【Xiao Yao pressed her lips together as she stared at the screen. Under the cold glow of the computer monitor, her pale face appeared even more gloomy and withdrawn.
After a long while, she let out a soft laugh.
The protagonist’s halo was truly infuriating.
Even with photographic evidence firmly proving everything, the Male Lead could still be effortlessly cleared of suspicion. No wonder villains in novels could only ever become stepping stones for the protagonist’s growth.
Xiao Yao was neither intelligent nor powerful. A villain like her probably wasn’t even qualified to be called a true villain—at most, she was merely cannon fodder.
Both of her attempts to scheme against the protagonists had ended in failure. Finally, she temporarily gave up and once again locked herself away in her dark room all day long.】
Inside her mind, the system and Xiao Yao were arguing.
More accurately, it was the system arguing one-sidedly.
“This system warns you! From now on, you are not allowed to seduce the Male Lead, nor the Female Supporting Character, nor the Female Lead, and absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not this system!”
Xiao Yao tilted her head innocently.
“But I didn’t.”
The system seriously thought about it.
Then it realized that she was technically telling the truth.
Its mentality shattered even further.
The mechanical voice cried out in exasperation:
“I don’t care! Not allowed means not allowed! You have to keep your distance from the Male Lead! You are not allowed to touch him! The Male Lead belongs to the Female Lead!”
Without a shred of shame, Xiao Yao asked,
“What if the Male Lead insists on clinging to me?”
The system nearly exploded.
“Absolutely impossible! The Male Lead and Female Lead are the most compatible pair in this world. They have an irresistible attraction to each other! As long as you stop causing trouble, with the Male Lead’s moral standards, there is absolutely no way he would fall for a married woman!”
That was true.
According to the character setting Xiao Yao had established for herself, she should currently appear to the Male Lead as a fallen girl who already had a boyfriend.
And yet…
He had still reacted to someone like that.
Suddenly, Xiao Yao found the situation even more interesting.
Her cool eyelashes lowered slightly as a sweet smile curved across her lips.
“Alright.”
She agreed obediently.
“I promise I won’t actively seduce the Male Lead. Is that okay?”
Seeing her agree so readily, the system felt that something was off.
Yet it could not pinpoint exactly what.
After the conversation in the study that day, Ming Jing was officially assigned a position within the family corporation.
The eldest young master of the Ming Family now possessed actual authority.
Many people within the company began reconsidering their allegiances.
Without anyone noticing, public support gradually started gathering around him.
When Ming Tang learned of this, he smashed up his room in rage.
He had thought that with Ming Cheng’s favoritism toward him, this incident would finally remove Ming Jing from the position of heir.
Instead, it had given him real power.
As usual, he tried acting spoiled before Father Ming.
He even had his mother whisper into Father’s ear.
Yet no matter what they did, Father Ming refused to let him enter the company.
Later, he even began avoiding both mother and son altogether.
Ming Jing possessed exceptional learning ability.
In terms of management, he had inherited a natural talent no less remarkable than his father’s.
After entering the company, he became extremely busy, throwing himself completely into work.
It was as though doing so would allow him to ignore certain unspeakable secrets buried within his heart.
Another morning arrived.
The moment Ming Jing opened his eyes, he sensed something.
With practiced familiarity, he slipped a hand beneath the blanket.
His handsome face remained expressionless.
Only the faint redness hidden beneath his black hair around his ears betrayed his less-than-calm emotions.
The previous evening, he had inexplicably instructed the driver to take him to Jinye after work.
Only after arriving at the entrance did he realize he did not even know the girl’s name.
Just as he was about to leave, someone suddenly called out to him.
Turning around, he saw a young woman glaring at him with obvious hostility.
She looked familiar, though he could not immediately place her.
The moment she recognized him, she launched into an aggressive interrogation.
She demanded to know what he had done to Xiao Yao.
She said Xiao Yao had quit her job immediately after returning home and now spent every day locked inside her house.
She even mentioned the date of his visit.
Only then did Ming Jing remember that she had been one of the waitresses left behind that day.
Ignoring the hostility in her words, he lowered his head and smiled softly.
Beneath the moonlight, his handsome features appeared exceptionally gentle.
Lin Xiaotian stared blankly for a moment.
By the time she regained her senses, the man was already gone.
The marks that had long disappeared from his chest suddenly seemed to itch again.
Ming Jing let out a quiet breath.
So her name was Xiao Yao.
…
During the following month, according to the original plot, after discovering that nothing she did could affect the Male Lead, the original host should have retreated home in defeat.
She was supposed to continue acting as a gloomy little gremlin, rotting away in her room.
Only when the Female Lead entered university and reunited with the Male Lead would she reappear.
At present, two out of four mission objectives had already been completed.
Since there were no tasks to do, the greatest joy available to a beautiful freeloader was becoming even more beautiful.
Xiao Yao mysteriously declared that her face served an important purpose and therefore required proper maintenance.
After completely buying out the Beauty Pills, Body Enhancement Pills, and Skin Enhancement Pills in the system store, she spent a fortune purchasing countless luxury skincare products and facial masks.
Every day she applied masks.
Applied creams.
Applied more masks.
Applied even more creams.
Not only that, she also studied all kinds of beauty and body-care secrets online.
Before dawn, she would lie in bed stretching herself into impossible positions like a twisted pretzel.
Late at night, she wandered around the house wearing facial masks like a ghost.
One time, the system awoke from standby mode and happened to witness Xiao Yao lying motionless on the floor, covered from head to toe in black medicinal paste.
The system finally snapped.
It decided to run away from home.
So what if you loved being beautiful?
No matter how beautiful you became, the Male Lead would never look at you!
After thoroughly condemning Xiao Yao’s vanity, it gave itself a vacation and returned to fawn over the protagonist system.
Without the system nagging beside her, Xiao Yao felt wonderfully carefree.
Every day, she marched enthusiastically down the road toward becoming prettier.
The summer vacation of graduating high school students passed in the blink of an eye.
Lin Xiaotian packed her luggage and prepared to leave for A University.
Before departing, she looked toward the tightly shut door of Xiao Yao’s house.
After hesitating for a long time, she finally walked over and knocked.
Ever since that day, Xiao Yao had kept herself locked indoors.
Lin Xiaotian had come several times before, but no one ever answered.
Worried that seeing her might remind Xiao Yao of unpleasant memories, she had forced herself not to disturb her.
She had not expected much this time either.
She simply wanted to see Xiao Yao one last time before leaving.
To her surprise, the door opened.
The girl inside wore a spaghetti-strap dress.
The skin exposed outside had lost its previous sickly pallor.
Instead, it was white as snow, carrying the soft luster of polished pearl.
Her already exquisite and coldly beautiful features had become even more breathtaking.
She looked like a piece of jade that had been carefully polished to perfection.
Standing there quietly, she seemed so refined that even her hair looked fragrant.
Lin Xiaotian was struck speechless by the beauty before her.
“X-Xiao Yao…”
Just as Xiao Yao was about to speak, a mechanical voice exploded inside her head.
“YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SEDUCE THE FEMALE LEAD!!”
The bootlicking system had returned from vacation.
And it had evolved into a battle-hardened guard dog.
It was grateful it had arrived in time and prevented Xiao Yao from corrupting its pure, kind-hearted Female Lead.
Xiao Yao frowned slightly.
“I didn’t.”
The system took one look at her face.
Its health bar instantly dropped to zero.
Oh no!
How had this troublemaker become even prettier than before?
And she seemed to have awakened some sort of naturally flirtatious talent.
Even a slight furrow of her brows made people feel protective toward her.
No.
It had only just returned from vacation.
It clearly wasn’t back in working condition yet.
Its mind must not be functioning properly.
It needed to recover first…
The system promptly logged off in a dazed state.
Xiao Yao raised her eyes toward the Female Lead.
“Are you leaving for university?”
Lin Xiaotian stammered,
“Y-Yes.”
“Which university?”
“A University…”
“Congratulations. I’ve heard it’s a very good school.”
Lin Xiaotian lowered her head shyly.
“Y-Yes…”
She stared blankly at the ground.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.
Xiao Yao had always been alone.
If she left, wouldn’t Xiao Yao become very lonely?
After all…
She was probably Xiao Yao’s only friend.
The thought made her heartbeat accelerate.
If Xiao Yao could hear her inner thoughts, this foolish and malicious little cannon fodder would probably mock her mercilessly.
Who would want a naïve sweet girl as a friend?
Standing inside the doorway, Xiao Yao rested one hand against the doorframe.
Her fingers were slender and snow-white, the tips faintly pink.
She quietly watched the blushing girl opposite her.
Pure and beautiful, like an angel.
After struggling internally for a long time, Lin Xiaotian suddenly gathered her courage and looked up.
“Xiao Yao, if you ever get bored, you can come visit me at school anytime.”
Afraid of being rejected, she hurriedly added,
“I’ll always be free! First-year university students aren’t very busy!”
After saying that, she lowered her head again in nervousness.
Oh no.
Would Xiao Yao think she was unmotivated and only interested in having fun?
The beautiful girl before her—so lovely that she scarcely seemed human—suddenly smiled.
A sweet curve appeared on her lips.
Her cool features instantly became vivid and full of life.
“Sure.”