The Plan to Save the Villainess Supporting Actress [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 4

[OMG!! Zhu Ran is such an incredible singer!]

[Snuck up to the rooftop during lunch break and accidentally caught my senior singing. This feels straight out of a drama guys, is my heart still beating?!]

[Y’all are so cultured, all I can do is scream!!! Zhu Ran!! My one and only queen!!]

[Why is this video so short?! Production team, I’m begging you, drop more content before I get on my knees and plead!]

[Uh, is no one gonna mention Zhu Ran stealing stuff?]

[Hey, troll, just crawled out from under a rock? Her roommate already cleared things up. Still spreading rumors? How pathetic.]

[LMAO, the moment Zhu Ran mentioned checking the surveillance footage with the crew, her roommate panicked. Draw your own conclusions.]

[Don’t let the haters distract you! Just focus on Sister Ran’s singing~]

[Found the Easter egg! Only Zhu Ran’s video has a different title, what’s with “by Director Nan Zhi” LOLOL]

[Remember during the livestream incident? Nan Zhi also stood up for Ranran, right?]

[Beauties supporting beauties, meanwhile I’m here drooling at my screen.]

Twenty-five short videos were released simultaneously the night before the show aired.

Within just an hour of being uploaded, Zhu Ran’s personal video soared to the top of the platform’s views and even made it onto the trending list.

Watching the blackened value drop by 5% and the 10-point increase in her mission score, Nan Zhi smugly pulled up her blanket, ready for a good night’s sleep.

Just as she was about to drift off, the mechanical voice in her head rudely interrupted:

“How can you sleep at your age?”

Nan Zhi: ?

System: “Tomorrow’s the theme song evaluation. Everyone’s practicing hard in the training rooms. Out of 101 girls, only one is turning off the lights to sleep in the dorm. Do you know who that is?”

No idea. She’s just a health-conscious kitten who values early sleep and early rising.

System: “After the theme song evaluation, there’ll be another reshuffling of classes, and practice for the first performance will begin. If the host gets eliminated in the first round, how will you complete the mission? How will you earn points?”

Nan Zhi closed her eyes and rolled over.

System: “Mission failure will result in point deduction.”

Pfft, a measly 11 points, who cares!

System: “As expected, the host isn’t asleep.”

System: “If the world collapses, the host will face disciplinary action, up to suspension or termination.”

Alright, alright, enough lecturing, master.

Nan Zhi scrambled out of bed and resignedly started putting on her shoes.

Who would’ve thought that taking on a mission would actually involve participating in an audition show? Nan Zhi let out a long sigh, feeling nothing but dread for the road ahead.

She couldn’t do anything!

Forget singing and dancing even standing still, she’d probably go off-key.

The system chimed in helpfully: “Host, don’t worry. When you entered this world, the system automatically granted you talent. Just practice more and you’ll get used to it.”

Nan Zhi was stunned. “You can do that?”

System, proudly: “Of course! Our department’s systems are top-tier!”

Nan Zhi: “If you’re so amazing, why not just let me coast through the performance?”

System: Offline.

Not far away, the practice building was brightly lit.

Nan Zhi stood outside, peering through the windows.

The system’s claim that all 100 girls were practicing was an exaggeration, but every training room in the building had its lights on.

In the quiet night, the girls inside moved to the rhythm of the music, pouring their youth and sweat into chasing that glittering dream.

Lost in thought, a sudden question popped into Nan Zhi’s head.

Does Zhuran also harbor such urgent, equally dazzling dreams?

–

Though it was early summer, the temperature dropped sharply after nightfall.

Zhuran stood in the corner of the rooftop, her fingers gripping the phone so tightly that her knuckles turned faintly white.

She bit her lower lip hard, her sweat-drenched T-shirt clinging tightly to her skin. The cold wind cut through her, chilling her to the bone.

On the other end of the line, the man’s tone had already grown impatient.

“Zhuran, when your elders speak to you, you should respond. Understand?”

Zhuran took a deep breath and replied softly, “I’m sorry… Father.”

Shen Yan was in no mood for niceties. “You don’t need to call me ‘Father’ when there are no outsiders around. Your surname is Zhu, not Shen.”

As soon as he spoke, a middle-aged woman’s voice quickly interjected, trying to smooth things over. “Ranran, your Uncle Shen didn’t mean it like that. He just doesn’t want you to forget your own family. Auntie Jiang knows you’re a sensible child, right?”

“Ranran, it’s no wonder Jiaying’s father is upset this time. You really were in the wrong. Our Shen family has raised and nurtured you without ever mistreating you, haven’t we? Forget about repaying us at the very least, you should look out for Jiaying. You know how much she’s loved singing and dancing since she was little. This audition is so competitive. If you get a good opportunity, you should think of your sister first, shouldn’t you?”

Uncle Shen. Auntie Jiang.

Father. Mother.

Shen Jiaying. Sister.

Zhuran closed her eyes, unable to drown out the sharp ringing in her ears no matter how hard she tried.

How much longer would this absurd farce have to play out before the curtains finally fell?

On the phone, Jiang Zhiyun continued to ramble, her words circling the same few points.

She wanted Zhuran to remember her place.

She wasn’t Shen Jiaying, she was the maid by the young mistress’s side, the foil to Shen Jiaying’s brilliance.

It had always been that way, ever since she was little.

She wasn’t allowed to choose her own future, nor was she permitted to outshine Shen Jiaying.

Whenever Shen Jiaying needed something, Zhuran was expected to hand over everything without hesitation.

Before the debut stage performance, it had been the same, a phone call that strangled Zhuran’s beginning.

Unlike Jiang Zhiyun’s roundabout lecturing, Shen Yan had been blunt. He demanded Zhuran make a fool of herself on stage, sabotaging her teammates, all to highlight Shen Jiaying.

They were a five-member group from a small company, with only one minute to perform.

Shen Jiaying hadn’t done well in the final company evaluation, so her parts in the debut stage were relatively fewer.

Zhuran had compromised. In the end, Shen Jiaying made it to Class B, while Zhuran remained in Class C.

But the Shen couple wasn’t satisfied with this outcome.

In their minds, Shen Jiaying should have been in Class A.

Today, Zhuran had trended on social media because of a short video.

Shen Yan was furious, repeatedly demanding to know why she hadn’t given this opportunity to Shen Jiaying.

Zhuran almost laughed.

Why did they assume that just because she failed, Shen Jiaying would automatically succeed?

Had years of playing the supporting role warped their perception so much?

Zhuran closed her eyes, shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

This world was never fair not to Shen Jiaying, and certainly not to Zhuran.

She had understood this truth from a very young age.

She had struggled against it, tried to change it.

But all she ever got in return was hunger and cold, scorn and mockery and when things got bad enough, even violence.

Eventually, Zhuran grew accustomed to it.

Accustomed to being Shen Jiaying’s shadow.

Accustomed to numbing her own emotions.

Accustomed to accepting every misunderstanding and slander, letting others slap whatever ugly labels they wanted onto her.

After all, this was just who she was.

Those Who Cannot Stand in the Light.

By the time the call ended, Zhu Ran was already numb from the cold.

Perhaps it was for the best.

That was what she told herself.

Only this way could she stay clear-headed.

The night was too deep, too heavy. The flickering lights countless lamps from countless homes not a single one lit for her.

Suddenly, the phone screen, dark for so long, lit up.

The glow wasn’t harsh, but for Zhu Ran, long accustomed to the shadows, it still felt uncomfortable.

She narrowed her eyes and glanced down, just an ad pushed by the platform.

But when she read the title, she froze.

Her reddened fingertip tapped the screen, and a short video with over a hundred thousand reposts appeared before her eyes.

Beneath it, the top comment popped up as well.

[Netizen A: OMG, Zhu Ran sings so well!]

[Nan Zhi v replied to Netizen A: whispers She sounds even better when she’s not facing the camera! Zhu Ran is the most amazing singer and dancer I’ve ever seen so, so incredible! Please show her lots of love!]

Support The Plan to Save the Villainess Supporting Actress [Quick Transmigration]