After Flirting with the Wrong Stand-in, I Overturned (GL) - Chapter 1

Her body was falling rapidly.

The bone-chilling cold was pervasive, and the feeling of suffocation grew heavier.

After a long time, as if waking from a dream, a crisp mechanical voice sounded in Ren Xuan’s ear: [Hello, Host. I am System 006.]

Ren Xuan quickly realized she was floating in mid-air. Even in this situation, she remained calm, sizing up the light-purple glowing orb that called itself a System, letting it introduce itself.

“Doing tasks?” Ren Xuan raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” the light-purple orb continued in its mechanical voice. “Host, you can only gain a new life by completing tasks.”

“Going back to my old world, or staying in this one?” Ren Xuan asked unhurriedly. At the moment she fell into the water, she had prepared for the worst; being able to speak now seemed like a good sign.

The mechanical voice glitched for a moment. [After the Host completes the tasks, there will be a final evaluation. The Host can choose for herself based on her points!]

“What are the tasks?”

[The plot has collapsed, and space-time is fractured. The System has detected anomalies; the Host needs to play her role well to get the book’s world back on track.]

“Fine, I agree.”

Following the System’s prompts, Ren Xuan lightly touched the floating orb with her finger. A new world slowly unfolded before her.

The world within the book wasn’t complex—in fact, it was simple, consisting only of a somewhat detailed synopsis and scattered fragments of paper.

[Space-time fractures have left these pages incomplete. This is all the plot I can give you.]

Ren Xuan burned these fragmented memories into her mind. The System’s voice rang out again:

[Original Novel: “I Made the Scumbag Woman Regret Bitterly”] [Character: The Scumbag Woman] [Timeline: First meeting with the Female Lead] [Location: The hotel where you meet the Female Lead] [Task: Find the Female Lead and get the world back on track.] [Host, are you ready?]

“Yes,” Ren Xuan nodded.

In an instant, the world spun, and Ren Xuan lost consciousness once more.

“Phew…” Ren Xuan sat up abruptly, eyes snapping open as she let out a long breath. Blinding light hit her eyes, and she instinctively shielded them with her palm. After a moment, she got out of bed, drew the curtains, and walked toward the dressing table.

It was indeed her own body. Ren Xuan felt much more at ease. She tapped the small purple bubble in the air, and a flood of memories rushed into her mind.

Ren Xuan, same name as her own. The “Scumbag Woman” in the book I Made the Scumbag Woman Cry and Wail, the eldest miss of the Ren Group. Her parents died in a plane crash, and since then, she had managed the Ren Group alone, with countless assets under her name. She had a ten-year-old sister currently studying at a private elementary school owned by the family. She was staying here temporarily for a business trip.

Quickly tying up her loose hair, Ren Xuan applied a simple, beautiful layer of makeup. It was 4:40 PM—just in time to order dinner.

While waiting for her food, Ren Xuan reviewed the information she had. “Ren Xuan” had a “White Moonlight” (first love) who had gone abroad years ago; they hadn’t been in contact for six years.

Because her feelings were a secret, only a few people knew the truth. By chance, “Ren Xuan” saved the female lead, who looked remarkably like the White Moonlight. Driven by years of unrequited longing and a sudden dark impulse, she decided to keep the female lead as a mistress.

What Ren Xuan had to do now was complete the rest of the plot: find the female lead and win her over. Since she was using her as a substitute, she was supposed to discard her the moment her interest waned.

“Truly a scumbag,” Ren Xuan thought. To leave just as the female lead falls deeply in love—no wonder she was destined for retribution later. Ren Xuan sighed. Realizing she was now this scumbag, she quickly took a sip of milk to steady her nerves.

5:00 PM.

The hotel staff knocked on the door punctually. Just as the System said, the person who had already seen “Ren Xuan” earlier didn’t notice any change in her appearance. Not just her—anyone who had seen the original “Ren Xuan” would perceive no anomaly. They would simply believe she had always looked this way. This was the result of the System’s masking after the space-time fracture.

Ren Xuan accepted the meal and thanked them, but she didn’t close the door immediately. She scanned the hallway; the empty corridor was cold and quiet. Just as she was about to close the door—

Near the end of the hallway, a stumbling middle-aged man with a protruding beer belly and half-open, glazed eyes appeared. Supporting him was a woman in her thirties with heavy makeup and a shrewd look, her face covered in smiles. “Director Zhang, this way… please, this way.”

In the blink of an eye, the man called Director Zhang and the woman were about to pass her door. Ren Xuan retreated into her room to avoid them.

The scattered pages hadn’t told Ren Xuan who the female lead was, but they had given her a key plot point: The first meeting occurred when “Ren Xuan” saved the female lead from being “hidden-ruled” (sexually coerced) at a hotel. Full of gratitude, the female lead eventually signed a “sponsorship” contract after a few more meetings.

That was the start of the book.

The time and place matched. If someone was being coerced here today, the chances of that person being the female lead were extremely high.

After finishing her meal quietly, Ren Xuan opened the window and looked down before checking the hotel’s brochure. This was a five-star hotel. The building she was in wasn’t tall; she was on the fourth floor. It had full amenities: swimming pool, gym, cafe, card room. It made sense to stay here on business.

After pacing the room and taking a walk outside with no luck, Ren Xuan lay back on the bed to rest. The scenes she had just witnessed flashed through her mind. Something felt off.

A hotel? Coercion?

Surely she wouldn’t have to check every single room in front of everyone. The plot was distorted, but not everything was wrong. If the “saving the lead” plot was correct, maybe she would appear automatically. But what if the plot had shifted?

Caught between taking the initiative or waiting, Ren Xuan was suddenly interrupted by a thud-thud sound from next door. It sounded like something heavy hitting the floor.

The hotel’s soundproofing was excellent. Unless something extreme was happening, there wouldn’t be such a loud noise. A few seconds later, something else crashed…

Ren Xuan pushed her door open, a suspicion forming in her mind.

The commotion quickly brought hotel staff to the hallway. Seeing Ren Xuan, one staff member apologized patiently and promised to resolve it quickly, while the other knocked on the neighboring door.

A minute later, the door opened. It was that drunken Director Zhang.

He seemed to have sobered up slightly. Half-naked with a loose bathrobe thrown over him, he looked like he had just showered. He shouted at the staff with a foul expression.

“Sir,” the staff greeted with a smile, “someone downstairs complained about the noise. Did something happen? If so, we can help.”

“I f***ing slipped!” Hearing the question, the middle-aged man began cursing about the bathroom floor. “What’s wrong with your floors? Do you know how to pick them? If something happens to me, can you afford the compensation?”

Despite the man’s unreasonable behavior, the staff remained professional, promising to fix it and asking to inspect the room. The man lost his patience. “I’m going to sleep! Sleep! Understand?”

“But—”

“Believe it or not, I’ll file a complaint against you!”

During the standoff, a thin, tall manager ran over. He bowed and apologized to the man, whispered a few words, and then told the two staff members to leave, intending to handle it himself.

It was clear she wouldn’t see what was happening through the front door. Ren Xuan suddenly remembered the hotel’s layout and rushed to the balcony.

One look, and Ren Xuan’s mind went blank for a second.

The lights were dim, but the starlight above allowed her to clearly see the balcony next door.

A panicked, frail girl with disheveled clothes and messy hair was crouching by a pillar. She was tearing at a piece of blue fabric—Ren Xuan recognized it instantly as the hotel curtains.

Perhaps due to the quality or the girl’s lack of strength, she had only managed to tear a single slit despite using all her energy. Yet that slit represented her only hope as she kept glancing back into the room.

Her hands never stopped moving; she had no energy left to notice anyone watching her.

Ren Xuan understood everything. Her suspicions were confirmed. Not daring to delay, she scrambled to tear down her own room’s curtains. The difference was that Ren Xuan had scissors. She quickly tied the makeshift rope together and secured it to a stable point.

“Need help?” Ren Xuan called out softly toward the neighboring balcony. Her tone was casual, as if she were merely chatting about how nice the stars looked tonight.

The girl startled, realizing only then that someone was on the opposite balcony. Ren Xuan gave her no time to react, throwing the rope over. “Coming over here is better than going down from the fourth floor.”

Climbing from one balcony to another meant crossing a gap over a dozen meters above the ground. But the person opposite her had such a convincing gaze. In truth, the girl had no other options left.

She had been drugged.

Her weak, limp body wouldn’t give her much more time; she knew her consciousness would collapse soon. Without further hesitation, the girl used the railing to support her soft body. Drawing courage and strength from somewhere unknown, she stood up and grabbed the rope.

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you,” Ren Xuan promised.

The girl didn’t say a word, but her actions said it all.

She climbed over the railing. A gap of about two meters, a ledge only a few centimeters wide, and a drop of over ten meters. The wind roared in her ears the moment she stepped out. Her limp body swayed as if she might fall at any second. The rope trembled violently. Ren Xuan steadied the rope with one hand while reaching out to grab the girl’s hand with the other.

“Where are you?” The man, having returned from the door, saw the room was empty and began cursing. “You little b*tch, you scratched me all over and now you’re hiding?!”

He picked up a crooked chair to throw it in rage but remembered his words at the door and forced himself to stop. His face changed instantly to a faux-gentle mask. “Stop hiding. Your name is Lin, right? Don’t you just want resources? I have plenty. Just spend the night with me obediently, and I’ll put you in the cast tomorrow!”