At noon, the weather was so hot it felt as though fire itself was pouring down from the sky. The air above the ground seemed scorched into writhing spirits that screamed silently, blurring everything around them.
Su Youtian sat sideways by the roadside and let out a lifeless groan.
Even though the blazing sun hung overhead like a giant bowl of fire, she felt freezing cold all over, trembling uncontrollably.
The young girl beside her carefully handed over a bottle of water. “Sheng Xia, have some water.”
Su Youtian turned her head and looked at the girl, Yin Shan. The girl stared at her with dark eyes, her slightly babyish face filled with timidity.
Su Youtian pressed her lips together. Even the hand holding the water bottle trembled slightly, she was afraid of Yin Shan.
Because she knew exactly how scheming and ruthless this seemingly harmless girl truly was.
In the novel 《A Fresh Wife at Home: CEO, Don’t Spoil Me Too Much!》, Yin Shan was the supporting villainess Sheng Xia’s little follower and strategist. Every stupid thing Sheng Xia did in order to break apart the male and female leads had Yin Shan’s encouragement and involvement behind it.
In the end, Sheng Xia got what she deserved and became a washed-up celebrity hated by everyone. Meanwhile, Yin Shan finally tore off her disguise, stepped over Sheng Xia’s corpse, climbed upward bit by bit, became a new obstacle in the protagonists’ love story, and the ultimate final boss who laughed all the way to the end.
Yes, in the novel.
And now the characters from the novel had appeared alive before her eyes, while her own identity had changed from Su Youtian into the book’s supporting villainess, Sheng Xia.
She had gone from being the author to becoming the manipulative supporting female character in her own story, one who constantly courted disaster and whose ending was utterly miserable.
Su Youtian silently wiped her face.
Yin Shan worriedly placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sheng Xia, are you okay?”
Her hand was warm and soft, yet to Su Youtian it felt like a venomous snake slowly coiling around her shoulder.
“I’m fine.” Her shoulder twitched unnaturally as she answered weakly, “I just regret leaving one bite of pizza unfinished on the table.”
Yin Shan: “……”
Thinking Sheng Xia was joking, Yin Shan frowned. “It’s all my fault. They were partying so crazily last night, and since you seemed to be having fun, I didn’t stop you from drinking so much. You’re not… angry, are you?”
Su Youtian hurriedly shook her head. Angry?
How would she dare be angry? She wished she could disappear right in front of this giant black lotus, okay?
Even better if she could disappear back to the real world.
She still remembered last night. After getting dumped, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She thought, since her own life was already such a disaster, why should the male and female leads in her novel get a happy ending? So in a moment of madness, she revised her draft.
Originally, the ending had been the typical happily-ever-after where the protagonists ended up together. But with one abrupt turn, she forcibly wrote the heroine into a “darkened” version of herself. The heroine became a powerful career woman who chose success over love and dominated the business world. She no longer cared to play games of tragic romance with the male lead. After dumping him, she went on to enjoy a wonderful life keeping handsome young men as lovers.
Su Youtian vented all her resentment into the novel, and strangely enough, it gave her a twisted sense of satisfaction.
But after finishing the chapter, reason overcame her anger. She sat blankly before the computer, staring at the freshly written ending, her mind completely empty.
Her ex-boyfriend had just been an ordinary office worker. They met by chance, and during their relationship she had never told him she was actually a bestselling author worth millions. He had always assumed she was just another regular employee.
She had planned to tell him once their relationship became stable. Unexpectedly, due to family circumstances, he became a rich second-generation heir overnight. In less than a week, she transformed in his eyes from a lively and adorable girl into the unreasonable shrew he complained about.
When someone falls out of love, everything about you becomes unpleasant to them.
And just like that, Su Youtian was suddenly dumped without warning.
More than heartbreak, what she felt was a suffocating frustration she could neither swallow nor spit out.
Su Youtian stared at the computer screen, her hands still trembling slightly.
After a long while, she realized that what she had done was just as selfish as her scumbag ex-boyfriend. It was deeply irresponsible to both herself and her readers.
So she deleted all the revised drafts.
She had even planned to teach that scumbag a lesson, but when she woke up the next morning, she was already inside the world of her novel.
Su Youtian let out a sigh.
Seeing how pale she looked, Yin Shan helped her to her feet.
“We’re already at the construction site entrance. Are you still going to look for Yuan Wei?”
“Huh?” Su Youtian wiped her face carelessly with her jacket, unable to react at first to what Yin Shan meant.
She sniffed. “Yuan Wei?”
“……” Seeing her confused expression, Yin Shan looked surprised. “Yeah, did you forget? Didn’t we agree to teach Yuan Wei a lesson today?”
Teach him a lesson?
Su Youtian rubbed her eyes and looked around. Only then did she realize the place across from her was a construction site. Dust filled the air, and workers with towels draped around their necks moved back and forth with slightly bent backs. Under the blazing sunlight, they all looked like bright red prawns cooked by the heat.
In an instant, Su Youtian remembered the original plot.
She had transmigrated into the point right after Yuan Wei had been released from prison, before he had even met the female lead.
Yuan Wei had no college degree, and no one was willing to hire an ex-convict. Left with no other choice, he took work at a construction site. Unfortunately, one of Sheng Xia’s acquaintances saw him there. So last night at the bar, people used the incident to mock Sheng Xia, saying her taste in men was terrible, that she must have been desperate enough to date someone like him.
Humiliated and enraged, Sheng Xia listened to Yin Shan’s instigation and stormed over to Yuan Wei’s construction site to threaten him. She even used the influence of the wealthy second-generation heirs pursuing her to drive him out of the city.
From that moment on, Sheng Xia and the male lead became sworn enemies.
And now she had transmigrated into this exact moment.
Thinking about the supporting villainess’s future of ending up homeless on the streets, Su Youtian’s teeth began to ache nervously.
Fortunately, she had not done anything yet. There was still time to fix everything.
“Forget it… he didn’t even do anything to me.”
One of Yin Shan’s brows lifted slightly. She clearly found those words unbelievable.
After all, in her impression, Sheng Xia was the kind of person who always sought revenge for the slightest grievance. Yuan Wei had embarrassed her so badly, there was no way she would let him off so easily, especially after coming all the way here…
“But they were all saying you…”
Su Youtian did not want to keep discussing it with Yin Shan, so she waved her hand dismissively to show she did not care.
Yin Shan choked back her words and stared at her in confusion.
Just as Su Youtian turned to leave, a cold mechanical voice suddenly sounded beside her ear:
【Ding! The Self-Destruction System has been activated. Please select one option within ten seconds:
Su Youtian: !!!
In the novel, the supporting villainess Sheng Xia was spoiled and willful, but also frank and straightforward. That was why she had easily won the male lead’s heart back in high school. However, under the constant influence and “guidance” of her snobbish mother, she gradually went completely astray.
Not only did she mercilessly break up with the male lead while he was in prison for her sake, after his release she repeatedly courted disaster for the sake of her own pride.
Then, once the male lead rose to power again, she shamelessly tried to win him back and repeatedly targeted the female lead. Her ending was obvious. The enraged male lead cast aside all former affection and took revenge on her. In the end, she was left homeless on the streets.
Originally, Su Youtian had planned to stay far away from the plot. At worst, she just would not provoke the male lead.
That had been her plan.
But now…
【Warning, host: failure to choose within the time limit will result in erasure. Erasure countdown: 10, 9, 8…】
It felt as though ten thousand runaway wild horses were stampeding through Su Youtian’s mind.
She turned around and stared at the endless stream of traffic, suddenly feeling the urge to throw herself into it.
“What the hell is this?!”
Yin Shan jumped in fright at her twisted expression. “Sheng Xia, what’s wrong?”
Su Youtian ignored her. She stared at the translucent panel floating before her eyes like some mischievous spirit. The mission options were displayed clearly on it, and every single one looked like a fast track to death.
If she punched Yuan Wei, would he hit her back?
Slapping him felt way too humiliating. What if that made him hold a grudge?
Spitting looked like the easiest option, but what if the wind blew it back onto her and the mission counted as failed?
And only an idiot would pick the last option, right? Wait, what if the last option was actually a reverse psychology trap?
Which one was she supposed to choose?!
【Erasure countdown: 4, 3, 2…】
Su Youtian clenched her teeth. “1! I choose 1!”
【Selection successful. Please reach the target within one minute.】
The moment the system finished speaking, Su Youtian’s eye twitched violently.
After brushing Yin Shan off with a few perfunctory words, she hurried toward the construction site.
“Couldn’t you at least let me rest for a bit?!”
As the site drew closer and closer, she could already smell the choking dust in the air, along with the distant roar of machinery.
Her voice trembled as she asked:
“System, can I ask you something?”
【Speak.】
“You think… when the time comes, should I use my left hand first or my right?”
【…Either one.】
“What if he slaps me back?”
【…Endure it.】
“If I complete the mission, do I get a reward?”
The system ignored her completely, because Yuan Wei was already right in front of her.
As expected of the male lead, Yuan Wei stood out from the crowd no matter where he was.
Su Youtian recognized him immediately.
A loose tank top hung from his body, and the hems of his slightly long jeans were worn pale with use. He seemed to have just washed his hair, and his damp hair lay in messy strands as he tilted his head slightly, silently listening to the person beside him speaking.
His frame was lean and toned, his skin slightly tanned. Yet when he turned his head, the tender skin behind his ear looked startlingly pale.
Su Youtian gradually slowed to a stop. She was surprised herself at how closely she was observing him. Every detail about him felt like hidden treasure, and she, like a greedy treasure hunter, wanted to uncover every piece of information about him in the shortest possible time.
As the distance between them narrowed, her heart seemed ready to leap out of her chest. She became more and more curious about what Yuan Wei looked like.
When writing the novel, she had not spent much effort describing the male lead’s appearance. She had only written one sentence, that his eyes were very light in color.
So in this world, she really was curious about what Yuan Wei actually looked like.
As though hearing her approach, Yuan Wei shifted slightly and turned around.
At that instant, both the wind and her heartbeat seemed to stop.
Yuan Wei narrowed his eyes slightly. His pale-colored pupils rested beneath his lashes, warm amber under sunlight, like golden liquor rippling beneath spring water.
Under the sunlight, his gaze carried an inexplicable tenderness, almost affectionate.
Sunlight danced across the bridge of his straight nose before falling onto his slightly reddened lips. The distinct curve of his upper lip reminded her of pomegranate seeds soaked in cool water during summer, as though one gentle press would release sweetness at any moment.
In the dim corner beneath the wall, he looked like a living source of sunlight gathered into one person. In an instant, he captured Su Youtian’s entire attention.
Her throat tightened, and her palms began to sweat. It felt as though her soul had separated from her body. While stunned by the male lead’s appearance, she was also alarmed by how quickly the distance between them was shrinking.
“System, h-he’s so handsome, I can’t do it.”
That was the reality of being obsessed with good looks.
【Please carry out Option 1 within ten seconds. Failure to comply will result in erasure. Mission failure will also result in erasure. 10, 9, 8…】
“AAAH!!! System, I hate you!”