28: Chapter 28 The Beauty Trap

When the knocking on the door sounded in the morning, Chen Mu was dreaming.

In his dream, he was under a bridge in Brooklyn, and Old Jim was squatting beside him, as if he wanted to say something to him.

The next moment, the knocking shattered that word.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Maya pushed a dining cart inside.

Chen Mu sat up from the bed, still wearing a white bathrobe. His gaze traveled to the angelic face opposite him, and he called out uncertainly, "Officer Maya?"

Maya stood behind the dining cart, her hands still gripping the cart's handle.

The hem of her dark blue dress swayed gently below her knees, and her dark hair was loosely tied behind her head, with a few stray strands falling by her ears.

She looked like a fashion magazine cover model from Europe, but her posture while holding the cart handle betrayed her; she gripped it like a raw recruit holding a gun too tightly at a shooting range.

"It's me."

Chen Mu's gaze shifted from her face to her stance, from her stance to the overly rigid distance between her and the dining cart, and from that distance to the trace of nervousness in her eyes that she was trying hard to hide but couldn't conceal at all.

A honey trap from the United States?

Since he was now on someone else's turf, anyone around him would be a spy, and he was certainly under their full surveillance. Why would they bother with this?

Could it be that their experts wanted to play the emotional card?

Wait, this might be an opportunity. Since they wanted to use Maya to extract intelligence from him, he could just as well use Maya to pass back the intelligence he wanted the United States to know.

Besides, he needed someone in this world to help him with things. Rather than having them shove a well-trained stranger as a spy, it would be better to accept this female police officer who wasn't even skilled at lying.

In this way, a buffer zone would be formed between him and the United States, which could avoid many problems in the future.

"You've really changed a lot." He propped up his pillow and leaned back against it. "Why are you the one delivering breakfast?"

Maya's throat bobbed. "The housekeeper asked for leave. I'm filling in temporarily."

When she said this, her eyes darted to the lower left for less than half an inch.

Chen Mu saw it, but he didn't call her out; he just threw back the quilt and stepped barefoot onto the carpet.

He walked over to the dining cart, looked down at the two sets of cutlery and the breakfast for two, and smiled knowingly: "Officer Maya, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Sit down and eat with me."

Maya nodded, as if someone's neck had been gently tugged by an invisible string.

Chen Mu watched her stiffly pull out a chair, stiffly sit down, and stiffly spread the napkin on her lap.

He found it quite amusing; a real spy would never let anyone see through them.

The United States had sent a female police officer who couldn't even lie without her eyes darting around to execute a honey trap; either they truly had no one else to use, or they understood his preferences too well—perhaps it was both.

"Officer Maya, am I some kind of man-eating demon?" He picked up a slice of baguette and used a butter knife to scoop up a small piece of butter.

"Then why are you sitting so far away?" Chen Mu gestured toward the seat next to him. "Come, sit closer."

Maya shifted her bottom on the chair, and really, she only shifted just a little bit.

This left Chen Mu speechless. As for this honey trap, the "honey" wasn't even cooperating!

Chen Mu pointed to the seat beside him: "Sit here."

Maya's expression froze, as if there were a chasm between her and Chen Mu that was wide enough to fall into, and she didn't know how to cross it.

She began to move bit by bit, like someone walking on ice, afraid that every step would shatter the ice beneath her feet.

"Alright, alright." Chen Mu was almost amused to the point of laughter by her appearance. "Officer Maya, sit wherever you want. Let's eat."

Maya let out a sigh of relief, then picked up a piece of bread and took a bite.

"Officer Maya." Chen Mu picked up the coffee pot and poured two cups. The aroma of coffee permeated the morning light. "I believe you're not here just to deliver breakfast, right?"

"Cough, cough!" Maya choked on the coffee, not knowing how to answer.

Seeing this, Chen Mu smiled: "Officer Maya, don't be nervous. Actually, I don't have any acquaintances on this planet right now. You could say you are my only acquaintance."

He picked up the other cup of coffee: "I have a job here, I don't know if you'd be willing to accept it."

"What job?" Maya asked.

"According to your Blue Planet's terminology, it should be called a secretary, or an assistant."

Chen Mu set down his coffee cup: "Actually, regarding many things on your Blue Planet, I only have a half-understanding right now. I do need someone who can help me with things, or give me some advice."

Maya said nervously: "But I've only ever been a police officer. I've never been an assistant. I'm afraid I'll mess it up."

Chen Mu reached out a hand: "What a coincidence, I'm a diplomat for the first time too. Let's learn from each other."

Maya looked at that hand, her heart filled with mixed feelings. She had thought a lot before coming, even thinking that Chen Mu would yell at her to get lost, but she hadn't expected to complete the task given to her by the United States so easily.

She took his hand, feeling its warmth, and smiled sincerely: "Okay, let's learn from each other."

Chen Mu watched that smile. The morning light squeezed through the gap in the curtains, falling on Maya's face, illuminating her dark brown pupils into a very pale amber color.

There was even a small flush on her cheeks from smiling too hard.

"Let's eat." He pulled his hand back, picked up his coffee cup again, and used the bitterness of the coffee to suppress the fluctuations in his heart.

The morning light moved inch by inch through the gap in the curtains, falling onto the table between them that was becoming narrower.

After breakfast, Chen Mu said he had nothing to do for the moment, and Maya suggested taking a walk in the garden.

The garden was on the east side of the South Lawn, near the Oval Office. It was usually used for taking photos when formally receiving foreign guests, so there was basically no one there.

Chen Mu and Maya walked side by side on the gravel path, with a distance of a fist between them.

The two walked in silence like this. Maya kept staring at the gravel path under her feet, as if she were counting how many edges each stone had.

Chen Mu glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, speechless in his heart.

In a normal plot, shouldn't she be the one to open her mouth to fish for information? Why wasn't she making a sound?

The honey trap sent by the United States—the "honey" was beautiful enough, but there was no "trap" at all. Asking her to sit closer was like asking for her life, and as for fishing for information, she had simply turned into a mute.

He waited for over ten minutes, seeing she still had no intention of speaking.

Fine, if you won't speak, then I will.