Su Qinghe froze where she stood, her soul trembling.
Not from fear.
From embarrassment.
The kind of embarrassment so overwhelming that she could practically carve out an entire three bedroom apartment with her toes on the floor of this five star hotel.
She had just mocked this novel.
It was one of those brainless web novels she had randomly opened to relax. She had seen her fans complain about it before. Some of them had even called it out, asking why the vicious, brainless villainess supporting character had been given the same name as their idol. Most people assumed it had been written by an anti fan.
Her manager had told her not to read it. The company was already gathering evidence and negotiating with the author.
But the more her manager told her not to read it, the more curious she became.
So she clicked on it anyway.
To torture the villainess supporting character, the original author had forcibly written her into a lunatic with no common sense. Drugging people, forcefully kissing them, obsessively pursuing them, getting herself condemned across the internet, one disastrous move after another until she practically delivered herself to her own destruction.
The readers had cursed the character relentlessly.
Many of those readers were Su Qinghe’s own fans.
Even worse, the author had refused to back down later and had deliberately revised the story to add more scenes.
At a time when the original heroine already had a boyfriend, Lu Zhiheng was written into getting jealous and drinking himself into a stupor. Then Su Qinghe, the villainess, took advantage of the situation and actually slept with him.
Yes, she slept with him.
And what happened afterward?
Once Lu Zhiheng sobered up, his disgust toward her instantly hit the maximum level. He looked at her as though she were something filthy, showing her not the slightest bit of consideration.
Sleeping with him had achieved less than nothing.
It would have been better if she had never done it at all.
It was purely a humiliating scene the author had added to vent frustration on the villainess.
But why?
He was just a man.
Not some priceless treasure.
Later, the original Su Qinghe even marketed herself online as Lu Zhiheng’s fiancée. Then the hotel drugging incident was exposed. The entire internet mocked her for being shameless, clingy, and manipulative. Her family’s company suffered as a result, the stock price plummeted, and the family became a laughingstock throughout Beijing’s elite circle.
From there, she fell straight into the mud.
Her ending could not have been any more miserable.
Standing in the hotel corridor with her back against the cold wall, Su Qinghe slowly let out a breath.
That little performance just now…
Should have settled things, right?
She touched her face, then looked down at her clothes.
A red spaghetti strap dress.
Heavy makeup, eyeliner so sharp it practically flew into the sky.
Tsk! The original owner’s aesthetic was completely different from hers.
Back in the real world, she was publicly acknowledged as a top tier beauty. Everywhere she went, people praised her natural looks and ethereal aura.
Yet after transmigrating into the novel, she had become this heavily made up woman with fiery red lips who looked as though the words “I’m a bad woman” had been written directly across her face.
Well! At least the foundation was good.
Her facial features were clearly attractive.
It was just the makeup…
Pulling out her phone, she used the black screen as a mirror.
The longer she looked, the more horrified she became.
The eyeliner. The false eyelashes.
The disastrous Barbie pink lipstick.
Original Su Qinghe, were you serious?
No wonder Lu Zhiheng couldn’t possibly develop feelings for you.
As she continued silently criticizing her appearance, her hand suddenly paused.
Her phone. She unlocked it with facial recognition and quickly began scrolling.
Social media accounts.
Chat histories, photo albums.
Notes, she checked everything.
And the more she saw, the colder her heart became.
The original Su Qinghe was genuinely insane.
There were over a hundred secretly taken photos of Lu Zhiheng stored on the phone. Some were from hotel events, some from business banquets, and several had clearly been taken while following his car.
The chat history was even worse.
She had sent Lu Zhiheng countless messages.
Long confessions, accusations.
Emotional breakdowns. Not a single one had received a reply.
The last message in the pinned conversation read:
【Lu Zhiheng, why won’t you answer me? Do you hate me that much? How am I worse than that woman?】
Sent three hours ago.
Unread! Su Qinghe closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Fine, very good.
Excellent!
She was now a textbook example of a completely hopeless, utterly incurable deranged villainess supporting character and obsessive simp.
The character setting was practically welded into place.
On her social media account, the latest post had been uploaded only a few hours earlier.
The attached photo was a selfie taken in the hotel lobby.
Caption:
【Waiting for someone. Waiting for a future that belongs to me.】
Comments:
【Big Sis is waiting for President Lu again?】
【Su Qinghe, can you wake up already? Lu Zhiheng doesn’t even like you.】
【This is hilarious. President Lu doesn’t pay any attention to you. Why are you acting so devoted?】
【Big Sis, stop losing your mind. You’re about to destroy your acting career.】
After reading every comment, Su Qinghe silently put her phone back into her bag.
Help! Right now, she just wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
But she couldn’t.
First, she needed to get out of here.
Clicking across the floor in her high heels, Su Qinghe headed toward the elevator.
The moment the doors opened, she stopped.
Two people were standing inside.
One was a young woman in a white dress.
Her temperament was gentle and refined, her features delicate and beautiful. There was a fragile quality about her that naturally inspired sympathy.
Beside her stood a middle aged man in a suit, looking like either an assistant or a driver.
The young woman visibly froze when she saw Su Qinghe. Her gaze flickered before she lowered her head and quietly stepped aside.
A loud buzz exploded inside Su Qinghe’s head.
The heroine. Jiang Nian!
Yes, this was the heroine who originally had a boyfriend before Lu Zhiheng later stole her away, leading to a long and emotionally turbulent romance.
At this point in the story, Jiang Nian should still be dating her former boyfriend. Lu Zhiheng had only recently met her and was still in the stage of quietly paying attention to her.
And it was precisely because Lu Zhiheng had started paying attention to Jiang Nian during this period that Su Qinghe, the deranged villainess supporting character, completely lost her mind and resorted to drugging him.
Su Qinghe looked at her.
Jiang Nian looked back. The atmosphere became strangely delicate.
Expressionless, Su Qinghe stepped into the elevator and stood in a corner.
Jiang Nian said nothing. Neither did she.
The elevator continued downward.
When they reached the first floor, Jiang Nian and the middle aged man exited first.
Su Qinghe followed behind them at a leisurely pace, intending to slip out through a side entrance before anyone recognized her.
But just as she stepped out of the elevator, she heard a voice behind her.
“Miss Su.”
Su Qinghe stopped and turned around.
The middle aged man stood not far away, his expression professional and emotionless.
“President Lu asked me to tell you that he will investigate what happened tonight. He hopes that you… will take care of yourself.”
Su Qinghe: “…”
After two seconds of silence, she nodded very seriously.
“Investigate it. Absolutely investigate it. Once the truth is clear, call the police if necessary and arrest whoever should be arrested. I’ll fully cooperate.”
The middle aged man was visibly stunned.
He clearly had not expected that response.
Looking completely sincere, Su Qinghe continued, “Really. If you need me to assist with the investigation, contact me anytime. I’ll be there immediately and cooperate fully. Maybe I’ll even earn some leniency.”
The middle aged man: “…”
He opened his mouth, only to discover he had no idea how to respond.
Su Qinghe waved at him and walked away.
Her steps were light, completely carefree.
The middle aged man remained where he was, watching her disappear through the side entrance.
He stood there silently for a long time.
Then he pulled out his phone and sent Lu Zhiheng a message.
【President Lu, Miss Su said you should investigate. Once everything was clear, she said to call the police if necessary and arrest whoever should be arrested. She’ll cooperate fully.】
Inside the room.
Lu Zhiheng had just finished taking a cold shower.
With damp hair, he sat on the sofa and looked at the message on his phone.
His brows drew together slightly.
He remembered the way that woman had apologized earlier.
Staring at the screen, Lu Zhiheng lightly tapped his fingers against his knee twice.
After a long moment, he put the phone down without replying.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, the image of her frank and open expression kept resurfacing in his mind.
And so did that sentence: “If I ever bother you again, may every milk tea I drink for the rest of my life come without pearls.”
Lu Zhiheng rubbed his forehead.
The drug must have fried his brain.