Yu Huan had been running around all day and was already exhausted. Not long after getting into the car, she started dozing off.
Before long, she was fast asleep.
The car fell quiet.
Xu Yunshu suddenly spoke, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t disturb Yu Huan.
“Brother, could you take me to Shenyuan?”
“You’ve moved out?”
“Yeah.” Xu Yunshu pretended to sound casual. “I’m already this old. It doesn’t seem appropriate for me to keep living at the Zhu family home.”
Zhu Heqing said, “No matter how old you are, you’re still family. What’s inappropriate about you living at your own home?”
Xu Yunshu bit her lip without answering.
Of course, she could return to the Zhu family. Years ago, she had publicly acknowledged Zhu Heqing’s parents as her godparents.
People in their social circle secretly speculated that there was something unusual between her and Zhu Heqing, but because of the status of both the Zhu and Xu families, no one dared say it to her face.
As long as she had a clear conscience, she could simply ignore it.
After all, the innocent had nothing to fear. Rumors would eventually prove themselves false.
But Xu Yunshu couldn’t claim to have a clear conscience.
She had really fallen for the older brother she wasn’t related to by blood, just as those gossipmongers had said.
Even though she and Zhu Heqing shared no biological relation, Zhu’s parents genuinely regarded her as their daughter. What she was doing was, in a sense, a slap in the face to the Zhu family.
When the rumors first began circulating, Xu Yunshu chose to run away.
She was afraid of seeing disappointment in Zhu’s parents’ eyes.
Even more than that, she was afraid of seeing disgust in Zhu Heqing’s eyes.
That would hurt more than death.
Zhu Heqing didn’t ask any further.
Xu Yunshu was already an adult, and he respected her decision.
“If you don’t get used to living outside, you can always come home.”
Xu Yunshu quietly hummed in response.
After dropping her off at Shenyuan, Zhu Heqing watched until Xu Yunshu went inside.
Then he opened the passenger-side door and adjusted Yu Huan’s seat. He took a blanket from the storage compartment and gently covered her with it.
Yu Huan had never been a peaceful sleeper. Being moved around and having a blanket placed over her made her uncomfortable, so her delicate brows unconsciously knitted together.
She let out a dissatisfied little hum.
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Zhu Heqing lovingly reached out to smooth the crease between her brows.
The moment his fingers touched her forehead, he felt an intense heat.
His large palm rested against her forehead.
She was burning up.
Zhu Heqing’s expression changed instantly.
Yu Huan felt terrible.
One moment she was freezing, the next she was burning hot. Her head throbbed painfully, as though someone were drilling into her skull.
After a while, she felt like a tiny boat drifting on the sea, being tossed up and down by violent waves.
Yu Huan whimpered several times before struggling to open her eyes.
Her vision wouldn’t focus. All she could see was pale light rushing past, while a booming sound echoed in her ears.
What was that sound?
Something in her mind kept urging her to sink into darkness.
Just before her consciousness faded completely, she saw a sharply defined jaw and heard someone say,
“Doctor, my wife has a high fever.”
Oh.
Yu Huan thought.
So that was Zhu Heqing’s heartbeat.
Reassured, Yu Huan let that strange sensation pull her back into darkness.
She couldn’t tell whether it was a dream or something else.
Suddenly, a memory that didn’t belong to Yu Huan forced its way into her mind, dominating her consciousness.
That memory told her that the world she lived in was actually a novel.
She wasn’t the protagonist.
She was merely a named cannon-fodder female supporting character.
The protagonist was the woman she had just met—Xu Yunshu.
And her boyfriend, Zhu Heqing, was the novel’s devoted second male lead: a man who failed to recognize his own feelings, ultimately losing the woman he loved and never successfully winning her back.
The story began with Zhu Heqing getting a girlfriend while Xu Yunshu returned from overseas.
The situation created a rift between them and gave the male lead an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
As for “Yu Huan,” she was overly spoiled and arrogant. She treated Zhu Heqing as her personal possession and refused to allow any other women near him, causing no shortage of embarrassing incidents.
This gradually exhausted Zhu Heqing’s patience with her.
Unwilling to accept this, and too foolish to think things through, “Yu Huan” easily fell for other people’s provocations.
She became convinced that the problems between her and Zhu Heqing were all because of Xu Yunshu.
So she used every possible means to target Xu Yunshu—drugging her, framing her, and countless other schemes.
Yet none of those methods actually hurt Xu Yunshu.
Instead, they pushed Xu Yunshu and the male lead closer together while simultaneously helping Zhu Heqing finally recognize his own feelings.
He had always been in love with his nominal younger sister.
Once he understood his true feelings, Zhu Heqing decisively broke up with “Yu Huan” and returned all the schemes she had used against Xu Yunshu to her tenfold.
In the end, because of Zhu Heqing and Xu Yunshu’s revenge, “Yu Huan” lost everything.
Her family was destroyed, she became homeless, and she was eventually killed miserably by a runaway truck while begging on the streets.
The pain was so real that Yu Huan suddenly jolted awake.
Her little face was deathly pale, and her dark eyes were filled with terror.
She clutched her chest and gasped for breath as tears uncontrollably rolled down her cheeks, falling onto the white bedsheet and leaving faint, damp circles.
It took a long while before Yu Huan could finally calm herself down.
She looked around and realized she was in a private hospital room.
An IV bag hung beside the bed, steadily dripping medicine into her vein.
Several documents were scattered across the coffee table nearby.
Zhu Heqing’s coat had been taken off and placed on the sofa, but he wasn’t there.
When Zhu Heqing returned carrying a thermal food container, he immediately saw Yu Huan with red-rimmed eyes and tear tracks still visible on her cheeks.
Her hair was messy and stuck to her face, making her look like a little kitten that had been bullied.
“Why are you crying? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”
Zhu Heqing set the food down and reached out to check her temperature.
Smack!
Yu Huan slapped his hand away.
A red mark immediately appeared on the back of his hand.
The moment Yu Huan saw Zhu Heqing, she remembered the cold and heartless version of him from her dream.
She didn’t want him touching her at all.
“Good girl, let me feel your forehead.”
Zhu Heqing’s voice was gentle and coaxing.
“If you’re upset, you can hit me as much as you want. But first, let me make sure your fever is gone, okay?”
He reached out again.
But once again, he couldn’t touch her.
An angry Yu Huan was even harder to soothe than an emperor.
With another smack, she knocked his hand away and then curled herself completely under the blanket, closing her eyes and pretending she couldn’t see him.
If she had been afraid before, now she was left with nothing but disbelief and an inability to accept reality.
She couldn’t believe she was a cannon-fodder female supporting character.
She absolutely couldn’t accept that she was merely a cannon-fodder female supporting character.
She was this beautiful.
She was this kind and considerate.
Everyone who had ever met her said she was born to be the main character.
Why was she only a cannon-fodder?!
Even the name “cannon-fodder female supporting character” made it obvious that she wouldn’t have much screen time.
At the very least, shouldn’t she have been the vicious female supporting character?!
And another thing!
Yu Huan secretly lifted the blanket and stuck one foot out, kicking Zhu Heqing directly in the stomach.
One kick wasn’t enough to vent her anger, so she kicked him several more times.
It was clearly Zhu Heqing who had pursued her in the first place.
She had only agreed to date him because of how sincerely he had pursued her.
So why was he the one who ended up dumping her?
She was young, beautiful, and wonderful.
If anyone was going to ask for a breakup, it should have been her!