Becoming the Runaway Little Wife of the Domineering CEO - Chapter 4

It was a classic case of finding by luck what one couldn’t find by searching.

So, the sword was right here.

Yin Shuang had noticed the faint shimmer of auspicious aura surrounding Fu Mang earlier, but she had assumed it was simply the woman’s natural luck—a byproduct of a life blessed by deep karma. It was only when she got close that she realized the scent of her own sword was woven into that aura. The blade had to be in this house. In fact, Fu Mang might have just touched it.

Yin Shuang blinked innocently and took a step back. Fu Mang pulled her hand away, her brow furrowed in a deep scowl.

“President Fu,” Yin Shuang asked politely, “where did you just come from?”

Fu Mang’s frown deepened. “What?”

“I asked, where were you just now?”

The scent of a sword’s aura dissipated quickly. The fact that Fu Mang was still carrying a trace of it meant she had brushed against it recently. If Yin Shuang could figure out where the woman had been, she could reclaim her body and head back home to turn in her mission.

Fu Mang let out a sharp, frustrated laugh. “I haven’t stepped out the front door all day. Where do you think I came from? Besides, what does my location have to do with you?”

Yin Shuang gave a radiant, carefree smile. “Nothing at all. Please, go about your business. I’ll get back to mopping.”

With that, she turned and strolled away.

Fu Mang: “…” What is wrong with this girl?!

Fu Mang felt like she was being played. She wanted to go after her and demand an explanation, but on second thought, the girl hadn’t actually done anything wrong—she’d just asked a polite, albeit bizarre, question.

After a moment of silence, Fu Mang took her drink and headed upstairs, looking thoroughly annoyed.

The moment she went up, Yin Shuang hoisted her mop and stealthily followed. she watched as Fu Mang reached a door on the second floor, opened it, and vanished inside.

Yin Shuang recognized that room. Sister Chen had pointed it out yesterday during the tour: Fu Mang’s bedroom, the one place she was strictly forbidden from entering.

Yin Shuang took a long look at the door and then skipped back downstairs, her heart light. I know where it is now. Once Monday rolled around and Fu Mang went to work, she would turn that bedroom upside down!

The joy of the discovery was so sudden that Yin Shuang almost couldn’t believe her luck. She hummed a tune as she finished the rest of the floors, then retreated to her room to draft a “theft” plan.

Without her magic, getting caught would be a hassle. It wasn’t that she was afraid—even with her spells sealed, her physical instincts remained. She was a natural-born sword spirit; every strike and move she made carried the sharp, lethal edge of a blade. Humans were no match for her.

However, if she was discovered before she found the sword, getting close to it again would be nearly impossible. She had to plan carefully to ensure success on the first attempt.

Before she could get very far into her planning, another maid knocked on her door, calling her back to work. The afternoon task wasn’t mopping but dusting furniture. Sister Chen didn’t trust her with the small, delicate items yet, so she was assigned to the large, sturdy pieces: sofas, cabinets, and heavy tables.

Yin Shuang donned rubber gloves, her rag moving up and down with mechanical precision. Sister Chen, the woman in her forties with the eerily smooth, frozen face, was watching her. Yin Shuang didn’t realize the stiffness was the result of a botched plastic surgery; she simply assumed the woman suffered from some sort of facial nerve disorder and felt quite sympathetic toward her.

Sister Chen walked over, gave Yin Shuang a cold, dismissive glance, and then approached Fu Mang, who was scrolling through her phone.

“Fourth Miss,” Sister Chen said in a clipped, business-like tone. “Mr. Fu just called. He expects you back tomorrow for the family dinner.”

Fourth Miss? Their parents were certainly busy…

Yin Shuang was half-kneeling on the floor, wiping a cabinet. Her hand paused for a second as her ears practically perked up. Her former master had once told her: the more people there are, the more gossip there is; and the more women there are, the more juicy that gossip becomes.

Being the fourth child meant Fu Mang’s family was definitely large. Which meant there was bound to be drama!

******

Fu Mang didn’t even look up. She offered a blunt, two-word reply: “Not going.”

Sister Chen’s brow twitched instinctively, making her frozen face look even more distorted. “Fourth Miss, as I said, it’s a family dinner.”

The living room went silent for two beats. Then, with a loud thwack, Fu Mang tossed her phone aside. She looked up, her expression void of emotion. “And as I said, I’m not going. Furthermore, change how you address me. I am not a ‘Miss,’ and I am not ‘Number Four.’ Address me as President Fu from now on, or you can get out.”

Sister Chen looked furious, but she knew Fu Mang’s temper. Besides, Fu Mang wasn’t her real boss; she was only here to act as a set of eyes for the main family. If she actually got kicked out, she wouldn’t be able to report back.

Since she had delivered the message, she didn’t care if Fu Mang actually went. As for how she’d report the return call… the usual way: exaggerate everything and pin all the blame on Fu Mang.

Once Sister Chen left, Fu Mang didn’t move. Yin Shuang, having only heard a few snatches of the conversation, couldn’t piece together much information. The only thing she knew for sure was that Fu Mang and Sister Chen despised each other, and that for a housekeeper, Sister Chen was remarkably bold and disrespectful.

As the saying goes, every family has its skeletons, but wealthy families have an entire graveyard. Yin Shuang felt she had caught a glimpse of a “high-society secret.” Curious, she continued wiping the cabinet, slowly shuffling along the floor until she reached a position where she could see Fu Mang’s face.

Fu Mang sat on the sofa with her eyes cast down. She didn’t reach for her phone again; she just sat there, motionless and expressionless, making it impossible to guess what she was thinking. Yin Shuang watched for a while but came to no conclusion. She turned back, rinsed her rag in the bucket, wrung it out, and picked up the bucket to move to the next cabinet.

Suddenly, Fu Mang spoke. “Come here.”

Yin Shuang looked around and realized she was the only one in the room.

She walked over, puzzled. Fu Mang had already regained her usual aura of lazy defiance. She jerked her chin toward the nut tray on the coffee table.

“Crack some walnuts for me.”

The tray was shaped like a six-pointed star, with individual compartments that could be removed. The large center box was filled with walnuts. Next to the tray sat a pair of heavy-duty nutcrackers.

Fu Mang loved nuts, but she hated “paper-shell” walnuts. she believed those were bred for the lazy and that their flavor paled in comparison to the old-fashioned, thick-shelled variety. Because of that, the walnuts in the house always required a tool to open.

“Oh, okay,” Yin Shuang agreed. She squatted down and reached for a walnut.

Fu Mang picked up her phone again. She rolled her neck, feeling a bit of stiffness, and was considering whether she should book a shoulder massage when—

BANG!

A thunderous sound exploded right next to her.

The noise was so loud it made Fu Mang jump. She whipped her head around to see her “frail little beauty” of a maid squatting on the floor, peering intently at the coffee table as she carefully picked bits of nutmeat out of a pile of shattered shells.

She was meticulous, not missing a single crumb. Once she had a small pile, she held out her hand. “Here.”

Fu Mang stared in stunned silence for a long time before finally, reflexively, holding out her palm. Yin Shuang dumped the shattered walnuts into her hand, gave it a little shake to get the dust off, and then squatted back down.

The last one was too hard, I smashed it to dust, Yin Shuang thought. This time, she had a better feel for it. She lined up three walnuts, flattened her palm, and brought it down in a lightning-fast strike.

CRACK—

The three walnuts split perfectly. Yin Shuang happily peeled away the shells. This time, the nutmeat was whole. Her hands were small, so she couldn’t hold all six halves in one palm. She cupped them in both hands to offer them to Fu Mang, but then realized Fu Mang’s hands weren’t much bigger than hers. Spotting an empty water glass nearby, she dropped the walnuts inside and then handed the glass to Fu Mang.

She looked at Fu Mang with an innocent gaze. “Is four enough, President Fu? Do you want me to do more?”

Fu Mang: “…”

President Fu was still in a state of shock. She needed a moment to process.

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