Fang Rui''s drowsiness vanishedpletely. He felt as if he''d been struck by lightning,pletely petrified.


    He had been waiting for Mu Mian to realize she liked him, but he never expected her to jump straight to a marriage proposal. This progression was far too chaotic.


    "What did you say?" Fang Rui asked nervously.


    "Fang Rui, will you marry me?" Mu Mian raised her voice, her words echoing through the entire hallway. "Did you hear me clearly this time?"


    "Is it because marrying me would give you legal rights to my corpse?" Fang Rui slowly regained hisposure, knowing he couldn''t analyze Mu Mian''s behavior by normal standards.


    Now it was Mu Mian''s turn to fall silent. She didn''t know how to answer this question. Because that was indeed one of the reasons. But more than that, she wanted to be with Fang Rui forever. Besides her sister, no one understood her better than Fang Rui. Her sister was going to marry Mr. Lin, so she wouldn''t be able to stay with her forever.


    "Good night, Mu Mian."


    Fang Rui returned to his home and closed the door. He feared that if he stayed any longer, he would have agreed to marry her. But he couldn''t do that - Mu Mian didn''t understand what marriage meant, so he couldn''t agree to marry her. Otherwise, he would be exactly the kind of deceiver Mrs. Michelle had warned about.


    Mu Mian felt confused. Fang Rui hadn''t agreed, but he hadn''t refused either. Moreover, his expression had been strange; he had looked very unhappy.


    Mu Mian felt somewhat dejected, as Fang Rui didn''t seem to want to marry her.


    She waited outside his door for a while longer, but this time Fang Rui didn''t open it. She waited for 999 seconds, but he still didn''t appear. Mu Mian sighed - her life was so difficult. When she wanted Fang Rui''s corpse, he wouldn''t give it to her, and now when she wanted to marry him, he wouldn''t agree to that either.


    Never mind, she thought, she''d just stay single forever. If no one else wanted to be with Fang Rui, she could still stay with him. Mu Mian suddenly didn''t feel so sad anymore, because she believed Fang Rui would have a hard time finding a partner as excellent as her.


    Mu Mian went home and continued sleeping. She slept sweetly.


    Fang Rui, however, couldn''t sleep at all.


    The next day, Fang Rui waited outside with dark circles under his eyes, lookingpletely exhausted, for Mu Mian to go to work.


    Mu Mian emerged energetically with her bag. Seeing Fang Rui''s condition, she asked curiously, "Fang Rui, did you have insomnia? Why couldn''t you sleep? Did you drink Zhang''s coffee again?"


    Why... it was all because Mu Mian had proposed to him in the middle of the night! Why was she, the culprit, so energetic while he was the one who couldn''t sleep?


    Looking at Mu Mian''s innocent face, Fang Rui replied, "I suppose so."


    "Next time, let me drink it instead. I often have insomnia, so I''m used to it."


    "Okay."


    After the morning meeting, Chen Xue cornered Mu Mian and asked curiously, "Mian Mian, did you do something to make Captain Fang look like that? What did you do?"


    "Chen Xue, we still haven''t checked everywhere yesterday. We should remove the tiles and check underneath them," Mu Mian said, changing the subject.


    "Did you propose to him yesterday?"


    "I think the body might be buried in that bay window. That huge bay window doesn''t match the room''s decoration style at all. It must have been renovatedter," Mu Mian continued deflecting.


    "That bay window doesn''t look recently built; it appears to have been there for a long time. Besides, sealing a body in cement would be easily discovered. Hardened cement can''t mask the smell of dposition, but there wasn''t any unusual odor in that room. It''s unlikely the body is hidden there," Chen Xue analyzed.


    She still believed that Zhang Mingli had mental health issues, which was why she thought she had killed someone. The victim probably didn''t exist at all.


    "But it''s really perfect for hiding a body."


    "Then let''s dig it up and see."


    "Chen Xue, I did propose to Fang Ruist night, and he rejected me," Mu Mian suddenly said.


    "He rejected you? Did he say why?"


    "No, he just looked unhappy. I don''t understand why. I''m so excellent, and we''re sopatible. Why wouldn''t he want to marry me?"


    Chen Xue thought she understood why. Among all of Mu Mian''s reasons for marriage, love wasn''t one of them. If Chen Xue were Fang Rui, she would have been frustrated by Mu Mian''s denseness too.


    Fang Rui had called Zhang Mingli, who said they could inspect the house however they wanted, even if it meant damaging the furniture and structure, as she was nning to renovate the house soon anyway.


    They returned to Zhang Mingli''s house. Mu Mian first asked Fang Rui and the others to remove the tiles near the stairway.


    After removing the tiles, the floor was uneven and dirty.


    Mu Mian sprayed luminol reagent on the exposed surface. Soon, the reagent that had seeped into the cement joints began to emit tiny spots of fluorescence.


    Everyone was surprised - there were indeed bloodstains under the tiles.


    "There really are bloodstains," Mu Mian said. "It seems there might actually be a body hidden in the house."


    They all went to the second bedroom, where they had previously thought nothing of the bay window, but now the rectangr tform looked increasingly like a coffin.


    The window seat was covered with a carpet. They lifted it to reveal tiles underneath, the same color and pattern as those in the living room but different from the room''s decor.


    They began breaking apart the cement tform. After working for a while, they discovered ayer of white substance under the cement.


    "This looks like driedtex," Zhang said after examining a piece.


    They found that the tform had first been coated withtex, then covered with a 2cmyer of cement. They also found several pieces of torn yellow paper in thetexyer.


    "These look like talismans, and there''s writing on them."Aliali: 67409081c4f3f33ac40a029f


    Soon after, they also found a bagua mirror and a peach wood sword.


    "There couldn''t be something sealed in here, could there?" Zhang eximed.


    "If a body were only sealed in cement, it would emit a strong dposition odor because cement isn''tpletely airtight and can''t contain the smell. But if you add ayer oftex, the seal bes much stronger, and the odor would be trapped inside," Mu Mian exined. "That might be why they usedtex."


    Initially, they had broken open the cement tform just to check, but now their spines were tingling - could there really be a body buried underneath?


    They continued breaking it apart and discovered thick wooden boards with intricate carvings.


    After removing the outer cement, they found what appeared to be a wooden box, but the wood had already rotted.


    Zhang asked puzzled, "What''s this ck stuff?"


    Chen Xue said, "It looks like charcoal."


    "It''s activated charcoal," Mu Mian said. "But it must have been here for many years. The body, if there is one, wouldn''t be fresh either."


    The wooden box was also filled with cement. As they gradually broke apart the cement chunks, they saw something that looked like a human-shaped sculpture within.