I Became the Female Lead's Foil in a Period Novel

[A few completed historical-era novels in my column! If you're interested, take a look]

[Coming soon: The Tragic Novel's Heroine Can See the Comments on Her Screen and The Sickly Beauty Is the Historical-Era Novel's Beloved White Moonlight. Please add them to your reading list! Summaries are at the bottom.]

Blurb:

The pampered Lu Zhizhi transmigrates into a historical-era novel, becoming the fussy, spoiled sister-in-law of the heroine, Jiang Ling.

In the book, the heroine is hardworking and capable, while her sister-in-law loves sleeping in and acts spoiled. The two women are stark opposites.

Heroine: Up at five to prepare breakfast for the whole family, washing clothes by the river at six, then off to work at seven to tackle the hardest jobs. She works herself to the bone and doesn't sleep until eleven or midnight. Up earlier than a chicken, to bed later than a dog, and working harder than an ox.

Lu Zhizhi: She sleepily opens her eyes at ten, eats the breakfast kept warm in the pot, then takes her time sunbathing and reading. The day passes without her doing a thing. She's so carefree, it's as if she's on vacation.

Everyone on the production team calls Lu Zhizhi a lazy wife behind her back, saying no one should marry a woman like that.

Lu Zhizhi gives the man washing her feet a little kick and asks in a sweet voice, "Isn't a wife like me wonderful?"

His big hand gently holds her foot as he dries it. "Of course my wife is the best!"

Lu Zhizhi smiles smugly.

Since he's so sensible, she'll graciously stay with him. And, without even trying, she'll make their life together so wonderful that she becomes the pride of the whole village.

After being reborn, Jiang Ling knows her in-laws are wealthy. If she can win their affection, she'll get the lion's share of the inheritance one day.

So Jiang Ling and her husband work tirelessly, doing every chore in the house. She even sends her brother-in-law away so he can't curry favor with their parents, turning him into a lazy good-for-nothing like his wife.

With nothing to do and a spoiled, fussy wife, her brother-in-law is doomed to never win their parents' affection in this life!

She thinks this will secure her inheritance and make her rich.

But by the time she's worn herself down into a haggard old woman, her in-laws are still alive. Meanwhile, she watches her sister-in-law next door, doted on by her brother-in-law, get into college and settle down with him in the city!

Jiang Ling can't believe it: A lazy, spoiled wife can become a college student?

[Gruff male lead x beautiful, pampered female lead]

Synopsis of the ongoing novel The Historical-Era Novel's Heroine's Spoiled Stepsister:

After waking up, Lin Ran finds herself in the 1970s, as the stepdaughter of engineer Song Wei.

On the surface, Song Wei treats her better than his own daughter, raising her so that she's never had to lift a finger. She's spoiled and fussy, like a little troublemaker. But in reality, he's only doing it to motivate his biological daughter and help her succeed. He also wants to spoil his stepdaughter into uselessness so she can't compete for the family fortune. Even the man he chose for her blind date was selected to pave the way for his biological daughter by helping her build connections.

Lin Ran: "..."

So she's just a tool, and someone can sell her off while she helps them count the money?

Once she realizes what lies ahead, Lin Ran refuses the blind date and takes the initiative to move to the countryside in search of her biological father.

Her biological father may not be capable of much, but at least he won't scheme against her at every turn like Song.

*

Everyone thinks Lin Ran will be rejected by the Lin family because she's so spoiled and fussy. But she's the only granddaughter in the family, and everyone from her grandparents to her cousins dotes on her like she's the most precious thing in the world!

Grandparents: "Our Ranran is so beautiful. What's wrong with being a little willful?"

Cousins: "There's so many of us in the family. So what if my little sister doesn't like doing chores? We'll support her!"

Even her biological father, whom her mother in the original story dismissed as poor and useless, turns out to have quite a background. He even looks exactly like the business magnate and richest man she'd met in her previous life when he was young?

Lin Ran: "With a family like this, who'd want to go to the city and be someone's tool?"

She never expected to find more than a family who loves and cherishes her in the countryside. There's also a "fierce wolf" who has his eye on her before she even realizes it.

The fierce wolf himself: "It took me so long to marry my sweet wife. Of course I'm going to spoil her rotten!"

*

Song Siyu has been reborn. In her previous life, she resented her father's favoritism and impulsively quit her job to join a rural work team. She met a scumbag in the countryside and came down with a serious illness. Only in the final moments before her death did she learn from her father the truth behind his years of supposed favoritism: He had done it all for her.

She also learned that she was living in a book, and that she was its heroine.

Song Siyu decides to follow the plot obediently. But the moment she opens her eyes, she learns that her stepsister is moving to the countryside?

Song Siyu doesn't think much of this change. Life in the countryside is tough, and the pampered Lin Ran will surely run back and get married. Then the story can get back on track.

But she waits and waits. Lin Ran doesn't come back in disgrace, begging to be a useful tool. Instead, Song Siyu hears that Lin Ran has married in the countryside, to a high-ranking military officer, and that her biological father has made a fortune!

Synopsis of The Tragic Novel's Heroine Can See the Comments on Her Screen:

Lin Weiwei has always thought she was lucky. She's an orphan, but she's met so many kind people along the way.

At five, the Lin family adopted her, giving her parents and an older sister. The whole family treated her well.

At ten, she became friends with the boy who had just moved in next door. With him protecting her, the other children stopped bullying her.

At fifteen, a famous painter discovered her and took her on as a private pupil.

Then, on her eighteenth birthday, strange comments suddenly appeared before her eyes.

The heroine still doesn't know her adoptive parents took her in so she could donate a kidney to her sister, right?

Her childhood friend has actually been with her sister for ages. He only pretends to be nice to her to keep her placated and persuade her to have the surgery.

And that art teacher only wants to use her talent and submit her paintings to a competition!

Lin Weiwei, taking an exam in class: ?

She was so shocked that she gripped her pen too hard. It snapped.

A pen flew over from the seat behind her and landed on her desk. At the same time, an irritated voice rang out: "Damn, what kind of garbage question is this? It's way too hard. I'm done, I'm turning in my paper!"

The proctor shouted after him in exasperation: "Han Moyang, get back here!"

I'm dying. Han Moyang is such a tsundere. If he wanted to give the heroine a pen, he could've just said so, hahaha.

What do you know? How could the school bully be a pure-hearted boy who secretly has a crush on someone and blushes whenever he meets his goddess's eyes? I'm the cool, handsome, domineering type. I have my pride, you know? (doge)

Lin Weiwei, the one person universally acknowledged as school bully Han Moyang's most hated person: ...?

Theme: Work hard through adversity and strive for self-reliance.