Wen Ciwan had only worked a little overtime. When she opened her eyes again, she had become the newly married second wife of the Marquis of Zhenbei.
Five stepsons stood in a row, from oldest to youngest, looking at her like a dish of food ready to be carved up.
The eldest called her “Mother” with a cold face, clutching a teacup so tightly the veins stood out on his hand.
The second held a book, glancing at her as if reading her fortune.
The third toyed with a medicine bottle, opening and closing it as if he were thinking about whom to poison.
The fourth sat primly, his little face plainly saying, “I don’t trust you.”
The youngest was so hungry he kept whining, then called her “Mama” in a babyish voice.
Before Wen Ciwan could make a run for it, the “Wicked Stepmother, Get Yourself Killed System” in her head started ringing…
Withhold their food, push them into the water, steal their things. Every task was designed to get the five brothers to dismember her alive.
She gritted her teeth and did the tasks. But then
She withheld their food, and when all five children were caught sneaking snacks by the whole household, she turned around and exposed the steward who had been embezzling money from the kitchen.
She pushed the eldest into the water, then jumped in after him despite not knowing how to swim. After hauling him out, she stubbornly claimed, “I slipped.”
She searched the study, found the marquis injured, and immediately pulled out some medicine to stop the bleeding. With a straight face, she said, “I was just passing by.”
The five boys: Is our stepmother… protecting us?
Sheng Tingyun: Who exactly are you?
Wen Ciwan: Don’t ask. I’m just really bad at being evil.
One-line hook: She transmigrates into the role of a doomed villainess stepmother, and the System forces her to do bad things. The worse she behaves, the more her five future big villains treat her like their real mother and protect her.
