Yan Shuyu dashed off from the crime scene and ran into an empty elevator. She finally felt a little more relaxed after the smooth, metallic elevator doors had shut. She leaned against the elevator wall, closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh.

Truth be told, it still felt unreal that she had transmigrated to become the villainous stepmother. And that wasn’t just because of the very tragic ending, but also that the villainous stepmother barely had any presence in the novel. At most, she was just the cannon fodder in the first three chapters.

The stepmother and her son only existed for the purpose of the male lead honing his mental stamina and eventually becoming the powerful and fearless hegemony CEO. But, what was the purpose of it all anyway? When the story had started, the male lead had already successfully gained his father’s approval and took over his father as the new CEO; whereas the stepmother and her son, having perfectly fulfilled their purpose, bowed and exited the stage. The entire time, the villainous stepmother didn’t even get to have a name – if she hadn’t transmigrated, Yan Shuyu would never know that she happened to have the same name as the villainous stepmother.

Had she known this would happen to her, she wouldn’t have cheered at the decisiveness and ruthlessness of the male lead when she was reading the book.

Now that she had transmigrated, as a lover of cliché webnovels, Yan Shuyu was very disappointed that her role was but a small cannon fodder who didn’t even have a name. And, what distressed her the most wasn’t even that fact that she would be spending her golden years in prison, but her current destitute situation – currently the original owner was dirt broke.

In the novel, the author never elaborated much on the background of the stepmother before she married the male lead’s father. Even the identity of her child’s father was barely mentioned; therefore, as a reader of the book, Yan Shuyu barely remembered the stepmother and her son weren’t very well off before they hooked up with the male lead’s father. One of the readers even commented in a feedback that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. That’s why even though her son and the male lead had the same education, the stepbrother was still several leagues below the male lead. He was doomed to become the cannon fodder.

Yan Shuyu couldn’t have agreed more and mentally prepared herself about her current situation. Yet, after she had sorted out the original owner’s memories, she still couldn’t help but tear up for her.

It was said that every pitiful person would have something that one would hate about, but the flip side was also true. The original owner had a very pitiful past. She was born into a poor and stupid family. And, being pretty, she was treated as some special goods. Before she even graduated high school, her parents were already plotting how to make the most money off of her. The young girl, who refused to succumb to her fate, decided to run away with her puppy love boyfriend. Being together day and night, naturally, they had an accident, and their love child joined them shortly.

After her son was born, between diapers and formulas, their expenditure increased greatly, and they were merely young adults themselves. With no skills or academic background, jobs were hard to come by, and their days became more and more poverty stricken. Her husband was a responsible man, so he joined a gang in exchange for money to support his wife and kids. As he was reckless and vicious, he was moving up the ladder, and the three of them had some stability in their lives for two years. But the good days didn’t last, the boy died in a horrible death in a gang fight.

With their status and the way that he died, naturally, she was not entitled to any compensation or insurance money.

Losing her support and quickly running out of food at home, the original owner didn’t have time to mourn for her lost lover. She had to set aside her emotions and started looking for work.

Without any strength or academic background and with a child to feed, the original owner didn’t have a lot of options and turned to the night scene.

She was a very pretty girl, even in the night scene she stood out among all the other pretty girls. Even though she would only drink with her customers and not leave with them, she was still easily bringing in tens of thousands a month. Her life was enriched in terms of her financial standings, and at the same time, she had been exposed to a world that she never had before.

Having experienced eloping, having a child out of wedlock, and losing her spouse before she joined the night scene, the original owner had discovered the world of riches. She had a crazy thought all of a sudden – find herself a rich man, marry him, so her child can also become one of the top ten percenter.

Having been in this field for a few months, the original owner knew that customers went there for entertainment, nobody would seriously look for a wife at a place like that. It’d be crazy to think that she’d be able to find her a rich man. Not to mention that most of these men were middle-aged men who had let themselves go; she couldn’t even imagine being in bed with them, let alone anything else.

After some careful consideration, the original owner came to the conclusion that her best option was to take the money she had saved up and retire from the night scene. And that was how she ended up in Hotel Dorsett.

At the time, the original owner had no idea that the well renowned Hotel Dorsett was also one of Zhou’s properties. She hadn’t even heard of Zhou Qinhe. The reason she picked Hotel Dorsett was simple – it was the most famous hotel in the area. Words had it that everyone that went there was either officials or wealthy individuals. If she was to find herself a rich husband, a 5-star hotel seemed to be a good choice.

Getting into Hotel Dorsett wasn’t easy. The original owner quit midway through senior high school, meaning her highest completed education level was only junior high school. Most upscale hotel required their candidates to be at least college educated. Hotel Dorsett, being a world-class hotel, naturally had even higher requirement. Their candidates must have a degree in Hotel Management or equivalent experience. The original owner knew that if she just sent in her resume, she’d never hear anything back. She resorted to dressing herself up and just going there in person, and that actually worked!

The original owner was well prepared for this job. She decided on a new setting for her personality and tried her darndest to create the image of an independent single mother – compared to a working girl, an outstanding mother had much better odds of scoring herself a rich man.

Opportunities were for those who were well prepared. The Original owner’s beauty, and her mild and tender temperament made a perfect combination and she immediately because the most well-loved stewardess at the hotel. She was more popular than other single girls with higher education.

All sorts of qualifying suitors came out of the woodwork, making the original owner dizzy from all the options and didn’t know who to choose. While she was looking at the sideline, the big boss of the organization’s headquarters, who rarely ever showed up, had arrived. His first appearance was stunning. The original owner and her coworkers were summoned into the lobby and lined up to welcome the big boss. The young and handsome big boss, surrounded by all his elite workers, walked passed them and didn’t even take a look at any of the young and hot stewardesses. He only exchanged a couple of words with Han Yu, the hotel manager, before he entered the elevated while surrounded by everyone.

The original owner’s eyes lit up suddenly.

At this point in time, she still didn’t dare to make the big boss her target; she was merely aiming for the few elite upper management personnel around the big boss – even Manager Han was quite eager to appease them, so she figured they were fairly high up within the organization.

Partly it was her luck, the internal news had it that for whatever reasons, the big boss would be staying at their facility for a while. Manager Han specifically hand picked the team that would wait on the big boss – a senior manager as their butler and the original owner and two of her colleagues, none of them had ever received any complaints, as their housekeepers, and promising 24 hours, around-the-clock service for the big boss.

And just like that, the original owner had landed the opportunity to get up close and personal. And, just as she had hoped, all the elite upper management personnel also came daily to meet up with the big boss.

Yet, an even more brazen idea occurred to the original owner: why go above and beyond for an employee instead of going for the big boss right in front of her?

If she could land the big boss, her son could be on the top of the world.

The original owner was only toying with the idea originally, what really prompted her to make up her mind was when she overheard CEO Zhou’s phone call two days ago. CEO Zhou, who normally barely showed any emotions, leaned sluggishly on the couch, cell phone in hand, while listening to the childish voice from the other end. His eyes were filled with tenderness and love, and there was a slight smile on his face.

Having witnessed this scene inadvertently had rocked the original owner to her core. She was suddenly filled with bitterness and unreconciled emotions – why was it that some people just had everything when they were born? With unlimited money and a pampering father. Why was it that her Yuanbao, who was such a good child, would never be able to see his father again?

And, that was the moment that she decided that she wanted to marry Zhou Qinhe. She wanted him to be the father of Yuanbao, and for him to smile at Yuanbao the way he did to the boy on the other end of the phone call.

All mothers were strong. When the original owner was contemplating about remarrying, she was actively avoiding married men. After all, it was hard enough to be a new age Cinderella; if the other party has a wife at home, she had to play the role of a third person first and that would just make the whole thing unnecessarily complicated. But, now that the original owner had decided to achieve this for her son, the difficulty level no longer seemed to be an issue that stood in her way. She had no idea how many kids did CEO Zhou has, or whether he has a wife. It was as though she was possessed, she only knew that she wanted him to be the father of her son.

The original owner had never been this determined in her entire life.

Same logic, opportunities were for those who were well prepared. Last night it was original owner’s turn to be on duty, and CEO Zhou returned very late at night. It was very rare that he wasn’t working late or in a meeting, but he was out to a social gathering until the wee hours of the night. The cool and handsome man was slightly drunk, and none of his managers or assistants were sober themselves, so when they saw the original owner, they just handed him over to her.

By now, Zhou Qinhe had been staying at Hotel Dorsett for over 10 days, and everybody working with him were already familiar with the team serving their boss. Original owner had left a particularly good impression with everyone being a gorgeous woman who was tender, has excellent attention to details, and a single mother to top. What a model woman and a model mother!

Nobody expected that the model woman would have the guts to take this opportunity and bed the big boss when he was drunk!

–– Now that Yan Shuyu had figured out the whole event, she finally couldn’t help but cover her face with her hands and cry loud. Wasn’t this development a little too shameless?

Yan Shuyu always had odd tastes when she was reading novels and watching dramas. She loved any kind of cliché dramas, and she was well aware that she was an oddball. She was lazy ever since she was a child; she was proud to be living off of her parents, and she had always been a drama queen in her relationship, unlike the other cute, innocent girls. Yet, after she had transmigrated, she had turned into the most cliché of all calculating and manipulative women. Compare to this woman, Yan Shuyu was an angel, who couldn’t possibly handle a role like this.

Now that she had a clear understanding of the original owner’s life, Yan Shuyu didn’t care about the script or the male lead anymore. What was occupying her mind right now was: she had abused her position at work and bedded the big boss. Did her colleague at the hotel find out? What would they think of her?

Regardless of whether his colleagues were aware of it, she felt shameless herself. She had planned to change out of her uniform first before heading home, but now she was too ashamed to face anyone. Yan Shuyu took the opportunity that there weren’t too many people in the lobby and ran away with her head lowered, still in her uniform – she would cover up her entire face if only she could.