The Cold, Aloof Dominatrix After Parasitically Entering a Rich Family - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Sudden Change: “Long time no see, Shayu…”

Gong Shayu swallowed the entire draft in her stomach, digesting it internally. She suddenly felt a bit excessive, having actually suspected Tu Si was interested in Tan Ke.

Tu Si… she went without seeing me for just ten hours and developed delusions? Thinking this, the corners of Gong Shayu’s mouth involuntarily softened a little.

“Ahem,” Gong Shayu controlled her expression, turned the car, and asked as neutrally as possible: “How was your time at school…?”

Tu Si: “Very good. I made a new friend today.”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to go to school before?” Gong Shayu searched for something to talk about.

Tu Si blinked in confusion: “Before, I heard Ma Yi say that studying was tiring, so I didn’t want to go.”

“But it’s fine here. The teacher’s voice is good for sleeping, and class is very relaxed. I just need to learn how to act like a human. The cafeteria food is also very delicious.”

Most importantly, she heard there was a dance club.

Of course, Tu Si didn’t voice that last sentence.

Gong Shayu curled her lips: “Silly girl. Ma Yi is in her last year of high school. How can that be the same as you attending university?”

Tu Si didn’t know the difference between the final year of high school and university. In her simple understanding, she only believed Gong Shayu gave her the best. She remembered the tantrum she threw when Gong Shayu said they were returning to Z City.

For the first time, Tu Si felt like her chest was filled with lead—heavy and dull. Even the vines spreading outward from her felt listless and droopy.

Ah! She suddenly recalled. Isn’t this the suffocating, sticky emotion the acting teacher talked about today?

—Guilt!

Tu Si fell silent. Gong Shayu thought she was feeling down because she thought of Ma Yi.

Miss Gong, who wasn’t skilled at comforting, reached out and rubbed the back of Tu Si’s head twice.

Tu Si took her hand with both of hers and kissed her palm again.

Not a flower spirit, but a clingy creature, Gong Shayu summarized.

After returning to Yufu, Tan Ke’s car was already quietly parked downstairs, waiting. Gong Shayu said she had a dinner engagement and told Tu Si to go to bed early.

The moment Tan Ke and Tu Si’s eyes met, Assistant Tan subconsciously looked away.

Tu Si walked around Gong Shayu and went straight to Tan Ke: “Do you know who I am?”

“!” Tan Ke quickly stepped back half a pace, maintaining a safe social distance: “You are Miss Tu, the boss’s wife?”

Tu Si tilted her head, solemnly announcing as if making a proclamation: “Please remember, from today onward, I am a Cuscuta spirit.”

Tan Ke looked at Gong Shayu in confusion. The latter looked back at her with an “Are you an idiot?” expression, signaling her to give a reaction.

Tan Ke: You two will be the death of me!

Assistant Tan’s mouth hurt from forcing a smile: “Got it, Little Flower.”

Tu Si sighed in relief. Kong Meng hadn’t lied after all.

Seeing Tu Si enter the elevator with a cheerful stride, Tan Ke asked Gong Shayu with a heavy heart: “I’ve screened everyone who had access to your food these two days. No suspicious targets. Should we continue to screen people you’ve been in contact with tomorrow?”

At this moment, Tan Ke wanted to slap herself. Judging from Tu Si’s mental state just now, she had randomly said the boss was poisoned, and she had actually taken it seriously.

What normal person claims to be a flower, let alone a Cuscuta?

Gong Shayu lowered her gaze: “Continue.”

It’s over! Mystery solved! The boss really is poisoned. Poisoned by the poison of love.

Tan Ke hit the gas and shot out of the underground garage, thinking she needed to buy Fang Yu a drink and get some information out of that woman. Otherwise, constantly walking into the line of fire wouldn’t end well.

…

In the living room, the Cuscuta spirit looked up, gazing at the broken-stringed violin on the wall, tilting her head to stare at it for a moment.

Suddenly, the corner of her mouth curved, and a hint of mischief flashed in her eyes.

She raced toward the bedroom dedicated to her treasures. A moment later, she emerged carrying a stack of wedding photos. She arranged them according to frame size, centering them around the violin and spreading outward. In less than ten minutes, all the wedding photos were on the wall.

When the last photo was hung, she stepped back two paces, tilted her head to admire her masterpiece, the smile on her face deepening.

Then, she hummed a slightly off-key tune and walked quickly toward the refrigerator.

This silver-white giant was Tu Si’s most beloved treasure—in her eyes, it was a magical chest of wonders that yielded surprising deliciousness every time she opened it.

Although the outdoor temperature in Z City was only around ten degrees Celsius, this did not affect Tu Si’s preference for cold food. She took two different-flavored ice creams from the freezer compartment. As she looked up, she noticed the backyard lawn was decorated with ambient lights shaped like small flowers.

Tu Si, holding an ice cream in each hand, pushed open the back door.

The night was deep. The evergreen trees rustled their branches, greeting Tu Si. Following the string of colorful lights up the trees, she realized the night sky was sparkling with stars.

The green lawn beneath her feet also shook its head, looking up. The grass had just been trimmed and emitted a rich, fresh scent that was unusual for the season.

Tu Si still smelled something different from the grass.

The extremely short blades of grass were lined up like a military formation, each plant seeming copied and pasted. Tu Si ate her ice cream while carefully examining the dark green expanse. Finally, by the cobblestones under her feet, she found an extremely narrow, superfluous gap.

She crouched down, quickly swallowing the remaining half of the ice cream in her left hand. The now-free hand touched the fissure.

Tu Si emptied her mind, shutting down four of her five senses, letting only her hearing amplify infinitely.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, that gardener yesterday was amazing. None of us here are over 3 centimeters.”

“Yes, have you seen the lawn next door? It looks like a dog gnawed on it.”

“Brother Evergreen says the owner of this yard is a Cuscuta spirit. I’m so scared!”

“Is she going to fatten us up and then slaughter us?”

“Probably not. How could we satisfy her appetite?”

“Strange, Xiaoxiao, where’s your hand? Why can’t I feel it?”

“I can’t feel you either!”

Tu Si reached out, following Xiaoxiao’s words.

“Who is it? Touching me… Ah, ah, ah, ah!”

“My life! Someone is sneaking up on me…”

A small patch of sod was yanked out by the roots, but nothing abnormal was visible in the dim light. Tu Si leaned forward slightly and sniffed. Aside from the fresh scent of grass, there was a faint bitter and fishy smell mixed with a trace of cloying sweetness, like spoiled nectar.

She felt a sudden chill run down the back of her neck, followed by a sharp “Swoosh!”

Her true form vines reacted faster than Tu Si. They flared up like a fierce snake, the golden-yellow tendrils surging in all directions, making a bone-jarring sound as they stabbed into the soil.

The Cuscuta’s root system madly expanded in the darkness.

The next second, a thick, stubby root stalk burst through the soil. Its surface was covered with tumors, like a section of diseased knuckle bone, exposed to the air, tightly wrapped by the golden vines.

—Pfft!

Before Tu Si could react, the root stalk suddenly contracted, and a milky white sap shot out like a poisoned arrow, heading straight for her face! The bitter, fishy odor instantly stung her nostrils.

A cold light flashed in Tu Si’s eyes, and she let out an almost inaudible cold snort. The vines tightened their grip. She shouted sternly: “Who are you?”

“I am your mother’s…” The root stalk’s arrogant shouting came to an abrupt end. It exploded under the strangulation of the vines, splattering sap. Several still-wriggling pieces of residual branch scattered across the ground.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!!!”

The small blades of grass let out shrill screams.

Tu Si recognized it—the root stalk of the Gelsemium elegans (or Heartbreak Grass). Or rather, this root stalk, which had a spiritual consciousness, could actually move on its own.

The Cuscuta suddenly thought of the poison in Gong Shayu’s body.

No, that’s not right. She was poisoned before she moved here. If this thing was targeting her, it was likely just to deliver a fatal blow.

Suddenly, a cold drop slid down Tu Si’s hand. She looked down at the cone, which was mostly melted, and licked the sticky sweetness that had dropped onto the back of her hand.

—It doesn’t taste good anymore.

A wave of anger rushed to Tu Si’s head, causing a flash of jade green light in her eyes. She clenched her five fingers in the air.

“Bang, bang, bang…” The residual branches on the ground spontaneously combusted like fireworks, exploding into powder in that instant.

Tu Si stared at the melting strawberry ice cream in her hand for two seconds. She still lowered her head and ate it clean before sweeping her gaze around.

It’s over! The lawn is ruined!!!

The night wind blew through the evergreen trees. The dark green branches rustled in the wind. The wind suddenly intensified, pulling open a few gaps in the thick branches. Starlight seized the opportunity to leak through, allowing an unintentional glimpse of the scenery inside.

“Did you sense it?” A crisp, childlike voice sounded in the wind.

In the gloom, there was a faint rustling sound, followed by another delicate voice: “No. Either she’s hiding too deeply, or she’s not even Grade E,” the voice was cloyingly sweet and full of mockery. “But I’m more inclined toward the second possibility.”

“Let’s go,” the delicate voice sighed lightly. “Looks like no luck tonight.”

Amidst the swaying tree shadows, two small figures were vaguely visible, flashing past and disappearing into the depths of the dense bushes outside the villa. A few startled begonia petals slowly drifted in the air.

…

Inside the banquet hall, Gong Shayu, dressed in a black gown, swept across the red carpet. Diamond chains, visible through the gown’s high slit, swayed with her every step.

Miss Gong was adept at handling such occasions, maintaining a perfectly appropriate smile, her gaze sweeping across the faces of the crowd—neither appearing rushed nor lingering for anyone.

The strength with which she gripped her champagne flute, the angle at which she tilted it when toasting, even the rhythm of her breathing were precisely calculated.

“President Gong, this charity project is thanks to your connection.” A third-tier female celebrity approached, the diamonds she wore from head to toe making Gong Shayu’s eyes ache.

She suddenly thought that the color of the fake gemstone ring Tu Si gave her wasn’t so ugly after all.

Gong Shayu chuckled, the wine glass turning half a circle in her palm: “It was only right.” Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the three to five interested people nearby to hear clearly.

—In this world, what is ever truly “right”?

It was merely an exchange of interests wrapped in a sugar coating, and if Miss Gong was willing, she could make everyone willingly swallow this sugar-coated bullet.

Several socialites around her erupted in hearty laughter, as if they had just had afternoon tea yesterday.

Just as the laughter was about to subside, a melodious violin tune suddenly rang out. The music traveled from afar, and the people at the entrance of the banquet hall stood up in unison, as if to welcome an important figure.

Gong Shayu frowned slightly and drank the wine in her cup. The music also pierced through the crowd, finally stopping in front of her.

The hand holding the violin was fair and slender, elegantly lifting after playing the final vibrato.

“Long time no see, Shayu…”