☆, Lin Yujia Appears
Ouyang Que returned, but he wasn’t alone. He was accompanied by Yuan Muxiao. Yuan Muxiao stepped into the room with a smile on her face, looking very friendly as she sweetly greeted Xiao Banli with a “Madam.”
Xiao Banli stood frozen, the mist rising slowly from the cup in her hand, dampening her eyes.
Ouyang Que paused for a moment, his expression clearly not very pleasant. “Mom, she’s our new housekeeper. Uncle said he would assign two more maids for you later.”
Xiao Fen was very pleased with Yuan Muxiao’s arrival. Previously, Yuan Muxiao had been forced to leave their house due to Teiris, but now she had come back to work as a housekeeper. Xiao Fen didn’t know who had assigned her, but she was simply overjoyed.
Seeing that Xiao Fen was in a good mood, Xiao Banli quietly slipped into the kitchen to cook. Since there were no maids at home, she had to cook herself. For her, cooking and chopping vegetables were both tasks she could handle.
Ouyang Que followed her into the kitchen, glanced at the two people chatting outside, and slowly closed the door. When Xiao Banli paused with the knife in her hand, Ouyang Que was already standing next to her.
“She was sent by Ouyang Honghui to monitor me,” Ouyang Que said, his gaze fixed on the half of Xiao Banli’s face covered by her hair, gritting his teeth as he spoke.
“Mm.” Xiao Banli didn’t expect that Yuan Muxiao could quickly establish contact with Ouyang Honghui, even handling matters for him.
—
At lunch.
There were only four people in the entire house. Xiao Banli originally wanted to eat at a separate table since, after all, they were just servants.
But since Xiao Fen had recovered and needed company, she insisted that Xiao Banli not sit at a separate table. The four of them sat together. After Xiao Banli sat down, she felt somewhat awkward, while Yuan Muxiao was much more relaxed. She not only served food to Xiao Fen but also showed concern for Ouyang Que, making small talk with him. In contrast, Xiao Banli felt like an outsider in the atmosphere that seemed to distance her from the group.
“What… what is this?” Halfway through the meal, Xiao Fen suddenly pointed to her bowl, her voice trembling as she asked.
Xiao Banli quickly looked up, but before she could react, Yuan Muxiao had already screamed and jumped up, forcefully knocking the rice onto the floor. “Xiao Banli, what do you mean by this? You actually put earthworms in Madam’s food?!”
The rice scattered on the floor, and in the middle of it, a long, dark red earthworm wiggled around.
“I didn’t,” Xiao Banli immediately looked at Ouyang Que, but Ouyang Que pressed his lips together, staring at the wriggling earthworm. “Go get my mom another bowl of rice.”
Xiao Banli quickly nodded. “Alright.”
Xiao Fen started gagging and patting her shoulders. “No, no need, I can’t eat anymore, ugh…” Seeing this, Ouyang Que hurriedly supported Xiao Fen and said, “Then I’ll take you back to your room to rest. Banli, make some porridge.”
Xiao Fen immediately said, “Xiao Banli, don’t go into the kitchen. Xiao Xiao, you go make the porridge.”
“Alright.” After saying that, Yuan Muxiao cast a smug glance at Xiao Banli, who was standing by the table. “Banli, don’t forget what you did a year ago. I was out in the sun by the swimming pool, and this face of mine is almost ruined…”
“Did you put the earthworm in the food just now?” Xiao Banli stared directly into Yuan Muxiao’s eyes.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t do something so stupid. Anyway, I need to go make porridge for Madam…” Yuan Muxiao immediately refuted and walked into the kitchen.
Xiao Banli narrowed her eyes, watching Yuan Muxiao disappear behind the kitchen door, before quietly starting to clean up the mess on the table. She looked up, and Ouyang Que had returned to the dining room. He stood by the door, looking at her. “Don’t take it to heart, it’s just a small matter.”
Xiao Banli paused, then nodded. “Mm, Master, I would like to request two days off. I want to visit the orphanage.”
“Alright, it’s about time you took a break. You’ve been staying in the backyard for over a year now.”
The next day, Xiao Banli, carrying a backpack with over a year’s worth of wages, walked out of the Ouyang household. Facing the vast grasslands and the long, muddy path, Xiao Banli took a deep breath of fresh air. When she turned around and looked back, the Ouyang mansion stood on this vast land like a sleeping wild beast, and she felt like just a single cold hair on that beast.
“Xiao Banli, right? You can’t keep covering your face like this anymore, it will cause an allergic reaction and truly ruin your skin in the future. Not seeing the sun and not getting any wind are very harmful to the skin. These medications should be applied morning and night, and spread evenly on the red areas,” the doctor said, looking at Xiao Banli with a very regretful expression. This was a rare natural beauty, yet she had been hiding her face with fake skin for over a year.
“Thank you, doctor.”
After leaving the hospital, Xiao Banli peeled off the fake skin. The right side of her face had a few patches of redness and swelling, but even so, her fair skin was still striking in the sunlight, drawing attention despite the redness.
Xiao Banli covered her face as she walked through the crowd. She could never forget that in her past life, she had been dragged into a dark alley by a man on the side of the road, attempting to assault her.
She hailed a taxi by the roadside, and it quickly stopped in front of her. Xiao Banli bent down and got into the car. The driver, wearing a baseball cap, adjusted the rearview mirror. Xiao Banli stiffened slightly, covering her face with her hand. “To Tangxi Road, Tomorrow Orphanage.”
“Okay.”
The voice startled Xiao Banli, and she immediately reached for the car door to open it, only to find that the door was locked. The car sped off like a sword from the sheath.
“You’ve finally decided to take off that fake skin,” said the man wearing the baseball cap, slowly removing it. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long.”
Xiao Banli looked in horror at Zhu Yuanbin’s sinister eyes. The car continued to drive, and her heart raced like a drumbeat. Her hand tightly gripped the door lock, but she couldn’t get it to budge.
“Mr. Zhu, I’m sorry. There are so many beauties in the world, why do you need me? I…”
“Haha, Xiao Banli, do you really think I’ve been thinking about your body all this time? Yes, that’s right, at first, I was thinking about your body, but you probably don’t know, the first condition that Ouyang Que put forward when he went to negotiate with the boss was to kick me out. I know you’re sticking by him through thick and thin, but he’s not just doing it to help you, is he? Hahaha… A year ago, I couldn’t have you, but you made me lose my livelihood for this life…”
As he spoke, Zhu Yuanbin slammed on the accelerator, the car speeding across the bridge and heading towards Tongzhou. Xiao Banli’s palm clenched into a fist, crushing the medicine she was holding into pieces.
“Where are you taking me?” Her voice was trembling, barely under control.
“Taking you to where you belong.” Zhu Yuanbin said coldly, increasing the speed again. The car pulled up at the largest entertainment complex in Tongzhou. Xiao Banli gasped as she looked at the large characters, “Yushu Lin,” painted on the sign. This place was the Lin Group’s entertainment complex.
“Get out.” Zhu Yuanbin opened the car door, grabbed Xiao Banli’s hand, and roughly pulled her out. “Let’s go. The young master of the Lin family loves delicate little beauties like you.”
Xiao Banli shook her head. “No, I… Mr. Zhu, please, let me go, I…” Fate shouldn’t be this way. She had planned to grow old in the Ouyang family, never crossing paths with people like Lin Yujia. But why was the wheel of fate turning the same way as in her past life?
“Hey, Lao Zhu, where did you get this woman? Don’t tell me you’re going to steal someone else’s, huh?” A laughing voice came from the entrance.
Xiao Banli stopped struggling. Her eyes, hidden among her hair, looked at the man who spoke—Lin Yujia.
“Young Master Lin, I’ve brought you a good one. Tsk, tsk, how do you like this little face?” Zhu Yuanbin pulled at Xiao Banli’s hair. Her scalp hurt, and as her face tilted up, her watery eyes met Lin Yujia’s laughing gaze.
Lin Yujia’s lips, still smiling, paused slightly when he saw Xiao Banli’s face. He then walked over quickly, grabbed her, and placed his large hand on her face. “This face is really something. If you became one of our club’s girls… you’d definitely be on stage every day.”
Zhu Yuanbin laughed heartily, full of satisfaction, and said, “Of course, of course, this face is comparable to ¹Xi Shi or Diao Chan, Young Master Lin. About what we talked about last time…”
“Not a problem. You just keep working here with me. If the Ouyang family doesn’t want you, I do. If the previous employer won’t take you, I’ll take you. With Mr. Zhu’s cleverness, at my entertainment complex, you’ll definitely rise to fame,” Lin Yujia said, clapping his hands.
Zhu Yuanbin sighed in relief and smiled. “Thank you, Young Master Lin, for your promotion.”
“And her…” Lin Yujia smiled again. “Naturally, we’ll need to check her out…”
—
“Que, I’m in the city center, and I’ve seen someone…” Ouyang Que was sitting in front of the computer, looking at stock prices when the door was forcefully opened. He turned his head and saw his junior, who worked at the Ouyang Group. If anyone from Ouyang’s family was reporting for work, they would always come to his room to chat.
“Who is it?” His phoenix eyes narrowed.
“Zhu Yuanbin. After leaving your house, did he become a taxi driver? I saw him driving a taxi, parked outside the hospital,” Mu Baiyun said in confusion.
“It’s impossible. He’s so arrogant, there’s no way he’d become a taxi driver. Are you sure it was him?” Ouyang Que closed the fluctuating graph and gestured for Mu Baiyun to sit on the sofa. He walked over himself.
“Yes, I’m sure. I saw a girl walking out of the hospital and immediately put on the baseball cap he had been holding. The way he did it seemed a bit odd,” Mu Baiyun said. He was never one to gossip, and though it appeared he worked at Ouyang Group, he was only loyal to Ouyang Que.
“A girl? He’s set his sights on someone again…” Zhu Yuanbin’s fondness for beautiful women was well-known. Mu Baiyun shook his head. “No, I think the girl looks somewhat familiar, but I can’t place her. However, I think it’s rare for a girl to always cover her left side with her hair…”
Ouyang Que’s body stiffened.
“What’s wrong? Do you know her?”
–
¹Xi Shi and Diao Chan are two of the “Four Beauties” of ancient China, famous for their legendary beauty. Xi Shi, from the Spring and Autumn period, was said to be so beautiful that fish would sink upon seeing her reflection. Diao Chan, from the Eastern Han dynasty, is known for using her beauty to manipulate powerful men, most famously in the *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*. Both are symbols of exceptional beauty in Chinese culture.