Chapter 57: Slacking Off, Day Fifty-Seven
Sheng Qing bit down with triumphant force.
She had noticed the bun was a bit hard when she picked it up, but she didn’t care about the texture. The most important thing was to eat it.
Her teeth met the bun with a loud crack, like teeth hitting a stone.
“AHHH—!”
A blood-curdling scream erupted from Sheng Qing as she flung the bun far away as if it were a venomous snake.
Wen Ying glanced at the bun. It was pristine, without so much as a tooth mark.
What a shame. The one thing Sheng Qing wanted most was the one thing that was utterly impossible.
Because this bun was, fundamentally, inedible.
Sheng Qing’s shriek was deafening, but it didn’t affect Shen Linfeng in the slightest. He kept his head down, quietly eating from his bowl just as he always did during meals.
The pain was indescribable. Sheng Qing instinctively clutched her mouth, only to feel a sticky wetness on her hand.
She pulled her hand away and saw blood.
And nestled in the blood were two large, white front teeth.
Wen Ying had said it before: this bun was more than sufficient as a weapon. For Sheng Qing to have bitten down with such force, it was perfectly normal for her to lose two front teeth.
It was clear that it took every ounce of Sheng Qing’s willpower not to let out another scream.
She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but the combination of blood and missing teeth turned her words into muffled gurgles that no one could understand.
At that moment, Sheng Qing’s emotions were a chaotic mess. It was so chaotic that even Wen Ying, who could hear her thoughts, felt overwhelmed by the noise.
First, there was a series of pig-like squeals in her mind.
It hurts, it hurts so much! I’m a young miss, how can I be feeling this kind of pain!
Then, upon seeing the teeth in her hand, the squeals escalated into screams more terrifying than a pig being slaughtered.
My teeth! My two front teeth!! They got knocked out by a steamed bun!!!
An image of a toothless, eighty-year-old woman flashed through her mind, and her agony slowly morphed into panic.
What do I do, what do I do… I don’t want to be a toothless old lady… How can I make them grow back… What do I do…
Wait, these aren’t baby teeth, they won’t grow back… Am I going to look like this forever… My beauty, my beauty that I was so proud of…
The panic then shifted into fear and self-pity.
Finally, her gaze fell upon the poisoned, pristine bun. The bun, without a single tooth mark, seemed to be mocking her.
“You poisoned me, didn’t you? Eat me if you’ve got the guts.”
In her mind’s eye, Sheng Qing could almost see the bun sneering at her.
She had never imagined that her perfect, self-sacrificing frame-up would be foiled by a single steamed bun! Even if she had to sacrifice her two front teeth, she at least needed to ingest the poison… but she had already used up her only dose, and that stupid bun… even if she sacrificed every tooth in her head, she still couldn’t—eat—it!
Not only had her plan failed, but she had lost two teeth in the process!
The overwhelming mix of emotions, combined with the intense pain, was finally too much for Sheng Qing to bear. She covered her mouth and ran out of the room.
As Sheng Qing fled, Wen Ying’s world finally fell silent.
Regarding that cacophony of inner thoughts, Wen Ying had only one thing to say: the bun was right.
【Mission successful… halfway】
The mission notification this time was also a bit unique.
【Although the Host successfully prevented Sheng Qing from eating the poisoned food, she still harmed Sheng Qing.】
Wen Ying felt there was a serious flaw in the system’s logic.
If the bun hadn’t been hard enough to harm Sheng Qing, then wouldn’t Sheng Qing have eaten the poisoned bun? This wasn’t a case of “but,” it was a case of “therefore.”
A cause-and-effect relationship where she brought it all on herself.
From beginning to end, Wen Ying hadn’t done a single thing.
Sheng Qing later went to see the town doctor, but the result was devastating.
The doctor earnestly took her pulse for a long time and thoroughly examined her teeth. Finally, he shook his head with great solemnity and told her, “Miss Sheng, you’re too old. These teeth won’t grow back.”
By Wen Ying’s estimation, this doctor probably didn’t know the first thing about medicine. He was likely just like Lu Xiaojie, who couldn’t make a bun to save his life; he had just been dropped into the role of a doctor.
Sheng Qing walked out of the clinic in silence. After returning home and thinking for a long time, she finally pulled herself together.
Since things had come to this…
She would have to resort to… that plan.
Meanwhile, as Wen Ying was in her room eating an orange, the familiar mission box appeared before her again.
【Second Female Lead in a Sweet Historical Romance, Mission Four: Don’t let Sheng Qing get captured by the bandits tonight!】
So, the part of the plot where Sheng Qing stages her own kidnapping by bandits, supposedly at Wen Ying’s command, had been moved up.
But after a moment’s thought, the reason was obvious.
Because of her missing teeth, many of the cloying, romantic plot points could no longer proceed. So, Sheng Qing had decided to go for broke and play her trump card.
Even in the previous cycles, Wen Ying had her doubts about this “sweet historical romance” storyline. It seemed less like Sheng Qing was trying to live happily ever after with Cao Ruobing and more like she was specifically targeting Wen Ying.
And then there was the tooth incident… Cao Ruobing had also bitten the bun, but he wasn’t injured so severely. Could it be that Sheng Qing really wasn’t a cultivator?
Wen Ying couldn’t be bothered whether bandits captured Sheng Qing or not.
But these bandits… she had never seen them in the previous cycles. In a town that felt so fake, it was surprising that there were even bandits.
Wen Ying was intrigued. She mused, maybe when the bandits came to grab Sheng Qing, she could follow them back to their lair and have a look around.
It was a dark and windy night, perfect for murder and arson.
In the dead of night, two bandits dressed in black crept furtively through the Wen residence.
Their job was to find Sheng Qing and kidnap her. It was a private job they had taken on the black market, but conveniently, their boss was looking to take a wife. They had looked at the portrait; the “Sheng Qing” in it was smiling, her teeth slightly showing, looking quite beautiful. Now they could earn some extra cash on the side and complete the boss’s mission. Wasn’t this killing two birds with one stone? A perfect plan.
They lived in the mountains year-round, and this was their first time coming down for a job. They had never actually seen this “Miss Sheng Qing.” But after a few days of asking around, they knew she was the young miss of the wealthy Shen family.
The Shen family only had two young misses, and they had a portrait in hand. How could they possibly fail to find her?
The bandits stealthily slipped into the first room.
By the moonlight, they could see a beautiful young woman lying on the bed. Comparing her to the portrait, she was a ninety-percent match.
Just as the two bandits were about to snatch her, the beauty seemed to dream of something, her lips parting slightly as she mumbled a few words.
Her mouth opening was the key. The smarter of the two bandits immediately realized something was wrong.
He put out a hand to stop his partner, who was about to make a move, and shook his head with absolute confidence.
“It’s not her,” the smart bandit mouthed to his companion.
The other bandit knew his partner was usually the clever one. Seeing him so certain, he knew there must be a reason, so he stopped.
The two of them climbed back out the window.
Tsk.
Wen Ying, who was following them, couldn’t help but click her tongue.
What a waste of the window Sheng Qing had specially left open for them.
“Brother A’niu, how were you so sure that wasn’t her?” the other bandit whispered to the smart one, A’niu, once they were outside.
A’niu…
Not to judge a book by its cover, but that name didn’t exactly sound intelligent.
“A’bao, when you look at a portrait, you have to grasp the key features,” A’niu answered like a seasoned veteran.
“What do you mean?” A’bao asked curiously, his eyes full of admiration.
“You should know that portraits often look very different from the real person,” A’niu instructed sagely.
“True…” A’bao nodded thoughtfully, but then looked confused. “But this painting looks a lot like the woman we just saw!”
“Looking a lot like her doesn’t mean it is her. Maybe it’s because they’re a million miles apart that they look alike, you know?” A’niu said with profound wisdom. “When we look at a portrait, we have to pay attention to the features that absolutely cannot be wrong. For example, moles, birthmarks…”
“But there aren’t any on this portrait either,” A’bao was still confused.
“And they say I’m the dumb one!” A’niu lightly tapped A’bao on the forehead. “A person’s face can change, but can their teeth? Look at the woman in the painting, a full set of perfect teeth. Now look at the one inside… she’s missing two front teeth. No matter how bad a painter is, he’s not going to get the number of teeth wrong, is he?”
A’bao pondered for a moment and finally let out an “Oh!” of understanding.
So that’s how it was! Brother A’niu made so much sense. He really was the smartest guy in their group!
Listening to A’niu’s explanation, Wen Ying thought…
Actually, what A’niu said did make a certain kind of sense.
It was just a pity that Sheng Qing, unable to accept her toothless appearance, had provided the bandits with a portrait of her at her most perfect.
Since they had ruled out Sheng Qing, that only left…
Sure enough, A’bao and A’niu next arrived in front of her room.
Wen Ying’s room had no open windows or doors.
Just as the two were scratching their heads, wondering how to get in, Wen Ying tapped them on the shoulder from behind.
“Are you two looking for me?” she asked with a smile.
The two turned around. Hmm, a young miss’s attire. Hmm, a full set of pearly white teeth…
It was her, no doubt about it!
A’niu acted decisively, delivering a swift chop to the back of Wen Ying’s neck and knocking her out.
A’bao immediately followed up, pulling a sack over her head.
The two of them hoisted the sack onto their shoulders, intending to jump over the wall and leave the Shen residence.
However, the moment they lifted the sack, an unprecedentedly terrifying pressure and hostility washed over them, almost scaring them into dropping it.
The next moment, the hostile presence vanished without a trace.
A’niu only vaguely saw a thin, dark figure flash past them.
This was no time for questions.
Of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing is the best. They had their target, so what were they waiting for—run!
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