Chapter 55: Honeyed Words Conceal a Dagger

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Chapter 55: Honeyed Words Conceal a Dagger

Mu Yanming felt like he’d been played.

And he’d been played from start to finish, with utter contempt for his intelligence.

When he finally arrived at the “magical place” Lin You had described, his heart full of excitement and anticipation, he couldn’t wait to get out of the car. But the moment he looked up, he saw a few gleaming golden characters:

B City Library.

In disbelief, Mu Yanming turned his head toward the large cat cradled in Mu Five’s arms and asked, “This is the incredibly magical place you were talking about?!”

Great Immortal Cat Lin nodded calmly.

Upon seeing Lin You nod, Second Young Master Mu’s voice shot up by several dozen decibels. “Are you sure this is the kind of place where you get whatever you wish for? You know, beautiful women, fine food, fancy cars, and luxury mansions?! Are you pulling my leg?! What is there here besides books? It’s nothing but a warehouse for old paper!!”

Hearing this, the Great Cat Immortal Lin let out a derisive chuckle. “What an ugly expression. It seems your intellect isn’t up to the task of grasping my well-intentioned efforts. The Mu Family carries quite a bit of weight in City B, doesn’t it? Have them arrange a quiet room just for you. I think we need some one-on-one teaching. After all, I wouldn’t want to fail to repay the debt of gratitude I owe your brother for saving my life, would I?”

Mu Yanming was thoroughly exasperated by this point. He had a strong urge to lash out at the cat spirit who had ruined his delightful night out at the club. Yet, whether considering personal obligations or raw strength, he knew he was no match for the creature.

What a stifling, frustrating feeling this was.

“What? Are you unwilling? Hehe! That’s fine, too. If you aren’t even willing to read a book, it shows your previous promises were completely unreliable. Someone like that is better off dying and being reincarnated sooner. That way, they won’t have the chance to wreak havoc on the world later.”

Second Young Master Mu shuddered violently. He didn’t dare utter a single word of rebuttal. With a miserable expression, he hurriedly assured the Great Cat Immortal, “Not at all! You’ve misunderstood! It’s just that I haven’t been to such a wonderful place in ages, and I got a bit carried away with excitement. I’m incredibly happy. Really, I’m overjoyed!”

Lin You the Great Cat Immortal narrowed his eyes and nodded in satisfaction.

“Then let’s go in. Time is tight, and the task ahead is important. We mustn’t waste our lives!”

About half a minute after Second Young Master Mu, dragging his heavy footsteps, entered the city library, accompanied by Mu Five who was carrying young Lin You and followed by Mu Nine and Mu Ten, a black Buick pulled up not far from their vehicle.

The rear door opened to reveal two remarkably ordinary-looking faces. However, the expressions on those faces were currently terrifying, twisted almost to the point of distortion.

“Holy fucking shit! Did I just see that right?! Did I actually see Second Young Master Mu, the guy who usually tosses anything with writing on it aside in disgust, walk into a library?! The odds of that happening are rarer than a pie falling from the sky! If I didn’t have video proof, the Young Master would surely think I was pulling my leg if I just reported it verbally!” The speaker was one of the two men with the nondescript faces. His most distinctive feature was a pair of glaringly loud, floral-patterned shorts.

Upon hearing this, the other nondescript-looking man beside him also spoke up with a conflicted expression. “This really defies logic! To think Second Young Master Mu would voluntarily enter the library without his brother forcing him or someone holding a gun to his head? If we told anyone that, nobody would believe it.”

“So, what do we do now? Should we tell our Young Master? After all, his orders were just to keep an eye on Second Young Master Mu’s movements. He never said he couldn’t go into the library,” said the man in the loud floral shorts, frowning. The other man—the one with the more standard, forgettable appearance—nodded in agreement. “You’re right. We just need to let our Young Master know that Second Young Master Mu is here. I’m sure our brilliant and formidable Young Master will know exactly what to do next! This isn’t the sort of thing for small fry like us to get involved in.”

And so, after staking out the library for half an hour without seeing any sign of Mu Yanming coming out, the two men decisively got into their car and drove back to their home base. If they reported the news now, their Young Master could rush over and catch Mu Yanming, that easily hoodwinked fellow. Then the Young Master could go right back to tricking him! Tsk tsk. Their Young Master was truly brilliant, while Second Young Master Mu was a complete fool.

At this moment, Second Young Master Mu, whose intelligence and emotional intelligence had both just been disparaged, was sitting at a luxurious desk. He sat up straight with a pained expression as he gazed at the cat spirit squatting before him.

“Please, just let me off the hook! I honestly get a headache the moment I look at a book! Even when it comes to company financial reports and documents, I have to grit my teeth just to get through them. We’re on a break right now, after all. Could you please stop torturing me?”

Teacher Cat Lin You completely ignored the young master’s pleas. Instead, he simply pressed a furry paw onto the book in front of the young master and asked, “What’s the first line on the page?”

Mu Yanming lowered his head dejectedly and read aloud in a listless voice, “Honeyed Words Conceal a Dagger.”

“And the second word?”

“A dagger hidden behind a smile.”

“And the third?”

“Malicious intent, tearing down the bridge after crossing it, borrowing the tiger’s might to bully others, putting on airs, harboring ill intentions, poor judgment of character. Tch! What kind of lousy book is this? Why aren’t there any positive idioms in here?!”

Mu Yanming read off several terms in succession, feeling increasingly unsettled as he went. Even though he wasn’t fond of reading, he was still an educated man, a highly educated returnee from overseas, so he naturally understood exactly what these phrases implied.

Upon seeing Mu Yanming’s reaction, Teacher Lin You let out a couple of meows and then looked at him with great seriousness. “You know these words aren’t good, and you understand what they mean, so why don’t you know how to apply them?”

Hearing this, Mu Yanming retorted indignantly on the spot. “What do you mean I don’t know how to use them? I know plenty of people with malicious hearts, honeyed words concealing daggers, and smiles hiding blades! I absolutely wouldn’t misjudge someone like that!!”

“Hehe.”

Provoked, Mu Yanming bristled. “Don’t you go doubting me! How about I introduce you to a few of my friends? Every one of them is a young talent from our circle!”

After Second Young Master Mu finished speaking, before Lin You the Cat King could sneer or retort, the doors to the VIP reading room were rudely shoved open. The loud crash made everyone in the room frown. Well, the Cat King barely had any eyebrows to speak of, but his suddenly bristling tail clearly showed that he was in a foul mood.

“Hahaha! Second Mu! So you really are in the library! A friend told me they saw you walk in here, but I thought they were pulling my leg! I seem to recall someone saying that even if a mountain of gold and silver were placed in a library, he’d turn his back on it to seek out a place to spend instead without sparing the treasure a single glance! Tsk tsk, what’s got you in the mood to hang out at the library all of a sudden? Oh, wow! You’ve even got a cat with you! Say, don’t tell me you’re trying to curry favor with your brother now that he’s in town? Since when did our Second Young Master become such a good, obedient boy? Alright, alright! There’s no one else around, so why keep up the act? Come on, let’s head to this new place. It’s an exclusive club that just opened up, and word is that everything inside is absolutely intoxicating…”

The newcomer, clad in a pink shirt, loose cotton shorts with Hawaiian print, and a pair of casual slides, sauntered over to Mu Yanming. He draped an arm familiarly over Mu Yanming’s shoulder, acting like a close buddy, and blurted out that whole spiel without a second thought.

The guy in the pink shirt had fully expected Mu Yanming to be delighted, to flash him a look of camaraderie, toss aside his book, and leave this god-awful library with him. To his utter shock and disbelief, however, Mu Yanming simply shrugged his shoulder to shake off the arm and turned to face him with a look of solemn seriousness.

“Third Young Master Xu, can’t you see that I’m reading? Even if you’re my friend, you should still knock before coming in! What if I were doing something important?” Mu Yanming addressed these words to Xu Bowen, yet his eyes remained fixed on a certain big cat, terrified that the creature might kill both him and Xu Bowen on the spot. After all, if word got out that this beast was a cat spirit, he would definitely kill him to silence him! Moreover… the way Xu Bowen had arrived was just… Well, he usually cut a respectable figure, so why was he acting so flippantly this time? His behavior made Mu Yanming’s own words feel like a self-inflicted slap in the face.

Mu Yanming had actually meant well, but Xu Bowen’s expression darkened instantly. Ever since they met more than two years ago, Mu Yanming had only been wary of him during the first few months. After that, Xu Bowen had always gone along with whatever this proud Second Young Master Mu said, and Mu Yanming gradually stopped rejecting his suggestions. In fact, whenever Xu Bowen proposed something, Mu Yanming would invariably find a reason to take an interest and get involved.

It was just like a year ago, when they’d dragged Mu Yanming along to help bury a body. Even though Mu Yanming hadn’t wanted to, and hadn’t even known what they were doing while they dug the hole, the fact remained that he’d been there. That made them accomplices. Xu Bowen had long since assumed Mu Yanming was part of their inner circle, so what was going on now? He was actually turning down a suggestion from him?!

“What’s gotten into you, Second Mu? It was already weird enough seeing you acting all twitchy and showing up at the library in broad daylight, but now you’re skipping a get-together with the guys? You’re really not showing us any respect here! Come on, quit dragging your feet. Pack up your stuff and come hang out with us. I guarantee you’ll have such a blast you won’t even want to leave!”

As Xu Bowen said this, he reached out to grab Mu Yanming’s arm. It looked as though he actually intended to drag him away by force.

Mu Yanming’s expression darkened. After all, he’d just put in a good word with the cat spirit to save Xu Bowen’s life! What was the meaning of this attitude? Aside from his brother, no one had ever been able to force him to do something he didn’t want to do.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Mu Yanming glanced at the desk, where the Great Cat Immortal was squatting. The cat slowly and firmly placed a paw over the words “Honeyed Words Conceal a Dagger” and “poor judgment of character” in the book.

At that moment, Mu Yanming felt a sudden flush of heat rise to his face, and a sense of irritation began to well up inside him.

“I already said I’m not going. Do you intend to drag me there by force, Third Xu?!”

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