I Helped the Female Supporting Character Become the Male Lead - Chapter 1

The summer this year was even hotter than usual. The cicadas in the trees chirped incessantly, making people feel irritable.

Having just met with a client, Cang Xuehe stepped out of a taxi. The stifling air felt like a windowless steamer, making her exhausted body feel even heavier. She ordered a latte at the coffee shop downstairs from her office and opened her phone while she waited.

The latest WeChat messages were from a small gossip group with her colleagues. She scrolled through and saw them discussing a new leader. Confused, she sent a question mark. A colleague quickly @’d her, asking where she was and requesting she bring a coffee up.

“Your drink is ready. Have a nice day,” the clerk said, packing the drinks with a practiced smile.

Walking out of the shop, Cang Xuehe let out a heavy sigh. She lamented, once again, how exhausting life was. It had been two years since she graduated, yet she still wasn’t used to the grueling life of a corporate worker. Some days she didn’t want to get out of bed at all, but her wallet told her she had no choice.

Pushing through the revolving glass doors, she entered the magnificent lobby. This was a global Top 50 company; countless people fought to get in, including herself. She shook off the depression from the client’s mental torture and forced a smile to greet the receptionist.

Back at the office, her colleagues’ afternoon tea delivery had just arrived. Seeing her, they pulled her in to join them. The only thing that sustained her through this high-pressure job was the office atmosphere. The big bosses rarely appeared, and her direct supervisor was easygoing—as long as the work got done, they didn’t care what you did.

“Xuehe, did you hear?” a colleague whispered, sliding her chair over like a secret agent.

“Hear what?”

“Check the group chat! We’ve been talking about it all afternoon. Our VP position has been vacant for a long time, right? The news came out today—someone is being ‘airdropped’ from headquarters to take the spot.”

“Oh,” Cang Xuehe nodded. “What’s that got to do with us? We’re just small fry.”

“No, no!” the colleague said. “Word is, this new VP wants to reorganize the whole company, and she’s starting with our department!”

“Whoa, everyone knows our department has the best vibe. She wants to mess with us the moment she arrives?” Another colleague joined in. “I heard she’s formidable. A woman under thirty becoming a VP, and the big boss thinks very highly of her. Tsk tsk…”

Cang Xuehe hummed in polite agreement while continuing to type her emails. Their gossip was getting more ridiculous, even speculating about a secret relationship between the VP and the big boss. She shook her head inwardly, hating how some of the harshest malice toward women often came from other women. Still, she hoped the rumors were false; nobody wanted a “Devil Boss.”

“Hey, you guys at the tea party—is your work finished?” The team leader called out, breaking up the gossip session and liberating Xuehe.

Her phone buzzed again. The group was asking about dinner; apparently, there would be several handsome guys there. Since most were single, everyone was excited. Xuehe glanced at it, unmoved by descriptions of “drippingly handsome” men.

[Cang Xuehe]: I’m not going. I have plans tonight.

She didn’t actually have plans; she just wasn’t interested in “matchmaking” setups. The truth was, she had no interest in handsome men. If it were a beautiful woman, she would have joined without hesitation. But nobody knew she was a “deep closet” lesbian except her best friend. Since she didn’t socialize outside her circle of straight friends, staying single was her norm.

Instead of a mixer, she’d rather go home and lie down. She used to go to the gym after work, but now she preferred the world of web novels. She had recently saved a few books, and since her client work was done, she decided to “favor” one to soothe her battered soul.

She wasn’t picky—Romance or GL (Girls’ Love), she read it all. Lately, she was tired of “sweet” stories, so she picked a novel that looked a bit more serious: First Love Like Fire.

The title was artsy yet pretentious. From the blurb, the female lead was a “love brain” who married her first love, only for him to cheat while his mother bullied her. The lead just endured it like a “Ninja Turtle.” It was tagged as a “Bad Ending” (BE), so Xuehe was looking forward to the lead eventually crushing the scumbag and moving on with the second male lead.

Plus, the female lead had the exact same name as her.

On the subway home, she read the first few chapters and her fists tightened. To avoid swearing in public, she shut the app. How could a rich heiress be such a pushover? she thought. Truly tragic.

At home, she showered and crawled into bed by 7:00 PM. She finished the 300,000-word novel by 10:00 PM. She stared at the ceiling in the silence of her room.

A heavy sigh followed.

The book had no revenge plot. The “love brain” lead loved the scumbag to the end, died in childbirth, and then the scumbag’s family stole her family’s fortune. Cang Xuehe was traumatized by the ending.

Her best friend, Chen Zixin, called. “Xuehe, want to get late-night snacks? I just finished overtime.”

“No, I’m in bed. I just read a novel and it’s so frustrating! I suspect the author has a hole in their head for writing something so anti-human!”

“What’s the plot?”

Xuehe sat up, ranting like a machine gun. “The lead meets a mix of a scumbag and a mama’s boy, insists on marrying him, gets cheated on, gets insulted, and then dies to save the baby during childbirth! She has beauty and money—why no brain?! If I were her, I’d torture that man to death!”

Zixin laughed. “It’s just a story. Don’t take it seriously. Anyway, you’re off early today.”

“Yeah,” Xuehe calmed down. “But our good days are over. A new VP is coming next week to ‘take an axe’ to our department.”

Suddenly, Xuehe’s phone buzzed. “Wait, speak of the devil… the group chat says the new VP was in a car accident. Her start date is postponed.”

“Lucky you. A few more days of peace.”

They chatted a bit more before hanging up. Exhausted from the previous night’s lack of sleep, Xuehe drifted off, her mind still filled with the infuriating plot.

“Scumbags like that… I’d hit them whenever I saw them…”

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