Torturing Me for a Party? Are You Trying to Kill Me?!

Fang Yao's lovely almond eyes had turned into dead-fish eyes. She stared blankly ahead. Five days. For five whole days, Bo Miao and Bo Zhe had pounded on her door at nine every morning and woken her up.

Fang Yao had tried to ignore them, but those two reckless fools just kept knocking until she opened the door.

Her precious chance to sleep in was gone, all because of them!!

The resentment (╯°Д°)╯( ┻━┻ made her want to flip another table.

Fang Yao dragged herself up and opened the door. Bo Miao and Bo Zhe saw it swing open, but no one was there. Then they looked down. Whoa.

Bo Zhe nearly stepped on her. "Sister-in-law, why are you lying on the floor? Don't tell me you slept there last night."

"What the hell do you two want?!" Fang Yao's resentment thickened. If they couldn't give her an answer today, they couldn't blame her for chopping them both down.

"Sister-in-law, come to the party with us."

"So you've been tormenting me for days just to get me to a party?" Fang Yao's voice cracked as she hauled herself off the floor.

Her Lion's Roar sent Bo Zhe and Bo Miao reeling backward, their hair blown into disarray.

"We weren't tormenting you! We just needed to prepare outfits and stuff before the party." Under Fang Yao's furious stare, Bo Miao's voice dwindled until she hid her head behind Bo Zhe's back.

┭┮﹏┭┮

Waaah~ Sister-in-law's glare is terrifying.

By the time they sat down to eat, Fang Yao's mind had drifted into outer space. Why couldn't this salted fish be left to live on dry land? A life of partying and indulgence wasn't for her.

[These rich kids have schemes within schemes. The only upside to spending time with them is that I'll learn a few tricks myself. How many women have made snide remarks at me now?]

Fang Yao studied the woman in front of her without expression. One of those cannon-fodder characters had brought her. If she'd known this was the kind of party it would be, she wouldn't have come.

Yang Qi shot Fang Yao an exasperated look.

If she got any sharper, the rest of them wouldn't stand a chance.

Fang Yao finally spotted a familiar face and flashed Yang Qi a sweet smile. "Yang Qi, where's that brat Bo Zhe? Do you know?"

Yang Qi: "..."

Fang Yao's smile nearly blinded Yang Qi, while Bo Hanmo's warning sent a chill down his spine. He was caught between fire and ice.

The woman who had provoked Fang Yao heard her call the Bo family's second young master a brat and saw how Young Master Yang reacted. She had a pretty good guess who Fang Yao was. Forget whether this was a chance to get in Young Master Yang's good graces—she slunk away on her own.

Yang Qi paid no attention to the woman leaving.

"Sister-in-law, you're out here? Our gathering is farther inside. The people here don't matter. This way, Sister-in-law."

Yang Qi bent and offered his arm. Fang Yao glanced around in surprise, then took it and stood, following him inside.

The moment she left the main hall, Fang Yao felt the quiet settle around her.

Lu You waved when he saw her. "Sister-in-law, you're here. Have a seat."

[Damn, everyone's in here while I was out there putting up with all that noise. They left me out!]

Fang Yao smiled. "So you're all here. Where are Bo Zhe and Bo Miao?"

Lu You said, "They're probably still outside greeting people. They should be here soon."

Everyone else felt awkward when they heard Fang Yao's thoughts. They had left her outside to see whether anyone besides them could hear her. It looked like everyone who could was in this room.

[Good. If that brat and that girl had forgotten me, I'd twist their heads off and kick them around like balls.]

Fang Yao's thoughts clashed so sharply with her smile that someone accidentally spat out his drink. She looked over. Who was he again? She'd forgotten. Probably nobody important.

Bo Zhe pushed the door open and immediately started complaining. "Didn't you say it would just be us? What's with all those people outside? If my brother finds out I brought Sister-in-law to some shady party, he'll beat me to death."

Bo Zhe had been looking for Fang Yao. When Yang Qi told him he'd brought her inside, Bo Zhe had been so frantic he'd nearly called Bo Hanmo to say he'd lost her.

Bo Zhe picked up a glass of juice and took a drink. Then he spotted the alcohol on the table, frowned, and waved a server over to remove it all.

The server stared at Bo Zhe in surprise. Only after confirming several times that he wanted all the alcohol gone did the server clear it away and set out water and fruit juice instead.

"Xiao Zhe, what are you doing? If you don't drink, the rest of us will." Lu You tried to stop the server.

Bo Zhe pulled him back and rolled his eyes. "My brother said no alcohol at the party. Not even drinks with a little alcohol in them. If you want some, call him yourself."

"Come on, since when has Brother Bo been this strict? He never used to be."

"You said it yourself: that was before. Now Sister-in-law's here, so of course it's different. My brother only let me bring her after I promised him again and again. Don't get me killed."

As Fang Yao listened to them argue, she was so embarrassed she could have clawed a three-bedroom apartment out of the floor.

[Hahaha, awkward. Thank goodness they don't know one drink knocks me out and I go wild and hit anyone in reach when I'm drunk. Thank goodness.]

Fang Yao patted her chest in her mind, grateful that Bo Hanmo and the others weren't blabbermouths.

Bo Zhe: ┐('~`;)┌ Sister-in-law, you're the one who said it. Everyone here can hear your thoughts.

Bo Miao: Damn it! Sister-in-law, I can't save you. Now they all know.

Everyone else: Pfft! So that's why. Nice work, Xiao Zhe.

"Juice is great. Good for the stomach, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I've been getting overheated lately. Plain water's just what I need."

"Oh, Miao Miao, what skincare products have you been using? Your skin looks amazing."

Something felt off to Fang Yao. Whatever. There was so much good food here. Why were all the snacks her favorites?

The young woman who had just been discussing skincare with Bo Miao pulled her outside and exclaimed at the door.

"Miao Miao, so the thoughts I heard at your house really were your sister-in-law's! You know, I went back and read novels like that. Someone like your sister-in-law is definitely the heroine."

The young woman bounced up and down by the door, without a trace of a rich girl's poise.

Bo Miao held the excited Lü Yan still. "Yan Yan, you didn't hear everything. Do you know what cannon fodder means?"

"Of course I do. Cannon fodder is..." Lü Yan rattled off the definition, then caught the look of pity in Bo Miao's eyes.

"Miao Miao, did I get it wrong?"

"No, you got it exactly right. But do you know what we are in my sister-in-law's eyes? We're the cannon fodder you just described. That includes you, Yan Yan. Are you okay?"

Lü Yan's legs gave way when she heard that. Bo Miao helped her up from the floor. She knew how devastating it had been to learn she was cannon fodder.

Especially since Lü Yan had read those novels and assumed Sister-in-law was the heroine. If they could hear the heroine's thoughts, surely they had to be important characters. But they turned out to be cannon fodder.

There were no words for how that felt...

o(╥﹏╥)o