After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Bent by the Villainess (GL) - Chapter 32

Xia Chuci woke up in the hospital. After she and Su Yiming both fell into the sea that day, she fainted. She didn’t need to think to know who had saved her.

Xia Chuci was deeply frustrated: System, what happened to the heroine’s halo you promised? How could I be so useless as to be saved by the main villain?

System: [This system is only responsible for the outcome.]

Xia Chuci rolled her eyes: Aren’t you going to care about this heroine’s dignity?

System: [It is regrettable that your side failed to seize the opportunity of the kidnapping incident to complete the key task. Friendly reminder: If the villainess does not turn dark within ten days, the mission will be judged as a failure. Please take care of yourself.]

Xia Chuci weakly retorted: You never said there was a time limit for the mission before…

System: [Given your extreme lack of initiative, to urge you to complete the mission as soon as possible, this system has specially enabled the time management function for you.]

Xia Chuci: …

When it came to forcing Su Yiming to turn dark, rather than saying she wasn’t dedicated, it was more accurate to say she couldn’t bring herself to do it. As soon as she met Su Yiming’s sincere eyes, she fell apart. Who could hurt someone who genuinely cared for them with a clear conscience?

She originally thought she could muddle through by changing the original plot, but unexpectedly, she was given a final ultimatum.

When she first transmigrated, Xia Chuci only thought of earning chips to suffer less. She never considered what kind of painful circumstances Su Yiming had to endure to turn into the person she was in the original work.

The affection they had developed over the years made her feel pity for Su Yiming. The thought of personally pushing her former good friend into a fire pit made her heart ache.

Xia Chuci looked up at the ceiling, feeling melancholic.

A short while later, footsteps sounded outside the door. Xia Chuci subconsciously closed her eyes. She was still immersed in her depression and didn’t have the energy to deal with anyone yet.

The person approached, eventually sitting by the hospital bed.

A faint, cold, crisp scent flowed into her nostrils; it was the unique scent of Su Yiming.

Xia Chuci was struggling with whether to wake up when suddenly a hand caressed her cheek. The slight coolness from the hand surprisingly soothed her restless heart, so she changed her mind about opening her eyes and continued to enjoy this inexplicably comfortable feeling.

A fingertip gently swept over her eyelid, and then those jade-like hands moved to her neck.

Xia Chuci’s heart, which had just settled, began to pound: Is she trying to strangle me?

She kept her eyes tightly closed, trying to maintain a steady breathing state to prevent the other person from noticing her abnormality.

Xia Chuci discovered that without visual interference, her whole body’s sense of touch, hearing, and smell were instantly magnified several times. Every action of Su Yiming could strike at her heart.

The hand that was grasping her neck moved up and rested on her chin. Following that, something soft landed on her lips, and her entire being was enveloped in a strong, cold, crisp aura.

Xia Chuci’s heart trembled. She instantly opened her eyes, and what met her gaze was Su Yiming’s face, right in front of her, along with an expression of deep, intoxicating affection.

Her mind went blank, and her ears rang. For a moment, she didn’t know how to react. In her astonishment, her mouth involuntarily opened slightly, and Su Yiming’s tongue took the opportunity to slide into her oral cavity, intertwining with her tongue in a dance.

A tingling sensation rushed from her tongue up to her scalp, then instantly spread from the top of her head to her heart. This bizarre event made Xia Chuci shudder with fear and helplessness.

Su Yiming felt the other party’s trembling and immediately sobered up. Xia Chuci’s terrified look was fully exposed.

She calmly withdrew her tongue, then reached out to wipe the saliva that had overflowed from the corner of Xia Chuci’s mouth, saying placidly, “You’re awake.”

Xia Chuci, however, felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She stiffly asked, “Just now, you, what were you doing?”

Su Yiming said matter-of-factly, “Giving you artificial respiration.”

Xia Chuci was speechless and couldn’t utter a single word of rebuttal, because she sadly realized that no matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of a more believable reason than artificial respiration to explain what had just happened.

Moreover, Su Yiming’s expression was so candid, and her tone was so unquestionable that it seemed extremely convincing.

Xia Chuci scratched her head and asked in confusion, “Why do you have to stick your tongue out when giving artificial respiration?”

Unexpectedly, Su Yiming countered, “Aren’t you supposed to stick your tongue out when giving artificial respiration?”

Xia Chuci was exasperated. It turned out this person didn’t know anything! She had fallen into the sea, drowned, and fainted, yet she was somehow accidentally saved by Su Yiming. It really was thanks to the heroine’s halo, or else she would have surely died a thorough death!

Before they could exchange a few more words, Su Yiming received a phone call. She then instructed the driver to pick her up from the hospital and hurriedly left.

Xia Chuci was secretly surprised. Su Yiming was usually calm and collected when encountering problems. What had happened that made her look so flustered?

What was even more unusual was that Su Wenhu and his wife weren’t staying by their biological daughter’s bedside, and they didn’t even call to check on her. This was really against common sense.

She guessed that something major must have happened that prevented Su Wenhu and his wife from being available and that was why they ignored her. Now even Su Yiming was called away, so the matter should be related to Su Yiming.

Returning to her small apartment, Xia Chuci finally remembered that the more pressing issue she should be concerned about was how to complete the key task.

In the original work, the kidnapping incident that caused the main villain to turn dark had now ended, and Su Wenchang was also dead. So how exactly was she supposed to make Su Yiming turn dark?

Xia Chuci slumped listlessly on the sofa, regretting her past actions.

The next morning, the driver took Xia Chuci to the company entrance. Before she could get out of the car, she saw Su Yiming being taken into a police car by two police officers.

Su Wenhu and his wife were standing at the company entrance watching the police car drive away. Xia Chuci quickly walked up and anxiously asked, “Chairman, General Manager, what happened?”

Chu Xi took Xia Chuci’s hand, unable to hide her sorrow, and comforted her, “It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

Su Wenhu retracted his gaze and said, “Let’s talk in the office.”

It turned out that just yesterday, an anonymous email regarding Su Yiming’s true identity was mass-sent to every employee’s inbox. This news instantly exploded within the company.

The manager of the technical department reacted quickly and deleted the email before the rumors could spread.

After Su Wenhu learned about it, he instructed the management of various departments to maintain confidentiality among the employees and, on the other hand, had the technical department thoroughly investigate the source of the email.

However, before they could crack the other party’s IP address, another anonymous email popped up in the inboxes of all employees. The content directly accused Su Yiming of colluding with Su Wenchang to embezzle public funds, and some alleged evidence that could not be verified was attached.

The other party’s IP address was shown as being overseas and was encrypted, making it difficult for the technical department to crack immediately. They had no choice but to disable all functions and permissions of the corporate email to stop the spread of unknown information.

However, the dark hand lurking in the shadows had more tricks than that.

Just after midnight, gossip articles designed to grab attention began circulating online, such as “Shock! Su Corporation’s Heir is Actually a Fake Rich Daughter” and “The True Story of the Real and Fake Heiresses in a Wealthy Family.” Moreover, the accounts posting these articles were all newly registered and not verified with real names, making it difficult to trace the mastermind behind them.

Fortunately, Chu Xi had a wide network and acted quickly with public relations. The articles online were dealt with promptly and didn’t cause much of a stir.

While this kind of matter didn’t attract the attention of the general public like a celebrity scandal, it would certainly spread quickly within the business and socialite circles, and might even become a topic of conversation at their dinner parties.

Who was behind this sudden series of changes? Was it an enemy of the Su family? Or was it an NPC arranged by the plot to drive the key mission?

Judging from the original plot, the Su family didn’t really have any significant enemies, so there was only the second possibility. All of this was just to promote the villainess’s dark transformation.

Xia Chuci’s heart instantly sank to the bottom. This fleeting guess made her hair stand on end.

The best way to make a person turn dark is to destroy her, completely destroy her, and make her lose everything. Only this way can her hatred be pushed to the peak, thereby achieving the goal of turning dark.

From childhood, Su Yiming had always been outstanding in every aspect: identity, academics, talent, appearance, business acumen, and management ability. She had always been someone her peers could only look up to.

For someone who had stood at the peak since birth to suddenly fall into the mud, one can imagine how disastrous the fall would be.

Chu Xi saw her pale face and gently patted her shoulder, comforting her, “Don’t worry. Yiming was just called in for questioning. She didn’t do those things, so she’ll be fine.”

Xia Chuci nodded and asked, “What should we do now?”

“Chu Ci, don’t get involved in this matter.”

Xia Chuci froze, looking at Su Wenhu in confusion.

“The 30 million embezzled by Wenchang was transferred to an overseas account, and its specific whereabouts are still unknown. I suspect the mastermind is targeting the Su family. One of my daughters has already been dragged into this mess. I don’t want my other daughter to be implicated as well.”

Xia Chuci’s heart warmed slightly. She couldn’t help but study the man in front of her. She didn’t know when, but scattered white hairs had appeared at Su Wenhu’s temples. He looked like he had aged ten years. It was clear that the events of this time had been a significant blow to him.

It proved that Su Yiming’s vigilance was quite high. Although Su Wenchang had tricked her, she knew what she should and shouldn’t do.

Under the police investigation, Su Yiming was eventually proven innocent. However, her true background was already public knowledge, and her heir status was questioned by various parties in the family.

In Xia Chuci’s view, this was simply absurd. This wasn’t a royal throne; what was all this about bloodline inheritance? Wasn’t management ability stronger than bl00d relationship?

She thought Su Wenhu would strongly oppose the various opinions and firmly maintain the original heir’s qualification. Unexpectedly, he didn’t say a word but immediately revoked Su Yiming’s successor qualification and publicly acknowledged Xia Chuci as his biological daughter.

That evening, when Xia Chuci woke up, she found the other side of the bed empty. She walked out of the bedroom and saw light seeping out from under the study door.

Xia Chuci gently pushed the door open. Su Yiming was sitting in front of the computer, her slender fingers tapping on the keyboard. That lonely and forlorn figure deeply pierced her eyes.

“It’s so late, why aren’t you sleeping?”

Hearing this, Su Yiming turned around and said, “I can’t sleep, so I got up to organize the handover documents. Why are you up?”

Seeing Xia Chuci standing on the floor with bare feet, she got up, picked her up, and placed her on the sofa, scolding her, “It’s cold at night. Why did you run out without wearing shoes?”

“I woke up and didn’t see you, so I rushed to find you. I didn’t think about putting on shoes. Are you… okay?”

Su Yiming smiled and said, “I’m perfectly fine. Why? Do I look terrible?”

Xia Chuci choked up and said, “It’s good that you’re fine. Dad must have been forced to do this. Don’t take it to heart.”

“I know Dad did it for my own good. I’m currently in the eye of the storm, so this is quite good. Besides, the Su family was originally yours. Now it’s just returning the property to its rightful owner. I told you before that I will fully assist you in taking over the Su family in the future, so don’t feel too much pressure.”

Uh… why is the plot heading in this direction?

What happened to turning against each other? What happened to turning dark? If you’re so open-minded, what am I supposed to do!

“Hey, System, aren’t you going to come out and explain what is going on?”

System: [If Plan A doesn’t work, we switch to Plan B.]

Xia Chuci: …

Three days later, Xia Chuci finally knew what the System’s Plan B was.

Because the male lead, Gu Xin, had returned to the country!!! Clearly, the System was trying to play the emotional card.

Xia Chuci used to think the villainess was a brick, moved wherever needed. Now, she felt the male lead was more like a brick, moved in without a word whenever the plot required it.

What was even more astounding was that the male lead blatantly proposed that the person he wanted to marry was Xia Chuci because the partner for the marriage alliance with the Gu family was the Su family’s biological daughter.

Xia Chuci was completely awestruck by this straightforward move and just wanted to applaud.

Although Chu Xi was surprised, she didn’t rashly refuse. Su Yiming’s marriage had been a burden on her heart for years. She knew there was no love between the two children, and more than anyone, she wished Su Yiming could be with someone she loved, instead of being trapped by a family marriage alliance for life.

Now that Su Yiming was free from the burden of the marriage alliance, and Gu Xin had actively brought it up, it was a weight off her mind. Moreover, if Gu Xin and Xia Chuci were interested in each other, it would be a beautiful thing.

“This matter still depends on the people involved. Chu Ci, are you willing to marry into the Gu family?”

Xia Chuci muttered to herself: I don’t think I get to decide this.

System seized the opportunity: [Friendly reminder: Today is the last day of the deadline. Please complete the mission before 24:00 tonight.]

“I…”

“I disagree!” Su Yiming sprang up, vehemently opposing.

Gu Xin frowned and said, “Su Yiming, I’m afraid this is not up to you. It’s Chu Ci’s decision.”

Everyone’s eyes focused on Xia Chuci again. Everyone was waiting for her decision.

Xia Chuci couldn’t bear to look into Su Yiming’s eyes and forced herself to say, “I am willing…”

Before she could finish, Su Yiming grabbed her and dragged her into the next room, locking the door. Everyone was shut out.

Xia Chuci asked in confusion, “What’s wrong with you?”

Su Yiming’s face was dark as she demanded, “Why?”

“What?”

Su Yiming’s voice trembled: “Why did you agree to that marriage? If it’s just because of the engagement…”

Xia Chuci shattered her illusion: “It’s not because of the engagement.”

“Then what is it because of? Don’t tell me you fell in love with Gu Xin.”

Xia Chuci pressed her hand to her forehead. This was not a matter of love or not, was it? This was a matter of setting! The heroine not marrying the male lead would lead to receiving blade mail (angry reader feedback)!

She could only keep telling herself: Su Yiming is the main villainess, the person who will ruthlessly torment me in the future. The pain and torment she is suffering now is far less than what I will suffer later!

Xia Chuci said calmly, “No matter what, I’m destined to marry him in this lifetime.”

Su Yiming gritted her teeth and asked, “Are you that eager to marry Gu Xin?”

Xia Chuci roared internally: No! I don’t want to! But my fate is not in my hands!

However, this silent attitude was interpreted by Su Yiming as agreement. This thought pierced her heart like a sharp sword, causing immense pain.

Su Yiming’s eyes were red, and she low-growled unwillingly, “What do you even like about him?”

Xia Chuci carefully recalled the male lead’s advantages and said without hesitation, “Rich and handsome.”

Su Yiming staggered back two steps, asking in disbelief, “You like money?”

Huh? Is that how you understood it? Well, being shallow is better than being manipulative. It’s less hateful.

Xia Chuci suppressed her conscience and continued to be shallow: “Of course. Who doesn’t like money?”

Su Yiming’s lips trembled slightly, and she began to stammer, “You chose Gu Xin over me because of money, right?”

Ah, well, if it has to be a choice between love and friendship, as the heroine of a romance novel, of course, she has to choose love. That’s professional conduct! Moreover, the answer to the question of whether the heroine chooses the male lead or the villainess is self-evident!

“You already have the answer in your heart, don’t you?”

The faint spark of hope in Su Yiming’s eyes was extinguished by Xia Chuci.

She knew that even if Su Yiming didn’t love Gu Xin, she wouldn’t forgive her despicable act of stealing her fiancé.

She understood even more clearly that the look of despair in Su Yiming’s eyes as she left would become a nightmare that would forever haunt her.

Not long after, the System chimed in again:

[Congratulations to your side for completing the key task. The villainess has successfully turned dark.]

Xia Chuci: You don’t need to congratulate me on something that just creates hostility and makes enemies.

System: [Reader satisfaction +50000]

Xia Chuci: At least you have some conscience.

System: [Villainess heartbreak value is too high. Reader satisfaction cleared.]

Xia Chuci: !!!

A bolt from the blue struck her head, and the scene before her instantly changed from color to black and white.

What? What does the villainess’s heartbreak have to do with me? Clearing the satisfaction value directly? You can’t do that!

How did the saying go? Decades of hard work, wiped out overnight.