In a state of drowsiness, she could hear a gentle female voice persuading someone with embarrassment, "Young Master Jiang, why don't you go back first? Miss is sick."
But the indifferent male voice carried an unmistakable anger as he said, "There must be an explanation for her bullying Linlin."
As the words fell, the previously closed door was pushed open from outside, and footsteps were heard getting closer.
Shang Lu felt her headache worsening and a cold sensation on her wrist.
The other person exerted more force, and she didn't know what had happened, but she, a sick patient, was being pulled up from the bed.
Shang Lu struggled to open her eyes and looked at the person in front of her.
The man was wearing a suit, and his handsome face was covered with a layer of ice. Although his eyes looked calm, there was still a hint of disgust and anger that he couldn't conceal.
Feeling the pain in her wrist, Shang Lu hadn't had time to react to what had happened, and instinctively tried to pull her hand away.
However, due to the fever, she was weak all over and wasn't able to pull away.
So she could only endure the burning pain in her throat and ask, "Jiang Yi, what do you want to do?"
The man in front of her was named Jiang Yi, the only son of the wealthy Jiang family, a top young talent of his generation, and also her childhood sweetheart and fiancé for over ten years.
At this moment, Jiang Yi looked down at her and asked sternly, "What happened to Linlin's leg? She refuses to tell me."
Linlin referred to a female actress named Ning Lin in the same filming group as Shang Lu.
Hearing this name, Shang Lu felt annoyed. She didn't like this person.
Because Jiang Yi is her fiancé, but he liked Ning Lin and had even visited the filming set multiple times to see Ning Lin, completely ignoring her existence.
No woman could tolerate the humiliation of being blatantly cuckolded in front of her face. Shang Lu naturally disliked Ning Lin very much.
However, Shang Lu had already finished filming for several days and didn't know what had happened this time. So without thinking, she asked, "If she won't tell you, how can she tell me?"
Jiang Yi was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Shang Lu, who had always admired him, to speak to him in this manner.
He said coldly, "Shang Lu, this is not the first time this has happened. Don't think I don't know you did it."
The phrase "What the hell does this have to do with me?" was on the tip of Shang Lu's tongue, but because of her physical discomfort, she began to cough violently before she could reply.
Her health hasn't been very well, let alone she was sick at this time.
The color on Shang Lu's face was unnaturally flushed, her long hair scattered on her shoulders, messy and sticking on her face. Just coughing seemed to exhaust all her strength. Her shoulders trembled involuntarily, and her delicate face, which had always been pampered, now had a hint of weakness that made people feel sorry for her.
Upon realizing that he had developed a feeling of pity towards Shang Lu, which should not exist, Jiang Yi quickly let go of her hand.
He was even disgusted to the point that he didn't want to look at Shang Lu anymore. He just left with a remark, "If you bully Linlin again, our engagement will be canceled."
After speaking, he left directly.
Watching the man's departing figure, Shang Lu still felt uncomfortable.
Although this was not the first time he had abandoned her, this time it was not just psychological, but also physical discomfort.
At this moment, a servant hurriedly walked in and poured a cup of hot water, and pushed the cup into Shang Lu's hand, comforting her, "Miss, don't be too sad. Young Master Jiang may just be in a bad mood today. Rest assured, your engagement was arranged by both families' elders and cannot be easily changed."
Shang Lu took a sip of water and felt relieved that her dry throat was finally saved.
But…sadness? She didn't feel like she had that emotion, and even found the current situation somewhat inexplicable.
But her headache was getting worse, and she didn't want to listen to anyone else's chatter. She simply said, "…I got it, now leave. I want to sleep."
The servant immediately took the cup, helped Shang Lu lie down again and covered her with the blanket before leaving.
Finally, the door was closed and the world was quiet, and Shang Lu could rest.
She fell asleep quickly and then had a long, long dream.
In the dream.
Shang Lu finished her life story, viewing it from the perspective of a complete bystander.
Through the dream, Shang Lu realized that the world she lived in was actually a novel, and she was the vicious supporting female character.
Her fiancé, Jiang Yi, was the male lead who would meet his destined true love, the female lead Ning Lin.
Jiang Yi and Ning Lin were the standard pairing of a wealthy CEO and a pure white flower of the entertainment industry. The process of their falling in love was actually quite simple: they both acted coy and ambiguous with each other, denying their relationship and never breaking the ice. But under the vicious supporting female character's wicked meddling, they finally realized their true feelings for each other.
As the vicious supporting female character, Shang Lu's fate was naturally to be abandoned and hated, and she met a miserable end. Unable to accept this, she went crazy and ran into the street, and died after getting hit by a car.
It's strange to say that she didn't sleep for too long this time, but upon waking up, she felt completely sober, without any feeling of sickness.
Shang Lu washed her face, then sat in front of the dressing table holding a cup of hot water, contemplating her life.
So, she's actually the tool-like supporting female character.
Everything now made sense.
[…]
[What exactly makes sense? I haven't even appeared yet! Aren't you accepting this a little too easily, host?]
Shang Lu remained calm and made a judgment: "The voice sounded in my head, so are you my system?"
[…Yes.]
The system answered.
Shang Lu's previously flat and expressionless face was suddenly replaced by excitement and anticipation. She asked, "So, my life is really a novel? Will everything from now on develop according to the plot?"
[Theoretically, yes, but once the host awakens, we cannot control all the butterfly effects.]
The system answered Shang Lu's question, but it also had a question it couldn't understand and wanted to ask.
[So, host, why did you accept this so easily?]
It had brought numerous hosts before, some confident and some timid, but all of them must have been shocked when they first found out. However, there was no trace of shock on Shang Lu's face.
Shang Lu generously answered the question, "Actually, I've suspected that there's something wrong with my brain for a long time."
Specifically, it was in the past month that Shang Lu felt the feeling of being controlled to do things she didn't want to do became more and more obvious.
[?]
Shang Lu took out a diary from her drawer and explained to the system in detail, "In the plot setting, I really like Jiang Yi, right? Every time he rejects my confession, I would be sad to the point of insomnia. But in fact, every night that I couldn't sleep, I would be thinking about the same thing over and over again."
Shang Lu opened her diary and showed the system. The entire book was filled with six words:
—I like men with small eyes.
Obviously, Jiang Yi's affectionate peach blossom eyes1 didn't quite fit her aesthetic.
So every time after confessing her love, Shang Lu would go home and doubt whether there was something wrong with her brain or her eyes. And now, everything finally had an answer.
It wasn't her, it was the world that has something wrong.
[…]
Ridiculous.
But perhaps because Shang Lu accepted it too easily, the system also bizarrely accepted this logic.
At this moment, the door to the room was knocked again.
"Come in," said Shang Lu.
The door opened, and a tall man walked in. The man had a face that was not much better than Jiang Yi's, and his eyes were not smaller than Jiang Yi's either.
He was Shang Lu's biological older brother of the same father and same mother, and the eldest son of the Shang's who had inherited part of the family business, Shang Mu.
Of course, the relationship between the siblings was never good, and "terrible" would not be an exaggeration to describe it.
In the original plot, Jiang Yi and Ning Lin were the male and female leads, while Shang Lu's brother was the legendary deeply affectionate second male lead.
He silently gave, silently guarded, without asking for anything in return, just be a good "brother" to the female lead.
Shang Lu asked impatiently, "What do you want?"
Shang Mu said directly, "Father is not satisfied with your recent performance. He wants you to terminate the contract with your current agency immediately, and the family can help you handle all subsequent matters."
At this moment, the system's voice rang out.
[Let me introduce myself, I am the Female Supporting Character Salvation System. As a vicious supporting character in the book, it's needed to change the host's tragic fate. The host can establish friendly relationships with the main characters in the book, gain their favor, and avoid a tragic ending by completing missions.]
The main characters referred to are the female lead Ning Lin, male lead Jiang Yi, second male lead Shang Mu, and the third male lead Director Song Zeqian.
Shang Lu affectionately calls them the female lead Ning Lin and her Licking Dog No. 1, 2, and 3.
Therefore, when facing the Licking Dog No. 2, she didn't have a good expression and directly answered: "No."
She rejected Shang Mu and the system at the same time.
[…?]
While applying skincare products, Shang Lu said in her mind, "If I accept this kind of task, then wouldn't I also become a Licking Dog? You might as well change your name to the Licking Dog System along with me."
Her logic was so ingenious that the system couldn't understand, but it still tried to persuade her.
[But host, if you don't complete the task, it is very likely that you will follow the tragic ending of the original plot, and the possibility of death cannot be ruled out.]
"So what?" Shang Lu answered nonchalantly. "I have lived for more than 20 years, and I lack nothing."
As a daughter of the Shang family, she can easily obtain anything she wants, except for familial love.
So the gimmick of "complete the task to survive" is absolutely unattractive to Shang Lu.
As the system said, if she dies, she dies. It's not a big deal.
Moreover, Shang Lu doesn't think she will go crazy or end up in that dead end.
So she is even less likely to do something she doesn't want to do for such a boring "reward."
But as an older brother, Shang Mu also understands Shang Lu to some extent. At least he knows that since she has chosen to enter the entertainment industry, she cannot easily quit.
In fact, Father Shang will not interfere with Shang Lu's acting career. He only said that to persuade Shang Lu through the dismantling effect2. So at this moment, he also stepped back and said, "I can help you deal with Father's side, but you cannot participate in that variety show."
Shang Lu frowned and asked him, "What variety show?"
"The Most Hated Her and Him." Mentioning this name, Shang Mu's face looked even uglier.
Because this is a variety show where tens of thousands of netizens and hundreds of industry insiders vote together to select guests. After intense deliberation, the top three males and females with the highest votes from the entire entertainment industry are selected, and the program team will send them a recording invitation.
"The Most Hated Her and Him," as the name suggests, naturally features guests that everyone hates.
If Shang Lu participates, although the outside world doesn't know her identity, Shang Mu feels that it may be a disgrace to the family.
But Shang Lu has been paying attention to this vote because she thinks it's interesting. She has been using eight different accounts to vote for herself every day and persisted for a whole week.
With the joint efforts of Shang Lu herself and her black fans3, she won the vote with overwhelming superiority and became the most hated female celebrity in the entire network, ranking first.
How could she not participate? What's the point of her hard work for a week?
But thinking that Shang Mu seems to have said some time ago that he was going to deal with a project overseas, it would take him at least a month to come back.
It would be a waste of time and unnecessary to argue about it now. So Shang Lu obediently lowered her head and pretended to compromise: "Deal."
After getting the answer he wanted, Shang Mu left.
Then Shang Lu called her own agent eagerly and asked, "Did people from Xiao Taoyan4 deliver the contract? I'll take it. I'd prefer to sign it tonight to avoid any delay."
The agent, who originally thought about how to console Shang Lu, was confused: "?"
The agent knew that Shang Lu had been selected as the most hated artist by netizens, but he had no idea that Shang Lu would be so excited, as if she had won an Oscar or something.
What is 'Xiao Taoyan'? Can you stop giving random nicknames to other people's variety shows!
Shang Lu has never done anything like this before—
Being on a variety show with five other celebrities who are hated by the public.
In this way, when they're together, there's no need for scheming and backstabbing among other celebrities, because they all know that they're not good people. So why bother acting in the first place?
Of course, if any of them were popular, would they still receive so many votes?
Fight poison with poison? Sounds great!
Shang Lu has always longed being on this variety show. As for the female lead and her three licking dogs, they can go act in a melodrama! It's none of her business!
Because she had been sick, Shang Lu was the last one to sign the contract. The next day, the show announced its guests as soon as 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 in life all the time. Perhaps we are not the perfect person in other people's eyes, but rumors and others' perceptions do not make up the real us. Do you want to truly understand a star? It may change your perspective on them or confirm your current thoughts.
Welcome everyone to—
"The Most Hated Her and Him"]
Then, the official account @ mentioned the six guests in order of their ranking in the voting.
Although there were fans of various artists trying to control the comments section, they couldn't resist the fact that the show had already become popular across the internet before it even aired. The number of true onlookers was simply too enormous.
As a result, the top comment was as follows:
[I'm a pure passerby, is this the rumored "All-Villains" cast?]