A Scummy Alpha Supporting Character Accidentally Marks the Heroine After Transmigrating into a Book (GL) - Chapter 37

System: 【.】

Yan Nanjue was so startled that she lost her grip on the glass. Water splashed all over her. Under the System’s urgent prompting, she finally regained her senses, her face filled with shock and lingering fear.

How did Bai Wan know that name?!!

System: 【How would I know?】

“Why did the female lead suddenly mention that name?! Where did she hear it? Does she already know about the substitute thing?!!”

Yan Nanjue stood up abruptly. The glass slid down the blanket she had dropped and rolled onto the rug.

She suddenly thought of Luo Shuqing lying in the hospital, and an ominous premonition rose in her heart.

…Could it be that Luo Shuqing told the female lead this name?

The more Yan Nanjue thought about it, the more likely it seemed. She looked at the wet patch on the rug and said in frustration, “I should never have let the butler let Luo Shuqing in!”

Anxious and disregarding the time, she sent a message to the butler in the middle of the night. She told her that if she wasn’t at the villa in the future, Luo Shuqing was not allowed inside, and more importantly, Bai Wan and Luo Shuqing were never to be left alone together.

A message sent at this hour naturally received no reply; the butler was already asleep.

Yan Nanjue paced back and forth in the living room in a state of high anxiety. “System! System! Does the female lead already know about the substitute matter? No, no… she only mentioned the name just now, and her attitude didn’t show any particularly obvious change. She probably doesn’t know…”

She muttered to herself for a long time, becoming more terrified the more she thought. Her previous sleepiness vanished completely.

System: 【If you’re going to be anxious, don’t do it in the living room. Go back to your room. What if the female lead comes out again?】

Yan Nanjue’s breath hitched. She hurriedly picked up the wet blanket and the glass, closed her bedroom door, and collapsed onto the rug by the bed, wailing.

“Is my mission about to go down the drain…”

System: 【The blackening value hasn’t fluctuated. Look on the bright side: the female lead doesn’t know the White Moonlight and has never met her. She only knows the name; it’s not like she’s discovered the truth.】

Yan Nanjue choked back a sob. “I’m just afraid she’ll investigate the name Su Changyin.”

Ugh. If the female lead finds out she’s just a substitute…

She’ll definitely be finished.

The System tried to console her: 【The female lead usually finds out about the substitute plot after she blackens. What if the current, less-blackened female lead doesn’t collapse over the substitute thing?】

Yan Nanjue shook her head without a second thought. The System’s hypothesis didn’t exist.

She knew exactly what kind of person Bai Wan was. Proud, stubborn, and unyielding—she wouldn’t bow her head even if her bones were broken. It was precisely this kind of person who was forced to marry someone she hated and endured two years of inhuman torment, yet never surrendered, gritting her teeth and surviving on pure hatred.

If she found out that everything she suffered was merely because the original host couldn’t have someone else—and that she was just a substitute from start to finish… that her personhood and her life were never truly seen by the host.

That her pain and her hate were insignificant things…

The female lead’s world would surely collapse. Yan Nanjue didn’t even dare to imagine how much the blackening value would skyrocket. What would happen to her mission then?

【Stop wailing. No one around you dares to mention the White Moonlight. Even if the female lead asks, she won’t get any answers. She is restricted by you and has no means to investigate the name Su Changyin.】

Yan Nanjue was barely comforted by this. She spent the first half of the night in a state of terror and the second half dreaming. Sometimes it was Bai Wan’s beautiful face hidden in the shadows, watching her coldly; sometimes it was a blackened Bai Wan, covered in scarlet liquid, smiling at her with eyes full of the madness of someone looking at a dead person.

The two faces gradually overlapped, so that the current Bai Wan was also covered in blood, looking down at her coldly and loftily with eyes full of deep-seated hatred.

The entire dreamscape echoed with the System’s warning. A 100% blackening value seemed seared into her retinas as countless electronic voices overlapped, announcing her mission failure.

Yan Nanjue was jolted awake by this scene, scrambling out of her duvet.

【It’s only five in the morning. Why are you awake?】

There was a fine cold sweat on Yan Nanjue’s forehead. “I had a nightmare…”

She touched her cold neck. Her remaining sleepiness was scared away by the lingering dream images. She got up and went into the bathroom, the sound of splashing water filling the room.

Yan Nanjue closed her eyes, letting the hot water flow over her body. After a hot shower, she felt a bit more energized. Assistant Lin sent her a message saying she was already downstairs and coming up soon.

Yan Nanjue picked up her phone with wet hands and sent back a “Good.”

While she was drying her hair upstairs, Lin Furuo had already arrived at the apartment. She skillfully used the code to open the door, put on shoe covers, and stood in a corner of the living room waiting. As a qualified assistant, she always strictly followed her boss’s orders.

Stepping into the living room, Lin Furuo paused. “Madam?”

Bai Wan was sitting on the sofa in her loungewear. Hearing the voice, she turned her eyes slightly. “Ah… Assistant Lin.”

Lin Furuo’s gaze fell on her lower eyelids; there were faint dark circles, as if caused by poor sleep. “I heard from HR that you took the day off? It’s still early. If you don’t have to work, you can sleep a bit longer.”

Bai Wan declined the kind suggestion. She seemed to be in a quite good mood. “I don’t need that much sleep.”

“Furthermore, I can’t bear to fall asleep at a time like this.” The latter part of the sentence was as quiet as a mosquito’s hum.

She stroked her cheek with her fingertips, looking out the window. It was the “blue hour”—the sky was a deep, profound blue. This cold tone draped over everything, flooding the living room through the floor-to-ceiling windows, settling on Bai Wan’s body and face, and falling into her eyes.

Lin Furuo looked at the screen, which had the volume turned down. She asked with some confusion, “Since when did the Madam follow the financial channel?”

“Occasionally.”

Bai Wan’s tone shifted, and she suddenly spoke: “I came across a story recently.”

Lin Furuo listened attentively. “Please, tell me.”

“A couple discovered that the child they had raised for over twenty years was not theirs. They rushed back to the hospital where the child was born and found that during the labor, the family’s nanny, out of jealousy, intentionally swapped the couple’s child with an unidentified abandoned infant.”

Bai Wan’s voice was light. Her tone was naturally cold, and against the deep blue, hazy sky, it took on an even more ethereal quality.

“Now, more than twenty years later, the child who was taken by mistake by the couple has become a wealthy young lady, while the other child, whose identity was confused and who was never claimed, was sent to an orphanage. From then on, they lived worlds apart.”

She asked: “Tell me, what do you think would be the fate of the child who grew up in the orphanage?”

Lin Furuo looked at the floor, thinking for a moment. “That sounds like a very popular web novel trope—Real vs. Fake Heiress? Or a ‘Civet Cat for a Crown Prince’ switch?”

“I guess the child was later found by her biological parents and returned to the life that belonged to her? Though in web novels, the fake one usually comes out to cause trouble, and the biological child’s life probably won’t be smooth.”

“No,” Bai Wan said flatly. “She has no life anymore.”

The blue, cold sky fell into her amber pupils, making them look strange and magnificent, like a deep, silent lake. She looked directly into the sky, her eyes half-closed.

Lin Furuo was thoughtful: “So it’s a ‘Bad Ending’ (BE).”

Bai Wan turned her head, once again denying her words: “No. This is a good ending.”

Lin Furuo’s face showed clear confusion. She obviously didn’t understand why such an ending would be called good. Before she could ask further, the sound of a door opening came. Yan Nanjue, having changed her clothes, walked out.

Bai Wan’s gaze slowly moved over, looking at that gorgeous, passionate, and incredibly familiar face. Her lips murmured soundlessly, repeating herself.

“—It is a… very marvelous ending.”

Yan Nanjue noticed Bai Wan in the living room. When she looked over, Bai Wan had already turned off the TV and stood up to return to her room.

At the moment they brushed past each other, Yan Nanjue’s hair practically stood on end. She didn’t look back until she heard the door close. She wanted to test Bai Wan’s attitude regarding the name, but she was going on a business trip this morning, which was why Lin Furuo had come so early.

She suppressed her restless emotions. She would have to wait until she returned from the trip to investigate. Fortunately, the trip was only for two days.

Lin Furuo reported in detail: “The Madam requested today off last night, saying she felt very unwell. I had HR approve it.”

Yan Nanjue paused in her stride. “Unwell?” She sneered. “She doesn’t look unwell to me.”

Lin Furuo didn’t reply, reaching out to hold the elevator door for her boss and respectfully letting her out.

Yan Changqing was also on the plane for the business trip. Since she had returned to the country, the decision-making power of the Yan Group naturally returned to her hands.

The meeting lasted for five or six hours without reaching a decision. Yan Nanjue thought to herself that things weren’t looking good; Yan Changqing was determined to win this bid and wouldn’t let go until a result was reached. This meant her business trip would have to be extended.

Yan Nanjue, thinking of Bai Wan back at the apartment, was somewhat distracted. When she returned to the hotel at night, she found her phone was dead. She plugged it in and left it aside. Several delayed notification sounds came through, but she ignored them.

The System took a look at the lit screen for her: 【It’s a message from the cook.】

The sleepy Yan Nanjue opened her eyes instantly. “Did she research a new dessert?!”

As she spoke, she took the phone and unlocked it. The cook’s message came into view, but it wasn’t the new dish she expected.

The cook said that Bai Wan had stayed in her room and hadn’t come out. She hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch. The cook knocked to ask, but there was no response from inside. She didn’t dare enter without permission, so she messaged the boss.

Yan Nanjue’s heart tightened. What happened to the female lead?

The last time she locked herself in her room was during her heat. Why this time? Was she sick and had no appetite? Yan Nanjue instinctively wanted to message Lin Furuo to have her check on Bai Wan at the apartment, but then she remembered Assistant Lin had come on the trip with her.

【Why don’t you call and ask?】

She dialed Bai Wan’s number, holding the receiver to her ear with some nervousness.

System: 【Didn’t go through?】

“It’s powered off… Nothing really happened, right?”

A trace of frustration appeared on Yan Nanjue’s face. She always felt that nightmare was some kind of omen. Without thinking, she asked, “Should I go back now?”

She was feeling extremely flustered, sensing that something was terribly wrong.

The System stopped her impulsive idea: 【Doing that might cause you to go OOC (Out of Character).】

【Leaving your subordinates and the Chairman to fly home in the middle of the night just to check on a wife whose phone is turned off.】 The System commented: 【You would definitely go OOC.】

Yan Nanjue was stunned. “Then what should I do?!” She couldn’t even go back to see the female lead?!

The System reminded her: 【You can have someone else go to the apartment to check for you. Make an excuse, say you left a document there.】

Reminded by this, Yan Nanjue realized. Her finger hovered over her contacts, unsure of who to send. Finally, she called Ji Ziyi. The call was picked up, but as soon as the voice came through, there was a sound of an argument—vaguely two female voices—and then the phone was seemingly taken away and hung up.

Yan Nanjue looked at the screen and was silent for two seconds. It seemed Ji Ziyi had her hands full.

She called Chen Wanjun, silently wishing that she could help.

Hearing her request, Chen Wanjun on the other end went silent for a meaningful moment. “I just happened to return to the country today and have nothing to do right now. I can go over. But A-Yan…”

Her tone was somewhat heavy. Chen Wanjun had heard about the recent events, and her heart was filled with doubt. She almost wanted to ask her childhood friend:

You clearly said you didn’t like Bai Wan, so why are you so nervous just because her phone won’t go through?