At her age, if she wasn't going to stick to being a pure and harmless little bunny, then Shen Lang was more than happy to let her experience a harsh reality check.
"This pair, then. Are you willing, sister?" Shen Lang smiled, looking utterly harmless. "It's just, you've never been one to keep your word. If you want to back out, I can understand."
The shop assistant at the side immediately chimed in, "These are gold-inlaid East Pearl earrings. Not expensive at all, just two hundred silver."
"Miss, she's trying to force your hand!" Bai Ruo couldn't hold back, her voice laced with anger.
How could Yu Ge not see it? She took a deep breath and turned to Bai Ruo. "Ruoruo, get the silver."
"Get your Shopkeeper out here!" For a mere maid, Bai Ruo was quite arrogant as she resentfully pulled out a bag of silver.
Someone quickly went to get the Shopkeeper.
"For a small purchase like this, why trouble the Shopkeeper?" Shen Lang asked, a faint smile playing on her lips.
"I was afraid this boy couldn't handle so much silver!" In the eyes of a maid like Bai Ruo, two hundred silver was an astronomical sum.
'But this... making veiled accusations and sarcastic remarks... does she really think I'm dead and can't hear it?'
"You really have a loyal servant, sister," she remarked nonchalantly, toying with a lock of dark hair that had fallen forward.
Yu Ge's face paled slightly.
She was furious with this unsophisticated maid.
'They say the servant reflects the master. For a maid to be so vulgar, isn't this a deliberate slap in my face?!'
"...You must find this amusing, sister." Despite being made a fool of, Yu Ge had no choice but to force a smile and swallow the bitter pill.
'I just love seeing that look on her face—hating my guts but being completely powerless to do anything about it. It's so amusing.'
[System: Female Lead's Heartbreak Index has risen. Current index: 32%]
The words had just left Yu Ge's lips when another woman's voice drifted in. "What a coincidence. You two sisters are both here."
Yu Ge turned to look. Upon recognizing the newcomer, she paused, forcing down the irritation in her eyes. "It's Sister Luo," she said with a smile. "Today is just full of coincidences. To think the three of us would run into each other here."
The newcomer was a striking, flamboyant young woman with bright, expressive almond-shaped eyes. If not for the arrogant look on her face, she would certainly be considered a great beauty.
While she couldn't compare to Shen Lang's fatal, captivating beauty that could make a person fall for her at first glance, one had to admit that in the looks department, this girl scored high.
This was none other than the eldest daughter of the Luo Family, Luo Baoshu.
"Coincidence?" Luo Baoshu shot Yu Ge an exaggerated glance. "What nonsense are you spouting, Miss Yu? You came out with your sister, and you're saying this is a 'coincidence'? Could you be any faker?"
Shen Lang: '...' 'Damn, this woman is a real piece of work. She didn't give the poor little thing any face at all.'
Yu Ge's face alternated between pale and livid.
She finally understood. In the eyes of the arrogant Miss Luo, she and Yu Yin had simply come out together; there was no "coincidence" to speak of. So to her, Yu Ge's words sounded utterly hypocritical.
Yu Ge quickly recovered with a smile. "Sister Luo, you may not be aware, but my elder sister was married yesterday. She is now the Prime Minister's Wife."
The smile, no matter how one looked at it, was utterly pure and harmless.
Shen Lang raised an eyebrow, noncommittal.
Luo Baoshu, however, was stunned and took a moment to process. "...Didn't the imperial edict declare that the daughter of the Chen Prince Mansion would be made the Empress...? How is it you, and not Yu Yin?"
At these words, Yu Ge shyly lowered her gaze and smiled faintly. "If I tell you, Sister Luo, you mustn't laugh... A few days ago, I left the mansion for a bit. I'm not sure when the Holy Emperor saw me, but he said he was... stunned by my heavenly beauty. I didn't leave my name, but the men the Holy Emperor sent saw me enter the Prince Mansion, and that's how they found out I was the daughter of Prince Chen..."
Shen Lang: "..."
Could you even imagine what was going through Shen Huoshui's mind right now?
It was a complex, indescribable, mocking, and yet strangely excited feeling, like a whole spice rack had been knocked over.
Luo Baoshu looked utterly incredulous, and she made no effort to hide it. Her words stabbed straight into Yu Ge's heart. "You? Stunned by your heavenly beauty? Has His Majesty never seen a beautiful woman before, or was his vision just blurred by sand that day? How could he fall for *you*? And at first sight, no less—so much so that he wants to make you Empress?"
The barrage of questions hammered down on Yu Ge, beating the tears right out of the poor girl's eyes.
"Sister Luo, how can you say such things...?"
Luo Baoshu: "..."
Her gaze shifted, landing on the peerless, nation-toppling beauty who was enjoying the show from the sidelines. 'How frustrating.'
'No matter how I look at it, *she's* the one who looks like the daughter of Prince Chen who'd be hailed as a heavenly beauty. What was that old coot Prince Chen thinking? Has he gone blind?'
If Shen Lang could read her mind, she'd probably say, 'This is the power of the female protagonist.'
'She does nothing, and the whole world automatically paves the way for her happiness.'
Too bad Shen Lang didn't know.
In her eyes, Luo Baoshu was merely an insignificant but somewhat amusing NPC.
Until Luo Baoshu suddenly blurted out, "You and your sister are worlds apart. If someone really had to enter the palace, based on looks alone, you don't even come close to your sister. How could the Emperor possibly have chosen you?"
Shen Lang raised an eyebrow.
'Well now. She's putting down the female lead while also praising my beauty. Her emotional intelligence is pretty high.'
'I've decided to befriend this Miss Luo.'
"Miss Luo, you certainly have a way with words. I'll give these East Pearl Earrings to you as a gift."
Luo Baoshu was taken aback. "But I just insulted your sister."
"No matter," Shen Lang said, taking Luo Baoshu's hand and patting it affectionately. With a magnanimous smile and a raised eyebrow, she added, "If you insult her, that makes us sisters."
Luo Baoshu: "..."
Yu Ge: "..."
"Please, Sister Luo, take the earrings. My dear sister Ge'er is the one paying for them, after all." Shen Lang's red lips curved, the corners of her eyes tilting upward. "Consider it a first-meeting gift from me."
"..." Luo Baoshu snatched her hand back, a look of horror on her face. "A first-meeting gift? Have you completely forgotten all the times we've been at each other's throats?!"
Shen Lang: "..."
With a calm expression, she mentally flipped through her memories and discovered... it was true. This was a problem.
'So we're archenemies.'
And so, Shen Lang lazily and elegantly raised a hand to her magnificent coiffure, a slight smile gracing her lips. "I was only joking. Please don't take it to heart, Miss Luo."
Now it was Luo Baoshu's turn to gape.
She watched, wide-eyed, as the woman gracefully yet forcefully... snatched back the East Pearl Earrings that had just landed in her hand.
Yu Ge watched, sneering inwardly while wearing a faint smile. "So, you two sisters already know each other..."
Before she could finish, she was cut off by an impatient voice. "What the hell is with the act?"
Yu Ge froze, her eyes instantly turning red. Her nails dug so fiercely into her palms that they nearly drew blood.
'...Luo Baoshu!'
'When I become the Empress, the very first thing I'll do is take this bitch's life!'
Shen Lang caught her expression out of the corner of her eye and tsked inwardly.