Xu Yueyao had slept through another day, waking up at 5 p.m. Standing in her detached villa, she gazed at the distant sunset, coffee in hand, feeling almost as carefree as an immortal. Who would have thought that just half a year ago, she was an orphan with no parents, forced to split a single pack of instant noodles into three meals? She had worked tirelessly to put herself through college, exhausting herself both physically and mentally. Then, in a rare moment of extravagance, she spent two yuan at a “rage room” to vent her frustrations, shouting at the heavens about the unfairness of her life, demanding to know why she couldn’t be rich, why she couldn’t have a little luck, why fate couldn’t grant her even a small blessing…
Who could have imagined that the very next day, someone approached her, saying someone wanted to buy a piece of land in her hometown for 200 million yuan? Just like that, with a hoarse voice, Xu Yueyao answered a few questions, signed a stack of documents, and found 200 million deposited into her account.
Xu Yueyao bought her favorite detached villa, learned how to manage her finances, took up yoga, dancing, flower arranging… She did everything she had ever wanted to do, determined to pamper herself all over again.
That evening, after a luxurious, fragrant bath, Xu Yueyao stood in front of the mirror admiring her body. Tsk, tsk—fair skin, beautiful features, long legs, and a delicate, pretty face. The only thing missing now was a man, but she was too afraid to look for one. Having experienced poverty, she was terrified of men coveting her money. It was a risk she couldn’t take.
After admiring her beautiful figure, Xu Yueyao slipped into her silk pajamas, carried a bowl of freshly washed strawberries to her starry sky room, and lay down on her chaise lounge. She pulled out her laptop and opened the novel Exclusive Kiss. She had already read it twice. The kissing scenes and intimate moments between the male and female leads were… tsk, quite bold. And then there were the parts about the villainous boss and his little lover, especially the bedroom scenes, which left Xu Yueyao’s heart racing. The little lover even shared her name, making it incredibly immersive—except for the ending, which was just too tragic. She planned to revisit the novel tonight but skip the lover’s ending. It was too upsetting.
Buzz, buzz, buzz… After a sudden ringing in her ears, Xu Yueyao closed her eyes and covered her ears. A moment later, she heard someone speaking. “Yaoyao, are you listening? Don’t avoid Fu Shao today. If he gets angry, you’ll really have a hard time at school.” Zhang Beilu turned around and saw Xu Yueyao covering her ears. She walked over and pulled her hands down.
“Hey, why are you covering your ears? Even if you don’t want to hear it, I have to say it. Yaoyao, we have no power or influence. Isn’t it good to have Fu Shao’s favor and protection at school?” After saying this, Zhang Beilu went back to adjusting her black stockings.
Xu Yueyao stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror—heavily made up, wearing a miniskirt and black stockings. She pinched herself hard. “Ouch! That hurts!” The pain brought tears to her eyes. What was happening? Wasn’t she just reading a novel in her villa?
“Yaoyao, what’s wrong? Hurry up and get ready, or Xin Jie will start yelling again.”
Xu Yueyao slowly snapped back to reality, taking in her surroundings. Judging by the sounds outside, she was in a nightclub. She looked at the person in front of her and tentatively called her name. “Lulu? Zhang Beilu?” The friend of the villain’s little lover, Xu Yueyao, in the book.”What’s wrong?” Hearing her reply, Xu Yueyao felt her vision go dark, her heart filled with despair. Why? Just because she read some erotic novels, she had to suffer such a severe punishment? Xu Yueyao was on the verge of tears.
“Ready? Ready? Is everyone ready?” Xin Jie clapped her hands as she walked in. Zhang Beilu quickly pulled Xu Yueyao aside.
“Listen up, all of you need to be on your game today. Tell me, why are we here?”
“To make money,” everyone said in unison.
“What? Speak up! Did you not eat?”
“To make money! To make money! To make money!”
“That’s right. Everyone is here to make money, so don’t you dare walk around with long faces. Smile! Go empty the customers’ pockets, got it?”
“Got it!”
“Get ready, we’re opening!” After saying this, Xin Jie swayed her hips and left.
“Hurry! Hurry! Ugh, who took my lipstick again?”
“So annoying, my stockings have another run…”
“Yao Yao, let’s go out,” Zhang Beilu said to her after one last glance in the mirror.
“Lu Lu, you go first. My stomach hurts, I need to use the restroom,” Xu Yueyao said, clutching her stomach.
“Alright, hurry up. I’ll go out first,” she said, pursing her lips before walking out.
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Xu Yueyao replied, still holding her stomach. She found the restroom, went in, locked the door, and sat on the toilet to analyze her current situation.
She didn’t know how she had transmigrated here, so she had no idea how to get back. Could it be that she had to die according to the plot to return? Thinking about how, in the original story, she was killed by the big shot’s fiancée—first gang-raped, then skinned alive—Xu Yueyao shook her head vigorously. No, she couldn’t accept that. She refused to believe she couldn’t change the fate of Xu Yueyao in the book. Although the character became somewhat troublesome toward the end, she was still innocent, kind, pretty, and adorable in the beginning.
Right now, she was probably working at this nightclub because she needed money. Damn it, money problems again. Xu Yueyao felt her vision darken once more—she hated being poor the most.
It was because she worked at this nightclub that she caught the attention of the school bully, who harassed her and made her life at school unbearable. But according to her current memories, it seemed she had already been noticed, and tonight he might try to get her drunk. No, she had to leave.
However, according to the book’s plot, it was by working here that she would meet the villainous big shot, Zhan Rong Xuan, become his antidote, and end up as his woman, gaining his protection.
No, she still couldn’t accept working here. In the original story, before meeting Zhan Rong Xuan, she was constantly groped—her chest, her butt—it happened all the time. That was also why Xu Yueyao in the book was unwilling to leave Zhan Rong Xuan. Just thinking about those greasy old men made her want to vomit. She had to leave this place. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think that just because she had transmigrated and knew the plot, she could outsmart these living paper characters.
Xu Yueyao gently pushed the door open. Seeing no one around, she followed the original host’s memory, grabbed her coat and bag, carefully avoided everyone, and walked out of the club. What she didn’t know was that her brief encounter with Fu Xiao Si had already changed the original plot.Xu Yueyao stood at the intersection, watching the endless stream of people passing by. Tears of grievance flowed uncontrollably. After crying her fill, she wiped her eyes and walked back to her rented apartment from memory. Thinking about how remote her apartment was, with hoodlums coming and going from time to time, Xu Yueyao was so angry she wanted to curse the author again. To create opportunities for the male and female leads to meet, you arranged all sorts of heroic rescues of the damsel in distress—fine, you made her live there, but why did you have to find a few cannon fodder characters to push the plot forward? And Xu Yueyao was one of those miserable cannon fodder characters, whose sole purpose was to envy and resent the female lead every single day.
Xu Yueyao trudged forward, feeling utterly hopeless. Her stomach was growling with hunger. She tried hard to recall how much savings the original owner had, took out her bag and rummaged through it again and again, but couldn’t find a single coin. “Ah!” Xu Yueyao now felt not only that her vision was darkening, but also that her ears were playing tricks on her—she seemed to hear a man’s groaning…