Wen Ning stood frozen for two seconds.
What? Prepare what? What show? She suspected she had missed a dozen episodes of the plot.
But Wen Ning reacted fairly quickly. Within seconds, she realized this show very likely had something to do with the original owner's drugging scheme.
She reached out to stop Nanny Wang, intending to take her somewhere private and get some answers.
But Nanny Wang was as slippery as an eel. Wen Ning reached out without catching so much as a corner of her clothes before Nanny Wang shot her a cannon-fodder villain's look that said, "Just sit back and enjoy the show, miss." Then, wearing a mysterious smile, she flashed away.
She moved so fast it was as if she had activated a teleportation effect!
Wen Ning: "..."
Wen Ning instinctively wanted to chase after her!
She had to find out whether the show "she" had prepared really involved drugging someone. If it did, she needed to stop the plan immediately. If she was too late, she could at least find out exactly where the drug had been planted and take precautions!
But she had barely taken two steps when an impatient voice sounded behind her.
"Wen Ning, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you!"
That voice stopped Wen Ning in her tracks.
She turned and saw the family of three seated at the dining table a short distance away, all staring straight at her.
The man's expression was the darkest of all.
Meeting her gaze, he said coldly, "Get over here already. Do you have to make everyone wait for you every morning? Do you have some kind of grand-finale syndrome?!"
Wen Ning's mouth twitched.
This male lead's pretty funny, huh.
She glanced behind her again. Great. Not even a shadow of Nanny Wang remained.
This damned male lead!
Forget it. I'll stay sharp and play it by ear!
Feeling perfectly justified in taking her anger out on the male lead, Wen Ning walked toward the dining table with a long face.
The Bo Family's main residence was enormous. Neither the layout nor the decor of the annex could compare, much less that wretched, coffin-like basement.
Thinking of the male lead's family of three living here with his father in loving harmony, all paternal affection and filial devotion, Wen Ning felt that Bo Yan really did have it rough.
But she only spared that bastard a brief moment of sympathy. Her neck still hurt.
As she drew closer, Wen Ning got a clear look at the other two people at the table.
The woman beside Bo Xubai was presumably the female lead, Jiang Tingwan.
Just as she had imagined, both Jiang Tingwan's looks and bearing were those of a beauty from Jiangnan. Willow-leaf brows and almond eyes graced her palm-sized face, and her dark hair was gathered into a simple bun on the right with a white jade hairpin. Paired with a white qipao, she truly looked gentle and elegant.
While she studied Jiang Tingwan, Jiang Tingwan was studying her too. Or rather, all three people at the table, including Jiang Tingwan's daughter, Bo Zhizhi, were studying her.
In the past, Wen Ning would certainly have arranged for someone to find out what Jiang Tingwan was wearing that day, then shown up dressed exactly like her.
Today, however, Wen Ning seemed like a completely different person. Not only had she stopped playing the ugly woman aping the beauty's frown, but she was also dressed very... casually.
A simple white T-shirt paired with high-waisted, wide-leg jeans. Her long, straight black hair, which she usually wore up or loose in imitation of Jiang Tingwan, had been casually gathered into a high ponytail.
She wore no makeup at all, and her lively, alluring peach-blossom eyes made her look radiant and captivating even without a trace of powder or rouge.
Radiant and captivating?
Bo Xubai startled at the words that suddenly surfaced in his mind!
He hurriedly looked away, thinking viciously, This must be another new trick of Wen Ning's. How ridiculous. Does she think I'll like her just because she changes her look?
Dream on!
Still, inevitably, Bo Xubai cast another glance at Wen Ning, his expression cold.
This woman really was much easier on the eyes today.
But-
Turning his head, Bo Xubai looked at Jiang Tingwan beside him.
His Wanwan was still the prettiest!
He just didn't know whether Wanwan had noticed him staring at Wen Ning for those extra few seconds. If she had, she would definitely misunderstand again.
Forget it. Let her misunderstand. She hasn't explained that bastard to me, so I'm certainly not going to explain myself first!
Jiang Tingwan had no idea what twists and turns Bo Xubai's thoughts had taken, nor had she noticed him looking at Wen Ning for those extra seconds as he imagined.
Jiang Tingwan was looking at Wen Ning.
How long had it been since she last saw Wen Ning?
About five years, perhaps.
In her previous life, Wen Ning had already been dead for five years before Bo Yan killed her and Bo Xubai.
Apparently, Bo Yan had sliced her flesh off piece by piece and fed it to sharks.
At the time, hearing the news had been immensely satisfying!
The woman who had constantly targeted her had vanished from the world. Of course she should have been happy, shouldn't she?
But she had never imagined that Wen Ning's fate would one day become her own...
The fire from her nightmares surfaced in her mind again, and Jiang Tingwan went pale.
She bit her lip hard to keep herself from breaking down on the spot and forced a smile at Wen Ning.
Wen Ning didn't know much about the original novel's female lead. Seeing the great beauty smile gently at her, she curved her eyes and smiled back.
The beauty froze for a moment, seemingly surprised, yet also somewhat disgusted. In any case, her expression looked very unnatural.
Wen Ning arched a brow. Interesting.
Even more interesting was the precious daughter sitting beside Jiang Tingwan.
The little girl, three or four years old, pouted the moment she saw her, looking as though she disliked her very much.
But thinking about it, that was only natural. Given the original owner's previous way of doing things, she had probably tripped up the female lead and her daughter plenty of times. Being disliked was perfectly reasonable.
She pulled out a chair and sat opposite Jiang Tingwan, scanning the food on the table. Probably not the food? Could the water be more likely?
As she thought this, Wen Ning casually moved the glass of water beside her, originally prepared for Bo Yan, in front of herself. Meanwhile, she said naturally to Bo Xubai, "Young Master Bo, you've never lived in the annex, much less the basement, so you might not know how dark and damp it is down there. You can even hear rats squeaking in the middle of the night. It's already the second half of the night by the time we fall asleep. We're not deliberately dawdling in the morning."
Wen Ning had already decided last night that, since she was going to maintain the persona of a perverted, obsessive simp, she had to stand firmly on Bo Yan's side.
She not only had to act in front of Bo Yan, but also perform to perfection in front of everyone else.
At the mention of rats, Jiang Tingwan's daughter, Bo Zhizhi, shrank into her mother's arms in fright.
Jiang Tingwan hurriedly covered her daughter's ears and soothed her in a low voice.
Seeing this, Wen Ning thought, She's this scared just hearing about them, while Bo Yan spent years rooming with rats when he was three or four.
Seriously, stop thinking about it. Sympathizing with men is a grave crime!
Seeing his daughter frightened, Bo Xubai decided Wen Ning had done it on purpose!
This woman was madly obsessed with him. Ever since he brought Wanwan and Zhizhi home, she had only intensified her torment of them!
If the Bo Family and the Wen Family hadn't been longtime family friends, he would have thrown this woman out long ago!
At this moment, Bo Xubai had clearly forgotten that his engagement to Wen Ning had come first, and Jiang Tingwan had come later.
He slammed the table in anger and pointed at Wen Ning. "Wen Ning, if you don't want to eat, don't ever eat again!"
Dude, is your personality made of white phosphorus? You explode at the slightest spark.
Wen Ning smiled. "I do. Of course I want to eat." Then she said gently to the little girl, "Sorry, Zhizhi. Auntie didn't mean it. Auntie just accidentally told a little truth."
Bo Xubai: "..."
Jiang Tingwan: "..."
Wen Ning lifted her chin. "Besides, Big Brother, Sister-in-law, you both know the annex is quite far from the main residence. Ah, it's such a tiring walk. I was just thinking you shouldn't wait for Yanyan and me anymore. Eat first if you're hungry, lest you decide we have grand-finale syndrome again."
Her barrage of barbed remarks left Bo Xubai looking as though he had swallowed shit.
That "Yanyan" made Jiang Tingwan's scalp prickle!
She immediately grew wary!
Why was Wen Ning addressing Bo Yan so intimately? Didn't she hate him most? Besides, Bo Yan wouldn't allow Wen Ning to call him that...
Could my rebirth have caused some kind of butterfly effect??
No, no, no. Impossible. When I went to bring Bo Yan medicine the day before yesterday, I saw fresh injuries on him. Barring anything unexpected, Wen Ning must have inflicted them.
As Jiang Tingwan was thinking, she suddenly noticed a string of Buddhist prayer beads on Wen Ning's left wrist!
Jiang Tingwan's pupils abruptly widened!
Bo Yan's prayer beads-why were Bo Yan's prayer beads on Wen Ning's wrist?!
Could they really-
Before Jiang Tingwan could dwell on her shock, Bo Xubai sneered beside her. "A bastard belongs where a bastard belongs. What's wrong with that?"
A few steps away, Bo Yan, who was approaching the dining room, clearly heard Bo Xubai's mockery. But his expression remained unruffled. Perhaps he had heard such words too often; evidently unaffected, he kept walking toward them with a hand pressed to his abdomen.
Yet in the next second, he heard someone in the dining room say-
"Bo Xubai, stop calling him a bastard every other word. Don't you get tired of it!"
Bo Yan's steps briefly faltered.
In the dining room, the woman with the simple high ponytail sat opposite the family of three.
The scene resembled a negotiating table-
She faced those people on the other side all by herself.
And seemingly, she was doing it for him?
Bo Yan froze for a moment, his gaze involuntarily sweeping first toward the woman's neck.
Spots of blood had seeped through the gauze. Her neck was long and fair, and those glaring flecks of red resembled plum blossoms scattered over fine white porcelain.
With skills like that, she wanted to dress my wounds?
Was she trying a different way of sending me to hell?
The corners of Bo Yan's mouth curled slightly.
Then he heard the woman sneer. "Bo Xubai, if you've got the guts, go curse out your father. Don't bully my husband just because he's good-tempered. Did your language teacher only teach you to bully the weak and fear the strong, and never teach you that every grievance has its source and every debt its debtor? If not for your father, where would Bo Yan have come from? You dare call Bo Yan a bastard, but do you dare call your old man a stud?!"