After Seeing Through the Plot, the Cannon Fodder Supporting Female Lead Overturned Her Fate - Chapter 48

A single word—don’t be afraid—had truly steadied Xia Yihuan’s heart.

She instinctively looked into the depths of Ye An’s eyes. The light around them was blurred and dim, but Ye An’s gaze was firm and clear. Just one look felt like gaining infinite strength.

Only now did Xia Yihuan clearly realize that she was no longer fighting alone.

Ye An was in this world now; someone would hold her hand, break through the darkness, and walk forward by her side.

Xia Yihuan took a deep breath and finally nodded gently. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Let’s go.” Ye An’s lips curved into a comforting smile as she tightly clasped Xia Yihuan’s hand.

The two quickly gathered their things and sat in the car.

Outside, the snow was still heavy, showing no signs of stopping. It was freezing; Ye An took advantage of the engine warming up to rub her hands together until they were hot before finally gripping the steering wheel.

“I’ll drive,” Xia Yihuan spoke softly from the passenger seat.

“No need.” Ye An shook her head and pressed the accelerator. “Rest well. You’ll have plenty to do looking after Teacher Yang once she successfully makes it through surgery.”

“Mhm.” These words were undoubtedly another form of comfort. Xia Yihuan nodded and didn’t insist further, instead leaning against the seat back and gently closing her eyes.

As soon as she closed them, 023’s voice rang out. The system seemed panicked, repeating a single phrase over and over: “How could this happen? How could this happen?”

Xia Yihuan was in a terrible mood and originally didn’t want to respond, but she was eventually so annoyed by the pestering that she snapped, “What are you referring to?”

“This isn’t right, it’s all wrong,” 023 said, her voice urgent and frantic. “This event wasn’t in the original world line. Weren’t the bugs almost fixed? What exactly is going on?”

See? Even 023 had noticed something was wrong.

Xia Yihuan pursed her lips, her hand at her side tightening into a fist. Her tone carried a hint of mockery: “What do you think is going on?”

The question left 023 speechless for a long time.

As a diligent system, 023 had never doubted the decisions made by the higher-ups or the tasks they assigned. She had always worked and strived according to the rules, never thinking too much.

It wasn’t until the host suddenly went bankrupt, and the cannon-fodder supporting character Ye An started acting strangely, that the world line began to veer off course. The so-called bugs multiplied, and though 023 didn’t understand, she finally reached her limit and went to ask for answers—only to receive ambiguous results every time.

At first, she thought her permissions were simply too low to know the truth. That is, until Xia Yihuan asked her that question.

Yes, exactly why was this happening?

023 fell silent. After an unknown amount of time, she finally worked up the courage to squeeze out a few words: “Could… could all of this be the work of the people above?”

She had finally guessed it.

Xia Yihuan sighed softly and said nothing more.

Thinking back to the moment she was bound to 023, Xia Yihuan had never trusted her. Even when 023 acted ignorant or innocent, she never offered a shred of trust or bared her heart. It was only after spending time together that she realized 023’s innocence wasn’t an act—she was truly a bit “slow.”

Even so, she didn’t lower her guard. Ultimately, 023 belonged to them; her position would always be different. She worked for the other side, so no matter what she said or did, Xia Yihuan could never fully believe in her.

So she didn’t answer directly, only saying, “If you can, you should consider changing jobs in the future.”

There was no response; 023 had actually started to cry.

Xia Yihuan was stunned, not expecting such a reaction. “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t know!” 023’s continuous sobs were pitiable and pained. “Why would they do this? Teacher Yang is such a good person. Why would they do this to her?!”

Xia Yihuan captured the key information in her words: “You’re worried about Teacher Yang?”

The question didn’t receive a precise answer. 023 just shook her head, her voice rising with her sobs as she repeated: “I don’t know, I just don’t know…”

The road was incredibly slippery and the sky was pitch black. The wind blew goose-feather snow against the windshield. The surroundings were vast and silent, as if only the two of them and this single car remained in this enormous world.

Ye An kept her hands tightly on the steering wheel the entire time. The nine-hour drive consumed most of her energy and physical strength, making her already tired body feel an unspeakable bitterness. But she didn’t dare lower her guard, focusing intently on the road ahead.

Like Xia Yihuan, she was afraid. Afraid something would happen to Teacher Yang, afraid Xia Yihuan wouldn’t be able to bear it, afraid of an accident on the road. Fortunately, none of her fears came true.

By the time they finally reached the hospital, Ye An felt her limbs were numb. She forced herself to stand, supporting Xia Yihuan as they walked into the hospital in a disheveled state.

Only then did they learn that after several hours of emergency treatment, Teacher Yang was finally out of danger.

“Little Xia, Little Xia!” Auntie Zhang saw Xia Yihuan first and rushed over, crying out. Usually well-groomed, she looked as if she had aged a dozen years in an instant. “You’re finally here…”

“The snow was too heavy; I was afraid it would be dangerous for you to drive, so I didn’t dare call you again,” she said, quickly leading Xia Yihuan to see the doctor. “Your teacher is still sleeping; there’s no rush to see her yet. Go, go talk to the doctor about her condition.”

“Okay.” Xia Yihuan nodded. Hearing that her teacher was out of danger, she finally let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

She turned back to Ye An and said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Mhm.” Ye An nodded and exchanged a look with her. She watched Xia Yihuan’s back until she disappeared, then finally found a place to sit down.

To be honest, she was still in a daze.

Although her life had been difficult growing up, she had always tried her best not to mistreat herself. Especially after she grew up and started making money, she lived a refined and proud life. Aside from putting effort into her work, she had never pushed herself this hard.

During that nearly nine-hour drive, she had driven fast the whole way, fueled entirely by a single breath of determination. Only now that she could relax did she start to feel the after-effects of fear. She even found herself wondering what would have happened if she had gotten into a car accident.

She already wasn’t going to live long; one more accident and she’d have even less time.

Ye An sighed, feeling like laughing but unable to. Someone nearby handed her a glass of water. Ye An thanked them with a nod and took small sips, her mind blank.

After an unknown amount of time, Xia Yihuan finally returned.

She must have seen Teacher Yang’s condition and known she was safe; some color had finally returned to her pale face. She sat down beside Ye An, gently took her hand, and began to massage it bit by bit.

She parted her lips, murmuring each word: “Thank you, President Ye. Thank you…”

She looked pitiable and fragile.

Ye An shook her head, lightly clasping her wrist and rubbing it soothingly with her thumb. “It’s okay.”

“Besides, I’m partially to blame for this,” Ye An added. “If I hadn’t acted so homesick these past few days, you wouldn’t have come to find me. If that hadn’t happened, you might have…”

“It has nothing to do with you, President Ye.” Before she could finish, Xia Yihuan interrupted. “You did nothing wrong.”

She spoke with absolute conviction. She said it with her mouth, and she believed it in her heart.

Because she understood the source of the problem. She understood exactly whose fault this was. Since her bankruptcy, she had tried many things to twist the plot line, manually creating many bugs. The higher-ups couldn’t keep up with the repairs, so the persecution against them had naturally lessened.

Even so, she understood that unless the root was pulled out, these “accidents” would not stop. But she had guessed wrong this time; she had made a wrong move.

She thought it would be Ye An. She hadn’t expected it to be Teacher Yang.

No matter how much protection she provided, no matter how much she calculated, she ultimately couldn’t protect everyone. A single missing step could lead to a catastrophic error.

If it weren’t for a certain conviction she held, Xia Yihuan thought she might have given up long ago.

“Teacher Yang will get better soon.” At some point, Ye An placed her hand on Xia Yihuan’s face, stroking it gently. “When she wakes up, we’ll take good care of her together. Everything will be fine.”

Those few words provided Xia Yihuan with immense comfort. She nodded gently. “Okay.”

She then fell into a brief silence, as if thinking of something. After a long while, she spoke again softly: “President Ye, can I ask a favor of you?”

Ye An replied quickly: “What is it?”

“Teacher Yang is getting older. Many things are inconvenient for her, and her health will inevitably have various issues,” she said, her voice soft yet sincere. “If a situation like this happens again one day, can you help me again?”

“Even if I might have gone somewhere far away, or might not be back for a long time, or might never be able to repay your kindness… can you still help me?”

These words immediately startled Ye An.

She didn’t understand what Xia Yihuan was talking about or why she would say such a thing. Almost reflexively, she gripped the hem of Xia Yihuan’s clothes. “What do you mean? Where are you going?”

This time, Xia Yihuan acted as she always did—she didn’t answer.

Ye An couldn’t understand her. Even though they were so close right now, she still couldn’t read her. She even felt that she was always far away from the woman before her, and perhaps she would never truly reach her heart.

Did she have some kind of difficulty? Like herself, a secret that was constantly restricted and could never be told?

Ye An pursed her lips, her grip loosening for a split second. She dazed for a moment, then quickly gripped tighter, as if this would bring her closer to Xia Yihuan. “Fine. I will.”

“But you have to agree to one condition,” she said.

Xia Yihuan turned her head to look into her eyes. “Okay. Name it.”

“Be my lover,” Ye An said with a smile. She knew she didn’t want to stop at this point with the woman before her, but she also knew that having only two years of life left meant she couldn’t hope for too much. “Do that, and I’ll agree to your request.”

“I’ll give you money,” she added, thinking that by using money as a medium, perhaps she could stay a bit more sober. It would prevent either of them from falling too deep, so when the day of true parting came, it wouldn’t be too hard to let go. “A lot of it.”

“A lot.”