1.
I transmigrated into a book as the stepmother of the wicked supporting female character.
From the time she was little, Từ Tri Miểu, the book’s number-one villain, had a bleak childhood. Not long after she was born, her parents died in a car accident.
Her uncle, Từ Sâm, a business tycoon, concealed the truth and raised her as his own daughter.
She and the male lead had grown up together, and she had always loved him in secret. Unfortunately, the male lead fell in love with the female lead, who had unexpectedly entered her life.
The female lead didn’t have to do a thing to win the most sincere love from countless people, simply because she was the female lead.
Từ Tri Miểu grew increasingly jealous of the female lead. She even plotted to harm her and sabotage the romance between the male and female leads, ultimately causing the plot to collapse.
My mission was to go back to Từ Tri Miểu’s childhood and stop her from turning evil.
Relying on this body’s memories, I drove to Từ Tri Miểu’s school to pick her up after class.
The school bell rang over the loudspeaker, and the quiet campus grew lively as the kindergarteners streamed out in little groups among the crowd.
As I steeled myself to deal with Từ Tri Miểu, the system chimed with a notification.
[Target character has appeared.]
I looked into the distance, then closer, and finally lowered my gaze. The little girl’s dark eyes met mine before she quickly looked down, shy and wary. Red lips, white teeth, rosy cheeks—she looked like a delicate porcelain doll.
She was so adorable!!!
I wanted to pull her into my arms and comfort her. But as soon as I reached out, Từ Tri Miểu shuddered and took half a step back, avoiding my hand.
I smiled awkwardly and opened the car door. “Miểu Miểu, let’s go home.”
It’s okay. There’ll be plenty of time later. Hehe.
Từ Tri Miểu lowered her head and climbed into the car. Her dress fluttered up, revealing knife cuts and a mess of bruises across her thighs.
My expression changed at once.
[System, what happened here?]
[I’m not sure. Từ Tri Miểu is only a supporting character, and the book doesn’t say much about the details of her childhood. I had no idea things were this bad.]
I got into the driver’s seat and closed the door. The little girl lowered her head in silence, her body trembling faintly—so faintly I might not have noticed if I hadn’t been paying attention.
My heart tightened. In a gentle voice, I asked, “Did you have fun at school today?”
She didn’t answer. I gently lifted the hem of her torn dress, revealing a mess of bruises on her legs. The cuts in the fabric were clean, as if someone had deliberately sliced it.
“Is someone bullying you, Miểu Miểu?”
I took a deep breath. “Can you tell me about it?”
Only then did Từ Tri Miểu look up at me, confusion in her eyes. In her mind, I was probably like the evil queen in Snow White.
For the past month at the Từ family home, I’d been indifferent to her. This was the first time I’d shown her any concern.
Just when I thought she wouldn’t say anything, I suddenly heard her softly say a name.
“Trần Tử Hằng?” I repeated, taking out my phone to photograph the injuries on her legs.
Then she lowered her head even further. “Why are you asking?”
2.
Following the direction she pointed, I went over to a boy playing around with some classmates. I grabbed him by the ear and hauled him straight to the teachers’ office.
Not long afterward, Trần Tử Hằng’s mother pushed open the door. When the boy saw her, he looked as if his savior had arrived.
The moment I let go, he burst into hysterical tears and threw himself into his mother’s arms to complain. When she heard that her son had bullied a classmate, she shouted in disbelief.
“That little girl looks perfectly fine to me. Kids play together; that’s normal. But you grabbing my son by the ear? You’d better explain that!”
She shot Trần Tử Hằng a glance, and he immediately turned to the homeroom teacher. “I didn’t bully anyone, ma’am. Từ Tri Miểu made it up!”
The homeroom teacher looked at me awkwardly. “It’s perfectly normal for children to play together. I’ve taught this class for a long time, and nothing serious has ever happened before. But Từ Tri Miểu rarely takes part in class activities, and they had gym today. She may have fallen while they were playing freely.”
Trần Tử Hằng’s mother was aggressive in her desire to defend her son.
The homeroom teacher wanted to keep the peace, partly because of her position and teaching evaluations; she didn’t want a serious incident in her class. But I couldn’t accept that kind of resolution.
I took Từ Tri Miểu’s hand and said firmly, “I believe Miểu Miểu isn’t lying.”
The small hand in mine trembled faintly.
The system cried out in my head: [Host, Host! Từ Tri Miểu’s corruption level has dropped!]
I was surprised for a moment, then lowered my head and saw only the little girl’s soft, smooth hair. Just one firm expression of trust had been enough to break through the shell around her heart.
“Just look at her. Does that brat look injured at all?” Trần Tử Hằng’s mother said scornfully.
I swiped through the photos I’d already taken. The bruises on her fair skin looked horrifying.
“When I picked Miểu Miểu up from school today, I saw that her dress had been slashed in several places with a box cutter, and she had bruises underneath from being pinched. My daughter says your son did it during recess…”
Before I could finish, the woman angrily reached for Từ Tri Miểu’s skirt. “If that’s what you’re saying, then I need to see the injuries!”
Từ Tri Miểu was still just a child, and she was so frightened that she burst into tears. My expression turned cold at once. I quickly stepped in front of her and pushed her behind me.
Trần Tử Hằng’s mother staggered and shouted angrily, “That’s impossible! You’re definitely framing my son. If that brat really is injured, then show me the wounds! Who knows if those pictures are even real?”
“Ma’am, I didn’t bully her. Từ Tri Miểu is the biggest liar in class,” the boy said flatly, accusing her to the homeroom teacher.
Từ Tri Miểu, who had been silent until then, started crying. “Trần Tử Hằng really did it. I’m not lying.”
In the tense atmosphere, Tri Miểu fearfully started to lift her skirt to prove it herself. I hugged her and pulled her skirt back down.
I said coldly, “My daughter is the victim. She has no obligation to lift her skirt in front of everyone to prove it. Besides, I already have evidence of the injuries on her body.”
“You’re the one who seems to have something to hide.” Trần Tử Hằng’s mother abruptly changed her tone. Her gaze skimmed over my face as she recalled the rumors among the parents, and she sneered. “You weren’t the one who used to attend parent-teacher conferences for Từ Tri Miểu, were you?”
“You’re the other woman who broke up someone else’s family. Why should anyone believe a word you say?”
She sneered, pinning an unfounded rumor on me to demean me for no reason.
“Miểu Miểu’s housekeepers were the ones who attended her parent-teacher conferences before. You’re accusing me without knowing the facts, so it’s no wonder I think your son could be responsible for doing these awful things. Now that I’ve met you, I understand why.”
Trần Tử Hằng’s mother turned deathly pale with anger.
“Whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter to me.”
“The only thing that matters is that the police believe me.”
As soon as I finished speaking, police sirens sounded outside the school. The woman cried out in shock, “You called the police?!”
I bent down and gathered Từ Tri Miểu in my arms. She looked at me with shining eyes, and I felt both tenderness and resolve. “My daughter’s safety is at risk. Isn’t calling the police the most natural thing to do?”
The homeroom teacher was stunned too. She was just about to say something when Trần Tử Hằng’s mother cut her off. “Fine, call the police! You’ll see if you can get away with slandering someone!”
3.
“Officer, don’t just take her word for it. She’s the other woman—she could say anything!”
See? I’d already explained everything, but she was still trying to make things difficult for me. Some people don’t want to know the truth; they just want to hurt others.
A handsome man in a well-tailored suit walked into the room, exuding an air of nobility.
He looked coldly toward the source of the noise, then came to stand beside me. “This is my wife, Quý Tư Nhiên. If you keep slandering her, I won’t hesitate to add another dispute between us to the list.”
Trần Tử Hằng’s mother fell silent, staring at Từ Sâm in surprise.
[Master, this is Quý Tư Nhiên’s husband, Từ Sâm.]
It turned out that once the police cars appeared at the school gates, the parents in the class group had started buzzing with speculation.
After getting the details from the homeroom teacher, Từ Sâm canceled his meeting and immediately went to the police station with a lawyer.
“Are you all right?” Từ Sâm looked at me with a somewhat complicated expression.
“I’m fine. I can handle everything.”
Từ Sâm nodded, then bent down to comfort Từ Tri Miểu. “I’m sorry, Miểu Miểu. I didn’t know you were being bullied.”
“Your dad and…” Từ Sâm paused and glanced at me. “Your dad and mom will make sure the person who bullied you is punished, okay?”
Meanwhile, the lawyer Từ Sâm had brought quickly worked with the police to locate the surveillance footage and gather the relevant evidence.
In the video, the boy deliberately slashed Tri Miểu’s dress with a box cutter. When he saw that she didn’t fight back, he reached under her skirt and pinched her thigh.
The boy’s face flushed red when his lie was exposed. He cried loudly, trying to make excuses. “I just wanted to play with her.”
Trần Tử Hằng’s mother had lost some of her bravado, but she still argued, “It’s normal for children to play together.”
The police officer sitting across from us was clearly displeased, too. He tapped the table. “This is child molestation.”
Both of them went deathly pale.
The woman lost her composure. “What’s the big deal? They’re just kids playing together!”
“If you found more than a dozen bruises on your own child, would you still think it was nothing?”
The woman was left speechless by my words, her voice growing weaker.
Angrily, she tapped the boy on the head. “What are you waiting for? Apologize!”
Trần Tử Hằng’s face turned bright red. He muttered so quietly it was barely audible, “Sorry.”
In the end, since Trần Tử Hằng was only six, the police and the lawyer suggested that we settle the matter.
Trần Tử Hằng’s mother grew smug again. “It’s normal for children to make mistakes. He’s already apologized, so I’ll take him home and set him straight.”
“Wait.” I quickly skimmed the document the lawyer had just drafted, then called after her. “Even though Trần is a minor, the law requires compensation for direct economic losses, such as medical expenses and emotional distress.”
The woman smugly tried to send me five thousand yuan. “Keep the change.”
I smiled and gestured for Từ Tri Miểu to come over, then pointed to the dress she was wearing. “Your son ruined this dress. It cost 110,000 yuan.”
The woman looked stunned. “How can it be that expensive?!”
She pulled out her phone and searched Taobao, but couldn’t find it.