Transmigrated into a Historical GL Novel as the Scumbag Heroine - Chapter 4
Speak of the devil—the county magistrate, Lord Lu, walked in through the main doors, followed by a young man in scholar’s robes with a face like carved jade.
This youth was none other than the male lead in the book—Shen Yanding, the eldest son of the prestigious Shen family known for its literary lineage.
As Shen Yanding’s gaze fell on Cheng Yu, his eyes lit up bit by bit.
The Shen and Cheng families had always maintained good relations, and the two of them were fairly familiar with each other. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Magistrate Lu, Shen Yanding walked over to Cheng Yu.
“Miss Cheng, I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Cheng Yu responded coolly, “Young Master Shen.”
There weren’t many people in the hall, and everyone was already half-distracted watching them. Her use of the phrase “Young Master Shen” fell clearly on everyone’s ears.
Shen Yanding’s expression stiffened slightly. “Miss Cheng, I’ve already come of age.”
He was implying that at eighteen, he was no longer a boy. Although Cheng Yu was two years his senior, calling him “young master” like he was still a child felt inappropriate now.
Especially when the woman before him was his beloved—being treated like a little brother by the one he admired wasn’t exactly a delightful experience.
Cheng Yu cast him a sidelong glance and obligingly changed her address: “Master Shen.”
Shen Yanding was about to say more when Lu Jiaojiao stepped in and cut him off.
“Master Shen, Miss Cheng, why don’t we take our seats?”
She really couldn’t stand it any longer. Cheng Yu—already a woman with a tainted reputation—what right did she have to keep stringing Shen Yanding along?
That night, the people she sent had followed Cheng Yu all the way to Qiu Family Village before losing her trail. After watching the house all night, they clearly saw Cheng Yu emerge from Qiu Luo’s courtyard the next morning.
Given the type of drug she was under, and having spent the entire night alone with Qiu Luo, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened between them.
Lu Jiaojiao glanced in Qiu Luo’s direction. The servants had already pointed her out. She hadn’t expected the person in question to actually show up today.
According to what she’d found out, this Qiu Luo was poor and greedy for money.
If she could use this opportunity to expose the night of debauchery between them, Qiu Luo surely wouldn’t let the chance to climb the Cheng family’s social ladder slip by. At that point, she’d love to see how Cheng Yu would save face.
Qiu Luo had been keeping an eye on things and instantly felt a sense of foreboding when the villainess Lu Jiaojiao looked her way with meaning.
It seemed the inevitable was coming.
After everyone had taken their seats, Magistrate Lu made a few conventional remarks before excusing himself, leaving the younger generation to interact freely.
Qiu Luo sat far from the center of attention. When someone pointed in her direction and gasped aloud, she had a feeling the dust was about to settle. It was finally happening.
“Aren’t you Qiu Luo from Qiu Family Village? No wonder you looked so familiar! You’re the one who left the poetry gathering with Miss Cheng that night, aren’t you?”
“I am indeed Qiu Luo. And you are?”
Qiu Luo looked at the middle-aged man who had suddenly started shouting at her. His voice was intentionally loud, drawing attention from everyone nearby. It sounded like he’d mentioned “Miss Cheng”?
The man, seeing Qiu Luo respond, instinctively glanced toward Lu Jiaojiao. She was a poor scholar who had only just earned her degree. Lady Lu had promised her 300 silver taels if she succeeded in carrying out this task.
Heart hardened, he stared at Qiu Luo.
“You’ve forgotten? That night of the Mid-Autumn Poetry Gathering, I saw Miss Cheng following you in a daze. I’d had too much to drink and forgot to mention it when her family asked—but seeing you now jogged my memory. You were the one who took her away, weren’t you?”
As soon as he said this, he was sure the silver was as good as his. Lady Lu had said this would be enough—Qiu Luo would surely go along with it, and his job would be done.
But unexpectedly, Qiu Luo didn’t follow the script. Instead, she replied earnestly,
“I wasn’t at the poetry gathering that night. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
The man was stunned, then grew flustered.
“How could that be? I saw it clearly—it was you carrying Miss Cheng away. She was clearly not in her right mind. I couldn’t be mistaken!”
At this point, the crowd’s expressions turned complicated. Everyone knew Cheng Yu had gone missing that night. But where she went, and with whom, remained a mystery.
Now that things had reached this point, the entire hall fell silent. All eyes turned toward the two in question, flicking back and forth between Qiu Luo and Cheng Yu.
Seeing the man wasn’t letting up, Qiu Luo suddenly smiled.
“You said earlier that you were drunk and didn’t even respond when the Cheng family questioned you. How could you possibly remember things so clearly now?
And shouldn’t I know better than anyone whether I attended the gathering or not? There are plenty of people from Qiu Village who can vouch for me.”
The man was left speechless. After all, this story had been crafted by Lu Jiaojiao. Whether it was true or not, he didn’t know the details. If he kept pushing, it might backfire.
“M-Maybe I was mistaken then,” he stammered. “Perhaps it was someone else who took Miss Cheng that night.”
The crowd now turned to look at Cheng Yu.
Who exactly had taken her that night, and what had happened? A young, unmarried woman—beautiful and the only heiress of the wealthy Cheng family—had gone missing for an entire night. No one would believe nothing had happened.
Cheng Yu sipped her tea, her expression cold, ignoring the man entirely.
It was Shen Yanding who finally couldn’t take it.
“Enough of this nonsense! Where Miss Cheng went that night is none of your concern.”
The Shen family held some weight in the county, and Shen Yanding was a rising star. It was obvious he was trying to shield Cheng Yu from further scrutiny.
But suppressing the matter wasn’t what the villainess wanted.
Lu Jiaojiao toyed with her wine cup, smiling sweetly.
“Master Shen, no need to get worked up. As they say, it’s better to clear things up than leave people guessing. Rather than letting rumors run wild, why not let Miss Cheng explain where she was that night, who she was with, and whether she was in her right mind? That would surely silence any doubts—don’t you agree, Miss Cheng?”
Tension crackled in the air. Qiu Luo glanced at the fruit platter, then wordlessly picked up a piece of sliced watermelon and took a big bite. It was sweet, though the seeds were annoyingly plentiful—slowing down her melon-eating pace.
Under everyone’s curious and probing stares, Cheng Yu slowly set down her wine cup and looked across the room at Qiu Luo, her gaze dark and unreadable.
The person in question had denied it. That only made things harder to explain. She was now caught between a rock and a hard place.
Cheng Yu could roughly guess who had set her up. Lu Jiaojiao was certainly involved—why else would she be pretending to play the good Samaritan now?
Qiu Luo nearly choked on a watermelon seed under Cheng Yu’s complex, restrained gaze.
Why was the heroine looking at her like that?
Did she want her to take the fall? But technically, wasn’t she the one who’d set up the whole “fall” to begin with?
The next moment, Cheng Yu spoke calmly:
“I wasn’t feeling well and left the gathering early. I happened to run into Qiu Luo on the road, and we hit it off. I stayed at her place for the night.”
The middle-aged man immediately jumped on the contradiction.
“But Qiu Luo said she wasn’t at the gathering! You spent the whole night alone—nothing happened?”
Qiu Luo’s mind raced. She put down her watermelon and said,
“I wasn’t at the poetry gathering. Didn’t Miss Cheng say it already? We ran into each other on the road.
What, two women spending a night together—what do you think could’ve happened? And even if something did, what business is it of yours? Who are you to be interrogating people like this? A constable?”
The man opened his mouth, then swallowed his retort. Who said nothing could happen between two women? The Southern Moon Kingdom wasn’t without precedent for same-s3x unions between women.
But if he kept pushing, as Qiu Luo had pointed out, he had no standing. Someone might see through his real motives.
Seeing the man cowed by Qiu Luo’s counterattack, Cheng Yu’s lips curved ever so slightly. She said nothing more.
At least Qiu Luo hadn’t denied her claim.
Shen Yanding, uneasy, glanced at Cheng Yu’s face.
“Miss Cheng, you and Qiu Luo that night…”
“We hit it off and had a pleasant conversation, so I returned home late,” Cheng Yu said coolly, her expression impassive.
Shen Yanding twitched slightly.
Returning home “late”? She hadn’t gone home at all until the next day!
Still… it was just two women talking. Surely, nothing happened. Right?
The banquet returned to its usual lively atmosphere. No one dared bring up that night again—it was, after all, a private matter.
Only Lu Jiaojiao bit her lip and drank bitterly. Meanwhile, Qiu Luo, who had originally planned to distance herself but now found herself drawn into the mess, listlessly continued nibbling at watermelon.
Somehow, the fruit no longer tasted sweet.
What on earth had possessed her to play along with the heroine just now?
By the end of the celebration, Cheng Yu slowly walked over to Qiu Luo, glancing at the pile of watermelon rinds on her table.
“Qiu Luo, shall we go? I’ll see you off.”
Since they’d already claimed to hit it off, they couldn’t just pretend to ignore each other now.
Besides, she had another plan in mind—it just depended on whether Qiu Luo was willing.