Transmigrated as the Cannon Fodder Spouse of the Disabled Beauty - Chapter 23.1

Shao Anze returned the jade pendant to Song Zhenzhen. The shock of finding the pendant was suppressed deep within his heart as he looked toward Song Yunran, his eyes filled with understanding and wariness. Noticing his gaze, Song Yunran looked up at him, then indifferently looked away a second later, a strange atmosphere flowing between the two.

Xu Luo did not notice; her attention was currently drawn to Song Zhenzhen.

“What a coincidence! To think I’d run into you here. Life really is full of unexpected encounters!”

Xu Luo regarded Song Zhenzhen as both a relative and a potential friend of Song Yunran, so she was quite enthusiastic toward her.

Song Zhenzhen was checking the jade pendant for damage. Finding it intact, she put it away.

She still harbored the thought of giving the pendant to Xu Luo, but since Xu Luo was clearly determined not to accept it, she could only let the matter drop.

“I’m doing a part-time job here,” Song Zhenzhen briefly explained to Xu Luo why she was there.

“Part-time?” Xu Luo asked in surprise. “Are you applying to stay at the Li family? Don’t you still have your studies to complete?”

This was normal logic; any ordinary person hearing those words would assume Song Zhenzhen was going to work for the Li family. However, the part-time job Song Zhenzhen was doing had nothing to do with the Lis; her employer was Shao Anze.

She said, “I am currently acting as Classmate Shao’s female companion the paid kind.”

This was her true part-time job.

As she spoke, Shao Anze and Song Yunran looked at her simultaneously; Shao Anze remained expressionless, while Song Yunran’s lips curled up slightly.

Seeing her employer looking at her, Song Zhenzhen let out an “ah” as she realized something and asked him, “Is this not allowed to be spoken of?”

She looked worried that her part-time wages might be docked. “You didn’t make a confidentiality agreement with me beforehand.”

Shao Anze: “…”

“There’s nothing that can’t be said,” he stated indifferently.

Xu Luo was baffled. “Why does such a strange part-time job even exist?”

Song Yunran smiled and said as if nonchalantly, “Probably because of a certain rumor.”

“What rumor?”

“That the Li family of Green Island delights in making the acquaintance of young women.”

The implications of those words were massive!

Song Yunran seemed to be hinting—hinting that Shao Anze was catering to the rumors and the Li family, which was why he had paid for a female companion to accompany him to the Li residence.

Since it was catering, there must be a ulterior motive.

Furthermore, what did it mean that the Li family of Green Island “delighted in making the acquaintance of young women”? The rumor made it sound like the Li family wasn’t a proper, respectable family!

Xu Luo got goosebumps all over, and the more she looked at this drawing room, the more she felt something was off.

Shao Anze did not defend himself. He was not a man of many words to begin with, and since he had no real relationship with Song Yunran or Xu Luo, he naturally wouldn’t offer an explanation.

The atmosphere in the drawing room was bizarre.

It was at this moment that the head of the Li family, Mr. Li, entered the room. He wore a modified Zhongshan-style long robe and carried a friendly smile as he greeted everyone: “There are so many guests today. Welcome, welcome.”

The Li family of Green Island had once been a great family that controlled the economic lifeblood of the entire island, but they had been in decline in recent years. Rather than a businessman, the head of the Li family resembled a scholar with a strong artistic aura.

Mr. Li loved paintings. Song Yunran’s visit today was under the guise of “befriending through art,” and she had brought a landscape painting she had created herself.

Coincidentally, Shao Anze had also come under the same pretense. The only difference was that he could not paint himself, so he had brought a masterpiece by a famous artist that he had collected.

The head of the Li family truly loved good paintings and couldn’t wait to open the two works to begin his appraisal. He was not the type of person who merely chased famous names to appear sophisticated; he equally appreciated Song Yunran’s painting despite her having no reputation in the art world.

“The younger generation is truly formidable! For a young person nowadays to have such a temperament and be able to settle down to paint is not easy!” Mr. Li was full of praise for Song Yunran.

“Mr. Li overpraises me.” Song Yunran was accustomed to social etiquette; her humble demeanor did not feel annoying, only sincere.

Mr. Li held her in high regard.

At the same time, he did not neglect Shao Anze and chatted with him about the painting he had brought.

The three of them conversed about art back and forth in an exceptionally harmonious manner.

Xu Luo and Song Zhenzhen, who both lacked artistic cells and perceptions: “…”

The two watched for a while and simultaneously let out a yawn.

As if to rescue the two from their boredom, a woman’s scream suddenly erupted from outside the villa. The air in the drawing room froze, and everyone stopped talking.

Mr. Li carefully set down the painting, stood up, and took two steps toward the outside when he encountered the butler entering the house. He asked what was happening.

“A lady lost her way and ended up over here. She was drenched by Mr. Ante while he was watering the garden.”

Mr. Ante was the gardener employed by the Li family, responsible for maintaining the grounds.

Hearing that it was just a minor accident, Mr. Li breathed a sigh of relief. The smile returned to his face as he told the butler, “Apologize to the lady. If she demands compensation and the request is reasonable, grant it.”

The butler understood and walked out of the villa to handle the sudden minor incident.

At this time, the head of the Li family only defined the scream outside as an easily solved small event and didn’t take it to heart until he saw the butler lead a woman into the house.

Mr. Li: “???”

Facing his master’s bewildered gaze, the butler was somewhat speechless. “…This lady requested to enter the villa to change her clothes.”

This request was reasonable enough. After all, she was a young woman, and now that she was soaking wet, her clothes were clinging to her body, which was quite awkward.

Mr. Li only just noticed this and gentlemanly averted his gaze. After thinking for a moment, he said to the butler, “Take this lady to a room on the third floor and give her a set of clothes.”

The butler paused.

Mr. Li glanced at him and said, “Go on.”

The butler’s eyes flickered, and he obeyed.

In the drawing room, Xu Luo, Song Yunran, Song Zhenzhen, and Shao Anze were all staring at the woman following behind the butler. The reason their gazes were so unified was that they all knew her.

Song Zhenzhen had even given her a beating yesterday; their “history” was certainly deep.

Indeed, the woman the butler led through the door was none other than the foolish woman in the swimsuit from the beach yesterday, named Zhong Yue.

A coincidence?

Xu Luo looked at Song Yunran, then at Shao Anze, and then at the swimsuit woman walking away, and she smiled.

To have so many acquaintances gathered in the same place on the same day was surely too much of a coincidence!

Just why exactly did Song Yunran come to the Li family?

Xu Luo pondered.

Mr. Li didn’t know that the woman in the swimsuit, Zhong Yue, knew the group in his drawing room. He didn’t think much of it, letting the butler handle the problem while he continued chatting about art with his guests. Song Yunran and Shao Anze were both capable of pretending, joining the conversation as if nothing had happened.

Xu Luo: “…”

It turned out Xu Luo hadn’t overthought it. After changing into clean clothes, Zhong Yue did not leave; she found an excuse to linger at the Li residence. Mr. Li was hospitable and didn’t forcibly drive her away, tacitly allowing her to stay.

Thus, another person was added to the drawing room.

At this moment, there were two “triangles” in the room. Mr. Li, Song Yunran, and Shao Anze formed an art-loving triangle, while Xu Luo, Song Zhenzhen, and Zhong Yue formed a tea-drinking, dessert-eating, freeloading triangle. While stuffing food into her mouth, Xu Luo glanced at Zhong Yue. The latter still held a grudge against Xu Luo for helping Song Zhenzhen hit her yesterday; every time Xu Luo looked at her, she rolled her eyes at Xu Luo.

Xu Luo figured out this pattern and began glancing at her even more diligently.

She wanted to see when this classmate’s eyes would start to twitch.

Unfortunately, before she could witness that joyful scene, her bladder reached its limit.

She stood up to go to the restroom.

When her front foot left, Zhong Yue followed immediately behind.

A few minutes later, another accident occurred in the Li villa. In the first-floor hallway, an antique vase lay shattered.

“Aaaaaahhh!!!”

A scream rang out once more, piercing through the thick walls and into the drawing room.

Mr. Li likely hadn’t expected his home to be so eventful today. His friendly smile faded by half, and a fine line appeared at the corner of his eye. He let out a sigh and followed the sound of the scream, with Song Yunran and Shao Anze following behind.

As soon as they entered the hallway, they immediately discovered the shattered remains of the vase on the floor. Mr. Li’s smile lost another corner as he felt pained for his antique vase.

He looked at the people standing near the remains; they were the suspects!

There were two suspects: Xu Luo, who had been heading to the restroom, and Zhong Yue, who was screaming.

“How did the vase break?” Song Yunran asked from her wheelchair.

Zhong Yue was the first to answer: “It was her! She broke it!”

She pointed at Xu Luo. “I was just about to go to the restroom when I saw her here touching the vase, muttering about what kind of antique it was and how much it was worth!”

“She had a look of greed on her face; one look and you could tell her intentions were impure!”

“How could I tolerate such a thing? I rebuked her on the spot, she got flustered, and with a slip of her hand, she smashed the vase!”

The accused Xu Luo: “…”

She looked at the passionately righteous person before her, paused, and called out, “Classmate.”

The righteous person glared at her: “You want to quibble?!”

Xu Luo shook her head. She didn’t want to explain; she simply… raised her hand and pointed to the top of the hallway.

Zhong Yue: “???”

She slowly raised her head and froze in the next second.

At the end of the hallway, a massive surveillance camera was pointed directly at them.

Xu Luo had noticed earlier that this prominent family on Green Island had some strange hobbies; they liked to install surveillance cameras in their home many of them, and very densely packed.

Xu Luo’s composure and Zhong Yue’s stiffness fell into the eyes of the others, and everyone already guessed the truth. Song Yunran chuckled low. She looked at Zhong Yue: “This classmate doesn’t seem to know my Luo Luo very well. She doesn’t know she comes from the Xu family, is the only child of the Xu family, and is the partner of me, the successor of the Song family.”

In short, she didn’t lack money.

Although she was speaking up for her, Xu Luo didn’t quite agree with that point. She lacked money! She lacked it a lot!

She only had the status in name!

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