Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When He Wei returned to the Yan residence again, it was a little past ten at night.

The sky overhead looked as if ink had been splashed across it, dark clouds rolling, as though they would press down the next second.

In the yard, the streetlights cast flickering shadows, and the thunder by her ears was long and piercing.

A torrential rain was about to arrive but had not yet come.

He Wei stood at the villa’s entrance, her finger fixed on the numeric password lock, not moving for a long while.

Boom—

Another peal of thunder crashed down.

Lightning tore across the night sky, clearly illuminating the woman’s hand—fair and slender, with delicate skin, the bluish veins faintly visible on the back.

He Wei’s face turned slightly pale, sweat seeping from the tip of her nose. Just as her finger was about to withdraw, a mechanical yet soft voice sounded in her mind: “Hos… host, aren’t you really going to go take a look?”

“I don’t want to look anymore.”

He Wei clenched her fingers, a surge of sour liquid rising from her stomach to her throat.

Disgusting.

There was no scene more disgusting than seeing another woman sleeping with her own boyfriend.

System: “But if you don’t go take a look, wha… what if next time this woman snatches your ma… man again…”

It was obviously lacking confidence; by the end it almost had no sound left. He Wei was surprised: “You don’t know which woman it is?”

The rainy air was heavy, and even the voice in her mind fell into stagnant silence.

After quite a while, the system weakly said: “I only know the male lead slept with another woman, but I don’t know who that woman is…”

To put it bluntly, this silly, naive system was the typical kind that couldn’t be relied on for big matters and wasn’t needed for small ones.

Before the voice in her mind had even finished this time, He Wei reached out again and swiftly pressed six digits.

With a “beep,” the door lock unlocked in response.

He Wei tightened her grip on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and then pushed the door open.

Outside the door, thunder and lightning still raged, while inside, it was a scene full of vivid sensuality.

The light cast by the crystal chandelier in the very center of the living room was bright and dazzling, shining directly on the two pale bodies tumbling together on the sofa. The two entwined bodies were obviously too absorbed; they didn’t even know when the door had been opened.

He Wei’s gaze dimmed slightly, and she raised her hand to knock three times on the door.

Perhaps covered by the thunder, after the knocking sounded, the two people still rolled about in oblivion.

He Wei pressed her lips together. Her face was deathly pale, a layer of moisture welling in her eyes. Turning her head, she caught sight of the Tang Dynasty vase treasured by the Yan family on the cabinet by the wall. He Wei had no mood to admire it. Driven by a desire for revenge, she raised her arm and swept the well-placed antique down in one motion.

With a “crash,” the vase shattered across the floor, barely covering the thunder outside.

The man paused first for a few seconds. After reacting, he glanced toward the source of the sound. When his gaze touched the shards of porcelain on the ground, he was about to flare up, but when he lifted his head and saw He Wei’s face, he froze abruptly.

The air still carried the smell left after intense intercourse between a man and a woman, mixed with the woman’s perfume, stimulating He Wei’s nerves every second.

Yan Chen hurriedly got up from the woman. The clothes on his body had been stripped completely, his naked form exposed under the lights. Heat rose to the tips of He Wei’s ears, and she quickly turned her head to the side.

The next second, the man’s slightly hoarse voice came together with the rustling sound of dressing: “He He, listen to my explanation first…”

Caught in bed—what was there to explain?

He Wei’s gaze lifted and fixed on another colored-glaze plate, not giving him any chance to explain, and she said as calmly as possible, “Let’s break up.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, and was gentle and soft, yet Yan Chen’s movements suddenly stiffened.

He hadn’t expected his always gentle, good-tempered girlfriend to propose breaking up so decisively.

“He He, calm down. I love you…”

He Wei tugged at the corner of her mouth.

She of course knew that Yan Chen loved her.

Just when he had been working hard on top of that woman a moment ago, the favorability toward He Wei displayed above his head was still seventy-nine.

The maximum was one hundred. Sixty meant liking, seventy meant love, and above eighty was deep love.

Yan Chen loved her, but that did not prevent him from having relations with other women.

What was this called?

The inferior nature of men.

He Wei cursed inwardly, estimating that enough time had passed for Yan Chen to cover his important parts, and only then did she turn to look.

Her gaze stayed on the slightly disheveled man for only a second, then moved downward, landing on the woman who was leaning against the sofa without the slightest attempt to cover her naked body.

He Wei had an impression of her; she should be a pure and innocent young starlet who had only become popular last month.

And at this moment, this young actress was admiring her scallion-white fingers painted with bright red nail polish under the overhead light, her posture as alluring as could be.

“He He…” Yan Chen grew anxious, followed her line of sight, and hurriedly pulled up his pants while casually grabbing a cushion to cover the woman. “I definitely won’t have any more contact with her in the future…”

“No need.” She memorized the woman’s face bit by bit, then withdrew her gaze, took two hundred yuan out of her bag, and placed it on the cabinet. “Just treat it as me buying a live adult performance.”

“He He…”

Yan Chen was clearly unwilling to give up, still struggling to explain. He Wei was too lazy to pay him any more attention. Taking advantage of the fact that he hadn’t finished dressing and couldn’t catch up for the moment, she tightened her grip on the bag strap and quickly walked out the door.

Outside, lightning and thunder interwove, and at some point the torrential rain poured down.

He Wei hadn’t brought an umbrella, but she couldn’t care less now. She held her bag over her head and jogged out of the Yan family’s residence.

Butler Liu’s car was parked at the entrance. Seeing her run out in the rain, he quickly got out with an umbrella and stepped forward to meet her: “Miss He, did you get your things back?”

He Wei nodded, saying nothing.

She had originally come back with Yan Chen for dinner today, arriving a little after eight in the evening and planning to leave around ten.

Who would have expected that less than a quarter of an hour after leaving the Yan residence, the system suddenly reminded her that Yan Chen and a woman were rolling in bed in the living room.

When the system’s embarrassed and stammering voice sounded, He Wei was just about to get out of the car and return to her own home. After hesitating for a few seconds, she closed the car door again, lied that she had left something at the Yan residence, and had Uncle Liu drive her back.

And just like that, she really did catch Yan Chen in the act.

Uncle Liu opened the rear door for her. “Miss He, you…”

Her complexion didn’t look very good.

He glanced at the woman who quietly got into the car and, in the end, didn’t say the rest.

He Wei’s complexion really was not good.

The pungent smell from the living room just now still seemed to fill her nose, sour liquid surged up from her stomach again. She reached out and pinched her nose, then lowered the rear window to the maximum.

Uncle Liu started the car and kindly reminded her, “Miss He, be careful not to catch a cold.”

Anyway, she would die in less than two hours, so who cared whether she caught a cold.

He Wei frowned, leaned back against the seat, and slightly closed her eyes.

Raindrops from outside splashed in, soaking the long hair hanging at her shoulders.

The woman was beautiful, her face clean and fair, her features delicate and lively, excessively pure.

Uncle Liu looked a few more times at the nearly self-abusing beautiful woman. Just as he withdrew his gaze, she opened her eyes. “Uncle Liu, stop the car.”

Huh?

Uncle Liu was stunned. “Miss He, I’ll drive you to the downstairs of your home…”

“No need, just stop the car.”

“It’s still raining outside…”

He Wei didn’t reply. She lifted her eyelashes, her hand pressing on the door handle, and met Uncle Liu’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

Uncle Liu sighed. Having no other choice, he could only pull the car over to the roadside.

Before he had time to find her an umbrella, He Wei had already opened the door and gotten out.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier.

Without turning her head, He Wei stepped through the accumulated water and continued walking forward.

Uncle Liu didn’t dare drive away, and kept following behind at an unhurried pace.

This Miss He was the second young master’s darling. Usually he couldn’t bear for her to be bumped or hurt; if anything happened today, he would definitely be in trouble.

Seeing the rain getting heavier outside, Uncle Liu grew anxious. He sped up a bit, drove to He Wei’s side, rolled down the window, and handed out an umbrella. “Miss He, you should take an umbrella. If you get sick, I won’t be able to explain it to the second young master.”

He Wei didn’t refuse. After thanking him, she took the umbrella. “You can head back first.”

Her home was just ahead; after crossing one intersection, she would be there. It wasn’t far.

Most importantly, she didn’t want to see anything or anyone related to Yan Chen today.

Uncle Liu was still worried. “Miss He, if you don’t want to sit in the car, then walk… but I have to watch you get home before I feel at ease!”

He was still treating her as the future young madam of the Yan family.

He Wei stopped and refused to move forward.

Uncle Liu had lived most of his life; naturally he understood what she meant.

He roughly guessed that the young couple had quarreled today.

Unable to advance or retreat, after two minutes of stalemate, Uncle Liu worried she would catch a chill staying outside too long. After reminding her a few times, he had no choice but to turn the car around.

Half a minute later, the champagne-colored luxury car completely disappeared from sight. Only then did He Wei turn around, quicken her pace, and continue forward.

Ahead was an intersection. The green light flashed once and just then turned red.

He Wei stopped. Holding the umbrella Uncle Liu had just given her, she lowered her head to look at the shoes soaked completely through by the rain and softly asked the system, “Guess what kind of death I’ll have this time?”

The system let out a sniffling sound, sounding aggrieved and on the verge of tears. “Host… Host, next time I’ll try hard to warn you before you get cheated on…”

He Wei still kept her head lowered, not holding any hope for it. “…You should just guess the death.”

“Probably dying from a high fever… Ho… Host, don’t be too sad because of this scumbag.”

Drops of water slid down He Wei’s face, and it was impossible to tell whether they were rain or tears. Her entire face was colorless, and she had bitten her lip open a little; it was slightly swollen now, making her look even more pitiful and moving.

Of course He Wei was sad, but not because of the scumbag male lead.

She was purely sad for herself.

Less than a year after transmigrating into the tragic female lead of the angst novel “The Ex-Wife Above”, tonight would be her tenth unnatural death.

The system was still lamenting, “This book’s ma… male lead is really such a scumbag…”

Of course he was.

Not only was the male lead scummy, the author who created him was also scummy.

The author seemed to have some inexplicable malice toward the female lead. In the book, the female lead not only had a miserable background, unloved by father or mother, but was also repeatedly schemed against by female supporting characters, cheated on by the male lead, and even suffered a miscarriage when she became pregnant… And after He Wei transmigrated into the female lead of this angst novel, if the male lead Yan Chen didn’t love her—she died; if she was schemed against by the female supporting characters—she died; if she got pregnant and miscarried—she still died.

In short, as long as she was abused, she had to die.

The most terrifying part was that He Wei had never read this novel at all. All the abuse plotlines could only be explored by herself, plus hints from this silly, naive system that stammered whenever it got nervous.

He Wei had already died nine times. The previous nine times were all because she was framed by various female supporting characters. This time, she was about to die because the male lead had cheated on her.

A bizarre and perverse cause of death.

He Wei looked up at the traffic light and casually chatted with the system, “Are there people who transmigrate into sweet romance novels?”

“…Yes.”

“Then do they die as long as things are sweet?”

“Not so, Host,” the system’s voice was very small. “They also die when abused… Our goal is to create a harmonious and beautiful society, letting every female lead be happy and joyful.”

He Wei: “……”

She couldn’t say anything.

The red light for pedestrians lasted more than a minute.

By the time He Wei had said a few words with the system, it had only just passed halfway. She let out a light breath, stopped talking, and quietly waited for the traffic light to change.

At this moment, not far away at the intersection, a black Bentley was slowly approaching.

The wipers moved back and forth. The driver inside the car took a careful look at the woman standing less than ten meters ahead, and after confirming, turned his head to look at the man in the back seat who was resting with his eyes closed. “President Yan, the person ahead seems to be the second young master’s girlfriend.”

As he spoke, the traffic light ahead changed color.

Red light—stop.

Just as the driver was about to stop the car, the man behind him suddenly lifted his eyelids. His gaze swept past the window and settled on the slender, graceful figure ahead on the road. When he spoke, his voice was very low: “Hit her.”

“…President Yan?”

The driver thought he had misheard and froze for a few seconds, unable to react.

Yan Huai withdrew his gaze, enunciating in a low, clear tone, “Hit.”

This time the driver heard it clearly. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, sweat seeping from his palms.

Ahead, He Wei had already lifted her foot, preparing to cross the road.

The driver was about to cry. “President Yan…”

He was a model citizen; he couldn’t do something like causing an accident and injuring someone.

“I’ll take responsibility.” The man raised his eyes, his brows sharp, his double eyelids deep and handsome. His Adam’s apple moved slightly. “Hit lightly.”

The driver understood even less what he meant. In the moment of distraction, he actually forgot to step on the brakes and drove straight toward He Wei.

Only when the figure ahead grew larger did he suddenly come back to his senses and hurriedly slam on the brakes.

Several seconds later, he leaned over the steering wheel and spoke in a trembling voice, “Pre… President Yan…”

He hadn’t hit her.

The man in the back seat slightly relaxed the tightly furrowed brows between his eyes.

The sound of the brakes screeching in the middle of the road split the night sky, even more piercing than a thunderclap on flat ground.

He Wei’s eardrums hurt from the sound. When she turned her head, she saw the black sedan stopped less than half a meter from her.

Through the heavy curtain of rain, the two high beams beside the car looked like a gaping, bloodthirsty mouth, about to swallow her whole.

If it had stopped one second later, she might have died without a complete body.

He Wei’s legs went weak. She wanted to move away, but she couldn’t muster any strength. Not only did she fail to move, she fell straight down instead.

The mechanical voice in her mind sounded again: “Host, this looks like you’re staging an accident…”

He Wei didn’t hear it clearly.

She tilted her head, confirming that the light on the opposite side was indeed red.

Although He Wei had already been prepared to wait for death, she was still badly frightened by the sudden speeding car. She lowered her head and clutched her chest. In her ears were nothing but her irregular heartbeat and the pattering sound of rain.

The umbrella had already fallen to the ground, and He Wei was drenched from head to toe by the torrential rain.

She didn’t bother to pick it up. Just as she raised her hand to wipe her face, the rain seemed to suddenly lessen, and the drops hitting the top of her head thinned out considerably.

He Wei supported herself on the ground with one hand. After several seconds, she realized something was wrong. Sure enough, when she lifted her gaze, she saw a pair of shoes about a dozen centimeters in front of her.

Pure black, with a few specks of mud splashed on the surface.

Looking further up, the man’s suit trouser legs were crisp and straight. Even though they were also splashed with rainwater, they still exuded an innate sense of nobility.

He Wei’s fingers tightened. Rainwater mixed with sand was clenched in her hand, then leaked out through the gaps between her fingers.

Her gaze moved upward bit by bit, until she saw the man’s face looking down at her—long, narrow eyes, slightly raised brows, the curve of his lips gentle, a half-smile that wasn’t quite a smile, a peach-blossom face that looked thin-hearted and unfaithful.

He Wei’s lips moved, and then she noticed the hand he was holding above her head.

Both were being drenched by the rain, yet she was in utter disarray, while this man remained impeccably dressed.

At this moment, He Wei was kneeling on the ground. The white shirt on her body was soaked through and clung tightly to her, outlining the woman’s graceful curves vividly and leaving nothing concealed.

The sound of the car door opening came from behind. The driver belatedly got out, holding two umbrellas as he jogged over. “President Yan…”

Yan Huai frowned, took off his suit jacket, and quickly draped it over He Wei. The men’s suit was several sizes too big and easily covered her completely. The slightly aggressive scent from the man’s body rushed into her nose. He crouched down, his brows lowered, and slowly buttoned her shirt one button at a time. “Shall I take you back?”

“No need.” He Wei felt uncomfortable all over and instinctively kept her distance from everyone in the Yan family. “Yan Chen and I have already broken up.”

In other words, he now had no obligation to be responsible for her safety.

The man fell silent.

For a moment, only the sound of rain pattering against the umbrella remained.

The driver, Xiao Wu, darted his eyes left and right, stunned.

The corner of Yan Huai’s lips hooked slightly—there was none of the gloomy look from a few minutes ago when he had coldly told him to drive into her.

Xiao Wu struggled to hold the umbrella. Seeing him silent for so long, he softly reminded, “President Yan…”

Yan Huai finished fastening the last button and withdrew his hand.

Before He Wei could breathe a sigh of relief, in the next instant the man’s fingers landed on her cheek. The faint smell of tobacco from his fingertips approached as he asked, “Who proposed it?”

“Me.”

He Wei answered softly. Because of this question, her gaze lingered on the man’s face for a few seconds uncontrollably.

Yan Huai was Yan Chen’s half-brother from the same father. They hadn’t met many times before, and given the relationship between them, every time He Wei saw him she had only greeted him briefly and left it at that.

This was the first time He Wei had seen his appearance clearly at close range.

The man’s brows and eyes were exquisite and deep. The broken hair on his forehead was half-wet, raindrops sliding down along the bridge of his high nose. Beneath it, his thin lips were slightly pursed, the curve beautiful and cold.

Her gaze moved downward. His white shirt was also soaked, clinging to his body, faintly revealing the well-defined lines beneath the fabric—sexy and alluring.

Without a doubt, this was an exceptionally outstanding high-quality male supporting character in the book.

And at this moment, this high-quality male supporting character fell silent again.

He Wei thought, it’s over.

Yan Huai was very likely blaming her for dumping his universally charming male lead younger brother, and was probably calculating in his mind how to torment her.

No wonder, even though it had clearly been a red light just now, his car had rushed forward so recklessly.

…If she had known earlier, she would have said that Yan Chen was the one who proposed the breakup.

He Wei was both shocked and afraid, hurriedly turning her gaze away.

Thunder still roared overhead.

She didn’t know how long had passed. Just when He Wei thought she would die right at midnight in the storm, the man’s fingers lightly brushed across her lips, his voice dangerous and bewitching: “Finally broke up, huh—”

No cold laugh, no threat, no vicious choking of her neck.

Completely different from what she had imagined.

He Wei froze and abruptly lifted her eyes to look at Yan Huai.

The man’s eyes were deep and dark. Lightning flashed, making his eyes black and bright, illuminating the emotions hidden within them.

Depth, desire, and a faintly suppressed excitement.

The corner of his lips lifted slightly without a trace. Lowering his voice, he said word by word: “Happy breakup, baby.”