I Got Together With the Fake Heiress - Chapter 98

There were no five-star hotels in the small town, not even three-star ones.

Wen Yunqing could only choose the best of the bad options, selecting a hotel with decent décor and booking a king-size room.

Unsurprisingly, after a brief inspection, Wen Yunqing found two pinhole cameras in the room. She couldn’t be bothered to report it to the police; she simply crushed them and, using the residual energy information on them, cast a curse of misfortune on the person who installed the cameras.

If nothing unexpected happened, the person’s actions would likely be discovered through various coincidences, ultimately leading to them being jailed.

“Is this pillow clean? Why do I feel like it smells odd?” Wen Yimeng observed the room layout seriously. She quickly spotted hair in the corners, and the bathroom didn’t look very clean either.

Wen Yunqing frowned slightly. The room she chose was already on the pricier side, so why was the environment still so…

However, that was to be expected. In an economically underdeveloped area, expensive rooms probably saw little occupancy, and if they weren’t cleaned regularly, they might even be less sanitary than standard rooms.

“It’s fine. I’ve used the Cleaning Spell several times; there won’t be any filth.” It was too much trouble to find a replacement set of bedding now, so Wen Yunqing simply used the spell a few more times to thoroughly clean the room.

Although she had worries, once Wen Yimeng was snuggled against her girlfriend, the anxiety and unease in her heart were quickly soothed. Breathing in the familiar scent, she soon fell asleep.

The next day, the internal clock cultivated in school woke them up on time.

Clearly, this type of hotel did not provide breakfast. After washing up, Wen Yunqing and Wen Yimeng checked out of the room, ate a simple breakfast, and then drove toward the village.

Just as Wen Yunqing drove halfway up the mountain, the sky began to darken, and sparse snowflakes started drifting down from above. They slowly melted upon touching the ground, finally turning into water droplets.

“It’s snowing?” Wen Yimeng couldn’t help but open the car window, stretching out her palm to catch a few small snowflakes.

“I hope it doesn’t snow too heavily,” Wen Yunqing said. They were still on the road. If it snowed heavily, the road conditions would become more dangerous, as the roads in the remote village, though paved, were not wide, and some sections had poor guardrails.

“It shouldn’t, right? I remember the weather forecast yesterday said cloudy turning overcast, with no mention of snow.” Seeing the tiny snowflakes slowly melt in her palm, Wen Yimeng retracted her hand and closed the window again.

Unfortunately, when such a statement (which acts as a “flag”) is uttered, the bad prophecies usually come true more readily than the good ones, and this time was no exception.

In less than five minutes, the snow intensified dramatically. Accompanying the snowflakes were rice-grain-sized hailstones, which made a crackling sound as they hit the car body and the glass.

“How are there hailstones too!” Wen Yimeng was shocked. Was their luck really that bad already?

“The road surface is getting wet. It will probably take another half hour to arrive.” Wen Yunqing didn’t want to rely on luck. For safety, she slowed down, maintaining a speed of about thirty-five kilometers per hour on the deserted mountain road.

Although the weather was uncooperative, their luck on the road was relatively good. They didn’t encounter a single car traveling in the opposite direction, and apart from the slow speed, everything was going smoothly.

The pair departed before nine o’clock, and it was ten past ten when they arrived at the village, about fifteen minutes later than expected.

Upon seeing an unfamiliar car approach, the villagers instinctively tensed up. The car was intercepted by the villagers just as it reached the entrance.

“Oh, you’re the girl, Yunqing?” Upon seeing Wen Yunqing in the driver’s seat, the villager, who had approached with a stern face to question her, immediately changed his expression. He smiled and asked, “You’ve come back to visit your grandmother?”

“Yes. How has Grandmother been recently?” Wen Yunqing asked. After the last incident, she had given the villagers a sum of money as a calming gesture, preventing them from placing unwarranted blame on Wen Grandmother.

“The old lady is quite well. The small shop owner delivered things to her yesterday,” the villager said, stepping aside to clear the way. “Park in the usual spot. A lot of people have come back recently, so hurry up and grab a space.”

Wen Yunqing nodded, didn’t linger for pleasantries, and quickly arrived at the parking lot in the middle of the village after accelerating.

This place was less a parking lot and more a substandard basketball court. It was initially built to support certain policies and help foster the image of a new countryside.

Unfortunately, few people in the village liked playing basketball. Even if there were occasionally one or two young boys who enjoyed the sport, they wouldn’t choose this court. Instead, they would cycle three kilometers to the more standardized basketball court in the neighboring village.

“This village doesn’t seem very big,” Wen Yimeng said, getting out of the car. She consciously went to the trunk to retrieve their belongings.

“It really isn’t big. There are only a few hundred people in total, probably less than a hundred households,” Wen Yunqing said, single-handedly carrying all the remaining gifts.

“But compared to the nearby villages, our situation is relatively good,” Wen Yunqing continued. “If you keep driving up the road we just took, there are a few more small villages up there with only ten or twenty households each. They’re even smaller in scale.”

Wen Yimeng looked up, glancing around. It was essentially continuous mountain ranges. It was easy to predict that if the government hadn’t allocated funds to build roads here, many people might never have had the chance to leave in their entire lives.

Carrying the things they needed, they walked for about three more minutes, stopping in front of a small two-story building.

Looking at the tightly shut door, Wen Yunqing felt in her pocket, pulled out a key she rarely used, and somewhat awkwardly opened the front door.

“Grandmother, Grandmother, are you here?” Wen Yunqing pushed the door open, allowing light to shine into the hall.

After Wen Yunqing had set all the things down, the door to the first-floor bedroom opened, and Wen Grandmother slowly walked out, her eyes holding unconcealed surprise.

“Yun—Yunqing?” Wen Grandmother was truly surprised. She hadn’t received any news that Wen Yunqing was coming back. Yesterday, the small shop owner had even specifically asked her if she wanted to spend the New Year with his family.

“Yes, winter break started. I came to see you,” Wen Yunqing said. She then took Wen Yimeng’s hand and led her forward. “This is Yimeng. You must know about her, right? Yimeng is also your granddaughter, Grandmother.”

Wen Grandmother’s gaze shifted to Wen Yimeng. Yimeng, Wen Yimeng… She is also my granddaughter?

“Hello, Grandmother, I’m Yimeng.” Wen Yimeng greeted her politely. “Grandmother, I specifically bought you new clothes this time. Would you like to try them on?”

As the former good child of the family, the excellent child in the eyes of elders, Wen Yimeng naturally knew how to interact well with the elderly.

Wen Grandmother seemed flustered. She looked at Wen Yimeng, then back at Wen Yunqing, before slowly nodding. “Good. Both of you are good children.”

In truth, after Wen Grandmother returned to normal, she would occasionally think about the past, and she always felt a sense of guilt. Wen Yunqing should have been a beautiful little girl, but because of her own circumstances, she was forced to become a short-haired pseudo-boy.

As for Wen Yimeng, Wen Grandmother’s feelings for her were quite complex. From a blood-relation perspective, Wen Yimeng was her actual granddaughter, but they had never met, not even once.

Moreover, Wen Grandmother knew that Wen Yimeng had lived a very good life for the past eighteen years, much better than her own and Wen Yunqing’s. And the reason Yimeng could live a good life was because Li Hong had swapped the two children. This left Wen Grandmother at a loss; she didn’t know what kind of attitude was best to adopt when facing Wen Yimeng.

Wen Grandmother’s house was well-stocked with ingredients. Wen Yunqing had also learned a bit of cooking recently, and she and Wen Yimeng proactively took charge of making lunch.

Of course, she wouldn’t attempt any difficult dishes. Instead, she maximized her strengths and made a large pot of noodles that were visually appealing, fragrant, and delicious—a big pot of noodles!

“I heard them say you are a civil servant now?” After sitting down to eat, Wen Grandmother found the familiar feeling of interacting with Wen Yunqing again, and some questions naturally emerged.

“Something like that. I can help out in a few areas, so I have a name registered there and enjoy certain benefits,” Wen Yunqing said vaguely.

Wen Yunqing didn’t intend to let Wen Grandmother know too much, or the elderly woman would likely worry about the two of them daily.

Wen Grandmother nodded. “Being a civil servant is good, having a stable job.”

After asking the first question, Wen Grandmother changed the subject, just like any ordinary elder, inquiring about Wen Yunqing’s and Wen Yimeng’s university lives.

Wen Grandmother could be considered the first blood relative Wen Yimeng was willing to accept. Although it was their first meeting, Wen Yimeng could feel that the elder woman genuinely cared about her.

After finishing the meal, Wen Grandmother needed a nap. After adjusting the air conditioner in the bedroom to a comfortable temperature, Wen Yunqing led Wen Yimeng up to the second floor.

“Is this your room?” Wen Yimeng asked with curiosity.

Wen Yunqing smiled and shook her head. “This house was renovated; it didn’t have a second floor before. But my belongings are all stored up here.”

Saying this, Wen Yunqing opened a storage box. “These are my old books; middle school and high school are all here.”

“Hmm, the closet seems to hold my clothes from last year, and some trinkets my classmates gave me.” These items felt both unfamiliar and familiar to Wen Yunqing.

“What about this? Did your classmate give you this too?” Wen Yimeng found a small wooden carving in a box at the bottom of the closet and curiously took it out.

“A wooden carving?” Wen Yunqing frowned slightly, searching her somewhat distant memories. “I don’t think anyone ever gave me a wooden carving.”

“The material of this carving seems quite good; it even has a faint scent,” Wen Yimeng observed the carving. “What is written here… it looks like cursive script, it’s hard to read clearly.”

Cursive script? Wen Yunqing curiously took the carving and looked at the base where the cursive script was inscribed.

Once she clearly saw what was written on it, Wen Yunqing’s brow furrowed to its lowest point, and a surge of anger rose from her heart.

Very good. It seemed she had more work to do this winter break.

She certainly wanted to see who dared to repeatedly strike at the people around her!