In her drowsy state, a gentle female voice spoke with some reluctance, "Young Master Jiang, why don't you go back first? The Miss is sick."
However, an indifferent male voice replied with barely suppressed anger, "She must give an account for bullying Linlin."
As the words fell, the half-closed door was pushed open from outside, accompanied by footsteps approaching from afar.
Shang Lu only felt her headache worsen, but her wrist sensed a cold touch.
The other party only gripped harder. Who knew what momentous matter had occurred, that he would actually pull a sick person like her directly up from the bed to sit.
Shang Lu barely opened her eyes and looked at the person before her.
The man was wearing a suit. His handsome face seemed covered in a layer of ice. Although his eyes appeared calm, they still carried some uncontrollable disgust and anger.
Feeling the pain in her wrist, before Shang Lu could even process what was happening, she instinctively tried to break free.
However, because of her fever, her whole body was weak, and she did not succeed.
So she could only endure the burning pain in her throat and ask, "Jiang Yi, what are you trying to do?"
The man before her was named Jiang Yi, the only son of the wealthy Jiang family. Among his peers, he was considered a top-tier young talent, and he was also her childhood sweetheart fiancé of more than ten years.
And at this moment, Jiang Yi looked down at her and demanded, "What's going on with the injury on Linlin's leg? She won't tell me."
Linlin was Ning Lin, an actress from the same production team as Shang Lu.
The name Jiang Yi mentioned made Shang Lu feel irritated just thinking about it; she didn't like this person.
Because Jiang Yi was her fiancé, yet he liked Ning Lin. He had even visited the set multiple times to see Ning Lin. The two of them were lovey-dovey, completely ignoring her existence.
No woman could endure this humiliation of being blatantly cuckolded to her face with such righteous confidence; naturally, Shang Lu had never much liked Ning Lin either.
But Shang Lu had wrapped up filming several days ago and truly didn't know what had happened this time, so without thinking she asked, "She won't even tell you, so how could she tell me?"
Jiang Yi was slightly startled, seemingly not expecting that Shang Lu, who had always adored him, would actually speak to him in such a manner.
He said coldly, "Shang Lu, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Don't think I don't know you did it."
The phrase *none of my damn business* reached her lips, but because of her physical discomfort, before Shang Lu could answer, she broke into violent coughing.
Her health had never been very good to begin with, not to mention she was currently ill.
Shang Lu's face carried an unnatural flush. Her long hair, scattered across her shoulders, stuck messily to her face. Something as minor as coughing seemed to exhaust all her strength. Her shoulders were trembling slightly of their own accord, and that usually willful face now carried a softness that made one feel involuntary pity.
After realizing that he had actually felt pity for Shang Lu—an emotion that shouldn't exist—Jiang Yi quickly released his hand.
He was so disgusted he didn't even want to look at her, only tossing out one sentence: "If you bully Linlin again, our engagement is canceled."
After speaking, he left directly.
Watching the man's departing figure, Shang Lu still felt unwell.
Although this wasn't the first time he had abandoned her, this time it wasn't psychological pain, but physical discomfort.
At this moment, a servant hurriedly walked in, poured a cup of hot water, and placed it in Shang Lu's hands, comforting her, "Miss, don't be too sad. Young Master Jiang might just be in a bad mood today. Rest assured, your engagement was decided by the elders of both families. It cannot be easily changed."
Shang Lu took the water and drank a sip, feeling that her dry, cracking throat was finally saved.
But... sad? She didn't feel she had such an emotion. She even found everything happening now somewhat absurd.
But her head was hurting more and more. She didn't want to continue listening to nagging, so she only said, "...Got it. Get out. I want to sleep."
The servant immediately took the cup, helped Shang Lu lie down, and tucked her back under the quilt before retreating.
The door was finally shut. The world was quiet, and Shang Lu could finally rest.
She quickly fell asleep, then dreamed a very, very long dream.
In the dream.
Shang Lu watched her entire life, from a completely bystander's perspective.
Shang Lu discovered that the world she lived in within the dream was actually a novel, and she was the vicious female supporting character in the book.
Her fiancé Jiang Yi was the male lead, who would meet his destined true love, the female lead of this book—Ning Lin.
Jiang Yi and Ning Lin were the standard configuration of a wealthy domineering CEO and an innocent little white flower in the entertainment industry. The process of their falling in love was actually very simple: both of them stubbornly refused to admit it while doing all sorts of ambiguous things, neither acknowledging the relationship nor piercing through the veil, until under the repeated troublemaking of this villainess, they finally saw each other's true feelings.
And as the vicious female supporting character, her ending was naturally being abandoned by all with no good outcome, unable to accept it all, going mad and rushing into the streets to be run over by a car.
Strangely enough, she hadn't actually slept too long this time, but when she woke up, she felt completely clear-headed, with no feeling of illness at all.
Shang Lu washed her face, then sat before the dressing mirror with both hands cradling a cup of hot water, beginning to contemplate life.
So that's how it was. She was actually a tool-person villainess.
Then everything made sense.
[...]
[What makes sense? I haven't even made my debut yet! Host, isn't your acceptance of this a bit too easy!]
Shang Lu remained very calm, making a judgment. "The voice ringing in my brain—so are you my System?"
[...Yes, I am.]
The System answered thus.
Shang Lu's originally flat, expressionless face was suddenly replaced by excitement and longing as she asked, "So the world I live in is really a book? Will everything from now on develop according to the plot?"
[Theoretically, yes. But after the host awakens, all butterfly effects are beyond our control.]
The System finished answering Shang Lu's question, but it also had questions it couldn't understand and wanted to ask.
[So Host, why did you accept this matter so easily?]
It had led countless hosts before, some confident, some timid, but all of them were definitely shocked when they first learned of it. Yet this point was completely absent in Shang Lu.
And Shang Lu answered generously, "Actually, starting from a long time ago, I suspected there was something wrong with my brain."
Specifically, starting from about a month ago, Shang Lu felt that the feeling of being controlled to do things she didn't want to do was becoming increasingly obvious.
[?]
As she spoke, Shang Lu took out a diary from her drawer and explained in detail to the System, "In the plot setting, I like Jiang Yi very much, right? Every time my confession was rejected by him, I would be so sad I couldn't sleep. But in fact, every sleepless night, I was thinking about the same thing over and over."
Shang Lu opened the diary for the System to see. The entire book was filled with eleven characters—
**I like men with eyes that are a hundred-million times smaller.**
Obviously, Jiang Yi had a pair of amorous peach blossom eyes, which didn't quite match her aesthetic.
So every time after confessing and showing love, Shang Lu would go home suspecting there was something wrong with either her brain or her eyes, and now all of this finally had an answer.
There was nothing wrong with her. It was this world that had some problems.
[...]
Ridiculous.
But perhaps because Shang Lu accepted it so easily, the System actually followed along and accepted this logic in a very strange way.
And just at this moment, the room door was knocked on again.
Shang Lu said, "Come in."
The door was pushed open. This time, what entered was a tall man. This person's complexion was no better than Jiang Yi's, and his eyes were no smaller than Jiang Yi's either.
He was Shang Lu's biological brother from the same parents, who had already inherited part of the family business—the eldest son of the Shang family, Shang Mu.
Of course, the relationship between the siblings had never been very good; describing it as terrible wouldn't be an exaggeration.
And in the original plot, Jiang Yi and Ning Lin were the male and female leads, while her brother was the legendary devoted second male lead character.
Silently giving, silently protecting, asking for no reward—just a good "brother" to the female lead.
Shang Lu asked impatiently, "What is it?"
Shang Mu said directly, "Father is not satisfied with your recent performance. He wants you to terminate your contract with your current agency immediately. The family can help you handle all follow-up matters."
Right at this moment, the System's voice rang out.
[Let me introduce myself. I am the Villainess Salvation System. As the vicious female supporting character in the book who wants to change her tragic fate, the host can establish friendly relationships with the main characters in the book and obtain their affection. As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. Completing missions can help you avoid the tragic ending.]
And these main characters referred to the female lead Ning Lin, the male lead Jiang Yi, the second male lead Shang Mu, and the third male lead director Song Zeqian.
Shang Lu affectionately called them: Female Lead Ning Lin, and her Simp No. 1, Simp No. 2, and Simp No. 3.
So Shang Lu didn't give Simp No. 2 a good expression, directly answering, "No."
She rejected both Shang Mu and the System simultaneously.
[...?]
Shang Lu replied in her mind while applying skincare products: "If I accepted this kind of mission, wouldn't I become a simp's simp? You shouldn't be called the Villainess Salvation System either; just change your name with me to the Simp System."
Shang Lu's logic was too wondrous for the System to understand, but it still tried to persuade her.
[But Host, if you don't complete the missions, it's very likely you'll walk toward the tragic ending of the original plot. Death is not out of the question.]
"So what?" Shang Lu still answered carelessly, "I've lived for over twenty years. I lack nothing."
As the daughter of the Shang family, other than familial affection, she could easily obtain anything she wanted.
So the gimmick of "completing missions to survive" held absolutely no attraction for Shang Lu.
Just as the System said, die then die. What a big deal.
Moreover, Shang Lu didn't think she would go mad, nor did she necessarily have to walk into that dead end.
So it was even more impossible for her to do things she didn't want to do because of such a boring "reward."
But as an older brother, Shang Mu could still be considered to understand Shang Lu, at least knowing that since she had chosen the entertainment industry, she wouldn't easily quit.
Actually, Father Shang wouldn't interfere in Shang Lu's acting career. The reason he said that was only to use the door-in-the-face technique to persuade Shang Lu, so at this moment he also retreated: "I can help you deal with Father's side, but you cannot participate in that variety show."
Shang Lu frowned and asked, "What variety show?"
"*The Most Hated Her and Him*." Mentioning this name, Shang Mu's complexion worsened even more.
Because this was a variety show where hundreds of thousands of netizens across the web plus hundreds of industry insiders jointly voted to select guests. After intense selection, the three males and three females with the highest votes from the entire entertainment industry were chosen, and the production team would send them invitations to record.
*The Most Hated Her and Him*—as the name suggested, these guests were naturally all people everyone hated.
If Shang Lu went to participate, although the outside world didn't know her identity, Shang Mu might still feel it would lose face for the family.
But Shang Lu had been following this vote because she found it interesting, and every day she used eight alternate accounts to vote for herself, persisting for a whole week.
With the joint efforts of Shang Lu herself and her anti-fans, she had crushed the competition with an overwhelming advantage to take first place, becoming the number one most hated female celebrity on the entire web.
How could she not go? Then what did her week of hard work grinding the numbers amount to?
But thinking about how Shang Mu seemed to have said some time ago that he was leaving to handle a project abroad this time, taking at least a month to return.
Under these circumstances, arguing was a waste of time and unnecessary, so Shang Lu obediently lowered her head, pretending to compromise. "Deal."
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Shang Mu left.
Then Shang Lu called her manager, saying impatiently, "Did 'Little Hated' send me the contract? I'll take it. Best to sign tonight to avoid complications."
The manager who had been thinking about how to comfort Shang Lu: "?"
Those who knew understood that Shang Lu had been selected as the most netizen-hated artist; those who didn't know, hearing her excitement, would think she had won an Oscar.
And what is "Little Hated"? Can you not give random nicknames to variety shows!
There was nothing Shang Lu hadn't done in this life—
Going on the same variety show with five stars as hated as herself—oh, she really hadn't done that before.
This way, when everyone was together, there wouldn't be the scheming and deceit between other celebrities, because they all knew in their hearts that none of them were good people. Could everyone just stop acting!
Nonsense. If any of them were popular, would they have received so many votes?
Fighting poison with poison? Great!
Shang Lu was full of longing for this variety show. As for the female lead and her three simps, go act in a melodrama on the side! None of her business!
Because she had been sick, Shang Lu was the last to sign the contract. And the next day, this variety show also officially announced its guests at the exact moment Shang Mu's plane landed abroad.
**The Most Hated Her and Him V:** In the eyes of a thousand readers, there are a thousand Hamlets. In the eyes of a thousand fans, there are a thousand different stars. Misunderstandings exist every moment in life. Perhaps none of us are the most perfect existence in others' eyes, but rumors and others' perceptions do not compose the true you and me. Do you want to truly understand a star? Change your opinion of them, or become even more certain of your current thoughts.
Welcome everyone to—
The Most Hated Her and Him.
Then the official Weibo account @'d the six guests in order of voting rank.
Although the comment section also had fans from various sides trying to control the narrative, they couldn't resist the fact that this variety show had already exploded across the internet before even airing. The number of true onlooking passersby was simply too massive.
So the top trending comment was like this.
[Pure passerby, is this the legendary all-villains cast?]