It was September, in the peak of the sweltering heat.
The wall-mounted fan was spinning loudly, blowing the mosquito net into chaotic fluttering. The notebook spread open on the desk rustled as pages were flipped one after another.
A burning-hot body pressed against her from behind, holding her tightly.
Cheng Zi frowned in displeasure.
Too hot!!
Who turned off the air conditioner? And why was there a furnace beside her?
“I only have one hour,” a man’s voice sounded in her ear, low and slightly unpleasant.
She was turned around.
“Mm~”
Cheng Zi had been in a deep sleep when she was suddenly hugged and kissed…
The scorching sensation on her lips jolted her awake instantly, driving away all her sleepiness!
Her beautiful eyes widened slightly as she saw a pair of tightly shut eyes, long lashes trembling faintly, the faint scent of soap lingering at the tip of his nose.
The man’s kissing skills were extremely inexperienced—so much so that it could be called uncomfortable, even painful as it rubbed against her lips!!
“Pa.”
The lingering ambiguity of the moment was abruptly shattered by a sharp slap.
While he was stunned, Cheng Zi quickly pulled the thin blanket beside her around herself. “You pervert…”
The words stopped abruptly.
Everything around her was unfamiliar. The place was wrong. The person was wrong!
The man in front of her was half-naked, his tight muscle lines striking directly into her vision.
“We’ve been married for two years already. Why are you still guarding against me like I’m a thief? You were the one who called me here.”
Married? Two years?
Cheng Zi’s mind exploded with a loud bang!!
She had… transmigrated into a novel—the period novel she read last night.
The title was something like *“The Real Heiress Pampered by the Tycoon in the 90s”*.
Before sleeping, she had even complained that a minor villainess in it shared her exact name…
No way, right? It couldn’t be, right?
She, Cheng Zi, had been a corporate slave for seven full years, grinding nonstop day and night. Only yesterday had she finally moved into a new home and gotten her own little safe haven~
Not before, not after—but right now she transmigrated??
Cheng Zi cautiously asked, “Xie Ci?”
Hearing her call him, Xie Ci frowned slightly and gave a low “mm.”
Cheng Zi: “……”
So it really was that short-lived husband of the cannon-fodder female supporting character?
Their eyes met. Cheng Zi met a pair of deep, narrow black eyes.
Xie Ci’s features were sharp and masculine, with a defined jawline, high nose bridge, thin lips—and a physique that was top-tier.
This man… was exactly Cheng Zi’s type!!!
A minor character in a book already looked like this? Then what would the male lead look like—some immortal descended from the heavens?
In the novel, Xie Ci was mentioned only briefly: a soldier who married Cheng Zi through a matchmaking arrangement. Unfortunately, Cheng Zi already had someone in her heart and constantly rejected his closeness.
Two years after marriage, Xie Ci died on a mission. Cheng Zi showed no grief at all and used his pension to support Gu Yechén, the male lead.
Cheng Zi felt even more speechless.
So she wasn’t some high-level villainess, nor a fake heiress in a dramatic identity swap—no, she was just a background character. A pure hopeless one-sided love brain.
Also the male lead’s stepping stone, warm-up tool, and funding source.
Wait…
When did Xie Ci’s mission happen again?
It seemed… today!
He would be angered away by the original owner, go on the mission, and die.
“Xie Ci, my head hurts so much!!!”
It really did hurt…
Fragments of memories that didn’t belong to her suddenly surged in, making her head feel like it was about to explode.
But there was also an element of acting.
Although the book was vague, readers in the comments speculated that Xie Ci’s death was closely related to the female lead’s troubles. Going would basically be throwing his life away!!!
A pure scapegoat used to push the plot forward.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Take me to the hospital, I feel terrible!”
Xie Ci immediately lost all lingering thoughts. He quickly put on his clothes and pants and lifted her into his arms.
He casually grabbed the dress from the hanger and glanced at Cheng Zi, hesitating.
“I’ll do it myself.”
Enduring the discomfort, Cheng Zi put the dress on.
Xie Ci changed from carrying her to carrying her on his back and rushed toward the People’s Hospital.
Their military residential compound wasn’t far from the hospital, and cutting through the alley made it even closer.
Xie Ci moved quickly—faster than a bicycle in this situation.
Cheng Zi took the opportunity to sort through the original owner’s memories, combined with the book’s content, and found everything absurd beyond belief!!!
Cheng Zi, female, 21 years old. From an urban working-class family, with a city household registration. Studied fashion design and currently works at a garment factory in Tongcheng. A fashionable modern young woman.
She attended school with the male lead Gu Yechén and had been secretly in love with him since high school.
Though “secretly” was debatable—anyone could see something was going on between them.
She just didn’t dare to confess, and Gu Yechén pretended not to know.
Gu Yechén came from a rural family with very poor conditions, many siblings, and he was the third son—stuck in the middle and largely ignored. Even with good grades, he wasn’t valued at home and lived poorly.
Coming to Tongcheng for school was almost accidental. His family hoped he could learn tailoring and become a skilled worker to support the family.
Unexpectedly, he ended up being “raised” through school by Cheng Zi.
She tutored him, fed him, bought him things, and supported him everywhere—even paying his tuition.
The two maintained this unclear “friendship” for five years until they both graduated from junior college.
At that time, fashion designers were still uncommon, and job opportunities for fashion majors were limited.
Because Gu Yechén wasn’t local and didn’t have a local household registration, finding a good job was difficult. His goal was the Tongcheng garment factory.
Coincidentally, the factory was recruiting a designer. The position naturally went to Cheng Zi, the local candidate, leaving Gu Yechén out.
Cheng Zi originally intended to give up the job—it didn’t matter much to her.
But then she had another idea: use the job as leverage to make Gu Yechén marry her. Once he became a local son-in-law, her parents could help him find a better job.
Right at that moment, the cheerful and cute female lead Li Qianqian appeared.
Gu Yechén, already unhappy about the situation, began distancing himself from Cheng Zi and grew closer to Li Qianqian.
In Cheng Zi’s eyes, Li Qianqian was just a rural girl—loud, uneducated, and uncultured.
Not worth mentioning.
But she never expected that Gu Yechén would be completely drawn to such a woman.
After multiple twists in the plot, Li Qianqian’s true identity was revealed: she wasn’t just lively and well-liked—she was also the real daughter of a high-ranking official family.
Cheng Zi was repeatedly slapped in the face by reality and targeted at every turn.
The more she looked down on Li Qianqian, the more miserably she was humiliated.
Even her family was dragged into misfortune.
On the day Gu Yechén and Li Qianqian officially became a couple, Cheng Zi, in anger, agreed to her parents’ suggestion and went to a matchmaking event.
And there she met Xie Ci, that unlucky man.
Xie Ci was a proper upright and loyal soldier, straightforward and handsome. Because he hadn’t started a family, his superiors considered him unstable and didn’t assign him important missions—so Cheng Zi ended up “picking up a bargain.”
Xie Ci saw that Cheng Zi was beautiful, fashionable, and gentle in speech, and had no objections.
Who would’ve thought he would bring home a “ancestor”? She wouldn’t let him touch her for two years, and her personality was terrible.
Rumors about her and Gu Yechén spread everywhere, utterly unspeakable.
Fortunately, Xie Ci spent most of his time in the military and simply turned a blind eye.
Until yesterday, Gu Yechén sent out wedding invitations—he and Li Qianqian were about to get married.
The original Cheng Zi was stimulated and told Xie Ci to come to her room, saying she wanted a child and would treat him well from now on…
Xie Ci, full of youthful passion, naturally believed her.
But in the previous timeline, the moment he approached her, he was slapped and humiliated.
All the frustration she felt toward Gu Yechén was vented onto him, without any regard for his feelings…
Xie Ci left angrily, planning to file for divorce after this mission. He couldn’t endure this life another day.
But he never came back again.