Chapter 20: To go for dinner or not?

Day passed, turning into night and Liwu did not make an appearance outside of the bedroom. Madam Xu felt as if she was sitting on pins and needles, anxiously waiting to see what the daughter-in-law would do. In the end, not even her shadow was seen.

How could she sleep all day?

She should have come out of her room to meet the relatives that were in and out of the house all day, hoping to catch a glimpse of the new bride.

Worse than her being a ’no show’, Liwu had posted four bodyguards outside of her bedroom. They were not allowing anyone to enter, with the exception of Shen Weijun. Did they think someone would eat her!

As the table was prepared for dinner, Shen Biao made her appearance, and immediately, the criticism started. “Ah, so the little lizard is as rude as her mother. I told you nothing good would come out of marrying any daughter of Tai Alix.”

Grand aunt Yuening strolled into the dining room, with a cane that made the Shen sisters roll their eyes. In her young, but steady voice, she said to Biao, “I find your language impolite. There will be no reference to my grand niece-in-law as a lizard. If you don’t like her, just stay away from the manor when she is around. Take a vacation. Help us find the whereabouts of your missing husband, because we all know Han Ce is not dead.”

Shen Biao bit the inside of her cheek. Han Ce, the ex-husband who had destroyed her family was her taboo. Mentioning him was like poking her in a fresh painful wound that would never recover. “He is not my husband,” she muttered.

Yuening held her palm out. “Show me the divorce papers.”

Shen Biao pulled a chair forcefully and sat down, seething from within.

Yuening sat down as well, taking her place at the head of the table. “You have your own issues Biao, I advise you not to make Tai Liwu one of them.”

Madam Xu snorted. “Tai Liwu is making herself a problem. Not only did she refuse to receive guests, but she is late for dinner. Everyone is here but her.”

Shen Mingxuan groaned “Are you sure that you want her here after everything that happened during breakfast? Mom, stop imposing the normal daughter-in-law standards on her. This marriage is fake anyway so traditions don’t matter.”

Shen Kaiwen nodded.

Shen Biao smiled, reaching for a glass of wine. Indeed, the marriage was fake, so Tai Liwu was not a member of the Shen family. This meant she could continue picking on her as she wished. The big lizard would regret sending the little lizard to their family.

In the bedroom where Liwu was, Majesty was reporting all of the things he had heard and observed. But he was sharing only the important parts.

“Your husband and the members of his council discussed you for an hour. His advisors have prepared a new trap for you. It was supposed to be a piece of paper, but they had already done that, so they changed their tactics. One of them will be on the phone and accidentally reveal information while you are in ear shot.” The cat flicked its tail. “Idiots, that group. They don’t realize we don’t use such old fashioned ways anymore.”

Liwu laughed, stretching lazily like the cat on a good day, after some much needed rest.

“In a surprising twist, your husband defended you. He called you clever and said the others were simpletons for assuming you would play into their games.” The cat added.

Liwu’s eyes widened. “That fall he took must have knocked sense back into him.” The system had deducted the points and confirmed that Shen Weifeng had tripped and fallen as requested.

Majesty was uncertain of what she meant and he continued reporting. “The servants find you bold and daring. Nobody in this house has ever stood up to Madam Xu like you. The only one that can control her is the little grand aunt. Speaking of her, she got her position because she was born to the late patriarch during his old age. He made her his successor in his will.”

Liwu nodded. It explained why a six-year-old was ruling the family. Ideally, Shen Deng should have been the one in charge, or his sister Shen Biao.

There would have been more contenders for the seat if Han Ce had not resorted to murder in his quest for vengeance against the Shen’s.

“Shen Biao bribed a maid to poison your wine tonight.” Majesty revealed. “Nothing to kill you, just laxatives to cause you some embarrassment.”

Liwu rolled her eyes. The drama she had warned the family about was starting.

“Reaper swapped the glasses. She will be in for a big shock when she realizes what happened.” Majesty laughed.

Liwu snickered as well. What a sight to see! It would no doubt satisfy her mother to know that her treasured dog had dealt a blow to her enemy. “Too bad I won’t witness it for myself; I am having my dinner right here and going back to sleep.”

Majesty leaped onto the windowsill. “I am not missing this so I will be at the dinner table, making your mother-in-law heave and faint with rage.”

After the cat left, Liwu called one of the maids and requested for some fried chicken, noodles and braised vegetables. While waiting for the food, she decided to look at her points. Thirty-five bad luck points, were all she had. Her misfortunes had not been active while she slept.

“It seems like I haven’t ruined anything worth big points.” She muttered. “Perhaps I should go for that dinner and farm for points.”

[Excellent idea host. Spilled wine=1 point.

Spilled food =10 points. Collapsed ceiling=50 points. Animal stampede=100 points plus bonus points if someone is trampled. Hot soup in someone’s face=200 points. Choking on food=250 points.]

Liwu winced. “You are horrifying and just a bit hilarious.”

[Don’t you want to revert bad luck to good luck? For example, when you trip on stairs, you might find a hidden stash of money or a coin worth a lot of money.

If you break a teapot, you might discover it was filled with poison, and you saved everyone.]

She was tempted–very tempted. If this was the kind of bait those silly advisors had left out, she would have been intrigued to look at their list.

Her phone vibrated, with another message from a worried family member. While she was sleeping, they had left dozens of messages for her, written, audio and video. Her grandfather alone had left ten so far.

She responded to all with one audio message. “All is well, my bad luck has not killed anyone so far so far.”

Liwu stretched her hands. Perhaps, it would not be so bad to join the rest of the family for dinner after all!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep