Chapter 2 - Step one: Disrupt the domineering CEO’s performance.
As the evening drew near, the sky became cloudy, and a gentle rain began to fall.
“Sis.”
Tang Yuan’s heart skipped a beat from the sudden sound. She turned around to see a boy with yellow hair, taller than her by a head, standing behind her.
She had just exited the car when an umbrella was opened over her head, shielding her from the drizzle.
This area was an open-air parking lot, relatively close to the main entrance, so the driver had parked here.
Tang Yuan closed the car door and chatted casually as she walked, “Why are you standing here? You finished your homework?”
This boy with yellow hair is her younger brother, a high school sophomore. Standing at about 1.8 meters, he’s a genuinely pure-hearted teenage boy who knows how to dress well and is quite popular with the girls at school.
Tang Su walked beside Tang Yuan, tilting the umbrella toward her. There was a hint of displeasure in his voice as he said, “There’s no homework. That guy is at our house now, so I came out to wait for you.”
Tang Yuan took a moment before realizing that “that guy” referred to Chu Yu. “What’s he here for?”
“Who knows…” Tang Su stopped speaking and couldn’t help but steal a glance at her. Seeing her face calm, without the usual joy and infatuation she used to display at mentioning his name, he cleared his throat and added, “He looked quite angry.”
He feigned nonchalance but actually kept his gaze fixed on her face, trying to discern her facade.
“Angry?”
Oh, It must be because of Jiang Zi.
No, wait, he hasn’t gotten together with Jiang Zi yet. Now that she needs to conquer the female lead, Chu Yu is her rival!
Tang Yuan’s gaze instantly sharpened. She handed her handbag to Tang Su and quickened her previously leisurely pace.
“Watch me conquer the battlefield.”
Rival, come and face your doom!
Tang Su, holding her bag, stared blankly at her back. Once he realized what was happening, he hurriedly followed, “Sis! What did you say?!”
The man sitting on the sofa kept checking his watch, frowning and pursing his lips, a thin layer of anger surrounding him.
Hearing the sound of high heels, he looked up and saw the woman he had been waiting for a long time. An intense disgust immediately filled his eyes. “You want to see me so badly?”
With her arms crossed, Tang Yuan approached him, exuding an aura even more imposing than the man sitting on the sofa. Though her eyes were on him, it was the look of disdain, “Inviting yourself in? Who’s trying to see whom here?”
Upon hearing this, he suddenly stood up, his anger palpable, with no attempt to hide his intense disgust. “You’re causing trouble for Jiang Zi just to see me, aren’t you?”
Tang Yuan stepped back in disgust. “Stay away from me, bad-breath man.”
Step one: Disrupt the domineering CEO’s performance.
Chu Yu’s expression gradually cracked, his face darkening to an extreme.
“You’ve harmed Jiang Zi time and again. I’m tired of your clumsy tactics. I’ve told you before, no matter what, I will never like you. If you continue to trouble her, next time, it won’t be just a warning.”
Tang Yuan rolled her eyes. “I don’t like you but don’t even think about being with Jiang Zi. I’ll put my words here.”
She looked at him with a nonchalant expression and pointed toward the door. “Can you scram, Mr. Chu?”
She was always like this—angry and declaring her dislike for him, only to act later as if nothing happened, acting like a dog begging for attention.
Chu Yu took a couple of deep breaths.
—He had said before that what he hated most was these arrogant and domineering young ladies, whose mouths made him want to tear them off!
He couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. “Next time, it won’t be just a verbal warning.”
With that, he walked out the door without looking back.
“Auntie, throw this sofa out. Have a new one sent over tomorrow. Oh well, just replace the whole set.”
Chu Yu paused, his teeth gritting with anger. Ultimately, he didn’t go back to arguing with her and simply walked a bit faster.
“Sis……” Witnessing the whole scene, Tang Su was a little confused. In his memory, Tang Yuan had always tried her best to please Chu Yu, never showing such an aggressive attitude.
“Let’s have dinner. I’m hungry,” Tang Yuan said calmly. “Oh, and don’t let him in next time.”
“Okay, got it.” Tang Su has always been well-behaved, and seeing Tang Yuan’s attitude, he reckons that that annoying man probably wouldn’t become his brother-in-law after all.
Tang Su’s mood brightened; he had been displeased with that guy for a long time!
After dinner, Tang Yuan returned to her room and seriously reviewed the storylines of the male and female leads.
Right now, Chu Yu and Jiang Zi are in an ambiguous stage of their relationship, so he has only given Tang Yuan a warning. If it were a case of intense love, based on his usual methods, it was entirely possible he might cause Tang Yuan serious harm.
—This is an old-fashioned domineering CEO story where the CEO doesn’t follow the rules.
The mechanical voice of the system echoed in her mind: 【Host, the greatest obstacle to your long life is the male lead of this story. Therefore, as a villainess, if you want to survive, you must find a way to eliminate the male lead, or else your end will be dying at his hands.】
— Step on the male lead, snatch the female lead, and reach the pinnacle of life.
【Conquer mission triggered: obtain a gift from the female lead, time limit: Three days. Mission reward: Reduce the male lead’s protagonist halo by 1%. Failure penalty: Increase the male lead’s affection value to the female lead by 5%.】
“One percent for me and five percent for him?!”
[Not every mission triggers the reward of reducing the protagonist halo, but every failure increases the male lead’s affection value for the female lead.]
OK, ok, ok, so this is how you’re raising the difficulty level, huh?
Tang Yuan and Jiang Zi are senior students majoring in Performing Arts at the same university. However, Tang Yuan’s resources for debuting far surpass Jiang Zi’s, as this is an era where connections and background make all the difference.
Additionally, Tang Yuan’s spoiled and overbearing personality has created a relationship with Jiang Zi that is like oil and water. Those who want to curry favor with her naturally trample on Jiang Zi as if she were a mere weed.
When it came time for girl group debuts, the agency rejected her, leaving her to be picked up by an obscure small company. After two years of playing minor roles, she finally got a chance to land a more substantial supporting role, only for Tang Yuan to swoop in and snatch the lead role just to bully Jiang Zi.
Tang Yuan tossed and turned, unable to sleep, feeling that all of this was an indirect consequence of the original’s actions towards Jiang Zi. It was only fitting for her to buy a gift and make amends rather than receive it.
Outside the window, the air was heavy with moisture and fog. From her high vantage point, she could barely make out the roads beneath the skyscrapers. The area was sparsely populated, and no lights were visible as night fell.
The person standing by the floor-to-ceiling window had an unreadable expression. She touched the cold glass with her hand, then drew the curtains to shut out the desolation. Only then did she slowly move to turn on the lights inside the room, like a soulless puppet.
After a refreshing shower, her skin had a delicate, rosy glow. Her eyes were glassy and colorless, while her nose had a beautifully sculpted high bridge. Her lips, with their natural reddish hue, resembled blooming roses.
Every feature seemed to be a masterful creation by the goddess Nüwa herself. Though she possessed the allure of a classic enchantress. Yet she possessed a cold and aloof demeanor, standing apart from the world.
Water droplets from her hair dripped onto her collar as Jiang Zi adjusted her bathrobe. Suddenly recalling Tang Yuan’s unexpected act of kindness earlier in the day, her expression grew slightly tense. She picked up the phone from the table.
[Send me Tang Yuan’s itinerary for the past few days.]