After Running Away From Her Wedding, The Tsundere Young Lady Went Crazy - Chapter 17

Petals, Milk, Bath Salts, and a Rubber Ducky

Half an hour later, Ji Songshu stood outside the main entrance of Shang Keyu’s home, clutching a cup of hot cocoa and draped in Shang Keyu’s coat.

In her imagination, someone like Shang Keyu—who changed cars as often as people changed clothes—must live in a place as grand as a palace, or perhaps a mountain-top estate so vast one could get lost for three days and nights without finding an exit.

To her surprise, the place Shang Keyu brought her to was merely an ordinary-looking villa district. The exterior walls of her house were identical in style to all the other houses in the neighborhood.

…Ordinary? “Just” a villa?

Ji Songshu was astonished by how much her perception had been warped by Shang Keyu in just a few short days.

The wrought-iron gates slowly swung open. Between the gate and the front door lay a garden, where clusters of blue and purple hydrangeas were piled atop the lush green grass, emitting a refreshing fragrance.

Passing through the garden and ascending a few steps, they pushed open a redwood door to reveal a classic European-style grand living room. The furniture was made of white wood with gold trim, and a staircase spiraled upward toward the second floor.

A blonde woman wearing a maid’s long dress stood guard by the door. She bowed deeply and said, “Ben tornata a casa, Signorina.”

This string of tongue-twisting pronunciations felt like sparks jumping onto her tongue. Ji Songshu didn’t understand a single letter. She looked at Shang Keyu blankly.

“What is she saying?”

“She said, ‘Welcome home,'” Shang Keyu explained patiently. Then, she pursed her lips and looked at the woman with a hint of displeasure. “Carlotta, is this how you treat a guest?”

“Understood, Eldest Miss.” The blonde woman called Carlotta switched her language to Chinese. Contrary to her distinctly Western appearance, her Chinese was exceptionally fluent.

She gave them a deep bow.

As she looked up, Ji Songshu saw a face with high brows and deep-set eyes, as exquisite as a white jade sculpture. Tucked within the deep sockets were two blue-black eyes, their gaze incredibly sharp.

She was observing her. Ji Songshu felt that gaze like a razor blade scraping across her face; she couldn’t help but turn her head away to avoid it. In an instant, the gaze vanished. Carlotta wore nothing but a smile, as if it had all been an illusion.

“This is Carlotta, my housekeeper,” Shang Keyu introduced her to Ji Songshu.

Out of politeness, Ji Songshu began to introduce herself:

“Hello, Carlotta, my name is Ji Songshu…”

She quickly covered her mouth, breaking into a cold sweat, and hurriedly corrected herself:

“Uh, I mean, my surname is Pei, my name is Jiyue, and my courtesy name is Songshu. You can call me by my formal name, Pei Jiyue.”

“Is it fashionable to take courtesy names in the country now?” Shang Keyu expressed a look of confusion. She had stayed abroad for too long and wasn’t quite familiar with current domestic trends.

“Our family is just more traditional,” Ji Songshu joked to gloss it over. She gazed at Shang Keyu with a sincere expression, her eyelashes thick and curled, her eyes bright and watery.

Shang Keyu was momentarily dazed and didn’t press further. She simply said, “Go take a bath and change your clothes.”

“Miss Pei, the bathwater has already been prepared for you.” Carlotta maintained a gentle smile on her face.

Ji Songshu followed behind her, heading up to a guest suite on the second floor.

The guest room was an entire suite. The bathroom alone was larger than Ji Songshu’s entire bedroom, and the bathtub was bigger than her bed—large enough to open several fried chicken stalls inside.

“Do you require petals, milk, bath salts, or a rubber ducky?” Carlotta asked.

A row of maids held various items in their hands. Ji Songshu was practically dazzled, so she asked, “What does Shang Keyu use?”

“The Eldest Miss usually doesn’t add anything, though sometimes she bathes in red wine.”

“Bathing in wine?” Ji Songshu repeated incredulously. “Doesn’t the skin peel off?”

“She uses the finest private collection from the Barbaresco winery under her name. Once diluted, it causes no harm to the skin.”

“Then I’ll try that too,” Ji Songshu said.

The water temperature was warm and comfortable. Ji Songshu soaked in it, her whole body relaxing. A wave of lethargy washed over her, and she drifted off to sleep in a daze.

When she woke up, she didn’t know how much time had passed. Her fingers were pruned and shriveled like a reddish bitter melon. She hurriedly stood up from the water.

The moment she stood, a rush of blood went straight to her brain. She stumbled, nearly tumbling back into the tub.

She gripped the edge, slowly climbed out, and glanced at herself in the mirror. Whew, okay, she hadn’t turned into a little red person.

However, her mouth felt a bit astringent. Heavens, surely she hadn’t swallowed her own bathwater!?

Not daring to think deeper, she quickly tossed that strange thought out of her head.

After drying her body, she suddenly realized she had no clothes to change into. The only thing placed before her was a white silk nightgown.

Ji Songshu put on the nightgown and stepped out of the room. Seeing Carlotta standing by the door, she asked:

“Where is Shang Keyu?”

“The Eldest Miss is in the study.”

“Are there any other clothes I can change into? I can’t exactly go see her in a nightgown.”

“I believe the Eldest Miss won’t mind,” Carlotta said with a slight smile. “Your clothes are already being washed and dried; they will be ready to change into soon.”

Ji Songshu figured she was right; there was no need to find another set of clothes. She let Carlotta lead her directly to Shang Keyu.

As Carlotta led the way, she suddenly said, “Miss Pei, you are the first girl the Eldest Miss has ever brought home.”

“Is that so?” Ji Songshu felt that Shang Keyu was a bit pitiful. “Does she not have a single friend?”

She had thought that only people like her, who didn’t have a decent room, would be afraid to bring friends home.

Carlotta only smiled.

Arriving at the study, Carlotta knocked on the door. A voice from inside said “Come in.” They pushed the door open just in time to hear the final sentence of Shang Keyu’s phone call:

“There won’t be a next time, you unreliable fellow.”

She was sitting behind a large cherry wood desk. She hung up the phone and looked up, appearing somewhat surprised by Ji Songshu’s attire.

“Why are you wearing that? You could have gone to the walk-in closet and taken anything; I haven’t even worn the clothes sent for the new season yet.”

“It’s fine, my clothes will be dry soon.” Ji Songshu walked to the desk, leaned forward with her hands on the surface, and gazed earnestly at Shang Keyu. “I haven’t apologized to you yet.”

“Apologized for what?”

“I’m sorry! I caused your car to get wrecked.” Ji Songshu squeezed her eyes shut and bowed deeply, looking as though she wouldn’t stand back up until Shang Keyu accepted the apology.

Because of her movement, the neckline gapped open significantly, revealing a patch of snow-white, rounded chest. She was completely unaware of it herself—or perhaps she was aware—Shang Keyu couldn’t tell.

At this moment, only the two of them remained in the room. As soon as they had started talking, Carlotta had tactfully retreated, closing the door without a sound.

Shang Keyu politely averted her eyes and said seriously, “You don’t need to be sorry. Those people were coming for me; they just mistook you for me.”

Ji Songshu leaned closer, scrutinizing Shang Keyu’s face.

“We don’t look that much alike, do we? Though, if I have to say, all beautiful people share similarities.”

Shang Keyu let out a short laugh, then quickly suppressed the corners of her mouth. She took Ji Songshu’s hand; the sapphire ring flashed with a dazzling brilliance.

“It’s because of this ring. The instructions they received were likely to deal with the person wearing this ring, so they took you for me.”

“Why didn’t they just say who the target was?” Ji Songshu was puzzled.

“If they knew who the target was, they wouldn’t have taken the job.”

Shang Keyu gave an example: “If I asked you to deal with an art student who failed to get into university, would you dare?”

Ji Songshu nodded. “What’s so hard about that?”

“Then, if I asked you to assassinate Hitler, would you dare?”

Ji Songshu shook her head frantically like a rattle. Then, she stared into Shang Keyu’s eyes and said solemnly, “Don’t talk about yourself like that.”

“I was just giving an example.”

“That’s good then.” Ji Songshu breathed a sigh of relief and asked again, “Do you have many enemies?”

“Yes,” Shang Keyu nodded slightly. “There is a group of people who very much wish for me to disappear from this world.”

“Who?”

“The people of the Shen family.”

Ji Songshu was stunned. “Why?”