At Least With Me, You Can Be Yourself (2)
On second thought, she was with Huo Cheng; what reason was there to be ashamed? What happened today, happened… What did it matter? She could let it go.
With this train of thought, she picked up the glass of lemon tea on the table and unselfconsciously downed it in a go.
“Don’t drink so fast.” Huo Cheng, worried she would choke, reminded her.
Shen Wanying waved off his concern, nonchalant. When she had drained every drop like she was downing a beer, she set the glass back on the table with a smack.
She felt rejuvenated.
Huo Cheng regarded her for a moment. “Have you been very stressed lately?”
Shen Wanying leaned back on the sofa and laughed. “It’s not recent. I’m always stressed.”
Huo Cheng frowned, ever so slightly.
“I come to this KTV every month. The last time I sent my chauffeur home without me, it was also to come here to sing.” Now that she had emptied her frustrations, it occurred to her that it was actually pretty nice to have someone to sing with. Or be her audience, in this case. After all, Huo Cheng already knew so much, what was a little more? “I told everyone at home not to send my chauffeur to pick me up on the first of every month because I needed to stay behind after school for a meeting, and that I would take public transport back later.”
The truth was, even if she did indeed have a meeting, the chauffeur could always wait until she was done. This was just a little thing, so her mother didn’t oppose her. But Jiang Yu had never suspected what was really going on. As far as Shen Wanying’s parents were concerned, they had raised a perfect, proper young lady. It never even occurred to them that she would ever spin such lies to deceive them.
“That sweets shop is owned by a friend of my aunt’s. Every time I stop by, the boss knows what it’s about. He never asks any questions, and even helps me make my booking at the KTV beforehand and calls a taxi for me when I’m done.”
Huo Cheng knew that this aunt of Shen Wanying’s was the only other person besides him who knew this little secret.
“Do you know my mom? You met her once as a kid, but you’ve probably already forgotten.” Shen Wanying took off the baseball cap on her head and fiddled with it. “She’s a powerful person; all of us listen to her at home, even my dad. She’s a quarter British, from a family that was once noble back in the day, but slowly declined over the years. That, on top of how diluted mom’s bloodline is, well, you can’t consider them noble anymore.”
Shen Wanying smiled at Huo Cheng. “Her bloodline may not be pure anymore, but she still has the pride and dignity of a noblewoman. She’s had especially high expectations of me since I was little, so I always have to keep up appearances and be elegant and dignified, even at home. No matter what I do, I have to do well, or else it would bring shame to her.”
As a child, to win her mother’s favour, she would work hard to excel. But as she grew older, her mother’s expectations kept increasing, and having to act like her mother’s perfect daughter wore her down more and more.
“The scariest part is, I realised one day that because I spent so much time and effort being the perfect daughter, the people around me only knew that Shen Wanying is the girl who is always elegant and dignified and excels at everything she does. So now, I’m not playing the role of the Shen Wanying my mother wants, but the Shen Wanying everyone else wants.”
It was at that moment that she had realized, there was no turning back, she could only continue playing this role.
“I’m so tired, and depressed, and all I can do is to dress up like this, come here and sing songs to vent my frustration. In this room, I can be free of other people’s gazes and expectations.”
Huo Cheng sat there, quietly listening. He never once interrupted her, leaving all the things he wanted to tell her unsaid.
“I’ve always envied Ji Yao.” Shen Wanying continued. “His parents are both teachers. I’ve taken classes with them before, they’re both incredibly strict people. Their expectations of Ji Yao are even stricter than the expectations they have of their own students. Their ideal child must be someone who is equally severe, attentive and meticulous, perhaps even a little rigid, and that’s certainly not Ji Yao.”
He slept in class and was often the type to do things his own way. Teachers often told him off, and it must’ve been common for his parents to discipline him. Yet, still he insisted on doing whatever he wanted.
“I often think of how good it would be to just be myself, the way he does.” But she could never be Ji Yao.
Huo Cheng heard her out up to this point, before finally opening his mouth. “So, you’re not actually interested in Ji Yao?”
Shen Wanying looked at him, chuckling. “I never imagined that even the stoic Huo Cheng would enjoy this kind of gossip.”
“——”
The one he’d heard it from was her!
He looked at her for a moment, then said, “At least with me, you can be yourself.”
He had actually intended to tell her back when they were discussing instant noodles in the convenience store during the school trip, that he knew what she was really like, and that she didn’t need to trouble herself to put on an act in front of him.
Shen Wanying froze for a heartbeat before beaming. “Yeah. After all, this facade has long collapsed around you, there’s no need for me to continue pretending.”
Huo Cheng lowered his eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Ai, it’s whatever.” Shen Wanying looked at him. “No matter how you want to put it, I’m happy having someone to talk to today about how I really feel. After talking to you, I feel a lot better now.”
“Mm.”
“You won’t tell anyone about what I told you, will you?”
“I won’t.”
Shen Wanying trusted Huo Cheng, even if she found it a mystery as to why she did. But she still wanted to put him on the spot, so she said, “You just saying that isn’t reassuring. Why don’t you tell me a secret of yours? That way we can keep each other’s secrets, and I’ll be more assured.”
Huo Cheng’s greatest secret was that he had been reborn into this timeline. But if he told her that, she was sure to believe that he was pulling her leg.
He thought for a while before telling her, “I don’t have much in the way of secrets. But I do have a secret hideout.”
“A secret hideout?”
“Mmhm.”
“What’s it for?”
“Do you have time tomorrow? I’ll show you.”
♥♥♥
Please rate The Lady’s Facade Was Ruined on Novel Updates and leave a comment below. We’re also thinking of adding this as one of our Patreon early access novels, so please let us know if you would want the option to see extra chapters~
NO NOT A CLIFF NOOO IT’S GETTING GOOD 😭😭😭
IT’S NOT JUST YOU THE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN ZYM AND FYC IS LIKE A CHEMICAL REACTION
ay? wait? i got something?
HE NICKNAMED HER AH WAN AAAAA
Alright I’m somehow more convinced that he believed himself to be the “killer” because he blamed himself for Fang Ke’s death without being actually the cause of it? What if it’s like a suicidal pact situation? where fang ke is the one who’s a bit loco in the head and initiated the accident, planning to die with both the guy and he just has a survivor’s guilt after?
THE WAY YOU DESCRIBED HIS SECOND LIFE AS NG+ PLUS I’M CRYINGG
ughh now i feel like it’s really a huge red herring instead. It’s too clear and obvious
made an account for commenting here, but my current leading theory, considering the premise of the painted veil that was hinted before, his mom had cheated, his dad knew about and gave her a choice. Something to do with her disease and forced her to live in the mountain villa or to divorce, and for the sake of Huo Cheng she just rather go to the villa. They fixed their relationship and either his mom ended up cheating again or her lover is a yandere.
Also another thought is that daisies represent “innocence” which may suggest that his mom is innocent and she was wrongly blamed, either for the cheating or for something else that we don’t have enough information on. Or if still in line with the ‘cheating’ and the painted veil plot, it may suggest that His mom is someone who’s shallow/gullible like the main character of that novel is.
Watch as I’m embarrassingly wrong/this is a red herring thrown in by the author to kick us off guard. This is honestly such an interesting subplot to the fluffy and light-hearted high school romance
um what o.0
p.s. tho its a bottom line, im glad he dont have impure intention toward her
hey! thanks for all the comments c:
i know, he’s so full of nonsense. but i’m glad too!! the ML we all deserve,,
thanks for reading!
when he keep looking at her as if she gonna disappear 😉
you both said whats on my mind. there many possibility for mysteries and im invested
this too cute, i got diabetes 😭
backstory! that explains a lot
AHAHAHAHAH why she is so fixated to maintain image, isnt it tiring
ah ah so sweet
i like how natural he taking care of her .. as if theyre married
Definitely shipping the silly puppy boy and the spunky cat girl!
Being able to deduce the ship-status by what brand of water he buys! She should be detective!
⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
From this chapter onwards on NU the chapters are incorrectly numbered (10 chapters ahead).
Thank you for the chapter! (*^^*)
this site won’t let me see which chapter it is, but i’ll defs get that checked out, thanks for bringing it to my attention!
thank you for reading! ♡
I think I know why he got stabbed now
Thank you for the chapter!
Gah! I caught up again! Σ( ̄□ ̄lll)
How does one aquire these *shifty eyes* “advance chapters”? Groveling? I can grovel! ┬┴┬┴┤(✧w✧├┬┴┬┴
Also, can we talk about what a smooth criminal Hup Cheng is?! That quiet hug made me blush! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
HELLO!! i am SO SORRY, i am apparently dinosaur/boomer/dumb dumb and never checked the comments until now, so i am just seeing this! thank you for all your kind comments, they really made my day 🥺 about the advance chapters, if you’re still interested, the best way would be to enquire via the discord server! there is a channel specifically for this book, the link is right up in the header (: if you have any issues, yell @ me! i’ll defs be checking back ;; <3
and oh my god YEAH tell me about it, the amount of squealing that has happened on my end of the computer. embarrassing to say the least. 🙈🙈🙈 there will finally be an update on tuesday, sorry for the wait! i hope you enjoy <3
I’m crying, why he is so sweet? I also want a boyfriend like that…
oh my good lord i am so sorry, like the comment after yours, i also, only just saw this T_T thank you for reading and interacting! i agree, where to find a man like this?!?
there will be an update on tuesday, so sorry for the wait as well!
Waiting for new chapter,😘😘
I finally figured out how to make an account in order to post comments! 😂
I was so confused!
This story is so good! Im totally hooked! 💕
I love your translations! They’re very smooth and comfortable to read even if you don’t read many Chinese novels.
Would this advance release you mentioned be more premium chapters that we’d have to pay for or would it be an early release on Novel Updates?
Most obvious thing is that his mother had an affair, and he ended up dead from something related to it.
Hello, I am new reader. I am loving the novel. Thank you so much for your hard work! And thanks for the new chapter.
About your note, since this novel is short and as far as I can see, is more on the fluffy than anything else, I don’t think the Huo family has anything to do with the ML mother’s death. Maybe one of then did something that stimulated her and thus lead to the cause of her death? But I think must of the reason is because she probably really betrayed ML father… The flowers ML saw are probably from the other man, and maybe he also did something that end up causing the ML mother’s death? Everything about that is very strange. Let’s observe more…
Not related but I just want to say: I really don’t believe the FL was the one who killed Huo Cheng. There must be something fish about his death as well. I trust FL.
Sorry my bad english.
Hey!! Not to be rude or anything but I don’t see any link to a discord server… Can someone please send it to me? Thank you so much!!
Don’t worry you weren’t rude at all. We’re still working on setting up the discord server link though. Thanks for being patient.
Here’s a temporary invite to the server:
https://discord.gg/j77SgVky