Rose Red

[This story was abandoned a year ago, but the ending has now been revised. My apologies to readers who read it before.

The author is only responsible for the official version on Jinjiang. If the content is incorrect due to reading a pirated copy, the author accepts no responsibility.]

Ten years ago, Wen Yunzhou was a poor student.

She wore a mascot costume under the blazing 40-degree sun and passed out from the heat, all for a part-time job that paid less than 100 yuan a day.

At the time, Jian Rumei was a rich young lady born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She was stunningly beautiful and impeccably graceful, with countless admirers.

Their only connection came when they met at a shopping mall and Wen Yunzhou accidentally knocked one of Jian Rumei's earrings off.

Jian Rumei looked at the earring on the ground, took off the other one, too, and casually tossed it to Wen Yunzhou.

"It's too dirty now that it's touched the ground. I don't want it anymore. Throw it away for me."

It was hard to see through the mascot costume, and Wen Yunzhou was so tired she could barely straighten up. Through the cheap plastic eyeholes, all she could see were the woman's rose-red lips.

Full and smoothly curved, they were impossible not to be drawn to.

Wen Yunzhou picked up the earring and didn't throw it away. Instead, she sold it, and the money she got kept her from worrying about living expenses for the rest of her student years.

Ten years later, Wen Yunzhou had become a rising star in the business world, surrounded everywhere she went by people eager to flatter her.

The Jian family, meanwhile, had fallen into ruin overnight. Jian Rumei's father and brothers fled abroad in disgrace, leaving her, innocent of any wrongdoing, as the family's discarded pawn. She was alone and penniless.

The admirers who had once worshipped her became her oppressors, showing their vile true colors and telling her that if she wanted to survive, she would have to trade her body for it.

That was when Wen Yunzhou saw Jian Rumei again.

The other woman bit her rose-red lip, her eyes reddened and brimming with tears.

Even without makeup, she was still so beautiful it took Wen Yunzhou's breath away.

So much so that Wen Yunzhou heard her truest self speaking to her like a madwoman:

"Wen Yunzhou, you have to have her."

So she stepped forward, gently brushed away the man's hand as it was about to touch Jian Rumei's shoulder, and said with a bright smile:

"Mr. Li, a melon forced off the vine won't be sweet. Miss Jian doesn't like you, so why force the matter?"

Wen Yunzhou was always saying there was no need to force things. In the end, she was the one doing the forcing.

Reader advisory:

Wen is not a good person, not a good person, not a good person (important, so I'm saying it three times).

Coming next:

The Female Lead Team [Cards]

In an age when everyone draws cards, people awaken the power of cards during high school, one by one, and link to their own card pools after graduating from the college entrance exams.

Geng Ling died suddenly while staying up late reading a novel. She transmigrated into this world and became a soon-to-graduate high school student who was about to link to a card pool.

She rubbed her hands together, torn between the Three Kingdoms Generals Card Pool and the Classic of Mountains and Seas Card Pool. She also coveted the Eastern Mythology Card Pool and the Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio Card Pool, and was very interested in the more unusual ones, like the Mahjong Card Pool and the Seasonings Card Pool.

But the moment the link succeeded, she was stunned.

Wait, what do you mean, "Novel Heroines Card Pool"?!

Other people draw cards and get Sun Wukong, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Guanyin Bodhisattva. She draws cards and gets a delicate beauty, a palace concubine in disgrace... and a three-year-old toddler.

Geng Ling: I'm doomed. My dream of becoming a card battler ends here.

When Geng Ling signed up for the interstellar card battler tournament, everyone thought she was crazy.

Everyone knew she'd linked to a rare but useless card pool.

It had no combat ability and offered no help in daily life. The most successful card-pool owner so far had become an online celebrity by making short videos about getting together with the card characters for a girls' night of gossip.

But when the battles actually began, everyone was dumbfounded.

Card: Delicate Beauty

"You have been charmed by your opponent and transformed into a domineering CEO who loves to shop. Give her the gifts she asks for, or all your cards will be forcibly cleared from your hand and transferred to your opponent."

Opponent: "What?! I'm in the middle of a fight! Where am I supposed to buy gifts?!"

Card: Disgraced Palace Concubine

"Your opponent has used the skill 'female rivalry.' All male cards in this match are now frozen and cannot be used."

Opponent: "Are you insane?! What kind of female rivalry is that?!"

Card: Three-Year-Old Toddler

"Please do not harm a child! Warning! Please do not harm a child, or you will be disqualified!"

Opponent: "Then take her off the field already!!"

At first glance, every card's attack power was only 1. In practice, their combat power was off the charts.

Opponent: "Got it. Everyone else plays card battles, but Geng Ling plays to see just how underhanded she can be."

At last, one opponent couldn't take it anymore and shouted, "If you've got the guts, stop using those disgusting skills and fight fair!"

Geng Ling blinked. "Oh, really?"

She swept her hand through the air. A card spun, trailing light, and a woman in battle armor appeared on the field.

"Allow me to introduce Card: Interstellar Marshal. Skill: Invincible!"

Reader advisory:

1. This story will not vilify any type of female lead, including but not limited to scummy-romance and concubine stories. Every heroine is my precious baby.

2. A silly, fun, feel-good story. I hope you enjoy it.

Theme: Strive for love