After the Cannon Fodder A Accidentally Marked the Paranoid Female Lead - Chapter 24

Of course, they weren’t alone; there were also several people they met through social mixers who they got along with.

For over a month, whenever they had time as night fell, the group would make plans to meet up, and they even went to several “appearance-based” clubbing sessions (Ka Yan Ju).

Ming Sian didn’t like it, but she let everyone take photos to post on social software, the school’s internal network, and various other places. Rumors about her spread like wildfire throughout the school; most people were disappointed, feeling that she was falling into depravity.

[Is that Ming Sian? Why is she hanging out at bars with these people every day?]

[What’s wrong with bars? She’s just going there to have fun, not doing anything wrong.]

[The top student has fallen. It shattered my fixed impression of her. She gets so many scholarships every semester—so it was all just to go to places like this? The scholarship money she just got hasn’t even cooled down yet, right?]

[Don’t be so salty upstairs. Scholarships are rewards for students with good grades. If your grades were good, you could get one too. As for where she goes with that money, that’s her own freedom.]

[Why are you all arguing about this? I heard Ming Sian is together with that pink-haired junior. Is it true or false?]

[That’s not right, isn’t she with Lan Heqing? I heard from Lan Heqing’s roommate that Lan Heqing didn’t deny the dating rumors with her.]

[It’s so messy. I always thought Ming Sian was a fresh-faced top student, a god who only knew how to study. I didn’t expect her private life to be this chaotic.]

[I always feel like something happened that we don’t know about. Ming Sian wasn’t like this before. I heard a rich woman wanted to keep her as a mistress, but that woman was so ugly that Ming Sian rushed to find a girlfriend out of fear.]

[Where did the person upstairs hear that? Give us details. Who is the rich woman? Are there photos?]

[I only heard about it too. Where would I go to find photos?]

People said all sorts of things in school. In short, it made Ming Sian, who was already quite popular, even more famous—though this time, it wasn’t for a good reputation.

Tonight, the place they came to turned out to be The Royal bar. Only when they reached the entrance did Ming Sian realize that this was the concentrated area for bars, and The Royal was also here.

Because she had been going out quite frequently during this period, she forgot to ask which bar they were heading to tonight.

She hesitated for a moment and whispered to Lan Heqing beside her, “I suddenly remembered I have work unfinished. I’ll head back first; you guys have fun.”

Lan Heqing tilted her head and looked at her. “Does Senior have to work on weekends too?”

“Yeah, I’ve been quite busy lately.”

Ming Sian wasn’t lying; she had indeed been very busy recently. They were about to sit at the negotiation table, and if a settlement couldn’t be reached, it was possible they would go to court.

The most important point was that Amy still hadn’t cooperated with the law firm. She only wanted to stall for time, but He Yining was no pushover. She made an appointment directly with He Chenzhang for negotiations. Amy might not have noticed yet that in the power of attorney she signed, the lawyer has full authority to handle the case for her—or perhaps she did notice but thought He Yining had no evidence, making the meeting useless.

In the end, as long as Liang Feng didn’t give up, Ailan (Amy) would definitely have to go to court. After stalling for another period, she could just admit defeat in court. Anyway, the Liang Corporation was already an empty shell.

For Ailan, it was better not to win the lawsuit; all she needed was time.

Ming Sian knew that Ailan had no evidence to prove that Liang Feng and Mr. Liang were not biologically related; in fact, she had evidence proving they were related. So from the start, she gave up on winning or losing the lawsuit and prepared to dig a huge hole for Liang Feng.

As for whether He Yining won or lost, it wasn’t within Ailan’s consideration. If she didn’t want to go to court and wanted to end the case as quickly as possible while winning, she had to start from Liang Feng’s side and make him voluntarily give up competing for the property.

She was curious how He Yining would convince Liang Feng to give up the lawsuit. He Chenzhang probably wouldn’t agree either; in a situation where victory was almost certain, he wouldn’t easily give up such a good opportunity to suppress He Yining.

He Yining had already decided to negotiate, so there were many things Ming Sian needed to prepare. There was nothing wrong with saying she was busy.

However, she was familiar with those tasks and completed them easily; she wasn’t busy to the point of needing to work overtime on weekends.

In short, she had been pretending to be a “bad woman” lately, allowing photos of her clubbing to spread around the school. Anyway, as long as He Yining, Gu Xing, or anyone else with intentions wanted to, they would definitely find out. The act had gone far enough.

Today, she wanted to tell Lan Heqing and the others, finding a reason to state that she would have less time in the future and wouldn’t be able to come out as frequently—though she would still come out occasionally to maintain her persona as a “bad woman.”

She didn’t expect the bar they came to today would be The Royal. It seemed Cheng Cheng was also working today.

Lan Heqing sized her up, a smile appearing on her face. “Senior, there are some places that, if you don’t go, you’ll never know what will happen.”

Ming Sian raised an eyebrow. She didn’t expect Lan Heqing to say something like that. It wasn’t that she feared The Royal; she just felt that inside was He Yining’s territory and that Gu Xing was also there. It was best if she didn’t go in.

But Lan Heqing was also right. If she never gave the other party a chance, she would never know what they wanted to do. She felt that with He Yining’s pride, she probably wouldn’t do anything, but Gu Xing was a different story. In the original novel, she had done plenty of bad things. It wasn’t an option to always be on guard; she couldn’t just go nowhere. If she was accidentally set up, the situation would be just as bad.

Her appearance was sudden, and Gu Xing would also find it sudden. Even if there was a scheme, it might not be very precise.

Of course, it was also possible that nothing would happen and it was all just her overthinking.

Ming Sian was silent for a moment. “You’re right.” Since they were already here, it wouldn’t be good to leave now.

She followed behind everyone into The Royal. They went to a booth (booth/table), which was quite expensive. Today, the senior who organized the last mixer was treating. I heard she had fallen for one of the members and wanted to pursue them but felt embarrassed to ask them out alone. So, by organizing a group gathering, she could have a chance to spend time with them.

Therefore, their group gatherings were sometimes split (A) and sometimes organized by someone wanting to create a chance with someone they liked.

To put it bluntly, one of the reasons Ming Sian wanted to reduce these gatherings was still her limited funds.

The Royal was as grand as ever. In the booth, she and Lan Heqing sat together, with enough distance between them for another person to sit.

Not long after she stepped into the bar, He Yining received the news.

The picture on the phone was the back view of Ming Sian and Lan Heqing. He Yining’s fingertips on the photo turned white, and she felt inexplicably displeased.

She stared expressionlessly at the photo for a while and replied: [Keep an eye on Gu Xing.]

“Prepare the car, The Royal bar.”

“Yes, Eldest Miss.”

**

He Yining’s alcohol tolerance was average, so she usually just took a small sip as a gesture and never drank much; she wouldn’t even let herself get tipsy. Today, for some reason, after only a few sips, her head felt dizzy.

Something was wrong. She put down her glass in time and said to Lan Heqing next to her, “I’m going to the restroom.”

Lan Heqing nodded. “Okay.”

She didn’t notice that as she left, Lan Heqing stared at her back for a long time, only looking away when she was out of sight, and then took out her phone to send a Jianxin message.

— [In the restroom.]

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to either.”

Lan Heqing clicked on the chat page with Ming Sian. Looking at the chat records where the other party remained unmoved no matter how she flirted, she hovered over the delete button but didn’t click it for a long while.

She hesitated for a moment and clicked on Cheng Cheng’s Jianxin: [Ming Sian is at the bar, go find her quickly.]

After sending this sentence, she told the senior who organized the gathering and left the bar.

On the other side, Ming Sian didn’t go back to the bar area; she went to the booth area where Cheng Cheng was. She could leave through the staff passage.

Her alcohol tolerance wasn’t good, but it hadn’t reached the point of feeling dizzy after a few sips. That could only mean one thing: someone had tampered with her drink.

Everyone was drinking from the same bottle, and her glass hadn’t left her sight. Even when interacting with people, she maintained a distance of half a meter.

She was building her persona as a “bad woman,” and it was inevitable that she would encounter some things in the process. She thought she was cautious enough. However, if one often walks by the river, how can one’s shoes not get wet?

“Cheng Cheng.”

Ming Sian called out when she saw Cheng Cheng. The other woman was nervously looking for something and felt relieved the moment she saw her.

“Why are you here? Lan Heqing sent me a message saying you were at the bar and told me to find you quickly. I thought something had happened, but when I called her, I couldn’t get through at all.”

Lan Heqing?

Ming Sian recalled the piece of candy Lan Heqing handed her before entering the bar. The other party had said quite casually, “It’s very tasty, try it.”

She tried it and thought it was just okay, but she didn’t say it out loud.

Of what she ate today, that piece of candy was the most likely thing to have a problem. Everyone drank the alcohol, so it couldn’t be that only she had an issue. Combined with Lan Heqing’s message—so Lan Heqing knew what was going to happen?

“Take me through the staff passage.” Currently, Ming Sian only felt dizzy, a feeling similar to having drunk too much. Her steps were unstable, but her brain was exceptionally clear.

Cheng Cheng supported her and was about to head to the staff passage when someone suddenly blocked their way.

“Cheng Cheng, not working during work hours—what is this?” A-Wen stepped forward, his eyes staring at Ming Sian with ill intent.

Cheng Cheng didn’t want to deal with him. “The guest drank too much; I’m taking her to rest.”

“Guest?” A-Wen sneered. “Come, let me see what kind of guest this is.”

“Oh? So it’s our former colleague. What kind of colleague is she? Don’t tell me you’re using your identity as a server to open the back door for her, letting her in to cheat for food and drinks?”

Cheng Cheng frowned. Just as she was about to speak, Ming Sian signaled her to let go of her arm. “I’ll walk by myself.”

She knew that with A-Wen here, it was impossible for her to leave through the staff passage. Tussling would only waste more time.

She turned and left. At the corner, she tied her hair into a ponytail and took off her jacket, throwing it aside. As long as someone wasn’t familiar with her, they wouldn’t recognize her just by looking at her back.

Cheng Cheng held A-Wen back to keep him from chasing her, unable to help Ming Sian further.

Ming Sian forced herself to endure the dizziness, staggering out of the bar. She saw people searching for her inside the bar; luckily, she had prepared early.

“She’s over there!”

The voice behind her made Ming Sian’s steps quicken, but her legs were truly weak. She relied entirely on willpower to persist. The nearest tram was a two-minute walk away. As long as she got onto the tram, she could pass by the nearest hospital, where there were also police on duty.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about calling a car. Setting aside the fact that she might not get one, even if she did, a closed small car might not be safer than a public tram. With many people around, the other party wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.

Ming Sian was walking quickly; she couldn’t run anymore. Her legs suddenly gave out, and she fell to the ground. A flash of ruthlessness appeared in her eyes. A utility knife (box cutter) appeared in her hand at some unknown moment, and she slashed her palm without hesitation.

Fresh blood flowed down from her palm. She quickly stood up from the ground. The people chasing her from behind were startled by her action. There were quite a few people around, but they didn’t see this scene.

Ming Sian looked back. A few men in black were walking quickly toward her while being mindful of pedestrians.

It was good that they still had some scruples.

If they caught up, the utility knife in her hand wouldn’t be polite.

But… the pain in her palm didn’t keep her clear-headed for long. She gripped the utility knife, about to give herself another cut, but crashed into an embrace.

A very familiar, very warm embrace.

Ming Sian looked up with difficulty. What met her eyes was He Yining. That stunning face was right before her eyes, breathtakingly beautiful.

He Yining’s cold fingertips brushed away the stray hairs scattered on her forehead. Her thin lips parted slightly, and a cold yet somewhat gentle voice rang out, “Ming Sian, do you want to believe me?”

In her daze, Ming Sian felt like she said something, or perhaps she didn’t, but her whole body pressed against He Yining, and the utility knife in her hand fell to the ground.

Her action had already given the answer.

He Yining’s gaze fell on the utility knife that still had bloodstains. She slowly took Ming Sian’s injured hand. The bloody color reflected in her pupils, and the coldness in her eyes almost overflowed.

“They get three years of fixed-term imprisonment.” As a legal professional, one should use the law to solve matters.

She gave orders coldly to Ali behind her. Can’t do it? Then Ali wouldn’t need to come back to see her.

He Yining bent down and picked up Ming Sian in a princess carry, walking toward the car.

An Alpha being carried in an Omega’s arms attracted many people’s attention until the car door blocked everyone’s view.

“Drive,” He Yining ordered coldly, reaching out to close the partition between the front and back seats. Only the two of them were left in the relatively spacious area.

Ming Sian was tossed to one side by her, and her hands were clasped back against the leather seat. The round, full fingernails were separated into red and white; it was clear the movement of her hands was very forceful.

He Yining took a deep breath, tilted her head back with her eyes closed, her smooth neck line exposed to the air as if she were enduring something.

Unknown to Ming Sian, her pheromones were constantly leaking out. For He Yining, who had an exceptionally high pheromone compatibility with her, it was an indescribable ordeal.

The car was soon filled with the sweet and bitter scent of cherry rum. He Yining’s breathing became rapid.

She wanted to have sex with Ming Sian.

This thought inevitably appeared in He Yining’s mind and became unstoppable.

[Author’s Note]

Ming Sian: Believe, believe, I believe you.

He Yining: Satisfied.