My Scheming Little Devil-Chapter 2048: A Close Call

However, a woman in a black dress descended from the third floor to the second. She saw Yiyi downstairs, acting as if she were a commander, directing the workers. Her movements were efficient and orderly, in stark contrast to the chaos from earlier, which was now so well-organized.

Yet this orderly scene filled her with discomfort and hidden rage. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

A fallen daughter of the enemy, barely surviving in enemy territory, should be hanging her head and acting meek. How dare she boss around the workers she brought herself? Did she really think she was still the governor’s precious daughter? What was with the airs?

Who gave her permission to be so brazen, giving orders to her workers?

But Lie Fengzi did not voice her objections directly. Instead, she silently walked down the stairs, unnoticed by Yiyi and the others below.

Her stunning eyes scanned the scene coldly, filled with a sinister chill. This painting was important to Yiyi’s foster mother. Hmph, she intended to torture them by letting them watch it be destroyed before their eyes.

She couldn’t openly destroy such a famous painting, though, as she was in charge of clearing this villa. If anyone found out, she’d bear a lot of responsibility.

Watching the workers cautiously disassembling the painting, an excellent idea flashed through her mind. Her eyes brightened, and a faint smile curved her lips.

She sternly warned the head worker, her voice sharp and sudden, telling him to be careful with the painting, or he’d never be able to afford the compensation if it broke.

Her sudden outburst, stealthy and unexpected, startled the worker standing on the ladder, carefully lifting the painting’s edge. Unprepared, he slipped, lost his grip. As the foundation of support, his stumble caused the others above to fail to catch it, and the whole painting fell down.

The workers’ faces turned pale with fear; the painting was invaluable, a piece many officials coveted. They couldn’t even afford a corner of it, even by selling everything they owned. If it got damaged, they were finished.

In panic, they reached out, managing to only grasp the edges. The painting was too heavy, merely slowing its fall, not stopping it.

Everyone was paralyzed with fear, some screaming to catch it, others just staring, unsure of what to do.

The other workers were too far away. They didn’t even have time to react, let alone reach it.

Yiyi, while directing a worker to carefully place a precious small coffee table into a protective box, suddenly heard the panicked calls from behind. She turned her head and saw the painting plunging from high up the wall.

She was stunned too, but in that moment, only one thought consumed her: she could not let this painting, filled with Madam Aisha’s memories of her father, be destroyed. Madam Aisha would be heartbroken.

That instantaneous thought transformed into a burst of adrenaline, and without thinking, she rushed over, raising her hands to catch the falling painting.

The painting itself was huge, framed with expensive materials, weighing easily over one or two hundred pounds, and the impact of its fall was even more severe.

Yiyi grabbed the bottom frame, her entire body driven to the ground by the painting to prevent it getting damaged. She became a human cushion, the heavy painting slamming into her like a massive boulder, the impact causing intense pain that nearly knocked her unconscious.

Her hands went numb, almost losing sensation entirely.