I, A Loyal Dog, Awaken to My Fate as Cannon Fodder - Chapter 6

Cheng Wanqiu and Ni Zhen threw a small ball at the same time. Standing in the Cheng family garden, the two of them stood with their hands on their hips, looking at the ball-retrieving servant, Shen Yinan. “Shen Yinan, who are you going to help pick up the ball first?”

That was during Shen Yinan’s first six months at the Cheng household. She couldn’t afford to offend either side. Being pressured and questioned, the girl—who wasn’t even eleven years old yet—was so nervous that she directly fainted.

Before losing consciousness, she vaguely heard her young mistress say, “It’s all your fault, Shen Yinan was scared into a faint.”

Miss Ni Zhen scratched her nose, pretending she didn’t hear.

Similar incidents never ended. Wherever Shen Yinan was present, Cheng Wanqiu and Ni Zhen would always start a dispute. It wasn’t the kind of loud, screaming fight, but rather a quarrel that forced Shen Yinan to make a choice.

“Shen Yinan, do you like me a bit more, or do you like Ni Zhen a bit more?” Cheng Wanqiu questioned with her hands on her hips.

Ni Zhen was not to be outdone. With her tall figure, she turned her head away, looking like she cared deeply yet was pretending not to.

Shen Yinan opened her mouth slightly, her eyes full of confusion. Subconsciously nervous, she dug her thumbnails into each other and said, “Please don’t tease me, young ladies.”

Hu Ying was watching with greedy eyes. Especially seeing Ni Zhen, whose figure and family background could rival Cheng Wanqiu’s, the restlessness in his heart nearly surged up his throat and leaped out.

Cheng Wanqiu was clearly unsatisfied with Shen Yinan’s answer. She let go of the hand she had been holding and made a gesture as if she were angry and difficult to coax. Ni Zhen raised an eyebrow, also not particularly satisfied with the response.

The two shared similar family backgrounds and personalities. If one were to cover their faces with masks, even Shen Yinan—who was intimately familiar with her eldest mistress—would find it difficult to distinguish between them.

Shen Yinan didn’t know why the Eldest Miss and Miss Ni Zhen were so obsessed with making her rank them one and two. Both ladies were excellent and outstanding.

After years of training, she no longer fainted between them like she did at age eleven, requiring the two ladies to look after her. After so many instances, she had already come to view these “pick one or the other” questions as the masters teasing their dog—like aimlessly throwing a ball to make her fetch it like a canine, only to throw it again and again.

She was just a dog out of the Shen family. If people from great families wanted to play with her like this, they would.

“Let’s go, Shen Yinan. Time for lunch.” Cheng Wanqiu winked at Shen Yinan, her eyes full of playfulness.

Shen Yinan expressed that she was quite afraid.

“It’s been so long since we’ve met, let’s go together,” Ni Zhen said, intimately taking Cheng Wanqiu’s arm.

“What does this senior think?” The conversation turned to Hu Ying. Ni Zhen’s glamorous fox-like eyes slanted upward; she looked like she was sending secret signals to anyone she glanced at.

Hu Ying was so enchanted he couldn’t find his way, nodding silently. Cheng Wanqiu rolled her eyes at Ni Zhen.

Before long, they saw the theme restaurant of the amusement park. Perhaps because it wasn’t quite peak mealtime yet, there weren’t many people inside. Usually, when they went out, Shen Yinan was responsible for ordering and such; Cheng Wanqiu only had to sit.

But today was different. Cheng Wanqiu whispered in Shen Yinan’s ear, “You go sit down, I’ll order.”

Shen Yinan’s eyes widened. How would she dare? But since it was the Mistress’s order, she had no choice but to find a seat with Ni Zhen and the others.

Cheng Wanqiu knew Shen Yinan best. She knew exactly what Shen Yinan liked and disliked. Sometimes she was very vengeful; if Shen Yinan made a mistake, she would issue a punishment. Although she wouldn’t say it explicitly, Shen Yinan would realize it in hindsight.

The waiter at the front desk asked with a smile, “Hello, what would you like to order?”

Cheng Wanqiu looked through the menu for her favorites, then specifically told the waiter: “One mushroom soup, add green peppers, cilantro, and green onions.”

The waiter froze for a second or two, but seeing Cheng Wanqiu’s expensive accessories from head to toe, he nodded and agreed.

Shen Yinan didn’t like mushrooms, green peppers, cilantro, or green onions. She had never directly told Cheng Wanqiu, but her silence didn’t mean Cheng Wanqiu hadn’t noticed. After eating together for eight years, whenever there were mushrooms, green peppers, cilantro, or onions on the table, Shen Yinan would bypass them to pick up other dishes.

Once, an elder of the Cheng family had served Shen Yinan a piece of mushroom. She kept it in her bowl the whole time; it was only because the Cheng family didn’t allow leftovers that she eventually ate it, otherwise, it might have stayed there forever. That was the first time Cheng Wanqiu saw Shen Yinan reveal a look of great pain; seeing her chew the mushroom as if it were a disgusting insect, Cheng Wanqiu had laughed secretly.

Returning to Shen Yinan’s side, she sat with her best friend Ni Zhen, with Shen Yinan sitting opposite them. Shen Yinan sat stiffly, both hands resting on her thighs. She looked up, trying to read something from Cheng Wanqiu’s eyes, but Cheng Wanqiu was leaning her head nonchalantly, looking at the scenery outside the window. She withdrew her gaze.

The table of four was particularly quiet. Each was doing their own thing; if one didn’t know better, they would think they were strangers forced to share a table by the waiter.

Not long after, the waiter carried four plates of lunch to Table 11 by the window, distributing the deluxe sets in front of the guests in turn. When it came to Shen Yinan, hers was different from everyone else’s—it was a bowl of mushroom soup that looked like Chinese medicine.

For someone like her who disliked mushrooms, even the smell was unbearable. Unconsciously, she furrowed her brows and leaned her head back, keeping her distance. The waiter set down the four lunches, hugged the iron tray with both hands, bowed, and said, “Please enjoy your meal.”

Cheng Wanqiu saw Shen Yinan’s troubled expression and secretly curled her lips into a smile. Acting as if she hadn’t noticed Shen Yinan’s hatred for mushrooms, she said lightly, “Eat.”

The set for the other three was shrimp omelet rice (omurice). Ni Zhen even asked curiously, “Little Yinan likes mushrooms?”

Cheng Wanqiu sliced open the omelet rice, the egg liquid wrapping around the rice. Hearing Ni Zhen’s question, she gave a light scoff as if she had heard a joke. The sound wasn’t loud, but it reached Shen Yinan’s ears perfectly. The hand she held the spoon with trembled slightly.

No one answered Ni Zhen. Ni Zhen didn’t truly care whether Shen Yinan liked mushrooms or not; she was just curious why her set was different from theirs. Since no one spoke, she ate quietly.

Shen Yinan scooped up a spoonful of soup with a mushroom and looked steadily at Cheng Wanqiu. Her eyes seemed to say: “Mistress, I will really eat it, but do you really have the heart to let the puppy eat nasty mushrooms?”

She hesitated to put the spoonful of mushroom into her mouth; she wanted Cheng Wanqiu to watch her eat it. It was true she was a woman of few words, but her appearing “dim-witted” was an act. It wasn’t that she couldn’t see Cheng Wanqiu was angry with her; if she had to eat nasty mushrooms to atone, she wanted the Mistress to see it with her own eyes.

Cheng Wanqiu was absentminded, sliding a small silver knife back and forth in her hand, stirring the omelet rice into a mess. She hadn’t eaten a single bite. She couldn’t help but want to look up to see if Shen Yinan was properly eating the mushroom soup she had prepared for her.

Shen Yinan noticed Cheng Wanqiu was about to look up. She prepared herself composedly, her eyes looking innocently at her master. When Cheng Wanqiu looked up, she immediately fed the mushroom from the spoon into her mouth. Instantly, she showed a pained expression, her eyes squeezed shut and her nose wrinkled.

Seeing this made Cheng Wanqiu feel incredibly pained. Even though she knew Shen Yinan was playing a little trick to make her go soft, she accepted it willingly; her heart softened.

“Shen Yinan, I’ll swap with you. You eat my omelet rice.” Saying this, Cheng Wanqiu pushed her omelet rice toward Shen Yinan and exchanged it for the mushroom soup.

Inwardly, Shen Yinan’s heart burst with joy, but she showed no delight on her face. With difficulty, she swallowed the roughly chewed mushroom and gave her spoon to her young mistress. “Thank you, Mistress.”

Cheng Wanqiu raised an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth curling up imperceptibly just because of Shen Yinan’s “thank you.”

Although the omelet rice had been cut messily by the knife, it hadn’t been touched at all—for all intents and purposes, it was fresh from the kitchen. Cheng Wanqiu took a spoonful of mushroom soup; only then did she manage to keep herself from breaking into a sweet smile.

Beside her, Ni Zhen nudged Cheng Wanqiu secretly with her elbow. At that moment, Cheng Wanqiu’s phone screen lit up with a message from Ni Zhen.

[I see you! So Little Yinan actually hates mushrooms, and you intentionally ordered them for her.] This had been sent a minute ago, right when Shen Yinan swallowed that mushroom.

Cheng Wanqiu glanced at her long-time best friend from the corner of her eye, too lazy to deal with this friend who tried to snatch everything from her. She didn’t reply to the message.

Hu Ying, who was eating and drinking for free, finished his meal. Setting down his utensils without even wiping the rice grains from the corner of his mouth, he suggested, “Junior Cheng, how about we go to the haunted house?”

Cheng Wanqiu set down her spoon and looked up at Hu Ying coldly.

“I agree!!!” Ni Zhen raised a hand, looking provocatively at Cheng Wanqiu. She had grown up with Cheng Wanqiu; how could she not know her? She knew perfectly well that Cheng Wanqiu was afraid of the dark.

Shen Yinan also knew Cheng Wanqiu was afraid of the dark. She was the first to disagree. But before she could speak, her mistress spoke first.

“Okay.”

No one expected Cheng Wanqiu to agree so easily. To Hu Ying, this was a pleasant surprise.

“Mistress, you…” Shen Yinan said worriedly.

“Don’t I have you?” Compared to Shen Yinan, Cheng Wanqiu appeared much more calm and composed.

Ni Zhen chimed in from the side, “That’s right, isn’t your mistress protected by you?”

If she really didn’t know Hu Ying, Shen Yinan would truly suspect Miss Ni Zhen was a spy sent by Senior Hu Ying. Her mistress was terrified of the dark, wasn’t she? Back when the three of them slept in the mistress’s bedroom, the bedside lamp stayed on from dusk until dawn.

“Then let’s go. I know where the haunted house is, I’ll lead the way.”

Hu Ying was trying very hard to suppress the joy in his heart. He wished he could grab Cheng Wanqiu’s hand and take her to the haunted house immediately. He had been planning this since last night—waiting for the NPCs in the haunted house to scream, then he would pull Cheng Wanqiu into his arms to protect her. Then, Cheng Wanqiu would submit to his masculinity, and he would have successfully conquered the eldest daughter of the Cheng family. He, a rat from the bottom, would finally see the light of day.

Once he latched onto Cheng Wanqiu, the first thing he would do was beat Shen Yinan—that little beast who made things difficult for him everywhere—to death. Crushing her would be as easy as crushing an ant.