Shen Xixi, Are You Crazy?

Chu Tianqing's mind raced through many possible responses. In the end, she chose to use the art of playing the pushover.

She stood up, beamed warmly, and pulled Yan Ruyu into a hug. "Yanyan, long time no see! Have you lost weight lately? You've gotten so pretty!"

Yan Ruyu thought her own name sounded tacky. She liked people to call her Yanyan and hated being called Ruyu.

Before, Shen Xixi had deliberately called her Xiaoyu, as though she were addressing a maid, infuriating her half to death every time.

This time, Shen Xixi had changed, but Yan Ruyu wasn't happy. Instead, she smelled a plot!

She shoved Shen Xixi away and rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. "Fuck, Shen Xixi, what's wrong with you? I think you really have gone crazy!"

Chu Tianqing shrugged indifferently. "Say whatever you want. What did you come here for?"

Yan Ruyu suppressed her anger, pulled out her phone, and shoved a picture in her face. "Isn't this you? Look how ugly you are! You really went and cleaned toilets?"

Chu Tianqing took a look. It was indeed a photo of her, and she had seen it before. It was the one Jiang Lean had taken of her.

But she wasn't angry in the least, nor was she surprised. She said calmly, "Yeah. How good can anyone look cleaning toilets? You'd look the same if you did it."

As long as she completely gave up, she could stand on invincible ground.

Yan Ruyu felt as though her punch had landed on cotton. After staring blankly for a few seconds, she took a deep breath and rallied her forces. "Shen Xixi, don't think you can fool anyone by pretending not to care. You're not the Shen family's young miss anymore. Let's see how arrogant you can be from now on."

"Then I won't be arrogant anymore." Chu Tianqing turned and leaned against the bar, speaking earnestly. "Yanyan, I'm done for. From now on, you'll be the brightest star in the socialite circle. There's no point fighting me. I think you should find yourself another rival."

It made so much sense that Yan Ruyu had clearly been taken in by her reasoning.

Just as Chu Tianqing thought she was about to win, Yan Ruyu's little sidekick stepped in.

Her name was Wang Linglan. Her family was moderately wealthy, and she raised her own standing by sucking up to Yan Ruyu. She was as malicious and spiteful as they came, and had come up with quite a few rotten ideas.

She leaned over and whispered a few words in Yan Ruyu's ear. Yan Ruyu's eyes lit up, and she said haughtily, "Shen Xixi, you want me to let you off? Fine, but you have to agree to one condition. I'm throwing a party this weekend. Come and have some fun."

Chu Tianqing understood that the party was certain to be a Hongmen Banquet. Yan Ruyu would invite all her enemies and humiliate her in front of them.

For the old Shen Xixi, that would have been the equivalent of death by a thousand cuts.

For the present Chu Tianqing, it wasn't so bad, but she wasn't stupid enough to walk into the trap herself.

With that thought, she smiled and said, "Sorry, not interested."

Wang Linglan sneered and said something else to Yan Ruyu.

Yan Ruyu sneered too and acted as her mouthpiece. "If you don't come, we have a hundred ways to torment you. Don't you like cleaning toilets? Want to find out what it's like to have shit dumped on you?"

Dark lines crossed Chu Tianqing's forehead. Fine, fine, fine, she believed them, all right!

Without a word, she silently turned and left to find Sister Bai and quit.

She wasn't cleaning these toilets anymore. Let's see what they could do then!

When Sister Bai heard that she wanted to quit, she asked in surprise, "What's wrong? Is the work too tiring? Does An'an know?"

"An'an knows." Chu Tianqing had no intention of hiding it. "The work isn't tiring, and everyone's been very good to me, but I offended someone. They said they'd come dump shit on me. I can't cause you that kind of trouble."

Sister Bai was even more surprised. She hadn't believed it at first, so Chu Tianqing took her outside and discreetly pointed out the people she had offended.

After so many years of running the place, Sister Bai had developed a pair of sharp, discerning eyes. Yan Ruyu and her group were dressed head to toe in designer brands, and their brazen, lawless air made it obvious at a glance that they were either rich or powerful.

Chu Tianqing added from the side, "That's right, she's the Taihe Group's heiress. She's not just ordinarily rich. She could buy this place with a wave of her hand."

Sister Bai believed her and immediately settled her wages, then covered for her as she left through the back door.

Chu Tianqing didn't go looking for Jiang Lean. She was obviously the one who had leaked the news about her cleaning toilets.

She respected Jiang Lean's choice, but now that things had come to this, there was no chance of reconciliation between them. Jiang Lean still hated her, so she might as well just disappear.

Chu Tianqing returned to the luxury residence in the city center, feeling utterly empty. She took out her phone and saw that all her former fair-weather friends had come to discreetly sound her out. It seemed the news that she was the fake heiress had already gotten out.

Ugh, how annoying. Chu Tianqing tossed her phone aside and lay on the sofa, staring into space.

She recalled some of the plot from the original story. The fake heiress had desperately wanted to conceal her origins.

Under the fake heiress's scheme, she had succeeded in persuading Father Shen and Ms. Jiang to hold a grand banquet to announce that Lin Bufan was their newly acknowledged goddaughter.

As long as Lin Bufan was the goddaughter, she would be their biological daughter.

With her parents backing her, she wasn't afraid that Lin Bufan would refuse.

It was a beautiful plan. The only thing the fake heiress had miscalculated was Lin Bufan.

Lin Bufan had pretended to agree, only to give the fake heiress and her biological parents a resounding slap in the face in public on the day of the banquet, exposing the truth.

What? You say Lin Bufan would offend her biological parents by doing that and would never receive their love afterward?

Heh, Lin Bufan didn't care.

She would rather have no parents at all than ones so biased and unreasonable.

Thinking of those plot points now, Chu Tianqing still found them deeply satisfying. The true heiress was indeed a flower that had bloomed among thorns. She was so clear-headed and charismatic.

After admiring the true heiress, Chu Tianqing thought of her own situation and began to consider leaving.

Apart from Jiang Youyi, there was no one in Jincheng she was reluctant to leave behind, and as far as Jiang Youyi was concerned, the farther away she went, the better.

For the next two days, Chu Tianqing stayed indoors, using her phone to look up livable places in the country.

She wanted somewhere that wasn't too hot in summer and had a view of the sea. After looking around, she settled on Liancheng.

Chu Tianqing imagined her wonderful future: she would settle in Liancheng, support herself with odd jobs, and spend her life in lazy idleness, with no particular focus.

Father Shen and Ms. Jiang didn't need her to support them in their old age anyway. As for her biological mother, please. She felt nothing for that awful woman and had no desire whatsoever to support her in her old age.

The more Chu Tianqing thought about it, the more excited she became, and she booked a ticket to Liancheng.

That evening, it was the weekend. She was humming as she packed her luggage when she suddenly received a call from Jiang Lean.

She looked at the caller ID and hesitated for a second or two before choosing to answer.

Because she felt guilty, she simply couldn't refuse Jiang Lean.

"Hello, it's me," Chu Tianqing said calmly. "What is it?"

Jiang Lean didn't speak. First, Chu Tianqing heard music, conversation, and laughter coming from the other end.

"I'm at Yan Ruyu's party." Jiang Lean's voice trembled slightly. "She said that if you don't come tonight, she'll treat me as you. Shen Xixi, can you come save me?"