Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 33

“Marrying down? We’re not at that point yet.”

In the hallway, Chu Qingqing chatted casually with Wang Wanrou:

“There’s definitely an element of testing, but mostly it’s intentionally ambiguous to ease the vigilance of the Shendu Cheng family… Our families sent us here for that very reason, didn’t they?”

“One has to admit, those old folks are quite shrewd. They just treat us young ladies like pawns to be moved at will. Family interests above all, of course, but who decided their way is best for the family?”

Wang Wanrou didn’t comment.

Miss Qingqing’s point was clear: My interests are the family’s interests.

As long as I can successfully advance, that will be the greatest support for the family’s interests. So, whatever I do next to deceive or use the family is perfectly justified.

This self-deceptive logic was something Miss Wang completely disdained.

What is the Taiyuan Wang family anyway? A bunch of mediocre people. Who are they to teach me how to do things?

The two arrived at the office door, hearing intense arguing inside:

“So what if it’s the Qinghe Cui family? Since when do women of the Five Great Families marry beneath their station?”

“Because I want to, do you have a say in it?”

“No, I don’t, but your family does, right? Want me to tell the Qinghe Cui family that Miss Cui is throwing herself at someone?”

“Ugh!” Cui Jinqi was deeply hurt.

In terms of possibilities, if Xíng Yuanzhi only needed to reach the sixth grade to have the right to decide her marriage, Cui Jinqi would need to reach at least the fourth grade.

Moreover, given the disparity between the Qinghe Cui family and the Shendu Cheng family, even if she insisted on marrying into the Cheng family, the disgraced Qinghe Cui family might disown her.

Troublesome.

But Miss Cui wasn’t one to give up easily. She immediately lied again:

“So what? I can stay single my whole life and be with him, can’t I?”

“Shouldn’t you two ask the person involved?” Cheng Jinyang finally lost patience and interrupted their argument.

The two girls thought it was reasonable, so they looked over anxiously, waiting for him to speak:

“I have considered this issue,” Cheng Jinyang said, “but… I can’t get married right now.”

“Marrying a girl who isn’t from a noble family would damage the Shendu Cheng family’s reputation; marrying a girl from a noble family, which family would be willing to marry into ours?” He sighed, “Don’t even mention the Five Great Families. Yuanzhi, can you change the attitude of the Hejian Xing family?”

Xíng Yuanzhi fell silent.

If she could change it, the two families would have already gone through the engagement and betrothal process by now. Why would Miss Cui even get a chance to whine here?

Originally, Cui Jinqi felt miserable hearing “don’t even mention the Five Great Families,” but when Cheng Jinyang continued, she cheered up again: What? Xíng Yuanzhi, you claim to be the fiancée, but in the end, you’re in the same starting position as me?

“Exactly!” Cui Xiaoniang happily pulled a chair to sit beside him and said, “What’s the point of talking about engagements that don’t even exist? As long as we’re happy now, isn’t that right, Jinyang?”

She peeled a grape and put it in Cheng Jinyang’s mouth, smiling, “Is it sweet?”

Cheng Jinyang instinctively wanted to agree, but the chilling look from Xíng Yuanzhi beside him made him swallow his words.

“Jinyang, is the grape good?” Xíng Yuanzhi raised her eyebrows.

“It is average.” Cheng Jinyang said against his will.

Cui Xiaoniang puffed up her cheeks in anger, while Xíng Yuanzhi showed no expression. She slowly picked up a grape, carefully peeled it, and fed it to him:

“What about this one?”

“It’s so f*cking sweet.” Cheng Jinyang praised with an exaggerated expression.

His reaction was so over the top that Xíng Yuanzhi frowned slightly. Cui Jinqi next to her looked at her for a moment and mocked her:

“It’s so pitiful. She actually has to force people to lie to gain recognition…”

Xing Yuanzhi remained silent, just glaring at the guilty Cheng Jinyang. She thought to herself that she would never feed him fruits again for the rest of her life.

Outside, Chu Qingqing and Wang Wanrou listened for a while, then exchanged a silent glance.

Miss Qingqing pointed inside, meaning “It’s a Shura field inside, are you still going in?”

Wang Wanrou turned away and left without a word.

Indeed, Miss Wang wasn’t interested in catfights among girls.

So, Miss Qingqing forcefully pushed open the door and excitedly shouted at the bewildered trio inside:

“Ha! Who’s been secretly flirting with Jinyang behind my back?”

Miss Qingqing, joining the battle!

……………

Wang Wanrou strolled through the Cheng family estate.

Since unraveling the secrets surrounding Cheng Jinyang, many of her lingering questions had been answered.

There were two ways for demons to gain power: plundering or linking.

In other words, instinctively devouring humans would also imprison their consciousness within, subjecting them to brutal suppression and integration.

Either one consciousness would dominate, annihilating the others to become the master of the demon’s body, like Su Lili did.

Or all consciousnesses would reach a consensus, jointly using each other’s abilities (if they were supernaturals) and the demon’s external body, like Cheng Jinyang.

Both methods had their pros and cons. The latter could use more abilities but had to share the body with others.

Can one sleep soundly while others toss and turn? Wang Wanrou believed that if she ever turned into a demon, she would never choose this path, and probably neither would the major demons.

Perhaps only a certain scum of a guy would willingly share a bed with other girls.

The former could exclusively possess the body, although enduring more hardships and exerting all efforts to obliterate other personalities and devour them.

So the question arose: which consciousness currently residing in Su Lili’s body had consumed the others? Or was it deliberately masquerading as another unfamiliar consciousness?

Wang Wanrou pondered for a moment but soon realized this puzzle was unsolvable. The mutual devouring of consciousness inside demons was more akin to a kind of fusion, blending memories, thoughts, and emotions together to form a new consciousness.

Thus, ultimately, whoever believed themselves to be Su Lili decided who had devoured whom.

If it identified as Su Lili, it meant Su Lili’s consciousness predominated during the fusion process, making it the one who had devoured the other consciousnesses.

Conversely, if it did not identify as Su Lili but deceptively posed as her with cunning, it could also do so flawlessly—after all, it possessed all of Su Lili’s memories.

So Miss Wang had already warned a certain scumbag that this “Su Lili” carried significant uncertainties and risks. If one rashly met its true form, they might end up devoured down to the bone.

However, despite Wang Wanrou’s warning sinking in with Cheng Jinyang, according to her observations, he still vacillated between reason and impulse…

Well, it didn’t matter to her anyway. If he really threw caution to the wind and met the other side face-to-face offline, then let him do as he pleased.

Thinking this, Miss Wang impatiently kicked a pebble on the roadside. The pebble traced a short arc and hit a girl standing five or six meters away.

“Ouch… Oh, Wanrou?” Li Qingwan, struck by the pebble on her buttocks, looked up in surprise.

“Why are you here?” Wang Wanrou raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, the family sent me to visit the Shendu Cheng family.” Li Qingwan smiled bitterly. “I had no choice.”

Although Li Qingwan hailed from the Longxi Li family, her lack of potential meant she wasn’t part of the core circle of the Longxi Li family. She typically kept a low profile and likely even the top echelons of the family didn’t know about her.

However, ever since the uproar caused by the Steel Giant in Jiangning District, the Longxi Li family had turned its attention to the Shendu Cheng family. Upon investigation, they surprisingly found records of grain transactions between the Cheng family and a certain Li Qingwan from their clan, who had facilitated a batch of grain purchases.

The Longxi Li family was overjoyed and swiftly summoned Li Qingwan to the council chamber, tasking her with probing the Steel Giant… No, visiting the Cheng family to convey Longxi Li family’s goodwill.

The grain from last time, it was from our Longxi Li family, understand?