Three years later.
Judging from the timeline, the plot should soon reach the point where the female lead returns to the country with her child and meets the male lead again.
This is also the moment when the story officially gets on track.
The system returned to this world once more.
In the past three years, it had never received any alerts about deviating from the plot, and Shi Qing had never contacted it. It seemed everything had been progressing very smoothly.
If things continued like this, completing the whole storyline would be quick.
It never expected its host to be this capable.
It was her first time entering a quick-transmigration world, yet she followed the plot perfectly, controlled everything precisely, and didn’t make even a single mistake—
The system located Shi Qing’s position and happily re-entered the story.
The first person it saw was An Yue.
In a bright room with sunlight falling onto the floor, clean tiles reflected a soft, gentle glow. Everything looked peaceful and serene… except for the fact that the most important “vicious female supporting character” in the story—An Yue—was right in front of it, bending over to wipe the coffee table.
The system was shocked.
Looking more closely, the surroundings seemed extremely familiar. Wasn’t this the An family villa?
But the system remembered that before it left, Shi Qing had already dragged her suitcase out of the An household.
What was going on? Why was Shi Qing back in the An home? Could it be that the An family found her again later? But from the system’s understanding of Shi Qing, she wouldn’t be captured so easily.
The system had a blind, unwavering confidence in its host.
Could she have deliberately let herself be taken back just to advance the plot?
The system grieved inwardly—
Host! There’s absolutely no need to go this far just to push the storyline forward!
With the vicious supporting character An Yue here, whenever the heroine and the female support shared the same scene, it always meant bullying and framing.
Even if she could fight back, it would still be a waste of effort. There was no need to swallow her anger just for a “perfect plot”!
Unable to hold back any longer, the system finally asked,
“Host, An Yue didn’t bully you, right?”
A voice that hadn’t been heard in three years suddenly appeared beside her. The person resting on the sofa paused and opened her eyes.
Her pitch-black hair cascaded over the leather sofa like a waterfall. The black shirt she wore revealed her sharply defined collarbone. Shi Qing casually lifted the book covering her face. Her relaxed gaze drifted into the air, and the corner of her lips curved slightly.
“Oh, it’s you. Long time no see. Is the plot about to start?”
She drew back the hand she’d been lazily draping over the sofa arm and sat upright.
The moment she opened her eyes, An Yue—who had been wiping the table—froze all over and subconsciously straightened up.
The system didn’t notice. It continued scanning the room.
“Host, where are Father An and the stepmother?”
Strange. It couldn’t find any signs that the two important supporting characters lived here. Yet the pair were crucial for oppressing the heroine.
“Mm…” Shi Qing hummed in a way that was hard to read. She lifted her lashes slightly and lazily glanced at An Yue.
“Have your parents been behaving well in prison lately?”
An Yue jumped like a startled rabbit, almost leaping into the air.
“I—I didn’t go to visit… B-but yes, older sister!”
Sister…? Wait, that’s not right…
Prison??
For a moment, the system nearly crashed.
Wasn’t this vicious female supporting character the one who hated the heroine the most? How could she possibly call her “older sister”?
No—wait—prison?! What is going on?!
Shi Qing closed the book in her hand, gently smoothing its edge and tapping the cover with her fingertips.
“Well, put simply…”
She had found a loophole in the An father’s bankruptcy storyline, dug into it, uncovered a pile of his illegal activities, and sent both the father and stepmother straight to prison.
Those two were originally written as characters constantly skirting the edge of the law, practically wild criminals, so finding incriminating evidence wasn’t surprising to her.
And during the period when An Corporation had been leaderless and in total chaos, she stepped in and saved the company. Now, An Corporation was completely in her hands.
Moreover, in these past few years, under her leadership, An Corporation had rapidly expanded and grown by multiples.
At this point, An Corporation had already risen to the upper ranks of the business elite—now powerful enough to negotiate business deals with the Shen Corporation.
The system: “……”
Huh?
Host… is this still Chinese? Why does it understand none of it?
Wait—no—
Since Shi Qing expanded An Corporation to this level, how could Shen Jiyuan not have found her?
“That.” Shi Qing thought for a moment and casually made something up.
“Probably because of the plot’s irresistible force.”
She couldn’t exactly say that even without the storyline saying “Shen Jiyuan cannot find An Qing these three years,” he still wouldn’t have found her.
Three years ago, she had seen the news too—
The young master of the Shen family, Shen Jiyuan, had gone abroad for treatment because of an illness.
But judging from the timing, he should be back by now.
When Shi Qing thought of Shen Jiyuan, the first image that surfaced in her mind was his messy black hair buried in a pillow, and under dim lighting—those long, lean, evenly pale legs.
Three years apart—
What would he look like now?
With that in mind, she stood up and began walking upstairs.
The system, however, was still scanning the house. And then—it detected something else wrong.
“Host… where’s Baby An?”
“Baby An? Who’s that?”
“Your son with Shen Jiyuan—Baby An!”
Just now, the system had been overwhelmed by the shock of all the things Shi Qing had accomplished over the past few years, and it hadn’t noticed this abnormality. But now that it suddenly realized it—it practically broke out in cold sweat.
There were no signs of a child living in this house!
“What are you doing suddenly returning at this point in time?” Shi Qing avoided the real question. “Checking if the plot is intact? Since there’s been no world alert, everything should still be within controllable range, right? Is Baby An that important?”
The system was on the verge of tears.“Your and Shen Jiyuan’s child is an extremely important male supporting character who can shake the very foundation of this world!”
Without that child, the entire story wouldn’t even exist! How could that not be important?
“So all that matters is that we have a child, right?” Shi Qing nodded. “Don’t worry, we do have one. You’ll see him soon. But… after you do, you’ll be able to leave, right?”
At this point, she found the system somewhat noisy.
“It… it could leave, yes…”
Shi Qing stopped chatting with it. She turned and headed upstairs, speaking to An Yue—who had just finished wiping the table and was looking at her nervously.“Follow me.”
An Yue immediately followed behind her step by step.
“…Host, why is the female supporting character still here?”
Ah, that. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the original plot, An Yue’s actions still weren’t enough to send her to prison. After An Corporation fell into Shi Qing’s hands, things naturally progressed into what they were now.
“…” The system had lost count of how many times it had fallen silent today.“You’re just keeping her around like this? This is the kind of female supporting character who can’t go a single day without harming the heroine at least a few times—”
People can change everything except their nature. According to the story setting, An Yue held a deep, irrational hatred for her older sister. Even if she seemed obedient now, she might still hate Shi Qing.
Shi Qing didn’t care.
Originally, An Yue relied on her parents. But now that both parents were imprisoned, An Yue had already been crazy, had already resisted, had already tried everything—yet couldn’t shake Shi Qing in the slightest. What else could she do? She couldn’t exactly throw herself into prison just to accompany her parents. A vicious supporting character is, above all, realistic.
Right now, An Yue relied completely on Shi Qing to survive.Even if she hated her to death, she wouldn’t dare disobey.
Shi Qing enjoyed seeing this posture.
Besides—
“Do you think she still hates me now?”
Standing on the staircase, Shi Qing lowered her gaze to look at An Yue a few steps below. An Yue looked up at her. Her face was almost the same as it had been years ago, but her gaze—when looking at Shi Qing—was now damp and soft.
The system fell silent again.
What had the host been doing these past few years…?The female supporting character had developed Stockholm syndrome.
“Also, don’t worry. I’m not planning to keep her by my side forever,” Shi Qing added. “I’ll only use her occasionally.”
She was busy and had no time to choose outfits. Conveniently, a female supporting character was naturally skilled at dressing up prettily.
Tonight’s banquet was very important.After all—this was a reunion three years in the making.
The sky grew dark, and night fell.
A luxurious stretch limousine slowly came to a stop. Shi Qing stepped out of the car wearing a custom-made black evening gown. Her red-bottom heels touched the ground with a crisp sound.
A breeze lightly lifted her pinned-up long hair. She looked ahead, lips curved in a faint smile.
“System, from this range, you should be able to sense him, right?”
The system was silent for a long moment before answering,“Yes… Host, the male lead is here…”
And—
Beside Shen Jiyuan was a sleepy, drowsy little three-year-old child holding his hand, rubbing his eyes.