Marrying the Ugly Woman of a Rich and Powerful Family - Chapter 11

Shen Qingyuan held the book up in front of her, only revealing her large, clear eyes. She spoke very quickly, saying, “Peaceful cohabitation. You promised me peaceful cohabitation. You can’t just do these things on a whim. I can’t take it.”

She had every reason to believe that Cang Yan would actually inflict the full BDSM routine on her. After all, Cang Yan did not look like someone who would joke around.

“So you can’t take it?” Cang Yan sneered.

Shen Qingyuan was confused. “What do you mean?”

She wasn’t into that community, so she definitely couldn’t take it.

“When you wrote my fan fiction, you used a submissive’s perspective. I thought you had masochistic tendencies,” Cang Yan looked at Shen Qingyuan with a serious demeanor.

It wasn’t a lie. That article was indeed written from a victim’s perspective, portraying her as an utterly wicked Dominant.

“…” Shen Qingyuan never expected it could be interpreted that way. What did the original owner’s perspective have to do with her?

“That was all youthful indiscretion,” Shen Qingyuan was flexible, like a spring. She immediately softened, pleading pitifully, “I’m extremely timid now. Look, haven’t I changed a lot since the wax incident?”

If she had a tail, she would certainly be wagging it.

Cang Yan was noncommittal, but she had to admit that Shen Qingyuan had changed significantly. Could it be that she really scared her?

She reopened the book and said in a harsh tone, “Read your book properly. Who told you to talk to me?”

Shen Qingyuan: “…”

She stopped arguing with Cang Yan and lowered her head to quietly read her book, also allowing Cang Yan to read beside her.

Cang Yan had read this book countless times. It simply stated that aesthetics differ in every era, telling the world to respect aesthetics and respect people who are considered beautiful or ugly.

However, no matter how much was said, it was useless. People would still be influenced by mass aesthetics because humans are social animals and mere mortals. Unless one has completely detached from society, they will be influenced to some degree.

Cang Yan felt a suffocating breath well up in her chest as she read. This book was a kind of soothing agent, used for self-comfort.

She had once comforted herself: none of her features were missing—she had a nose, she had eyes—so how was she the ugliest? It must be that those people had a problem with their aesthetics, but she lived among these people.

She would eventually be assimilated.

She would feel ugly, just like those people.

Shen Qingyuan was concentrating on reading when she suddenly heard the sound of Cang Yan flipping pages become louder and faster, seemingly indicating some irritation. Then Cang Yan threw down the book and left…

Shen Qingyuan curiously picked up the book. The Aesthetics of the Times was a social science book that discussed the aesthetics of various eras and provided examples. Fortunately, the book did not say that the Tang Dynasty preferred thinness; it still favored plumpness.

It seemed that the aesthetics of this world did not start out favoring dark and strong bodies but had gradually changed over time.

Ancient aesthetics changed with the powerful, while current aesthetics changed with media trends.

Shen Qingyuan sighed. Ordinary-looking people like her were ignored everywhere, only fit to play background characters in TV dramas. So, she could only console herself that ordinariness was a blessing, and accept that she was an ordinary person.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with being ordinary. Cang Yan was clearly destined to be extraordinary, yet she was being treated with hostility here.

Shen Qingyuan put the book back on the shelf. The books in the study were of a very mixed variety, from classic literature, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, to children’s fairy tales, like a small library.

At exactly nine o’clock, she finished reading and prepared to wash up and go to bed. She soaked in the bubble bath for half an hour, thinking of Cang Yan’s hastily retreating figure, how slender and small she was.

Since she had already gone out, should she go to her door to check?

Shen Qingyuan tiptoed to the door of Cang Yan’s bedroom. Just as she raised her hand, she felt it was redundant. Going to comfort her now would be like rubbing salt in a wound, and besides, Cang Yan might already be asleep.

Unless she was asking for trouble and wanted to be dripped with wax.

Shen Qingyuan silently returned to her room. Thinking of what Cang Yan said, she logged into the original owner’s Weibo before going to sleep. The original owner’s Weibo ID was “A Plant,” and the Weibo account already had hundreds of private messages, asking questions from yesterday until today.

Some fans asked why she suddenly deleted the fan fiction.

Had Cang Yan sent her a lawyer’s letter?

It seemed the original owner really had quite a few fans, and active ones at that. Shen Qingyuan thought that as a Weibo user, she should reply. She bent down and edited the message.

[I have repented and turned over a new leaf. Thank you all for your concern. I’m going to study hard now.]

She felt a little uneasy after posting it, afraid it would clash with the original owner’s posting habits. Then she thought it didn’t matter. She was going to be herself from now on, not the original owner.

Sure enough, one post stirred up a thousand waves, and fans commented one after another.

“F*ck, did the person themselves post this?”

“Maybe the account was hacked.”

“What’s so fun about studying? Hurry up and continue writing!”

“Speaking of which, Cang Yan is married. Do you think the new bride will be dripped with wax by Cang Yan like the author wrote?”

“Wax dripping doesn’t even hurt. I think someone like Cang Yan, who’s in the scene, definitely does more than just wax dripping. Doesn’t the author’s story have existing examples? Small leather whips, pointers, ropes, and all kinds of animal play…”

“Right, right, right. Cang Yan’s psychology is so perverted, she might even be crueler. The new bride is so pitiful. I heard she’s a college student, what was her name? Shen something?”

“What’s pitiful about it? Maybe she actually likes that sort of thing? That Shen Qingyuan is from our school. She always looked pretty psychologically abnormal. It just goes to show, birds of a feather flock together.”

Shen Qingyuan: “…”

The comment section started a serious discussion. No one knew that she was the new bride who married Cang Yan. It seemed the original owner knew to keep her identity hidden and wasn’t foolish enough to directly tell everyone on Weibo that she was Shen Qingyuan.

Shen Qingyuan flipped through the comments again before sleeping, seeing fans still seriously studying how Cang Yan would abuse her.

She stopped bothering with it. After lying down, she fell asleep instantly.

The light in Cang Yan’s bedroom was extinguished almost at the same time. The entire villa fell into an extremely quiet atmosphere. The cool breeze outside was refreshing. Shen Qingyuan had a good night’s sleep. Sure enough, studying was the best sleeping pill.

Cang Yan’s routine was incredibly regular: sleep at ten, wake up at six. After a simple wash and tidy-up, it was six-thirty. Then she watched the morning news and stock market updates.

She carried a cup of tea and stood on the balcony, ready to breathe the fresh morning air, when she saw a white figure in the backyard. Shen Qingyuan was constantly changing positions there, seemingly doing stretches, and there were books on the long chair.

Cang Yan frowned. When she came back to her senses, she realized the tea had gone cold. She had been staring at the white figure for a long time. She took out her phone to scroll through Weibo.

Shen Qingyuan hadn’t gotten up this early in a long time. When she had class in the morning in her past life, her shift started at eight, but since the faculty apartment was on campus, she usually got up at seven. Getting up at five-thirty today was indeed a bit early.

However, the air was pleasant, and it was a good time to study.

To pass her supplementary exams, she was working even harder than when she was preparing for graduate school in her previous life.

“Morning,” Shen Qingyuan’s choice of words was also very cute when she was in a good mood. She greeted Cang Yan with a beaming face.

“Morning,” Cang Yan replied flatly.

This was the first time she had responded to Shen Qingyuan in three consecutive days.

Shen Qingyuan had just finished exercising, and her face was slightly flushed. She said, “I just went for a run. Do you want to join me? Practicing Tai Chi in the morning is also very good.”

She thought Cang Yan’s frailness was related to a lack of exercise. What she didn’t know was that Cang Yan hadn’t neglected exercise; she just couldn’t physically handle much exertion.

Cang Yan brought the teacup to her lips, remembered the tea was cold, put it down again, and said unhurriedly, “There’s a gym on the third floor.”

“…” Shen Qingyuan choked: “But the air outside is better.”

“I know my own yard, don’t I? I just don’t want to go outside,” Cang Yan said dismissively.

Shen Qingyuan thought to herself, No good deed goes unpunished. She felt bad for thinking Cang Yan was upset last night and wanted to comfort her. She stopped paying attention to Cang Yan, returned to her room to shower, and quickly went to school.

After confirming Shen Qingyuan had left, Cang Yan returned to her room and put on a jacket. There was a swing set in the yard, which her father had specially installed. She sat on it, swaying back and forth with the swing, as if her mind and body were being cleansed.

The air outside was indeed better.

Cang Yan originally thought Shen Qingyuan would only keep it up for a day at most, and that getting up early today was just to put on a show in front of her. She didn’t expect Shen Qingyuan to still get up very early the next day, as if she were genuinely going to study hard.

I wonder how the erotic fan fiction is coming along?

Friday.

Shen Qingyuan sat in the library all day, formulating a new study plan for the semester. In terms of study atmosphere, nothing beat the library.

Today was also a particularly fulfilling day, except for the erotic fan fiction that still hadn’t been written…

As soon as Shen Qingyuan left the library, she was blocked by a group of people.

There were both male and female reporters blocking her. They wore glasses, and their roles were clearly defined, holding cameras and microphones. As soon as she came out, they filmed right up to her face.

Shen Qingyuan was startled by the clicking of the shutters when she got out of the wedding car last time and was almost traumatized.

She looked left and right, ready to flee the scene immediately, but two fists couldn’t beat four hands, and she was pulled back.

“Miss Shen, the new online ugliest person selection contest has started. What is your opinion on this contest?”

Shen Qingyuan: “???”

She had never been interviewed like this in her life. She wasn’t a celebrity, she wasn’t particularly good-looking, nor was she ugly. She just wanted to be an ordinary person who appreciates beauty. Why was she being asked these questions? She was just a student.

Shen Qingyuan kept a straight face and said, “No opinion.”

The microphone was still shoved in her face, asking, “Then, do you think Cang Yan will continue to be elected first?”

Hearing Cang Yan’s name, Shen Qingyuan immediately understood. This was a deliberate attempt to slander Cang Yan. They probably wanted to hear what she, the new bride, thought of Cang Yan.

So boring.

Cang Yan was just a volatile, petty person; she hadn’t done anything unforgivable.

Shen Qingyuan decided to turn the tables and stopped resisting. She smiled and asked, “Guess who I think is the ugliest?”

“Before marriage, it was definitely Cang Yan. Now it’s probably hard to say. After all, Cang Yan has a bad reputation. Miss Shen probably wouldn’t dare to speak ill of her to her face.”

This reporter was very articulate.

In this situation, no matter how Shen Qingyuan answered, the fact that Cang Yan was ugly and had a bad temper would be personally confirmed by her.

Shen Qingyuan would not let them have their way. She continued to smile and said, “I’m sorry, you guessed wrong. I genuinely think everyone present is ugly. Equally ugly, one-in-a-million ugly, ugly enough to skip the audition and form a ‘Ugliest Reporter Group’ to debut immediately.”

The faces of the reporters slightly chilled. They didn’t expect a student in her early twenties to be so sharp-tongued.

One of the reporters reacted the fastest, quickly concluding, “Miss Shen, it turns out you have a love of ugliness. You only like ugly appearances like Cang Yan’s, but you dismiss genuinely good looks as worthless.”

Shen Qingyuan: “…”

Is that how interview clips are generated?

She looked around and couldn’t see how good-looking this dark, tall reporter in front of her was. She said, “I don’t know about loving ugliness, but I will definitely not love you.”

Shen Qingyuan finished her counterattack. No matter what questions the reporters asked, she didn’t say another word.

The library security guards arrived in time. Shen Qingyuan finally broke free from the group of gossiping reporters who came out of nowhere. She turned her head and saw Tang Zhiqing behind a flower bed, smiling at her. Obviously, Tang Zhiqing had found these reporters.

She simply wanted her to speak ill of Cang Yan and to be abused by Cang Yan. Too bad she had a different soul now.

Shen Qingyuan deeply realized that this was an age of information overload. Even though she wasn’t a celebrity or a big shot, as long as she could provide a source of amusement, she would be noticed, even interviewed, and even labeled with “ugliness love.”

She decided she must ask Cang Yan to assign her a few bodyguards.

Shen Qingyuan fled into the driver’s car, leaving the school. She had never felt the school was so dangerous.

She opened her phone. The newly established online ugliness selection contest, after two days and two nights of fermentation and online voting, had Cang Yan firmly in first place, ahead of the second place by a difference of 200,000 votes.

Shen Qingyuan: “…”

On the way back to the villa, Shen Qingyuan thought about how to comfort Cang Yan. She couldn’t be too obvious in her comfort, or it would backfire. She also couldn’t not comfort her. What if Cang Yan took her anger out on her and gave her a forced S.M. package?

When she got back, she saw Cang Yan eating cake. It was the same strawberry cheesecake as before. She didn’t even bother to change the flavor.

The cake was cut into pieces. Cang Yan was expressionless throughout, but anyone with eyes could feel the low pressure in the living room.

Shen Qingyuan hesitated for a moment and said, “The media that organizes these contests really has no conscience. They only do it to grab attention. You don’t need to care too much about other people’s opinions.”

Cang Yan didn’t say a word at first. Finally, she lifted her head from the cake, her face cold, and said, “Which eye of yours saw that I care about other people’s opinions? Don’t use your student mentality to judge me.”

Shen Qingyuan: “…”

Ugh… the volatile one is about to explode.

She glanced at the spare phones piled on the table.

If she truly didn’t care, was she preparing for a phone-smashing contest?