In the eighteenth year of the Chenghua era, Suzhou.
After rain bathed the empty mountains.
A faint mist still lingered as a sliver of crimson peeked over the horizon.
Su Yan pushed open the window and spotted the youth in the courtyard.
The youth had moved a recliner beneath the pear tree and was about to lie down when he inadvertently raised his eyes.
The morning light filtered through camellia branches, crossed the latticed window, and fell directly upon Su Yan’s face.
Along with the dawn’s glow came the youth’s gaze.
In that single instant, the youth hastily lowered his head, shifted the recliner to another spot, and only settled down after ensuring he was completely out of Su Yan’s line of sight.
After all, she wasn’t truly a member of the Su family, nor was she actually Su Yan’s third younger brother.
Being stared at by Su Yan like that did make her somewhat uneasy.
Every identity, every name she held in this world was fabricated—even her gender was a lie.
She was originally a delicate maiden, not a young man.
As an avid novel enthusiast, she had once fantasized about countless scenarios of traveling through time to ancient eras.
But she never imagined she would one day transmigrate into a book.
And not just any book—it was the ridiculously melodramatic masterpiece her male best friend Ergou had written on a whim.
It was, after all, penned by that good-for-nothing best friend of hers who never read romance novels, only cared about eating, drinking, and having fun, with no ambition whatsoever.
She hadn’t held high expectations when she first started reading it.
But his talent for writing nonsense still managed to surpass her imagination.
This was clearly a silly, melodramatic tragedy disguised as a romance novel, following outdated tropes while completely butchering characterizations throughout.
Since the author of this “masterpiece” was her childhood best friend,
She reluctantly endured the strain on her eyes, resisting the urge to abandon the book, and spent two minutes reading two chapters.
Heaven knew how agonizing those two minutes were.
Those four thousand words of plot nearly poisoned her to death.
Out of respect for her friend, she composed herself and began typing, preparing to politely unleash a ten-thousand-word tirade criticizing the dog author, when her house lost power.
Everything suddenly plunged into darkness—even her computer screen went black.
She instinctively felt that whatever came next wouldn’t be simple.
Sure enough, when the world brightened again, she had transmigrated into her dog author’s book.
And she had become a pitiful character with no power, status, or money—someone who had to carefully conceal their identity.
Her role was the most classic archetype in outdated tragic novels: the vicious female supporting character.
The kind who was hypocritically sweet yet cunning and malicious, constantly creating obstacles for the male and female leads.
Most importantly, this character was utterly useless.
Not only were her schemes seen through every time, but everyone detested her.
Reportedly, her final fate was to be killed by the male lead with a single strike.
As her good friend, Ergou had very thoughtfully borrowed her real name—Song Qingqing—when creating this character.
When she saw her own name appear in his book, she nearly coughed up blood.
And then she opened her eyes and transmigrated into this very role.
If she could return to the real world, she thought she would definitely grab a knife and hunt down Ergou.
Using her name was bad enough, but couldn’t he have written a decent character for her?
Couldn’t he have made her a beloved female lead with a lucky aura?
Creating such a despicable and annoying character—who was he trying to disgust?
Song Qingqing endured a full five years in this world before finally quelling the rage in her heart.
And it was in this very year that the main storyline from Ergou’s writing truly began.
As the most useless villain in the entire book, she was forced to disguise herself as a man and gave herself a new name—Su Youen.
As if changing her name could allow her to turn over a new leaf and start afresh.
In fact, that was exactly what she intended to do.
To start anew, just moments ago, she had devised a plan for herself.
The first step to starting anew: bless the male and female leads with a happy union and a lifetime of happiness.
The second step to starting anew: stay as far away from the male lead as possible.
This was someone who would kill her in the future, with a danger level already off the charts.
To survive, she swore she would never have anything to do with him for the rest of her life.
But just as she was diligently planning how to avoid the male lead, her eldest and second brothers unknowingly began a heated discussion about her.
Su Yang, the eldest son of the Su family, walked up to Su Yan and asked, “Is that Youen? Is he spacing out alone again?”
Su Yan nodded.
Since Youen entered the Su family, the thing Su Yan had seen him do most was space out.
He would space out while drinking together, and space out while playing chess.
Even in the dead of night, he could silently climb onto the roof alone, holding a wine jug and staring blankly at the moon.
At such a young age, yet burdened with so many worries.
Su Yang sighed softly and asked, “I heard from Uncle that his health isn’t very good?”
Su Yan nodded. “Uncle said he has a problem with his head.”
“Can it be cured?”
“Uncle said it can’t.”
After these words, Su Yang let out a long sigh:
“Poor thing, only twenty years old and already afflicted with such a stubborn illness.”
Su Yan didn’t respond to this remark but suddenly asked:
“Brother, don’t you think Youen looks a bit like a girl?”
Su Yang said, “After all, he grew up in the capital and was pampered by Uncle since childhood. It’s understandable that he looks fair and delicate.”
A moment later, Su Yan suddenly said, “It rained all night last night, and the wind this morning is still a bit chilly.”
Su Yang seemed accustomed to Su Yan’s unpredictable way of speaking. He wasn’t surprised but calmly took a light blue crane cloak from the cabinet and walked toward the courtyard.
“Youen,” he called out to the youth.
Su Youen ignored him, not even lifting her head.
“The morning wind is chilly. Why aren’t you wearing something?”
Su Youen still ignored him.
It was unclear whether she was deliberately ignoring him or genuinely hadn’t heard.
Su Yang had no choice but to gently drape the crane cloak over her shoulders.
As he did so, he earnestly advised:
“The dead are gone, and the living must carry on. Auntie… she has already passed away.”
She won’t be coming back.
Su Youen finally looked up.
Her jade-like eyes were filled with astonishment, staring straight at Su Yang.
“What?”
Su Yang crouched down to meet her gaze and earnestly advised again:
“Uncle told us everything. Ever since Auntie passed away, you’ve been like this.
Always spacing out alone, unwilling to talk to anyone.”
After saying this, he seemed tired from crouching, so he pulled over a small stool and sat opposite her, continuing:
“I know you’ve been thinking of Auntie all these days. We feel the same way. We’re all sad that Auntie is gone…”
Before he could finish his sermon, Su Youen, who couldn’t bear to listen any longer, abruptly interrupted:
“Have you ever met this so-called auntie of yours? And you’re sad for her?”
“Huh?”
Clearly, Su Yang hadn’t expected her to suddenly say such a thing.
Seeing his reaction, Su Youen realized her slip of the tongue and quickly tried to remedy it: “What I meant was, big brother, don’t be sad or worried. I’m fine.”
Though her words said one thing, her mind was utterly exasperated.
For heaven’s sake—she had only found the room too hot and stuffy. Thinking the courtyard would be cool on a morning after rain, she came out to lie down for a while, plan her future in detail, catch up on sleep, and ponder what to eat later.
Yet he assumed she was here mourning her deceased mother?
Even imagined her grief-stricken to the point of illness?
How utterly ridiculous.
How could she possibly miss a fictional person?
The deceased aunt that Su Yang spoke of had never existed at all.
The Su family’s second son never had an aunt, nor did she have a recently departed mother.
All of this was Su Ting’s fault—that old man.
Precisely, the biological uncle of the Su family’s second son.
A lifelong bachelor with no wife, children, or accomplishments.
Yet he stubbornly lied, claiming Su Youen was his biological son who had just lost his mother.
Absurd.
Truly absurd.
After all, Su Ting was a eunuch!!!