The Foolish Wife Turned Scheming After Her Recovery - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: That Hint of Lime Was So Faint, Yet Addictive

Lu Zhili ran expectantly toward the ice cream shop recommended by the waiter, each step full of anticipation. She hoped that when she returned with the ice cream, she’d see the princess’s happy face.

The closer she got, the clearer the sweet scent of ice cream became. Just by the smell, Lu Zhili could tell this place must serve delicious ice cream. There were a few kids lined up outside the store, while their parents waited nearby—probably trying to train their children’s independence.

Lu Zhili quickly joined the queue. Among the crowd of little kids, she stood out a bit, but she didn’t feel out of place at all—after all, she was only eight years old herself.

Standing in front of her was a chubby little boy who wouldn’t stop talking to the girl in front of him. The girl was shy and only responded occasionally, speaking very little.

Lu Zhili wasn’t used to playing on her phone to pass the time, so she simply looked around curiously while waiting in line. Soon, she suddenly felt someone staring at her. When she looked over, it was the little girl.

The girl looked timidly at Lu Zhili. When their eyes met, she blushed and quickly looked away, but soon glanced back again.

Lu Zhili blinked, confused about why she kept looking at her. But she had a soft spot for kids, like she did for little cupcakes—if poked, they just made soft little whimpering sounds. So she gave the girl what she thought was a very friendly smile.

The little girl had never seen anything like this. The older sister in front of her looked like a fairy from a TV show, smiling warmly at her. Her face instantly turned even redder. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t make a sound.

The little boy behind her finally noticed something was off. He slapped the girl’s shoulder angrily, upset that she hadn’t answered his question. “Zhenzhen, why didn’t you answer me? Don’t you have any manners?! If you don’t answer, I’ll tell everyone at school not to play with you anymore!”

That was how kids threatened each other. But Lu Zhili, who was mentally still a kid herself, wasn’t having it. She looked down at the boy with a frown and said seriously, “You can’t treat her like that. Isolating her is bullying. You’re not allowed to bully your classmates.”

The boy turned around angrily and looked up, only to see Lu Zhili’s strikingly beautiful face. Even with a calm expression, she had an imposing presence.

“What’s it to you! Ugly woman!” he shouted rudely, then looked between Zhenzhen and Lu Zhili again. “I know! It’s because of you that Zhenzhen won’t answer me! It’s all your fault! Ugly woman! Ugly woman!”

His tantrum quickly caught the attention of the store staff. A young female employee wearing a mask and cap peeked her head out from behind the counter. “Little one, please don’t make a scene.”

That gentle reprimand was like a spark igniting a firework—the boy exploded instantly.

“Waaahh—” He threw his head back, opened his mouth, and started screaming at the top of his lungs. “You’re all bullying me! I’m gonna tell my dad! Bad people! Stupid pigs! Ugly woman!”

The shop was instantly thrown into chaos. Zhenzhen, startled by the boy’s sudden crying, had tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly tried to calm him down. “I’m sorry, don’t cry, don’t cry.”

The boy, clearly spoiled and unmanageable at home, ignored everyone. His arms flailed wildly like an octopus, nearly hitting Zhenzhen. Lu Zhili quickly stepped forward, pulled Zhenzhen into her arms, but still got smacked on the arm by the boy.

Seeing Zhenzhen being held made the boy even more furious. He screamed louder, “Ahh—I’ll beat you! Beat you! Stupid pig! Idiot! Ugly woman!”

Finally, the waiting parents outside were alerted and rushed in. Leading the charge was a young woman who immediately scooped the boy into her arms. Another woman with her quickly stepped forward to take Zhenzhen from Lu Zhili.

Lu Zhili’s face darkened in anger. She stared at the boy like a furious leopard. “I’m not an idiot! You have to apologize to me!”

The boy, emboldened now that his mom had arrived, became even more arrogant. “Ahh—You are an idiot! Big dummy! Idiot, idiot, idiot!”

Lu Zhili stepped forward, unable to hold back her anger anymore. The boy’s mom glared at her and shouted, “What do you think you’re doing?! What?!”

Lu Zhili was tall and slender, with toned arms from exercise. Her face was beautiful, but when she was angry, she looked quite intimidating. The boy’s mother, on the other hand, wasn’t very tall, wearing high heels at least five centimeters high and holding her heavy son in her arms. It was probably “motherly courage” that made her glare back so defiantly.

Before Lu Zhili could speak, the woman shouted again, “You’re a grown-up, bullying a child? Shame on you! I’ll sue you for child abuse!”

Just as Lu Zhili was about to argue, someone appeared beside her and firmly pulled her behind them by the wrist.

It was Yu Yao.

She had heard the commotion from the Thai restaurant and saw the outnumbered Lu Zhili. Without hesitation, she stepped in to protect her.

“Then call the police,” Yu Yao said calmly, glaring coldly at the shrieking woman. Then she turned around to check on Lu Zhili.

Lu Zhili, feeling supported: “QAQ”

Yu Yao thought she was hurt somewhere and immediately asked, “Are you hurt? Let me see.”

Lu Zhili held out her arm that had been smacked by the boy. A bright red palm print stood out clearly.

Yu Yao: “Just here?”

Lu Zhili nodded, then pouted pitifully, “He called me an idiot, but I’m not. When I asked him to apologize, he cried.”

Her eyes welled up with tears too, like she’d cry any minute.

Yu Yao let out a breath of relief. “It’s okay. I’ll make him apologize.” Then she turned back to the mother and son. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a few familiar faces outside the shop—they were Lu Zhili’s bodyguards. She recognized them from the time they’d caught her under the tree.

While Yu Yao was talking to Lu Zhili, the store manager had come out to calm the customers, and Zhenzhen’s mom had learned the whole story and was trying to explain it to the boy’s mother.

Yu Yao looked at the boy and then at his mother. “Have you called the police yet?”

The woman knew her child was in the wrong, but things had escalated beyond her control. She bristled and shouted, “Don’t think I’m scared of you! You two little girls picking on a kid! Shame on you!”

“You won’t call the cops? Fine, I will.” Yu Yao started to pull out her phone.

The woman panicked and put her child down, stepping forward to grab Yu Yao’s phone, but before she could reach her wrist, her hands were shoved away by Lu Zhili.

“What are you doing?! Don’t bully Yu Yao!”

At that moment, the four bodyguards waiting outside rushed into the shop. The leader stepped forward and asked, “Miss, shall we call the police?”

Lu Zhili recognized these four as the plainclothes bodyguards who always followed her. They were not the same ones waiting outside the mall to take her home.

Yu Yao raised a hand, signaling them to stay back, then looked coldly at the now-pale woman and asked again, “Do you want to call the police or have your son apologize to my friend?”

The woman’s face went white when she saw the four muscular men, sweat beading on her forehead. Her family had some money and her husband had a couple of bodyguards too, so she knew these men weren’t just ordinary people—they were legitimate bodyguards hired for protection.

And anyone who could afford bodyguards of this caliber definitely wasn’t someone to mess with. This was Yanjing, after all, right under the emperor’s nose. You could throw a stone and hit someone with a powerful background. After years of bullying others, she had finally kicked an iron wall.

Seeing the woman speechless, Zhenzhen’s mother approached with her daughter and apologized earnestly. “I’m so sorry. This whole mess was caused by the kids. Zhenzhen, apologize to the young lady.”

Zhenzhen’s face was tear-streaked, a mix of fear and shame for losing face in front of the pretty big sister. Pouting, she softly said, “Sister, I’m sorry.”

Lu Zhili didn’t think either she or Zhenzhen was at fault. It was that boy who went crazy. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault at all.”

Zhenzhen’s mom sighed with relief. Meanwhile, the boy’s mother looked furious, but after a nudge from Zhenzhen’s mom, she begrudgingly dragged her son forward. “Apologize now! Or we’ll call the police and have you arrested!”

The boy, spoiled just like his mom, panicked now that she was no longer on his side. His cries finally turned into real sobs—tears streamed down his face, and even his snot dripped dangerously close to his mouth.

“Waaah—s-sorry…”

Lu Zhili listened to him bawling and realized: kids and cupcakes aren’t the same. Some go yip yip, and others go waa waa.

“So gross,” she muttered in disgust, then added, “Listen, I’m not an idiot. And don’t you dare isolate her at school again, or I’ll beat you up every time I see you!”

She pointed straight at Zhenzhen.

Zhenzhen’s mother froze—she clearly hadn’t known her daughter was being ostracized at school. Her face darkened immediately.

The boy’s mother was already annoyed by her son’s crying. Now, feeling utterly humiliated, she grabbed his arm and tried to leave.

“Wait.”

Yu Yao spoke, and the four bodyguards immediately blocked their path.

“What do you want?! Gonna beat up a helpless single mom in broad daylight?! I’ll call the cops on you!”

Everyone was talking about calling the police, but the dynamic had completely flipped.

Yu Yao took Lu Zhili’s red wrist and stepped forward.

“Your son hit someone and you think you can just walk away?”

Lu Zhili felt the warmth of Yu Yao’s hand and the slight calluses on her fingers against her skin. It tickled, and she had to resist the urge to scratch it.

Yu Yao made the woman pay a thousand yuan before letting her leave. It wasn’t much money for them, but this whole ordeal had been quite a mess for the shop staff.

She turned to Lu Zhili, whose cheeks were still pink. “Still want ice cream?”

Lu Zhili pouted dejectedly. “I wanted to buy it for you…”

Yu Yao smiled and handed some money to the counter staff. “Two ice creams—one strawberry, one vanilla. Keep the rest as compensation for the trouble.”

Then she smiled at Lu Zhili. “See? Now it still counts as you treating me. Is strawberry okay?”

“Yes!” Lu Zhili’s face lit up, and her eyes sparkled the way Yu Yao liked.

Yes, that face looked best with that expression.

The two of them walked out of the mall with their ice cream. A black Maybach waited at the curb to take Lu Zhili home.

“Yu Yao, are you sure you don’t want me to take you home?” Lu Zhili leaned on the car window, her chin resting on her hands, looking like a sad puppy.

Yu Yao stood by the road and smiled. “My assistant will be here soon. You just head home.”

She needed time and space to think about everything that had happened that afternoon—Lu Zhili’s situation and her own.

“Can I still text you after I get home?” Lu Zhili didn’t want to just wait quietly by the phone anymore. It was too hard.

Yu Yao nodded and couldn’t help reaching out to ruffle her hair. “Don’t worry. No matter how busy I am, I’ll always find time to reply. I’m sorry for making you wait so long before.”

Lu Zhili quickly shook her head. “It’s okay! You work so hard, you need rest too.” But she still hoped Yu Yao would reply to her as fast as Xiao Qing did.

Seeing her conflicted face, Yu Yao’s mood inexplicably lifted. Even the burden on her heart about Yu Zhujun didn’t seem so heavy anymore.

“I’m not that busy lately. The new products have already launched, so I’ll definitely have time to message you. Now go on home—it’s getting late.”

Lu Zhili beamed and nodded. “Okay! See you next time! I’ll treat you to your favorite food next time!”

The black car merged into traffic and slowly disappeared.

Yu Yao looked at the last spoonful of ice cream in her hand, finished it, and tossed the paper bowl into a nearby bin.

The sweet vanilla flavor lingered in her mouth. Strangely, it reminded her again of that faint lime scent on Lu Zhili—so light, yet so addictive.

All the words she had planned to say to push her away had completely vanished from her mind.