Becoming the Runaway Little Wife of the Domineering CEO - Chapter 14

After hearing Qin Ke’s suggestion, Zhu Peier shook her head frantically. “No way. Absolutely not.”

Qin Ke raised an eyebrow. “And why not?”

“The Empress tasked me with helping her finish her mission. If the mission isn’t done and she ends up getting ‘hitched’ instead, the Empress will have my head when she finds out!”

Qin Ke chuckled. “Hardly. The Empress is far more powerful than you. If she wanted to fight you, she’d just wave a hand and erase your soul. She wouldn’t need to put in any effort.”

Zhu Peier: “…”

Yin Shuang chimed in, “My mom isn’t that scary.”

Zhu Peier didn’t want to waste time on nonsense. She turned to Yin Shuang. “There are plenty of ways to get her to open that safe. For example, earn her trust. Once you’re the person she trusts most, just tell her you want to see the heirloom, and she’ll take it out for you herself.”

Qin Ke remained unimpressed. “That would take years. Even He Yuxuan hasn’t seen that sword. Our little sword spirit would have to work for twenty years to earn that kind of absolute trust, and even then, there’s no guarantee. Listen to me: seduce her. Make her crave you, make her obsessed. Once she’s head over heels, she’ll open anything you ask her to.”

Hearing the word “seduce,” Yin Shuang didn’t even blink, as if she were hearing a common everyday term. Zhu Peier grabbed Yin Shuang’s sleeve. “Don’t listen to her! You can’t be so reckless with matters of the heart!”

Qin Ke grabbed Yin Shuang’s other arm. “It’s acting! Who said anything about doing it for real?”

Zhu Peier pulled harder, forcing Yin Shuang to face her. “People ‘act’ their way into the real thing all the time! What if you fall for her? How am I supposed to explain that to your mother? I’m trying to get a promotion here! Do you have any idea how low the salary for an Astral Guide is right now?!”

Yin Shuang & Qin Ke: “…”

Realizing she had blurted out her internal thoughts, Zhu Peier let go and sat up straight, clearing her throat calmly. “Anyway, there’s no rush. It doesn’t matter if it takes a bit longer. Stick with my method. Yin Shuang, think about it—if you use her method, wouldn’t you be deceiving the woman’s feelings?”

Yin Shuang pondered this for a moment.

“I think… both of your methods are pretty good.”

Zhu Peier froze. Qin Ke’s expression didn’t change, but a playful smirk curled her lips.

“Like you said, Fu Mang is hard to deal with,” Yin Shuang continued. “Using just one method is risky. I’ll use both. Two-pronged attack—at least one of them has to work.”

Yin Shuang nodded, convinced of her own logic. “I’ll earn her trust while I seduce her. That way, I’ll definitely get her to give me the sword personally.”

As she spoke, Yin Shuang let out a confident smile. Zhu Peier’s mouth hung open. She looked at Yin Shuang, then at the silent Qin Ke.

Does she even understand what she’s saying?

To become Fu Mang’s closest friend and her lover… wouldn’t that make her the most important, irreplaceable person in Fu Mang’s entire life?

Zhu Peier felt a headache coming on. Stealing someone’s heart just to steal a sword? That was pure bad karma! Even the most notorious “heartbreakers” weren’t this ruthless!

Zhu Peier wanted to argue further, but her projection time ran out. Her image flickered and vanished from the private room. Yin Shuang blinked and turned to Qin Ke.

“What do you think of that plan?”

Qin Ke smiled thinly. “I think it’s excellent. Let’s do it.”

Yin Shuang smiled back. Qin Ke picked up her chopsticks to grab some food. Her favorite dish was a bit far away, so she stood up slightly and leaned forward to pull the plate closer.

As she leaned, a necklace slipped out from under her sweater. It had been hidden, but the purple pendant caught the light, flashing in Yin Shuang’s eyes. Yin Shuang instinctively tilted her head away; by the time she looked back, Qin Ke had already tucked the pendant back inside her sweater.

Curious, Yin Shuang asked, “What’s that you’re wearing?”

Qin Ke’s hand paused. She gently set her chopsticks on the plate and looked up at Yin Shuang with a smile. “My most precious possession. It’s more important to me than my own life.”

Even though she was smiling, Yin Shuang felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to bolt. It was the same primal fear she’d felt when she first saw the thick blood-lust on Qin Ke’s soul through the Mirror of Sin.

After weeks of living together, Yin Shuang had thought she wasn’t afraid of her anymore, but in that single instant, all that progress was gone.

Yin Shuang finished the rest of the meal in a state of nervous tension. When she finally followed Qin Ke out to settle the bill, she gave a tiny wave, said goodbye, and took off. At the speed she was going, she’d be back at Fu Mang’s house in five minutes.

Qin Ke found it amusing. Standing at the restaurant entrance, she let out a soft laugh. Hearing the sound come from her own throat, she paused, feeling slightly out of place.

When she had first become a Rakshasa, she didn’t like to laugh.

Actually, it wasn’t that she didn’t like it; she simply didn’t know how. She was a cold, unfeeling observer. Eventually, the Empress of Heaven saw her state and assigned her to the Three Thousand Star Chart missions.

She hadn’t wanted to go. She was a God of Slaughter, a deity more malevolent than the God of War. Her achievements were built on death; how was she supposed to do missions? The world loved the kind and the friendly—no one would love a cold-blooded killer like her.

However, the conditions offered by the Empress were too tempting to refuse. She agreed. Through round after round of missions, she went from not knowing how to laugh to wearing a permanent, practiced mask of a smile. It was progress, of a sort.

Qin Ke looked down and grasped the purple, tear-shaped pendant at her chest. Originally, this pendant had no color. With every mission completed, it gained a bit more purple. Now, it was almost entirely saturated, save for the very tip, which remained white.

Once she finished her task in this world, she would finally have what she wanted.

At that thought, Qin Ke smiled again. This time, there was a trace of genuine sincerity in it. Letting go of the pendant, she pulled her coat tight and headed toward the parking lot.

******

Back at the mansion, Yin Shuang entered through the kitchen door. She grabbed a bottle of water before strolling toward her room. It was nearly 9:00 PM, and the house was silent, as if no one were home.

Yin Shuang kept her footsteps light. She was now a person living for a paycheck—part of which she had to pay back to Qin Ke—so she really couldn’t afford to have her wages docked again.

Just as her left foot hit the first stair, a voice drifted over from the sofa. “Come here.”

Yin Shuang turned around, looking for Fu Mang. She finally spotted her lying on the sofa, covered in a blue blanket. Since the sofa was also blue, she had blended in perfectly.

Yin Shuang walked over and stood beside her.

Fu Mang sat up, her eyes bleary with sleep. She checked the time on her phone and yawned. “How was your time with Qin Ke?”

“It was good.”

As she spoke, Yin Shuang shifted her toes slightly toward the stairs.

Fu Mang noticed. She frowned. “I’m talking to you. Why are you looking over there? Eager to run away?”

Yin Shuang muttered softly, “No.”

“Oh, really? Then why are you in such a hurry to get back to your room? As my bodyguard, you’re supposed to be on call twenty-four hours a day. Your two-hour break is over. Now, you stay by my side and protect me.”

Yin Shuang stood on one leg, hands behind her back. She looked down, drawing two semicircles on the floor with her other foot. “But you’re at home, and it’s after 6:00 PM.”

Fu Mang’s brow furrowed. “What did you say?”

Yin Shuang froze. She suddenly realized that Fu Mang had never actually given her the order to stay in her room after 6:00 PM. For a second, even her hair seemed to go stiff with tension. She reacted quickly.

She looked up, her tone vague. “That’s what everyone else says, and it’s what they do, so I just did it too.”

Fu Mang still felt something was off. She scrutinized Yin Shuang’s face for a long time but couldn’t find any other sign of abnormality. She stood up from the sofa. “You’re different. You don’t have to follow that rule. Try to stay in after six, but if you feel I’m in danger, you can come out whenever you need.”

Yin Shuang nodded seriously. “Got it. Since you aren’t in danger right now, I’ll be going.”

She turned to leave, but Fu Mang’s voice snapped out, “Come back!”

Yin Shuang turned back, looking at her with confusion.

Fu Mang looked a bit agitated. “Tomorrow, you’re coming with me to the Fu estate.”

Yin Shuang paused. “Oh. Okay.”

A trip is a trip. She had to follow Fu Mang everywhere anyway; did the woman really need to announce it in advance?

Fu Mang felt a burst of annoyance, but then realized she didn’t quite know why she was annoyed. Was it because the answer was too simple?

Maybe.

Fu Mang scowled and waved her off. “Fine. Go back then.”

Yin Shuang turned around a second time, but this time, without Fu Mang calling her, she turned back on her own.

“President Fu, don’t always sleep on the sofa. You’ll catch a cold.”

With that, Yin Shuang finally retreated to her room. Fu Mang stared blankly at the spot where she had been standing. After a moment, she lowered her head and took a deep breath.

She hadn’t been cared for in a long time; she needed time to adjust to it.

She took a step toward the kitchen, but then she froze.

Wait.

I rarely sleep on the sofa. Why did she say ‘always’?

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