Chapter 122

Chapter 122: One of The Fuses

“This damn suitcase is way too sturdy.”  

Despite the building having an elevator, Gloria deliberately chose to carry the suitcase down the stairs—and not gently. 

With each step, she let it drop heavily without lifting it, sending rhythmic thuds through the case.  

Inside, Mi Xiaoliu let out soft, synchronized “Mmm!” sounds with every impact.  

Yet she still stubbornly pretended she wasn’t in there.  

Most suitcases would’ve lost their wheels by now.  

“Master, she knows you’re inside! She’s just messing with you!” Sasha urgently reminded.  

“Let me out,” Mi Xiaoliu mumbled weakly from within the case, her voice so faint it could easily be missed.  

Gloria pretended not to hear, dragging the suitcase down the street—sometimes sideways, sometimes vertically, even spinning it in circles.  

Not too violently, of course. She wasn’t trying to kill the brat.  

But damn, this was weirdly fun.  

Gloria kicked the suitcase. “Call me ‘Mom’ and I’ll—”  

Before she could finish, a car screeched to a halt in front of her, kicking up dust straight into her face.  

“Cough—the hell, you blind—?!”  

Again, she was cut off. Two brawny, towering maids burst out of the car, hoisted her up without explanation, and stuffed her into the backseat, sandwiching her between them to block any escape.  

Another maid stepped out from the passenger seat and—with infuriating politeness—placed Gloria’s “luggage” into the trunk.  

“Don’t blame me, Miss. The boss’s orders.” Shen Qing, the driver, met Gloria’s furious glare in the rearview mirror with an apologetic sigh.  

Not like Fanzui City had many traffic cameras anyway.  

Gloria clicked her tongue but didn’t resist. Even if she wanted to bolt, these women couldn’t stop her.  

The drive wasn’t long, but it still took nearly fifteen minutes.  

The final destination was a lavish four-story villa in the northern affluent district of the city. Just the living room alone was spacious enough for dozens of people to rave without issue.  

The front yard was massive, featuring a central fountain flanked by five different luxury cars—each worth no less than two million—all belonging to the household.  

And this was just the front. The backyard boasted a sizable private swimming pool.  

For the Chairwoman, who could casually hand Heli twenty million, this was just one of many properties she owned across the country. After all, her wealth ranked among the top in the entire federation.  

How high up was she? Roughly on par with Bruce Wayne’s financial tier.  

The kicker? She was a newly risen magnate, having amassed her fortune only in recent years.  

Yet this formidable woman chose to live in Fanzui City—a place where spontaneous DUI checkpoints often turned up corpses in trunks—and still thrived, never once falling victim to kidnapping.  

The real surprise? She was just an ordinary person.  

It went without saying: her bodyguards were not to be trifled with.  

As soon as they stepped out of the car, a golden retriever trotted over, tail wagging. Gloria moved to scoop it up for a snuggle, only for the dog to bypass her entirely and start sniffing eagerly at the suitcase the maids were carrying.  

The normally quiet retriever suddenly barked loudly, pawing at the luggage.  

Gloria’s expression turned odd. “Be gentle. Treat my belongings as carefully as you would a living creature, got it?”  

Tough luck, kid. You’re on your own till I deal with my stuff.  

In the living room, the Chairwoman dined with refined elegance, gesturing for Gloria to sit across from her.  

Gloria, however, was the polar opposite of her mother. She kicked off her shoes and planted her unwashed feet on the chair—almost tempted to prop them on the table—exuding utter disregard for decorum.  

She glanced up at the ostentatious wall clock. Why “ostentatious”? Because it wasn’t a clock studded with diamonds—it was a diamond with a clock embedded in it.  

Tacky as hell.  

Past 10 PM, and only now having dinner.  

The Chairwoman clapped her hands, signaling the maids to prepare a steak for Gloria before dismissing everyone.  

“I already ate.” Gloria deadpanned.  

“I know. I assumed you might still be hungry.”  

“I’m on a diet.”  

Without missing a beat, the Chairwoman rang the dinner bell. “Switch to a diet meal.”  

“I don’t want anything. Can you not?” Gloria stood up irritably. “If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving. Give me back my luggage.”  

“Shen Qing mentioned you’ve been sneaking out at night?” The Chairwoman swiftly pivoted to business.

Shen Qing had been planted by the Chairwoman to secretly protect Gloria, so it was no surprise she knew about her movements. That said, Gloria was confident she could shake Shen Qing off whenever she wanted—no way the woman could keep up.  

“What, can’t I get myself a gangster boyfriend?” This time, Gloria actually put her feet up on the table.  

“Then what’s this?” The Chairwoman’s gentle demeanor vanished as she coldly slid a photo across the table.  

Puzzled, Gloria took it. The image showed her back to the camera, facing a girl.  

The girl was half a head shorter than Gloria, her face painted in ghostly white clown makeup, complete with a comically round red nose. She wore oversized, ridiculous clown attire—the only hint of femininity coming from her mismatched red-and-green pigtails.  

No rebellious teen, no matter how edgy, would willingly go out in public like that. The disguise completely obscured her real face—exactly the kind of thing a super-villain would do.  

And no psychic cop would dress this sinister.  

“Oops, my bad. I meant I got myself a punk girlfriend.” Gloria’s expression didn’t change.  

The Chairwoman slammed the table and stood. “You—”  

“Boss.” Shen Qing suddenly barged in, despite the earlier order to stay out. She hurried over, glanced at Gloria, then whispered urgently into the Chairwoman’s ear: “Miss’s suitcase…”  

The Chairwoman’s frown deepened. “Watch her,” she ordered Shen Qing before striding upstairs to Gloria’s room.  

—  

“What’s going on here?”  

She entered to find a maid standing stiffly in the corner and an open suitcase. Inside, Mi Xiaoliu sat quietly, knees hugged to her chest, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings.  

When she noticed the Chairwoman, she climbed out, walked to Gloria’s bed, and grabbed something to hide her face.  

“Master, be careful with this woman,” Sasha warned.  

“Put that down!” the Chairwoman snapped.  

Mi Xiaoliu obediently returned it and retreated to a corner.  

The Chairwoman strode over and shoved her hard—hard enough to send her sprawling. Mi Xiaoliu got up and shuffled further away.  

This woman was even scarier than Gloria.  

“It… it was inside Miss’s suitcase,” the maid whispered.  

She could tell the boss was in a very bad mood.  

The Chairwoman studied Mi Xiaoliu through narrowed eyes.  

Few people made an impression on her at first meeting—aside from business partners and rivals. This boy was one of them.  

An Easter test subject. A rude, violent little brat. And much too close to her daughter.  

That last part was the real problem.  

And now, there was one more issue.  

As a businesswoman, no matter how irritated she was, she could always keep her composure—even with the most insufferable people.  

Unless she couldn’t help it.  

This filthy little brat actually dared to hold her precious daughter’s bra up to his face right in front of her?? The fact that she didn’t hit him was an extreme exercise of self-restraint.  

Her expression twisted and contorted repeatedly.  

If there were such a thing as a “favorability meter” in the world, the Chairwoman’s rating for this little brat had already plummeted into the negatives.  

If she were to “humanely eliminate” him here, surely no one would notice, right?  

The Chairwoman took a deep breath, suppressing the dark thoughts swirling in her mind.  

Thirteen years old—just the age when boys start developing an interest in the opposite sex. Her own husband had pursued her at that age, though his methods had been laughably clumsy.  

But why on earth had this kind of thing ended up in Gloria’s suitcase? That was a question worth pondering.  

Though, judging by appearances alone, the Chairwoman was confident her daughter would never be interested in such a grubby little kid. Yet, the scene before her was some incomprehensible play between the two of them!  

First, this boy had already left a terrible first impression.  

Second, regardless of whether he might develop feelings for Gloria in the future, his past assault on the school nurse was far too dangerous. 

Someone like him shouldn’t even be allowed near Gloria, whether as a friend or a neighbor.  

Gloria was already grown up. As long as it wasn’t too extreme, she should have the freedom to choose her own friends.  

But under no circumstances could she allow it to be this disgusting, filthy brat!  

Pinching her brow in thought for a few seconds, the Chairwoman made an odd decision.  

Like a mother-in-law straight out of a cliché urban web novel about a live-in son-in-law, she slapped a bank card on the table and slid it toward Mi Xiaoliu’s direction:  

“Here’s two million. Take it, stay away from Gloria from now on, and if you ever see her again, get the hell out of her sight.”  

It could also indirectly provide funds for Heli.  

Though scenes like this in novels always felt terribly overdone, if throwing some money could actually solve the problem, it was pretty convenient—and it’d help Gloria see the truth about people, too.  

She really wanted to have someone beat Mi Xiaoliu up to teach him a lesson, but that would only make her daughter resent her even more.  

Mi Xiaoliu: “Okay.”  

What a lucky break.  

The Chairwoman froze. She had expected him to refuse her passionately, like some hot-blooded protagonist—but this outcome was exactly what she wanted.  

“Master, you can’t take this money,” Sasha suddenly chimed in.  

“Why?” Mi Xiaoliu asked, puzzled.

A win-win situation.  

“Master, this is a matter of dignity,” Sasha said with unusual seriousness.  

“I want it.”  

“Master, no.”  

“I want it.”  

“Master, this really isn’t acceptable—especially not from her,” Sasha persisted.  

“Her?”  

“Mhm. You could say she was one of the main reasons you got captured by Easter in the first place.” 

After a brief pause, Sasha added, “But Master, you absolutely must not attack her, okay? Her husband is the Little Demon King—there’s no way you could beat him.”  

Besides, Sasha was certain that deep down, her master had to hold some resentment toward this woman—even if the master herself wasn’t aware of it.  

“I don’t want it.” Mi Xiaoliu shook her head at the Chairwoman.