Folding a Crane

[Updates whenever inspiration strikes, and it's not being published. I'm mainly using this to practice. Before I start updating again, I'll revise the story, so please don't pester me or hit the cook. Thank you!]

After transmigrating into this world, Zhe He suddenly learns that she's the evil female side character in a male-oriented face-slapping power fantasy about an arrogant hero.

Fortunately, her part in the original story is small, and even her exit is barely mentioned. All Zhe He has to do now is find the male lead while he's still a nobody, beat him up, mock him, and subject him to endless humiliation and pain. Then, at the end, she'll become the first person the arrogant hero slaps in the face on his road to rising to power.

As the story unfolds, the System cheers her on from the sidelines: Come on, girl! The more times you beat him up now, the more satisfying it will be when the male lead makes his comeback and slaps everyone in the face! Then we'll end the fight with one slap!

*

Zhe He thinks it makes a lot of sense, and decides to build up the satisfaction of her future face-slapping first.

So she digs the male lead out of a corner, where she'd already been constantly trash-talking him, and beats him up.

*

When the story reaches its first major turning point, the male lead recklessly provokes a minor villain in front of a crowd, acting as if he'd left his brain at home. Zhe He still doesn't hesitate to slap him across the face. But instead of the anger, shock, and disbelief she expects, the male lead's face turns red and his breathing grows ragged. As he covers his face and turns to the side, Zhe He clearly sees him struggling to keep the corners of his mouth from lifting and frantically dodging her gaze.

At the same time, the male lead's pleasure level in the face-slapping story System rises.

System: ?

Zhe He: ?

*

#That year, with apricot blossoms falling in the misty rain, you said the loser had to get on their knees and be your dog. And I believed you.#

Zhe He is the eldest senior sister of Xuanqing Sect, born into a prominent family and beyond reproach.

And yet, that year, she bent down herself to put a collar on a mad dog who had been cast out, dressed him in human skin, and taught him how to recognize joy and anger, letting him taste love and hate for the first time.

But later, she let go, turned away, and tossed him his leash. "Go."

So Luo Xingzhou, who had already stood up and walked a long way, had no choice but to bite the leash and kneel again, inching back to her one step at a time. Smiling, he asked:

"Senior Sister, don't you want your little puppy anymore?"

Content warning:

A mad-dog male lead in an arrogant-hero story, plus Mary Sue dog-training fiction.

The senior sister attacks everyone equally. This is a Mary Sue story about a universally adored heroine who attracts both men and women. Consider this a heads-up.

Written by a dark-fiction author. The plot has angst and is not a traditional power-up fantasy. Please be aware.

The main romance is BG, but I crave this kind of twisted dynamic.

Although the blurb makes the plot sound tangled, it's genuinely a one-on-one romance, I promise (heart).

One final, important warning:

[Readers who hold the heroine to unusually high standards, who like to feel sorry for men in particular, who claim to be heroine fans but enjoy nitpicking only the heroine, or who insist that every gender-neutral term must be gendered and then hold literary show trials in the comments should think carefully before reading. My heroine and my story follow my own approach. Please don't bring an impossibly long list of expectations for a strong female lead into the comments, cry "I'm a woman too," and start a gender war over fictional characters. Comments like these will interfere with other readers' enjoyment. We're clearly not on the same page, so don't make yourself miserable.]

Theme: Dignity has never depended on the charity of others.