After Becoming the Mother of the Scumbag Stand-In Female Lead - Chapter 31

Her fingertips slightly pale, Si Mu strode out of the elevator.

Si Ying was somewhat confused but still followed behind her.

The property manager and maintenance workers were focused on Sheng Yunjin, who was trapped inside the elevator. Si Mu stared at the tightly closed elevator doors, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“Is the person trapped inside the owner from the 34th floor?”

The property manager glanced at her, then nodded nervously.

“Yes, it’s Ms. Sheng from the 34th floor.”

…

Sheng Yunjin suddenly looked up—she could hear Si Mu’s voice.

So, was Si Mu outside now?

Testing the waters, she raised her voice slightly.

“Si Mu, are you out there?”

Her voice was still a little hoarse, but much better than yesterday.

Si Mu instinctively took two steps forward, doing her best to keep her tone steady.

“Sheng Yunjin, are you okay?”

Her expression relaxing slightly, Sheng Yunjin glanced up at the surveillance camera again.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Her slightly raspy voice carried a hint of amusement. Hearing Si Mu’s tension, she tried to reassure her.

Si Mu didn’t respond, only nodding reflexively.

…

The maintenance crew in front of the elevator were communicating via walkie-talkie with another team.

Sheng Yunjin was currently stuck between the 14th and 15th floors.

They needed to manually operate the pulley system to raise the elevator to the 15th floor. Once the cabin aligned with the floor, they could rescue her.

Si Mu kept her eyes fixed on the closed elevator doors, her ears intently tuned to the maintenance crew’s exchanges.

Standing behind her, Si Ying looked around in bewilderment.

She had never experienced an elevator malfunction before, so she didn’t realize that being trapped could sometimes be life-threatening.

She had previously lived with Si Zhong in an older, low-rise neighborhood that didn’t even have elevators.

Glancing up at Si Mu’s expressionless face, Si Ying bit her lip and unconsciously softened her breathing.

Though Si Mu wasn’t speaking, she could tell—

She seemed really tense right now.

Her fingers clutching the straps of her backpack, she hesitated before finally speaking up.

“Auntie…”

Meeting Si Mu’s gaze, her voice grew even quieter.

“…We’re going to be late…”

Si Mu looked down at her, then pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

After just a couple of sentences, she hung up.

Keeping her voice as calm as possible, she said, “The driver will be here soon. She’ll take you to school.”

Si Ying froze. Before she could say anything else, Si Mu had already averted her gaze.

Feeling wronged, she glanced at the elevator surrounded by the workers, bit her lip hard, and lowered her head again.

…

The elevator was slowly ascending. Sheng Yunjin relaxed her right hand, which had been clenched behind her back.

At this rate, she’d probably be rescued in two or three minutes.

…

Meanwhile.

In a rural courtyard thousands of miles away, Zhang Xiang watched anxiously as a long-haired man in Taoist robes sat cross-legged in the center of the yard.

The man’s face was gaunt, his salt-and-pepper hair meticulously tied up with a small twig.

Eyes shut tight, he muttered incantations under his breath, his hands resting on his knees as he performed some kind of spell.

Before him lay a bronze basin containing the blackened ashes of some burnt paper remnants.

…

The elevator continued its slow ascent. Sheng Yunjin guessed one more movement would bring her to the fifteenth floor.

Si Mu waited with equally intense anticipation.

Ding. The elevator display lit up, showing the number 15.

Sheng Yunjin exhaled in relief.

Yet unexpectedly, the elevator doors remained tightly shut.

Despite the restored braking system, no matter how the maintenance crew operated it, the fifteenth-floor doors showed no signs of opening.

The next instant, the elevator plunged downward uncontrollably.

A tremendous mechanical crash echoed through the shaft, leaving the property managers and maintenance workers on the fifteenth floor frozen in shock.

Their faces turned deathly pale as they shouted frantic accusations at the maintenance team on the other side.

Si Mu couldn’t make out their yells—only a piercing ringing persisted in her ears.

Staggering toward the other elevator bank, her trembling fingers pressed the button for basement level one.

Startled by the elevator crash, Si Mu’s sister only realized Si Mu had disappeared when she snapped out of her daze.

…

The sudden freefall caught Sheng Yunjin completely off guard. After a brief moment of panic, she instinctively raised her right hand to cast a spell.

Simultaneously, she glared at the surveillance camera above. The next second, its red indicator light flickered out.

As the elevator jerked to a stop, Sheng Yunjin drew a deep, shuddering breath.

She was likely still suspended mid-shaft. This series of mishaps had exhausted her patience.

Rather than waiting for rescue, Sheng Yunjin flexed her fingers slightly, guiding the elevator down to the lowest level.

Within mere seconds of its final stop, she noticed a sheen of sweat had formed on her forehead.

The doors remained stubbornly closed. Glancing at the disabled camera, Sheng Yunjin gritted her teeth.

At least it was her trapped here today—an ordinary person without magic might have been seriously injured.

Muttering curses about the damned elevator and incompetent management, she twitched her fingers.

The doors slid open automatically.

Stepping forward, she’d barely cleared the elevator when familiar arms engulfed her in a crushing embrace.

Startled, Sheng Yunjin’s irritation melted away as she returned the embrace. Patting Si Mu’s back, she murmured, “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Si Mu only tightened her grip around Sheng Yunjin’s waist, responding with a muffled sound, her face still buried in the crook of Sheng Yunjin’s neck.

This was Si Mu’s first such loss of composure—she couldn’t bring herself to care.

The moment she’d seen Sheng Yunjin unharmed, she hadn’t realized her own eyes had reddened.

Clutching Sheng Yunjin, breathing in her familiar scent, Si Mu’s painfully clenched heart finally began to relax.

She’d thought…

For a moment there… she’d nearly lost Sheng Yunjin…

When the elevator failed, Si Mu’s mind had gone completely blank.

Everything afterward had seemed to happen in a haze.

She’d been incapable of thought—terrified to consider what she’d do if Sheng Yunjin had been hurt…

…

The property management and maintenance personnel who arrived later breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sheng Yunjin completely unharmed.

They instinctively assumed the elevator had resumed normal operation midway, feeling fortunate that no accident had occurred while apologizing to Sheng Yunjin.

Glancing back at the still-open elevator doors—kept that way by her magic—Sheng Yunjin gave the property staff an impassive look.

Without saying a word, she then followed Si Mu, whose face was still pale and left.

Standing at the edge of the crowd that had gathered, Si Ying bit her lower lip hard, her gaze fixed on the intertwined hands of Si Mu and Sheng Yunjin.

Her fingers unconsciously dug into the straps of her backpack as she lowered her eyes, unaware of the envy hidden deep within them.

When Si Mu and Sheng Yunjin turned to leave, she also hung her head and hurried after them.

This left the property staff surrounded by residents who had heard the commotion, all demanding answers.

As tenants paying hefty annual fees, they were furious that such a serious elevator malfunction could occur—one misstep, and it could have cost them their lives.

…

Back home, Sheng Yunjin headed straight for the shower.

Though her morning jog hadn’t made her sweat, those few terrifying seconds in the elevator had left her back drenched in cold sweat.

Despite having magic to protect her, this was the first time she had faced such a dangerous situation.

Si Mu sat quietly in the living room, waiting for her while contacting a lawyer she knew on her phone.

Today’s incident was entirely due to the property management’s negligence, and Si Mu had already told Sheng Yunjin she intended to sue them.

Her anger stemmed from her deep concern for Sheng Yunjin, who understood that Si Mu must have been shaken by what happened and thus didn’t object.

Seated in a corner of the sofa, Si Ying listened silently as Si Mu spoke with the lawyer over the phone.

Hearing Si Mu bluntly state her intention to sue, Si Ying’s eyes widened in surprise.

In her subconscious, lawsuits were a grave matter.

She stole a glance at Si Mu’s icy expression—a sternness she had never seen before.

In her memory, Si Mu always wore a gentle smile and spoke in a clear, soothing voice.

Nothing like this.

Si Ying averted her gaze, recalling the incident.

They had only been trapped in the elevator for a few minutes…

And Sheng Yunjin wasn’t hurt at all…

Was it really necessary to take someone to court over this?

Feeling uneasy, Si Ying parted her lips, about to speak—

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Si Mu stood and looked at Si Ying.

“The driver’s here. Let’s go.”

The two walked to the door one after the other.

When she saw the middle-aged woman outside, though she still wished Si Mu would personally take her to school, Si Ying ultimately couldn’t muster the courage to say so.

Checking the time, Si Mu instructed, “This same auntie will pick you up after school this afternoon.”

Si Ying’s school was too far from Si Mu’s company—the round trip would take nearly two hours, time Si Mu simply didn’t have to spare.

Following the driver into the elevator, Si Ying’s eyes reddened slightly.

…

In a secluded courtyard.

A man in Taoist robes suddenly spat out a mouthful of bl00d.

The next moment, his eyes snapped open, revealing a murky gaze.

Zhang Xiang gasped in shock, rushing forward with an agitated expression to ask what had happened.

“Master, how is it? Is Sheng Yunjin dead already?!”

Wiping the bl00d from his lips with a mud-stained sleeve, the man cast her a glance.

“No.”

With a shriek, Zhang Xiang clutched his clothes tightly, her expression bordering on hysteria.

“How is that possible?! You said it would definitely succeed!”

“You told me this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—how could it fail?!”

The man pushed her away and got up from the ground on his own.

Today’s timing truly had been a rare chance. Based on the birth details Zhang Xiang had provided, he had been watching Sheng Yunjin for so long, and only today had he finally seized the opportunity to strike.

That morning, he had calculated that Sheng Yunjin would face a calamity, so he had set up a spell formation specifically to target her.

According to his plan, all he needed to do was add a little force when Sheng Yunjin encountered her misfortune, and she would surely suffer a devastating blow.

In any case, by the end, Sheng Yunjin would either be dead or grievously injured.

But to his utter shock, despite pouring all his strength into the spell, he still failed.

He had even suffered a backlash.

Glancing at Zhang Xiang, who was still relentlessly pestering him, he suppressed the urge to writhe on the ground from the pain in his chest—all to maintain his image as an inscrutable Taoist master.

After a long pause, he finally responded in a cryptic tone.

“She is blessed with great fortune and a strong fate. I underestimated her destiny.”

Zhang Xiang couldn’t stand hearing anyone praise Sheng Yunjin.

“You’re lying! She’s just an ordinary person!”

Pulling out a yellow slip of paper with Sheng Yunjin’s birth details from his sleeve, the man showed it to her.

“If she was born into such a wealthy and noble family, she must naturally be someone with profound blessings.”

Zhang Xiang was silenced. After a moment, her lips trembled as she said, “You’re right. It’s all because she stole my son’s rightful place.”

“If it weren’t for her, the one with those blessings would have been my son!”

Seeing that she had taken the bait, the man stroked his beard.

“Actually, the main reason for this failure is that we were too far away.”

Zhang Xiang hesitated at his words.

She had been dumped in this desolate wilderness by Sheng Mingzhao’s men, and of course, she resented it.

But if she went back now and Sheng Mingzhao found out…

As if sensing her hesitation, the man cut straight to the point.

“Isn’t your biological son still there? This humble Taoist can go down the mountain and seek him out.”

The day Zhang Xiang had been abandoned here, the man had noticed her immediately.

A group of black-suited bodyguards had dumped her at the village entrance before driving off.

Afterward, he had deliberately approached her and, sure enough, learned about her circumstances.

A wealthy family’s feud.

At that moment, the man felt he had finally encountered his opportunity.

Having cultivated alone for so long, he prided himself on his natural talent and had achieved some success in Taoist arts.

At the very least, he had yet to meet anyone with deeper mastery than himself.

If he could help this woman seize the family fortune, the resulting fame and wealth would go without saying.

Perhaps he could even hire people to build a Taoist temple for himself, receive offerings of incense, and even commission a statue in his likeness—wouldn’t that further aid his cultivation?

Who knows? He might even achieve immortality someday.

After spending months with Zhang Xiang, he had long realized that this woman was half-mad and utterly witless—she would never accomplish anything.

It would be far better to go straight to her son. That way, his spells would have a higher chance of success.

In short, opportunity and risk go hand in hand.

For the sake of future wealth and glory, as well as ancestral offerings, he had to give it a try.