[I do not own this story; I am only responsible for the translation.]
Author: 生了两只猫
Li Shuyang made a deal with the system - as long as she could change the tragic fate of the abused female lead, Cen Qingqing, she would receive fifty million.
Wasn't this basically free money?
That was what she thought... until she personally laid eyes on this female lead from a tragedy-filled novel, who encompassed every miserable trope imaginable: the fake-real daughter identity swap, biased and disdainful family members, getting kidnapped and forced into a choice between two options, being toyed with by the male lead, falsely cared for and used by the second male lead - yet still desperately craving familial and romantic love.
Oh, and on top of that, she got accepted into a good university only to be forced to change her major, had her living expenses cut off to the point she couldn't even afford meals, and lived each day either being bullied or on the verge of being bullied. In the end, she died of stomach cancer, and everyone gathered around her grave sobbing in remorse and repentance.
Li Shuyang pinched the pressure point between her eyebrows and thought to herself, "Yep, earning money really is as hard as eating sht."*
But it's fine - she had strength and means!
Step one in reforming the abused female lead: Hmm... first trick her into becoming a mediator of family emotional disputes. People need to see more of the world's bizarre creatures in order to fight poison with poison, right?
She was his coworker. She was his close friend. She was his cousin. These were all things I knew. There were just a few crucial components to their connection of which I had been unaware. She had been his crush. And now he was hers.