Chapter 6: Mangosteen
According to the original novel's setup, the female supporting character Wen Tingxia and the female lead Shen Lingyao were twin sisters.
Both were orphans.
Back then, the kind-hearted Mrs. Shen had wanted to adopt a daughter from the orphanage, and Wen Tingxia—sensible and clever—had caught her eye at first glance.
But Wen Tingxia couldn't bear to leave her frail, sickly younger sister behind. She refused to go with Mrs. Shen, handing the once-in-a-lifetime chance to enter a wealthy family straight to her sister.
That is, to the heroine of this book—Shen Lingyao.
"If I'd had a biological sister, I would've given up that chance too, back then. No regrets. I couldn't just stand by and watch my own sister die of illness in an orphanage."
Wen Tingxia's voice was soft, but her expression was clear and steady.
There's a limit to how much you can "give." The original host had done right by her sister in every way—she owed nothing.
Neither did she.
When Wen Tingxia pushed open the dorm door, two of her roommates were already back. Both turned to look at her at once.
Her heart lurched, and she stood there frozen.
The air went still. Nobody said a word.
Wen Tingxia's eyes darted around. Her fingers nervously pinched the hem of her shirt as she wondered whether to come up with something to break the silence.
"Ahhh, I can't hold it in anymore! See, I told you she had to be a beauty—you didn't believe me. I accidentally walked in on her showering the other day. Curves in all the right places, full where it counts—a solid C at least. Killer figure, skin like a peeled egg, and a pretty face too. I knew I wasn't wrong!"
The one who blurted this out was Su Xiaobai—short, barely 1.55 meters, with a little bun-shaped face. She stared at Wen Tingxia, eyes shining.
That face was like a little fairy trailing immortal mist—exactly her type.
Before, Wen Tingxia simply hadn't known how to dress herself. She'd sealed away her own good looks.
God, Su Xiaobai wanted to go pinch her cheeks and hug her. What was she supposed to do?
Seeing her roommate's shameless, lovestruck look, the other roommate, Qin Meng, awkwardly tugged at her sleeve.
"Su Xiaobai! If she's pretty, that's her business. What are you getting so worked up for? You're practically drooling. Dignity—have some dignity."
It was a four-person dorm, standard setup—bed on top, desk below. Everyone had their own little space.
The fourth roommate wasn't in right now.
QQ: [Xiaxia, quick, look, look! The girl who just spoke is this year's national college entrance exam top scorer—a literary star descended to earth. Total score: 746. Tsinghua went to a lot of trouble to snatch her from Peking University. Same major as the male lead—physics. She'll be his right-hand woman later on, contributing to the country's aerospace industry alongside him.]
At that, Wen Tingxia stole a few more glances at Qin Meng.
Neat, regulation student bob. Delicate features—not a stunner, but easy on the eyes. Thick glasses, a serious expression, the air of a young old-school scholar.
"Have you guys eaten? I brought back some late-night snacks. Let's eat together."
With Su Xiaobai livening things up, Wen Tingxia relaxed quite a bit. She lifted the bag in her hand—cumin lamb chops packed from Qingyu Zhai, plus a few desserts and milk teas.
Qin Meng and Su Xiaobai both blinked, then exchanged a look.
They were all freshmen, and they'd shared this dorm for almost exactly a month.
The whole time, Wen Tingxia had left early and come back late—either in class or working part-time jobs. When she returned, she often climbed straight into bed without even showering, drew her curtain, and never said a word to them.
They'd assumed she was a loner who didn't want anything to do with anyone.
"Can we really eat together?"
Su Xiaobai was a hardcore face obsessive. She couldn't refuse a beauty anything.
Her favorite anime character was Empress Hancock—especially that classic line: "No matter what I do, I'm forgiven, because I'm just too beautiful."
For Su Xiaobai, beauty was the supreme law.
Qin Meng rolled her eyes at her hopeless display and pressed a hand to her forehead with a sigh. "Beyond saving."
"Of course you can. I bought plenty."
Wen Tingxia set the cumin lamb chops on the table, picked up two cups of milk tea, handed one to Su Xiaobai, and held the other out to Qin Meng.
Qin Meng hesitated and didn't move.
"Mengmeng, just take it. This isn't ordinary milk tea—it's from Qingyu Zhai! Normally you'd have to queue at least three hours for a cup."
Su Xiaobai stabbed a straw into her cup, took a deep sip, and happily urged Qin Meng on.
Qin Meng stopped being coy and took the milk tea. "Thanks. Next time it's on me."
Natural and poised—neither fawning nor stiff.
"Great, I'll hold you to that."
The three exchanged smiles and happily dug in.
The timid little thing got along with girls much more easily.
The warmth lasted less than three minutes before Wen Tingxia's phone rang.
Seeing the caller ID, the smile on her face faded. She took the phone and stepped out of the dorm.
"Hello." She pressed answer.
"You ungrateful brat—how many days has it been, and you still haven't sent money home? Your brother's got his eye on that tri-fold phone, your father's out of cigarette and liquor money, and me? I can't even afford a bag.
My life is so bitter. If your father and I hadn't adopted you back then, you'd have died in that orphanage fire. We raised you through hell and back, and this is how you repay us? You white-eyed wolf—you should've died in that fire..."
The woman's voice was shrill and vicious, and Wen Tingxia's heart sank right along with it.
This was the original host's adoptive mother—Qin Yazhi.
Back then, after the original host gave up the Shen family's adoption chance to her sister, it wasn't long before a poor, childless couple adopted her.
Who'd have thought—the very next year after the adoption, the adoptive mother got pregnant and gave birth to a big, healthy baby boy.
From then on, Wen Tingxia's life was a mess. Treated like a servant girl, she was often hungry and cold, beaten and scolded.
The original host, who prized family above all else, bore it without complaint. She started doing child labor in middle school, and in college she took on several part-time jobs—supporting herself and still sending living expenses home every month.
Let her miss a single payment, and the adoptive mother's call would come, tearing into her with the cruelest words.
[Xiaxia, don't be sad. I'm still here.] QQ whispered.
The woman on the other end was still ranting. Wen Tingxia closed her eyes, steeled herself, and hung up.
"Little Penguin, I can feel the original host's sorrow."
Wen Tingxia's moist almond eyes reddened. She wasn't the original host, but everything the original host had gone through, she felt it too. "She may be a supporting character in a book, but she's flesh and blood. She has her own misfortunes."
On the other end, Qin Yazhi hadn't expected her usually obedient, easily pushed-around adopted daughter to dare hang up on her. Boiling with rage, she called again.
This time, Wen Tingxia hit decline and blocked Qin Yazhi's number.
After a moment's thought, she blocked her adoptive father's number too.
The world, at last, returned to peace.
-
Elsewhere.
In a private room at a high-end restaurant, Pei Jinghuai let out a series of anguished howls. "It's over, it's over—I'm the one who screwed Brother Lin. I never should've brought up that bet."
Half an hour later, his friends had pieced the whole story together.
"Is Brother Lin's girlfriend really that ugly?"
"Yeah. Hard on the eyes. And tacky—goofy-tacky."
"And Brother Lin still agreed to date her? With his looks and his family? Half the socialites in the capital circle are circling him like hawks. He could have a celestial beauty and still be worthy of her."
"Brother Lin keeps his word. He agreed back then, and he says he takes his losses—no going back on it. Wuuu, it's all my fault."
With that, Pei Jinghuai tragically downed several gulps of liquor.
"Since Brother Lin keeps his word so strictly, and he agreed to date the ugly girl for just one month, then it'll be exactly one month. After that they'll definitely break up—nothing will come of it. What are you worried about?"
Pei Jinghuai: "!!!"
His hand froze around the bottle. His eyes lit up.
Right!
One month wasn't too long. When the time came, He Xulin and the ugly duckling would split quietly, no one in the circle the wiser. Word would never reach Grandpa He or Shen Lingyao.
At that thought, the gloom clogging Pei Jinghuai's chest cleared away completely. He clapped the friend beside him on the shoulder. "Bro, you really know how to talk. You're right, you're right. Come on, a few more rounds."
The friend set down the phone he'd been using to chat with his girlfriend and raised his glass. "Cheers, bro."
Just now, he'd dropped a bombshell on his girlfriend: He Xulin—the thousand-year iron tree, the untouchable immortal who never gave women a second glance—was dating! And he'd picked a very ugly girl.
His stunned girlfriend forwarded this first-hand gossip straight to her sisters' group chat...