Volume One, Chapter Two: Catching a Son-in-Law Under the List-Ao me tornar a protagonista, o vilão maquiavélico se apaixonou por mim à primeira vista.(Tinta pausada não é livro.)

The servant’s body jolted violently.

Qin Xianxian slid her hand to his waist, hooked her arm through his, and pressed her face against his shoulder. A faint, clean fragrance rose from the man’s clothes, lingering in wisps at the tip of her nose.

Qin Xianxian secretly cleared her throat and forced her voice into a sweet, delicate lilt. “Why did you come by yourself? Why didn’t you wait for me?”

Qin Xianxian spread her fingers and gave his sturdy arm a squeeze.

Hm?

This feel?

Wasn’t the male lead supposed to be some arts-and-humanities scholar? Why did he feel... like an athlete instead?

The person beside her drew his arm inward slightly, then turned his head to look at the woman who seemed to be throwing herself into his arms. His brows knit at once.

Catching the movement from the corner of her eye, Qin Xianxian lowered her head demurely, eyes full of feigned shyness.

Their gazes met in midair.

Qin Xianxian felt her breath catch and unconsciously swallowed.

Ahhhhhhhh...

No one had told her the male lead was this handsome!

Good heavens. Those lush red lips looked so soft. Could she just kiss them once...?

She had really been putting on such an act just now!

And now she was actually starting to enjoy playing the part...

Qin Xianxian curved her lips, eyes sparkling with little stars, and blinked up at him several times before slowly raising her hand.

Her slender fingertip rested beneath the other man’s chin and lifted it slightly, her voice soft enough to seem as though it could drip water.

“What’s wrong? Am I too beautiful today? Don’t you recognize me?”

Seeing that he remained expressionless in the face of her teasing, Qin Xianxian’s competitive spirit flared at once.

Her tone plunged abruptly, suddenly laced with grievance and complaint as she deliberately taunted him. “You rotten man, just because you got first place, are you planning to dump me?”

He still said nothing, only turning his head to look at her, his expression complicated.

“...” What sort of awful character setting was this? Was he really this hard to flirt with?

After a long while, the person before her finally parted his thin lips and slowly spoke.

“Miss, you’ve mistaken me. I am not this year’s top candidate in the autumn examinations.” He looked at her with a slight furrow between his brows, his eyes carrying scrutiny and a trace of barely perceptible wariness.

In this day and age, were women actually going out themselves to snatch husbands beneath the honor roll? Truly a rare sight.

Or was she after something else?

His words struck Qin Xianxian’s mind like thunder, leaving her utterly blasted apart.

So awkward...

She had thought she was making a grand move, only to realize she had churned out a pile of shit...

Now she really did want to die...

Shen Qingli noticed the hand looped around his arm gradually stiffening. He reached out and gently moved the slender index finger away from his chin, then opened his mouth to help her “call back her soul.”

“Miss, are you all right?”

No response?

He raised a hand and tapped her shoulder.

“Miss?”

Qin Xianxian’s focus slowly returned. Only then did she come to her senses, loosen her arm from his, and begin to study the man before her carefully.

A robe of white brocade threaded with gold; a face like jade, with painted brows and eyes, a straight nose, and lips like warm jade. His black hair was bound high, his bearing warm and refined yet edged with a touch of vigor and hardness. With a face like that, he still wasn’t the male lead?

She asked dazedly, “Y-you... what’s your name?”

The person before her seemed not to mind her earlier rudeness at all. Instead, his brows rose slightly, the corners of his lips lifting as he answered with a smile, “I am Shen Qingli.”

Qin Xianxian’s expression froze again. So familiar. She searched her memory for this name, and after a few silent seconds, her pupils suddenly contracted, surprise flashing through her eyes.

Shen Qingli?

That villain who appeared to be a courteous gentleman on the surface, but in truth was deeply calculating and ruthless—Shen Qingli?

Qin Xianxian remembered that in the book, he and the heroine had never even met face-to-face. The heroine’s impression of him had all come indirectly through the male lead’s account.

Though he had little page time, he was the real thing: after the male lead entered officialdom, the two opposed each other politically, and Shen Qingli later nearly sent the original male lead to meet the King of Hell.

Good grief.

Had she actually flirted with this villain, whose character setting was so full of bite?

In the crowd, a man threaded through the bustling flow and hurried to her side, bringing her the news.

“Xianxian, I got first place.”

That joyful, buoyant voice reached her ears.

Only when Qin Xianxian heard someone call her name did she slowly lift her head, then her pupils jolted and her lips pressed together.

Another handsome man? How could this author write so well?

What did he say? First place?

So this was the male lead after all—Fu Yuheng.

It was just a pity. Though he was handsome too, he carried the unmistakable air of a proper gentleman, giving her the strong impression of a stern and upright politics professor...

She had just mistaken someone else for him and was now embarrassed to death. She had no mind to deal with him at all.

Fu Yuheng looked at her and smiled. “Xianxian, I once made a promise to myself: if I could win first place, I would confess my feelings to you. I want to grow old with you and never leave you in this lifetime. Would you be willing?”

The sudden cascade of confession left Qin Xianxian utterly unprepared, her lips parting in shock.

Why had this confession scene changed? In the original story, the heroine and Fu Yuheng were supposed to pour out their feelings to each other in a carriage.

Qin Xianxian’s brows pinched together.

Could it be because...

She had not come with him as written in the book, and therefore had lost the chance to return with him as well, so...

It seemed the book had quite a bit of freedom after all. She could still alter the plot a little...

Before she could think it through, the system’s prompt suddenly began echoing in her mind.

View the honor roll, express your heart.

...

The refrain rang over and over, making her head ache as though it would split open.

View the honor roll, express your heart? Qin Xianxian’s thoughts spun rapidly...

Express your heart?

“I’m not willing.”

The moment Qin Xianxian said it, the echo in her mind vanished as well.

The system had only said to express her heart, and never specified what kind of heart it meant...

Besides, who would be willing to spend a lifetime growing old with a stranger?

Qin Xianxian’s gaze suddenly hardened, bright as a torch, as she slowly said, “Fu Yuheng, I don’t like you. I’m not willing.”

Fu Yuheng stood frozen in place, his expression stiffening as he forced a smile. “Xianxian, what’s wrong? Did I frighten you?”

“I think I’ve made myself clear enough. It’s not that you’re bad. It’s just that I don’t like your type. Do you understand?”

Later in the original story, when the heroine was taken hostage, the male lead, in the name of some greater righteousness, had even entertained for a moment the thought of abandoning her.

Qin Xianxian had lost both parents at an early age and grown up with her grandparents. Outwardly she was bold and unrestrained, but inwardly she was sensitive and starved for love.

The instant the male lead hesitated, Qin Xianxian had already tossed him into some little corner of her heart. And now he still wanted her to act? The system was simply dreaming.

“I like love that is passionate and bright; I like feelings that are steadfast and unwavering; I like a heart that would rather betray the world than betray one person. Fu Yuheng, we truly are not suited for each other.”

Qin Xianxian never expected that one day she would say such an outrageously melodramatic line, and even she got goosebumps hearing it.

She looked at the person before her, whose figure seemed to sway as though on the verge of shattering.

Unfortunately, she did not know him to begin with, so not even a trace of pity arose in her heart.

She, the heroine, seemed to have been forcibly turned into a vicious supporting woman...

“That is all I have to say. I’m leaving now—don’t come looking for me if there’s nothing important!”

Before leaving, Qin Xianxian did not forget to glance at the villain on the side, who was watching the show with great concentration.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly, as if he were in a very good mood.

Truly a villain through and through—seeing the male lead struck down, he was actually secretly delighted...

—

Inside a dim chamber.

A servant stood to one side holding a basin of water. A cloth with moisture beading along its edge was taken by a pair of long, well-defined hands.

Not far away on the ground lay a figure collapsed and barely breathing. The snow-white robe that had once covered him was now streaked with vivid red wounds, flesh split open and bloodied to a mangled ruin.

Shen Qingli walked to the chair beside him and sat down. The once-clean cloth in his hand now carried several brilliant streaks of red.

His eyes were suddenly stained with an inscrutable darkness. He lowered his gaze to the person lying not far away and said coldly, “Have you found that person yet?”

“There are faint leads, but nothing confirmed yet.”

“As soon as possible. Delay too long and you’ll alert the snake.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Something seemed to come to mind, and a curve of the lips returned to Shen Qingli’s face. “How goes the matter I had you investigate yesterday?”

“Reporting to Your Grace, it has been clarified. That person is the second young lady of Minister Qin’s household—Qin Xianxian.” Chu Yue bowed slightly as he spoke.

“Qin Xianxian?” Shen Qingli frowned. “I remember that when the manor hosted the Spring Banquet last time, she was not among the women from the Qin household.”

“I heard that the second young lady of the Qin family is delicate and frail, and Minister Qin treasures her dearly, so he seldom allows her to attend banquets.”

So that was it. No wonder he had never seen her before...

A shadow of meaning flashed across Shen Qingli’s lips. Then his eyes narrowed slightly before his expression was hidden away again.

“And the man?”

“He is the illegitimate son of Deputy Minister Fu of the Ministry of Revenue—Fu Yuheng, the top candidate in this year’s autumn examinations.”

“Say something useful.”

“He and Miss Qin are childhood sweethearts, and their bond seems very deep.”

Shen Qingli lifted a brow.

Very deep?

A mocking smile appeared at the corners of his thin lips.

If their bond were truly that deep, would she have mistaken him for someone else? If their bond were truly that deep, would she have rejected a public confession?

Now that was truly interesting.

He tossed the cloth in his hand into the basin held by the servant, and the scarlet on the cloth slowly dissolved into the water.

—

Two days passed after Qin Xianxian had declared her “feelings” beneath the city tower, and the system remained completely silent.

Fortunately, now that she had transmigrated into the book, she could even have holidays. She no longer had to work like an overburdened ox every day!

On the busiest street in the imperial capital, crowds surged and the place bustled with life. Stalls lined both sides of the road, and the hawking of merchants filled this fictional world with a rich, worldly warmth.

Qin Xianxian had shed the gloom of her usual days. Wearing a plain pale-yellow skirt, with beaded tassels swaying from the hairpins in her hair and delight bright upon her face, she looked all excitement and joy.

“Green Silk, what is this?”

“This is a specialty of the capital: lotus cake.”

“And this?”

“This is a sachet used by women to pray for blessings.”

...

Green Silk answered her questions with tireless patience.

Qin Xianxian stood before the stalls, looking on in utter delight.

“Xianxian, what are you doing here?”