I Don't Want to Be the Villainess Anymore - Chapter 1

Qin Yuzhen sat on the bed, her mind still in a daze from being forcibly transported to this world.

She glanced around the room—it was indescribably shabby. The roof leaked, with a basin placed beneath to catch the rainwater. The window could only be half-closed, though even fully shut, it wouldn’t have mattered since the glass was shattered. The bed was uncomfortably hard and uneven, with bricks stacked beneath it. She ran her fingers over the surface, confirming the rough texture.

Qin Yuzhen tugged at the corner of her lips and let out a derisive snort.

“Host…”

“Tsk, what a novelty—I actually got played.” Though her face wore a smile, her teeth were nearly grinding in frustration.

She had never suffered such humiliation before.

“Host, I can’t connect to the system space right now. You’ll probably have to stay here for a while. I’ll send you the character script first,” the system said cautiously.

Even though it was just a virtual entity, it couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by its own host.

Qin Yuzhen scoffed lightly.

The script arrived, and she narrowed her eyes as she read it. “A supporting character? A villainous supporting character?”

Her voice rose sharply in pitch.

The system remained silent.

Qin Yuzhen took a deep breath. “Just destroy this world. Take me away the moment it collapses.”

“Host, we’re out of protective devices… If you do this without protection, the mortality rate is ninety-nine percent,” the system replied.

Qin Yuzhen clenched her jaw. She despised playing second fiddle—every experience in her life had taught her that one must always take the lead, or else risk being killed without ever knowing why. In the five hundred years since joining the system, she had only ever taken on protagonist roles. This was the first time she’d been handed a villainess script.

But…

“There doesn’t seem to be any mission in this world,” Qin Yuzhen mused, a smirk forming.

“Host, what are you planning?” The system grew wary.

Qin Yuzhen didn’t answer.

Her gaze fell on the tattered slippers by the window. Despite her disgust, she slipped them on.

This was a story of swapped identities.

Qin Yuzhen was the real heiress, while the female lead, Rong Xi, was the impostor. The two had been switched as children by someone with ill intentions. At five years old, Qin Yuzhen was abandoned and later sold to a remote mountain village, where she endured countless hardships. Though her adoptive parents in the village treated her decently—evidenced by the care they put into her name—many things remained irreparable. Meanwhile, Rong Xi was raised in the Rong family as their beloved daughter. Seventeen years later, when Rong Xi needed a bl00d transfusion after a car accident, the Rongs discovered she wasn’t biologically related to them. They eventually found Qin Yuzhen and brought her home.

Due to her traumatic upbringing, Qin Yuzhen grew up sensitive and insecure, consumed by jealousy and hatred for Rong Xi, who had “stolen” her life. She later resorted to various schemes to eliminate her. Rong Xi, on the other hand, was kind-hearted, gentle, and well-mannered. Initially, she avoided Qin Yuzhen’s provocations and even voluntarily moved out of the Rong household. It was only after Qin Yuzhen’s relentless attacks endangered her life that she finally fought back.

Staring at the name “Qin Yuzhen” in the script, she had the urge to scratch it out.

Though she hadn’t used her real name in years, operating solely under the alias “Xianyu,” seeing the life of someone who bore her name unfold so miserably still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

It must have been those two bastards doing it on purpose.

This year, Qin Yuzhen was eighteen, just starting her senior year of high school. There were only two or three days left before the Rong family would come to take her back.

She stepped out of her room, and Qin’s mother happened to be placing breakfast on the table, urging her to hurry up and wash up before heading to school—because it would take her an hour to walk there.

Qin Yuzhen was annoyed and almost considered skipping, but seeing Qin’s mother’s face, she nodded anyway.

After breakfast, Qin’s mother shoved a lunchbox into her hands, and Qin Yuzhen left the house.

The book never mentioned this family again afterward. Qin Yuzhen glanced at the shabby earthen house, though she guessed they probably wouldn’t fare too badly—the Rong family was wealthy and would give them a hefty sum of money.

“Can I use the item cards?”

“Well, sometimes the shop opens, sometimes it doesn’t,” the system replied.

Qin Yuzhen cursed under her breath. Though she had bought a permanent body enhancement card, as a lazy person, she still didn’t want to walk all that way herself.

Especially on this muddy dirt road. It had rained the night before, making it even harder to traverse.

Walking on this path, she almost doubted whether she had transmigrated into a modern novel or an ancient one.

Qin Yuzhen’s face darkened. Despite being as careful as possible, she still occasionally sank her legs deep into the mud.

She took a deep breath. At least the muddy stretch was only two hundred meters long.

By the time she made it through, her rain boots were completely coated in mud, and her pants were splattered too.

“Host, the item cards are working now.”

Qin Yuzhen: “…”

“Cleaning card, speed card—buy every card in the shop. Get five of each and store them in the inventory.” Qin Yuzhen had never been one to hoard item cards before, but now she needed them.

Thanks to the cards, she covered the rest of the distance in just ten minutes. But because of the time wasted on that two-hundred-meter mud slog, she arrived at school at the same time as usual.

The school had just over a hundred students across all three grades.

Qin Yuzhen found her seat and sat down. It was in a rather isolated spot, and none of the nearby students greeted her when she arrived—proof of how terrible the original host’s social life had been here.

Class was boring. The teacher was covering material Qin Yuzhen had already learned countless times across various worlds.

She lazily yawned, only to be interrupted halfway by the teacher calling her name.

“Qin Yuzhen! Answer this question.”

The system, knowing Qin Yuzhen hadn’t been paying attention, quickly pointed out the question in the textbook.

Qin Yuzhen skimmed the content but before she could speak, the teacher snapped, “If you don’t know the answer, at least pay attention in class! Go stand at the back.”

“Teacher, who said I don’t know?” Qin Yuzhen picked up the book, her tone languid as she recited the steps, pausing for two seconds when it came to calculations.

System: “Host, your tone is unbelievably punchable.”

The teacher at the podium looked furious, clearly irritated by Qin Yuzhen’s indifferent attitude and tone. But since she had answered correctly, the teacher could only tell her to sit down, adding a reminder to pay attention.

“Host, the teacher just wants you to focus in class. Don’t be mad,” the system coaxed.

“What did I do? This is just how I talk,” Qin Yuzhen said, propping her chin on her hand as she stared at the blackboard.

System: “…”

After that, Qin Yuzhen’s eyes never left the blackboard. Although the person next to her looked punchable, she couldn’t find any fault with them.

When class ended, Qin Yuzhen slumped onto the desk.

“Can we speed up the plot? I don’t want to stay here.”

“Even if you return to the Rong family, you’ll still have to go to school,” the system replied.

Qin Yuzhen glanced at her classmates. Since they were probably just background NPCs in the story, their appearances were all rather unremarkable.

“The protagonist must be surrounded by plenty of beauties, right?” Qin Yuzhen remarked.

The system: “…”

“Of course,” the system replied helplessly, unsure where Qin Yuzhen had picked up this particular interest.

Qin Yuzhen smirked slightly.

The Rong family came to pick her up discreetly. For them, this was a scandal, so they wouldn’t publicly reveal that Rong Xi wasn’t their biological child. Qin Yuzhen would be brought back and introduced as the child of a distant relative, adopted by the Rong family.

Qin Yuzhen could only describe this arrangement with one word: “bullshit.”

Carrying her backpack, Qin Yuzhen entered the shabby house and saw Second Uncle Rong, the younger brother of her biological father, standing in the middle of the room.

“You look just like your mother. Child, you’ve suffered all these years,” Second Uncle Rong sighed as he looked at Qin Yuzhen, then briefly explained that she had been switched at birth and would now be taken back.

Qin Yuzhen turned to her adoptive parents. “What about them?”

“We’ll give them five million as a token of gratitude. Don’t worry,” Second Uncle Rong said, watching her carefully, afraid she might refuse to leave. He added, “Only the Rong family can offer you a better life and future.”

“Yes, Zhenzhen, go with them,” her adoptive mother said, her eyes reddening.

Qin Yuzhen pressed her lips together and stepped forward to hug them.

“Host, your reaction is way too calm,” the system teased.

“Oh.”

The Rong family’s home was in City A, thousands of miles away. Qin Yuzhen watched as the Rong family settled her adoptive parents before leaving with Second Uncle Rong. The two of them sat in the car without much conversation.

Second Uncle Rong had been observing Qin Yuzhen’s demeanor. He had expected to see a timid, rustic country girl, but despite her plain school uniform, Qin Yuzhen carried herself with the poise of a young noblewoman. This made him marvel—a Rong child was still a phoenix, even raised in the wilderness.

“The Rong family already has another child named Rong Xi. She’s a good girl, and the two of you should get along well,” Second Uncle Rong said. He hadn’t dared mention this earlier in front of her adoptive parents, fearing they might make a scene. While the Rong family wasn’t afraid of them, it would have been a nuisance.

“Is she the one I was switched with?” Qin Yuzhen already knew the answer but asked anyway.

Second Uncle Rong paused. “Yes…”

“How does the Rong family plan to handle our identities?” Qin Yuzhen asked.

Second Uncle Rong pressed his lips together. “You might have to endure some hardship for now… You’ll temporarily live with us as a distant relative of the Rong family.”

Qin Yuzhen smiled faintly and turned to look out the window.

“Rong Xi is already entangled in too many interests. If we reveal she isn’t a Rong by bl00d, the repercussions would be too great,” Second Uncle Rong explained. “Your identity is only temporary. We’ll find the right moment to let everyone know you’re the Rong family’s true child.”

“Then there’s no need to change the name, right? After all, I’m just a relative’s child.” What kind of opportunity? The original owner never got one, even until death.

Uncle Rong was taken aback for a moment, looking at Qin Yu Zhen: “You might need to discuss this with my elder brother when you go back.”