Mild trigger: She might not be the good guy here but it's still rape.
The kind female lead didn't argue back. She silently accepted everything. She knew Mu JingYuan didn't like her at all because when he wasn't in his right mind, he would be calling out "YiHan" and "HanHan". People all said he always paid attention to her but she knew she'd never be able to get into his heart. No one else can.
The silence lasted until she found herself pregnant. A tiny life was now involved. She had to go to the man to discuss about the child. However, the only reaction he had was to coldly order her to abort it. She was incredibly sad over it. In the time she'd been working in the Mu Group, she'd fallen deeply in love with this aloof and powerful man. It was why she didn't try struggling hard that night. It was why she didn't argue back about how he treated her afterwards. She thought that she'd never be able to get him because of their boss-employee relationship and the difference in family background. It was enough for her to just have a perfect night to recall. The baby's arrival might've been outside of her expectations, but it's her family. It's her flesh and blood. She'll do her best to protect it.
From the start, Bai XueQing, the evil female side character, would often bully the female lead because she was secretly in love with Mu JingYuan yet she'd never be able to have him. Upon finding out the female lead was pregnant with JingYuan's child, her bullying worsened. She'd constantly create trouble for the female lead, mock her, humiliate her, she would even attempt to murder the child in Tao Qi's womb. While JingYuan wasn't willing to accept the female lead and their child, but he still helped her out by publicly humiliating XueQing. However, that only made XueQing worse.
After a series of tormenting experiences, the male lead remained firm as ever while the female lead fell into a spiral of dejection. To save her child, she snuck out of the city and, through a lot of pain and suffering, finally gave birth to a baby boy. She then raised the child that looked so very much like JingYuan herself. During this time, she got to know the male side character, Zhang QingYang. The man fell in love with her kind and stubborn nature. He didn't mind that she already had a child and fervently courted her.
Zhang QingYang came from a good family. Naturally, his parents didn't want their son to get married with a woman who already had a child out of wedlock. After trying to talk their son out of the idea, to no avail, they would secretly arrange meetings with the female lead to mock her, talk down on her, throw money at her to get her to leave, etc. Of course, the female lead wasn't a greedy woman. Naturally, her stubbornness resulted in humiliation for Zhang QingYang's materialistic parents for their disdain of the poor. She then told Zhang QingYang she was already in love with someone else. In spite of being deeply hurt by the man, she would never fall in love with anyone else. QingYang wasn't willing to give up however. He persisted in his pursuit and the female lead would refuse him over and over again. But her rejections only made him fall deeper in love with her.
Three years later, Mu JingYuan would find her and force her back to the capital with him. He'd lock her up with him. While she loved him, she had her own pride too. And so started the series of conflicts and imprisonment. Zhang QingYang would rush over and risk himself to save her but his family would never be strong enough to compete against the male lead. After countless attempts and fights, he still failed at saving her. Out of any ideas, he decided to sidestep Mu JingYuan and approach the Bai family. Then, the evil female supporting character, Bai XueQing, would do her best to stop him from meeting the Bai family parents. Nevertheless, those who work hard will get what they're aiming for in the end. He finally got a meeting with Ma and Pa.
When the Bai family was told about the full story, the rational Bai family parents decided to take XueQing to task and mediated between the two lead characters. Mu JingYuan had always treated the Bai family as his own. After a brief stalemate, he finally decided to let Tao Qi go. Yet after coming in close contact with JingYuan, the kind female lead realised the man's life wasn't as grand as everyone thought. He'd never be able to fall asleep at night. Deep in the night, he would be roaming through the empty house like a ghost. At dawn, he'd be smoking out at the balcony. Even if he did fall asleep, he'd be bombarded by nightmares. Pained roars would rip through his throat and he'd wake up drenched in sweat. Then, he'd sit in the living room and blank out until the sun rose. He had a big bone structure and it wasn't as obvious when he was clothed in work clothes, but he was very thin and lanky. When he changed out of his suits, his shirts would hang loosely off his wide shoulders. He would frequently mutter and mumble to himself as he looked at a pile of items all alone while sadness took over his entire being.
Some people look strong and powerful in public. It's only once one got close to them would their fragility be seen. At the sight of her beloved living such a tough life, the female lead's heart softened and she decided to forgive him. She promised to stay by his side.
As for Zhang QingYang, after having gone through so much, he felt that as long as Tao Qi was doing fine, he would respect her wishes. Afraid that he'd bring trouble to the female lead, he then left the nation.
Actually, the story's ending is an open ending so its readers could imagine whatever they like to happen. However, Tao Qi the reader self-righteously thought that the male lead must've fallen in love with the female lead early on. Why else would he search for her after she left? As for the pain and fragility afterwards, it was all just a scheme. A plan to use weakness as bait. As expected, the soft-hearted woman fell for it and promised to stay with him. But who knew what she was thinking then? Only a fool would insist on walking away from a future as Mrs CEO!
As for the current Tao Qi, she'd transmigrated into the start of the worst part of the female lead's life. She opened her eyes to the night her virginity was taken away by Li Sun. Her whole body was aching and exhausted. She didn't even have the strength to struggle. She could only lay there and let him thrust into her. When she later received the original Tao Qi's memories and understood what her exact situation was, she was both ecstatic and furious!
She was ecstatic that her dream of transmigrating into one of her favourite novels was realised. She didn't even have to fight with the novel's female lead for opportunities to better her situation because she was the female lead.
She was furious because if the Gods favoured her so much as to let her travel into a CEO-romance novel, why didn't they put her in at the start of the main plot but at the start of a dark time before the plot?
Deep within Tao Qi, she's actually rather disdainful of the female lead. She thought the character was stupid and weak. If it were her, she'd have the male lead dancing within her palms quickly. She wouldn't need to suffer three whole years. But if she didn't go through the arc, she would never be able to meet the foolish lovestruck male supporting character. What a pity that'd be.
In the novel, Li Sun's participation was merely stuck to the phrase "two years later". It was a breezy process. In reality, she'd have to go through it day after day after day. In less than two months, Tao Qi was out of her patience and very much frustrated with the situation. While she was able to use her skills on the bed from before the transmigration to capture Li Sun's attention, he only thought of her as a tool for his release. She never felt any pleasure from such an unskilled man. Every time Li Sun had his way with her, it felt like torture. Not only that, he would often humiliate her through his words and actions during the deed. Sometimes, it even turned into abuse. It disgusted her so very much. At the thought of the main plotline being far off in the future, her temper became even more annoyed than usual. Must she really bear through it all and wait for the plot to start? As she is now, she wouldn't even know where YiHan and JingYuan are in their relationship!
She sighed and turned off the shower. As she was stuck in her thoughts, the door behind her suddenly opened. The chilly air-conditioning air blew straight in and hurled itself against her dripping body. Shocked by the shift in temperature, she sneezed.
"You little slut," Li Sun said with a smarmy smirk. He was the one who just opened the door. "You got up in the middle of the night and made all that noise just to seduce me. Was it not enough? I'm in a good mood today so I'll satisfy you, you vixen. At least then you wouldn't go cheating on me just because you couldn't bear the loneliness!"
As he mocked and teased her in the most unsavoury way possible, he swiftly tore off the only cloth on his body, threw it on the floor, pulled Tao Qi's naked body closer and pushed her legs wide open.
Tao Qi was shoved back against the wall. Behind her were cold ceramic tiles. Before her was a crude beast. Anger rose in her. She wanted to scream and shout but she didn't dare to fight back. Instead she put on a submissive smile and proactively curled a hickey-covered leg around Li Sun's waist to let him do as he wished.
Li Sun had been having a bad time recently. His family's company wasn't doing well at every aspect. Every path was closing off. His old man went around asking for favours. Then, one day, he came back and beat Li sun black and blue. His father said it was all because he was ignorant enough to make an enemy of Mu JingYuan. That was the only reason why the company was being struck off of deals. Their family wasn't the only one. Everyone else who was at Hong Ming were also affected. Some were beaten up by their parents. Some were under house arrest. No one was spared. In the next few weeks, Li Sun was stuck between his house and the university. His pocket money was significantly reduced. How could Li Sun bear that? The only thing he could do to wile time away was torment his lover.
Having sex upright against the wall wasn't the most comfortable position. In fact, it was one of the most uncomfortable positions. After one round, Tao Qi was so exhausted that she didn't have the courage nor the strength to wash herself up again. She dragged herself back to the bed. Just before she fell asleep, she fumed. One day, soon, she'll be a powerful woman. She will definitely snip off Li Sun's penis. Only then would the disgust and anger in her be quelled!
***
After YiHan was discharged from the hospital, the entire Bai family, JingYuan and TianYang all had a grand family meeting in the Bai family home. The topic of the meeting was XueQing's public announcement of her relationship with Chen TianYang.
Ma and Pa were "shocked beyond belief". They scolded her for how flippant she was about love. JingYuan then confessed that XueQing and TianYang were in love with each other long before he got engaged with XueQing. However, TianYang didn't dare to confess this whole time. JingYuan merely acted out a charade with XueQing to give TianYang a push. Now that "the loved finally became lovers", he could back out of the whole act.
XueQing drily chuckled. TianYang "blushed with embarrassment". Ma, Pa and Yan were rendered "speechless and bemused whether they should laugh or cry". And so the curtains fell on the show.
Having watched his sister finally "gotten what she desired", a huge burden was lifted from YiHan's shoulders. The shadow lurking over his mind since his reincarnation lessened. TianYang and XueQing have started dating. Next year, TianYang would be facing a life-or-death tragedy. Pressure began building up over YiHan once more. He knew he wasn't smart. But things kept happening one after another and he couldn't think of any good plan to help TianYang and his sister avoid that tragic ending.