It all started ten minutes earlier.
Wen Ning had paced around the shabby room for ages. Seeing no sign that her husband-by-default was coming back, she decided to go out and survey the surroundings, and see if a familiar environment might trigger more of the original owner's memories.
The room the Bo Family had assigned Bo Yan was in the basement. Not only was it dark and damp, but apart from Bo Yan's room, the entire basement level was used to store junk.
When Wen Ning stepped outside, she nearly tripped over the boxes strewn haphazardly across the passage.
Although she had little affection for a dangerous individual like Bo Yan, seeing the Bo Family dump him in a place like this still made Wen Ning somewhat uncomfortable.
She didn't know much about the original novel's contents. She only vaguely remembered that Bo Yan's birth mother seemed to have used some less-than-honorable means to climb into his father's bed.
But honestly, if you truly weren't willing, nobody could force you-a grown man, and a grown man in a position of power at that.
Bo Yan's birth mother was certainly at fault, but in her view, his father wasn't necessarily all that innocent either.
Besides, since you'd decided to bring your son home, never mind how much responsibility you were willing to take-at the very least, you could give him a halfway decent place to live.
Even during the two hardest years of her own life, she'd never lived anywhere this awful.
No wonder Bo Yan became twisted later on.
Living somewhere like this, unable to get a good night's sleep day after day-it would be stranger if he didn't turn twisted!
Wen Ning inwardly grumbled about the Bo Family's cold hearts as she slowly wandered upstairs.
Upstairs, the view immediately opened up. It was even more of a mansion than the mansions she'd seen in films and dramas, all glittering gold and splendor.
By comparison, Bo Yan's old, dilapidated basement seemed even more pitiful.
Wen Ning's discomfort grew stronger.
Just then, she suddenly saw several servants running together toward the building's entrance.
Intent on watching the spectacle, the servants didn't notice her. Every one of them looked excited.
Thinking there might be something entertaining going on, Wen Ning ran after them to join the crowd.
Before she even reached them, she heard the servants' heated discussion-
"What's going on? What's going on? Why did the eldest young master suddenly start fighting with that bastard?"
"Why else? It's all because of that vixen."
"You mean Jiang Tingwan?"
"You didn't know?" A servant who knew the inside story wore a mysterious expression. "Jiang Tingwan came to see that bastard yesterday. Who knows what she said to him, but anyway, the eldest young master found out..."
The uninformed servant's eyes went round. "Holy shit! How did those two get mixed up with each other??"
The one with inside knowledge lowered their voice. "I heard they've known each other for years."
The uninformed servant said, "Known each other for years? Then that child couldn't be..."
The others nearby immediately cut in. "Don't talk nonsense! If the eldest young master finds out, you'll be in more trouble than you can handle!"
As for whether the child Jiang Tingwan had brought back belonged to the Bo Family's eldest young master or its illegitimate son, everyone tacitly buried that curiosity deep inside.
Wen Ning stood neither too close nor too far away, listening, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter.
The small revealed the large; those below reflected those above.
If even the servants behaved like this, it was clear how the Bo Family treated Bo Yan.
Bo Yan must have been treading on thin ice in the Bo Family.
Although it was awful to think this way, this was a good thing too. It would make it easier for her to "deliver charcoal in the snow" later and strive to stay alive.
"Do you think the eldest young master might beat him to death?"
Suddenly hearing someone mention being beaten to death, Wen Ning felt her eyelid twitch and hurried several steps forward!
Not far away, beneath a streetlamp, roses bloomed luxuriantly in a flower bed, a sea of blood-red.
A man had Bo Yan pinned to the ground.
The blood on his face looked like splashes of juice from the roses in the flower bed-or perhaps it was his blood that had stained the roses.
It was a horrifying sight.
Wen Ning instinctively took another two steps forward.
Having lived in a society governed by law, her instinct upon seeing such violence was to call the police and stop it.
But suddenly, she remembered that she'd transmigrated into a novel, becoming the vicious supporting female character-a vicious supporting female character who would die horribly at the villain's hands...
And that villain who would kill her was now pinned to the ground by the male lead, being beaten within an inch of his life.
Cold sweat rolled down her forehead into her collar. Wen Ning dug her nails into her palms and swallowed with difficulty.
If...
If Bo Yan died tonight, she wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life with her heart in her throat.
Wen Ning slowly took a step back.
The servants' chatter continued in her ears-
"So what if he gets beaten to death? He's just a bastard anyway. If it weren't for him, why would Madam have divorced Master!"
"That's true, but he really looks like he's not going to make it. Shouldn't we go tell Master?"
"Are you stupid? Master must already know..."
Wen Ning's pupils trembled.
What did that mean?
Did Bo Yan's father not care whether he lived or died either?
Was this part in the original novel?
But it wasn't time for Bo Yan to get his boxed lunch yet. He hadn't completely blackened, hadn't started his revenge plan. How could he just get beaten to death like this?
As she watched, Bo Yan was beaten until he vomited blood...
Under normal circumstances, villains were hard to kill.
At that thought, Wen Ning gritted her teeth and snapped, "All of you, shut up!"