After Transmigrating into a Novel, I Became the Female Lead's Stepmother - Chapter 43

Qin Yao nodded firmly, and Xu Chun perked up immediately, eagerly asking, “Does it have to be at night? Can’t we do it now? I’m free right now.” She blinked innocently, “Sister, do you have other things to attend to now?”

Three impatient questions came one after another, leaving even Qin Yao momentarily speechless.

In the end, Qin Yao coldly rejected Xu Chun, “I have work during the day.” After saying this, her deep, narrow eyes glanced at the live-streaming device Xu Chun had set aside. Understanding the hint, Xu Chun grinned and quickly reassured her, “I turned off the live stream a long time ago.”

“Don’t worry,” she comforted Qin Yao.

Xu Chun had shut down the live stream as soon as Sheng Yigui approached. She had originally planned to settle the score with him properly, but who knew he would cave so quickly not only apologizing sincerely but also dropping such a bombshell revelation.

Qin Yao seemed at a loss for words but ultimately stuck to her principles. “We’ll talk tonight.”

Though disappointed, Xu Chun consoled herself that night wasn’t far away and nodded eagerly, her eyes gleaming. After discussing the matter, Qin Yao turned to leave, and Xu Chun sat in the car for a moment before driving back to the hotel.

Just as she parked, she bumped into Jiang Zhaolie, who was heading her way. Xu Chun greeted her and moved past, but after a few steps, she stopped and called out, “Did Yu Sui’an ever share any little secrets with you before?”

Jiang Zhaolie looked at her, puzzled. “?” What little secrets?

Xu Chun wanted to figure out whether Yu Sui’an had known about her own background. Logically, since rumors about it had spread like wildfire at her old school, she couldn’t have been completely unaware. The real question was whether she had ever investigated her origins over the years or if she had successfully tracked down her billionaire biological father.

If it was the former, things might still be manageable. But if it was the latter…

Xu Chun could hardly imagine what Yu Sui’an would become once she gained power and status.

Jiang Zhaolie didn’t quite follow her train of thought. She frowned unconsciously. “Was Yu Sui’an supposed to tell me any secrets?”

Her reaction made it clear she knew nothing. Then again, their relationship with Yu Sui’an had soured before it even began, and with no reconciliation in sight, perhaps Yu Sui’an had never had the chance to confide in them before the fallout.

“Never mind,” Xu Chun brushed it off. “Just asking casually. It’s nothing important.”

But the more dismissive she was, the less Jiang Zhaolie believed her. She stared at Xu Chun’s retreating figure until it disappeared, standing frozen in place. Had Yu Sui’an revealed something to Xu Chun recently?

A vague sense of unease rose in her heart. Though Jiang Zhaolie’s feelings toward Xu Chun were complicated and she had been biding her time, that didn’t mean she was willing to let Yu Sui’an get ahead.

She and Yu Sui’an were now sworn enemies. Whatever Yu Sui’an wanted to do or whoever she wanted to have, Jiang Zhaolie was determined to thwart her.

Never before had she felt such a strong urge to oppose someone to watch them fall from grace, lose everything, and be abandoned by all.

Her eyes darkened as she turned and dialed a number on her phone. “Look into something for me.”

Ever since Qin Yao dangled that carrot in front of Xu Chun, she’d been eagerly counting down the hours until evening. Back at the hotel, she turned on her livestream, only to be bombarded with accusatory comments: [“What shady business are you hiding from us this time? Don’t be such a stranger! At this point in our relationship, what could possibly be off-limits?”]

[“Has anyone noticed how smoothly Sister Xu’s been cutting her streams lately? She used to end them once a day at most, but now she’s constantly disappearing mid-broadcast. Wonder what sneaky business she’s up to offline?”]

[“Seconded! If you don’t come clean today, we’re staging a revolt!”]

The barrage was relentless. Taking a sip of hot water with practiced nonchalance, Xu Chun shamelessly deflected: “Blame the spotty signal, it’s an act of god, totally out of my hands.”

With straight-faced audacity, she continued, “Do you think I wouldn’t love to stream 24/7, chatting and bonding with you all? But when the carrier fails me, what can I do?”

“My hands are tied!”

Her brazen lie hung in the air as she unflinchingly threw the telecom provider under the bus. Then a colorful superchat appeared: [“I work for the carrier! Drop your address, Sis Xu, I’ll have every phone model on the market delivered ASAP. Let’s see if dozens of devices all lose signal simultaneously!”]

Xu Chun’s face morphed into a constellation of question marks: “???” Dozens of simultaneous streams? “Are you trying to kill your favorite little streamer?”

[“I’m with another carrier address please!”]

[“Sending a mobile hotspot laptop!”]

[“Acquiring a telecom company to develop never-failing service just for you!”]

[“Crowdfunding an entire planet with perfect coverage! Name your terms as long as you stay online!”]

As the chat descended into absurdity, Xu Chun’s eye twitched. “Hard pass on the gadgets, Director Guo’s phone works just fine.”

Her refusal fell on deaf ears. Within the hour, viewers had extracted her location from production staff and filled a hotel cart with electronics. Staring at the mountain of devices, Xu Chun deadpanned: “This is… excessive.”

Facing the camera, she reasoned, “I’ve only got two hands and zero assistants. Where exactly would I store this tech graveyard?”

Chat fired back: [“Wear them like armor!”]

Xu Chun: “?”

“Brilliant. Absolute genius.”

With an exasperated sigh, she relegated the haul to a corner. “Grateful for the generosity, but if sponsors agree, I’ll regift these as holiday presents.”

Receiving unanimous approval, she launched a Twitter giveaway scheduled for announcement upon their return in three days.

The moment the Weibo post went live, the number of reposts and comments surged at an alarming rate, continuing late into the night and once again shattering everyone’s perception of Xu Chun’s popularity. When it came to who was the hottest figure in the entertainment industry right now, Xu Chun undoubtedly took the crown.

The boost from two dating shows had steadily increased her fanbase, expanding her appeal among casual viewers as well. The dramatic reversal in her breakup with Yu Sui’an had transformed her from the guilty party to the victim, earning her a wave of sympathy that strengthened the loyalty of her existing fans and drew in new ones with purer admiration.

Her longtime fans felt a surge of emotion seeing her current situation, marveling at how far she’d come despite the odds.

All the setbacks she’d endured in the past had failed to break her, and the road ahead was bound to shine brilliantly, dazzling beyond measure.

While her fans were busy reflecting, Xu Chun waited from day to night until Qin Yao finally returned to the hotel after her work. The moment she got the message, Xu Chun couldn’t wait to slip over.

Qin Yao was in the hotel’s meeting room, its door slightly ajar. Xu Chun lightly rapped her knuckles against it, and at the sound of a cool “Come in” from inside, her spirits lifted. Pushing the door open with her fair hand, she beamed, “Sister, I’m here.”

Her smile faltered slightly when she saw Qin Yao standing tall in the dim light, drinking water. Qin Yao’s slender neck tilted back slightly, her eyelids half-lowered as she cast a fleeting glance Xu Chun’s way, one that inexplicably carried both pressure and disdain. Xu Chun’s heart itched with longing, and after a moment of hesitation, she broached the topic: “Sister, you…”

She trailed off, torn between wanting the truth and fearing that being too direct might annoy Qin Yao. Her brows knitted in hesitation as she stammered, uncertain.

“Are you curious?” Qin Yao didn’t address the topic immediately, instead asking with mild amusement.

Of course! Xu Chun silently screamed inside. Who wouldn’t be curious about this? As a seasoned gossip enthusiast, Qin Yao’s marital status and Jiang Zhaolie’s biological father were arguably the most intriguing topics in the entire story.

But she had to maintain some decorum in front of Qin Yao, so she smiled bashfully. “I’m not that curious. I just… care about you, Sister.”

“And that’s why I want to know every single detail about your past and everything related to you.”

The girl’s thoughts twisted and turned like a winding mountain road desperate to know yet pretending to be calm and rational. Qin Yao’s red lips curled slightly. “Since you’re not curious, then I won’t say anything.”

Xu Chun: “?” I’ve already bared my soul, and this is all I get?

Her expression shifted so dramatically it could rival a color palette, much to Qin Yao’s amusement. Seeing that Qin Yao truly had no intention of speaking, Xu Chun gritted her teeth and swallowed her pride. “Well… I am a little curious. I just don’t know if you’d be willing to share.”

“Is this really that important to you?” Qin Yao suddenly asked, her gaze deepening as it settled on Xu Chun. Her inscrutable eyes darkened, a dangerous glint slowly surfacing in their depths.

Xu Chun was taken aback by her question and instinctively nodded.

It was both important and unimportant, important because she desperately wanted to know, unimportant because she and Qin Yao were neither relatives nor close friends. There was no reason for Qin Yao to share such private matters with a near-stranger she’d only met a handful of times.

“I’m not her biological mother.”

Qin Yao either remained silent or dropped a bombshell without warning, leaving Xu Chun’s mind reeling. “???”

What? Qin Yao wasn’t Jiang Zhaolie’s real mother?!

Then who were Jiang Zhaolie’s biological parents? How had Jiang Zhaolie become Qin Yao’s child, brought back to the country, and then handed over to the Jiang family to raise?

With just a moment’s thought, Xu Chun realized Jiang Zhaolie’s origins were likely a forbidden topic for Qin Yao.

Wait, why did both female leads, Jiang Zhaolie and Yu Sui’an, have questionable backgrounds? As the most notorious villainess in the original story, did she also have some hidden origins? Maybe she wasn’t her parents’ biological child perhaps the nurse had accidentally switched her with Yu Sui’an or Jiang Zhaolie at birth, altering the tangled fates of all three.

Or worse… what if she was actually Qin Yao’s biological daughter?

No way! Forbidden relationships were unacceptable! That would never get past the censors!

Xu Chun’s imagination spiraled further out of control. She rubbed her temples this had to be the influence of those overly dramatic vintage novels He Qingli had recently recommended.

Her expression shifted rapidly, alternating between pensive silence, furrowed brows, and suspicious sideways glances at Qin Yao. Without even guessing, Qin Yao could tell the wild horses in her mind had already bolted, galloping who-knows-where.

She interrupted Xu Chun’s chaotic train of thought. “She’s actually the child of an old friend of mine.”

Xu Chun snapped back to reality. “Thank goodness!” No, she swallowed hard and quickly changed the subject. “Then why didn’t your friend raise the child herself, instead of entrusting her to you to bring back to the country?”

“That old friend of mine has already passed away.” Qin Yao’s tone was calm, but Xu Chun froze.

“Back then, we went abroad together. We were both top students… no, strictly speaking, she was even more outstanding than me smarter, more capable in every way. She was brilliant, but her family was extremely poor. Her mother had mental illness, and her father was paralyzed after an industrial accident left him half-disabled in his youth.”

“Her family was so poor they often went hungry. As a newborn, she was completely dependent on others. The neighbors couldn’t bear to see her starve, so they took turns feeding her. She grew up relying on the kindness of strangers from the very beginning.”

“Though life had already dealt her such a difficult hand, she grew up remarkably intelligent one could even call her a genius.” Qin Yao fell into reminiscence, recalling the first time she’d seen Jiang Zhaolie’s birth mother at school. “When she first enrolled, she was much younger than most students. But she was so brilliant that she skipped three grades, leading the school to make an exception and admit her as my senior the youngest student in the school’s history.”

“At first, everyone dismissed her, but in no time at all, she rose to prominence, proved herself, and changed everyone’s attitude toward her. Later, when the school launched a two-year overseas exchange program, both she and I were selected.”

“She was in a higher grade but around the same age as me, so we became close friends and went abroad together.”

Qin Yao’s tone had been calm, but suddenly, her voice dropped low, as if simmering with boundless fury. “She was supposed to have a bright future to grow up safe and sound, to blossom into an outstanding talent, to change her own destiny. But not long after arriving, she fell in love with a man.”

“She became utterly infatuated with him, throwing everything aside even her studies just to date and romance him. Later, she accidentally got pregnant and couldn’t bear to abort the child.”

Remembering how the girl had tearfully begged, Qin Yao’s icy aura became uncontrollable, chilling the air around them. “But she refused to see the truth that the man was over forty, while she was barely in her teens. How could they ever be together?”

“She remained stubbornly deluded until, at eight months pregnant, the man’s wife showed up. Only then did she realize she’d been deceived. I thought she’d finally cut ties with him, but instead, she kept insisting they were truly in love that he’d promised to divorce his wife after the baby was born.”

“She said he’d give her a complete, happy family.”

Young and naive, she had been easily fooled.

The outcome was predictable. She gave birth to Jiang Zhaolie, but the man never kept his promise. Instead, he fought for custody of the child.

Despite his cruelty, she still loved him desperately, even willingly handing over the baby. It wasn’t until later that she accidentally discovered the truth his wife was infertile, and he had only sought her out as a healthy, superior breeding tool to carry on his lineage.

Yet when she learned this, her first reaction wasn’t to condemn or confront him it was to wallow in agony over why he didn’t love her.

Her priorities skewed so badly that, in the end, she caught Qin Yao off guard by leaping from a building, cutting short her flower-like life.

By the time Qin Yao rushed over upon hearing the news, textbook still in hand, the girl had already stopped breathing.

Just like that, she betrayed the hopes of her entire village, abandoned the child she had carried for ten hard months, and left this world without a second thought.

Unable to bear the injustice, Qin Yao buried her and then used her family connections to swiftly take custody of the child, while also scheming to make the heartless scoundrel suffer a fate worse than death.

This was her first time dealing with people, and the first time she trampled someone underfoot like an ant, ensuring they could never rise again. But what good did it do? She still couldn’t bring back the life of that promising young girl in the prime of her youth.

She could only watch helplessly as the brilliant and beautiful girl vanished before her eyes, powerless to stop it.

Later, after reclaiming the child, Qin Yao took her back to China overnight and entrusted her to the current head and matriarch of the Jiang family. She never deliberately revealed Jiang Zhaolie’s origins, even as public speculation about her reached malicious extremes.

Xu Chun listened in a daze. Though Qin Yao recounted the story calmly, the truth was heartbreaking.

“She had a beautiful name,” Qin Yao said softly. “Wen Xiangyang.”

But alas, Wen Xiangyang, with her lovely name and radiant life, passed away quietly before she could see the spring sun rise, leaving no trace of her own in this world.

She came unnoticed and left unnoticed, without so much as a ripple.

Qin Yao lowered her lashes slightly, perhaps overwhelmed by the resurgence of those painful memories. Her mood was clearly somber. Hesitating for a moment, Xu Chun gently embraced her. “Sister, you’ve done more than enough.”

“You gave Wen Xiangyang a new legacy, and you raised Jiang Zhaolie so well…” Xu Chun choked up, struggling to continue the praise. Strictly speaking, Jiang Zhaolie was just like her mother, a hopeless romantic.

If not for some unforeseen rift between her and Yu Sui’an, Jiang Zhaolie in the original story wasn’t much better.

She abandoned her company responsibilities in pursuit of love and even betrayed Qin Yao, who had saved her life and raised her with care. Calling her an ungrateful wretch wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Just thinking about it made Xu Chun indignant on Qin Yao’s behalf.

Pausing, she abruptly changed the subject. “Jiang Zhaolie is incredibly lucky to have met you. It must be the fortune of eight lifetimes.”

The rest of their conversation became indistinct to Jiang Zhaolie. She stood frozen, as if struck by lightning, barely able to keep her balance. Staggering, she leaned against the wall for support, her body cold and weak, her mind in turmoil.

She had never imagined that one day she would discover she shared no blood ties with Qin Yao.

It made sense, if Qin Yao were her birth mother, she would have had to conceive her at an impossibly young age, which would only fuel the malicious rumors about her.

Now that it was clear they weren’t related, those slanderous whispers would naturally fade away.

That was good, wasn’t it?

Jiang Zhaolie let out a bitter laugh, her thoughts a tangled mess. She couldn’t even recall how she left.

Her heart sank into an icy abyss, her limbs numb, her mind shutting down. Wandering alone down the corridor, she suddenly found it unbearably long so long that she could barely see the path ahead, or her own future.

Now that she had left Qin Yao… Jiang Zhaolie’s eyes stung with unshed tears. She had nothing left.

Without Qin Yao, she was nothing.

All those titles, CEO Jiang, the name on the Forbes rich list were nothing but external trappings Qin Yao had bestowed upon her. Without Qin Yao, every bit of her glory would vanish.

In truth, Qin Yao hadn’t brought up that matter in a very, very long time. So long that when she mentioned it again now, the fury, the injustice, the fear and disappointment in love she had once felt had all faded with time, no longer stirring even the slightest ripple in her heart.

That incident truly was ancient history so distant that Jiang Zhaolie had already grown up, capable of standing on her own.

Pulling her emotions back from the past, Qin Yao’s deep eyes settled on Xu Chun once more. She watched as Xu Chun gently embraced her in comfort, her red lips curving with an inscrutable smile. “The story’s over…”

A terrible premonition instantly rose in Xu Chun’s heart. She instinctively tried to pull away, but Qin Yao’s slender fingers pressed against her waist first. The unfamiliar warmth seeped through the fabric where their bodies touched, making Xu Chun’s heart tremble. She reflexively struggled harder.

This is it! I’m done for today!

Qin Yao’s grip tightened slightly, effortlessly pinning Xu Chun firmly against her in an inescapable hold. The woman’s husky voice carried a magnetic quality, irresistibly alluring as she murmured, “Time to settle accounts.”

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