In the heavily air-conditioned lounge, Su Murui sat with her eyes closed, a blanket draped over her body. Her assistant, Xiao Zhang, sat beside her, occasionally opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t bring herself to speak. In her hands was a cup of steaming hot milk tea.
On ordinary days, Miss Su was willful, temperamental, and had quite the attitude. But when she was asleep, she looked like a beautiful porcelain doll—quiet and lovely, the kind of beauty that made it difficult to look away.
“Miss Su, the show is about to begin.”
Xiao Zhang didn’t want to disturb Su Murui’s precious nap time. For the past week, Su Murui had been getting no more than three hours of sleep each day.
Although Xiao Zhang often had plenty of complaints about her employer, she had to admit that if she were getting so little sleep herself, she probably wouldn’t have a better temper than Su Murui.
However, her phone had already rung for the sixteenth time, and the backstage staff had changed Su Murui’s performance slot to the second-to-last position—the closing act.
Fortunately, it seemed that God had heard her silent prayers. At that very moment, Su Murui opened her eyes. Her gaze was clear and composed, showing neither anger nor displeasure. She simply tossed the blanket covering her onto Assistant Xiao Zhang.
Then, she gestured for the makeup artist beside her to touch up her makeup.
Meanwhile, she began recalling the lyrics of the song Su Murui was about to perform onstage.
She was not Su Murui.
More precisely, she was not the Su Murui of this world.
She was merely a mission-taker who happened to share the same name as the Su Murui in this world.
Her mission here was simple: accumulate Favorability Points, fill up her energy reserves, and leave this world.
The energy accumulated from three thousand mission worlds could be converted into points in her original world, allowing her to survive there.
Of course, that was only if she successfully completed her missions. Failure would result in points being deducted instead.
In this world, the body she occupied belonged to a female supporting character. She was a rich and beautiful young lady who had been gorgeous since childhood. There was nothing she wanted that she couldn’t obtain—except for her idol, Leng Yan.
Leng Yan was an actor on the side, but his primary occupation was serving as the CEO of a multinational conglomerate.
Rumor had it that he had entered the entertainment industry solely for the sake of the woman he held dear in his heart, his unattainable first love, Leng Qingyue.
Leng Qingyue was the female protagonist, a helpless orphan adopted by the Leng family who had grown up alongside Leng Yan.
In every production Leng Yan appeared in, Leng Qingyue was inevitably cast as the female lead.
All of Leng Qingyue’s kissing scenes were filmed with Leng Yan.
As for Su Murui, she was Leng Yan’s designated marriage partner in a family-arranged alliance—a pampered, spoiled, and willful rich young lady.
In order to win Leng Yan’s heart, she severed ties with the Su family and entered the entertainment industry, all for the sake of competing with Leng Qingyue for him.
Unlike Leng Qingyue, who had Leng Yan protecting her every step of the way and was cast as the female lead right from her debut, the young lady had to find her own way to survive after losing the support of the Su family.
And her strategy was simple: cling to Leng Yan’s name and publicly tear Leng Qingyue down.
She even had her Weibo account officially verified as Leng Yan’s fiancée.
In just two short years, her popularity had remained high, despite having no notable works to her name and an endless stream of scandals.
She was practically the textbook definition of a vicious female supporting character.
Even her opportunity to perform at this event had come about only because it was the company’s annual gala.
Yet, she had insisted on courting trouble by competing with a group of major celebrities for a better performance slot.
When her song finally ended, the audience below responded with nothing but boos.
In the simultaneous livestream, her haters continued posting sarcastic comments:
“Did Su Murui’s makeup artist put on two layers of fake eyelashes today? They’re so thick and black! She looks like a female ghost!”
“Has anyone noticed that she actually managed to sing without going off-key today? Is she lip-syncing?”
“Her dress is even shorter again! She’s shameless. Is she deliberately trying to expose herself?”
“Those boots must have hidden heels, right? The kind that add more than ten centimeters?”
“Wasn’t she supposed to perform fourth on the program? Now she’s the closing act. Did she sleep with the director again?”
Comments like these continued until the livestream ended. Hardly anyone even paid attention to the performer who appeared after Su Murui.
“Give me my phone.”
After returning to the dressing room, Su Murui asked Xiao Zhang for her phone.
“Your phone is charging.”
Xiao Zhang gave an awkward smile. She assumed Su Murui wanted to check the comments on the livestream. She simply couldn’t understand why her employer insisted on reading all those insults. So many people were cursing her, yet she still wanted to look. Every time she finished reading them and got upset, she would end up smashing things.
Su Murui glanced at Xiao Zhang. The latter looked guilty but still didn’t take out the phone. Since that was the case, Su Murui didn’t press the matter.
“Then book me a reservation at Jinhang Club. I’m heading there right now.”
“Jinhang Club?”
Xiao Zhang was stunned.
Jinhang Club was an upscale swimming club. Su Murui was afraid of water. What on earth did she want to go there for?
But the only response she received was Su Murui’s retreating figure.
When Shen Mo jumped into the water, his only thought was to save the person. He hadn’t considered anything else.
It wasn’t until he had pulled the person out and clearly seen her face that regret flooded his heart.
Su Murui!
The woman who looked down on him, insulted and humiliated him because he was poor, refused to acknowledge the marriage agreement between their two families, and instead shamelessly pursued the eldest young master of the Leng family. She was also the woman notorious for her endless scandals in the entertainment industry.
It wasn’t that he thought Su Murui deserved to die because of her behavior. Rather, if he had known it was her, he would have let someone else rescue her instead of jumping into the water himself.
When Su Murui opened her eyes, she saw Shen Mo’s cold, stern expression. She felt relieved.
Thank goodness. He hadn’t turned evil yet. At least he still knew to save someone when he saw them drowning.
She coughed once, making sure that although she looked disheveled, she still appeared beautiful. Then she slowly got up and gazed at Shen Mo with her large, misty eyes.
“Did you save me?”
“Yes.”
There was no one else around at the moment, so there was no point denying it.
“Thank you.”
Su Murui looked at him with genuine gratitude.
Shen Mo fell silent.
Had she failed to recognize him?
Well, it made sense. The eldest Miss Su had countless admirers. He was merely one of the men she had discarded. Why would she bother remembering him?
By then, Su Murui had already gotten up and composed herself with calm determination. She straightened her clothes, then turned around and smiled gently at him with her pale face.
“Let me treat you to a meal.”
So she really hadn’t recognized him.
In that case, it would be best if they never crossed paths again.
“No need.”
He rejected her coldly, stood up, and prepared to leave.
“President Shen!”
Leng Qingyue hurriedly rushed inside, holding a towel in her hands. She was dressed in a long-sleeved top and long pants, hardly looking like someone who had come to swim.
When she saw Shen Mo looking thoroughly disheveled, she immediately tried to put a bathrobe and towel around him.
Unfortunately, she was terribly clumsy. She couldn’t even put the bathrobe on properly, and the towel ended up in a messy heap on Shen Mo’s shoulders. Then, feeling flustered, she tried to help dry him off. Not only did she fail to get him dry, but she also managed to take quite a few liberties with him in the process.
Shen Mo looked extremely embarrassed, yet Leng Qingyue seemed completely oblivious.
Su Murui watched from the side, finding the scene rather amusing.
As expected of the female lead. Even when paired with a villain, she could still create such a suggestive and intimate scene.
Su Murui had gone to such lengths and even risked her life, yet Shen Mo hadn’t given her so much as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He had merely pressed down on her stomach a few times.
Fortunately, she wasn’t the original Su Murui and wasn’t afraid of water.
Otherwise, judging from Shen Mo’s hesitation and disgusted expression, how could she possibly have waited until she was on the verge of giving up before waking up on her own?
In the original novel, Leng Qingyue hadn’t liked Leng Yan at first. After all, he was technically her older brother. Instead, she had fallen for a poor but brilliant male student at school.
Unfortunately, that male student already had a childhood engagement arranged for him.
The top student was determined to make something of himself so that he could marry his childhood fiancée. However, his fiancée didn’t want him.
Thinking that she finally had a chance, Leng Qingyue approached him, but the heartbroken young man left without a trace and never appeared again.
When they met again, the former top student had already become President Shen, while she had become a rising star in the entertainment industry.
Determined to pursue love at all costs, Leng Qingyue immediately rejected the arrangements Leng Yan had made for her. She abandoned the company that had been established specifically for her under the Leng family’s name and joined Shen Mo’s company instead.
Not only that, she even became Shen Mo’s personal assistant, showing absolutely no concern for her own acting career.
Enraged, Leng Yan used every means at his disposal to suppress Shen Mo. However, Shen Mo effortlessly countered every attack. In the end, Leng Yan only succeeded in pushing his beloved younger sister even further toward Shen Mo.
Now, Leng Qingyue and Leng Yan were locked in a cold war, while she acted all shy and bashful whenever she was around Shen Mo.
“No need.”
Unfortunately, Shen Mo was an exceptionally dense man when it came to romance. He had no idea what Leng Qingyue was thinking.
He took the bathrobe from her and put it on himself before walking around her, intending to leave.
“President Shen… Did I do something wrong?”
His cold attitude made Leng Qingyue feel terribly wronged. She bit her lower lip, looking as though she were about to burst into tears.
Even Su Murui, a woman herself, couldn’t help applauding inwardly at the sight.
What a pitiful and delicate beauty! If she were a man, she wouldn’t be able to bear treating her so coldly either.
But Shen Mo, who was apparently not a man in the romantic sense, turned to look at her.
“Didn’t you say you were going to treat me to a meal?”
“Huh?”
The sudden change in his attitude caught Su Murui so off guard that she couldn’t quite keep up.
Fortunately, her body reacted faster than her mind. She quickly took a few steps to catch up with Shen Mo and even reached out to link her arm through his.
Shen Mo clearly looked annoyed, but he didn’t pull his arm away.
“President Shen…”
Only then did Leng Qingyue reluctantly remember to look at Su Murui.
The moment she recognized her face, astonishment spread across her delicate features.
“Why is it you?”
Su Murui looked at her with a completely innocent expression.
“Do you know me?”
“You… You…”
Leng Qingyue and Su Murui had crossed paths countless times.
Back when they were still students, Su Murui was always visiting the Leng family. After graduation, she was constantly showing up at Leng Yan’s office. Wherever Leng Yan was, Su Murui was sure to appear.
Leng Yan avoided her, so Leng Qingyue was often forced to deal with Su Murui on his behalf.
Back then, she hadn’t been without sympathy for Su Murui. Her older brother was simply too heartless. Su Murui was beautiful and came from a good family. She was just a little bad-tempered and somewhat spoiled. Why did her brother always ignore her?
But later, when her brother confessed his feelings to her, she began avoiding him. After that, whenever she encountered Su Murui, things became awkward.
Su Murui had somehow found out about what had happened between her and Leng Yan and constantly targeted her.
Although Leng Qingyue felt somewhat guilty toward her, she also believed she was innocent. It was Leng Yan who had fallen for her, not the other way around. She hadn’t been the one to deliberately pursue him.
Why should Su Murui keep blaming her?
She would have preferred never to have known Su Murui at all.
Yet now, Su Murui herself was claiming not to recognize her. Somehow, that made Leng Qingyue feel even more uncomfortable.
“Is she your assistant?”
Su Murui turned to look at Shen Mo and raised an eyebrow.
Although the droplets of water on her body hadn’t completely dried, her naturally noble and alluring aura remained impossible to conceal. Her stunning beauty and captivating charm were not diminished by the slightest bit of dishevelment.
If anything, the water droplets only made her look even more seductive and enchanting.
Shen Mo neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply continued walking.
He didn’t want to be attracted to this bewitching, bad-tempered young lady again, much less get entangled with the woman who was the object of Leng Yan’s affection.