“Who was the original marriage candidate?” Cheng Li asked. The Yuan family’s foundations far surpassed the Cheng family’s. Whether in power or wealth, they were on a completely different level. So Cheng Li was certain that the original candidate for the alliance could never have been an illegitimate daughter like herself.
“No matter who it was before, it’s you now. The Yuan family has already agreed to switch the marriage candidate to you.” A flicker of guilt crossed Cheng Yingying’s face.
“Oh…” Cheng Li deliberately dragged out the word as her gaze swept over Cheng Yingying from head to toe. “So the original fiancée was you!”
“So what if it was? I’m a precious guide. A cripple like Yuan Mu, with both legs disabled, isn’t even worthy of carrying my shoes. How could I possibly marry him!” Cheng Yingying lifted her chin arrogantly, sounding completely justified.
Cheng Li suddenly felt a trace of sympathy for the young man named Yuan Mu. She wondered what he would feel if he heard his former fiancée describe him like this.
“Besides, you’re a cripple yourself. Marrying Yuan Mu means you’ll live the rest of your life without worrying about food or clothes. You should be thanking me. I’m the one who gave this marriage to you!” Cheng Yingying shot Cheng Li a sidelong glance, her expression clearly saying, Don’t fail to appreciate my kindness.
“Oh, then I really should thank you properly.” Cheng Li bit down hard on the words “thank you.”
To her surprise, Cheng Yingying actually nodded. “No need to be so polite. And don’t feel too wronged. The Yuan family said they’ll give Yuan Mu a mining planet. After you marry, the two of you can live there and become the rulers of an entire planet.”
Cheng Li’s eyes widened. A mining planet? The ruler of an entire planet?
Was it really what she thought it was?
An entire mining planet was more than enough to restore her metal-element ability to its peak state!
Cheng Yingying let out a cold snort, clearly looking down on Cheng Li’s ignorant reaction.
“Fine, I accept this marriage.”
For the sake of a mining planet, forget marrying a man. Even if she had to marry a beast, she would do it without hesitation.
That was a whole mining planet!
On the second day after returning to the Cheng family, one of the original host’s friends, a girl named Ai Sinuan, contacted Cheng Li. She said she wanted to repay the money she owed her and treat her to a meal.
Cheng Li took a free hovercar by herself and arrived at the restaurant right on time.
Ai Sinuan was a plump girl with soft baby fat on her cheeks. When she smiled, two little dimples appeared on her face. Fair-skinned and delicate, she looked adorable. She had been waiting at the restaurant entrance, and the moment she saw Cheng Li, her eyes turned red. She hurried over and carefully wrapped Cheng Li in a hug, her voice choked with emotion.
“Does it still hurt?”
Cheng Li was not used to close physical contact. Her whole body stiffened badly. She patted Ai Sinuan on the shoulder and gently pushed her away, comforting her, “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Ai Sinuan wiped her tears and apologized. “I’m sorry. I just finished half a month of closed training yesterday, so I only found out what happened to you then.”
“It’s okay.” Cheng Li shook her head. She was not the original host and did not know how deep the friendship between the original host and Ai Sinuan had been. If this girl ever found out her friend was already gone, who knew how hard she would cry.
Cheng Li sighed inwardly and changed the subject. “Did you book a table yet?”
“It’s booked.” Ai Sinuan looked at Cheng Li, hesitation flashing across her face before she asked softly, “Besides me, a few schoolmates came too. They said they’re Yuan Mu’s friends and wanted to meet you. Are you really engaged to Yuan Mu?”
Cheng Li admitted it openly. “Yeah. The marriage was arranged by the family.”
Ai Sinuan immediately grew anxious. “B-but Yuan Mu lost both his legs. Right now he’s basically a…”
“I’m missing an arm too.” Cheng Li cut her off and took the lead in walking into the restaurant.
Ai Sinuan guided Cheng Li toward the private room while explaining, “I wasn’t the one who booked the room. It was Yuan Mu’s classmates. They didn’t want to stay in the main hall, so they switched to a private room.”
Cheng Li did not mind. What she was more curious about was why Yuan Mu’s friends wanted to meet her.
The door opened. Cheng Li swept her gaze over the handsome men and beautiful women seated on the sofas. Their eyes met, and Cheng Li immediately sensed the hostility in the air.
It seemed they had not come with good intentions.
“So the Cheng family swapped Cheng Yingying out for a cripple like you?” The man speaking had thick brows and large eyes with an honest-looking face, yet his tone and expression were extremely harsh.
Cheng Li answered calmly with an “Mm.” “The old master said Yuan Mu and I are both disabled, so we’re a perfect match.”
“Yuan Mu is an SS-rank sentinel, a genius from the First Military Academy. You’re just an ordinary person. How are you worthy of him?” This time, it was a stunningly beautiful woman who spoke.
Cheng Li noticed that the people in this world were generally very attractive. From the moment she woke up until now, every person she had seen had been good-looking.
“With both legs gone, his sentinel rank must’ve dropped long ago. How much strength does he even have left now? He probably doesn’t even qualify as E-rank anymore. Otherwise, Cheng Yingying wouldn’t have rejected him and shoved him onto me. Other than me, the Cheng family probably doesn’t have anyone willing to marry a cripple like him.”
Cheng Li tore open the bloody truth without hesitation. Since they were not going to be polite to her, she had no reason to be polite in return.
“I won’t allow you to talk about Ah Mu like that!” Li Jing exploded in anger. His fists clenched tightly, veins bulging across his face as an invisible wave of energy slammed toward Cheng Li.
Cheng Li’s body swayed violently. It felt as though a heavy hammer had smashed into her skull, the pain so intense she could barely stay standing.
“Li Jing, stop it! You can’t use mental power on Ah Li. She’s just an ordinary person!” Ai Sinuan supported Cheng Li while glaring furiously at Li Jing.
“I’ll stop if she apologizes first,” Li Jing said coldly.
Cheng Li gritted her teeth. A metallic sweetness rose in her throat as she fixed her gaze steadily on the man named Li Jing.
Very well. She would remember today’s grudge.
Cheng Li’s body had only just begun recovering from severe injuries, and it gradually failed under Li Jing’s mental attack. The color drained from her face bit by bit, fine beads of sweat covering her forehead. If Ai Sinuan had not been supporting her, she would have collapsed already.
“Song Yulan, hurry and talk some sense into Li Jing! Cheng Li can’t take it anymore!” Ai Sinuan’s voice was already trembling with tears.
Not a trace of emotion appeared on Song Yulan’s beautiful face. Her red lips parted slightly. “What a useless waste. She can’t even endure this little bit of mental power. Li Jing, stop. Don’t accidentally kill her.”
Leaning weakly against the sofa, Cheng Li looked straight at Li Jing and Song Yulan across from her.
“Did Yuan Mu send you here?”
“Of course not.” Li Jing denied it immediately. “We came to warn you. Ah Mu marrying you is only a temporary measure. Don’t start entertaining unrealistic fantasies about him, and don’t covet things that were never meant to belong to you. You’re not worthy.”
“You just need to obediently play the role of a tool. Once the time comes, your marriage with Ah Mu will immediately end. When that happens, he’ll give you compensation,” Song Yulan added.
Cheng Li neither agreed nor disagreed. “Finished? If you’re done talking, then you can leave.”
Li Jing let out a cold snort. “It’s not us who should leave. You’re the one who should get lost!”
Cheng Li rolled her eyes and replied calmly, “What do you think would happen if I called off the engagement? By tomorrow, the rumors around the First Military Academy would probably become something like: former genius turns into crippled trash, then gets dumped by a one-armed woman…”
“Shut up!” Li Jing shot to his feet, looking as though he wanted to kill Cheng Li with his glare alone. In the end, however, he could only grit his teeth and spit out, “Let’s go!”
“I’m sorry, Ah Li. I didn’t know they’d act like this. When they said they were Yuan Mu’s friends, I thought they came to get along with you.” Ai Sinuan’s face was filled with guilt.
Cheng Li waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine.”
Although she had suffered a bit, it was not without gain. From Li Jing and Song Yulan’s words, she could infer that Yuan Mu held no expectations toward her as his fiancée. Even after marriage, the two of them would likely maintain a distant relationship.
Which was exactly what she wanted.
After all, the reason she agreed to this marriage was for the Yuan family’s mining planet, not for Yuan Mu himself!
As for today’s humiliation, one day she would return it to them tenfold!
“They went way too far. You only lost an arm. Taking care of yourself isn’t even a problem. But Yuan Mu lost both his legs. He’ll have to rely on other people for the rest of his life, so what right does he have to look down on you?” Ai Sinuan fumed indignantly, her cheeks puffed up in anger.
Cheng Li: “………Probably because he’s a sentinel?”
Sentinels made up less than one-thousandth of the entire interstellar population. Even crippled, they were still considered scarce resources.
Cheng Li could not help wondering which was stronger, sentinels or ability users.
The thought stirred something restless inside her. Looking inward at the tiny crystal core in her forehead, no bigger than a grain of rice, she almost wanted to rush straight to the mining planet and restore her abilities immediately.
Without strength, there was always a lingering sense of insecurity and lack of confidence.