CH 40.3

Do You Still Hate Her? 30 – “You care about me, right?”

In Chi Yan’s view, most of the time, Shang Lu seemed like a little hedgehog, always guarded against everything in this world, even though she might appear indifferent to many things.

But now she is fragile and in need of protection, as well as helpless and lost.

He can only accompany her like this, and it seems like he can’t do anything else.

In the years of Chi Yan’s life, what he lacked the least was the praise of others. From childhood to adulthood, he seemed to excel in everything. When he took over the family business, he could quickly make the old foxes who were originally disdainful of him change their attitudes and bow down.

‘Young genius’ and ‘business prodigy’ are the most common praises he hears, but in fact, he doesn’t have such exaggerated talents. He simply sacrificed all his leisure time since after high school when he went abroad, dedicating it to studying and working.

Because he knew that the people who bullied her were too powerful, even his father would still have some fear of the Shang family after all.

How could he be a young genius and business prodigy? At least he isn’t one. He just needs to grow a bit faster in order to truly protect her.

He thought he had enough ability, but at this moment, he felt helpless because he didn’t know how to make her happy.

Today, in the hospital room, it seemed that a few words from Ou Yi could genuinely make her smile, but he didn’t have that ability.

And suddenly, he felt his hand being enveloped in warmth.

Shang Lu held his hand for unknown reasons, maybe because she was dreaming. She furrowed her brows, appearing somewhat anxious, murmuring something.

Chi Yan approached a bit closer and finally heard what she was saying.

“Will no one ever care about me…”

He squeezed her hand as well, without hesitation, and softly said, “I care about you.”

As Chi Yan’s words fell, Shang Lu quieted down.

His heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

Chi Yan felt sweat in his palms. He stared intently at Shang Lu’s face, afraid that she would open her eyes, yet also eagerly anticipating her to do so.

But time passed.

In the end, Shang Lu only murmured a sentence.

“…Mom.”

Although her eyes were clearly tightly shut, tears still rolled down from the corners of her eyes.

Shang Lu felt like she was in a dream, yet paradoxically awake.

Like the final flashback of life, scenes from her entire life kept replaying in her mind.

Those memories of past pain that she thought she could already turn the page on suddenly resurfaced in her rationality, like a cage trapping her within.

She feared both life and death.

And even more, she feared someone dying because of her.

Until all those images vanished, and she had reviewed her life up until now. Then, she found herself in a pure white space, with only a glowing silver sphere in front of her.

The silver sphere bounced around in the air and greeted her, “Host, you’ve finally arrived.”

Shang Lu : “?”

What is this thing? But the voice is very familiar.

Shang Lu tentatively asked, “System?”

“Congratulations, Host, you got it right!” The voice of the silver sphere sounded relaxed. It said, “Welcome, Host, to my workspace.”

After saying that, behind the silver sphere appeared two massive books.

<The Supporting Character Salvation Plan>

<The Female Lead’s Comeback Plan>

The silver sphere’s voice was cheerful as it continued, “Because Host has altered the course of the original plot, the relationship between the male and female leads has soured, and they can no longer genuinely fall in love. The space has undergone destabilization. Therefore, there’s only one way now, and that’s for you, Host, to become the female lead of this book, and set everything back on track.”

After the silver sphere finished speaking, the book titled <The Supporting Female’s Salvation Plan> was immediately destroyed, leaving only the book <The Female Lead’s Comeback Plan>.

“What does this mean?” Shang Lu, not fully comprehending the system’s statement, asked, “What do I have to do?”

“You don’t need to do anything. You just need to agree to our switch. Once you transition from a supporting female character’s destiny to a female lead’s destiny, everything will become very smooth. There’s Jiang Yi, the male lead with the ‘chasing wife to the crematorium’ script; Chi Yan, the silent protector from childhood with the ‘secret guardian’ script; and Ou Yi, with the ‘sunshine puppy’ script,” the silver sphere said, dancing in the air and continuing with enthusiasm, “But don’t worry, this time we won’t force you to be with Jiang Yi. According to the system’s upgrade settings, we’ve become a ‘Free Stock Novel’. The storyline will be entirely your choice, free from our interference or control. Even if you want to choose to be an unimportant character who rises to prominence, that’s also possible.”

Shang Lu straightforwardly responded, “I refuse.”

This sounded eerie, why is Ou Yi also involved here?

The system seemed to struggle to understand why Shang Lu would refuse and asked, “Why?”

“Why should I become a character in the book when I’m perfectly fine as myself?” Shang Lu paused for a few seconds and continued, “I’ve been a supporting role for so many years. Do they have to go through the same as me?”

“This time is different, Host. I’ve all undergone an upgrade.” The system continued to persuade, “Our presence will only increase the chances of serendipitous encounters and various possibilities of love due to your female lead destiny. We won’t control their thoughts like yours.”

Shang Lu remained resolute, “I don’t want it. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Seeing Shang Lu so stubborn, the system ceased to persuade her. However, the scene in the space slowly changed, shifting from pure white to the appearance of the Shang’s mansion.

Around a long table.

The decorations around created an atmosphere of a birthday celebration. Many guests were invited, and the gifts filled the storage room.

Amidst the birthday song, Shang Lu watched as ‘herself’ pulled on Shang Mu’s sleeve and walked out. She stood a bit shyly in the center of the crowd, in front of the cake.

Her father’s face also bore a kindly smile as he said, “Today is my beloved daughter’s birthday. Thank you all for coming.”

Amidst everyone’s blessings and the birthday song, she blew out the candles.

Her father said she will always be his favorite daughter, and her brother said he will always protect his sister.

The scene shifts again.

Back to the day when her cousins were about to come to her house. This time, she still held onto Shang Mu’s hand. Shang Mu didn’t coldly shake off her hand and leave. Instead, he patiently asked her what was wrong.

When the cousins arrived, Shang Mu stood in front of her and told them to leave this house.

There were many, many scenes she had not obtained over these years, scenes that had appeared in her dreams.

She had once yearned so much to obtain all of this.

And then, what followed was the future.

She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Golden Dew Awards through the film <Salvation Plan>, directly participated in films by famous directors, and her career went smoothly.

Her wedding.

The groom’s face on the other side wasn’t clear, but Shang Mu and her father were holding her hand, walking down that sacred aisle, and handing her over to her other half.