Ding! Congratulations on Binding the Male Supporting Character Rescue System!

The couple left the reception early. Zhao Jie remained silent the whole way home. Only after watching him enter the password and seeing the lock display an error did she speak. "Xiaoyu changed the lock."

Xia Lang looked at her with some dissatisfaction. "You changed the lock last year and never told him the password?"

Her heart tightened slightly, and she said softly, "I don't have his contact information. Didn't you tell him?"

"I was busy and forgot. Tsk, why didn't you set it to the old password when you changed the lock?"

"..." Who would want the front door locked with the former mistress's birthday as the password?!

"Isn't Qingqing home? Have him come downstairs and open the door."

"I'll send him a message..."

Five minutes later, Xia Wanqing dragged his aching body downstairs to open the door. When he saw the two of them, his nose stung. "Dad, Mom, why did you come back so soon?"

"Qingqing!" Zhao Jie looked at his bruised and swollen forehead, cupping his face painfully. "How did you fall so badly? Mom will take you to the hospital..."

"No need to go to the hospital. I just bumped it." Xia Wanqing let her inspect him, while his gaze flicked toward Xia Lang, who kept looking upstairs. A trace of dejection and resentment passed through his eyes.

"Be more careful when you go downstairs from now on." Xia Lang changed his shoes as he asked, "Where's your brother?"

Xia Wanqing patted Zhao Jie's hand when he noticed that she did not look well. "He's upstairs getting over jet lag."

"Oh. Have you eaten?"

"I haven't."

"Has your brother eaten?"

"He has..."

Xia Lang nodded. "A-Jie, make him something to eat."

Zhao Jie suppressed the bitterness in her heart. "All right..."

"Meow..."

Liu Ling came out of the maid's room with Pomelo in her arms. Seeing the people in the living room, she greeted them blandly. "Mr. Xia."

Xia Lang froze for a moment. "Sister Liu? Why are you here?"

She gave a fake smile. "Young Master is used to my care. The maid you hired has already been dismissed."

"Oh... Then stay. Xiaoyu has always liked the food you make."

As the current mistress of the house, Zhao Jie could barely hold herself together. She had hired that maid, and the woman had worked for three years. Xia Yu had dismissed her without even informing Zhao Jie?

She clenched her teeth and forced out a smile. "Sister Liu, is it? Qingqing hasn't had dinner. Could you make him something?"

Liu Ling looked her up and down. "Sorry, my work only revolves around my young master."

"You..."

"Mom, I'm not hungry. There's no need to trouble Aunt Liu." Xia Wanqing was exceedingly considerate.

Zhao Jie bit her lip and looked toward Xia Lang, hoping he would say something.

Instead, his mind was entirely occupied with Xia Yu upstairs. "Sister Liu, is Xiaoyu asleep?"

"He is. Keep your voices down when you go upstairs. He'll get angry if you wake him."

"Okay." Xia Lang gave up on his plan to have a few words with the son he had not seen in years. "A-Jie, find some medicine and put it on Qingqing's forehead."

"I know. Go upstairs and rest."

"Mm."

The huge living room was left with only mother and son. Zhao Jie fetched the first-aid kit and applied medicine to Xia Wanqing's injury. As she worked, tears began streaming down her face uncontrollably.

Xia Wanqing sighed and wiped away her tears. "Mom, I'm fine. It's only a minor injury."

"How can your father treat you like this?!" She sobbed so hard that she could barely speak. "He feels guilty toward Xia Yu, but aren't you his son too? Xia Yu made you fall so badly, yet he doesn't care at all. He only cares whether Xia Yu has eaten. Because of him, how much humiliation have we suffered? Even now, people still point fingers at us and curse us..."

"Mom, I just didn't stand properly."

"That was because of his cat too. You're so afraid of cats, yet he brought two of them home. He must have done it on purpose."

"Don't overthink it. He's never met me before, so he doesn't know I'm afraid of cats."

Zhao Jie wiped her tears. "The moment he came back, he changed the locks and dismissed the maid I hired. He's definitely targeting us on purpose. And that Sister Liu acts so high and mighty, like she doesn't even see me, the mistress of this house."

"Mom, don't be sad..." Xia Wanqing felt terrible too.

She cried for a while longer, venting a little before she finally stood up. "I'll make you a bowl of noodles. Eat, then get some rest early. Tomorrow, we'll go to the hospital and have you checked."

"I'm really fine."

"I'm worried."

"...All right."

In the second-floor bedroom, Xia Yu leaned against the headboard, watching a movie on his tablet while stroking Tangerine's fur. He had slept all afternoon and was not sleepy at all now.

"Beep beep beep..." The phone on the bedside table suddenly rang.

He only glanced at it before continuing to watch the movie.

"Beep beep beep..."

"Beep beep beep..."

After it automatically hung up several times, it finally fell silent for a while.

"Ding..."

A message notification sounded. This time, he picked up his phone and opened the message page. Three cold words were displayed on it: Answer the phone.

Xia Yu sneered, blacklisted the number, tossed his phone aside, turned off the light, and lay down.

"Meow?" Tangerine was bewildered. Why had it suddenly gone dark?

"Stop making noise. Time to sleep."

"Meow..."

"Make another sound and I'll break your legs."

"..." The kitten did not dare make another sound. Its poor companion had lost the dignity of a male cat forever after disobeying and meowing once too many.

Xia Yu tossed and turned for quite a while before sleepiness finally rose within him. Half asleep, he suddenly heard a somewhat youthful electronic voice in his mind.

"Ding! Congratulations on binding the Male Supporting Character Rescue System!"

He slowly opened his eyes. What system?

"It's the Male Supporting Character Rescue System." The system heard his thoughts and haughtily repeated itself.

"What is that?"

"Ding! Host successfully bound. Beginning plot transmission."

Xia Yu only felt waves of electrical current pass through his mind. Countless memories appeared within it—memories that were both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.

"Huh?" The system sounded puzzled. "Host, have you finished receiving the plot? Why are you so calm? Don't you have anything you want to ask?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why did you bind yourself to me?"

"You're the cannon fodder male supporting character of this world. I came specifically to save you."

"How?"

Having obtained its first host, the system was somewhat excited. It failed to notice the amusement in his tone and declared spiritedly, "Just like the memories I transmitted to you, you are the cannon fodder male supporting character in a satisfying dual-male-lead novel about abusing scum and slapping faces. The male lead is Chu Lan, your childhood friend whom you have secretly loved since you were young. The male lead's love interest is your illegitimate younger brother, Xia Wanqing. In the early stages, you relentlessly humiliate him. In the later stages, he makes your life miserable. The Spacetime Administration has always advocated love and peace, so they sent me to stop you from courting death and change your tragic fate."

Xia Yu's lips curled upward. "The Spacetime Administration sent you?"

"Uh... not exactly. The program automatically detects the character profiles of people in small worlds and assigns suitable systems to them. As a male supporting character, your resentment is too great, so I automatically bound myself to you. Don't worry. As long as you do what I say, you'll definitely live to a hundred."

"Oh? Then what should I do?"

The system confidently planted its hands on its hips. "As a male supporting character, you need to act like one. The most basic rule for staying alive is to be detached and unbothered. Treat the male lead's love interest well, stay away from the male lead, don't rush to bully the protagonist, and always remember that supporting characters can never defeat protagonists."

"Ah... But you came one step too late. A few hours ago, I pushed Xia Wanqing down the stairs, right in front of Chu Lan."

"What?!"

"Can't you access my memories?"

"..." The newly manufactured baby-bottle system was speechless. It was only Level One. It knew only the novel's plot and did not yet have permission to access its host's memories!

"Why aren't you saying anything? Did you run out of power?"

"It's over!" It was on the verge of tears. "I came too late! You've already started down the path of courting death!"

In the novel, it was because the male supporting character pushed the male lead's love interest down the stairs that everyone began to dislike him. He then gradually turned dark, only to be killed in the end by the male lead's love interest, who possessed a natural all-charming aura, and all of his admirers. How had it arrived only after missing such a crucial point in time?!

Sensing its frantic panic, Xia Yu pretended to be anxious. "He definitely holds a grudge against me now. What should I do?"