“Perfect timing.”
Qin Ziyan’s voice was deliberately lowered, his warm breath seeming to brush past Ruan Jiaqi’s ear. His gaze lingered suggestively over her.
“There happens to be a master tailor who recently joined my household. His skill at making qipaos is absolutely exceptional. Miss Ruan, when you have some free time, why don’t you come over and pay me a visit? I’ll have the master tailor take your measurements and make you a few custom qipaos.”
“A qipao only truly shows its charm on someone with curves like yours, Miss Ruan. Full in all the right places… It would look absolutely mesmerizing on you…”
Ruan Jiaqi looked at the lecherous smile on the man’s face, and a wave of disgust surged through her. She frowned slightly.
The wealthy young ladies around them exchanged mocking glances. Naturally, they all sneered at his remarks, but none of them bothered to argue.
If those words had come from Hua Feng, they would probably have been green with envy.
But coming from the notorious Second Young Master Qin, they only thought it was a case of rotten fruit attracting rotten flies. A rotten man’s taste naturally belonged with a gold digger. It was a perfect match.
So they merely lifted their delicate chins and covered their lips as they watched the show with amused smiles.
Seeing this, Qin Ziyan smugly drained the wine in his glass, then snapped his fingers at a waiter in the distance.
A blond, blue-eyed waiter approached with a tray.
Qin Ziyan picked up a glass of red wine and held it out to Ruan Jiaqi, his gaze burning.
“Come, Miss Ruan. Have a drink with me. From now on, we’re friends.”
Then, remembering something, he turned to look at Hua Yan.
“Ah Yan, I’m just asking your sister-in-law to have a drink with me. You don’t mind, do you?”
Hua Yan’s deep, indifferent eyes swept over Ruan Jiaqi’s slightly pale cheeks. The corner of his lips merely curved into a casual, detached smile, his voice lazy and arrogant.
“Do whatever you want.”
With the tacit approval of a member of the Hua family, Qin Ziyan became even more brazen. His frivolous gaze swept over Ruan Jiaqi from head to toe.
Sure enough, this woman would soon become a discarded wife of the wealthy elite. Hua Yan, her younger brother-in-law, clearly didn’t regard her as his sister-in-law at all.
Even if he slept with her right here in this hotel tonight, Hua Feng probably wouldn’t fall out with him over a woman he had long since abandoned.
The socialites, delighted to see the drama unfold, began egging them on to drink.
“Jiaqi, Second Young Master Qin has already finished his drink. You should show some sincerity too.”
“Exactly, exactly. It’s rare for you to attend one of our gatherings. Everyone’s having such a good time, so don’t spoil the mood.”
They were all hoping Ruan Jiaqi would get drunk on Qin Ziyan’s wine, lose all composure in front of Hua Feng later, and become even more despised by him.
Only Hua Yao was extremely annoyed.
That shameless womanizer Qin Ziyan had completely disrupted her plans.
Damn it! (ง ᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃!!!
……
Ruan Jiaqi lowered her eyes toward the wineglass the man held out to her, her gaze settling on the dark-red liquid.
【Warning! This glass of wine has been drugged.】
【As for what kind of drug it is, I probably don’t need to spell that out, right?】
【According to the original plot, you now need to secretly switch this spiked drink with the one in front of Hua Yao and get her to drink it instead.】
【After Hua Yao drinks it, the drug will take effect, and she will accidentally lose herself to Qin Ziyan, thereby planting the seeds of resentment that will eventually cause the male lead and his family to hate you.】
【Hurry! Show them what a vicious supporting female character can do! Let these people who look down on you and trample all over you experience your power!】
Ruan Jiaqi’s head began to ache from all the noise. Even the ice-cold Coke in her hand suddenly didn’t taste as good anymore.
One minute later.
Seeing that she was still sitting there blankly, the system couldn’t help urging her.
【What are you waiting for? Hurry up and act!】
“Oh.”
Another minute passed.
Ruan Jiaqi sincerely asked, “How do I do it without anyone noticing?”
System: 【……】
It had thought it had bound itself to some terrifying weapon, but how had it ended up with such a clueless little fool?
【You have to figure it out yourself! Am I supposed to do it for you later when you and the male lead start getting intimate too?!】
Ruan Jiaqi’s butterfly-like eyelashes finally fluttered.
“Can you?”
【OF、COURSE、NOT！！！】
Ruan Jiaqi pursed her lips in disappointment.
The liquid in the wineglass shimmered with a dark-red glow, reflecting Qin Ziyan’s twisted face.
Under the man’s watchful gaze, she reached out and accepted the glass.
Her fingertips lightly pinched the stem of the transparent crystal glass.
The next second—
She suddenly loosened her grip, as though she simply hadn’t held it properly.
Clatter!
The glass fell onto the carpet, and the dark-red liquid spilled everywhere.
【OOC WARNING!】
【Character deviation: 35%.】
【Host, what are you doing?! I told you to switch the drink with Hua Yao’s, not spill it!!!】
The system was becoming increasingly frantic.
Ruan Jiaqi looked completely innocent and answered honestly, “But I couldn’t think of a way.”
System: 【……】
Actually, she was lying to the system.
In her previous life, Ruan Jiaqi had already witnessed far too many schemes for winning favor in the inner chambers. She had long since seen the effects of this kind of drug.
She had come from a dark, feudal era. These vicious and underhanded methods of harming people were nothing new to her.
Her second aunt had once used this very drug to frame her fourth aunt.
When the drug took effect, the fourth aunt and a servant were caught in bed by Master Ruan himself.
Master Ruan had ordered people to cut off the servant’s genitals and the fourth aunt’s breasts and feed them to the dogs.
The servant died on the spot from the excruciating pain.
The fourth aunt had a higher tolerance for pain than the man and survived.
But that was clearly not a good thing.
From that day onward, the fourth aunt was permanently locked inside the most remote and gloomy abandoned woodshed in the Ruan residence.
In the end, she went insane.
She might as well have died that day.
Whenever Ruan Jiaqi remembered the sight of two vicious dogs fighting over several pieces of bloody flesh, her stomach churned with nausea.
【Let me reiterate this one more time! Your actions just now have seriously deviated from the original character’s personality!】
The system’s tone was extremely serious.
【If your OOC level reaches 100%, you will be eliminated by the System Administration Bureau!!!】
Ruan Jiaqi pursed her lips.
“What happens when I’m eliminated?”
【You die.】
“Oh.”
Ruan Jiaqi fell silent for a while.
So she would simply die.
That sounded rather easy.
“How long will I still be able to live before I die?”
【At this rate of character deviation, if it happens slowly, you’ll have about a month. If it happens quickly, you might have only a few days.】
Ruan Jiaqi fell silent again.
A few days.
Fine. Although it was a little short, it would be enough to fulfill her wish.
The Hua family seemed quite wealthy. Presumably, her nominal husband would be more than willing to spend some money to get rid of this troublesome wife.
Once she had money, the world would be hers to explore. She could freely spend her remaining days however she pleased.
If it weren’t for this evil System clinging to her, being given another chance at life really would have been wonderful.
Unfortunately, she was unwilling to harm others simply to complete a mission, and she couldn’t bring herself to sell her body and serve a man who had no feelings for her.
She might as well live freely and leave without regrets.
After all, she had no one here to worry about. Once the novelty wore off, every day afterward would just be a repetition of the last.
An unprecedented sense of lightness washed away all the gloom in her heart.
Ruan Jiaqi raised her head. The corners of her lips curved slightly upward, and her eyes held the calmness that came after making a firm decision.
“System, I’ve made up my mind.”
“I don’t want to play this vicious supporting female character anymore.”
“When the time comes, whatever you, this evil spirit, plan to do with me, so be it.”
【……】
The system was genuinely devastated.
Who had called it an evil spirit?
It was obviously an auspicious little creature! (⑉꒦ິ^꒦ິ⑉)
It was so miserable. It had been bound to a failing student.
A failing student was bad enough, but this one had actually given up entirely!
Waaah! It was going to fail its quarterly performance target again…
It was tired.
Forget it. Let everything be destroyed.
The entire system instantly deflated. Even its electronic voice became much weaker, sounding somewhat wilted and melancholy.
【Fine… Since the host has already made her decision, the system will not interfere with the host’s will. I will now enter sleep mode.】
【From this point onward, the host may freely act according to her own wishes. The system will no longer interfere or provide reminders.】
【Countdown before the system enters sleep mode. Five… four… three… two… one…】
【Beep———】
The next second, the noisy, childish voice in Ruan Jiaqi’s mind disappeared completely.
The world instantly became peaceful.
At the same time, a wound suddenly appeared out of nowhere on her wrist.
Her skin grew increasingly pale, like frost beneath the moonlight. Beneath that bloodless flesh, a faint, ominous bluish-green color gradually emerged.
It looked almost like livor mortis.
It seemed this bizarre world of transmigration had begun punishing her for acting out of character.
Her life was visibly slipping away.
……
In an instant, the scene before Ruan Jiaqi’s eyes began moving again.
Hua Yao, sitting to her right, let out a scream.
“Ah———!!”
“RUAN! JIA! QI! You did that on purpose, didn’t you?! You vicious, scheming woman!”
The spilled red wine had splashed all over Hua Yao. She now stood there in a miserable state, frantically lifting the hem of her dress as she practically sprang out of her seat.