After Going Bankrupt, I Got Clung To By A Canary Omega - Chapter 9

The dining room instantly fell into silence.

Fu Qingli stared fixedly at Shen Chaomu for a while without speaking.

Shen Chaomu’s eyes darted all around. When her peripheral vision caught Fu Qingli’s straight, unwavering gaze, her heart felt a little creeped out.

Seeing Fu Qingli suddenly leave her dining chair and walk toward her, that height of over 170 centimeters bringing quite a bit of pressure with it, Shen Chaomu could not help backing away.

Her calf was suddenly blocked by something. Shen Chaomu lost her balance and fell backward. Her hand immediately reached out to brace herself, touching soft leather. Only when her back leaned against the elastic sofa cushion did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Then she lifted her eyes and saw the figure bending over and enveloping her from above. Shen Chaomu’s heart rose again. Her legs curled in, her almond eyes wide and round. “What exactly are you trying to do!”

The stuffiness in Fu Qingli’s heart suddenly dispersed, and her mood became excellent.

Looking at the pink hedgehog beneath her who seemed to be wrapping herself in spikes out of fright, Fu Qingli’s fingertips itched a little. Unable to resist, she lifted her hand and tapped Shen Chaomu on the forehead. “What are you afraid of? It’s not like I’m going to kiss you.”

“And I won’t get any black pepper flakes stuck to your teeth either.”

After saying that, Fu Qingli stood up and walked toward the second floor.

“Aaahhh…”

Hearing the collapsed scream behind her and the sound of someone tormenting the sofa, the corners of Fu Qingli’s mouth rose higher and higher.

In the bathroom.

Fu Qingli carefully brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth, then looked herself over closely in the mirror.

Her teeth were white, even, and clean. The enamel carried a soft, porcelain-like sheen. Her teeth were neat, healthy, and bright.

Fu Qingli was grateful that the original body probably did not smoke, or at least smoked very rarely. Otherwise, she would still have to spend effort repairing the damage. The camera could truly magnify any flaw that did not even count as a flaw. She did not want to appear on camera later and have the audience hold up some strangely angled screenshot to complain about her teeth.

She straightened up and pulled over a facial towel to wipe the water from her face.

Only then did Fu Qingli remember that just now, she had only talked to Shen Chaomu halfway. As her partner on the variety show, Shen Chaomu should count as having agreed, but the equally important issue of breaking up had not yet been discussed.

As long as she ran into Shen Chaomu, things always developed in an uncontrollable direction.

Fu Qingli sighed and decided that she would arrange the investment first. It would still not be too late to talk about breaking up afterward.

Looking at the safe she had accidentally discovered in the walk-in closet that morning, Fu Qingli tentatively tried unlocking it with her fingerprint.

With a click from the cabinet door, Fu Qingli’s breathing lightened. She only hoped the original body would not pull some ridiculous stunt and leave her happy for nothing.

She gripped the cabinet door handle and pulled it open sharply.

There were no neatly stacked bills or gold bars as she had imagined, not even jewelry or gemstones.

Fu Qingli’s brows knitted tightly, and most of her suspended heart collapsed.

The only comfort was that there was something inside the safe. At least it was not empty.

Fu Qingli picked up the most conspicuous delicate princess-style pink box and slowly opened it.

The soft light of the walk-in closet fell into the box and was instantly refracted by the clear pink diamond at the center, scattering into layer after layer of even more dazzling, blinding fragments of light.

Its fire shifted in fine, dense flashes. It was an extremely rare pale cherry-blossom pink.

Fu Qingli carefully picked it up and examined it. The platinum ring setting was likewise inlaid with fine diamonds.

The aesthetic left one with nothing to say. Its value, however, needed no words at all.

Fu Qingli sighed inwardly. Was Shen Chaomu a hidden succubus? Or had the original body been blinded by her looks?

Just how much of Fu Qiqin’s film kickbacks had she secretly eaten?

She had even quietly planned to propose?

Although Fu Qingli had only spent two days with Shen Chaomu, it was obvious that Shen Chaomu treated the original body as nothing more than an insignificant provider of food and lodging.

Fortunately, the ring had not been given away yet. It had fallen cheaply into Fu Qingli’s hands instead.

She carefully placed it back into the box and set it aside, then picked up the red property certificate.

It was almost the size of A4 paper. Fu Qingli stroked the matte-textured cover, her thoughts surging.

In her previous life, she had worked herself to the bone and still could not afford even a bathroom. Yet now, she was holding a luxury mansion in her hands.

She loved Fu Qiqin.

The phone on the accessory storage table suddenly vibrated, colliding with the glass cover and making a noisy, ceaseless racket.

Fu Qingli hurriedly opened the property certificate and glanced through it. The location of the house, the floor area—after confirming that it was this villa, her heart finally settled completely. She put the things back into the safe.

The caller ID showed Tang Lin. Afraid something had gone wrong with the variety show, Fu Qingli quickly answered.

“President Fu, is Chaomu beside you?”

Hearing Tang Lin’s tone, obviously restrained yet still carrying anger, Fu Qingli raised a brow. “No. She’s downstairs. Is there anything you need me to pass along?”

“Ask her to turn on her phone. Forget it, she definitely won’t answer…”

Fu Qingli walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Through the glass, she caught sight of Shen Chaomu on the courtyard lawn, legs spread apart as she bent over and tugged at the golden retriever’s ears, just about to straddle him. But the golden retriever beat her to it, suddenly darting out from beneath her legs. Shen Chaomu staggered and spun half a turn, then steadied herself, shouted something, and quickly chased after the pale-gold figure ahead.

Tang Lin heard a soft laugh and immediately felt something strange. Had their relationship become this good? Had they colluded together?

“President Fu?”

The smile on Fu Qingli’s face froze. The corners of her mouth flattened at an almost imperceptible speed. “What happened?”

Only then did Tang Lin confirm that Fu Qingli had also been kept in the dark. Thinking through the whole matter, she felt there was no hiding it anyway, so she simply confessed. “About you being on the trending search. I was afraid that later, when Chaomu comes out for work, reporters or media would chase her with questions, so I told her about it first, to keep her from being completely unaware.”

At this point, Tang Lin’s voice clearly sounded a little embarrassed. After all, the trending searches were all belittling and mocking Fu Qingli. In Fu Qingli’s eyes, Tang Lin so eagerly telling Shen Chaomu about it might look like she had been making little moves behind her back.

Although Tang Lin had handled it entirely as business, who asked these two to have a relationship where public and private affairs were tangled so unclearly?

“Go on.”

Fu Qingli did not think there was any problem with it. Letting Shen Chaomu know about her “fallen” current situation sooner might make the other party impatiently take the initiative to break up, just like how after the original body died, Shen Chaomu had quickly found her next sugar mommy.

That was simply exactly what she wanted. Presumably, breaking up in a while would also be a natural, effortless matter.

For Shen Chaomu to be roughhousing with the dog like that, perhaps she was worrying over the effort of finding another high branch to perch on and was so distressed she needed to vent a little.

However, Fu Qingli was somewhat surprised. Shen Chaomu really only wanted to lie flat and live off someone else. She was a currently popular star whose popularity had lasted until now, yet she paid no attention at all to entertainment-industry news and still had to rely on Tang Lin to tell her.

Seeing that Fu Qingli did not get angry, Tang Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did she bring up the main point. “Shen Chaomu’s Vibo account is managed by herself. She hasn’t logged in for more than half a year, but this morning she suddenly did and even made a post. It was simply a thunderclap out of nowhere. Everyone is now connecting her post with your trending search, and all kinds of interpretations are flying everywhere…”

As Fu Qingli listened to Tang Lin’s frustrated complaints, her brows furrowed slightly. Then, thinking of something, they relaxed in an instant.

“Shen Chaomu has already agreed to appear on that variety show. She probably wants to warm things up in advance. Push the popularity upward as soon as possible and guide it toward the variety show. Tell that director to get ready, build up the show’s official account and related pages, and make good use of this wave of attention.”

Tang Lin was silent for a moment before suddenly saying, “President Fu, you… would you consider stepping back behind the scenes and properly running Fu Entertainment?”

Fu Qingli said, “That’s your job.”

Tang Lin felt inexplicably gratified and regretful at the same time.

The two of them discussed some more details about the variety show before hanging up.

The variety show director, Gou Zhu, had already been preparing this show for several months. If she had not failed to secure investment, recording would have started long ago. As long as Shen Chaomu could participate, she wished they could start filming immediately.

After all, this was Shen Chaomu’s first time joining a variety show!

That point alone would absolutely make the popularity explode.

Once Fu Qingli transferred the investment money tomorrow, the variety show could start filming next week.

Fu Qingli glanced at the safe, then called the bank manager she had spoken to yesterday. After learning that jewelry would require time for appraisal, Fu Qingli could only choose to mortgage the property. She reported the house’s location and area to the other party, and the other party estimated that the loan amount could be confirmed by noon.

With the important matter weighing on her heart resolved, Fu Qingli planned to press her advantage and solve the canary problem too.

Fu Qingli circled more than half the villa before finally finding Shen Chaomu near a flowerbed by the lake.

One person and one dog were both lying beneath several wood hydrangea shrubs over two meters tall. If not for the golden retriever’s pale-gold fur being extremely eye-catching beneath the few scattered beams of sunlight passing through the tree canopy, Fu Qingli feared she could have gone around several more times and still failed to find these two playing hide-and-seek with her.

Just as she was about to approach, the golden retriever seemed to notice her movement and rushed over first, barking wildly again.

Fu Qingli turned her head slightly and pressed down on her ear.

They were about to break up anyway. The canary and dog could be sent away together.

“Jinzi, don’t bark.”

Shen Chaomu walked over with her hands behind her back. Jinzi doubled back and circled behind Shen Chaomu, his tail wagging excitedly.

Seeing that Shen Chaomu’s expression was as usual, with none of the anger she had shown after being teased earlier, Fu Qingli guessed that after seeing the trending searches, the other woman probably did not want to waste time and energy either.

But Fu Qingli did not intend to be the passive one. “I have something to say to you.”

Was this Fu Qingli’s new catchphrase? It sounded like a curse. Shen Chaomu could not help rolling her eyes. “You want to break up again, right?”

Seeing that Fu Qingli neither confirmed nor denied it, but that her expression was clearly tacit agreement, Shen Chaomu lifted her arms and walked closer. “Then, let’s hug one last time.”

Fu Qingli’s eyelids lifted sharply. She was somewhat stunned and took half a step back.

But thinking that Shen Chaomu’s words seemed to carry the meaning of compromise and willingness to separate, she forcibly endured the discomfort all over her body, lowered her hands, and froze in place.

A soft body leaned closer. The slightly astringent scent of grass and trees was tinged with the faint sweetness of kapok blossoms, coming right up to the tip of her nose and domineeringly rushing straight into her lungs. Soft, matte strands of hair brushed against her cheek, stirring waves of itchiness.

What grew even harder to endure was the close contact in front of her. Shen Chaomu seemed to stand tightly on tiptoe, her softness pressing against Fu Qingli’s body. The thin clothes of late spring could not separate the warm curves touching up and down between them.

It was impossible to tell whose heartbeat had fallen out of rhythm. Like drumbeats, one heavy, one light. With each leap, their chests rose and rubbed together, stirring a tingling numbness that made the scalp tremble.

Warm arms climbed up and crossed behind Fu Qingli’s neck and collar.

Fingertips lightly brushed. Her collar was tugged. The skin rubbed by it felt painful, itchy, and numb.

The itchiness wound from her neck to the back of her waist, with something like fingertips lightly scratching, tormenting her.

Suddenly, the space before her was empty. Wind rushed into her arms, making her shiver.

Shen Chaomu carefully observed Fu Qingli’s expression, already prepared to turn and run, quietly waiting for her to become embarrassed and angry.

But Fu Qingli still looked as unwilling as a statue, just like before. The only two changes were that her face was flushed and her breathing seemed a little faster.

Shen Chaomu was startled. She did not immediately dodge far away, and instead took the risk of sniffing the air. There was no cold, snowy cedar scent. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

She had almost thought this person had been moved by desire and lost control of her pheromones.

But why had Fu Qingli still not reacted? Did she have no sense of touch?

Jinzi sniffed around, then padded in circles around Fu Qingli twice before biting the fluttering hem of Fu Qingli’s shirt at the back of her waist.

Fu Qingli only felt something jump behind her. Her lower back was tugged by the dog, and for a moment, she could not turn around.

She pulled up the hem of the shirt hidden beneath her white pants, and a tiny black shadow was flung out.

Fu Qingli focused her eyes and saw a small emerald-green cricket turning its legs, struggling to flip itself over.

At the sound of a dog’s bark, the cricket kicked its legs and vanished without a trace.

Fu Qingli’s gaze shifted, only to find that Shen Chaomu had already run far away.