What is it like to open your eyes and find yourself lying in the arms of an exceptionally handsome young man?
Qiao Sheng naturally assumed that she, a forever-single girl, had been hit by a truck and sent straight to heaven.
The handsome young man lowered his gaze, his eyes filled with deep sorrow. “Stop tormenting yourself. I promise you, okay?”
That tone of helpless compromise jolted Qiao Sheng awake from her dazed state.
This line… it sounded oddly familiar…
Uncertain, she needed to observe further.
The young man continued, “I won’t go to the competition. I’ll take you to the comic convention tomorrow. Please eat something—if you keep this up, you’ll starve yourself to death.”
Qiao Sheng’s mind buzzed as if struck by a freezing wind of minus twenty degrees Celsius. The blood that had been boiling in her veins instantly froze, and she plummeted from heaven straight into hell.
It was confirmed—she had transmigrated into the youth campus harem novel she had just read before the accident!
The young man before her, Gu Huo, was the male lead of this novel’s world, a future super tycoon with immense power and wealth beyond measure.
And Qiao Sheng had stayed by the male lead’s side long before he rose to prominence.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the beloved female lead of the novel, but… the villainess…
Before achieving fame and success, the male lead’s fate was fraught with hardship.
At the age of eight, the homeless male lead was taken in by a kind-hearted grandmother on a stormy night.
The grandmother had no children and made a living by collecting scraps, relying on her granddaughter—the villainess—for companionship.
Later, when the grandmother passed away from illness, to repay her kindness, the male lead willingly took on the burden of caring for the villainess.
However, as the one being cared for with utmost devotion, the villainess took advantage of the grandmother’s lingering goodwill, treating the male lead’s kindness as her due. She was lazy and gluttonous, recklessly squandering his hard-earned scholarship money, making their lives increasingly difficult and forcing the male lead to juggle his studies, household chores, and part-time jobs just to make ends meet.
But that wasn’t all.
Driven by her dark, twisted mindset, she feared that the male lead would eventually leave her behind once he succeeded. She schemed and meddled, sabotaging one opportunity after another in his life, binding him tightly to her and dragging them both into the dark abyss of the lower class. Like a leech, she clung to him shamelessly, eager to suck him dry of his last drop of blood.
Later, when the male lead rose to prominence and returned to his wealthy family, the villainess dreamed of marrying into the Gu family as its young mistress. She jumped through hoops, committing every evil deed imaginable, until she was finally thrown into the sea to feed the fish…
The villainess was a petty person who judged others by her own standards.
Given the male lead’s sense of gratitude, no matter how high he climbed, he would never abandon her.
And indeed, the facts proved this to be true.
After achieving success, the male lead bought her cars and houses, promising her a monthly allowance of one million yuan to ensure a life of luxury and comfort.
But while she accepted the cars, houses, and the monthly allowance with a smile, her vanity led her to covet the position of the Gu family’s young mistress—a role countless eligible young women dreamed of.
Unfortunately, that was something the male lead was unwilling to give.
Unfortunately, the male lead was no longer the weak, submissive boy he once was.
She schemed and plotted, repeatedly invoking the grandmother’s memory, only to hasten the exhaustion of that lingering goodwill.
In the end, with her insatiable greed, she personally buried her own pitiful and lamentable life.
One moment Qiao Sheng was criticizing the author for writing the villainess too hypocritically, the next, she became the villainess herself.
What a hellish start.
“I won’t go to the comic convention anymore, Gu Huo, I really won’t go! You should go compete in the contest!”
As soon as Qiao Sheng realized what was happening, she immediately grabbed Gu Huo’s arm, terrified that if she let her guard down for even a second, Gu Huo would make the call and drop out of the competition just like in the original plot. Their homeroom teacher would then discover the truth, be deeply disappointed, decide Gu Huo was too irresponsible with his own life, and give up on nurturing him.
Gu Huo stared at her in astonishment, unable to understand why she, who had resorted to starving herself just to force him to comply, had suddenly become so reasonable.
Qiao Sheng naturally thought of this too and had a sudden inspiration: “I… I just dreamed about Grandma…”
She was herself, the original host was the original host—two completely different people. She couldn’t imitate the original host, nor would she try. Besides, what was there to imitate? Copying the original host’s endless troublemaking? Learning how to ruin a perfect hand of cards?
But her sudden change in temperament would inevitably raise suspicion. To avoid unnecessary trouble, she needed an opportunity to make her transformation seem reasonable.
And the original host’s deceased grandmother—that kind, gentle old lady—became her perfect excuse.
She noticed that as soon as she mentioned Grandma, Gu Huo’s tense expression visibly softened.
He hesitated for a moment, then gently patted her back, soothing her in a soft voice: “Alright, don’t cry. If Grandma’s spirit in heaven knew, she’d be sad.”
“…Grandma scolded me harshly. She said I was too willful, that I only caused trouble for you… I… I know I was wrong. I won’t act on every whim anymore. I won’t go to the comic convention…”
After she finished speaking, she felt the hand gently patting her back pause and rest there.
She was wearing thin pajamas and could even feel the slightly cool temperature of his hand.
After what felt like an eternity, Gu Huo murmured wistfully, his voice thick with longing: “Grandma would definitely want us both to be well—gurgle.”
An untimely, strange sound abruptly plunged the melancholic atmosphere into an awkward silence.
Still nestled in Gu Huo’s arms, Qiao Sheng was too embarrassed to lift her head.
Her toes instinctively curled, gripping the bedsheet.
That had been her stomach protesting…
The original host had starved herself for two days and two nights—of course she was hungry!
“Here, have some congee first.”
Seeing the spoon brought to her lips, Qiao Sheng felt even more embarrassed.
The male lead was actually feeding her himself.
She imagined the scene at that moment:
A frail girl half-cradled in a boy’s arms, the boy with downcast eyes, holding a spoon in one hand and a bowl in the other, carefully bringing fragrant, thick congee to the girl’s lips…
What a heavenly scene! If you ignored the boy’s overly cold expression, it was almost too perfect to resist!
If only she weren’t the villainess…
The bedsheet under Qiao Sheng’s toes was now crumpled.
Blame the food for being too delicious—her stomach was growling even louder!
Blushing, she said weakly, “I… I can do it myself…”
She wasn’t some terminally ill patient; how could she let the male lead feed her?
Ugh, the congee was so fragrant, so delicious she could practically swallow her own tongue!
It wasn’t her who had starved herself, yet she was the one starving to the point of her chest touching her back.
She decided then: even if she were to die, she’d die with a full stomach.
Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, she looked up and saw Gu Huo staring at her.
Qiao Sheng was utterly mortified. Had he been shocked by his own unrestrained, ravenous eating?
The moment their eyes met, Qiao Sheng awkwardly averted his gaze and silently buried his face back into the bowl.