Chapter 1: The wealthy mother's character collapses
"Then whoever you are, come...deliver the bird's nest to the lady's room."
At the Lu family villa, the chef prepared bird's nest for his wife as afternoon tea, but when he turned around, he found that all the servants had retreated.
He had to call the roll himself.
"Why should I go? Where's Lin An? This has always been her job..."
The maid who was called refused in fear.
But I heard the housekeeper speak faintly...
"Lin An has something going on at home, so I'm asking for leave."
"……oh."
The servant accepted his fate, but accidentally glanced at a corner.
Her eyes lit up instantly——
"Then let the newcomer go? She can also see the beauty and... kindness of the Madam."
"Ahem, I'm busy after all."
As she spoke, she pretentiously wiped the stair railing with a rag.
The maid's refusal did not draw the contempt of the other servants. After all, who had not refused to meet the lady alone before?
No.
They are not making excuses, they are trying to save their lives!
Apart from the newlyweds, who among the servants of the Lu family doesn’t know that Madam Qin Qingqing is beautiful but absurd, violent, perverse and eccentric, and should not be provoked?
I heard that...
Madam, you weren't like this before.
But since she and her husband entered into a business relationship, she gradually became like this. She even refused to acknowledge his accounts. To the extent that, he was forced by her to stay away from home for many years.
Besides, she herself is absurd, irritable, capricious and weird.
She would often interfere in the Young Master's affairs on a whim, under the beautiful name of "educating the child", but in fact...she was completely using the name of "education" to do things that were "harsh".
For example, this time, because of skipping an exam and fighting, she punished Young Master Lu by sending him out to the wild and not allowing him to eat for three days.
Today is the third day...
"Ah... I don't know, Madam, are you safe eating this bird's nest?"
A maid murmured.
Being scolded by the housekeeper in a deep voice——
"presumptuous."
*
Regardless of what the servant downstairs said, the newlywed had already nervously held the bird's nest and delivered it to his wife.
She knocked on her wife's door, curiously -
I heard that the lady is beautiful and kind?
"squeak--"
The door was opened from the inside.
then……
She was completely stunned, her eyes full of surprise!
Nothing else——
The lady was wearing a silk nightgown, her black hair was slightly curled and casually tied into a bun. Occasionally, some of the hair fell and crossed her delicate collarbone... Her skin was whiter than snow.
The lady looked at the maid outside the door with her beautiful almond-shaped eyes; her gaze was fixed on the tray in her hand.
Raise an eyebrow——
"What is this?"
The maid came back to her senses, turned her eyes away from the delicate features, and answered respectfully—
“This is your bird’s nest.”
"Give it to me."
Qin took it gently.
Pause for a moment...
She gave the maid another faint smile.
"Thank you, you can go back now."
The maid stared blankly at the door closing again, her cheeks slightly flushed - she thought, it's true, the lady is so beautiful and so kind...
Can--
God knows!
It's not that the lady is really beautiful and kind, but that the lady has changed her mind.
Qin gently closed the door and put the bird's nest down.
I fell down on the bed, feeling limp...
She asked the question in a trembling voice, facing the air.
"What did you just say?"
"I said..."
"Host, you are not dreaming, you are traveling through a book."
A mechanical sound rang in her mind.
"I have tied you to the 'supporting role system', and you need to complete the tasks I have assigned you and advance the plot..."
"Now I will give you the general plot of this novel."
"Please check."
“…”
Qin Qingqing wanted to say something else, but she suddenly felt a dull pain in her head, as if several gigabytes of data packages were stuffed into it.
She tried to look through the "information" in her head.
Finally confirmed——
She did travel through the book.
From an 18th-tier unknown actress, she was transformed into the ridiculous mother in a novel about a wealthy stepmother.
This mother was very unreasonable, often miseducating her son and bullying her husband. She also starved her son after he missed an exam and got into a fight, and was kicked out by his father.
My mother left the house with nothing.
The workaholic father Lu Bai, soon after that, married a stepmother for his son Lu to leave the country.
The stepmother controlled the rebellious stepson, healed Lu Bai, and persuaded them to record the variety show. When the variety show was broadcast, the family of three was warm and beautiful, and was recognized by the whole network as a fairy family.
Qin Qingqing, the abandoned wife of a wealthy family, left home with nothing, had no son, no job... At her age, Qingqing was picking up trash on the roadside.
"?"
Qin Qingqing's face gradually turned pale.
"That……"
"Then can't I be nice to them from now on?"
"No."
"The host must complete the mission I issued and follow the plot..."
"Otherwise, you will be punished with electric shock."
The mechanical sound of the supporting system is particularly cold.
"!"
"Just go..."
When Qin Qingqing heard about the "electric shock punishment", she froze instantly.
Even turned the tables——
"But why haven't you issued the plot mission yet?"
“…”
The system, which has been turned into a host, has never seen such a host who is "impatient to complete the task".
It was silent for a moment before releasing a semi-transparent pop-up window.
[bite--]
[Main story mission 1, please check.]
Qin Qingqing sat up straight unconsciously and checked the content of Task 1.
[Previous story: The absurd mother miseducated her son Lu again and he ran away from home! This time it was because he “skipped an exam and got into a fight” and his mother had ordered him to go on a hunger strike for three days.]
[The host is required to complete the following lines...]
Below, the system provides a short list of required lines, but each one is more brutal than the last.
Qin Qingqing only glanced at it, and his eyes were dazzled——
"System?!"
"My son has been hungry for three days. How can you be so cruel to make me overturn his food and force him to fast for another five days?"
"Host, if you don't complete the mission, you will be punished with electric shock..."
The system made a chilling sound.
"!"
“S-Stop… I’ll do it.”
Qin admitted it lightly, but still tried to fight.
"Let's be honest: if he's starved this way, something bad might happen to him..."
"Can a novel about a rich man's stepmother still be successful without one of the protagonists?"
"able."
There was no fluctuation in the sound of the system...
But it reminded Qin Qingqing of the plot she had just checked.
It turned out to be the part about "the son fainted from hunger and was swept out of the house by his father"!
After that, the father and son, along with their stepmother next door, started a happy life as a family of three; while Qin Qingqing embarked on the "broad road" of picking up garbage.
To be honest: Qin Qingqing was skeptical about the ending that her mother "picked up garbage at a young age".
After all, she has hands and feet, how could she end up in such a ridiculous way...
unless--
"Unless, this is something the child's father did."
Qin Qingqing's lips twitched.
Lu Bai was tortured by the original owner for many years; his only good son was almost killed by the original owner's starvation.
After he forced the original owner to leave the house, he was still angry and used his connections to destroy all her ways of making a living... so that the original owner had to "pick up garbage" to make a living.
This is very bossy.
But now, it is she who has to bear Lu Bai’s wrath for the original owner!
She is so innocent...
“…”
The system does not agree with the host's guess.
But——
No explanation.
He just spoke in a mechanical voice: "You don't have to do it."
"Um?"
Qin Qingqing exclaimed in surprise.
Then I heard the system say coldly——
"Electric shock punishment. I'm ready."
“?!”
“Do it, do it…”
Qin Qingqing sat up from the bed, holding the bird's nest, and opened the translucent screen that only she could see...
Memorize the lines.
The evil Zhou Bapi system always threatens her with "electric shock punishment". What else can she do except complete her mission?
Thanks to the blessings from the previous life.
Qin Qingqing's acting skills are not great, but they are enough; her ability to memorize lines is also very good...
She quickly closed the system's task interface.
Get up and go downstairs...
Promote the plot.
Then, he was looked at with strange eyes by the servants of the Lu family.
"?"
Qin Qingqing Gaogui frowned.
A glare flew towards the leading butler.
"!"
The butler and his servants scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.
During this time, Qin Qingqing also vaguely heard...
Someone murmured.
"Who said that the lady's temperament has changed drastically today and she is very kind?"
"I think... it's still good!"
"The new guy is cheating me!!!"
“…”
Qin Qing paused for a moment before looking at the newcomer who was so frightened that he was standing still.
Suddenly, my heart softened and I couldn't continue acting.
"What are you standing there for?"
"Go...help me call the young master."
She winked at the newcomer, and her tone instantly returned to normal - light and kind, even... a little playful.
"Thank you~"
After saying this, she quickened her pace and sat down in the restaurant.
The newlyweds were left blushing - see! She was right, the lady was so beautiful and kind!
*
The restaurant has already prepared hot and fragrant meals.
Can--
Qin Qingqing had no time to eat for the time being.
She recalled the prescribed lines over and over again...
When I looked up, I saw a pale but handsome face.
She was stunned.
Only then did I react——
Opposite her, the young man with a pale face and frowned brows was her adopted son.
His face was pale because he hadn't eaten anything for three days.
His brows were furrowed because he could easily guess that the woman had called him here not to find out about his "skipping the exam and fighting" but because she had thought of a new way to mistreat him.
As soon as this thought came to the boy's mind, he saw the person opposite him moving her red lips and was about to speak.
There was blatant disdain on her face, her chin raised high, and her eyes full of disdain... as if the person in front of her was not her son, but a pig.
Maybe...
In her eyes, he was worse than a pig or a dog.
Lu Liye curled the corner of his mouth in self-mockery.
Qin Qingqing, who had already entered the "role" and was about to follow the plot, was stunned.
Why did he look so sad before she even opened her mouth?
[System, is my expression... too much?]
She felt inexplicably guilty and asked the system for its opinion.
The system answered her very satisfactorily.
[No!]
[The host was indeed an actor in his previous life. He showed the original owner's harshness to the fullest!]
[……]
For some reason, Qin Qingqing felt even more guilty.
but--
The system is urging progress again.
[So, let’s move on to the plot, shall we?]
Qin Qingqing gritted his teeth, went against his conscience and put on a proud face——
speak out.
"Lu Liye, you've been hungry for three days. Do you know what's wrong?"
Lu Liye raised his eyes instantly and stared at her intently...
There was a rising sense of hostility in his eyes.
ridiculous!
He had clearly guessed her purpose, but still at this moment... it was sad.
So he had to pretend to be full of anger.
"!"
Qin Qingqing had originally been paying attention to her adopted son's condition while feeling guilty. Now... she had just caught a glimpse of his violent temper.
Her face turned pale—she was scared!
A little more dangerous...
Forget about your own mission.
However, she was afraid of the system's "electric shock punishment".
So...
Go on with your words.
"Heh...you still don't admit your mistake? Then you won't be allowed to eat for the next five days."
After she finished speaking, she did not forget to follow the system's notes and turned over the food in a noble and cold manner.
"Bang--"
The food was knocked over to the ground by her.
But she didn't know...
At this moment, I don't have any of the "noble and cool" temperament.
Instead, his face turned pale, his fingertips trembled, and he lowered his head uncontrollably... to avoid someone's increasingly violent gaze...
She shuddered again.
His condition was even worse than that of his adopted son who had not eaten for three days and was still being scolded.
Lu Liye discovered her abnormality.
He looked down...
He fell on her slightly trembling fingertips, and his brows furrowed.
What new way of mistreating him was this?
[It’s terrible, it’s terrible…]
[System, he wouldn't be so angry at my actions just now that he would... kill my mother?!]
At that time, Qin Qingqing only had this one thought left.
She reached out again reflexively——
Grabbed a handful of sweet fruit candies from the table.
[No! I have to save my life...]
This time, she completely forgot about the mission.
She even smiled very sincerely the moment she looked up at Lu Liye——
"That, that..."
"You are not allowed to eat, but you can have snacks... How about a candy bar first?"
Lu Liye:?