Chapter 1 — Glitch in the Supporting Character's Narrative

The brother whom I loathed to the very depths of my soul had suddenly summoned me back to the country. No sooner had I stepped off the plane than my vision was besieged by a swarm of floating, ethereal commentary—a barrage of digital ghosts haunting my peripheral vision:

Oh my god, why has the gloom-ridden secondary male lead’s fake little sister returned at this exact moment?

Exactly! Thank goodness our female lead has such discerning eyes; she finally helped him realize that the girl he raised for over a decade is nothing but a fraud!

It is just a pity that the smart, kind-hearted female lead still belongs to the male lead in the end…

Sigh, the secondary male lead has such a miserable fate. The girl he loves doesn’t want him, his real sister is missing, and he eventually ends up so desperate that he takes his own life…

Suicide? I arched an eyebrow in genuine astonishment. I pulled out my phone and, with a flourish of defiance, posted a status to my social circle:

"Hahaha, wonderful news! That perverted brother of mine has finally decided to kick the bucket!"

"No one left to boss me around! I am going to paint that hideous mansion of his a neon shade of green! I am going to park my phantom motorcycle on his roof! And I am going to start dating every blonde-haired boy I can find!"

My brother read the post, his expression darkening to a lethal shade of ink. He was so incensed that he tore his last will and testament to shreds in the dead of night, letting out a howl that sounded like a monster emerging from the Venetian canals, before scrambling out of his bathtub in a fit of rage.

1

In the great foyer of the Xiao family estate, a pair of burly bodyguards dragged me before my foster brother, Xiao Cheng. He sat upon the sofa, his face a storm of thunderous fury, his thumb scrolling incessantly across his phone screen.

"Well? You were so desperate for me to die, were you?"

I chose to ignore the floating strings of commentary drifting through the air, opting instead to curl my lips into a chilling, sarcastic sneer.

"Did you not say that our next meeting would only take place at someone's funeral?"

"I truly thought you called me back because you had finally met your end. Imagine my surprise, brother—you are still drawing breath."

Xiao Cheng tilted his head slightly, his gaze piercing.

"Are you disappointed?"

I dug my fingernails into my palms, forcing a brittle laugh. "Of course I am." He stood up abruptly, closing the distance between us until he towered over me.

"Seven years I sent you away to Germany. Did it not teach you even an ounce of obedience?"

I fished a lighter from my pocket and sparked a cigarette, tossing my neon-dyed hair with brazen indifference.

"Not only am I disobedient, I could not even bother to finish my degree."

The floating comments surged once more: Haha, three years of study in Germany were the most grueling seven years of this fake sister's five-year academic career. In my opinion, she deserves every bit of this. Who told her to cross the female lead back then? Getting herself exiled was entirely self-inflicted! I bet she has returned just to seek revenge against the female lead. Someone save me, she isn't actually going to try to hurt our female lead, is she?

A veil of cigarette smoke blurred the harsh lines of Xiao Cheng’s face. He stared at me, his eyes cold as glaciers.

"You were not like this before. Tell me, who taught you to be so unruly?"

I remained silent, pressing the glowing ember of my cigarette against his expensive suit jacket. I licked my lips, slowly raised both middle fingers, and began to freestyle:

"Oh, my dear brother, no one taught me a thing! Your little sister is just the kind of person who thrives on chaos! Freestyle! Ohoh, let’s go again!"

Xiao Cheng wiped the flecks of spit from his face, his narrow, elegant eyes widening in shock.

"What do you think you are doing!"

I kept my fingers raised, pacing in a slow, taunting circle around him while chanting.

"I even picked up rapping in Germany! How about this: when the day of your funeral finally comes, should I hire a troupe of pallbearers to dance you to your grave?"

Xiao Cheng’s temples throbbed violently. In a fit of blind rage, he balled up a piece of paper and hurled it directly at my face.

"Xiao Lin, do not push your luck!"

"If I cannot shape you into a decent human being, you think I will just lay down and die?"

2

With that final declaration, Xiao Cheng stormed off toward the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. I picked up the discarded paper, intent on throwing it back, when more comments scrolled by: This must be the will the secondary lead wrote. He is truly a fool; even in his will, he leaves half his assets to the fake sister and the female lead. He raised her for over a decade, after all. If not for the fake sister bringing this upon herself, he really did dote on her… Even before his death, he was making sure she was provided for. He was basically accruing merit for the female lead. Am I the only one who remembers when the fake sister used to be a sweet child?

I rubbed my stinging eyes, then let out a cynical, weary laugh. Ours was a relationship defined by hatred; Xiao Cheng would only die because I had successfully driven him to the brink of insanity. If he died because of unrequited love, the very thought would be humiliating. Under my relentless campaign of sabotage, Xiao Cheng used his wealth to force me back into a local school. On the day of enrollment, I rode my phantom motorcycle in a sweeping arc around the campus. Just as I braked, the floating commentary returned: It is over. The fake sister is starting school, and the secondary lead is back at home, bored and wallowing in his depression. Indeed, the poor secondary lead. He can only sit in his two-thousand-square-meter estate, sipping fifty-thousand-dollar wine, replaying the wedding footage of the male and female leads on a loop… Do not get distracted! Quickly, shift the angle! Look at who is coming! It is the female lead’s brother! My god, it is the socialite head of the Xiang family—he is absolutely gorgeous! Xiang Chengtong, I am in love!

I unbuckled my helmet and squinted, trying to get a clear look.