Substitute Girlfriend Contract (GL) - Chapter 14

In the early morning, the plane took off. Tao Anyu was finally heading to S City to face that scumbag’s family.

“A cup of coffee,” Lu Mengxiao said, her eyes fixed on her tablet.

The flight attendant smiled and asked, “Would you like a Mocha, Blue Mountain, Latte, Cappuccino, or Emerald?”

Lu Mengxiao frowned. “That’s all you have?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. That’s all we have on this flight.”

Lu Mengxiao sighed. “Mocha, then.”

The flight attendant then turned to Tao Anyu. “And for you, miss?”

Tao Anyu offered a small smile. “A juice, please. Thank you.”

“What kind of juice would you like?”

Tao Anyu glanced at the cart beside them, leaned over Lu Mengxiao, and pointed to a carton. “I’ll take that one—the fruit and vegetable blend. It’s nutritious and delicious.”

“Certainly.”

Lu Mengxiao lightly tapped Tao Anyu’s head with her tablet.

“Ow!” Tao Anyu glared at her. “What was that for?”

Lu Mengxiao just laughed. “Way to be classy.”

Tao Anyu playfully stuck out her tongue, cheerfully accepting the juice from the flight attendant. “I like it, so what?”

Lu Mengxiao pressed her thumb and forefinger against Tao Anyu’s lips, sealing them shut. “Zip it!”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

E Province wasn’t far from S City, and the flight was only an hour long.

As they got off the plane, a cool breeze greeted them. Tao Anyu closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and spread her arms wide, imagining she could fly. Instead, Lu Mengxiao shoved her from behind, sending her sprawling on the ground.

“Hahahaha! Face-plant!” Lu Mengxiao roared with laughter.

…

By the granny’s throne, if I don’t get her back today, then my name isn’t Tao!

Tao Anyu scrambled to her feet, wrapped her arms around Lu Mengxiao’s neck, and bit her. Lu Mengxiao struggled to walk, dragging her along. “Help! A water-barrel goblin is biting me!”

“Hmph!” Tao Anyu aimed a hard knee jab at her backside.

“Wha—” Lu Mengxiao yelled, “Watch your salary! One thousand yuan off for every act of defiance!”

Tao Anyu immediately wilted, grabbing the corner of Lu Mengxiao’s shirt and shaking it. “Your Majesty, this concubine knows her mistake. I’ve repented.”

Lu Mengxiao let it go, pulling a strange-looking pager from her bag. She spoke to its speaker, “My dear Rou Rou, bring my beloved steed out for a walk!”

Wait a minute, this scene feels so familiar…

Hold on, Tian Qiurou is Lu Mengxiao’s personal assistant, so it’s normal for her to fly everywhere with her. But isn’t Lu Mengxiao’s Raphael back in D City too? Did she have it shipped back to S City?

A moment later, Tian Qiurou pulled up in a gaudily decorated car. Lu Mengxiao walked over and patted the hood. “My dear concubine, behold my beloved steed, the Faraday!”

“Faraday isn’t a physicist?” Tao Anyu asked.

The car was painted like a white horse, whereas her previous Raphael was a black horse. How many “beloved steeds” does this woman have? And how many “beloved concubines”?

Lu Mengxiao replied, “Then my horse is a physicist horse!”

*****

They arrived at Lu Mengxiao’s house, a seaside villa.

“My dear concubine, allow me to introduce my—”

“Wait!” Tao Anyu crossed her arms over her chest in an ‘X.’ “Your Majesty, please don’t tell me. Allow this concubine to guess the name of your palace.”

“Fine, go ahead and guess.” Lu Mengxiao watched her with her arms crossed.

Tao Anyu glanced at the strange, abstract sculptures on the nearby beach, recognizing them as marine creatures. She then looked at the villa’s structure, which was carved with dragons. A fence shaped like fish and shrimp surrounded the outside, and a large fish-shaped sculpture in the pool continuously spouted water from its mouth.

“I know!” Tao Anyu held up a finger. “Your Majesty, this palace of yours is called ‘Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals,’ isn’t it?”

“Wrong!”

“‘Ocean Kingdom’!”

“Wrong, wrong!”

“Then it must be the ‘Deep-Sea Dragon Palace’!”

“Nonsense! It’s clearly the ‘Seven Kings’ Sanctuary’!”

…

A seagull flew overhead, squawking a couple of times.

“Seriously, where do you get ‘Seven Kings’ from?” Tao Anyu asked Lu Mengxiao as they walked inside.

Lu Mengxiao scanned her fingerprint, and the glass doors of the house slid open. A housekeeper and maids came out to greet them. “Welcome back, Miss.”

Lu Mengxiao replied, “There are no ‘Seven Kings,’ only one emperor—me.”

Tao Anyu smiled at the staff and hurried to catch up with Lu Mengxiao. “Then why did you give it such a terrible name? I’ve been meaning to tell you, your taste in aesthetics and names is simply terrible. As a writer, I can’t stand it.”

“I like it. I don’t care what others think. I have money and power, and if anyone talks back, I’ll have them kicked out!”

Tao Anyu immediately fell silent. She looked around and decided that the interior of this house was much more reasonable than that nightmare castle. She figured there must be other people living here, which kept Lu Mengxiao from being completely lawless. Tao Anyu asked, “Your Majesty, where am I staying?”

“Huh?” Lu Mengxiao was in the walk-in closet changing her clothes. “What do you mean, ‘where’? You’re going to attend to the emperor tonight, of course. I’ll allow you to sleep on the dragon bed. Aren’t you excited, my dear concubine?”

When they entered Lu Mengxiao’s bedroom, it was, in fact, a “dragon bed.”

To be more precise, it is a dragon boat bed that floats on water.

Lu Mengxiao hugged Tao Anyu from behind, tugging at her clothes and whispering in her ear. “My dear concubine, let me tell you, lying on this water bed, rocking back and forth, is seriously amazing!”

Amazing, my foot! The emperor might be, but this concubine is not.

Tao Anyu wriggled free. “What are you doing in the middle of the day? Your Majesty, have some self-respect.”

Lu Mengxiao patted Tao Anyu’s butt. “Fine, then we’ll save it for tonight.” She went downstairs and asked, “Auntie Liu, what’s for lunch?”

Auntie Liu came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “I’m still preparing. What would you like, Miss?”

Lu Mengxiao stood downstairs and called up to Tao Anyu, “What do you want to eat?”

Tao Anyu scampered down the stairs. “I’d like some pan-fried cod with honey.”

Lu Mengxiao told Auntie Liu to note it down. “Anything else?”

Tao Anyu thought for a moment. “Can I cook it myself?”

Lu Mengxiao remembered that Tao Anyu had cooked for her in D City, and the food was quite good. “Sure, go ahead and cook.” She then said to Auntie Liu, “Auntie Liu, show her around the kitchen and let her do the cooking.”

“Yes, of course.”

Lu Mengxiao sat on the sofa watching TV. A maid approached her. “Miss, is that Miss Pei?”

“Mm-hm,” Lu Mengxiao nodded without thinking.

The maid looked stunned and glanced toward the kitchen again. “But Miss Pei had late-stage cancer…”

“It’s cured now. See? She’s lively and well.”

“Oh, what wonderful news! I bet the young master will be so happy. When’s the wedding?”

“Heh.” Lu Mengxiao let out a cold laugh. “Wedding? She’s my wife now.”

“Huh?” The maid was dumbfounded. She knew that the second miss was attracted to women, but this situation was confusing to her. What was going on?

Another maid came over, shocked. “But Second Miss, Miss Pei was the young master’s fiancée. How could you…”

“Fiancée, my ass! I told you she’s my wife now!” Lu Mengxiao said this while chewing a lollipop and crossing her legs.

A little later, Tao Anyu came out with a bowl of yam and hasma stew. She sat next to Lu Mengxiao and fed her. “Your Majesty, please try this yam and hasma stew that your concubine has lovingly prepared. Come on, open up. ‘Ahhh…'”

Lu Mengxiao laughed, hugging Tao Anyu, and—under the bewildered gazes of the maids—opened her mouth wide. “Ahhhhhhh…”