“Xiao Meng, don’t forget your blind date tomorrow at noon.”
Meng Ruo was staring blankly at the documents in her hand while waiting to get off work when Wang Cuifeng, a colleague in the same office, spoke to her while packing up her desk.
Hearing this, Meng Ruo looked at Wang Cuifeng with a dazed expression.
A blind date?
It took two seconds for those words to register in her mind before she remembered.
Right—this blind date had been set before she transmigrated. If Sister Wang hadn’t reminded her, she truly would have forgotten.
Three days ago, she had suffered sudden cardiac arrest due to staying up late for overtime; when she opened her eyes again, she was here.
Indeed, she had transmigrated, and she had landed inside a “period-drama” novel set in a previous era.
She had become the spoiled female supporting character who shared her name—Meng Ruo.
A brainless, malicious supporting character who possessed nothing but beauty.
Actually, it wasn’t quite right to say the original owner had no brains; she was a university graduate who had been assigned an office job at a food factory immediately upon graduation. It just seemed that once the female lead appeared, the supporting character acted as if she were possessed, constantly making stupid mistakes.
Meng Ruo’s biological mother passed away when she was in junior high. Two years later, Meng Ruo’s father, Meng Jun, married Li Mei—her current stepmother.
Before marrying into the Meng family, Li Mei had a daughter named Zheng Wan, who was the female lead of the original book.
Before the female lead’s debut, Meng Ruo lived a flat but relatively comfortable life. As Meng Ruo’s stepmother, Li Mei wanted to establish an image of a kind mother in front of Meng Jun. While her kindness wasn’t sincere, she didn’t dare to openly mistreat her.
The original owner naturally knew of her stepmother’s hypocrisy, but her personality was gentle and weak, leaving her powerless to change anything. She simply thought that after a year or two, she would find a good family to marry into and escape this household.
However, everything changed drastically once the female lead, Zheng Wan, entered the picture.
The stepmother brought her biological daughter to live with them and finally tore off her mask of hypocrisy.
As for the original owner, who had intended to just lay low until marriage, she seemed to trigger some sort of pre-set script. She began to feel insane jealousy toward the female lead, acting out brainlessly and causing trouble until she was eventually kicked out of the house, meeting a miserable end.
A few days ago, the stepmother, Li Mei, had arranged a marriage for her, wanting her to marry her cousin from her side of the family.
The original owner had heard of this cousin. He had been loitering around since graduating junior high; now nearing thirty, he was still a total failure. Seeing that he was reaching a certain age without a partner, his family grew anxious and started scouting for a suitable girl, wanting him to settle down early.
The stepmother introduced her to such a loiterer, prompting the usually submissive original owner to stage her first rebellion, leading to a massive fight with Li Mei.
When Meng Ruo transmigrated, the original owner was hiding under her covers crying in her room; she must have fainted from the sheer grief of it all.
She guessed that Li Mei’s plan to marry her off to that cousin hadn’t succeeded; otherwise, the plot involving the “spoiled supporting character” wouldn’t happen later.
Having inherited the original owner’s memories, she knew the family situation like the back of her hand.
A cheap father who favored boys over girls, a hypocritical stepmother, a spoiled younger brother, and the female lead she was destined to insanely envy.
To be honest, she didn’t want to stay in this house for a single day.
Forget a modern person like her; even the original owner couldn’t stand it, which was why she had turned to anyone for help, asking an older colleague to help introduce a marriage prospect.
The stepmother wanted to marry her to a local hooligan of a cousin; the only solution the original owner could think of was to ask a colleague to find a normal partner so she could marry out quickly and flee this home.
With a trash family like this, if she didn’t leave, was she supposed to stay and fight them until they were all like “angry roosters” with bruised eyes?
The moment she transmigrated, she made up her mind to leave as soon as possible.
It was 1992, a year of soaring economic growth under the Reform and Opening-up policy. Real estate and the stock market were exploding, and many migrant workers were jumping into business. Once she left this place, the world outside was vast; she didn’t want to waste her life bickering with these people.
Previously, the original owner also thought about laying low for a few years before marrying, but she hadn’t anticipated she was a “cannon fodder” character or the events that would follow.
If Li Mei thought about marrying her to an idle cousin today, she would think about marrying her to some “Zhang San” or “Li Si” who gambles and drinks tomorrow. Furthermore, this was while Li Mei was still wearing her mask; once her biological daughter arrived and the original lead appeared, there was no telling how she would plot against her.
Although the current Meng Ruo wasn’t afraid of them, she found it annoying. She would rather use that time to sleep.
According to the future plot, Zheng Wan would smoothly move into the house, and Meng Ruo would begin to envy her and even try to steal her man—the kicker being that the man was an absolute scumbag.
That scumbag was no walk in the park. In the original book, she had to “lose a layer of skin” just to get rid of him. If she hadn’t fought for him, the one suffering would have been the female lead. In other words, under the plot’s setting, she, the supporting character, acted as a shield for the female lead.
She didn’t know how much the novel’s plot would influence her. She didn’t know if the “jealousy program” would activate once the lead appeared, or if the “shield program” would activate when the scumbag showed up.
Therefore, the safest bet was to leave the Meng family before Zheng Wan arrived.
She had no interest in being a shield for the lead or fighting over a scumbag.
There were many ways to escape this home. Originally, after transmigrating, she didn’t plan to rely on marriage; she could just move out.
However—and here was the key—the blind date Sister Wang introduced was very interesting. He was an orphan, currently staying at his uncle’s house. He was a university graduate, handsome, and had a good job. The only downside was that he was slightly older—27 years old, five years older than the original owner.
Initially, she didn’t really want to go, but since the original owner had already agreed, it wouldn’t be right to stand someone up the day before. Plus, he was handsome, had a good job, and was an orphan; just the fact that there would be no future father-in-law or mother-in-law made it worth a trip.
Meng Ruo nodded in agreement: “I understand, Sister Wang.”
It was time to get off work. Meng Ruo stood up and packed her things, preparing to head home.
While packing, she couldn’t help but think about the man she was meeting tomorrow.
Twenty-seven, nearly thirty, a university graduate, handsome, and a good job… yet he wasn’t married at this age?
Surely he didn’t have some sort of “hidden ailment,” did he?
As she was thinking this, another older woman in the office, Sister Zhao, quietly leaned in with a mysterious look, ready to disclose a shocking secret.
Meng Ruo instinctively glanced at Sister Wang’s desk; she had already left.
“Xiao Meng, be careful not to be fooled by the guy Sister Wang introduced to you,” Zhao Fang said gossipsily and mysteriously.
Hearing this, Meng Ruo felt there was a story behind it.
Who doesn’t love gossip?
She immediately looked at Zhao Fang with curiosity, waiting for her to continue.
“Xiao Meng, you just returned to the provincial capital from outside, so there are many things you don’t know, but I know them very well. This Yang Qing your Sister Wang introduced… he’s no good.”
As she spoke, Zhao Fang pursed her lips and shook her head.
Meng Ruo waited for Zhao Fang to explain how Yang Qing was “no good,” but Zhao Fang just stopped talking after shaking her head.
After a moment, she tentatively asked: “No good?”
“Sigh, don’t you understand?” Zhao Fang waved her hand helplessly.
Seeing Meng Ruo still looking blank, Zhao Fang could only emphasize with more force.
“No good. That area is no good.”
After saying this, she asked: “Do you understand now?”
Meng Ruo suddenly realized. She understood—this Yang Qing had a “hidden ailment.” No wonder he was nearly thirty and couldn’t get a wife. She had just been speculating about it, and here was the confirmation.
However, whether he was “functional” or not didn’t really matter to her. If he wasn’t, it meant fewer troubles after marriage. It was better than those with excessive desires; if she had to choose between “can” and “cannot,” she’d rather choose “cannot.”
Seeing that Meng Ruo understood, Zhao Fang immediately continued to persuade her: “If you ask me, don’t listen to your Sister Wang. Speaking of partners, I have a suitable one too. I have a younger brother, around the same age as you, good personality, not bad looking…”
Before Zhao Fang could finish, Wang Cuifeng—who was supposed to be home already—returned for some reason and appeared at the door.
Wang Cuifeng’s sharp voice interrupted her: “Zhao Fang, so this is where you were waiting for me.”
“Cornering my prospect,” Sister Wang put her hands on her hips and pointed at Zhao Fang’s nose, beginning to scold her. “You’re bullying Xiao Meng because she just returned to the city and knows nothing, aren’t you? Your brother, that junior high dropout hooligan with a face like a crooked melon—you have the nerve to suggest him to Xiao Meng?”
Hearing Wang Cuifeng insult her brother, Zhao Fang immediately rolled up her sleeves, her eyes widening like copper bells: “What do you mean? What’s wrong with my brother? No matter what, my brother is better than that Yang Qing of yours.”
“That Yang Qing is not only dysfunctional, but he’s also lazy and disrespectful to his elders.”
“Stop talking nonsense,” Wang Cuifeng sneered.
Zhao Fang: “How am I talking nonsense? I live downstairs from Yang Qing’s uncle; how could I not know his family situation?”
Wang Cuifeng retorted: “I live right across from his uncle’s house! Everyone knows those rumors about Yang Qing were spread by his aunt.”
…
Wang Cuifeng and Zhao Fang were rivals who argued every few days. When Meng Ruo first arrived, she would try to break them up, but after discovering the pattern, she didn’t even bother to try. They just used their mouths; they wouldn’t actually fight.
As Meng Ruo listened to them argue, she picked up on some details.
Zhao Fang was sabotaging the date to introduce Meng Ruo to her brother. Her brother obviously wasn’t as good as she claimed; he was almost thirty and still loitering around without a proper job.
As for Yang Qing, though he was good-looking, a college graduate, and had a good job, he was “dysfunctional” and had a bad reputation. She just didn’t know if the “lazy” and “disrespectful” parts were true.
I’ll just meet him first, Meng Ruo thought.
Perhaps when she saw this legendary Yang Qing, he wouldn’t even pass her standards for looks. After all, when it comes to matchmakers, you can usually only believe the punctuation marks.
When she got home after work, she felt annoyed the moment she saw Li Mei’s hypocritical face. Without a word, she walked into her room and lay on the bed, thinking that moving out needed to be prioritized.
The next day, the weekend, Meng Ruo went out for the blind date with the mindset that if it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out.
The man had asked to meet at lunchtime.
It was July, and the sun outside was scorching, with waves of heat rolling off the ground. Meng Ruo carried an umbrella when she went out.
The meeting place was a rice noodle soup shop. Meng Ruo arrived a few minutes early, found a seat, and stared at the wall in a daze while waiting for Yang Qing. The electric fan overhead whirred, but it was still no match for the summer heat.
Yang Qing, 27 years old, assigned to work at an appliance factory after graduating university, an orphan, currently staying at his uncle’s.
“Yang Qing,” she whispered the name to herself—a name that never appeared in the original book. He was clearly a “passerby” character who didn’t even qualify as a supporting role.
Could a passerby really be that handsome? Surely Sister Wang had been exaggerating.
As Meng Ruo was staring blankly at the wall, a voice suddenly sounded above her.
“Excuse me, are you Meng Ruo?”
She looked up and saw an incredibly handsome man.
The man had refined features, deep-set eyes, broad shoulders, and a straight back. He was tall with long legs. His pitch-black eyes were like stones submerged in a deep pool; when he looked at someone silently, they carried a hint of coldness.
To be honest, with these looks, even if he was “no good,” she was fine with it. This was a face one could appreciate just by looking at it. Living with a face like this would surely keep one in a good mood.
She was already a bit interested.
Meng Ruo was dazed by Yang Qing’s beauty for a few seconds before nodding belatedly: “I am.”
The man sat down and introduced himself: “I am Yang Qing, introduced by Sister Wang Cuifeng.”
Meng Ruo nodded obediently again.
“Do you want soup noodles or tossed noodles?” he asked.
The meeting place Yang Qing had chosen was a noodle shop he frequent. As they say, “Noodles in the North, Rice Noodles in the South.” Fengzhou City was located in the southeast, and the locals loved spicy rice noodles. Having soup noodles for breakfast and tossed noodles for lunch and dinner was a common occurrence.
“Soup noodles,” Meng Ruo replied.
“Then two bowls of beef noodle soup.”
Meng Ruo nodded slightly in agreement.
“Before coming here, Sister Wang likely told you about my situation, but I’ll introduce myself again. My name is Yang Qing, I am 27 years old, and I am a research and development engineer at the appliance factory,” Yang Qing said directly, his tone devoid of much emotion.
Meng Ruo nodded and briefly shared her basic situation. After the introductions, Meng Ruo asked directly: “Can I ask you a few questions?”
She didn’t want to waste time and went straight to the point.
Yang Qing was stunned, seemingly not expecting the gentle and obedient-looking Meng Ruo to be so direct.
The young girl was very fair with a small, delicate face. Her slender waist was wrapped in a floral dress, looking like it could be held in one hand. Her watery eyes blinked at him as she spoke, like stars shining in the night.
In other words, just by looking at Meng Ruo, one could tell she was a “delicate flower” who had been pampered while growing up. Sister Wang had said her family conditions weren’t bad either; her father ran a sizable restaurant.
Yang Qing didn’t understand how someone like her would agree to a blind date with him. His reputation wasn’t good; he hadn’t actually held high expectations for today’s meeting. The main reason he came was to not waste Sister Wang’s kindness.
“Ask,” he said.
Meng Ruo: “You are currently living at your uncle’s house?”
Yang Qing paused, then nodded.
Meng Ruo continued: “Then if we marry, you would move out, right?”
“Of course,” Yang Qing replied.
Meng Ruo nodded, her favorability toward him seemingly rising another notch. She cleared her throat and said: “The next two questions might be a bit direct, please don’t mind.”
Yang Qing nodded.
Meng Ruo: “Are you lazy?”
Yang Qing: “…”
“No,” he squeezed out the word with difficulty.
Meng Ruo pursed her lips slightly, then asked again: “Are you disrespectful to your elders?”
Alright, even she felt that asking this was ridiculous. Who would be stupid enough to admit to being lazy or disrespectful?
Yang Qing paused again, then adjusted his emotions and said calmly: “Have you heard something? For instance, about my reputation?”
Meng Ruo nodded truthfully.
“If I said those were all rumors, would you believe me?” he asked.
Rumors? That didn’t seem impossible. Every era has rumors.
“If you say they are rumors, then I’ll believe you,” Meng Ruo said.
Yang Qing seemed stunned by her crisp, decisive answer. Since his aunt started spreading rumors about him, Meng Ruo was the first person to say she believed him without asking anything else. No, strictly speaking, she wasn’t the first; Sister Wang across the street also believed him. But Sister Wang only chose to believe him after he had helped her multiple times; she hadn’t believed him before that.
Yang Qing said seriously: “They are rumors.”
Meng Ruo: “Then I believe you.”
She couldn’t quite explain why she chose to believe Yang Qing unconditionally. If she had to say, it was likely his cool temperament; he looked like the type of person who would disdain lying. Besides, being “lazy” and “disrespectful” didn’t match his refined aura at all.
However, as for being “dysfunctional,” Meng Ruo felt there was some possibility. Otherwise, why was he nearly thirty and still unmarried? There had to be a reason; the “lazy” and “disrespectful” parts were debunked by the man himself, but he hadn’t said a word about the “dysfunctional” part.
To be honest, she really wanted to ask him if he was actually functional. It wasn’t that she cared that much; she was just purely curious. But then again, what man would admit to such a thing? So asking would be pointless.
“Alright, I’ve finished the questions I wanted to ask. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly,” Meng Ruo said quite openly.
“Do you have any requirements for a partner?” Yang Qing thought for a moment and asked.
Requirements? She had plenty.
“I like someone handsome, tall, capable, with good values, someone who pampers their wife…” Meng Ruo counted them off on her fingers.
Yang Qing: “…”
Meng Ruo: “Anyway, I have many requirements, but in terms of being ‘handsome’ and ‘tall,’ you fit quite well.”
By now, she had completely changed her mind. Originally, she planned to move out; now, she was more inclined toward marriage. Mainly because as a “visual person,” she really prized Yang Qing’s appearance. She wasn’t against marriage; since she had to marry eventually, she might as well do it early to complete the task. More importantly, her marriage partner was handsome and pleasing to the eye, perfectly matching her aesthetic.
As for the physical aspect of marriage, she didn’t have to worry about the awkwardness of intimacy between strangers. Because the man was dysfunctional, there wouldn’t be any “married life” at all—hahahaha.
Her purpose for marrying wasn’t to find a soulmate; she was simply afraid of being lonely and wanted someone to live life with.
As they reached the end of their conversation, Meng Ruo suddenly remembered something and asked: “So when will you come to propose?”
“You… are in such a hurry?” Yang Qing raised an eyebrow and asked in return.
Meng Ruo nodded and told him the truth about her situation: “My mother died years ago. The one at home now is my stepmother. She plans to marry me to her cousin, who is a local thug. I don’t want to marry him.”
Li Mei’s cousin was a total hooligan who had even spent time in a detention center for fighting and brawling. As Yang Qing noted, she was indeed in a hurry. Firstly, she needed to get out of the Meng house, and secondly, she found dating troublesome; it was better to just get married early.
Sigh, twenty-seven—that’s exactly the age where one doesn’t want to deal with dating. Yes, although the original owner was only twenty-two, the soul that had transmigrated was twenty-seven.
Yang Qing nodded, thinking she was also a pitiable person. Coincidentally, he also wanted to settle down and move out as soon as possible.
“Fine. I’ll go back and tell my uncle. We’ll pick a day to go to your house and settle this.”
Thus, the matter was halfway settled. Meng Ruo’s hanging heart could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
When the two came out of the noodle shop, the sun was scorching. Meng Ruo opened her pink sun umbrella at the door. Yang Qing looked at her for a moment, then withdrew his gaze without a word. They parted at the first fork in the road.
After parting, Yang Qing walked a few steps but eventually couldn’t resist looking back at the receding figure. The young woman wore a milky-white floral dress and held a sun umbrella, walking under the brilliant summer sun, looking graceful and elegant.
Meng Ruo walked home slowly, thinking about the blind date. She hadn’t expected someone with a “passerby” name like “Yang Qing” to be so handsome; it was simply incredible.
Being a passerby was fine; it would be best if she could also detach herself from the original plot, become a background character, and live the life she wanted. She couldn’t be bothered to fight with the female lead or her stepmother; it wasn’t interesting at all.
Thinking this, Meng Ruo stepped into her house. However, as soon as she pushed open the door, she saw her stepmother, Li Mei, performing a major scene.