After Becoming a Cannon-Fodder Lackey, I Swore to Protect the Young Lady to the Death - Chapter 6

“Copy the surveillance footage and send it to my phone,” Lu Jiaoyue whispered, her voice audible only to the store manager as she accepted the shopping bags.

“Of course,” the manager replied, maintaining a flawless professional smile.

Their brief exchange went unnoticed by the onlookers. With a single meaningful glance, the deal was struck.

“Jiao Jiao, what are we doing next?” Li Gangjiao asked, trudging along as she lugged one shopping bag after another.

“Are you hungry?” Lu Jiaoyue checked her phone; it was already noon.

“Mhm! I’m actually craving some Korean BBQ,” Li Gangjiao admitted.

“Let’s go then. We’ll drop these in the car and find a place nearby.”

******

At the BBQ Restaurant:

“Jiao Jiao… do you still like Gu Yan?” Li Gangjiao watched the piece of grilled meat Lu Jiaoyue had placed in her bowl, nervously poking at the rice with her chopsticks.

The meat was perfectly charred, its crispy exterior promising a tender, juicy center infused with the smoky aroma of charcoal. Yet, for once, Li Gangjiao was too preoccupied to take a bite.

“I don’t. He’s annoying,” Lu Jiaoyue replied simply, popping a piece of meat into her own mouth.

“Really?” Li Gangjiao’s face lit up instantly.

“Why would I lie to you?” Lu Jiaoyue looked at her with a faint smile.

Li Gangjiao: Jackpot! The Eldest Miss has finally been cured of her temporary blindness! Hahaha!

“You seem exceptionally happy about that,” Lu Jiaoyue noted.

“Hehe.”

“What kind of person do you think Gu Yan is, anyway?” Lu Jiaoyue asked suddenly, watching Li Gangjiao finally begin to dig in.

“Hmm. Selfish, arrogant, megalomaniacal, hypocritical, a beast in human clothing, utterly shameless…” Terrified that Lu Jiaoyue might have a change of heart, Li Gangjiao rattled off the male lead’s flaws like a grocery list.

“I agree,” Lu Jiaoyue nodded, appearing quite satisfied with that assessment.

To celebrate the Eldest Miss’s return to sanity, Li Gangjiao joyfully decided to treat her to a movie.

“The back rows are sold out; we’ll have to sit in the front,” Li Gangjiao muttered while booking the tickets, completely missing Lu Jiaoyue’s look of pure bewilderment.

Lu Jiaoyue: …I suppose I haven’t mentioned yet that I have a private cinema at home.

Ultimately, the two ended up in the front row, each clutching a soda and a large tub of popcorn.

When the movie started:

Li Gangjiao: “This is supposed to be a romantic comedy. I heard the marketing campaign was huge.”

Lu Jiaoyue: “I see.”

Halfway through:

Li Gangjiao: “This is…”

Lu Jiaoyue: “This is…”

When the credits rolled:

Li Gangjiao: “Did you find the ‘comedy’ part?”

Lu Jiaoyue: “Did you?”

A deathly silence followed.

“So that’s why the marketing was so ‘enticing’…” Li Gangjiao had a sudden, bitter epiphany. Alas, it was too late for her refund.

Fortunately, she had managed to hold the Eldest Miss’s hand during the movie, so she considered the venture a net win.

Lu Jiaoyue had the driver drop them off at the entrance of Li Gangjiao’s apartment complex. She waved goodbye before heading home.

“Bye-bye!” Li Gangjiao called out, swinging her bags as she headed toward her building.

As she passed a dense cluster of bushes, a hulking figure suddenly lunged at her.

Li Gangjiao didn’t hesitate. She dropped her bags, spun, and delivered a sharp punch to the figure’s face, followed immediately by a roundhouse kick to the inside of his thigh.

The man clearly hadn’t expected his target to strike first. He tried to throw a counter-punch, but Li Gangjiao slipped to the right and countered with a brutal kick to his shin.

She put eighty percent of her strength into the blow. The man buckled, groaning in pain, and Li Gangjiao seized the opening to bury a fist into his lower back.

Once the man lost his momentum, she followed up with a few more tactical kicks. She carefully avoided permanent damage to joints or sensitive areas like fingers and knees—she wasn’t looking to maim, just to educate.

“Gu Yan sent you, didn’t he?” Li Gangjiao said, picking up her shopping bags and checking the contents.

The man scrambled away, limping with a comical, lopsided gait. He fled as if a vengeful demon were snapping at his heels.

“Next time, pick a better hiding spot!” Li Gangjiao shouted after him. “That tree isn’t even as tall as you are!”

The brute was at least six-foot-three, while the tree was barely five feet. What is wrong with the authors these days? she wondered. No wonder they say the protagonists are geniuses—they only look smart because the side characters are idiots!

The man stumbled at her words, quickening his pace.

After dropping her things at home, Li Gangjiao took a taxi to the local police station to file a report. However, since the suspect wasn’t exactly in custody, the officer suggested checking the surveillance footage first.

In the security room, they pulled up the recording. Predictably, the footage for that specific time frame was a blurred, staticky mess. Nothing could be seen.

Li Gangjiao wasn’t surprised. This was the “Chosen Male Lead” of the novel, after all. The resources of a “Prince of the Underworld” were more than enough to handle a common citizen. Unfortunately for Gu Yan, Li Gangjiao was anything but common.

She had grown up in a remote border town—a place steeped in vice where smuggling, robbery, and murder were daily occurrences. For a time, she had been part of that world herself. To survive, she had fought in underground gambling dens.

If a sliver of justice hadn’t eventually pierced through that infinite darkness to light up the border, her life might have ended on a blood-stained mat years ago.

She loathed everything to do with crime, which was exactly why she hated the male lead of The Demon Young Master’s Runaway Sweetheart. Gu Yan was no different from the gang bosses she had known; his handsome face and “devoted” persona were just a thin veneer over a rotten core.

“Ugh, I hate him even more now.” Back home, Li Gangjiao discovered that the crystal pendant Lu Jiaoyue had bought her had snapped in half—likely when she had dropped the bags to fight.

Staring at the price tag on the elegant gift box, her heart ached with fury. Dammit! This cost 3,000 yuan! How dare he? I really should have hit him harder!!

Unbeknownst to her, the man who had tried to jump her was currently embellishing his “heroic deeds.”

“Boss, I’m telling you, that girl was crying her eyes out. The moment I mentioned your name, she practically vanished into thin air she was so scared…”

“Mhm. Well done.” Gu Yan sat in his leather chair, lazily swirling a glass of red wine.

“So… about the payment?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be in your account by tonight,” Gu Yan replied with a smirk.

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