I Helped the Female Supporting Character Become the Male Lead - Chapter 4

Cang Xuehe’s reason for asking Zhao Yi out wasn’t just to discuss breaking off the engagement; she also wanted to experience life in this world, and Zhao Yi was undoubtedly the best person to guide her.

“Yiyi, do you have anything else to do later?”

“Actually, someone organized a drinking party tonight and I was planning to go, but didn’t I push it aside because you called? Now I’m stuck here drinking coffee.”

Cang Xuehe rolled her eyes. In the real world, she had never been to places like bars or nightclubs. Now that she didn’t have to worry about waking up early for work tomorrow, she actually felt like experiencing it.

“Then… shall we go?”

The moment their eyes met, the two reached a silent agreement.

Cang Xuehe’s impression of a bar was mostly based on the extravagant scenes from TV—countless men and women dancing wildly on the floor, every single one of them a handsome man or a beautiful woman.

In reality, however, the music was so deafening that her head throbbed, let alone having the energy to look at anyone else.

Zhao Yi led her to a booth. The “rich second generation” circle was clearly interconnected; people kept greeting Cang Xuehe, but she couldn’t remember a single name and could only pretend to be familiar while greeting them back.

Watching the wealthy playboys flirt with the waitresses—and even casually groping them—Cang Xuehe felt a wave of nausea. Fearing she might lose her cool and beat her “companions” to a pulp if she stayed, she used the excuse of going to the restroom to leave the booth.

Cang Xuehe had just consumed several mixed drinks, and now her stomach felt like it was on fire. Although she drank in the real world, she rarely mixed more than two or three types of alcohol; the combination was making her feel quite ill.

She vomited a bit in the stall before feeling a little better, deciding to sit on the toilet for a moment to recover before heading out.

Suddenly, she heard voices outside.

“Hey, I saw a customer hand that new girl a tip tonight—a whole stack of cash!”

“That must have been a lot of money!”

“Too bad she didn’t take it. I guess she thought having money stuffed down her chest was an insult to her dignity, haha.”

“Hahaha, anyone who turns down money is an idiot! Why come to a bar to work part-time if you’re going to act so high and mighty? It’s hilarious. Then again, that new girl is pretty beautiful.”

“What’s the use of being pretty? It’s all plastic surgery!”

Inside the stall, Cang Xuehe felt like she was back in her company’s restroom, listening to women gossiping about their bosses behind their backs.

As the voices faded away, Cang Xuehe shook her head in annoyance and pushed open the stall door. At that exact moment, the door to the opposite stall opened, and a girl walked out. Her face was expressionless.

Cang Xuehe took a few extra glances—simply because she was stunningly beautiful.

Returning to the table, Zhao Yi was already dazed from being pressured into drinking. She was leaning haphazardly against a guy next to her. The guy clearly had some interest in Zhao Yi, as his hand was wrapped around her waist.

“Yiyi.” Cang Xuehe sat down and subtly pulled her over, patting her face gently. “I have something to do and need to head back. Are you coming with me?”

Zhao Yi nodded weakly.

The others heard she was leaving and immediately chimed in, “Xuehe, tell us, how long has it been since we gathered like this because of your engagement? You just got here and you’re already leaving? If you get married, are you going to cut ties with us entirely?”

“Don’t worry,” Cang Xuehe smiled. “I dumped Ding Hongyuan.”

“What?! Why?!” As soon as these words were uttered, everyone was shocked. Everyone knew that the eldest Miss Cang had once chased Ding Hongyuan so desperately it was legendary.

Cang Xuehe helped Zhao Yi up and casually brushed back her hair. “He’s not good enough for me.”

On the way back, Zhao Yi, leaning against the window to catch the breeze, woke up a bit. She rubbed her eyes. “Xuehe, why did you suddenly take me away?”

“I saw you were drunk and hugging Xiao Wu.”

“???!!!” These words sent a chill down Zhao Yi’s spine. “No way?! I was hugging him?!”

“Yeah. He even had his arm around your waist.”

Zhao Yi’s face looked as though she had just swallowed a fly.

Cang Xuehe understood her feeling. Even if you’re close with a male friend, you wouldn’t want that kind of intimate contact; it feels uncomfortable.

“Wait a second. But why would you…”

Cang Xuehe looked at the scenery flying past the window and said nonchalantly, “Don’t you like women?”

“!!!!” Zhao Yi’s eyes widened. “How did you know??!!!”

“…” Cang Xuehe was also stunned. Wait, did the original female protagonist not know herself yet?!

Her brain worked at lightning speed. In a flash of inspiration, Cang Xuehe placed a hand on Zhao Yi’s shoulder and said with a solemn face, “I just feel like you have the potential to be gay.”

“…” Zhao Yi immediately hugged herself, pressing tightly against the car door like she had encountered a predator. “You… you… you suddenly broke off your engagement… it… it… it couldn’t be because of m-m-me, right?”

The poor girl was so scared she was stuttering.

Cang Xuehe rolled her eyes and said, exasperated, “A rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its own burrow.”

Zhao Yi patted her chest, actually letting out a sigh of relief. After processing everything, she poked Cang Xuehe’s shoulder. “Xuehe, I think you’re very strange today.”

“How so?”

“I can’t put my finger on it. It’s like you’ve become a completely different person.”

“Well, do you like the old me or the current me?”

Zhao Yi thought about it and replied, “I didn’t like the version of you that always revolved around a man. It was too beneath you.”

Cang Xuehe smiled. “Then that means you like the current me.”

At the same time, she sighed inwardly. How was it that everyone around her could see that Ding Hongyuan was no good, except for the original host? She wondered when she would finally be able to strip away the “lovestruck fool” label.

There had been no word from the head of the Cang family regarding the broken engagement. Consequently, having to attend a family banquet and meet the entire family made Cang Xuehe feel inexplicably nervous.

Even in the real world, after being kicked out of her house for coming out, she hadn’t been in contact with her parents for a very long time. Suddenly having a pair of “stranger parents” left her unsure of how to behave.

The driver thoughtfully opened the car door for her. As Cang Xuehe stepped out, she turned to see two men getting out of a car behind her.

One was dressed refinedly, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, looking like a polished gentleman. The other was dressed very fashionably; even with sunglasses on, it was hard to hide his handsome features.

The moment their eyes met, two names popped into Cang Xuehe’s mind. Before she could even process who they were, the two men greeted her first.

“Xuehe.”

“Second Brother, Third Brother.”

Cang Xuehe couldn’t help but marvel at how good the Cang family genes truly were.

As they approached, the second brother, Cang Lao’er, smiled at his sister and reached out to rub her head. “Go on inside; Mom, Dad, and Big Brother are already there.”

“Sister, I heard from Big Brother that you want to break off the engagement?” the third brother, Cang Laosan, asked suddenly on the way in.

“Yeah. Big Brother probably told you the reason, right?”

Cang Laosan said indignantly, “I knew that kid was no good. You didn’t listen to your brother and ended up suffering for it. But since he actually dared to bully my sister, I’m going to beat the crap out of him.”

“Old Third,” the second brother spoke up to stop him. “You’re a public figure now; watch your words and behavior.”

Cang Lao’er then added with a beaming smile, “There are clearly a hundred ways to make him suffer more than a physical beating. Why must you resort to violence? It’s uncivilized.”

Even though the second brother was smiling, a chill ran down Cang Xuehe’s spine. It was clear that her second brother was a belly-black schemer one should never provoke.

She gave a forced laugh and followed them into the hotel. The waiter led them to a private dining hall and smilingly opened the door for them.

The conversation inside stopped abruptly. The smile on Cang Xuehe’s face also dropped instantly the moment she saw Ding Hongyuan’s parents.

“Xuehe is here,” Mother Cang beckoned to her. “I was just talking about you with your mother-in-law. Come over here.”

After taking her seat, Cang Xuehe’s expression didn’t soften in the slightest. Seeing this, the Ding parents’ expressions turned even uglier. Mother Ding, in particular, sat with her arms crossed, looking extremely displeased—completely forgetting whose banquet this was.

That was the reality: back when the original protagonist’s head was filled with nothing but water, Mother Ding had looked down on the arrogant little princess of the Cang family and bullied her in various ways. Unfortunately, the original host only had eyes for the scumbag and went to great lengths to please her future mother-in-law.

This had only fueled Mother Ding’s arrogance.

But the current Cang Xuehe was no longer that submissive daughter-in-law. She took Mother Cang’s arm. Before entering, she thought saying “Mom and Dad” would be difficult, but seeing the genuine concern in Mother Cang’s eyes, the words came out naturally.

Mother Cang patted her daughter’s hand and smiled. “Your future parents-in-law are right here.”

Hearing her name mentioned, Mother Ding unconsciously tilted her chin up, wearing a face that expected to be flattered.

Cang Xuehe looked at Mother Ding and remembered how the original host was treated by this malicious woman after getting married. She wished she could treat that face like Ding Hongyuan’s and deliver a few satisfying slaps.

However, her internal moral compass and civilized upbringing prevented such unrefined behavior. Instead, she said with a fake smile, “Oh, I was wondering who that was. With such a sour face, I thought you’d just come back from a funeral. Turns out it’s just my future mother-in-law.”

She deliberately emphasized the word “future.” Future implies infinite possibilities, and it also means things are subject to change; her position as mother-in-law was far from secure.

The atmosphere at the table froze instantly. The third brother nearly failed to suppress a laugh. He absolutely loathed the “social climber” attitude of the Ding family, but he hadn’t been able to act on it because of his sister.

The Ding parents’ expressions shifted as well. Father Ding stopped smiling but remained silent, clearly unhappy. Mother Ding couldn’t hold back and snapped, “My dear friend, is this how you discipline your daughter? Xuehe, you never used to speak to your elders like this.”

“…” Cang Xuehe pursed her lips. She hadn’t meant to let that slip out. In private, she had plenty of chances to mess with this “mother-in-law,” but doing it right in front of the Cang family meant she was likely in for a scolding.

While she hesitated, she felt the hand holding hers tighten slightly. Mother Cang’s smile widened. “Children speak without filter; don’t take it to heart.”

This was a blatant show of favoritism for her daughter. No matter how dissatisfied Mother Ding was, she couldn’t lash out directly and had to suppress her rage.

Cang Xuehe couldn’t understand the point of inviting these two outsiders to a “family” banquet.

Soon, Father Cang, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“I heard that Hongyuan was injured?”

As the head of the Cang family initiated the topic, Mother Ding immediately seized the opportunity.

“Hongyuan is still lying in the hospital! My dear friend, you say young couples have their spats, but is this any way to play around? They aren’t even married yet and Hongyuan is hurt this badly—what will happen after they’re married?” Mother Ding grew more agitated as she spoke, even picking up a tissue to dab at the non-existent tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, I’ve already spoken to Xuehe about that,” Father Cang said, casually sipping his red wine. “Since I see that my dear friend is dissatisfied with our Xuehe, and coincidentally Xuehe wants to seek a better match elsewhere, let’s just call the whole thing between our families off.”

In the past, Mother Ding had relied on the fact that the original host was obsessed with her son and that the Cang family doted on their youngest daughter, so she had acted arrogantly while they endured it. Now that they knew their daughter wanted to break off the engagement, the Cang family naturally wouldn’t tolerate that attitude anymore.

Father Ding had stayed quiet because he wanted his wife to play the “bad cop” to extort some benefits, but hearing that the marriage was off, he could no longer sit still.

“When young people are together, how can they not argue? Feelings only grow stronger through conflict. Besides, Hongyuan only has superficial injuries; he can be discharged tomorrow.” Turning to Cang Xuehe, Father Ding dropped his previous arrogance. “Xuehe, I’ll properly educate Hongyuan when I get back. Don’t hold it against him.”

Mother Ding seemed like she wanted to contradict her husband, but she was silenced by a sharp glare from him.

Cang Xuehe chuckled and took a slow sip of tea. Her parents didn’t seem to have any intention of intervening.

The third brother couldn’t help but chime in, “Sister, if you don’t want to marry him, then don’t. He’s just a man. I’ll introduce you to some incredibly handsome male models later.”

The eldest brother added calmly, “I have a few high-potential elites on my end.”

Father Ding pleaded, “Xuehe, you and Hongyuan have been together for so long. There’s no hurdle you can’t get over.”

Only then did Cang Xuehe turn her gaze toward Father Ding. Unlike his handsome son, Father Ding gave off the impression of a calculating businessman. She knew exactly why he was willing to sell out his son.

“I can forgive him,” she said.

A hint of a smile appeared on Father Ding’s anxious face.

“As long as he lets me treat him like a dog at my beck and call.”

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