The Ninth Orange

Shen Qiancheng had only fallen asleep in the middle of the night, so when she finally woke and checked her phone, it was already eleven. Liao Xue was nowhere to be seen. She stretched lazily, then got up to wash. Sure enough, a toothbrush with toothpaste already squeezed on it sat on the bathroom counter. Shen Qiancheng paused, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.

It was a bit overcast today—Shen Qiancheng's favorite kind of weather—and her mood followed suit. Just as she finished washing up, the Village Chief's Wife appeared at the door holding a bowl of steaming noodles. The fried egg on top looked dry and stiff, clearly not Liao Xue's handiwork.

The Village Chief's Wife smiled. "Ms. Shen, you're up. Come have some breakfast."

Shen Qiancheng took the bowl and asked casually, "Is Liao Xue in the kitchen?"

The Village Chief's Wife replied, "Xiao Xue isn't in the kitchen. She left a while ago, saying she was going to get some mountain spring water. That stuff only exists on the back mountain. She originally wanted to cook for you before you woke up, but you kept sleeping, so she went on ahead."

Liao Xue went to the back mountain for spring water?

Shen Qiancheng's pupils contracted. Liao Xue still had injuries. What if something happened on the mountain?

She had only mentioned it casually last night. Was everything she said some sort of imperial edict? Besides, she had already said to forget it later.

Liao Xue was just a stubborn mule.

Shen Qiancheng shoved the bowl and chopsticks back and snapped, "Why didn't you stop her?"

The Village Chief's Wife, caught off guard, froze for a second. What did Ms. Shen mean?

Shen Qiancheng was already anxious, and seeing the Village Chief's Wife look confused only made her more exasperated. Suppressing her anger, she asked, "When did she leave?"

The Village Chief's Wife, intimidated by Shen Qiancheng's gaze, was dazed for another few seconds.

"Around nine-something."

Around nine—that was over three hours ago. And she still hadn't come back.

Anxiety and unease buzzed in Shen Qiancheng's heart like a pair of headless flies, driving her mad with restless irritation.

"I'm not eating." Shen Qiancheng turned around, opened the door, and went inside, leaving the Village Chief's Wife standing there.

The Village Chief's Wife looked at the closed door, utterly unable to understand what kind of fit Shen Qiancheng was throwing now.

There was something off about this Ms. Shen from the moment she arrived. Her features had a sort of enchanting quality, with upturned outer eye corners. What should have been a proper, dignified phoenix eye instead carried a hint of mischief. Whenever they made eye contact, Ms. Shen's eyes held a tinge of scheming depth—she clearly wasn't someone easy to deal with.

The Village Chief's Wife let out a sigh. She still couldn't get used to this Ms. Shen.

She carried the noodles to the kitchen and went into her own room. There she saw the Village Chief sitting at the table, eating with gusto, and anger welled up inside her.

"You need to get rid of that Ms. Shen as soon as possible," she said. "I spend every single day watching her moods. I can't take it anymore."

As soon as she sat down, the Village Chief's Wife started complaining. The Village Chief had heard this many times already. He was holding a steamed bun and, ever the diplomat, said, "Just bear with it a little longer. She'll leave when she wants to."

The Village Chief's Wife pushed her bowl, exasperated. "She'll leave when she wants to—easy for you to say. What would make her want to leave?"

The Village Chief continued to console her. "Look at her clothes and things—clearly not cheap. How long do you think someone like her will last in this backwater? This sort of inspection work is usually just a little shine for someone's résumé. Our little rich miss here will eventually get fed up and leave."

The Village Chief's Wife was puzzled. "What? A rich miss? Here to polish her résumé?"

The Village Chief's Wife's expression was far too naive. The Village Chief went on to explain, "Look at her hands—they've never done a day of work, and she won't even eat our cucumbers. She's delicate. Just wait. Given how hard things are here, how long can a rich miss stand it? Her wanting to leave is just a matter of time."

Shen Qiancheng did, in fact, want to leave—because when she tried to call Liao Xue to come back early, she remembered Liao Xue didn't have a phone. Helpless, she had no choice but to come find the Village Chief.

When Shen Qiancheng pushed open the door and walked in, the Village Chief was eating, with just one dish with a few shreds of meat on the table.

Seeing Shen Qiancheng burst in with a menacing air, the Village Chief's Wife tensed up and pinched the Village Chief's leg. Bearing the pain, the Village Chief greeted warmly, "Ms. Shen, want to eat something too? Are you looking for Xiao Xue? Xiao Xue isn't here."

The Village Chief had a harmless smile on his face. Shen Qiancheng paused for three seconds, then tried to speak as calmly as possible, "Can you come with me to the back mountain?"

The back mountain? The Village Chief was bewildered. "The back mountain is far. If we leave now, we might not make it back by evening. At night there are wild animals up there—it's dangerous. Are you going to inspect the back mountain?"

Stubborn mule Liao Xue! Even the Village Chief knew it was dangerous and she still went. If she got hurt, wouldn't it be her own fault again?

Shen Qiancheng let out a long, resigned breath and said, drained, "Liao Xue went there."

Oh, so they couldn't find Liao Xue.

The Village Chief put down his chopsticks and explained, "Xiao Xue knows the mountain terrain well. You don't need to worry."

Worry? She wasn't worried about Liao Xue!

Shen Qiancheng laughed lightly, exasperated. "I'm not worried about Liao Xue."

They dared to misunderstand her as worrying about Liao Xue. As if. She just really wanted to see some wild mountain spring water for herself. Besides, if Liao Xue got into trouble, it would be pinned on her.

Since that was the case, she wouldn't bother.

Shen Qiancheng walked to the door, turned around with a slight smile, and emphasized again, "I am not in the least worried about Liao Xue. Goodbye."

The Village Chief and his wife looked at each other, bowls in hand, and hurriedly nodded to show they understood.

"The relationship between Liao Xue and Ms. Shen is really good," the Village Chief's Wife remarked. "Ever since Liao Xue came, Ms. Shen has been much more normal. She's even polite enough to say goodbye to us."

Just as Shen Qiancheng got back to her own room, her phone vibrated. On the screen was a string of numbers.

Shen Qiancheng locked the door from the inside and answered with her right hand.

"Ms. Shen, Su Zeye didn't die." Xiao Sui's voice came through, deliberately lowered, with the background noise of some tacky bar DJ.

Damn it. He'd fallen into the sea from a hot air balloon and still hadn't kicked the bucket. Su Zeye was really hard to kill.

As they say, the wicked live to see a hundred.

Shen Qiancheng sneered. "He's pretty tough, I'll give him that. As long as he didn't die, there still has to be a marriage. Which family's daughter is the Su family planning to ruin next? The Qian family? The Meng family? Or the Fu family? The Qian family's little girl is still young—still in vocational high school, right?"

The people Shen Qiancheng mentioned were all from that circle in Tang City—pretty, ambitious girls. Who could possibly take a fancy to a good-for-nothing like Su Zeye?

After Shen Qiancheng finished speaking, Xiao Sui's voice came through, trembling slightly. "It's still the Shen family. Still you, Ms. Shen."

Shen Qiancheng's voice shot up an octave. "Shi Jianren must be out of his mind. What does he think he's doing? Does he really think he can find me? He's that confident that if he finds me, I'll just obediently go back?"

Xiao Sui was long used to Shen Qiancheng's temper and calmly continued his report. "Shi Jianren has been looking for you. He's reached an agreement with the Su family—as long as you go to the Su family and apologize, the engagement continues."

They were like two piles of dog shit—not particularly harmful, just purely disgusting.

Shen Qiancheng let out a cold laugh. Shi Jianren really did love all his biological daughters so much. He wasn't going to bring Liao Xue back until after she had already married and everything was settled.

The Su family was just as crazy. Why did they have to match their son with a lunatic?

A whole bunch of dog shit.

Shen Qiancheng steadied her emotions and sighed. "Fine. I understand."

After hanging up, Shen Qiancheng lay on the bed, looking at a map on her phone. There were no markings at all for the area behind Liao Family Village.

So annoying. She genuinely wanted to strap a tracker onto Liao Xue.

Suddenly, someone knocked at the door. Shen Qiancheng opened it, and the Village Chief's Wife stood outside, holding an eye mask made of coarse, hand-stitched fabric.

Shen Qiancheng looked at it with disdain. "What's this?"

The Village Chief's Wife said, "Xiao Xue made it this morning. She asked me to stuff some cotton in it. I got busy at noon and forgot, but I just finished it and brought it over."

Shen Qiancheng took it and examined it closely in her hands. The stitching was fairly fine, and the fabric wasn't bad.

Liao Xue made this? No wonder it was so ugly.

Shen Qiancheng accepted it, closed the door, and only then, with a growl from her stomach, remembered she hadn't eaten anything since waking up.

There were a few buckets of instant noodles in the corner.

Shen Qiancheng never ate instant noodles. No nutrition meant it was a waste of effort. It wasn't until she transferred to First High that she learned such a thing existed—smelled good but was devoid of nutrition.

When tearing open the sauce packet, Shen Qiancheng used too much force and got sauce all over her hand. The sticky, greasy feel made her frown in disgust. After washing her hands, she threw all the seasoning packets into the trash.

As she poured hot water, some splashed out of the thermos and onto Shen Qiancheng's hand, leaving a patch of red on her pale white skin.

The searing, burning pain made Shen Qiancheng rush to the faucet and run cold water over it. The burning sensation on her hand was deeply unpleasant. Combined with the restless gloom from Liao Xue's disappearance, Shen Qiancheng felt like something was bound to go wrong.

Shi Jianren wasn't clever enough to figure out she'd run off to Liao Family Village, was he?

She looked at the instant noodles, the culprit behind this mess, and decided she simply wouldn't eat. She put on the eye mask and lay back down to catch up on sleep.

A loud, clamorous noise burst by her ears. A sharp voice, like a bolt of lightning cracking over her head, startled Shen Qiancheng awake. She pulled off the eye mask and saw the Village Chief's Wife standing at the door, blocking someone while saying something.

"Zhangshen's wife, Ms. Shen is still sleeping..."

Before she finished, Mother Liao barged in, grabbing at Shen Qiancheng's blanket. "You have to pay for my daughter! What grudge does she have against you? She's so young, and now she's broken her leg! How am I supposed to live?"

Mother Liao sobbed and wailed, dripping with tears as she accused Shen Qiancheng.

Shen Qiancheng, who had been abruptly woken from her sleep, felt like killing everyone in sight. Mother Liao had just walked right into the line of fire.

Shen Qiancheng frowned, physically repulsed by Mother Liao. She shoved her away and snapped, "Keep wailing and I'll rip your tongue out."

Mother Liao had learned from experience that Shen Qiancheng was no pushover. At her words, she quickly shut up, then put her hands on her hips and said with self-righteous conviction, "Liao Xue went to the back mountain to get spring water for you, fell down, and broke her leg. So tell me, how are you going to compensate for that?"

What she had feared had happened after all. Broke her leg. Why not just die already?

Shen Qiancheng stared at Mother Liao with a headache, looking at her as if she were a green-headed fly. She parted her lips and spat out three words: "Compensate my ass."

With that, she pulled the blanket over herself, then, quick as a flash and with brutal precision, kicked Mother Liao. Caught off guard, the woman took the kick to her shoulder and tumbled off the bed.

Mother Liao hit the floor, stunned that there was someone in this world even more unreasonable than herself.

Shen Qiancheng buried herself under the blanket, Xiao Sui's words still echoing in her ears. Why should she have to marry Su Zeye? That was supposed to be Liao Xue's fate—Liao Xue's fiancé. Why did she have to bear it? Why did all the good things go to Liao Xue, and all the bad things to Shen Qiancheng? It wasn't fair.

"If she's broken her leg, take her home," Shen Qiancheng said coldly. "I don't need a crippled assistant."

Whether Liao Xue lived or died was none of Shen Qiancheng's business.

Sitting on the floor, Mother Liao's mouth twitched. She slapped the ground and wailed at the top of her lungs, "So ungrateful! Liao Xue treated you so well. She went to that backward mountain for you, and now you just don't want her?!"

Shen Qiancheng's head throbbed at Mother Liao's shouting. She got out of bed and delivered another kick. "You don't have to pay back the ten thousand."

Mother Liao immediately stopped her wailing. "Fine, I'm leaving now."

Then she got up, dusted herself off, puffed out her chest, and headed for the door.

The speed of her change left the Village Chief's Wife, standing outside the door, utterly shocked.

As Mother Liao passed the Village Chief's Wife, she even said hello. "I'll head back now—the kids are waiting for me to make dinner."

The Village Chief's Wife nodded in bewilderment.

Watching Mother Liao switch between tears and composure so effortlessly, Shen Qiancheng understood that her outburst wasn't for Liao Xue's sake at all. It was for that ten thousand yuan—and maybe to squeeze out even more.

Shen Qiancheng pulled the blanket over herself and let out a soft sigh from underneath.

Even if she'd gotten the money, there was no guarantee she'd spend it on Liao Xue's treatment, let alone now, when she hadn't gotten a cent.

Because it was overcast, there was no moon that night. Shen Qiancheng looked at the lights of the village clinic. The word "quiet" on the glass window was a vivid, glaring red.

Shen Qiancheng told herself she was only coming to see Liao Xue to terminate their employment, and nothing more.