Chapter 9: Next Time Remember, I Hate Being Touched by Dogs

“But I went out for team-building with Brother Lan and the company executives. I can’t go back yet,”

Before Shen Qingci could speak, Shen Lan’s mocking voice cut in: “Sister Shirou, don’t talk to her. She’ll dirty your phone!”

Shen Qingci forced a cold, thin smile.

The Shen family’s relations were complicated, all because of a father who couldn’t control his lower impulses.

Her mother was her father’s first love, but after that, he married a third wife.

He gave her eight younger sisters and two younger brothers, and her biological brother Shen Lan was raised by the second wife, growing especially close to the second wife’s daughter, Shen Shirou.

Shen Qingci didn’t waste words: “Fine, have fun. Oh, and remember to check your phone.”

Check her phone? What was there to see?

Shen Shirou scoffed lightly and hung up.

Her gaze casually drifted over—but her smile froze.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Lan peeked over.

The next second, he screamed: “This… Shen Qingci, that damn—!”

Shenyuan Company.

Shen Qingci sat comfortably in the large chair of the CEO office, sipping a cup of tea.

Before she finished, she heard hurried footsteps outside.

“Shen Qingci, what you’re doing will ruin the company!” Shen Shirou rushed in, her carefully styled hair slightly messy, panting heavily.

Shen Lan behind her was furious: “Reporting the company’s taxes won’t do you any good! Do you want Mother to rest in peace in her grave with this unresolved?!”

Shen Qingci raised her chin: “Right now, what you should be doing isn’t talking nonsense here, is it?”

She looked outward.

Sure enough, a team of inspectors in uniforms had arrived.

Watching them start auditing without saying a word, Shen Shirou’s eyes twitched violently.

Shenyuan’s accounts won’t withstand scrutiny!

Shen Shirou hurriedly reached for the inspector’s hand. “Chief, your hands are cold. How about we go warm up a bit?”

The chief smiled faintly, put down the accounts, and followed Shen Shirou out.

Ten minutes later, Shen Shirou reapplied her makeup and emerged from the room—the chief had already left with his team.

She looked at the office, her eyes filled with venom as though solidified, and turned to open the door.

“Shen Qingci.”

Every humiliation she had suffered before now transformed into menace and hatred: “Have you forgotten how your leg was broken? Want me to remind you?”

No one was around, and the surveillance cameras had been secretly turned off. Shen Shirou revealed her true face.

Shen Qingci looked up from behind her office chair. “Oh? How was it broken?”

Shen Shirou leaned in: “You were pinned against the glass by the bodyguards… or maybe Dad himself did it. Oh, right, I remember…”

She extended her nails, painted red, hooking them under Shen Qingci’s chin.

“The first time, your leg didn’t break. So I had to help Dad deliver the next blow, right? That one hurt, didn’t it, sister?”

After speaking, Shen Shirou tapped Shen Qingci’s face, but her wrist was grabbed firmly.

She suddenly raised her voice: “Sorry, sister! Don’t be mad! It’s my fault—everything I said, the little sister didn’t listen!”

Bang!

The door was pushed open.

“Shen Qingci! What are you doing?! Let go of Sister Shirou!” Shen Lan rushed in, glaring at her.

Shen Qingci curved her lips. In Shen Shirou’s smug gaze, she suddenly stood, grabbed her hair, and slammed her against the desk.

“Ah!” Shen Shirou’s eyes widened in terror. “Sister, you—”

“Next time remember, I hate being touched by dogs.” With that, she exerted force again.

Screams rang out.

Her left leg throbbed with pain.

Shen Shirou struggled to lift her head and saw Shen Qingci holding one end of a broomstick, standing in front of her.

“This hit is to repay the leg you once broke of mine.”

She lowered her gaze, looking down as if at an ant.

“You…” Shen Shirou panted, her mind blank. “You’re insane! Are you crazy?!”

Shen Qingci lifted the broom again. “This hit… is for the leg I broke back then…”

“Shen Qingci!” Shen Lan shouted. “How dare you!”

Bang!

She dared.

The broomstick split in two against Shen Shirou’s leg. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out before she could even scream.

Shen Qingci casually tossed the broom aside and looked at the remaining Shen Lan.

She took two steps forward. Shen Lan backed up, terrified. “Y-you! Don’t move! Stay there!”

“Why panic? Just so you know: I’m getting married tomorrow. Be sure to come.” Shen Qingci tossed several invitations. “And remember, everyone must be present.”

“You’re dreaming!” Shen Lan shouted boldly. “Sister Shirou said you married an old man! The Shens won’t attend your wedding. Disgusting!”

“You don’t have to come. Go ahead, try me.” Shen Qingci paused, then added, “And that pair of torn jeans and your hair—get it fixed before the next time I see you. Don’t make me see it again.”

She walked out the main door and looked up at the dilapidated Shenyuan sign.

All the actors for the big show had been called… Tomorrow… it was time to set the stage and start the performance.

Shen Qingci returned home, where the housekeeper, Sister Zhang, had been waiting at the door for some time.

“Madam, everything on your list is here.” She handed over a box, full of welding and similar tools.

Shen Qingci thanked her, took the box, and went straight into the storage room—she didn’t come out again.

As night fell, a pale pink phantom car entered the courtyard.

Sister Wang came out to greet it, seeing Xi Xingye with a dark expression and asked warmly:

“Is everything alright, sir?”

“Nothing. Go on with your work,” Xi Xingye answered gloomily.

Too embarrassed to stay outside after dark, he walked up the steps. Suddenly, a harsh clanging noise reached his ears—something inside was being destroyed.

Seeing Xi Xingye pause, Sister Wang quickly added, “Young master, the young mistress came in carrying a bunch of tools and went straight into the storage room. She seems to be… fixing the doors left by the former madam.”

She glanced at Xi Xingye’s face. His expression darkened further, and she added: “Poor madam… not even the remaining relics are accepted by the young mistress…”

“Who gave her permission to touch my things?!”

Anger surged through Xi Xingye. He strode into the storage room with long steps, full of authority.

“Shen Qingci, get out!”

Xi Xingye pushed open the storage room door with force and shouted—then paused.

The door, which had been full of cracks and damage last night, now stood perfectly intact before him.

Its smooth surface reflected the sunlight with a soft sheen, and the carvings were vivid, with not a trace of damage.

“You… you repaired the door?”

This door had been his mother’s favorite, shipped all the way from Europe…

He stood dumbfounded.

Shen Qingci, her long black hair tied casually in a ponytail, removed her protective mask and turned to him.

“Mm, come take a look.” She stepped aside to make space.