The Villainess’s Darling [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 52

One could tell simply by the title of the novel, Melodramatic Affections of the Elite, that this was a tragedy through and through. The one who suffered the most was the female lead, Yun Can’er.

Shortly after Can’er was born, her mother succumbed to postpartum depression. After catching Mother Yun hitting and verbally abusing the infant on several occasions, Yun Boyuan separated the two and hired a nanny to raise the child.

Later, though the depression faded, Mother Yun’s health deteriorated due to a poorly managed recovery after childbirth. Chronic illnesses followed one after another. By the time Can’er was seven or eight, her mother was bedbound.

The nanny, being an outsider after all, didn’t truly have Can’er’s best interests at heart. Whenever the girl cried, the nanny would terrorize her: “Your mother is dying. Once your dad remarries, your stepmother will definitely abuse you.” These threats left a deep psychological scar, making Can’er increasingly timid and instilling a profound fear of her father ever marrying again.

When Yun Boyuan told her he was going to marry Ning Xiao, Can’er’s despair reached its breaking point.

My stepmother hates me; my stepmother will abuse me. This conviction was etched into Can’er’s mind, and she believed it implicitly.

Consequently, when Yun Boyuan later died in an accident and she was kicked out of the Yun household by Ning Xiao under a flimsy pretext, she didn’t even feel angry. Instead, she felt a sense of grim resignation—the other shoe had finally dropped.

Having just finished her university entrance exams, Can’er had no degree and was still very young. She was robbed of her money almost immediately after leaving home. At her wits’ end, she was taken in by a “kind” hair salon owner. Can’er was incredibly grateful, only to find out the next day that the woman was trying to trick her into the sex trade.

Fortunately, she was rescued by Tan Rui, a struggling painter hired by Ning Xiao, before any harm could come to her.

Even so, Can’er was frightened out of her wits. It took Tan Rui a week to earn her trust. The two ended up sharing a two-bedroom flat; Can’er worked at a milk tea shop while Tan Rui took art commissions online, all while reporting their daily lives to Ning Xiao.

The reason Can’er and Tan Rui had gone missing this time was that Tan Rui’s creditors had tracked him down, imprisoning them both to force him to pay up.

Tan Rui owed millions and had no way to settle the debt. Thinking Can’er was his girlfriend, the creditors decided to profit off her instead.

Can’er was sent to a club for training. Because of her beauty, the club intended to “wait for the right price” and auction her off a year later.

During that year, Can’er endured endless humiliation and insults. Although she managed to remain “pure,” the psychological and physical damage was severe.

A year later, during the handover after the auction, Can’er seized a chance to escape. She was involved in a car accident on the road, and once the police intervened, they discovered she was the eldest miss of the Yun Group. Only then did she finally escape those people for good.

In that year, Can’er had changed significantly. She had become incredibly charming; every glance and smile was captivating. Even when she sat in silence with downcast eyes, she evoked a deep sense of pity in others.

Countless sons of elite families were infatuated with her, but Can’er, having been helped once by the male lead, Zhuang Yuzhen, when she was a child, had secretly given her heart to him, ignoring all other suitors.

Several frustrated and low-life wealthy heirs, unwilling to walk away empty-handed after playing the “devoted lapdog” for so long, attempted to drug and take advantage of her.

Under the protection of her “female lead halo,” Can’er was rescued by Zhuang Yuzhen and ended up giving herself to the man she secretly loved.

However, Zhuang Yuzhen didn’t love Can’er. The person he had always loved was Ning Xiao.

Zhuang Yuzhen had met Ning Xiao during university. Because of her hot-and-cold attitude, they spent three years in a state of “more than friends, less than lovers.”

After graduation, Zhuang Yuzhen pursued postgraduate studies, while Ning Xiao skipped further education to take over part of the Ning family business, quickly making a name for herself in the corporate world.

Feeling that Ning Xiao was drifting further away, Zhuang Yuzhen couldn’t help but confess his feelings, only to be rejected.

He didn’t give up. He worked in the shadows, finished his master’s degree within two years, and returned to the Zhuang family to take full control of the business.

In less than six months, the Zhuang family reached new heights under his leadership, rising from a third-tier to a second-tier elite family.

With newfound confidence, he prepared to confess to Ning Xiao again, only to find she had suddenly married Yun Boyuan.

The Yun family was at the very top of Hai City’s elite; the Zhuangs couldn’t even be compared to them. Heartbroken, Zhuang Yuzhen could only hide his love for Ning Xiao deep in his heart.

To his surprise, only a week after the wedding, Yun Boyuan died in a plane crash. Hope was rekindled.

During the year Can’er was missing, Zhuang Yuzhen—with Ning Xiao’s help—elevated the Zhuang family to a first-tier status, second only to the Yuns. His relationship with Ning Xiao also became increasingly ambiguous.

Once he learned from Ning Xiao that the marriage hadn’t been real and knew the details of their agreement, he decided to help her seize the entire Yun family estate.

In his eyes, a mere fifth of the Yun assets wasn’t nearly enough for Ning Xiao.

Zhuang Yuzhen “saving” Can’er was, in fact, the true beginning of her tragedy.

Ning Xiao needed to earn points as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to wait around for a year, nor did she want the female lead to be tortured under the name Yun Can’er. She decided to skip this entire arc.

After checking, System 13579 confirmed that skipping this plot point wouldn’t cause major changes to future events.

And so, Ning Xiao sought help from the police to bring Can’er home.

After parking her car in the company’s underground garage, Ning Xiao stepped out in her high heels and took the lift directly to the top floor.

As she stepped out, her special assistant, Yang Yuanqi, was already waiting. He followed behind her immediately, reporting on the morning’s work.

Ning Xiao nodded with a polite smile to the employees they passed. Once inside her office, her expression vanished. She sat behind her desk with a cold face and said to Yang Yuanqi, “My daughter is missing. I just went to the station to report it and was spotted by reporters. If any negative news comes out, make sure to alert me.”

It took Yang Yuanqi a moment to realize who Ning Xiao’s “daughter” was. “The eldest miss is missing?”

Ning Xiao nodded, her brow furrowing slightly. Her brilliant features were clouded with worry. “I haven’t been able to contact her for many days. I had no choice but to go to the police. I hope they find her soon.”

This was the first time Ning Xiao had ever mentioned Yun Can’er to him.

To the employees of the Yun Group, the eldest miss was a ghost. She never came to the office; no one knew what she looked like, and some didn’t even know her name.

Before Yun Boyuan died, the word was that he doted on her so much he couldn’t bear for her to suffer—that she was a pampered flower who knew nothing of the world’s hardships.

After his death, the narrative changed: a stepmother brings a stepfather. Everyone assumed Ning Xiao, wanting total control, wouldn’t allow the girl to touch company affairs.

Yang Yuanqi had thought the same, but now he wasn’t so sure.

He took pride in his ability to read people, and the concern in Ning Xiao’s eyes didn’t seem fake.

“Understood, President Ning. I’ll handle it.”

Just as Ning Xiao expected, the local morning business paper reported on her visit to the police the next morning. They had investigated the details of the report thoroughly and concluded with a speculative theory: Ning Xiao was directing a play. To monopolise the Yun Group, she had orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of the eldest miss, then filed a false report to clear her name.

Never mind the general public, even Yang Yuanqi felt the newspaper’s analysis made a lot of sense after reading it.

He pulled himself together and contacted another evening paper to publish a clarification statement. He also sent a lawyer’s letter to the morning paper, demanding they publish an apology in a prominent position, otherwise, the Yun Group would hold them legally accountable.

The morning paper was backed by a shell company owner looking to make a quick buck. They thought a giant like the Yun Group wouldn’t notice a small outlet like theirs. When the lawyer’s letter arrived that afternoon, they immediately lost their nerve and published a full-page apology the following morning.

Even so, those who loved elite scandals remained convinced that the Yun Group was just using its power to bully others. As long as the Miss was missing, they wouldn’t stop suspecting Ning Xiao’s ambitions and her malice toward the heir.

While the news of Yun Can’er’s disappearance was causing a stir in Hai City, the police finally contacted Ning Xiao.

She rushed to the station in the middle of the night. There, she saw Tan Rui.

The usually elegant and composed Ning Xiao stumbled forward, grabbing Tan Rui by the collar. Her eyes were bloodshot, her voice trembling with tears. “I told you to look after Can’er for me! How could you let her disappear?”

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