Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

"What… oh my god, what happened here?" Xue Ning cried out in dawning horror, staring down at the man. Said man only blinked sluggishly at her in response, his lips mouthing wordlessly when he spotted her.

Beside her, Jingwei could only blink in surprise.

That man looked a lot paler than he remembered!

Xue Ning crouched down, flashing the light in his eyes. "How do you feel?"

The man let out a barely audible sigh, but what worried Xue Ning more was how the man's pupils barely constricted in response! Just as she moved closer, her slippers made a disgusting squelch.

'Must be just some mud,' Xue Ning thought to herself. Then she remembered she was standing on concrete. With great wariness, she looked down, and nearly dropped the flashlight in shock.

She was standing in a pool of blood!

"Fuck," Xue Ning exclaimed. She wanted to step away, but if she did, she wouldn't be able to help the man. She panned the flashlight down his body and found the cause - there was one clean cut across his belly, as though he was a tuna that needed marinating.

She fought the urge to vomit as she clenched her fists, crinkling the plastic handles of her bag. The bandages inside it weren't going to be enough! This man needed a hospital ASAP!

"Jingwei, we need to get an ambulance here," Xue Ning muttered, grabbing her phone. "He's going to die otherwise. What psycho did this?"

A complicated expression crossed Jingwei's face. "That 'psycho' is your father."

Xue Ning stilled, her mind reeling in shock. "That's… not possible. I mean, he could do it. But how could he just leave him here to die?"

Jingwei found that he had to defend his future father-in-law. "Well, his teammates told him they had people at the house ready to kidnap you! Of course his priority was to make sure you were safe. Don't blame him. Honestly… I would have done the same thing."

"His teammates?" Xue Ning asked, pursing her lips, choosing to ignore the latter part of Jingwei's statement. "Where are they now?"

"Further up, I think." Jingwei said, pointing to the inky darkness ahead of them. "I saw Uncle take them down by throwing the kitchen knives. It should be… somewhere… around there."

Xue Ning illuminated the way with her flashlight, mentally sending a note of apology to the poor man she left on the ground. It felt terrible, but there was nothing she could do.

Her father was responsible, which meant that if she actually sent him to the hospital, there would be a lot of awkward questions asked about the culprit. This man definitely wouldn't protect her father!

Besides, it seemed like there were more problems just a walk away. Her breathing grew more rapid as she saw two thin trails of blood that gradually thickened the more they walked, as though the bleeding men tried to crawl somewhere else for safety, only for them to collapse on the floor in exhaustion.

"Ah here they are," Jingwei said with false cheer. He also saw the bloody trails, but refrained from pointing them out. It was already terrifying enough.

Xue Ning's flashlight illuminated two dark lumps on the floor, laying suspiciously still.  She waved her flashlight over the first man, and she found a stab wound on his back, close to his spine. The black fabric of the shirt was still wet, most likely soaked with blood. Xue Ning crouched low and passed the bag of medical supplies to Jingwei, putting her free hand on the man's throat to feel his pulse.

There wasn't one. Her eyes widened in shock.

Xue Ning hurriedly grabbed his shoulder, and with a strong heave, she turned him over so the man's face was facing her. He looked depressingly young. She ignored Jingwei's panicked yelp.

"Xue Ning, don't just touch him like that! Your DNA is on his clothes now! You should have asked me to do it for you! I won't get arrested!"

"It's too late now," Xue Ning said grimly. She put a finger at the man's nostrils, trying to sense if he was still breathing, but he was depressingly silent. The only breathing she heard was from her and Jingwei. "Anyway, he's dead."

"Shit. We came here too late," Jingwei said regrettably. "But what about the other man?"

Xue Ning quickly made her way to the next man, but just as she was going to repeat the same actions to check if he was alive, Jingwei stopped her by gripping her wrists.

"Wait wait - I'll touch him instead. That way, we can both be arrested together!"

"That's nonsense - " Xue Ning protested, but then Jingwei proceeded to flip the man around and feel for a pulse. "Huh, I don't think…" Jingwei poked and prodded, and Xue Ning wanted to facepalm. "There's nothing. I don't feel anything."

"Just check if he's breathing, it's a lot faster," Xue Ning said.

"Good plan," Jingwei said, placing his index finger in front of the man's nose, the same way Xue Ning did before. They held their breaths as they waited… and waited… and waited.

"Fuck." Jingwei exclaimed, exhaling tiredly. "He's dead too. We need to get out of here."

"What?" Xue Ning blinked in surprise. "Are we just going to leave them like this?"

"Yes, because there's nothing we can do for them." Jingwei sighed, and Xue Ning wondered at his callousness. "And darling, don't glare at me - you know it's true! Unless you know how to get rid of dead bodies, we're useless here. Instead, we're just shedding our DNA all over this crime scene."

Xue Ning bit her lip so hard that she felt her lip bleed. Jingwei wasn't wrong, but… he wasn't right either.

"Let's go back to the house first okay? Maybe Auntie and Uncle will have more ideas. Or Ming Guang." Jingwei cajoled, tugging Xue Ning by the hand. His wife seemed to be frozen, either due to shock, fear or anger.

"Right. You're right." Xue Ning said woodenly as a realisation grew in her mind. Her father was now a murderer. Gods. But surely it must have been an accident, Xue Ning rationalised to herself. He was protecting Jingwei and himself, and Xue Ning would gladly pick their safety over the lives of two random strangers.

But still. They were dead. It was a sobering thought. She straightened herself and prepared to leave.

"You're right," Xue Ning said. "Someone needs to clean up - Oof!"