Su Mian

Biodata

Background / History

Redemption missions and reincarnation

Su Mian's original assignment was to complete 99 redemption missions in exchange for reincarnation as a human. Her accumulated points also allowed her to choose her future parents. Between assignments, the system normally sealed her memories to prevent attachment to earlier relationships from interfering with subsequent missions 187.

Her former targets included Lu Zhou, Yu Liqi, Su Xun, and Su Qingyan. She entered their stories in different roles: Lu Zhou's romantic partner, Yu Liqi's colleague, Su Xun's younger sister, and Su Qingyan's adopted daughter. Her work helped Yu Liqi establish an independent career, enabled Su Xun to escape his family's destructive treatment, and saved Su Qingyan from her tragic storyline 187.

Su Mian entered these worlds in her own body. After she left Su Qingyan's storyline, an inexperienced Bureau intern assumed her identity. The intern failed to prevent Su Qingyan's suicide, then also died by suicide and departed. This failed continuation became the plot information Su Mian later received, leading her to mistake her own earlier life for that of a separate “original owner” 187.

After earning reincarnation, Su Mian rejected the possibility of joining an extremely wealthy but conflict-ridden household. She chose Su Yang and Lin Nian instead, impressed by their kindness and commitment to caring for an adopted dog. She subsequently grew up loved and happy as their daughter 187.

Northern Liang

Her ninety-ninth assignment was to redeem Duan Xuanyu, a traumatized hostage prince destined to become a cold-blooded tyrant. Their early relationship was dangerous: he distrusted her and repeatedly attempted to harm her. Su Mian gained his trust by saving him and using her knowledge of future events 125 187.

During their three years together, she protected him from assassinations, supplied designs for modern weapons, fought on the frontier, and took a sword strike for him. She became his empress and helped turn him into a wise ruler. Historical records associate Empress Su with restrictions on forced marriages, independent property and inheritance rights for women, and stronger action against corrupt officials 1 29 32 79.

Su Mian eventually discovered that she had completed this assignment ten times, receiving full marks each time. After every departure, Duan Xuanyu pursued ways to find her and died tragically. Her memories were sealed before each return, so she repeatedly believed she was saving him for the first time. The system also identified a fixed historical endpoint: he died on the same day, three years later, in every iteration 187 188.

The additional mission

At the novel's opening, the system claimed that a bug required Su Mian to complete another mission before going home, offering a reward of one billion. Given a choice between cultivating affection and aversion, she immediately chose aversion 1.

Her apparent arrival in another woman's body later became doubtful when she discovered both wrist scars associated with the modern storyline and the sword scar she had received in Northern Liang. Restoring her sealed mission memories eventually explained her connection to both histories 28 29 47 187.

Appearance

Su Mian has sweet, sunny features that contrast sharply with her abrasive behavior. Her ancient-style performances also reveal an elegant bearing that audiences do not expect from her usual comic persona 28 40.

• Face: Large eyes, small dimples, and a bright smile 40.
• Complexion: Described as snow-white during her Dunhuang flying-apsara performance 28.
• Hair: Wears long, slightly curled hair with a pearl clip during one formal date 131.
• Scars: Several wrist scars and a deeper sword wound on the back of her shoulder; the latter came from shielding Duan Xuanyu in battle 28 29.

Personality

Su Mian is outspoken, irreverent, and intensely competitive. She approaches dating-show games as contests to win rather than opportunities to manufacture romance. During the werewolf game, she eliminates Duan Xuanyu despite their relationship, then tells Gu Yichen that a man unable to defeat her in a game has little prospect of conquering her in love 43 44.

Her love of money is genuine rather than merely a mission persona. She enjoys jewelry, well-made weapons, advertising income, and opportunities to save money. Nevertheless, she rejects the idea that openly wanting wealth makes a woman deserving of deception or abuse. Other guests recognize that she neither steals nor robs to obtain what she wants 26 64 130.

Beneath her confrontational manner, she is protective and attentive to others' suffering. She rescues people even when doing so destroys her aversion-point progress, stays with a distressed pregnant woman through childbirth, and offers practical kindness to an overworked assistant 26 146.

Her central emotional conflict is between professional detachment and genuine attachment. She initially treats redemption as work and insists that falling in love with clients is taboo. Yet she admits loving Duan Xuanyu while also refusing to dismiss her responsibilities to her birth parents and pets. Ultimately, she seeks a life that preserves all of those bonds rather than erasing her feelings 32 111 186 188.

Abilities & Skills

Lightness Skills and Evasion

Duan Xuanyu arranged for an exceptional lightness-skill master to train Su Mian in Northern Liang, primarily so she could escape danger 26.

• Moves quickly enough to intercept a pregnant woman immediately before she jumps 26.
• Uses speed, balance, and agility to circle attackers and evade blows 41 120.
• Lands safely after a sabotaged performance wire snaps, then completes her dance 29.
• Is explicitly better at running and maneuvering than orthodox martial combat 41 120.

Improvised Combat

Su Mian compensates for limited formal fighting instruction with mobility and an especially vicious rear-targeting stick attack. She developed the tactic while fighting wild animals during her efforts to rescue Duan Xuanyu, taking inspiration from hyenas 41.

• Uses sticks and similar weapons against groups of pursuers 41 120.
• Combines kicks, slaps, and rapid movement during physical confrontations 44 118.
• Can spin on one roller skate while striking with her other leg, demonstrating considerable balance and core control 118.
• Once repeated her signature attack so often that it became an involuntary habit; Duan Xuanyu helped her bring it under control 121.

Death Foresight and Repaying Kindness

Su Mian receives visions of life-threatening tragedies connected to people who have helped her. She concludes that the ability is less a general prediction power than a means of repaying kindness 81 187.

• As a child, warned a neighboring family about a gas leak after one of its members rescued her from a trafficker 81.
• Foresaw dangers involving Gu Yuanqiu's hospital and Yin Xiaohong's younger sister after receiving their help 81.
• Predicted the death of a gorilla wearing her flower crown, enabling her and Duan Xuanyu to intervene 172.
• The ability faded as she grew up and forgot her Bureau identity; it does not provide unrestricted knowledge of the future 81.

System Interface and Mission Analysis

Su Mian can consult her system, inspect affection and Disgust Point panels, access mission records, and use accumulated points. Her protection mechanism allows her to detach emotionally from a mission world 16 111 187 188.

• During a return to Northern Liang, she exists only as an invisible consciousness because she has already detached from that world 123.
• Her system can secretly connect to Duan Xuanyu's system under certain conditions, though doing so in their physical bodies risks detection 123 156.
• Time reversal and illusion techniques belong to Duan Xuanyu's system, not Su Mian's 139 161.

Performance and Commercial Skills

• Acting and stunt work: Wins a wuxia heroine role through a confident, graceful midair fight audition 85.
• Dance: Performs a Dunhuang flying-apsara routine and a roller-skating dance 29 118.
• Singing and opera: Sings onstage and performs Qinqiang with water-sleeve techniques 40 74.
• Advertising: Turns everyday-life questions into livestream sales pitches, winning an audience vote and attracting a sanitary-pad sponsorship 15.
• Budgeting: Combines vouchers, group-buy offers, mall promotions, and referral cashback to stretch the show's shopping allowance 91.
• Practical crafts: Makes a costume from curtains, carves a radish flower, and weaves flower crowns for sale 33 101 172.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Darksteel rod — A custom weapon from Duan Xuanyu, approximately half a meter long and two fingers thick. Twisting it left reveals a blade tip; twisting it right exposes barbs around the top 125 130.
• Kapok-carved bracelet — A wedding gift prepared by Duan Xuanyu. Su Mian touches its carved flowers while deciding to return to him 188.
• Luxury-brand bracelet — A separate gift from Lu Zhou, who wrongly interprets her continued use of it as proof that she still loves him 49 76.
• Photograph water bottle — Contains a bruised-looking photograph of Lu Zhou, initially mistaken for a human head. Lu Zhou likewise misreads it as evidence of lingering affection 6.
• Gold watch — Worth ten million; given by the rescued gorilla's owner. Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu also receive a hundred-thousand-dollar fugitive bounty 172.

Relationships

• Duan Xuanyu — Former redemption target, imperial husband, and eventual partner. She helps him become a wise ruler, teaches him modern social expectations, and ultimately returns to find him after uncovering their repeated tragic separations 9 164 187 188.
• Su Yang and Lin Nian — Her chosen birth parents after reincarnation. They agree to leave their world with her so she can pursue her relationship without losing her family 187 188.
• Su Qingyan — Adoptive mother from an earlier mission. Su Mian pays for her treatment, supports her new relationship, and regards her as resilient and kind 14 25 144 187.
• Duan Chaoyang — Su Qingyan's husband and Su Mian's stepfather. Welcomes her into the Duan household and works with Su Qingyan to protect her 78 81.
• Duan Hongxu — Stepfamily member who attempts to separate her from Duan Xuanyu by pursuing her himself. She rejects his advances 79 81.
• Lu Zhou — Former redemption target, ex-boyfriend, and Starry's CEO. His deception, mistreatment, and misuse of their shared savings end their relationship; she consistently rejects reconciliation 57 111 147.
• Fang Nuonuo — Rival contestant who repeatedly undermines her and participates in attempts to frame her. Su Mian counters her accusations and refuses her advice to reunite with Lu Zhou 58 69 70.
• Lin Xi — Aversion-mission target whose hostility repeatedly collapses when Su Mian rescues him or shows consideration. His false accusation during the allergy incident finally completes her stage task 8 64 69.
• Gu Yichen — Mission target whose growing admiration makes aversion farming difficult. She eventually maximizes his Disgust Points by provoking his anger over family interference 44 129 180.
• Yu Liqi — Former redemption target and present-day friend. Su Mian previously helped her escape her family's treatment and continues to affirm her independence 180 187.
• Su Xun — Her brother within an earlier mission, not her biological brother. After regaining her memories, she openly recognizes their sibling bond and prepares to work with him 185 187 192.
• Yin Xiaohong — Dating-show host who connects her with advertising work and helps clear rumors by releasing footage of the Niu Didi confrontation 15 81 101.
• Cotton Candies — Her fans, who defend her online and support her endorsements. Their affection contributes to her growing attachment to the world 49 136.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Turning the Dating Show into a Competition

• Wins living allowances and treats the crew and selected guests, drawing accusations of exclusion from Fang Nuonuo and Lin Xi 6.
• Gains commercial attention through deliberately absurd sales pitches rather than conventional romantic answers 15.
• Subdues wild boars with Duan Xuanyu and treats the werewolf game as a tactical contest, sacrificing her teammate's position to conceal her own identity 18 20 43 44.
• Becomes the focus of the “Emperor-Empress” pairing after viewers notice her chemistry with Duan Xuanyu and resemblance to Empress Su's historical portrait 11.

Confronting Abuse and False Accusations

• Survives a sabotaged mall performance by landing safely after her wire breaks 28 29.
• Publicly exposes Xu Qingyun's threatening message and confronts Yang Bingchuan over workplace bullying and sexual harassment 37 45.
• Reveals that the supposed walnut powder used to accuse her contains no walnuts, then plays a recording undermining Fang Nuonuo's account 69 70.
• Exposes influencers Mimi and Xixi for privately mocking fans while maintaining a false hardship persona 138.

Investigating Her Past

• Recognizes that her body carries scars from two different histories and begins questioning the system's explanation of her identity 29 30 47.
• Returns to Northern Liang with Duan Xuanyu after a reenacted rescue scene triggers a system event; discovers that he also has a system 123.
• Tests another historical reenactment and learns that he had intended to kill her during their first meeting 154.
• Restores her sealed memories after returning home, uncovering her 99 assignments and ten attempts to redeem him 187 188.

Choosing a Shared Future

• Refuses to seal away her memories of Duan Xuanyu despite the pain of their separation 187.
• Brings her parents and pets to the merged world, then travels to Northern Liang to find him 188.
• Finishes the dating show as part of its only final hand-holding pair. Cheng Qin's approved script has her attached as lead, while a new drama also pairs her professionally with Su Xun 192.
• Supports removing Lu Zhou as Starry's CEO. Xu Qingyun is arrested after her former butler exposes her involvement in the attempted murder of Su Mian 192.
• Receives a virtual-fireworks send-off from fans and thanks them for loving her 192.

Notable Quotes

“Does a girl deserve to die just for openly loving money without stealing or robbing anyone?” 26

“In our line of work, falling in love with clients is the biggest taboo.” 111

“I don't want to. He's a very good person. I don't want to forget him.” 187