She’s Being Naughty - Chapter 25

The flashlight beam from the phone cut through the darkness of the woods like a sharp blade.

Xu Zhaoyi gripped her phone tightly, the pillar of light landing on a dark figure. Her heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

The person didn’t move, standing quietly in the shadows of the trees.

Xu Zhaoyi’s fingers slipped quietly into her bag, grasping the canister of pepper spray.

“Who’s there?” Her voice sounded exceptionally clear in the silent woods, though it trembled slightly.

There was no answer. Only the rustle of the night wind blowing through the leaves.

Gritter her teeth, Xu Zhaoyi took a half-step forward, trying to get a clearer look at the figure.

At that moment, the figure moved.

They didn’t come toward her; instead, they turned and headed deeper into the woods.

Xu Zhaoyi froze. Was this… a lure? A trap?

Her mind raced, but her feet were already following. She couldn’t just let this person go, what if they knew where Jiang Yao was?

The two of them moved through the forest, one after the other. Xu Zhaoyi maintained her distance, her palms so sweaty they dampened the handle of the pepper spray.

After walking for about five minutes, the figure suddenly stopped in a clearing. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, dimly illuminating the small space.

The person turned around to face her.

Xu Zhaoyi finally saw him clearly. It was a young man, appearing to be in his early twenties, dressed in all black. His features were ordinary, but his eyes were sharp.

“Who are you?” Xu Zhaoyi asked again, her voice steadier this time.

The man didn’t answer her question. He merely sized her up. “Miss Xu, you shouldn’t have come here.”

He knew her name.

Xu Zhaoyi’s heart sank. “How do you know who I am?”

“Miss Jiang’s instructions,” the man said. “She told me to wait for you here.”

Xu Zhaoyi was stunned. Jiang Yao told him to wait for me?

“Jiang Yao told you to wait for me?” she repeated, unable to believe it. “Where is she now?”

“Inside,” the man replied. “But she told me to tell you, don’t go in. Go home. She will handle everything.”

Xu Zhaoyi stared into the man’s eyes. “Is she… is she okay?”

“For now,” the man said. “But if you barge in, that might change.” He paused. “This isn’t a situation you can handle. Miss Jiang told you to leave for your own good.”

Xu Zhaoyi felt as if her heart had been violently tugged. Even in a place like this, Jiang Yao was still worrying about her safety.

“I want to see her,” she said firmly.

The man shook his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll disrupt her plan,” the man said bluntly. “Miss Jiang has spent a long time getting to this point. It can’t all go to waste because of you.”

Xu Zhaoyi bit her lip. “What plan?”

“I can’t tell you that,” the man said. “You just need to know that what Miss Jiang is doing right now is very important. Furthermore, she has the ability to protect herself. But if you go in, you’ll only distract her.”

He made sense. But Xu Zhaoyi couldn’t accept it. She didn’t want to just leave and let Jiang Yao face those dangers alone.

“What is she doing in there?” she asked again. “Is it dangerous?”

The man was silent for a moment. “A little. But Miss Jiang is prepared.”

He took a small object out of his pocket and tossed it to Xu Zhaoyi. It was a small USB drive.

“Miss Jiang told me to give this to you,” he said. “There’s a message for you inside. Listen to it yourself.”

Xu Zhaoyi caught the drive, its small, cold metal casing sending a chill through her. A complex wave of emotion welled up inside her. Jiang Yao had even prepared this. She might really have… prepared for the worst-case scenario.

“Listen to it now,” the man said. “And after you’ve heard it, it’s time to go home.”

Xu Zhaoyi pulled out her phone and plugged in the drive. There was only one audio file. She clicked it, and Jiang Yao’s voice drifted out.

The voice was calm and gentle, just like how she usually spoke to her.

“Zhao Zhao, if you’re hearing this, it means you didn’t listen and you came looking for me after all.”

“I know you’re worried about me, but I’ll say it again: be a good girl and go home.”

“I will handle things on my end. Don’t worry, and don’t do anything rash.”

“The three-day deadline… I promised you I’d be fine, and I will keep that promise.”

“Take that USB drive with the evidence. The password is still your birthday. If things don’t go well on my end, do as I taught you and make your choice. But until then, don’t act blindly.”

“And…”

She paused, her voice becoming even softer.

“Thank you for caring about me so much. To me… that means a lot.”

“So, promise me, protect yourself.”

“Wait for me to come back.”

The audio ended.

Xu Zhaoyi stared at her phone screen, her eyes stinging. Every word Jiang Yao said sounded like a final goodbye. Yet, she claimed she would be fine and would return.

“The three day deadline she mentioned…” Xu Zhaoyi looked up at the man. “How much time is left?”

“Tomorrow is the third day,” the man said.

That was tomorrow. If Jiang Yao hadn’t returned by tomorrow, or if… something happened…

Xu Zhaoyi took a deep breath. “I can wait. But I won’t go home. I’ll wait here.”

The man frowned. “Miss Xu, you can’t…”

“I won’t go inside and bother her,” Xu Zhaoyi interrupted. “I’ll just wait outside. Surely that’s okay?”

The man stared at her for a long time, then sighed.

“Fine. But you can’t wait here. It’s too conspicuous. I know a place nearby that’s a bit safer. You can wait there.” He paused. “But Miss Xu, I suggest you don’t get your hopes too high. What Miss Jiang is doing this time… isn’t easy.”

“I know,” Xu Zhaoyi said. “But I’m going to wait for her.”

The man said nothing more. He turned and led her in another direction. This time, they didn’t head back to the car but circled around the edge of the woods to the other side of the manor.

There was an abandoned greenhouse here. The glass had long since shattered, leaving only a dilapidated frame. But at least it provided some shelter from the wind and wasn’t easily spotted.

“Wait here,” the man said. “If there’s news, I’ll come to notify you. Until then, don’t wander off.”

Xu Zhaoyi nodded. The man left.

She sat alone in the abandoned greenhouse, listening to the howling wind outside and the occasional sound of vehicles passing in the distance. Her phone had no signal, she couldn’t even send a message.

She could only wait.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Xu Zhaoyi sat on a battered wooden chair in the corner, hugging her knees, her mind replaying Jiang Yao’s words from the audio on a loop.

“Thank you for caring about me so much. To me… that means a lot.”

Xu Zhaoyi had caught that slight tremor in Jiang Yao’s voice when she said those words. Was that… touched?

Someone as powerful and calm as Jiang Yao, who seemed to need nothing, could be moved by her concern. This realization made Xu Zhaoyi’s heart soften further.

She thought back to her former self, always cold-faced toward Jiang Yao, always looking for trouble. Back then, she thought Jiang Yao was just a woman who married her father for money, a hypocritical, acting stepmother. She had tried everything to make Jiang Yao look bad.

Wreaths, burnt fried eggs, nightgowns, red wine…

Looking back, she had been laughably childish. Faced with those petty provocations, Jiang Yao hadn’t gotten angry or retaliated. Instead, she had always responded with gentle tolerance.

Back then, Xu Zhaoyi didn’t understand, she just thought Jiang Yao was putting on a show. Now she understood. Jiang Yao was good to her not because she was acting for others, or because she was the eldest daughter of the Xu family. It was because… Jiang Yao was fundamentally a gentle person.

Or rather, Jiang Yao was willing to be gentle with her.

Xu Zhaoyi looked down at the USB drive in her hand, the one containing the evidence. Jiang Yao had entrusted such an important thing to her, even setting the password as her birthday. Why? Was it just because it was easy to remember? Or… did it mean something else?

She recalled the way Jiang Yao looked at her. That tenderness contained a hint of pampering, a hint of helplessness, and a hint of… something she couldn’t quite decipher. That look didn’t seem like a stepmother looking at a stepdaughter. It certainly didn’t look like a business partner looking at a partner’s daughter.

What kind of look was it? Xu Zhaoyi couldn’t figure it out.

But she knew that look made her heart race. It made her want to get closer, to rely on her.

She remembered Jiang Yao’s words: “If something really happens to you, I will stand by your side.” “I want you to be safe.” “We protect each other.”

She used to think she hated Jiang Yao, hated her for barging into her life, hated her for stealing her father’s attention. Now she realized it wasn’t hate. It was… caring.

She cared so much that she overreacted. She cared so much that she became this anxious and terrified when Jiang Yao went missing. She cared so much that she ran here recklessly, crashing through the woods like a fool.

Xu Zhaoyi hugged herself, burying her face in her knees. She didn’t want to admit it, but the fact was right there. She cared about Jiang Yao. A lot. More than she had even realized.

The night grew deeper.

Xu Zhaoyi was cold and hungry, but she didn’t dare sleep for fear of missing something. Occasionally, headlights would flash in the distance, and she would immediately look up, trying to identify the car. But none of them were Jiang Yao’s.

Time seemed to move both very slowly and very quickly. When she checked her phone again, it was already past 3:00 AM. In a few hours, the sun would rise. If Jiang Yao hadn’t come out by dawn…

She couldn’t bring herself to finish that thought.

She stood up and paced the ruined greenhouse, trying to stay warm. Just then, footsteps sounded outside. Not just one person, several.

Xu Zhaoyi’s heart leaped into her throat. She hid in the darkest corner of the greenhouse, her hand gripping the pepper spray.

The footsteps drew closer. Then, she heard a familiar voice.

It was Jiang Yao’s voice. But she sounded… wrong. As if she were straining to suppress something.

Xu Zhaoyi peeked out through a shard of broken glass.

In the clearing outside, Jiang Yao stood surrounded by several men. Under the moonlight, her face was as pale as paper, but that familiar gentle smile still hung at the corner of her mouth. Her back was toward Xu Zhaoyi, so she didn’t see her.

However, Xu Zhaoyi could see the men facing her clearly. They were strangers, and they looked menacing.

“Miss Jiang, you’d better think this through,” one man said, his voice cold. “Hand it over, and everyone walks away happy.”

Jiang Yao laughed, a light sound. “I told you, it’s no longer in my hands.”

“Do you take us for three-year-olds?” another man sneered. “Would you just give something that important to someone else?”

“I’m telling the truth,” Jiang Yao’s tone remained calm. “If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do.” She paused. “But I can tell you this: if I don’t walk out of here today, those things will appear where they belong tomorrow. When that happens, none of you will escape.”

The air turned instantly tense.

Xu Zhaoyi’s knuckles turned white from gripping the pepper spray.

Just then, she saw one of the men standing slightly behind Jiang Yao to the side. He quietly reached for the small of his back. Under the moonlight, something metallic glinted.

Xu Zhaoyi’s pupils contracted sharply.

It was… a knife.