After the Real Young Miss Became My Canary - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Lame-Legged Song

◎ I hope I don’t have to pay for this stool? ◎

Song Zhi wondered how long Shen Ying had been feeding the cat for it to rely on her even after its mother died.

And yet, Shen Ying said it was only “occasionally.”

What a stubborn person.

In the end, Shen Ying didn’t adopt the little cat, but she did bring some of what she called “unwanted food” and the remaining cat food from home. She walked down the road with the cat in her arms for a while before putting the cat and food down in a secluded corner. Seeing how practiced she was, Song Zhi was 90% sure that the cat’s nest was also the handiwork of the great designer, Shen.

Shen Ying put the cat down and then noticed Song Zhi was still standing there. “Why aren’t you going back?”

The lazy expression on Song Zhi’s face vanished instantly. She sucked in her cheeks to show her dimples, and her two beautiful, almond-shaped eyes sparkled. “It’s too dark here. I don’t think it’s safe for you to be alone.”

She was used to saying things that would make people happy, and a string of words came out without her even blinking. Even if she was just curious about what Shen Ying was going to do, she had to make it sound flowery and charming.

She had almond eyes that curved in a perfect semicircle from the inner to the outer corner. Her long eyelashes made her look exquisite, and when she smiled, she was both beautiful and adorable.

Shen Ying looked at Song Zhi’s round, sparkling eyes, from which a vibrant life force burst forth. She was a little afraid to look at them. “I know this area well. I’m safer than you.”

Song Zhi had a bag full of words stuck in her chest, unable to come out.

This is it. She had met her match, and her opponent was better than she was. Otherwise, why would she be so speechless and flustered?

She looked at Shen Ying, who had a placid expression as she stared into the distance, a coldness surrounding her as if what she had just said was completely casual.

In that instant, her gaze met Shen Ying’s indifferent eyes, and her heart skipped a beat.

It was like a tiny pebble dropped into a lake, a small thing that created a massive ripple.

Suddenly, she felt a profound interest in this person, an urgent desire to know what kind of soul was hidden beneath such a cold exterior.

And she even had the thought that it might be nice to stay with Shen Ying, living a life of anonymity.

This was too terrifying. She had studied the art of conversation for so long, and yet she was outmatched by someone’s casual remark. It seemed she needed to go back and re-study.

Shen Ying returned the next morning, and she even brought breakfast.

Song Zhi hadn’t eaten breakfast in a long time. She slept late and woke late abroad, with an irregular meal schedule. If it was past a certain time, there was no food to be found. Seeing the breakfast, a faint warmth flowed through her heart.

Song Zhi felt she was going to lose this game. How could someone be so nice to a stranger? It made it hard for her to play her role.

Even though she didn’t eat the breakfast because she thought it would be unappetizing, she still sat beside Shen Ying, smiling brightly. “Didn’t you want me to leave? Why did you buy me breakfast?”

Shen Ying said flatly, “I can’t let you starve to death.”

Song Zhi was completely taken aback. She bit her lip to steady herself, then said, “Then let me go to work with you. I want to go out for a walk. It’s so boring being in the house alone.”

Shen Ying agreed, but not without adding a condition: “Find a place and move out soon.”

This immediately extinguished the faint warmth in Song Zhi’s heart. This person… she thought that even if Shen Ying brought her breakfast ten times, she would pretend she hadn’t seen it.

She could only put on a cute, obedient face and smile at her, her eyes curving sweetly.

But inside, she was furious.

This person was truly stubborn, as stubborn as an ox.

Song Zhi was so angry she couldn’t sit still. She stood up abruptly, and the sudden movement sent a sharp pain through her shoulder blades. She barely managed to keep her expression from breaking, and after a moment, she held onto her smile.

The hallway outside their apartment led to a street a few hundred meters away. The buildings were close together, with narrow gaps between them. She had left late last night, but in the daytime today, as soon as she stepped out, she could see rows of “poles” made of gray ropes strung across the open space below the buildings. Hanging from these poles were countless pieces of colorful clothes, fluttering like flags.

The scene felt a bit like a Chinatown, which gave Song Zhi a strange sense of familiarity. Looking at it again, it no longer felt like a foreign place, but like somewhere she had once lived.

But she didn’t get to go with Shen Ying, because Shen Ying left her on the street halfway, telling her to wander on her own. This made her feel even more certain that she had been half-asleep when she thought Shen Ying was being nice that morning.

Shen Ying’s destination wasn’t far, about a ten-minute walk from home. It was supposedly to tutor a middle schooler. The pay was low and the work was demanding, but it was the best option Shen Ying had at the moment.

She didn’t have a strong sense of getting what she deserved. She didn’t care about anything as long as she had a single goal to strive for. She felt that was enough.

…

Song Zhi pushed the sagging hem of her jacket inwards, thinking that Shen Ying was right after all.

The wind was strong; she really should have worn more clothes. But she hadn’t cared and had left the house in only a thin hoodie.

The wind howled and filled her hood. Song Zhi raised a hand and pressed down firmly before the wind could blow it off.

Just then, several tall men walked past her, heading in the opposite direction.

Song Zhi glanced sideways for a moment, then turned her head back to watch the road when they looked over.

One of her hands was still in her pocket. The whole movement was fluid and natural, as if she had just glanced over out of sudden curiosity.

The bodyguards’ steps faltered, their eyes fixed on the person in the baggy hoodie in front of them. They were unsure.

The person next to him followed his gaze and scoffed.

“You don’t think that’s the young lady, do you? How could it be? Are you crazy?”

“Her demeanor seems a little similar.”

“She’s so obsessed with beauty, she wouldn’t wear such sloppy clothes and wander around here. Plus, she’s much thinner.”

The other person was convinced and turned his gaze elsewhere.

Song Zhi, with her hand on her hood, walked with a light, quick step, passing right under the noses of the group of men.

Fortunately, she was wearing a baggy hoodie and black straight-leg pants, and the loose-fitting clothes had concealed her body well.

She hadn’t expected that after so many days, the bodyguards would still be looking for her here. This created a potential threat to her escape plan.

Song Zhi wouldn’t expose her obvious weaknesses in front of people, not even a budding threat.

She couldn’t leave right now; she had to stay here until they shifted their focus away from her. That would be the best time for her to leave. Besides, her “good” younger brother wouldn’t dare tell Song Guan that she had gone missing.

First, if she was dead, the company would be his for sure.

Second, if she was missing, her brother would be the prime suspect.

She strode forward against the howling wind, letting it buffet the hem of her clothes. After surveying the area, she returned to Shen Ying’s house.

In this world, there was only one way to make a person disappear. And that was to die.

The staircase was narrow and the steps were uneven. Song Zhi had to be very careful and slow, climbing one step at a time.

As she was making her way up slowly, she suddenly felt a particularly intense gaze on her.

It was a middle-aged woman in her forties who was incredibly rude. Her narrow, triangular eyes darted up and down Song Zhi’s body, the appraisal in her gaze very obvious.

Her eyes swiveled around, a calculating look in them.

She clearly had ill intentions.

The woman didn’t say anything, so Song Zhi didn’t pay her any mind.

Plenty of people stared at her. After all, she was young, beautiful, and rich. If she had to deal with every single one of them, she would be exhausted.

But just as she was about to close her door, the woman uttered a few harsh words, as if she were bestowing a favor. “Are you living with that jinx?”

Song Zhi stopped closing the door and leaned on the frame, turning her head back coldly. She was already tall, so looking at the woman this way gave her a condescending air. “Me? A jinx?”

The woman nodded arrogantly. “Yes, you. I’m telling you, you’re so young, why would you hang out with someone like that…”

She kept chattering, thinking she was giving well-intentioned advice. Song Zhi couldn’t be bothered with this kind of person. She turned and went back into the room, emerging with a teacup in her hand.

The woman said, “You don’t need to… Ah!”

Song Zhi held the now-empty teacup, raised an eyebrow, and gave a cold smirk. “Get lost.”

Her beautiful, delicate face had turned cold in an instant, showing no trace of the sweet smile she had just had.

The woman finally realized that Song Zhi was not what she had expected. She ruffled her wet hair and shrieked, “You… you bitch!”

She often mocked and taunted Shen Ying, but Shen Ying always silently avoided her. This time, she saw this young girl with dimples that never seemed to disappear, a face that suggested she was easy to talk to. She never expected to have kicked a hornet’s nest.

But the reputation she had cultivated on these streets for so long was not for show. She got angry and moved closer.

Song Zhi stood in the doorway and, seeing her posture, casually picked up the stool from the entryway. “Come on.”

The stool was a small wooden one that Shen Ying had brought out earlier to sit on while changing shoes, and she hadn’t put it back yet.

The woman, having met a tough opponent again, froze and didn’t dare to step forward.

Song Zhi watched her, then scoffed and tossed the stool back inside. With her arms crossed and a blank expression, she raised her chin. “Say what you just said again.”

Her posture was arrogant and composed. The grace that the Song family had cultivated with billions of yuan gave her a coldness that set her apart. At this moment, she had turned that coldness into a terrifying knife, stabbing at the woman. A point of darkness in her pitch-black eyes fixed on the woman, radiating a chilling aura.

The shrieking woman was like a chicken whose neck had been squeezed shut. She opened her mouth twice and then clamped it shut.

Song Zhi’s lips curled into a cold smile, and a dimple appeared on her face. She smiled sweetly and tilted her head at the woman.

The woman stiffened her neck and stared at her for a long time, finally just slamming the door with a loud bang to save face.

Song Zhi rolled her eyes and slammed her own door just as hard. As she turned, she tripped heavily over something in the doorway.

She stumbled two steps forward, barely managed to regain her balance, and then turned to look at the culprit that had tripped her. Her pupils immediately constricted.

She quickly picked up the stool, which was now in three pieces, and tried to reattach the detached wooden leg.

Logically, this kind of wooden stool was held together by rivets. All she had to do was put the parts back together, and the stool would be as good as new.

But then, the wooden leg, now “waterlogged,” fell off the seat again.

Song Zhi consoled herself, “At least it’s only one leg. One leg is still on.”

That leg was a huge step in her stool-repairing career.

Then the other leg, seemingly dissatisfied that its sister had left first, followed suit, not to be outdone.

Song Zhi was silent for a moment. She immediately found every tool she could use in the house and started repairing it with a series of bangs and clangs.

If her eyes weren’t deceiving her and her memory was correct, this was one of only three stools in the house.

She didn’t know how long she had been hammering away, but just as she thought she had succeeded, there was a knock on the door.

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