Given my parents’ personalities, there was no way they hadn’t noticed that their daughter’s soul had been replaced.
I tried to sound calm. “What’s changed?”
“You’ve become hardworking. You don’t goof off anymore, and you haven’t asked me for extra spending money in ages. Before, you’d spend a hundred thousand every month.”
“I’ve hired two tutors already. If I don’t work hard, I won’t be ready in time.”
Mrs. Giang looked at me, her eyes gradually reddening.
“You’re such a good girl, Thanh Thanh.”
“You’re becoming more and more like you used to be.”
17.
What did she mean?
I had a vague feeling there was more to her words than met the eye.
As parents, they hadn’t treated their daughter very well… Could there be something else behind it?
The doorbell suddenly rang.
Sheng Ningye was standing outside.
He was holding a bouquet of roses.
“Thanh Thanh, it’s a beautiful day. Want to take a walk in the park with me?”
He was deliberately trying to butter me up.
Mrs. Sheng must have hinted that he should hurry up and cling to my long legs.
Still, I could see how unwilling he was.
“I’m not going.”
“Why not? I’ll take you to your favorite restaurant for lunch.”
“Move aside. You’re in my way.”
After I turned him down again and again, I finally succeeded in angering the eldest young master of the Sheng family.
“Giang Thanh Nguyệt, I’ve already been more than nice to you! I even took the initiative to ask you out, and you still want more?”
“I don’t like you. Do you understand plain English?”
“Still playing hard to get? I heard you’ve been getting pretty close to Sheng Mingqi lately. Are you trying to make me jealous?” He curled his lip in a wicked smile. “You want to play hard to get? Fine. Come back to me. As long as you behave, I’ll consider getting engaged to you.”
“Shut up, you idiot!”
I’d had enough. I grabbed the bouquet and smacked him over the head with it.
The bouquet was wet, and water soaked the eldest young master’s carefully styled hair.
“Just looking at your face makes me sick. Do you think you’re handsome? Quit patting yourself on the back. You say stupid things and have an ego the size of a mountain. What gave you that kind of nerve? I’m warning you: bother me again, and next time I won’t hit you with flowers!”
Sheng Ningye was stunned by my tirade.
When he came to, he grabbed me angrily. “How dare you insult me!”
He was a man, after all, so he was naturally stronger than me.
I almost got pulled off my feet.
Just then, Sheng Mingqi rushed out and punched him square in the face.
“Don’t touch her!”
18.
Sheng Mingqi hit him hard.
Sheng Ningye looked tall and sturdy, but he was actually weak as a kitten and went straight down.
I hurried to pull Sheng Mingqi back.
“Don’t hit him. Graduation exams are coming up—don’t get into trouble.”
Sheng Mingqi obediently lowered his hand.
But he kept glaring fiercely at Sheng Ningye.
He looked like a rabid stray dog.
“Touch her again, and I’ll cut off your hands.”
Sheng Ningye trembled, the front of his pants soaked through.
He’d actually wet himself.
An idea occurred to me. “Sheng Mingqi, do you know the most effective way to threaten someone? Violence won’t solve the problem. You have to attack them psychologically.”
I pulled out my phone and took several pictures of Sheng Ningye.
“Young Master, if you keep bothering us, these pictures of you wetting yourself will show up all over social media. You don’t want everyone to find out about something this humiliating, do you?”
Sure enough, Sheng Ningye broke down and begged me not to post them.
After he ran off, I slung an arm around Sheng Mingqi’s shoulders.
“See? When you’re dealing with someone who cares desperately about saving face, this is what you do. Find their weakness—that’s what makes a great villain.”
“A what?”
“Never mind. Let’s go.”
After we’d walked a few steps, Sheng Mingqi still hadn’t caught up.
“Giang Thanh Nguyệt, did you see me throw that punch just now?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“What did you think?”
“It was powerful. Really impressive.”
“That’s right.” He nodded, his dark eyes fixed on me.
“So I’m really strong.”
19.
I took the opportunity to learn a little about the original owner of this body’s past.
Giang Thanh Nguyệt had been in a car accident three years ago.
She’d lost all her memories, and her personality had changed drastically.
Mrs. Giang said I was becoming more like I used to be—perhaps like I was before the car accident.
By coincidence, I’d also spent three years transmigrating into different worlds to play vicious supporting female characters.
I didn’t know who I’d been three years ago or where I’d been.
The exams were coming up.
Something happened the night before the exams.
I couldn’t get in touch with Sheng Mingqi.
I’d left myself a way out. Sheng Mingqi had held back during the practice exams, keeping himself among the top twenty students in the grade.
But even that was enough to make Mrs. Sheng wary.
In the half month before the exams, Mrs. Sheng did everything she could to cut his snack money. She even stopped letting him eat meals.
That part wasn’t hard to solve. I could make sure he was well fed every day.
But why couldn’t I get in touch with him?
After asking around, my suspicion was confirmed.
Sheng Mingqi had been placed under house arrest.
The point was to keep him from taking the college entrance exams.
I was furious.
He studied, and I tutored him.
When he was injured, I took care of him.
Sheng Mingqi was like a kitten I’d raised myself.
I could squeeze and knead him all I wanted, but I wouldn’t let anyone else bully him.
In the middle of the night, I barged straight into the Sheng family villa.
A light was on in a small, secluded attic room.
I climbed in from the side.
It sounds impressive, but… I’d transmigrated into an ancient cultivation novel before. How could I survive without learning a few tricks?
I knocked on the window.
Sheng Mingqi looked at me in surprise.
The window wasn’t locked.
Mrs. Sheng figured that if he dared jump, he’d at least break a bone, so she was confident enough to leave it unlocked.
Sheng Mingqi’s room was tiny and bare, a stark contrast to the opulence outside.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to rescue you.”
“Then should we run now?”
“No rush. Let’s run tomorrow morning. Get some rest and save your strength first.”
I went inside, and Sheng Mingqi seemed more at ease.
“Thank you.”
I took a little cake out of my bag.
It had been squashed flat and was barely recognizable.
But I still stuck a candle in it and lit it.
“Happy eighteenth birthday, Sheng Mingqi.”
20.
I’d looked over Sheng Mingqi’s file. His birthday fell on the day of the college entrance exams.
I’d picked it up along the way.
I never expected a little discounted cake to make our kitten Sheng so happy.
Early the next morning, I tied a rope and had him climb down.
Sheng Mingqi asked, “What about you? Aren’t you taking the exam?”
“I don’t need to. My parents invested in a private school, so I can get in directly.”
Sheng Mingqi was part of this world. Things like that weren’t unusual to him.
“Then come with me.”
“I’m not going.” I glared at him. “I have to distract them.”
Mrs. Sheng had stationed plenty of bodyguards at the entrance.
Sheng Mingqi climbed down, and he was spotted almost immediately.
A group of burly men rushed over and restrained him.
At the same time, I smashed the glass window.
The sharp crash of breaking glass drew everyone’s attention.
Everyone in the villa rushed outside.
I tossed a match down onto the gasoline-soaked cloth I’d prepared, setting it alight.
Flames roared up.
Everyone panicked.
Some people hurried to put out the fire.
Some tried to catch Sheng Mingqi.
Some tried to catch me.
Before long, two police cars pulled up outside the villa.
“We received a report of a minor being abused.”
“We heard there was a break-in?”
Things got even more chaotic. It was quite a scene.
Police sirens, crackling flames, screams, curses.
This is how villains like us are supposed to do things!
Just as dawn was breaking, I shouted to Sheng Mingqi:
“Run! College is waiting for you!”
The young man seized the chance amid the chaos to break free and run toward the rising sun.
21.
Just before the police broke down the door, I suddenly remembered something.
“System, what’s the favorability score?”
I’d muted the System’s voice ever since the day of my engagement.
I’d almost forgotten it existed.
“Host, you finally remembered me! *sob sob*”
“The favorability score is already at 70!”
“How did it rise so fast?” I exclaimed.
But I was surprised too soon.
Because the System said, “Host, your favorability toward Sheng Mingqi is already at 50, too.”
I stood there, stunned for a long time.
Then I finally understood.
In every world I’d transmigrated into, people had looked down on and hated me for being the wicked supporting woman.
I’d always been alone.
Then I met Sheng Mingqi, and it felt like I’d found one of my own.
Maybe that was what it felt like to understand each other.
After an investigation, the police found that Mrs. Sheng had abused a minor and took her away.
What about me?
I hadn’t done anything.
I was a guest of young master Sheng Mingqi’s. What gave them the right to say I’d broken into someone’s home?
Don’t believe me? Go ask Sheng Mingqi.
The cloth I’d tossed down wasn’t actually soaked in gasoline. It couldn’t burn for long.
Go ahead and ask. I was only there to cheer him on for the college entrance exams.
The police gave me a brief lecture and let me go.
Sheng Mingqi gave the exam everything he had.
Just as expected, he became the top scorer in the province.
His results were outstanding, easily surpassing Sheng Ningye’s.
After the exam, he cooperated with the police investigation and confirmed that Mrs. Sheng had abused him.
The Sheng family couldn’t use their connections to intervene, because the media got involved first.
A top scorer who’d suffered long-term abuse.
Those keywords were enough to set public opinion ablaze over summer break.
Of course, Sheng Mingqi had to pay a price, too.
He could no longer return to the Sheng family home.
He rented a small place of his own and became financially independent.
I told him, “Sheng Mingqi, all you need to do now is shine and wait for your father to come looking for you.”
“Okay.”
He followed my instructions to the letter without questioning me at all.
At the same time, my parents’ attitude gradually changed.
My father even considered handing the family business over to me, and I took the matter very seriously.
The first half of our sophomore year.
Sheng Mingqi began to show his talent and earned his first big windfall.
He began “repaying” me.
He took me to my favorite restaurants and ordered milk tea and all kinds of snacks for me every day.
All the food delivery drivers nearby got to know me.
They’d tease me, “Your boyfriend’s taking you out to eat again?”
I told them over and over that he wasn’t my boyfriend, but they never believed me.
“If he’s not your boyfriend, why does he treat you so well?”
Eventually, I got tired of explaining.
Sophomore year, I went with some classmates to an escape room with a horror theme.
Sheng Mingqi came along, too.
I asked, “Have you been really busy lately? How did you find time to come out with me?”
“You’re afraid of nothing except ghosts. I have to go with you.”
“Oh.”
But wait a minute.