Chapter 114: "There are cameras at home, and they captured everything you did crystal clear.
Bai Wanwan had barely finished speaking when many people started glancing their way.
"Explain? What’s there to explain? We all have eyes. We saw it perfectly clearly—Shen Lu pushed Xiao Lan to embarrass her!"
"Bai Wanwan, don’t you and Shen Lu always fight? Why are you defending her now?"
"At school, you were always picking on Xiao Lan. So, did you two come here together just to ruin her birthday party?"
...
Bai Wanwan didn’t have a great reputation herself. Most of the classmates here today disliked her, and now that they had an opportunity, they were letting her have it.
"You people!" Bai Wanwan was furious. She was just trying to be fair, but these people were dragging her through the mud right along with Shen Lu. ’They’re absolutely rotten!’
Shen Lu stepped in front of Bai Wanwan, giving her a look that told her to stay calm.
Bai Lei chimed in, trying to soothe his sister. "Sis, don’t make things worse."
"I’m not making things worse!" Bai Wanwan fumed. "These gossips are worse than a bunch of old busybodies!"
Shen Lu didn’t want Bai Wanwan to get dragged into this. Shen Lan was targeting her, and she didn’t want to involve an innocent person.
She took a few steps toward Shen Lan and asked with a look of concern, "Shen Lan, did you lose your footing?"
Shen Lan bit her lip, her expression fragile and wronged. "Shen Lu, do you... do you have to be so hostile toward me? I just want to get along with you."
Shen Lu nodded. "Fine."
’Just great. She’s playing the innocent, manipulative bitch and trying to frame me again.’
’In that case, she shouldn’t blame me for what happens next.’
Princess Ruoxin leaned closer to Li Zexing, not bothering to hide her disgust. "How can someone so shameless and vicious exist in this world?"
She hadn’t known about the history between Shen Lan and Shen Lu before arriving. However, the people standing near her had filled her in on everything, whispering about how Shen Lu was kicked out of the Shen Family for stealing a necklace, and how Mrs. Shen and Shen Lan were even slapped when they went to visit her afterward.
Princess Ruoxin, of course, looked down on such a dark-hearted, vicious commoner and was even tempted to teach Shen Lu a lesson herself.
Li Zexing remained silent. He wasn’t particularly close to Shen Lan; he only associated with her at his mother’s behest.
As a Superpower User, his powers of observation were sharper than an ordinary person’s. He had clearly seen Shen Lan deliberately try to trip Shen Lu moments ago, but since he didn’t know Shen Lu, he couldn’t be bothered to say anything.
Princess Ruoxin was the highest-ranking person in the room and was standing right beside Shen Lan. Shen Lu heard every word she said.
’Vicious?’
’I haven’t even done anything, and they’re already calling me vicious.’
’In that case, I’ll have to do something to live up to their assessment of me.’
"Shen Lan, you’re right. I am incredibly hostile toward you." Shen Lu smiled like a true villain. "It’s not because you returned to the Shen Family and reclaimed your rightful identity. It’s because you’re a despicable person. And that just proves you’re a true child of the Shen Family—a nest of vipers, the lot of you."
Without waiting to see the Shen Family’s reaction, Shen Lu snatched a piece of cake and slammed it into Shen Lan’s panicked face.
"If I don’t lose my mind once in a while, you all think I’m an easy target, don’t you?!" Shen Lu shouted, going on a rampage as she smashed another piece of cake into Mrs. Shen’s face. "You just have to use me and frame me to satisfy your own twisted little fantasies, right? Couldn’t we just leave each other in peace? You all deserve to die!"
Shen Lu’s outburst was so sudden that at first, no one knew how to react.
Or rather, they never imagined she would dare to do something so completely unreasonable.
Who gave her the courage? What gave her the nerve?
A member of the Royal Family was present! Wasn’t she afraid of offending Princess Ruoxin?
As Shen Lu went to grab another piece of cake, someone finally moved to stop her. They attacked viciously, a rope lined with steel spikes whipping out to bind her.
The steel spikes glinted coldly; there was no telling how much it would hurt if they pierced her flesh.
Shen Lu was just an ordinary person and couldn’t dodge the rope. But her privilege—100% damage reflection—was triggered. As if it had a mind of its own, the rope reversed course and flew back at the Superpower User, binding him tightly.
This display was even more shocking than the cake-smashing. Wiping the cake from her face, Shen Lan was filled with a particularly venomous jealousy.
’For seventeen years, Shen Lu had taken her place, living comfortably as the family’s young miss. After being thrown out of the Shen Family, not only did she avoid a life of poverty, but she even awakened a superpower?!’
’Dammit!’
’I hate her!’
’Why does Shen Lu get all the good things?’
’The heavens must be blind!’
But a question surfaced in the minds of all the Superpower Users present.
’No, Shen Lu is definitely not a Superpower User. We didn’t sense any energy fluctuations at all just now. It doesn’t make sense.’
"How audacious!" Princess Ruoxin shouted in anger. "How dare you commit assault in my presence!"
"Your Highness, please see the truth of the matter," Shen Lu retorted, her tone respectful but firm. "I did not mean to offend you, but they have truly gone too far. My hand was forced."
"Nonsense! We went too far?!" Shen Yi roared. "Who’s the one who’s been causing trouble time and time again?!" He looked like he wanted to charge over, grab Shen Lu by the neck, and slap her, but he didn’t dare. He’d realized this was no longer the same Shen Lu he could bully whenever he pleased.
"We had the good grace to invite you to this birthday party, and Xiao Lan even asked you to cut the cake with her. It’s one thing to be ungrateful, but you not only pushed her, you smashed cake in her face! Knowing what kind of person you are now, we should have just sent you to the police when we caught you stealing!"
"Being the loudest doesn’t make you right." Shen Lu didn’t really care about being saddled with the original owner’s bad reputation, but the Shen Family’s constant harping on it was getting tiresome. "You say I stole something? Was I caught in the act? Just because your family’s maid found the necklace in my room, does that prove I’m the one who stole it?"
"I could just as easily say someone who wanted me gone stole the necklace themselves and planted it in my room. After all, I’m not an idiot. Why would I do something that I knew would get me thrown out if I was caught?"
"And don’t forget, Fu Cheng was unconscious in my room at the time, and the door was unlocked. Anyone could have gone in, which means anyone could have planted the necklace."
Her words left the crowd stunned into silence.
In truth, her points weren’t difficult to grasp, but no one had bothered to think that deeply for the sake of an outsider. They were all just enjoying the drama, listening in and making a few comments from their self-righteous perches on the moral high ground.
Shen Yi felt that Shen Lu had a point, but he still desperately wanted to argue. He stammered, unable to find a comeback, and his jowly face turned a shade of purplish-red.
Shen Lan’s face, on the other hand, was deathly pale. She bit her lip, not daring to make a sound.
Mr. Shen and Mrs. Shen both thought, ’This is bad.’ They couldn’t let Shen Lu twist the facts here. Otherwise, there was no telling what kind of ugly rumors would start circulating in their social circles.
"Shen Lu, your quibbling is useless," Mrs. Shen said, her composure regained. "The house has security cameras. They recorded everything you did with perfect clarity."