July 1976, Qianjin Brigade.
After a torrential downpour, the south entered the Minor Heat period, and the days grew scorching hot. The rice paddies in the fields were filled with rows upon rows of golden rice.
The midday sun shone down, casting a bright sheen over the mud-brick, tiled-roof houses built against the mountain. There were three rooms standing side by side, with two main rooms and a slightly shorter woodshed to their right.
This place was rather remote, with the next houses only visible from quite a distance away. The educated youths who had come from the city to settle in the countryside lived here.
The tiled-roof house was very quiet. The only place showing any signs of activity, with cooking smoke rising from it, was the woodshed.
The woodshed was not large. Chopped firewood filled one corner, and beside it stood a wood-burning stove built from mud bricks. Flames crackled inside the firebox, and the wall had been almost completely blackened by smoke.
He He pursed her lips and walked into the woodshed with obvious displeasure, stopping beside the man.
The tall and slender young man stood in front of the wood-burning stove. He looked lean, but the hand wielding the spatula as he stir-fried the vegetables was steady and strong.
After cutting rice for several days in a row, He He’s entire body was sore and weak. She was already feeling unwell, which only worsened her mood. Her tone was completely impolite.
“Chen Jingbai, do my work for me this afternoon.”
The young man kept his eyes forward and did not respond.
His silence made He He puff up in annoyance, but she quickly deflated again. She had almost forgotten that Chen Jingbai had poor hearing. She could only reach out and tug at his sleeve with her fingertips as though she found even that distasteful.
She didn’t like Chen Jingbai. It wasn’t only because his family belonged to the “Stinking Ninth Category,” but also because he had done bad things.
She didn’t need to be nice to a bad person!
He He raised her voice. “Chen Jingbai, did you hear me? Do my work this afternoon. I’ll give you lotus flower cakes tonight.”
She was giving him lotus flower cakes in exchange for doing her work. That was already good enough of her.
The clanging of the spatula against the iron wok drowned out He He’s voice. It wasn’t until someone tugged at the corner of his clothes that Chen Jingbai noticed someone standing beside him.
His hearing had been impaired by an accident. Only when someone spoke loudly enough could he hear them clearly.
He He, who had always complained that the woodshed was dirty, had actually been willing to come inside just to order him to do her work that afternoon. Chen Jingbai found it somewhat laughable.
His long lashes concealed the indifference in his eyes as he stared unblinkingly at He He’s very deceptive face.
Uncomfortable under his stare, He He curled her lips and muttered, “What are you looking at, deaf guy?”
The moment she finished speaking, He He’s slender body swayed, and her head spun for a moment.
The sound of pages turning came from nowhere, rustling beside He He’s ears.
A beautifully bound book appeared before her. Four large characters were printed across its cover: Book of the World. As its pages turned, vivid words appeared before He He’s eyes.
With every page that turned, He He’s round eyes widened a little more, her face filled with disbelief.
The book said that this world was made up of countless era novels. The protagonists of every novel followed sweet and happy paths of advancement, ultimately reaping success in both love and career.
As for her, He He, she was a supporting female character shared by this entire world—and a vicious supporting female character despised by everyone at that.
As the vicious supporting female character, she passed through the lives of male and female protagonists all over the world, courting disaster wherever she went.
This strange and bizarre thing completely overturned He He’s understanding of the world.
She was born in a government compound. Her mother, Cheng Fenghua, died of illness when she was six. Only a few months after Cheng Fenghua’s death, her father, He Zhongguo, married another woman.
Two years later, He Zhongguo brought back from her paternal grandparents’ home in the countryside the daughter they had adopted while He He’s mother was still alive.
After her adopted elder sister, He Shuying, came home, her stepmother, Wang Fangrong, was obviously much better to He Shuying.
Later, Wang Fangrong gave birth to a son, which pleased He Zhongguo even more. As a result, He He’s situation at home grew even worse.
From time to time, He Shuying would frame her. Every bad thing that happened at home was blamed on her, and with Wang Fangrong whispering into her father’s ear, He He gradually became a troublesome child in her father’s eyes.
When she was little, she didn’t understand why. She only knew that it made her sad. Later, there came a time when she could no longer endure it. She went to her maternal grandparents’ home and, for the first time, cried to her grandmother and aunts about everything. Only then did she learn that what her stepmother and adopted elder sister were doing was wrong.
Her grandmother and several aunts also told her that no matter what happened in the future, she must never keep things bottled up inside. Whenever she realized something was wrong, she had to bravely speak up, even if what she had to say was unpleasant to hear.
Her maternal family had four uncles, as well as several older male cousins who were more than ten years older than her. After hearing her cry, they went straight to her home to stand up for her.
They arrived in such an imposing manner that He Zhongguo didn’t dare offend her grandfather and uncles. He repeatedly assured them that Wang Fangrong had never deliberately treated the girls differently and promised that they would treat He He well from then on.
Under their pressure, Wang Fangrong even gave He He a ten-yuan note in a red envelope as an apology. He He was ten that year.
From then on, no one dared bully her openly. Whenever she wanted money, she would confidently hold out her hand and ask He Zhongguo for it directly. Wang Fangrong didn’t dare stop her and even had to make a show of treating everyone equally.
After they grew older, He Shuying often continued acting one way to her face and another behind her back. He He suffered quite a few schemes at the hands of this adopted elder sister.
In the eyes of their neighbors, He Shuying was gentle and proper, while He He spoke harshly and had no manners. With the two of them compared side by side, He He naturally became the vicious one.
The people in the compound were so fragile. All she did was tell the truth sometimes.
When an auntie in the compound showed off the new dress she’d bought and grabbed He He as she passed by to ask what she thought, He He truthfully said it was ugly. The auntie scolded her for speaking so unpleasantly.
The director of the Women’s Federation bragged in the compound about how hard her son studied, how good his grades were at school, and how he was sure to get into high school. She even belittled He He for having poor grades and being near the bottom of her class.
He He heard her, walked over, and pointed out that Zhang Qiang was dead last in his class and altered his grades on his exam papers every time they were handed back. At least He He was fifth from the bottom, so her grades were better than Zhang Qiang’s.
The Women’s Federation director stormed home in a rage, and for several days afterward, the sounds of “bamboo-cane stir-fried pork” came from her house.
The other aunties in the compound said He He should have told the Women’s Federation director privately. What intentions could she possibly have had by pointing it out in front of everyone?
Then there was Uncle Wang next door, who still had an original wife back in the countryside. After He He discovered it, she kindly told Auntie Wang.
The Wang household was thrown into complete chaos, yet the people in the compound called her vicious and accused her of deliberately trying to break up a married couple.
That was why everyone in the government compound said the He family had two daughters, one in heaven and one on earth. Even Ye Minglang, who had constantly followed behind He He before He Shuying arrived, eventually saw her true nature and got together with He Shuying.
And in this book, He Shuying and Ye Minglang were the female and male leads.
As the female lead who successfully rose to the top as a substitute, He Shuying won the hearts of both their father and her childhood sweetheart. She caused He He to be rejected by her father and called vicious by her childhood sweetheart, then set He He up to go to the countryside in her place, while she remained beside the childhood sweetheart who had admired He He, playing the role of an understanding and considerate little white flower.
With the destitute He He returning to the city as her backdrop, He Shuying finally moved the heart of the male lead, her childhood sweetheart Ye Minglang, and got her wish of marrying him.
Meanwhile, He He’s life came to an abrupt end with a tragic conclusion.
Once her part in the city storyline ended, she went to the countryside in He Shuying’s place and arrived at Qianjin Brigade as an educated youth, entering yet another era novel, this one starring Chen Jingyi and Cheng Sulin.
As the vicious supporting female character, she frequently appeared around Cheng Sulin. It wasn’t enough that she interfered with the relationship between the male and female leads; she also constantly ordered the male lead around and bullied the female lead’s younger brother.
Chen Jingyi mistakenly believed that He He and Cheng Sulin liked each other. No matter how much she liked Cheng Sulin, she didn’t dare take the first step, and her emotions rose and fell because of He He. In the end, the two cleared up their misunderstanding and finally found happiness after enduring hardship.
Cheng Sulin, a poor student, managed to get into university with the help of top student Chen Jingyi. Meanwhile, after the two of them got into university and left, He He wasted several years in the countryside and still failed to get into university. In the end, it was only through her maternal family’s connections that she was finally brought back to the city.
But because of years of pent-up frustration, overwork, and binge eating, she hadn’t enjoyed her good days back in the city for long before she fell seriously ill and died.
He He felt as though this world treated her like a mud brick, moving her wherever one was needed.
Cheng Sulin was her cousin’s son—in other words, her nephew. Why would such an absurd plotline be arranged for her too?
At first, He He doubted whether this book was real, but then she felt that something this bizarre couldn’t possibly be fake. Everything the book said was exactly what she had experienced before being sent to the countryside.
The book didn’t provide much information, only a general synopsis, but He He felt that everything written in it was true.
Thinking about her tragic ending, He He felt the world spin above her head and nearly failed to catch her breath. When she came back to her senses, she glanced at Chen Jingbai and saw that he was still calmly cooking.
Even the sight of Chen Jingbai cooking looked like something out of a movie. He He clenched her fists and bit her lower lip.
She was a little jealous.
Chen Jingbai, who stood before her now, was the female lead Chen Jingyi’s younger brother and also the comeback male protagonist of a male-oriented era novel. He had suffered greatly in his youth and was even bullied by a female educated youth after being sent down to the countryside. His easy-to-bully appearance was only superficial. In reality, his methods were ruthless, and he repaid every slight. Not long after returning to the city, he would rely on himself to rise step by step until he became a major figure in his field.
And she was precisely the vicious female educated youth who bullied Chen Jingbai in the countryside. She leaned close to his ear to tease him, threatened and ordered him into doing her work, and fooled around with his future brother-in-law—doing practically everything she could to offend him.
Chen Jingbai’s family background was bad. His family’s elders had been sent down to the remote northwest, and even he and his elder sister, Chen Jingyi, had been sent down here. They were so poor that they had to split a single dinner between the two of them, and normally, they would have starved to death without her helping them out.
His life was already so miserable, yet he could still maintain that indifferent expression all the time.
She didn’t like how Chen Jingbai always wore that faint, lifeless expression no matter what he looked at. Even when those shameless louts in the brigade cursed at him, he never said anything, as though he didn’t care.
He He’s gaze remained fixed on Chen Jingbai. While she had been lost in thought receiving all that information, Chen Jingbai hadn’t paid any attention to her at all. He had simply finished stir-frying the vegetables and plated them. Now, he had started making sweet potato porridge.
She couldn’t tell what Chen Jingbai was feeling, but she could sense that the air around him had grown a little colder than when she’d first entered.
It seemed to be because she’d just called him deaf.
At the volume she’d spoken, Chen Jingbai couldn’t hear her, but he could read lips.
He He bit her lip.
What should she do? According to the book, she had already thoroughly offended this future big shot.
She had never expected the college entrance examination to be reinstated. Her grades were poor, and Cheng Sulin’s grades were poor too. Even if she started preparing now, she didn’t believe she could get into university entirely on her own.
After all, the book said she’d taken the exam for three years and still failed. Without someone with good grades tutoring her, there was simply no way she could manage it by studying alone.
She had offended both Chen Jingbai and Chen Jingyi, who had good grades. Now there was no one who could tutor her so she could get into university.
She didn’t want to experience the things described in the book. Building a good relationship with the future big shot was necessary.
And she didn’t just want to get into university and return to the city. She didn’t want to be a vicious supporting female character either.
She wanted to be the female lead.
Chen Jingbai was the male protagonist of a male-oriented era novel, and the book hadn’t mentioned him having a partner. If she could become Chen Jingbai’s partner, wouldn’t that mean she could become the female lead too?
He He’s tea-brown eyes flickered again and again as she tried hard to recall how she had interacted with Chen Jingbai in the past.
She hadn’t treated Chen Jingbai that badly, had she? Aside from calling him deaf, but she hadn’t said anything wrong. Chen Jingbai was deaf. Besides, she wasn’t the only one who called him that. Plenty of brigade members had called him deaf too, and he’d never cared. Surely there was no reason for him to hold it against only her.
Besides… besides, she had treated him pretty well too. Whenever she made him do her work, it wasn’t as though she didn’t compensate him afterward. Every time he helped her, she gave him enough food for one filling meal.
Food in the countryside wasn’t good. Over the past two years, Chen Jingbai had eaten so much of her food. Surely he wouldn’t be so petty as to hate her just because she’d called him deaf a few times.
He He twisted her fingers together in front of her stomach.
Chen Jingbai shouldn’t be such a petty person. That’s right. After spending two years around each other, Chen Jingbai definitely wouldn’t care about the few casual times she’d called him deaf.
Then there should still be some possibility of winning Chen Jingbai’s heart and making him like her, right?
But before that, she first had to make sure Chen Jingbai didn’t hate her.
He He hesitated on the spot for a moment. Pretending to ask casually, she raised her voice and called out to Chen Jingbai,
“Hey, Chen Jingbai, do you hate me?”
Her long, curled lashes trembled lightly. She was a little afraid that Chen Jingbai would say he hated her.