The Vicious Female Supporting Character Goes Viral After Her Masks Drop During the Talent Show - Chapter 01

In the banquet hall, where wine glasses clinked, sparkling crystal chandeliers reflected luxurious streams of light, flowing among the finely dressed guests and creating an illusion unique to high society.

Zhong Yan sat elegantly on a sofa in the hall, elegantly raised her glass, elegantly smiled, and engaged in cool, polite, and elegant conversation with the daughters of several influential families seated nearby.

In Zhong Yan’s view, this was a decent but meaningless form of socializing, akin to literary nonsense or the art of evasion, yet it was an essential social skill in high society.

Ten years had passed, allowing Zhong Yan to master this skill proficiently. She navigated the meaningless social interactions smoothly, indeed appearing to be a true-to-life, wealthy young lady.

But who would have known that ten years ago, she was a miserable corporate grunt, constantly bowing and scraping, treating everyone as her superior, and working overtime until she suddenly dropped dead?

In her previous life, Zhong Yan was a small-time, unrecognized screenwriter, working under the famous screenwriter Teacher Qian.

To put it nicely, she was a capable assistant on Teacher Qian’s screenwriting team. To put it bluntly, she was just a code-monkey who wrote whatever her boss told her to.

At the age of 24, Zhong Yan successfully worked herself to death during a frantic rush to meet a deadline, having slept only two hours a night for three consecutive days.

Zhong Yan initially thought that when she opened her eyes again, she would be walking on the path to the underworld. Who knew that she had actually transmigrated into the world of a script?

The script was the very one she had worked herself to death to finish—a contemporary romance focused on the entertainment industry.

As for the character she transmigrated into, it was the female lead’s fake young lady older sister and the obstacle on the female lead’s path to love: the vicious female supporting character.

She transmigrated into the vicious female supporting character “Zhong Yan” when she was 14 years old, ten years before the story officially began.

A burst of enthusiastic greetings came from a distance. The young ladies’ nonsense socializing paused, and they looked in unison toward the center of the noise, where the main character of tonight’s banquet had just arrived.

This banquet was held to celebrate the new CEO of Dingming Group taking office.

And the new CEO, Lu Tingshen, was also the male lead of this contemporary entertainment industry romance.

Dingming Group was a family business with a long history. Its predecessor was Dingming Film and Television Company, a veteran production company in the industry.

Later, through the transformation and expansion led by the former CEO, Lu Dingchun (Lu Tingshen’s father), the company gradually grew into a large-scale entertainment group encompassing film/TV production, artist management, and marketing media.

Lu Tingshen, as the heir to Dingming Group, had been studying abroad. In the past two years, as Lu Dingchun’s health declined, he had to cease work and rest. Lu Tingshen consequently returned to China to take over his father’s position.

As the male lead, Lu Tingshen was naturally handsome and distinguished.

Zhong Yan still remembered that the keywords Teacher Qian assigned to the male lead’s character profile were simple and blunt: Overbearing CEO.

Lu Tingshen was currently 28 years old, with deep-set eyes, sharp features, and a stern temperament. His deeply handsome, mature appearance, combined with his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and muscular build, made him incredibly masculine. Adding the inherent nobility and arrogance of a distinguished family in his every movement, Lu Tingshen indeed possessed the aura of an overbearing CEO.

When an Overbearing CEO Male Lead appears, NPCs must definitely make a show to highlight his charm.

Zhong Yan watched as the young ladies, who had been chatting with her about nonsense, stopped their babbling. They simultaneously adjusted their haute couture dresses, smoothed their exquisitely styled bangs, and gracefully walked toward Lu Tingshen, showcasing the courtship needs of eligible young women toward an eligible young man.

Zhong Yan applauded the NPCs’ professionalism in her mind while quietly picking up the small, exquisite cake that had been sitting untouched on the coffee table for a long time and devouring it.

At a banquet like this, even the most delicious food is just decoration; no one is there for gluttony.

But Zhong Yan felt that enjoying a small cake was better than fawning over the male lead.

She had just happily swallowed a small piece of strawberry tart when her peripheral vision caught sight of a richly dressed woman with a sour expression walking aggressively toward her.

“All you do is eat! How did I give birth to such a useless child!”

Shi Qian lowered her voice and hissed at her, then nervously looked around, afraid of airing her “dirty laundry.”

Seeing that Lu Tingshen was surrounded by the young ladies and didn’t notice this side, Shi Qian slightly exhaled in relief, then grew even more resentful, glaring fiercely at Zhong Yan.

“Your fiancé is being surrounded by a flock of women, yet you have the nerve to sit here and stuff your face!”

“Since you were a child, your father and I gave you the best food, the best care, and the best education. We don’t expect great achievements from you, but you can’t even secure a man! You’re a disgrace! I’m ashamed to have a daughter like you!”

Zhong Yan sighed in her heart. Alas, a disgrace.

Having such an inauspicious mother, Zhong Yan truly felt embarrassed.

In the script, “Zhong Yan” was the eldest daughter of Wensheng Publishing Group and had a younger brother named Zhong Yang.

Although her parents, Zhong Jiamao and Shi Qian, both came from reputable families, their advanced education did not dismantle their feudal mindset; they favored sons over daughters.

They deeply pampered and valued the younger brother, Zhong Yang, raising him to be the heir of Wensheng Group. As for “Zhong Yan,” they regarded her purely as a tool for marriage alliance to maintain the family’s prosperity.

Wensheng and Dingming were both family businesses with long histories, and the Zhong and Lu families had been friends since the grandfather’s generation. “Zhong Yan” was betrothed to Lu Tingshen by the two families’ patriarchs at birth.

Initially, the marriage was considered a good match, but within a few years, Wensheng Publishing Group, a representative of traditional print media, began to decline under the impact of the internet era’s online media and reading trends. Dingming, however, became increasingly powerful by constantly innovating and keeping pace with the times.

This reality made Zhong’s parents even more invested in the engagement, attempting to secure greater support from Dingming Group through marriage to maintain Wensheng’s prosperity.

Therefore, “Zhong Yan” was indoctrinated from a young age by her parents to please Lu Tingshen, as she was destined to marry him.

For “Zhong Yan,” if Lu Tingshen smiled at her, her parents would smile at her. If Lu Tingshen ignored her, her parents wouldn’t give her a kind look.

The young “Zhong Yan,” who understood nothing, only craved her parents’ affection. Thus, she went to extreme lengths to flatter, obey, and court Lu Tingshen. But Lu Tingshen never liked her and barely looked at her properly.

This made Zhong’s parents increasingly dissatisfied, leaving only contempt.

Growing up in such a distorted environment, “Zhong Yan’s” personality became warped. She was arrogant, volatile, prejudiced, and jealous, yet at the same time, she was insecure and weak, unable to fight back.

She desperately tried to win Lu Tingshen’s favor, marry him, and become the daughter her parents were satisfied with.

Later, the appearance of the female lead, Xia Meng, turned everything she desperately pursued into a mirage that could never be realized.

Xia Meng was not only Lu Tingshen’s beloved but also the Zhong family’s true daughter.

This was a catastrophe for “Zhong Yan.” If events proceeded, she would be abandoned by Lu Tingshen, which inevitably meant being abandoned by the Zhong family and her parents.

Therefore, “Zhong Yan” resorted to any means necessary to conceal the truth and prevent Xia Meng and Lu Tingshen from being together.

But as a mere female supporting character, how could she succeed? She only became a crazy clown despised by everyone, a stepping stone for the male and female leads’ deepening romance.

At the end of the script, all the truth was revealed.

Xia Meng, the Zhong family’s true daughter, and Lu Tingshen, her destined lover, lived happily ever after.

Because of the successful marriage alliance and Lu Tingshen’s protection, the Zhong family relied on the Lu family. Thus, Zhong’s parents treated Xia Meng, their real daughter, with kindness and concern, achieving a family reconciliation.

A perfect happy ending: everyone got what they wanted, except for “Zhong Yan,” the cannon fodder who was utterly crushed.

The fake young lady, Zhong Yan, had her engagement canceled by her fiancé, was abandoned by her parents, removed from the family register, scorned by the public, and was suspected of being mentally ill after acting out wildly at Xia Meng and Lu Tingshen’s engagement party. Finally, she was sent to a psychiatric hospital by Zhong’s parents.

Truly a case of evil getting its just deserts, much to everyone’s satisfaction.

“Zhong Yan’s” purpose in life had always been to marry Lu Tingshen. With that purpose completely gone, she no longer knew how or why to live.

Ultimately, the 28-year-old “Zhong Yan” committed suicide in the mental hospital.

In the script, “Zhong Yan’s” story ended there.

In her past life, when Zhong Yan was a screenwriter’s assistant, after Teacher Qian finalized the character profiles and story framework, some supporting character plots and subplots were assigned to assistants. She happened to be responsible for the storyline of the female supporting character, “Zhong Yan.”

While rushing the manuscript, she felt that “Zhong Yan” was actually quite pitiful.

She craved her parents’ love, but they withheld it. She craved a man’s love, but the man didn’t love her. Blindly pursuing love, she only failed to learn to love herself.

Her life was like a puppet show manipulated by “love,” a tragedy of emptiness.

Zhong Yan looked up at Shi Qian. Zhong’s parents were the source of her manipulation, harm, and tragedy, all done in the name of love. Thus, even after spending ten years with this new mother, Zhong Yan felt no maternal affection for her.

“Still sitting here, staring daggers at me?” Shi Qian gestured in Lu Tingshen’s direction, giving Zhong Yan a sharp look. “Hurry up and go over there! I’m warning you, if this marriage doesn’t happen, don’t bother coming back to the Zhong family!”

Shi Qian’s worries were founded on two points. First, she could tell that Lu Tingshen had been uninterested in her daughter for many years.

However, this wasn’t too bad; in major family alliances, the family elders usually had the final say. Shi Qian believed that as long as Lu’s parents insisted on the engagement, Lu Tingshen would have to comply whether he liked it or not.

Shi Qian’s second, deeper worry: Lu’s parents’ attitude toward the engagement had become increasingly vague over the years.

According to the initial agreement, the engagement would not be publicly announced while the children were young. They would wait until the two had slowly developed an emotional foundation and both reached adulthood before hosting the engagement banquet and announcing the alliance.

But now, both were well into adulthood, and the engagement banquet was nowhere in sight.

For the past few years, the Lu family had used Lu Tingshen’s studying abroad as an excuse to postpone the engagement. Now that Lu Tingshen was finally back, Shi Qian had to seize the opportunity to solidify the engagement, lest they delay and allow some other family’s daughter to snatch away her golden turtle son-in-law.

Zhong Yan knew Shi Qian’s intentions, but she also knew that her engagement with Lu Tingshen was doomed.

Judging by the timeline, the script’s story was about to begin, and the female lead, Xia Meng, would soon make her appearance.

However, Zhong Yan did not contradict Shi Qian. She replied with an unperturbed, “Oh,” and obediently stood up to approach Lu Tingshen.

Zhong Yan’s “obedience” finally stopped Shi Qian from losing her temper. As she turned her back and walked away, Zhong Yan couldn’t help but curve her lips into a strange, slightly excited smile.

She had her own plan.

When she first transmigrated into the script’s world, Zhong Yan was devastated to learn that she had become the female supporting character with the worst possible fate.

But after calming down and analyzing the situation, she felt relieved, even finding it quite good.

Firstly, and most importantly, although she had transmigrated, she wasn’t bound to any strange system that required her to follow the original storyline or complete any missions.

Therefore, she was free and could completely change the tragic ending of the original story.

Secondly, she felt no affection for Zhong’s parents or Lu Tingshen, so she couldn’t be manipulated or taken advantage of by them.

In this unfamiliar world, she only needed to love herself and plan for her own benefit.

Lastly, and most temptingly: she was now a wealthy young lady!

The wealthy families had more money than they could spend, and even if her parents didn’t love her, they wouldn’t withhold material comforts.

So, a life of luxury was beckoning to her, the former corporate grunt! The joy of spending money lavishly was beckoning to her, the former poor person!

Furthermore, the setting of this drama was quite old-fashioned. To convey the satisfying feeling of “The Overbearing CEO Doesn’t Love the Beauty; He Only Loves Me,” the character of the supporting female lead, “Zhong Yan,” was set to have extremely high beauty.

Having both beauty and wealth—wasn’t this the configuration of a life winner?

The more Zhong Yan thought about it, the more brilliant she felt it was!

Moreover, she transmigrated when “Zhong Yan” was only 14 years old, ten years before the true female lead appeared.

At that time, Lu Tingshen had just gone abroad to study, and she was still in middle school in China. The distance between them was vast, and she didn’t have to be forced by Zhong’s parents to constantly fawn over Lu Tingshen.

So, she had ample time to plan her future and avoid a tragic end.

This could truly be described as a brand new life with a top-tier starting point.

Zhong Yan thought that in her past life as an ordinary person, she had pursued education in childhood and work in adulthood entirely for the sake of survival, making it difficult to pursue her true dream life.

Now, Zhong Yan felt her opportunity had arrived.

For the past ten years, Zhong Yan had been planning how to escape the Zhong family’s control, avoid a tragic fate, become a rich and willful beautiful woman, and live a life of freedom and happiness.

Now that the female lead was about to appear and take over the male lead and the Zhong family, Zhong Yan felt it was time to draw a clear line with the original melodramatic plot and begin her new life.

The smile on Zhong Yan’s lips deepened, and her steps toward Lu Tingshen became lighter.

The flock of women in front of him greatly annoyed Lu Tingshen.

Although he had little interest in these young ladies, their families and companies were more or less connected to Dingming.

Out of propriety, Lu Tingshen had to deal with them.

Finally, having dispatched one wave, Lu Tingshen didn’t have time to relax when he saw a woman—both strange and familiar—approach him.

Strange, because he truly hadn’t seen her for almost ten years. The girl had shed the naivety of her youth, and her appearance was somewhat different from the vague impression in his memory.

Familiar, because even after ten years, the lingering sense of disgust from their daily entanglement a decade ago still allowed him to recognize her—Zhong Yan, his so-called “fiancée.”

Lu Tingshen frowned, feeling even more irritated.

He turned and walked away. For Zhong Yan, he didn’t even need to maintain propriety.

“My mother has something she wants me to relay to you,” Zhong Yan’s voice came steadily.

Lu Tingshen stopped in his tracks.

Madam Zhong was an elder, regardless. If he didn’t stop to listen to her message, he would be showing disrespect to an elder.

Lu Tingshen had no choice but to stop, turning to look at Zhong Yan.

She was simply smiling calmly, clearly anticipating that he would stop.

They hadn’t seen each other in ten years, yet her tactics had become a little sly; she would use an elder to pressure him.

This slightly surprised Lu Tingshen. After all, the Zhong Yan in his memory was a mindless lunatic.

He didn’t show his surprise, keeping his face extremely cold. “Say it.”

“She asks when you plan to marry me.”

Lu Tingshen’s mouth twitched slightly, and a hint of unexpected astonishment finally broke through his cold demeanor.

Though he had anticipated that Madam Zhong’s message would concern the engagement, he never imagined Zhong Yan would propose it in such a direct manner.

Looking at Zhong Yan, she was still smiling calmly, as if she had just asked a common greeting like “Have you eaten?”

Between him and her, he had always been in the superior position, both in attitude and emotion.

But now, Zhong Yan’s calm composure made his own slight look of astonishment appear to be a losing position.

Lu Tingshen was displeased. He grabbed Zhong Yan’s wrist, pulled her to a floor-to-ceiling window away from the crowd, and then flung her hand away.

“What, applying pressure?”

Lu Tingshen’s tone regained his confident arrogance, the earlier hint of astonishment vanishing without a trace.

The few steps they took had allowed him to reorganize his thoughts—Zhong Yan stating the matter of marriage so directly in the crowd was clearly intended to be overheard by the surrounding guests, allowing rumors to spread in high society circles. This would pressure the Lu family into fulfilling the engagement as soon as possible.

Based on his understanding of Zhong Yan, her scheme was nothing more than this.

Lu Tingshen believed he had regained the dominant position.

Zhong Yan had no idea he was twisting and turning so many thoughts in his head. She was rubbing her wrist, which he had pulled painfully, cursing the idiot internally, when she heard him say something nonsensical.

“Huh?” Zhong Yan frowned, confused. “What pressure?”

Lu Tingshen assumed she was pretending, but he couldn’t be bothered to waste words on exposing her.

“Forget it.”

Before, when he was abroad, he could at least avoid her and find some peace.

Now that he was back in China, Lu Tingshen didn’t want to get further entangled with her. Since she had asked, it was the perfect time to cut everything off.

“Regarding the engagement, it’s time I made things clear to you.”

Lu Tingshen folded his arms, casting his gaze out the floor-to-ceiling window.

“I will be canceling the engagement between us.”

“Oh, alright.”

Zhong Yan’s voice was so calm that Lu Tingshen thought he had misheard her.

He shifted his gaze to her face. Her expression was completely unfazed.

Lu Tingshen hadn’t expected this reaction.

A woman who had spent all her energy trying to marry him shouldn’t react like this when she heard the engagement was broken off.

Lu Tingshen looked suspicious. “Zhong Yan, I’m warning you, don’t try any tricks.”

Hearing this sentence, Zhong Yan’s expression finally changed.

She widened her eyes slightly, looking at him with a touch of absurdity.

Having broken her composure, Lu Tingshen thought he had finally caught her flaw.

Just as he waited for her outburst, he saw Zhong Yan shift her gaze away again, looking toward the floor-to-ceiling window.

Lu Tingshen didn’t know what she was looking at. Following her gaze, he could only see the reflection cast on the glass by the lights, which clearly outlined her appearance like a mirror.

Lu Tingshen paused slightly. This was probably the first time he had truly looked at the adult Zhong Yan.

Truthfully, she was stunningly beautiful.

Especially her slightly upturned, flirtatious eyes (taohua eyes), which were clear and flowing with constant, gentle charm.

Zhong Yan gazed at her reflection, unable to help but compliment herself internally.

She truly was too beautiful.

Alluring and naturally captivating.

The screenwriter, Teacher Qian, had given “Zhong Yan” the appearance setting of a charmingly seductive, beautiful villainess—”beautiful skin, vicious heart.”

Now, admiring her own beauty, Zhong Yan couldn’t help but be grateful for this “beautiful villainess” character setting.

Catching sight of Lu Tingshen slightly dazed while staring at her reflection, Zhong Yan smiled softly.

“Play tricks?”

Lu Tingshen’s attention was drawn back by her soft laugh.

Before he could cover up his moment of lapse, he saw Zhong Yan use those mesmerizing taohua eyes to scrutinize his reflection on the window, from head to toe. Then, she shook her head with a hint of regret.

“What do I stand to gain?”

Lu Tingshen froze for a moment, then immediately understood her meaning.

She actually thought he wasn’t worthy of her.