[—And so, on the very first day Meng Wange arrived at the Su residence, she experienced several rounds of unimaginable, inhumane bullying.]
[The villainous heiress Su Wanli took one look at Meng Wange and immediately seized the only keepsake left behind by her mother. Things only escalated from there—Su Wanli kicked open her door, summoned her into her room, and subjected her to both physical and verbal humiliation. She nearly stripped Meng Wange naked.]
[If Meng Wange hadn’t acted quickly, lowering herself and offering to do Su Wanli’s makeup and hair, the consequences would’ve been unthinkable.]
[Yet even after narrowly escaping Su Wanli’s clutches, Meng Wange suffered further humiliation during the welcoming banquet supposedly held in her honor. Su Heng ignored her completely, while Su Wanli bossed her around as if she were a servant. Meng Wange barely managed to eat a few bites—her dignity as a human being was all but gone.]
[But Meng Wange’s nightmare was far from over. After the banquet, Auntie Zhang pretended to kindly offer her a tour of the Su residence. In truth, she was conspiring with Su Wanli to subject Meng Wange to yet another round of cruel bullying.]
[After dousing Meng Wange with filthy water mixed with chemicals and glass shards, Su Wanli laughed and spat out a cruel line—”The Su family will never acknowledge you”—before ordering her to get out of her sight.]
“…?”
Hearing the electronic chatter buzzing by her ear, Su Wanli frowned and rolled over.
[Despite the horrifying malice and despicable abuse she endured, Meng Wange didn’t give in. She didn’t run away. She chose to face it head-on. When Su Wanli forced her way into Meng Wange’s room once again, Meng Wange calmly revealed her vulnerabilities, showing her harmlessness.]
[Not only that, Meng Wange took the initiative. Using the excuse of tutoring Su Wanli, she quietly studied her personality flaws, preparing to launch her counterattack in secret.]
[However, Su Wanli wasn’t that stupid. The moment she sensed Meng Wange’s subtle scheming, she decided to furiously study elementary and middle school math textbooks, believing that boosting her IQ would allow her to match Meng Wange’s intelligence.]
[—And as a result, Su Wanli slept especially well that night.]
***
“……”
Unable to endure it any longer, Su Wanli finally sat up in bed and cut the system off.
“What do you mean I slept especially well?! You’re the one who slept especially well! Your whole family slept especially well! And don’t make it sound like the day is already over! It’s clearly still nighttime!”
[Apologies, Host. I didn’t mean to disturb your rest. I was merely recording my work to report to the higher-ups.]
“I already told you—I wasn’t sleeping. I was meditating with my eyes closed, trying to memorize a few math formulas… Wait, where’s my textbook?”
[It was just lying on your face. You knocked it off when you sat up.]
“……”
Su Wanli silently bent down and picked up the fallen textbooks from the floor, holding them once more in her hands.
Ahem… She had originally planned to start reviewing from her sophomore and junior year textbooks, but after just a couple of pages, she realized she had forgotten even the most basic terminology.
In the end, she had to ask the system to pull out middle school materials for her to start from scratch.
‘How nice… Math. Next time I can’t sleep, I’ll just think about conversion formulas. That should knock me out in under a minute…’
No, she couldn’t keep thinking about math.
She needed something to distract herself, or she’d pass out again.
“…Wait a second. System, did you just say you’re recording your work?”
“That’s right.”
“You mean to say you have a superior who monitors your work?”
[From a human perspective, you could interpret it that way.]
“A system that has another system above it… I can’t believe that’s actually a thing.”
Su Wanli let out a long yawn and murmured lazily, “But I swear I just heard something like ‘Su Wanli noticed Meng Wange’s scheming, so she decided to throw herself into studying to compete with her.’ Don’t you think putting such a ridiculous plotline into your report will make your boss instantly realize you’re making stuff up?”
[It’s fine. I, uh, edited Meng Wange’s part very well. And as for you, since you’re the villain, just a couple strokes of characterization will do. No one really cares.]
“Hey, saying that makes it sound like all my hard work was meaningless. Take that last line back.”
[Apologies. I retract the statement, ‘No one really cares.’ Your efforts are, of course, meaningful. In fact, it’s because of your existence that the story feels so thrilling, dramatic, unforgettable, and legendary.]
“…You don’t have to force the compliments that hard.”
Sleepiness washed over Su Wanli again.
She let out another long yawn and stretched under the moonlight.
It had been a busy day.
Even though the system was completely unreliable, the missions had been released at the last minute, the plot kicked in immediately, and the prep time was cut drastically short—she still managed to complete all of the tasks.
‘Huh, when you look at it like that… I’m actually pretty capable! At least when it comes to playing the villainess.’
‘Still, if things kept going like this, it was hard to say whether she’d eventually become that kind of person. She might end up with a mountain of money but no ability to form normal human relationships ever again…’
Sensing Su Wanli’s thoughts, the system quickly chimed in—
[Don’t worry, Host. To prepare for situations like this, we’ve developed a comprehensive follow-up program.]
“Hmm? What program?”
[It’s called the ‘Humble Cinderella Roleplay System.’ Just play that for one month, and no matter how bratty your personality has become, you’ll return to normal—]
“Sorry, asking you that was my mistake. Please shut up now.”
She let out a third yawn.
The overwhelming exhaustion made it clear that this body could no longer handle any more of the second semester’s math curriculum.
Forget it.
No point comparing herself to Meng Wange, that genius heroine. Better to just wash up and sleep early.
Though… it felt like she was forgetting something…
Thinking back over the day, Su Wanli suddenly smacked her forehead.
“Wait a sec. Every time I finish a mission, you say something like ‘the reward will be issued along with the summary,’ right? Well, today’s almost over. Where’s my reward?”
[Hold on. Let me finish the last line of the report first.]
[—And so, the long and thrilling tug-of-war between Meng Wange and Su Wanli officially began.]
Once the final foreshadowing line was added, the system finally turned its attention back to Su Wanli.
[Apologies for the delay, Host. First of all, thank you for your brilliant performance today. With your presence, the heroine Meng Wange shines even brighter—]
“Stop. I’m not here to hear you babble. Just give me the reward and be done with it.”
Su Wanli mercilessly cut off its empty flattery and got straight to the point.
[Very well… Based on your performance today, I now present your mission reward—]