Transmigrated as the Cannon Fodder Spouse of the Disabled Beauty - Chapter 10

Xu Luo felt the bracelet on her wrist grow heavy. Looking at her reddened skin, the wariness toward Song Yunran which had unknowingly weakened suddenly rushed back.

Amidst this guarded state, the bidding results for the “Mermaid’s Tear” arrived.

The winner of the auction: Zhou Miao.

Although the Zhou family, the rising stars of City A, lacked deep roots, they possessed immense wealth and were notoriously extravagant. Every eye in the room turned toward the lucky winner.

Bathed in the collective gaze of the crowd, Zhou Miao walked calmly toward the auction stage. Her face showed little joy; in fact, she looked somewhat bored.

“Everyone must be curious if this Mermaid’s Tear is the real deal, right?” Taking the pearl from the host, Zhou Miao pinched the gem to inspect it. In the next second, as if tossing a fried bean into her mouth, she threw the high-priced pearl into her maw and grinned. “I’ll help you all verify it.”

Several guests who believed firmly in the legend straightened their backs, eyes bulging, their hearts practically bleeding at the sight. Those who were skeptical watched with curiosity, expecting something to happen.

Zhou Miao chewed the pearl with a loud, crunchy snap.

She swallowed the crushed remains and critiqued: “Hmm, it’s a bit more palatable than I imagined.”

One second passed. Nothing happened. Two seconds passed. Nothing happened. Half a minute passed. Still nothing.

Below the stage, the guests began to whisper.

“The Mo family is being dishonest this time, bringing out such a fraudulent item to fool people. Even if the auction is just a gimmick to raise money for charity, making up a legend to skyrocket the price is a bit unethical.”

“Ha, lucky I didn’t win the bid.”

“It was fake all along. How could mermaids exist in this world? A pearl is just a pearl; how could it save a life?”

A minute passed, and most people looked at Zhou Miao as if she were a massive sucker, their eyes filled with pity. Zhou Miao herself felt nothing; she was genuinely enthusiastic about charity. She smiled, accepted their stares, finished the payment process with the host, and prepared to leave the stage with her hands in her pockets.

Just as she reached the steps, a grain-sized speck of light suddenly emerged from her body, wobbling as it floated into the air.

“Ah!” someone cried out in surprise.

Then, another speck of light emerged, followed by a third, a fourth… Suddenly, countless points of light drifted out, wrapping Zhou Miao in a glowing cocoon. Zhou Miao couldn’t see the path and nearly tripped.

Silence.

After a brief hush, the hall erupted.

“What is this?!”

“What are these firefly-like lights?!”

Under the crowd’s awe, the fluorescent glow slowly dissipated, revealing a bewildered Zhou Miao.

“Whoa!”

The room was in an uproar. Because… because the Zhou Miao who emerged from the cocoon was completely transformed. The burn scars on her face had vanished!

— The analysis indicated the pearl’s components possessed extremely high activity and immeasurable medicinal value.

The host had spoken the truth!

However, the host himself was stunned by the change. He was a professional hired by the Mo family; while he was told the Mermaid’s Tear had medicinal value, even the Mo family didn’t know the extent of it. That was why the description used vague modifiers like “immeasurable.”

Now, Zhou Miao had experimented on herself, and the experiment told everyone that this Mermaid’s Tear was indeed a supernatural object.

“It really is the Mermaid’s Tear! Why didn’t I bid higher?!”

“The Mermaid’s Tear… do mermaids really exist in this world?!”

“I feel like I’ve missed out on something massive.”

The guests who had pitied her moments ago were now burning with envy. That was a legendary item—a priceless treasure!

Zhou Miao caught keywords about her burn scars from the surrounding noise. Dazed, she raised her hand to touch her face; her skin felt fine and smooth to the touch.

Realizing what had happened, her expression suddenly became darker than a soot-covered iron pot that had been on the fire for ten years. She touched the spot where her scars used to be, looking heartbroken.

While everyone else was staring at Zhou Miao, Xu Luo was watching Song Yunran. She wanted to see her reaction to the news that the pearl was real.

Song Yunran’s reaction was… well, she had no reaction. She was also looking at Zhou Miao, but she didn’t look regretful or envious. She just watched, and no one knew what she was thinking.

The Mo family’s charity banquet ended in chaos. Many people didn’t leave immediately; instead, they swarmed Zhou Miao, wanting to ask her a thousand questions about how she felt and more information about the pearl.

Xu Luo and Song Yunran were not among them. As soon as the Mo family announced the end, they left the hotel.

On the way back, no one spoke to Xu Luo. She could only daze off while thinking about random things. Seeing her out of it, Song Yunran asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“Thinking about Zhou Miao,” Xu Luo said honestly. “I’m wondering if she has some strange fetish.”

Like… a fetish for ugliness?

Song Yunran didn’t want to discuss this person, let alone hear her name. She brushed it off: “Perhaps.”

But what Song Yunran didn’t want to discuss was exactly what Xu Luo wanted to dive into. She pushed further: “She seemed very unhappy about her successful ‘beauty treatment’?”

Song Yunran: “…Mm.”

“Do you think she has some kind of psychological issue?”

“Luo Luo.”

“Huh?”

Song Yunran rubbed her temples. “Can we stop talking for a moment?”

Xu Luo: “…”

She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and rebelled.

“No!” she insisted. “The person who starts the conversation has no right to end it!”

She felt a bit aggrieved. Song Yunran was the one who asked her first, and now she was being dismissed for being noisy?

Song Yunran: “…”

“Then let’s talk about something else,” she suggested.

Xu Luo conceded easily. “Okay. What should we talk about?”

Talk about what?

The two had nothing to say to each other. They stared at one another for a few seconds before falling into a mutual silence.

After the Mo charity banquet, a “Mermaid Craze” swept through high society. Many wealthy people began secretly investing in projects to find mermaids. This strange trend didn’t seem to reach the Song villa at least not on the surface. Life continued at a lukewarm pace. Xu Luo was still avoiding Song Yunran, though not entirely successfully; she had accepted the reality that her thoughts were being eroded by a certain level of “salted fish” laziness.

One day, Xu Luo was in her second-floor room when she heard a car engine downstairs. She assumed Song Yunran had left. She walked downstairs casually, only to see a very real Song Yunran sitting in the living room.

Startled, she asked the person who shouldn’t be there, “Am I in your dream, or are you in mine?”

Song Yunran let out a low chuckle. “What do you think, Luo Luo?”

Luo Luo felt she shouldn’t be deceived and pouted. “You didn’t leave?”

Song Yunran replied, “I was going to, but I remembered something and came back.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to the city center. I wanted to ask if there’s anything you need me to pick up for you.”

Xu Luo: “…”

Just for that? Xu Luo highly suspected her motives and politely declined. Song Yunran said nothing more and left.

Xu Luo: “…” She took off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the sofa, clearing her mind to think seriously. What is Song Yunran playing at?

Zhou Miao walked out of a flower shop, holding two large bouquets of chrysanthemums in her arms. The bouquets were so large they half-buried her face.

Her car was parked in front of the shop and was blocking the way. Someone shouted at her to move it. She apologized, walked over, put the flowers in the trunk, and drove away. She drove to the city center and entered a high-end residential complex.

While she was registering at the security gate, a Maserati drove slowly past. She glanced at it and happened to see a familiar face inside.

Song Yunran.

Does Song Yunran have a house in this complex too? Zhou Miao wondered briefly.

Without giving it much thought, she finished her registration and went into the complex to pick up a child a survivor of a fire accident currently living with relatives. Three years ago, Zhou Miao had accidentally saved this child from a massive fire. Since then, she came every year on this day to take the child to visit the graves.

Yes, unfortunately, the child’s parents hadn’t been rescued in time and had perished in that fire. The burn scars on Zhou Miao’s face had also been left by that same fire. She never thought her face was ugly because she had always viewed those scars as medals of heroism.

The child knew she was coming and was waiting downstairs. She picked him up and drove to the suburban cemetery. Following their yearly routine, they cleaned the graves, stayed for a while, and reported on their current lives to the deceased parents before leaving.

But unlike previous years, when Zhou Miao tried to lead the child back to the car, he suddenly refused to get in.

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Miao asked, looking at the boy standing outside with his head bowed.

The ten-year-old was starting to grow tall and thin, looking like a willow branch that would snap in the wind.

“Why…” the child murmured.

His voice was too low for Zhou Miao to hear from the driver’s seat. “What did you say?”

The child looked up, his face full of suppressed agony.

“Why couldn’t you have come earlier?!” the child shouted.

This time, Zhou Miao heard him clearly. She rubbed her nose, feeling a bit awkward. “There was some traffic on the way…”

“If you had come earlier, my dad and my mom might have survived…” The child was in deep pain, which was mixed with a hint of resentment toward her. “You could save me, so why couldn’t you save my parents? Why? I miss them… I miss them so much, waah…”

Amidst the child’s crying, Zhou Miao realized that “coming earlier” didn’t refer to today, but to the day of the fire.

Her heart shook violently. She had never imagined she would face such an accusation. In the gratitude she had heard from this child over the past three years, had there always been this underlying blame?

At that moment, her phone buzzed. An incoming call from an unknown number. The phone rang only twice before hanging up, followed immediately by a text message.

The message contained only two words:

[Let’s talk?]

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