When the Sweet and Innocent Girl Gets Cast as the Villainess

[Updates every night at 9:00 p.m. starting Wednesday, November 17. Preorder: The Real Heiress on the Psychic Reality Show. Add it to your collection, you won't regret it!]

Wen Shushu, who lost her memory after falling into the sea, transmigrated into a book.

She couldn't remember her past, only that this world was an old-school melodramatic angst novel. The heroine was found by her family, but only so she could take her sister's place in the palace selection, get lucky, and become empress. On her wedding day, however, her entire clan was wiped out.

Because she was too kind, the heroine became a pawn in the power struggle between the hero and the second male lead. She was thrown into a mass grave and eaten by wild dogs, dying without even a complete corpse left behind.

And now, she was that heroine!

Wen Shushu: Hugs her chubby self in sympathy.

As a frail young woman who couldn't even truss a chicken, how could she avoid her predetermined fate and stay alive?

Wen Shushu: She's so delicate, but when facing villains, for the sake of her life, she'll just have to fight evil with evil and work hard to reform them, filling the world with love (?).

But being a bad person seemed so difficult. She just couldn't do it, so she could only seek advice from a few seasoned villains.

"How can I become a big-time villain?"

After a long silence, the other person moved his face from beneath her shoe and slowly spat out two bloodied teeth.

"You just need to tone it down a billionth," he said.

Later, Wen Shushu, armed with the villainess's script, met the refined and brilliant third male lead, her fiancé. Her eyes filled with tenderness. "You're the one I hold dearest in my heart."

When she met the romantic, roguish sixth prince, the male lead, she assured him again and again: "You're the only one in my heart. All the other men are just passing clouds."

When she met the self-disciplined, proper, and secretly soft-hearted scholar from a humble family, the second male lead, she doted on him: "My eyes are fixed on you, my hands are holding you, and my heart loves you, babe!"

Until the day the truth came out, and all three men showed up at once to ask for her hand in marriage...

The sixth prince, the male lead: I'm here to propose.

The scholar from a humble family, the second male lead: What a coincidence, so am I.

Her fiancé, the third male lead: Then we'll all be brothers-in-law from now on.

The sixth prince, the male lead: I'm marrying the eldest daughter of his family.

The scholar: What a coincidence, so am I.

Her fiancé, the third male lead: Then we'll all be...

The three men demanded to know who was really in her heart!

Wen Shushu, returning from a night of fooling around: I'll be honest, my heart is a durian, and there are people standing on every spike. (Blows a smoke ring.)

Just as things were about to go off the rails, Wen Shushu threw herself into the harem, swept her sleeves, and turned around to enter the imperial selection.

One day, she sat upon the dragon throne, looking down imperiously at the assembled officials. To the little child in her arms, she said, "My child, do you know how many stepfathers your mother found for you?"

Reader's guide:

1. Female-led story, one-on-one romance.

2. No unsolicited advice, please enjoy the story civilly. We all have a part to play.

[I'm writing this next: The Real Heiress on the Psychic Reality Show. Add it to your collection! It's definitely a satisfying female-led story! If it isn't satisfying, come fight me!]

Si Ming was found by her birth parents, but there was no place for her in the family anymore.

Her father, Si, looked down at her. "Si Qing is skilled in mystic arts. Our family can't give her up, so just think of her as an extra little sister."

Her mother, Si, looked disdainful. "Remember to attend your etiquette classes on time. Don't embarrass me when you go out."

Her younger brother, Si Rong, was full of malice. "Hey, you country bumpkin. You're not my sister. Si Qing is my only sister."

To win their affection, Si Ming studied with all her might, but she was only useful as a tool for a wealthy marriage alliance. Her sham husband even brought home a five-year-old child on the second day after their wedding.

Most suffocating of all was Si Qing, the daughter and sister they called the best. She forced Si Ming to join a psychic reality show, where she would play the supporting role and make Si Qing look good.

Si Ming, who knew nothing about the occult, tried to refuse, but everyone blamed her.

On the day her heart finally turned cold, she saw a trending search showing her cheap little sister Si Qing having a romantic dinner with her sham husband. In a daze, she fell into an artificial lake and drowned.

Si Ming died, but not entirely.

When she awoke from her slumber, the Great Siming, who held the power over every mortal's life and death, explained: Si Ming was merely one strand of her primordial spirit. Now it was time to bring out her full account.

On the day the psychic reality show premiered, among the many strangely dressed and bizarrely behaving contestants, a mysterious young woman of breathtaking beauty suddenly appeared. Online viewers exclaimed that she was obviously just a pretty face with no brains. She quickly became more popular than the celebrity contestant, the eldest daughter of the Si family, Si Qing.

Hey, Nuwa, are you asleep? I'm too ugly to sleep.

If she's that pretty, why not go audition on the show next door? Why come here to chase clout?

This girl is desperate to be famous. Isn't her agency going to do something about her?

The comments were full of sneers and sarcasm, all waiting for this pretty face with no brains to make a fool of herself on the psychic reality show.

In the first episode of Psychic, contestants had to find a person hidden in a car trunk in a warehouse. The celebrity observers in another studio hurled insults at this pretty face. "Idiot, I'm already embarrassed for her. If she guesses right, I'll eat sauce off the sole of my shoe..."

Before he could finish, a hand as white as jade rested on the hood of a red jeep. A distant voice said, "It's this one."

Just as the observers were about to burst into raucous laughter, the "pretty face" fixed her gaze on the camera. Through layer upon layer of lenses, she stared straight into one guest's eyes. Her aura seemed to seep through the screen, making him shudder with fear.

"Have you decided what sauce to put on your shoe sole?"

At that, the trunk opened, and a man tumbled out. The whole set was in an uproar.

In the second episode of Psychic, the contestants investigated the mystery of a missing high school girl. Using photographs and personal belongings to sense her whereabouts, they offered wildly different explanations for her disappearance.

"She's not dead. Her soul just needs to be banished. She'll come home next autumn."

"I'm sorry, but I can't sense any living person's presence from the ring she wore. That means she's dead."

"I see a lot of people gathered around her, talking. She's irritated and depressed, curled up into a ball... No, I have to stop sensing. The negative energy is making it hard to breathe..."

When it was the Great Siming's turn, she came toward them against the light, her expression compassionate. A halo of Buddha-like radiance fell over her slender figure, and in an instant she stood before the missing girl's father.

"You're not related by blood. You covet her. The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, you tricked her into coming home and assaulted her."

The missing girl's father trembled all over and stammered, "You're talking nonsense. I didn't... I'll sue you for slander!"

She casually scrutinized the missing girl's mother, whose face had also turned deathly pale, and spoke with cold amusement. "That day, she begged you for help, but you turned and left. She asked me to ask you: why did you help this scumbag destroy her?"

The viewers: Holy crap, what a bombshell!

In episode number whatever of Psychic, the contestants visited an abandoned hotel where a notorious murder had taken place. One contestant was an amateur with an overenthusiastic interest in the occult. He had meant to summon a demon, but instead called forth a thousand-year-old local ghost. At the critical moment, the Great Siming intervened and forced the ghost to reveal its true form.

The viewers pressed close to their screens, curious to see what it looked like. Instead, they saw a face exactly like the Great Siming's.

Before they could let their imaginations run wild, the ghost dropped to its knees with a thump. "This little ghost meant no disrespect. I only happened to see an image of the honored deity and became envious, so I transformed myself to look like her..."

The viewers: What? An honored deity?

That evening, passersby spotted an archaeological team arriving at the abandoned hotel. Half a month later, a thousand-year-old tomb was revealed. The tomb was of an exceptionally high rank, and one of the portraits among the burial objects had been preserved perfectly, its colors unfaded and looking as good as new.

Viewers who had watched Psychic said it all lined up. They knew the person in the portrait all too well. The honored deity, the portrait, the ghost. They were stunned, in the best way! Nothing that happened to the Great Siming could surprise them anymore.

The Great Siming's popularity soared, and she became a regular on trending searches. Her cheap little sister Si Qing, eclipsed and dimmed by her fame, grew jealous and said sarcastically, "You must have spent a lot of money building up your image. If you dare steal my spotlight, go die!" (Cuts her palm and casts a death curse.)

The Great Siming felt an evil energy approaching. Without even turning around, she raised a hand and waved it. [Reflect + Extra Strength]

Si Qing suffered the backlash. Blood sprayed everywhere, and she collapsed, unable to get back up.

The viewers applauded and spread the news far and wide.

By then, Si Ming's parents, Father and Mother Si, declared that she was their most beloved daughter. Her younger brother, Si Rong, also bragged to his classmates that Si Ming was his real sister.

When her family tried to win her back, the Great Siming calmly replied, "Gods and mortals are different. Don't @ me."

As for her sham husband, he was on his way to the crematorium.

Reader's guide:

1. The heroine loves all living things, not just one particular person.

2. Many fictional details. Inspired by the Russian reality show Battle of the Psychics. Also, a shout-out to the goddess Julie Wang!

3. The child her sham husband brought home isn't his, and he has no feelings for the fake heiress Si Qing. There's a big misunderstanding involved. Just let me make things up as I go. I can't guarantee he'll be the male lead.

[September 14, 2020, screenshot saved]

Theme: Forsake evil and do good, cherish life, and stay away from crime.