After the Harem Novel’s Female Lead was Spoiled by the Comments - Chapter 13

Wen Hebai was injured, and because they were afraid her wound might become inflamed, Aunt Lan prepared a very light dinner.

This was extremely painful for Wen Hebai, who could not live without spicy food and also loved seafood.

“Fine, I can accept bland food, but why plain white porridge? Even if there’s no boat congee, scholar’s congee, or salted pork bone congee, I could even endure century egg and lean pork congee, the fishiest-tasting one. But only plain white porridge… Have you gone bankrupt?”

Aunt Lan looked toward Yan Qingwen, who was quietly drinking porridge beside them. Clearly, this had been Yan Qingwen’s request.

Wen Hebai suspected this was Yan Qingwen’s revenge on her.

Without changing expression, Yan Qingwen pushed over a small dish of pickled radish. “Pickles with plain porridge is a top-tier delicacy made from the simplest and most humble ingredients. This dish is not common on our dining table. It would not be an exaggeration to call it a rare delicacy.”

Wen Hebai gave a disapproving tsk. However, seeing Yan Qingwen personally eating pickles with plain porridge without the slightest dislike, she eventually stopped being picky. She picked up her spoon and finished a bowl of porridge with the pickles.

Surprisingly, although the white porridge tasted mild, Aunt Lan had cooked it very well. Not only had she brought out the rice’s original fragrance, but the texture was also very thick and sticky. Some people liked porridge where the grains of rice remained distinct, but Wen Hebai liked it soft, mushy, thick, and melting in the mouth. This porridge suited her taste perfectly.

After dinner, Yan Qingwen went back to the study to handle work. Taking advantage of her absence, Wen Hebai secretly asked Aunt Lan to prepare crayfish and beer for a midnight snack.

Aunt Lan had not expected that Wen Hebai, the great Best Actress who was charming, elegant, and captivating in front of others, would privately be the kind of person who ate crayfish and drank beer. She was far too down-to-earth!

After working for Yan Qingwen for several years, Aunt Lan had thought all rich people were like Yan Qingwen. They would eat simple meals like pickles and plain porridge, but they would never touch food related to roadside food stalls.

Although Aunt Lan was half a mother-fan of Wen Hebai, on this matter, she still chose to stand on Yan Qingwen’s side.

“Your wound hasn’t healed yet. You can’t eat spicy food. Whether it’s crayfish or beer, neither will do you any good right now. If you’re hungry, I’ll make you a bowl of black sesame paste. It helps wounds heal quickly and can also beautify the skin and nourish the hair.”

Wen Hebai could not help complaining inwardly. As expected, what kind of boss one had determined what kind of employee one had!

If she could not eat it here, she would go somewhere else to eat it. Wen Hebai took out her phone and messaged her assistant, Lu Tie, asking her to pick her up for a midnight snack—her car was still parked at Auris Restaurant and had not been driven back yet.

But when she looked up, she suddenly saw Yan Qingwen standing at the staircase. She was so startled that her phone fell.

“Yan Qingwen, are you trying to scare me to death so you can find a second spring?” Wen Hebai questioned.

Yan Qingwen felt that she was being inexplicable. She bent down and picked up the phone that had slid to her feet. “What are you talking about? I’m just going up and down the stairs normally. How is that scaring you? You’re the one with a guilty conscience, aren’t you?”

Coincidentally, Lu Tie replied to Wen Hebai’s message. Seeing the chat pop up on the screen, Yan Qingwen returned the phone without much expression.

For some reason, Wen Hebai felt guilty. She lowered her eyes and stared at her nose, then at her heart, simply not daring to look directly at Yan Qingwen.

Yan Qingwen turned and went back upstairs. Suddenly, she stopped and looked back.

“If your wound becomes inflamed or festers, don’t ask me to help you apply medicine anymore. I don’t have that much time to waste on this.”

Although her tone was very calm, anyone familiar with her knew that she was angry.

Aunt Lan did not dare interrupt and silently returned to the kitchen to continue tidying up.

Wen Hebai looked at Yan Qingwen’s back, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

When Yan Qingwen was hard-hearted, few people could make her change her mind. When Wen Hebai was young, she had refused to believe it and had recklessly danced around Yan Qingwen’s landmines. In the end, Yan Qingwen really had ignored her.

Coming back from those unbearable memories of youth, Wen Hebai irritably rubbed her head. This was her habit, but she forgot that her head was injured. The moment she rubbed it, the pain immediately drove away all her messy thoughts.

Aunt Lan brought out a bowl of black sesame paste for her. Wen Hebai turned around, carried it upstairs, and knocked on the study door.

Yan Qingwen merely lifted her eyes and glanced at her before looking away again, continuing to stare at the computer and handle work.

“You only had a bowl of porridge tonight, and now you’re doing intense mental work. You’ll lose hair very easily. Eat some black sesame paste. It promotes hair growth and beautifies the complexion.” Wen Hebai placed the black sesame paste on the desk.

Yan Qingwen said, “If you have something to say, say it. Don’t beat around the bush.”

Wen Hebai did not try to justify her behavior at all, because she knew that whether she truly did not cherish her own body or had only said it casually, Yan Qingwen would not care.

She said, “Too many things happened today. I didn’t have time to properly talk with you.”

Yan Qingwen asked, “What do you want to talk about?”

“Su Jinyue, Zhuang Yi, and even Jiang Yunhan.” Wen Hebai sat down calmly. With all her disguises stripped away, her gaze also became deeper.

This was indeed worth discussing. Yan Qingwen paused her work and looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Last night, when you came to me, you said you were worried Su Jinyue had been targeted by a hunter specifically going after K City’s young ladies from wealthy families. You suspect that hunter is Zhuang Yi, right? I had people investigate him, but what’s strange is that even the Wen family, which controls media channels like the internet, news, and newspapers, couldn’t find out anything about his past. Isn’t that very unusual?”

When speaking with smart people, Yan Qingwen could save a lot of effort. She nodded. “That’s right. I suspect there’s a force hidden in K City that none of us know about, helping him achieve some kind of goal.”

Wen Hebai continued, “For example, approaching young ladies from clean family backgrounds who are simple-minded and easy to coax, using their family resources to develop himself, or expanding and strengthening his own forces.”

Yan Qingwen looked at her meaningfully.

This guess was very close to the “truth” in Jiang Yunhan’s inner thoughts. The Dragon King male lead, Zhuang Yi, did indeed use the resources of many harem heroines to devour their forces and develop himself.

Wen Hebai suddenly asked, “You didn’t marry me just to avoid becoming his prey, did you?”

Yan Qingwen was not so easy to lead by the nose. Avoiding the important point, she said, “One Zhuang Yi alone is not enough to force me into such a passive position.”

Wen Hebai raised a brow. “One Zhuang Yi isn’t enough, but what about adding Jiang Yunhan? I noticed you’ve been paying quite a bit of attention to him recently. What secret does he have?”

She truly was worthy of being the sworn enemy who had fought back and forth with Yan Qingwen for so many years. With such sharp and delicate thoughts, one could fall into her trap with the slightest carelessness.

Yan Qingwen said, “You were the one who told me the news that the Jiang family wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Yan family. So you know best why I married you, don’t you?”

Although she understood that their marriage had been an exchange of interests from the very beginning, when Wen Hebai heard these words, she still fell silent for a moment.

After a while, she smiled and looked over leisurely. “Then have you never suspected that I lied to you?”

Yan Qingwen: “…”

“If that was a lie, then I should congratulate you. I lost.”

Wen Hebai was somewhat displeased. “In a marriage without any emotional foundation, how could there be any winner?”

It was just that, even knowing there was no chance of winning, she was still willing to be the loser.