The Universally Hated Supporting Actress Is Too Beautiful

The wealthy Pei family had adopted yet another girl from a small town.

On the day she transferred schools, everyone saw Ji Chaoying.

The girl was quiet and reticent, pretty and pure, like a deer that had wandered into the human world.

-

Ji Chaoying was a disposable supporting character in a harem novel.

The heroine had been adopted as a child. Pure and lovely, she was cherished at home by the two Pei brothers and adored at school by the male leads.

Ji Chaoying was merely an outsider: lonely, gloomy, and unpopular, always causing trouble for the heroine.

The eldest Pei brother was cold toward her, the second brother disliked her timidity, and the male leads thought she was a nuisance.

The scions of prestigious families stood high above everyone else, while she was at the bottom of the social ladder...

Ji Chaoying had never expected to fit in with them. After learning the plot, she chose to keep her distance as much as possible.

She lived and studied quietly, keeping a low profile. She didn't fit in, but that was fine. All she wanted was to graduate in peace and get into a good university.

But before long, her busy eldest brother began taking an active interest in her school life.

The second brother was as bad-tempered as ever, but he also publicly stood up for her at their cutthroat private school.

Although things had diverged from the book, Ji Chaoying still didn't want to trouble them. She was grateful, but always kept her distance.

Then one day, He Chengling, one of the male leads, invited people to a birthday party and drove her home alone afterward.

Even after she got home, she was still reeling from the absurdity of being confessed to. Out of habit, she went upstairs to let her brothers know, but the house was silent. No one was in the bedrooms or the study.

She was about to turn away when she heard the lock click and fell into someone's arms.

Her school uniform skirt pressed against the person behind her. Afraid to look back, she trembled uncontrollably.

A breath like a kiss brushed her ear. The familiar voice was soft, almost tender, but its tone was as cold as the night.

“Didn't I tell you not to get so close to them?”

“Don't do that again, okay?”

-

In the shadows where no one could see, only the male leads understood that the two brothers' overprotectiveness was really possessiveness in disguise.

She was beautiful and fragile, exquisite as a piece of delicate jade.

Always drawing covetous eyes.

They kept close watch over her, but

Brothers are supposed to be just brothers. Didn't they understand that?

*

Reading Guide:

An exaggerated, old-school Mary Sue setting, with a fanciful fictional aristocratic academy. The original heroine isn't vilified.

The heroine is adored by everyone and doted on by all. Expect melodramatic love-rival battles and a harem of male leads all fighting over her.

The adoption is informal, and the ending is one-on-one.

Upcoming Novel

"I Heard I Was My Husband's Late First Love"

The year she graduated, Jiang Xingyuan married into the Tan family in place of her sickly older sister, becoming the bride of Tan Feiyu, the eldest Tan son.

After the wedding, Tan Feiyu left on a six-month business trip. They barely saw each other twice.

She knew that he and her sister were true childhood sweethearts, close since they were young. Tan Feiyu had only married her as a matter of convenience. Perhaps they'd divorce in a year or two.

Before that day came, she died unexpectedly on a snowy night. When she opened her eyes again, it was seven years later.

In the seven years since, Tan Feiyu had consolidated his power and become the sole authority in the Tan family.

She'd heard that marriage ties were automatically dissolved when a person died. Seeing online photos of her now-healthy sister attending events with him, Jiang Xingyuan figured her marriage must have ended.

Snow fell thickly, and she had nowhere to go, so she was staying temporarily at a friend's hotel. Watching business news on the lobby screen, her friend said, “Your husband is ruthless.”

“Ex-husband,” Jiang Xingyuan corrected him.

Suddenly, the people around her fell silent. As if sensing something, she looked up

The man before her was refined and aloof, his face pale, his deep gaze fixed on her.

He came in wrapped in snow and wind, his voice unusually hoarse. “Come home with me.”

For some reason, Jiang Xingyuan temporarily moved into the apartment where they had lived as newlyweds.

The man was powerful and busy, but with her he was considerate and attentive, speaking gently, nothing like his former cold self.

But they no longer had any relationship. This couldn't go on forever.

Then one day, all she'd done was take a suitcase out and pack some clothes. The man came back from a business trip and caught her...

The ring they'd exchanged at their wedding was forcibly slipped onto her ring finger. His scorching breath lingered against her delicate skin, and in the hazy confusion, she couldn't help but sob softly.

Still unsatisfied, he stroked her with his fingertips, his hoarse voice edged with a dangerous loss of control.

“Sweetheart, tell me one more time. What are we to each other?”

The story of a woman who falls in love after marriage, told from her perspective; the man has been plotting for years, told from his.

A nine-year age gap, seven years later.

Theme: The transformation and blossoming of youth