Failed to Run Away After Transmigrating as the Scummy Alpha's Wife of the Villain - Chapter 3

She looked around, confirming there was no one nearby, wondering if she’d imagined it.

But soon, the voice spoke again, “Please confirm whether to bind the system. If rejected, the transmigrated soul will automatically vanish.”

Startled, Chi Yuan quickly responded, “Bind, bind!”

Ding—The Villain Salvation System has been successfully bound. Your mission is to help the villain prevent the protagonist’s rise. Failure will result in forced termination. For your own safety, please strive to complete the task.

Chi Yuan grumbled internally: Fail and die again? What kind of scam system is this?

System: “The host was already deceased in the original world. The Novel System brought you here. Complete the tasks diligently, and you’ll gain a new identity to continue living in this world. The system is at your service.”

…Fine then.

The taxi slowly entered the Chi Estate. The ornate, luxurious architecture unfolded before Chi Yuan like a painting. During the ride, she’d already discussed the novel’s general plot with the system.

The driver couldn’t hide his envy, joking repeatedly, “Even if I worked my whole life, I couldn’t afford a single pillar from your house.”

Chi Yuan sighed deeply, “Rebirth is truly a skill. The original owner’s starting point is someone else’s unattainable life goal. With such wealth, why seek unnecessary thrills?”

System: “This world revolves around the female lead. Cannon fodder characters exist for this purpose. Her charm isn’t something others can avoid.”

Chi Yuan: “Sounds so mystical. When I read it, I found it strange—how could no one see through her fake kindness while she schemed against everyone? It’s completely illogical.”

System: “Regardless, the female lead is dangerous. To complete your mission, you must prevent her from approaching Jiang Ci.”

In the novel, if Jiang Wan had ten chances to approach Jiang Ci, nine were for sabotage, and the last was to gloat in victory—though Jiang Ci never cared.

As the car stopped at the entrance, Chi Yuan carried Jiang Ci straight into the Chi residence.

At 9 PM, the house was silent. Madam Chi had retired early. Tiptoeing to her room, Chi Yuan felt oddly like she was sneaking around for an affair.

Shaking off the absurd thought, she laid the sleeping Jiang Ci on the bed—only to suddenly notice the abnormal body heat.

Feeling the burning forehead, Chi Yuan immediately called the family doctor using the bedside landline.

True to elite private healthcare, the white-coated doctor arrived with a medical kit within ten minutes.

The forty-something physician, hair neatly combed, was sweating from hurrying over. His eyes widened seeing the patient wasn’t Chi Yuan.

“Miss Jiang?! How did this—”

A cough from Chi Yuan cut him off, urging him to focus on treatment.

“Her spleen and stomach show cold deficiency with fever symptoms. Did she take improper medication earlier?” After checking the thermometer, the doctor administered an IV drip to stabilize her condition.

It was the original body’s doing, so how could Chi Yuan know what medicine Jiang Ci had taken? She hemmed and hawed, unable to get a word out.

Fang Qi sighed lightly, giving Chi Yuan a reproachful look. “I’ve heard a bit about the situation between you and Miss Jiang. Even though your engagement wasn’t voluntary on either side, Jiang Ci is still your lawful partner. No matter how much you dislike her, you shouldn’t mistreat her like this.”

Who would have thought that even the family’s private doctor knew about the strained relationship between Chi Yuan and Jiang Ci?

Chi Yuan rubbed her nose, forced to swallow this bitter pill. She apologized profusely and repeatedly promised not to harm Jiang Ci, finally managing to persuade the doctor to leave after much coaxing.

Looking at Jiang Ci curled up small on the bed, Chi Yuan’s heart softened. She soaked a towel, wrung it dry, and gently wiped Jiang Ci’s forehead.

Even in sleep, Jiang Ci was restless—frowning, breathing weakly, her exhales scorching hot. She murmured faintly, clearly burning up with fever.

After wiping her forehead, Chi Yuan moved downward, dabbing at Jiang Ci’s sweat-damp cheeks, neck, and slender wrists. But when she reached Jiang Ci’s ice-cold, clammy palm, the barely conscious woman suddenly gripped her hand tightly.

“Cold… Mu Mu, so cold…” Jiang Ci trembled violently, her teeth chattering as she kept calling out about the cold.

Seeing her flushed cheeks, Chi Yuan grew even more worried. Damn that scum of an original body—utterly inhuman!

After hesitating for a moment, Chi Yuan swiftly kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed. The moment she touched Jiang Ci’s burning body, she wrapped her tightly in the blankets and pulled both the woman and the covers into her arms.

In her feverish dreams, Jiang Ci seemed to have returned to that scorching summer day.

Back then, she had just stepped into the entertainment industry—a bizarre, dazzling world that rewarded her years of anticipation with a fresh start.

The female lead in a low-budget web drama.

Though the starting point wasn’t high, it still meant Jiang Ci had secured her debut as a newcomer.

Overflowing with excitement, she shared the good news with Mu Sheng. But the voice on the other end of the call plunged her into an icy abyss.

“Xiao Ci, your father… he’s been imprisoned. The Jiang family… is finished.”

Even five years later, Mu Sheng’s words—”The Jiang family is finished”—still echoed in her ears hundreds of times in the dead of night, stripping away the hopes and dreams of her youth.

After that, misfortune struck Jiang Ci like a chain of dominoes.

Her father imprisoned, her mother driven to madness, the Jiang family raided overnight and utterly ruined. Even Mu Sheng, her last remaining support, left for abroad.

At twenty, Jiang Ci couldn’t fathom what she had done to offend the heavens. In its fury, it seemed to have dumped every conceivable misfortune onto her at once.

Isolated, helpless, on the verge of collapse.

That was the portrait of her days—endless pain and sorrow.

Her only reason to keep struggling, to refuse to give up, was her mother, now demented and confined to a hospital bed.

After leaving the Jiang family, she moved into a rented room barely twenty square meters in size. The rickety ceiling fan creaked overhead, while the sounds of children wailing and couples arguing seeped through the thin walls of the partitioned rooms next door.

Noisy, cramped, suffocating.

Even in the sweltering heat of August, frigid winter winds whistled through the drafty walls, leaving Jiang Ci no choice but to curl up and hug herself for warmth.

That same lonely, helpless feeling. After all these years, she should have gotten used to it by now…

However, a sudden waft of delicate floral fragrance gradually eased Jiang Ci’s furrowed brows. The howling cold wind had unknowingly ceased, replaced by a warm and comforting sensation enveloping her.

The small orange desk lamp cast a soft, warm glow over the two figures tightly embraced on the bed in the dimly lit room.

An unseen force quietly began influencing the gears of the world.

The next morning, Chi Yuan was awakened by voices outside her door.

Rubbing her hair, she drowsily nuzzled against a cool, smooth surface for quite some time before her consciousness slowly cleared. Tilting her head slightly, she abruptly met a pair of scrutinizing eyes.

Those grayish-brown eyes, beautiful yet somewhat glassy, blinked behind long, curled lashes—utterly innocent and unbothered, showing no trace of guilt at being caught.

Jiang Ci: “Awake?”

Chi Yuan: “…Awake.”

Jiang Ci curled her lips into a smile and tilted her chin to the right. “Well then, Miss Chi, would you mind letting go of my arm now?”

Huh???

Chi Yuan looked down and, sure enough, saw her hands tightly gripping Jiang Ci’s right arm—no wonder the texture had felt so perfect earlier…

She released her grip and bolted upright on the bed.

“Don’t misunderstand! I didn’t do anything, Hela.”

“Didn’t do anything?” Jiang Ci lifted her slightly numb arm, crossed her arms, and tilted her head with a faint smile. “Are you referring to not drugging me, or not hooking up with Jiang Wan and cuckolding me?”

Yikes—Chi Yuan couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. That question left no room for excuses.

Jiang Ci, clearly patient, leaned leisurely against the headboard, waiting to see how Chi Yuan would weasel her way out of this.

Chi Yuan: “I—”

Just then, the door to Chi Yuan’s room was flung open, and a wooden rolling pin came flying straight at her face.

Caught off guard, Chi Yuan barely had time to dodge and could only raise her arm to block.

The rolling pin struck her forearm with a thud before clattering to the floor—but this was only the beginning.

A woman dressed in luxurious attire clicked her heels briskly across the floor, striding toward Chi Yuan without a word and delivering a heavy slap to her straightened back.

“Spending all your time carousing outside, and now you’ve leveled up—bringing your flings home, have you?”

“If I don’t teach you a lesson today, you’ll think you can do whatever you want!”

Chi Yuan grimaced in pain, hunching over as the sting radiated across her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the woman bend down to retrieve the fallen rolling pin.

…

Chi Yuan quickly jumped aside, raising her hands in surrender. “Mom! Mom! I wasn’t fooling around! Put the rolling pin down, please!”

Who was this formidable woman? None other than Chi Shuangzhi, Chi Yuan’s mother and the iron-fisted matriarch of the Chi family.

The spoiled, unruly “Chi Yuan” feared nothing more than this “tiger mom,” who preferred action over words.

Chi Shuangzhi’s eyes widened, her brows arching sharply as she swung the rolling pin down, utterly indifferent to her own daughter’s yelps and contorted expressions.

“Who do you think you are? Huh? Who do you think you are? If you weren’t fooling around, then what’s that on the bed?”

“Some vixen you picked up in the middle of the night?”

“How am I supposed to explain this to Jiang Ci?!”

“Mom!” Chi Yuan felt like there must be a blizzard outside in June—she was being so unfairly accused.

“Take a look at the bed! Isn’t that Jiang Ci? Your dear daughter-in-law.” She dodged left and right, glancing toward Jiang Ci, hoping she’d speak up to explain. Instead, she saw Jiang Ci covering her mouth, stifling laughter, her face full of schadenfreude.

“Jiang Ci?” Finally catching on, Chi Shuangzhi quickly looked toward the bed, meeting Jiang Ci’s graceful and proper nod of greeting.

The rolling pin slipped from her hand. Chi Shuangzhi looked from the bed to the side, speechless with shock. Her expression shifted like a kaleidoscope before she finally stomped her foot and swung at Chi Yuan again.

Wounded both physically and emotionally, Chi Yuan cried out, “Mom! I told you it’s Jiang Ci! Why are you still hitting me?”

Chi Shuangzhi retorted, “Who else should I hit? Out with it! What are your intentions bringing Jiang Ci home like this?”

Chi Yuan completely broke down, “She’s my lawful wife! What intentions could I possibly have?”