Note: This is a work of fiction. I am not very familiar with the Chinese school system, but I am doing my best to research it for this story.
Please rest assured that there is no inappropriate content (smut) in this story. It is written for readers of all ages to enjoy.
I hope to share this story with everyone, and I truly hope you enjoy reading it!
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"Argh! This heroine is stressing me out! Why can't she stop using him to climb toward the male god?!"
Lan Yuan lay on her bed with her tablet, her dark eyes moving quickly across the screen. She was frustrated by a web novel she had discovered two days ago. It was the most popular story on the site, but it made her blood boil. At first, the plot was good, but halfway through, Lan Yuan began to despise the heroine.
"Seriously!" Lan Yuan shouted at the empty room.
"She needs to stop playing with the villain's heart. He's already broken, yet he still trusts her!" She was so upset that she began biting her nails.
She felt deeply sorry for the villain, to the heroine, he was nothing but a tool.
The story, A Diamond's Tear, was a cliché: a rich CEO falls for a poor girl, while the villain, the "second lead" loves her too. Both men had tragic pasts and a fierce rivalry, while the heroine acted like a weak, innocent girl.
"Only fifteen chapters left, and this plot is driving me crazy!"
Lan Yuan scrolled down, biting her lip. She read a scene where the hero and the villain fought. Suddenly, her eyes widened.
"Did she seriously just leave the villain after giving him hope?"
Lan Yuan snorted. "Wow, what a 'heroine.'" She stopped caring about the girl and skimmed through her parts.
To Lan Yuan, the heroine was a massive "red flag." She used the villain to gain wealth, acting sweet when the hero was around but meeting the villain in secret to keep their "friendship" alive. The hero didn't suspect a thing.
Lan Yuan rubbed her forehead. "You leave him, and then you see him again just to act like you did nothing wrong? Unbelievable."
When she reached the last chapter, Lan Yuan's hands were shaking. She gripped her blanket and screamed, "The villain dies?! What?!"
The heroine had stabbed him just as he walked over to apologize. It happened so fast that Lan Yuan sat in shock. He just wanted to say sorry! Why would she kill him without listening?
Lan Yuan scrolled further, unable to believe it. After a brief hospital scene, the hero and heroine confessed their love. Then, the story skipped two weeks to their wedding day.
"What?! You skip two weeks and they're suddenly married?" Lan Yuan shook her head. "The hero is completely blind."
Lan Yuan was usually a quiet woman with a cold, stiff expression. She was often too lazy to show her feelings; it was only when she was alone that she let her guard down. Having spent the entire night reading only to find a terrible ending, she threw her tablet onto the bed in frustration.
"The villain was just a pawn! Why couldn't he see that? I can't believe I stayed up all night for this. He was blinded by love."
She scoffed as she looked at the character list. "And why did this side character with the same name as me have such a sad ending, too? Did the writer forget to give her a backstory?"
Lan Yuan sighed tiredly. "Whatever. I'm giving this a one-star rating."
After leaving a stinging comment on the final chapter, she finally fell asleep, trying to drown out her anger.
A loud thud on a wooden desk made Lan Yuan flinch.
"Lan Yuan, are you listening to my lecture at all?! Stop sleeping and focus!"
Lan Yuan's shoulders jerked. The voice was too loud, and the sound of muffled laughter around her was irritating. She didn't want to open her eyes; she was still exhausted from that terrible novel. But the voice wouldn't stop.
Then, a strange thought hit her: she lived alone. The realization woke her up completely.
She blinked and slowly lifted her head. She expected to see her bedroom and her tablet. Instead, she saw a middle-aged man standing in front of her. He wore a navy blue shirt and held a thick textbook. He looked furious.
She didn't say anything. Her face remained cold and stiff, even as she woke up in this strange place. In her heart, however, she was cursing whoever had dared to wake her.
This must be a dream, right? Lan Yuan thought, staring at the man with an emotionless expression.
She looked around. Everyone was staring at her—whispering, glancing sideways, and laughing.
Why are they looking at me? What are they whispering about? And what's so funny?
The dream felt too real. Lan Yuan noticed their uniforms and felt a pit form in her stomach.
"Are you listening, Student Lan?!" the man barked. "I asked you to answer the question and you're ignoring me!"
Lan Yuan blinked again. She slowly reached down and pinched her thigh.
"Ow!" she hissed, pulling her hand back.
The class stared. Lan Yuan's expression remained stiff, appearing emotionless even as she panicked inside.
The teacher, seeing no real reaction from her, looked confused. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Lan Yuan suddenly stood up. Her chair screeched loudly against the floor.
Taken aback, the teacher's shoulders jumped in surprise. He watched the girl walk past him, but not before she spoke.
"I need to go to the restroom. I'm not feeling well," Lan Yuan lied. She walked away with slow but hurried steps.
She ignored the questioning looks from her classmates and hurried into the corridor.
This doesn't feel like a dream, she thought.
She was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't see someone coming from the other path. They collided.
"Ow!" Lan Yuan hissed for the second time.
This feels way too real.
Without looking up at the person, Lan Yuan apologized and hurried toward the restroom.
The boy she hit looked at her with a calculating, motionless expression, but his eyebrows frowning slightly. Minding his own business, he relaxed his face and continued to class without a second thought.
Lan Yuan found the restroom and burst inside. She went straight to the mirror.
Shocked, Lan Yuan touched her cheeks. Her pupils widened. "This... where did my eye bags go? And the stress lines?" she muttered.
She pinched her soft cheeks. "My teenage face..."
She remembered falling asleep after finishing the novel. But that sleep felt too short to have landed her here.
In her real life, Lan Yuan was a 34-year-old single woman working for a large company. Reading web novels was her escape from a stressful career. But she had a secret, in her past, she had been a gang leader who ran an anonymous organization. She had retired to live a peaceful, legal life.
"No way... did I transmigrate? Does that mean my real body is... dead?"
But which novel? she wondered.
She read so many that she couldn't be sure. Then, her eyes shifted to her nametag on the school uniform.
She took it off and read the name: Li Lan Yuan.
Lan Yuan remembered that name. It belonged to the only character who shared her name—a side character who died suddenly before the ending. A Diamond's Tear.
"Out of all the novels I've read, the universe dumped me into this tragic side character?"
Lan Yuan rubbed her temples. She sighed. "Screw the main characters. I'm not following the plot at all. I'm too tired for this."
She turned on the faucet and washed her face.
Wait, which chapter am I in? She dried her hands and walked out.
"How am I supposed to know where I am in the timeline?"
She wasn't panicking about dying yet; she was mostly focused on avoiding the leads. As she passed a bulletin board, she stopped and doubled back. She looked at the date: early March, preparation for mock exams.
"It's already starting?" Lan Yuan whispered.
She sighed again. "Ugh, I have to repeat my studies? And the exams are so close."
She continued walking, grumbling to herself. "Whatever. I'll just stay out of the way. Troublesome main characters..."
≤//≥
Little Theatre
Li Lan Yuan: Just let me rest. I can't face those exams again. Author... please...
Author: Don't worry, I made you smart for a reason...
Li Lan Yuan: (Suspicious) Is that reason just so you can give me more work?
Author: (Whistles innocently) Who knows?