In a quiet morning, Jiang Yan silently departed from the world.
"What will happen to this world?" Jiang Yan asked.
"It will continue to operate until an issue is detected and it stops," the system seemed busy, answering her question and immediately adding, "The difficulty of the next world task will increase, and you'll need to solve it yourself. I'll appear after you complete the task."
"Oh." Before Jiang Yan had a chance to negotiate, she found herself in the next world.
[Task: Play the role of a poor, greedy, and evil female supporting character.]
Plot: You are a poor university student who sees money as everything, and you pursue the wealthy Shang Lu.
You are hypocritical, greedy, and have no substance, so Shang Lu quickly becomes bored with you. After dumping you, he meets his true love - the female lead Meng Yu Qing. But you believe the female lead stole Shang Lu from you, so you repeatedly try to hinder Shang Lu's pursuit plans and target the female lead. Eventually, you incur everyone's resentment and lose everything you had gained.
As soon as Jiang Yan opened her eyes, she realized where the increased task difficulty lay.
The bedroom space was cramped and narrow, with nothing but the bed. Jiang Yan had never seen such a barren room before.
She absentmindedly took out her constantly buzzing phone, covered in countless scuffs. Only the screen was still visible, with just three or four cracks. It was clearly an old relic.
Jiang Yan answered the call, and a woman's anxious voice came through, "Yan Yan, do you have any money left? Your father's hospital fees are due again, and mom doesn't have enough..."
At the end, she was already choked up and sobbing uncontrollably. Shocked, Jiang Yan hurriedly opened her WeChat wallet, transferred the over 200 yuan there, along with what was in her Alipay and bank account, totaling 500 yuan.
"Okay," the woman had stopped crying, forcing out, "Mom will send you some money when she gets her salary. There's nothing we can do about your dad's situation. Mom will go pay, you study hard at school and do some part-time work during the holidays..."
Jiang Yan hung up in a daze. In the previous world, she lived in a villa with servants attending to her every need. Compared to that, this world was truly unkind to her.
Before she could accept her situation, another call came in with a gruff male voice, "Wu Jiang Yan! Are you coming to work today or not?"
"I'm coming." With her current circumstances, she had no other choice.
"We pay by the hour, you know. Come late, we'll pay you less." The call ended abruptly.
Based on the plot, Wu's Father worked at a construction site and had an accident a few days ago, being rushed to the hospital. This added to the already poor family's burden. People at the construction site argued over responsibility, citing Wu's Father's negligence as an excuse to only pay a small portion of the medical expenses.
Now, Wu's Father awaits surgery in the hospital, with daily medical expenses piling up like flowing water. Wu's Mother has spent all their savings, but it's still far from enough.
The original Jiang Yan often took on part-time jobs to supplement the family income, and now she's working desperately to earn money.
Thus, Jiang Yan experienced doing four part-time jobs in a single day for the first time in her life.
In the morning at a milk tea shop, at noon washing dishes in a restaurant, in the afternoon as a cashier at a supermarket, and in the evening working at an internet cafe until midnight.
In total, she earned 210 yuan but didn't even eat a proper meal, spending only 10 yuan on two servings of instant noodles.
The world was about to end for her.
Jiang Yan was so exhausted and sore that she fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed. Fortunately, she had classes the next day, allowing her to experience the joy of learning for the first time.
Wu Jiang Yan was an excellent student who got into the best local university, A University, partly to stay close and care for her parents, but also because A University offered the most generous scholarships.
That scholarship was a substantial income for her family.
Because she slept so late, Jiang Yan almost missed the alarm she had set.
Her home was very close to the university, located in an old area awaiting demolition. Jiang Yan rode the family's only means of transportation - an old, dilapidated electric scooter - and arrived in five minutes.
The classroom was already half-full, but most people sat towards the back, with hardly anyone in the front three rows. Jiang Yan borrowed books from her roommate, thanked her sincerely with her hands in a heart shape, and then sat in the front, ready for class.
In a classroom where most students looked weary and listlessly stared at their phones, she entered with messy hair but a fresh, pretty face, making cute gestures towards others. This couldn't help but draw attention.
Many people looked at her a few extra times, but one particular gaze kept falling on her involuntarily, glancing away and then returning.
"Bro Lu, who're you looking at?" the person sitting next to him teased with a smile, following his line of sight. "Isn't that Wu Jiang Yan who wrote you a love letter? Oh, have you taken a liking to her? A mutual affection, perhaps..."
Shang Lu playfully put his arm around the other's shoulder, lips curling into a charming smile, his tone deliberately low and intimate, "So concerned about me, eh, darling."
Successfully grossed out, Zheng Jie vowed never to joke around again. Shang Lu smiled contentedly as he withdrew his hand.
But thanks to Zheng Jie's reminder, Shang Lu recalled the previous love letter. Many pursued him, but only one went through the formality of writing a letter. However, that's not why he remembered it.
After the letter fell out, he was worried someone might see it and cause the girl unnecessary gossip, so he took it downstairs and burned it with a lighter.
The flickering sparks even earned him a scolding from the dormitory supervisor. Of course, Shang Lu talked back without any respect for elders.
But just now, as she rushed in, her eyes full of life and charm, he suddenly felt his heart flutter. A strange, bittersweet feeling mingled within him, and then he recognized her as Wu Jiang Yan.
This was an elective course. As soon as it ended, Jiang Yan rushed off, as if she had some urgent matter, so Shang Lu didn't find an opportunity to confirm his feelings.
After class, she grabbed a quick meal and went to her part-time job. Yes, the outstanding Wu Jiang Yan student also had to work as a delivery person, earning a couple yuan per delivery.
The last delivery was a heavy package that Jiang Yan had to deliver to Building No. 9 while braving the cold wind on her scooter. She wondered if this was truly the life of an evil supporting character.
There were often cases of stolen deliveries on campus, so Jiang Yan had to wait for someone to come down and collect it. During this time, her mind wandered as she contemplated her life.
When Shang Lu came out, he saw the girl gazing up with a dazed, bright-eyed expression.
"Is this your delivery?" Jiang Yan asked from her electric scooter, tilting her head.
"It's really heavy and not easy to carry..." Jiang Yan wanted to lament the difficulties of her delivery job, but due to her intense earlier emotions, it sounded like she was about to cry to Shang Lu's ears.
"It's a box of paints, indeed hard to carry," Shang Lu lied blatantly while easily lifting it with one hand. "Let me give you a little extra, okay?"
