser.
And whoever who was responsible was smart enough to not put too much of it into the food - so as to ensure that the officers weren't knocked out immediately! Instead, they let the drug kick in naturally with the food coma, so that it looked like a case of negligence instead of wilful sabotage.
Officer Tang felt a chill creep up his spine at his work desk. Whoever planned this murder attempt was incredibly meticulous - if it had failed, Officer Tang had no doubt that another attempt would be made!
Who did the Sun family offend so badly?
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