Accidentally Pursued The Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 1
In the prison, a figure leaned against the cold, dark corner of a wall, slumped down. Upon closer inspection, bruises in shades of blue and purple marred the exposed skin of her arms and legs.
Winter had already arrived, but the prison hadn’t started providing heating yet. Dressed in only a thin prison uniform, Shen Mian slowly curled up, trying to hug herself tighter for warmth.
The movement of curling up pulled at her bruised areas, and the pain made Shen Mian inhale sharply. Even so, she didn’t dare to make too much noise, fearing that the others in the cell would hear her and come to beat her again.
Shen Mian had been locked up here a week ago. She had suppressed her usual young mistress temper, cautiously trying to get along with them. But the moment she opened her mouth to speak, her cellmates had ‘greeted’ her with kicks and punches, their reason being that her voice was too unpleasant to hear.
Since then, no matter what Shen Mian did, even just raising a hand, she would be beaten.
Shen Mian had called out to the prison guards, but as soon as she opened her mouth, it would be covered, preventing her from even breathing properly.
At first, she would still resist, but now…
Perhaps her lungs were injured, as even shallow breaths brought pain throughout her body.
Having held it in for too long, coupled with not drinking water for several days, Shen Mian couldn’t help but make a sound: “Cough… cough…”
Shen Mian’s low cough interrupted the few people nearby who were chatting and laughing.
“She won’t die, will she?” one person asked.
“Heh, so what if she dies? With President Lu backing us, what are you afraid of?!” The speaker was a woman lying on a bed. After speaking, she didn’t even glance at Shen Mian, and laughed mockingly, “Besides, the Shen Group is gone, and Shen Zhixing is dead. Even if she dies, what can happen? It’s just one more person with nowhere to be buried.”
Several agreeing voices echoed around, all cursing Shen Mian.
“…”
Shen Mian didn’t listen to the rest. At this moment, only one thought occupied her mind: Eldest brother… is dead?
How could that be?!
Clearly, in the police station, he had said that when she got out, he would take her to their favorite restaurant and told her not to be afraid…
Shen Mian’s breathing grew more and more rapid. The metallic taste rising in her throat made her cough uncontrollably. Only when she coughed up a smear of bl00d into her hand did Shen Mian feel a little better.
Just as Shen Mian wanted to lean against the wall and close her eyes to rest for a while, three or four people walked over from the opposite side.
The person who had been lying on the bed earlier kicked Shen Mian in the chest, “Didn’t your motherfucker know to be quiet?!”
“My… my elder brother…”
Another kick landed. “Hahaha, your elder brother? Your elder brother died the day you came in.”
“Do you know why? I’ll kindly tell you, it’s because you made President Lu unhappy. Even your good brother dared to cause him trouble. If he didn’t die, who would?”
Several people standing nearby, wanting to curry favor with the abuser, also raised their feet and kicked Shen Mian.
A minute later, Shen Mian could no longer hear their curses, and she couldn’t even feel the pain of the kicks landing on her body anymore.
Cold.
That was Shen Mian’s only sensation at this moment.
Shen Mian’s open eyes slowly closed: Elder brother… I’m sorry.
At the moment her eyelids drooped, Shen Mian felt a sharp pain in her temples.
••••
In a spacious and bright bedroom, the air was filled with a fresh fragrance. In the middle, under a light blue quilt on a double bed, a person was sound asleep.
The exposed forehead was flawless and white. The originally peaceful brows suddenly furrowed, and restless eyelids caused the long eyelashes to tremble slightly.
It seemed she was having a nightmare.
Shen Mian’s eyes snapped open. The familiar scent filled her nose, and the warm, comfortable environment around her left her mind blank.
Looking around, Shen Mian hesitated: Is she… home?
“?!”
How could it be? Ever since the company was acquired by that person, this villa where she had lived for nearly twenty years had also been taken away. There was no way she could be here; she should be in prison.
Pri…son?!
Shen Mian threw off the quilt and sat up, her body stiffening.
But perhaps she got up too abruptly. Shen Mian’s vision went black, and a flash of white light crossed her mind.
When Shen Mian opened her eyes again, the drowsy and bewildered look from before had turned cold and sharp.
Shen Mian gripped the quilt tightly until her knuckles turned sickly white, then slowly relaxed her hold. Throwing back the quilt, Shen Mian walked barefoot towards the dressing room beside her.
Shen Mian looked at the person in the vanity mirror. Bright eyes and white teeth framed a charming and lovely face. Light brown curly hair was scattered messily around her neck, and the dark circles under her eyes told her that this was the Shen Mian who would still stay up all night playing games.
This was her at twenty years old, a time when everything could still be changed.
Shen Mian pinched her cheek in disbelief. After feeling a slight pain, she was overjoyed and thanked heaven for giving her a chance at a new life.
While sitting on the bed just now, Shen Mian had sorted out the information that had suddenly flooded her mind. She had come to two crucial conclusions:
1. She died and came back to life.
To be precise, Shen Mian had died from the beating of those people. Their relentless blows had caused bleeding in her lungs. By the time the prison guards arrived to take her to the hospital, the doctor was unable to save her.
After dying, she had been reborn back to this moment.
Shen Mian suppressed the joy of her rebirth and thought about the second matter.
2. She was actually living in a book! And a supporting character at that!
Shen Mian brushed a hand through the bangs on her forehead, a cold smile curving her lips.
When she had been on her last breath, a lot of information she had never known before had appeared in her mind, but she had only just remembered it.
She was actually a white lotus supporting female character responsible for pushing the plot in an old-fashioned President romance novel called “Overbearing Doting: Woman, Don’t Even Think About Escaping.”
The male lead pursued the female lead, and she was released to act as a helper; when the male lead and female lead had conflicts, she was dragged out to mediate; even when the two were together, her appearance was still needed…
Thinking of her past life where she had lived like a puppet on strings, Shen Mian scoffed coldly: Please, my appearance fee is very expensive, okay?
Now that she understood everything, Shen Mian only felt that if she had possessed even a tiny bit of self-awareness in her previous life, she wouldn’t have liked that Lu Jingchen just because she was following the character setting the author had given her.
Lu Jingchen, the male lead of “Overbearing Doting: Woman, Don’t Even Think About Escaping.”
Promiscuous, involved in illegal activities, the head of a gang… he had done every bad thing imaginable.
However…
Weren’t all old-fashioned overbearing presidents like this? Shen Mian thought of the romance novels she had read in her previous life.
Thinking that way, Lu Jingchen was actually not that bad.
Wait.
Shen Mian’s brows furrowed. Why was she making excuses for Lu Jingchen?
Lu Jingchen was the president male lead of “Overbearing Doting: Woman, Don’t Even Think About Escaping,” the man she had always been pestering in her previous life.
Could it be…
Shen Mian realized something. She repeated Lu Jingchen’s name twice in her mind, only to find that her heart was actually beating faster, and even her cheeks had flushed with a faint heat.
Shen Mian: ??!
How could she, a character with self-awareness, still be controlled by the author’s character setting, feeling her heart flutter just by thinking of Lu Jingchen?! Did this mean she would still have to follow the original plot and continue to revolve around Lu Jingchen in the future?
Shen Mian vomited.
She really vomited.
Rushing to the en-suite bathroom in the room, Shen Mian leaned against the wall, bending over the toilet.
Now, whenever she thought of Lu Jingchen, besides the forced heartbeat, all she felt was subjective hatred and disgust.
In her previous life, she had met Lu Jingchen at a banquet. At seventeen, she had fallen in love with him at first sight.
Since then, she had always tried to find ways to please Lu Jingchen. No matter how coldly sarcastic Lu Jingchen was to her, no matter how much her family disliked him, Shen Mian didn’t care. The only person she cared about was Lu Jingchen. She would even do whatever Lu Jingchen asked her to do, just to win a smile from him.
Even in the end, when Lu Jingchen asked her to steal confidential documents from the Shen Group, she had willingly done it.
Who knew that after obtaining the confidential documents, Lu Jingchen had actually used videos of Shen Mian stealing the documents and other illegal things he had made her do in the past to threaten the Shen family, forcing them to transfer the company’s shares to him.
Her family, who doted on Shen Mian, had agreed without a second thought for Shen Mian’s future. But right after the document agreement was signed, the police came in and took Shen Mian away…
Thinking about it now, it was all the author’s fault! If she hadn’t written her so stupidly, how could she have done something that led to her family’s ruin?
Moreover, the reason she was beaten by her cellmates was also because of him. He had bribed them to teach her a lesson.
Therefore, in her previous life, the murderer who killed her, besides the people in prison, was also Lu Jingchen.
Shen Mian leaned against the wall and slowly stood up, a determination never seen before in her eyes.
Since heaven had allowed her, Shen Mian, to return to the age of twenty, this time, no matter what, she would not repeat the same mistakes.
Although Lu Jingchen and she were both characters created by the same person, if she didn’t avenge this, Shen Mian would be sorry to heaven for giving her a second chance.
She would make Lu Jingchen receive the punishment he deserved.
As for the author…
What does a novelist care about most in their writing?
Not having the story collapse!
So, as long as she prevented the story from following the outline…
The novel’s ending was Lu Jingchen marrying the female lead.
If she prevented the male lead from meeting the female lead and collected evidence of Lu Jingchen’s illegal activities to send him to prison, then not only would she avenge Lu Jingchen, but she would also change the ending written by the author.
This win-win situation put Shen Mian in a great mood.
Having made up her mind, Shen Mian walked towards the door, but as she turned around, she suddenly realized something.
Even thinking of Lu Jingchen’s name made her heart flutter. What would happen if she saw him in person?!
Before Shen Mian could think of a solution, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
A middle-aged woman’s voice sounded, “Miss, breakfast is ready.”
Shen Mian snapped out of her vengeful thoughts, quickly opened the door, and seeing the person standing outside, she didn’t say anything but opened her arms and hugged her.
Smelling the faint sandalwood scent on the woman, Shen Mian nestled her head on Wang Feng’s shoulder and murmured, “Aunt Wang, I missed you so much.”
Wang Feng had been taking care of her since she was a child, spending more time with her than her own family. From childhood to adulthood, the closest person to Shen Mian in this family was not her parents or her two elder brothers, but Wang Feng.
Wang Feng was a little flustered by Shen Mian’s sudden hug. Although the young lady was affectionate towards her, she had never been this enthusiastic. However, although Wang Feng was puzzled by Shen Mian’s actions, she said, “It’s only been one night, and Aunt Wang also missed Miss.”
Shen Mian’s lips curved slightly. For Wang Feng, it had only been one night, but for her, it had been two months since they last met.
With the Shen family losing their company and their home, how could they still afford a servant? So Wang Feng had been dismissed and left the Shen family long ago.
Shen Mian suddenly thought of something, her expression freezing. She looked at Wang Feng cautiously and asked, “Aunt Wang, where are my parents?”
“Miss must still be sleepy. Master and Madam went on a trip a few days ago.”
“Then, my… my eldest brother?”
Wang Feng stepped aside, making way, and said, “Young Master is eating downstairs.”
Hearing this, Shen Mian didn’t care about anything else and rushed barefoot down the stairs.
The Shen family’s residence was a large three-story villa.
The servants lived on the first floor, Shen Mian’s parents and Shen Mian lived on the second floor, and Shen Mian’s two elder brothers lived on the third floor.
The open-plan kitchen and living room on the first floor had no partitions, allowing one to see all the decorations on the first floor at a glance from the stairs.
Shen Mian ran down half a flight of stairs but stopped at the turning point. Because what came into view was a man sitting at the dining table, eating elegantly.
The man’s profile presented perfect lines: a full forehead, a straight nose, a tight jawline…
Shen Mian looked at the familiar face, speechless and choked with emotion.
Sitting there was her eldest brother, Shen Zhixing.