The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Lan Weicai’s body trembled slightly; she had never expected that Hai Ku wouldn’t even say a single comforting word to her.

Her heart felt stifled. After suppressing her emotions for so many days, she couldn’t hear even a word of consolation. For a moment, Lan Weicai didn’t feel like speaking anymore.

The room’s curtains were all drawn, leaving only the bedside lamp on. The orange light illuminated a small portion of the room, making the space dim and oppressive.

Hai Ku, having stayed there for a while, began to feel uneasy. He longed for brightness; sitting in such a dimly lit place when he wasn’t sleeping or resting made both his mind and body uncomfortable.

To distract himself, Hai Ku turned his attention to Lan Weicai.

“Do you have any money? If you don’t, I can lend you 200 yuan first. Then you can pay me back later when you get a job.” Hai Ku patted his pockets as he spoke and actually pulled out 200 yuan, handing it to Lan Weicai.

Lan Weicai raised her head only after her elbow was nudged.

“Why are you lending me money…” Lan Weicai’s voice was muffled. She didn’t take the money, turning her head away instead.

“What else would I lend you money for? Take it so you can run away from home.” Hai Ku’s expression was indifferent, with a hint of mockery. He even started analyzing the situation for her. “If you really want to get away from this family, you’ll have to go somewhere far away. Of course, 200 yuan isn’t enough. But you can use this to get to another place and do some odd jobs. Once you’ve saved enough money, it’s best to head north. The farther you go, the harder it’ll be for your parents to find you.”

“I… I don’t have to go north. If I run away, there are plenty of places I can go.” Lan Weicai curled up into a ball. She felt that Hai Ku’s words were too harsh, completely disregarding her feelings.

“But if you don’t have money, you can’t go anywhere. Besides, you’re only 16. You have no education, no qualifications. What do you think you can do out there?”

Hai Ku ignored her expression and simply shoved the 200 yuan into her hand. “Didn’t you say you wanted to run away? You’re too hungry and weak now, right? Let me help you out.”

As he spoke, he reached out to pull Lan Weicai to her feet. While pulling her, he continued, “You should also bring your phone. If you really run out of money, I can transfer 3 or 5 yuan to you every day so you can buy food. At least you won’t have to beg on the streets.”

Holding the 200 yuan, Lan Weicai opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. However, as her arm was tugged, she panicked. Goosebumps rose all over her body.

Frightened, she resisted, but it was futile against Hai Ku’s light grip. She scrambled away in a hurry, ending up hiding under the desk.

Hai Ku chuckled and followed her. He crouched beside her, and when she didn’t respond, he continued with his reasoning.

“Isn’t this for your own good? You said you wanted to run away. Since you find this home unbearable, the farther you go, the better. Even though your parents only have one daughter, they can always have another one after you leave. Maybe the next one will be more obedient.”

His words became increasingly outrageous, and Hai Ku even lowered his voice, his tone turning sinister.

“I don’t want to go that far! Stop saying such things!” Fear quickly overtook her anger, and Lan Weicai couldn’t imagine what she’d do if she left this home.

Looking at the girl curled up like a turtle under the desk, Hai Ku felt like laughing, but he held back since he was still trying to persuade her.

“Then why did you tell Auntie that you wanted to run away? Do you think running away is that easy? Or are you hoping to get kidnapped and sold to some remote village to give birth to a disobedient child like yourself?” His words grew harsher and harsher. Hai Ku stared at Lan Weicai, finding her trembling a good thing.

If she couldn’t listen to such words or didn’t know fear, Hai Ku would truly be at a loss.

“I’m not disobedient. Mom just doesn’t listen to me or consider my feelings.” Tears streamed down her face even more intensely. The thought of running away was completely extinguished, and Lan Weicai was genuinely terrified.

In those stories, the girls who ran away from home always met their Prince Charming and lived happily ever after. But with her current bad luck, what would she do if she couldn’t meet her Prince Charming?

Thinking about the news of girls being kidnapped and sold, Lan Weicai became more and more frightened.

She was still so young, only 16 years old. If she really ended up in some godforsaken place, her entire youth and all her dreams would be buried there.

Looking at the trembling Lan Weicai, Hai Ku’s expression, in contrast, was cheerful. “What do you mean by Auntie not considering your feelings? Have you ever considered hers? Look at what Auntie has become because of you. Although she would be very sad if you ran away, the way you are now will only make her more upset and even more disappointed.”

At the thought of her mother, Lan Weicai started crying, her voice choked. She knew her mother had even gone gray because of her, yet she stubbornly refused to admit it. “She doesn’t understand me at all. She doesn’t listen to what I say. All she does is scold me and accuse me of having puppy love.”

Lan Weicai shrank further under the desk as she spoke, fearing that Hai Ku might pull her out. Her small body curled tightly in the confined space, unwilling to come out.

Realizing his earlier words were too harsh, Hai Ku softened his tone and spoke gently. “But why do you think Auntie scolds you? Don’t you know how much your grades have fallen? You’re only 16, yet all you can think about is dating. Don’t you think Auntie would be worried?”

“I…” Lan Weicai buried her head in her knees, her voice even more muffled. “I just feel it’s unfair. Why don’t they like me anymore? They clearly confessed to me before.”

This was the part that upset her the most. The people who used to surround her were so outstanding that it was difficult to choose just one of them.

But when she ended up with nothing, all of them left her.

Unable to bear such a blow, Lan Weicai felt utterly miserable. Day after day, she lived in a daze. This feeling of having nothing was like a sharp blade, stabbing her heart repeatedly.

“What’s so unfair about it? It wasn’t yours to begin with.” Hai Ku sighed and patted her head, thinking her rebellious phase was quite terrifying. He only hoped she would come to her senses. “If you hadn’t been so greedy from the start and had directly faced your own feelings to choose someone, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way. But why couldn’t you choose back then?”

Hai Ku’s words made Lan Weicai even more confused. She buried her head lower, her tears soaking her knees, making them warm and damp. She wanted to wipe away the tears, but instead, her cheeks felt hot and raw. The tears in her eyes couldn’t be stopped. “I… I didn’t know who to choose. They were all so good…”

In those stories, even when the heroine chose one male lead, the other boys still stayed by her side as knights, protecting her.

But she hadn’t even become the heroine, and all her knights had already abandoned her.

Though not skilled at comforting others, Hai Ku didn’t mind giving her some clarity after hearing her words.

“This just proves that what you liked was their looks and their family background. If you really liked one of them deeply, you would have made your choice immediately. This feeling of unfairness you’re holding onto is completely unnecessary.”

For a moment, silence filled the air. Hai Ku wanted to let Lan Weicai process everything, so he said no more.

“But I’ve lost everything. Not just them, but also my grades, my parents… and even the care of my teachers…” Lan Weicai cried harder and harder, a sense of regret creeping into her heart.

At least she could still take in some advice. Hai Ku felt she wasn’t entirely beyond hope. “You haven’t truly lost these things. You’re just pushing them away, blocking their care from reaching you.”

“Wahh… wuwu… wuwu…” Struck deeply by his words, Lan Weicai broke down into even louder sobs, her cries turning into hiccups and sniffles. Hai Ku didn’t dare to say another word.

Judging by her current state, Lan Weicai likely wouldn’t entertain thoughts of running away from home anymore. Even if she couldn’t listen to her mother, she was willing to listen to someone her age; someone she had grown up with and treated as an older brother.

She had been crying for quite a while when Hai Ku finally stood up and opened the door. “I’ll go ask Auntie to bring you something to eat. You two can have a good talk.”

***

Feeling like he had completed a task, Hai Ku left the room, giving Lan Weicai and her mother some space.

As long as Lan Weicai came to her senses, it wasn’t too late. When he was almost at the door, Hai Ku still heard the sounds of crying coming from inside.

Once he returned to his room, he finally felt at ease. Unable to resist, he turned on all the lights in his room. Hai Ku basked in the light before pulling out some papers and writing two test sheets before going to bed. By the time he lay down, his mood was light and carefree.

As for Lan Weicai’s situation, that was something they had to solve themselves. Hai Ku didn’t have the energy to deal with it anymore.

His task in this world was originally to help Li Haiku get into college, and now, helping the heroine was already a bonus.

High school seniors started school early. By the eighth of the first lunar month, Hai Ku had already gone to school.

Once he entered his senior year, time passed by like an arrow, fleeting and fast. The first semester quickly came to an end.

Lan Weicai didn’t attend her high school finals in her first year. After discussing it with her family for a while, she managed to pull some strings and repeated her first year.

Thus, her rebellious phase, lasting over half a year, came to a close.

After that incident, she became scared and started to focus more on her studies. Long Yitian and the others, somehow knowing about the situation, sent her a lot of practice books to help her study.

She no longer dared to fantasize, and Lan Weicai honestly worked through the practice books. The Five Three and Huanggang books filled half the room.

However, Hai Ku didn’t pay much attention to this. His mind was fully focused on studying. Long Yitian and Yan Yufeng went abroad after the start of their senior year, right after giving Lan Weicai the practice books.

The story of Cinderella and her Prince Charming had taken a turn, but Hai Ku felt this ending was more real.

The college entrance exam in June was unbearably hot. Even though the country implemented artificial rainfall, it didn’t ease the sweltering heat. Hai Ku, feeling the warmth of being sent to the exam hall by his parents, almost felt like crying as he entered.

The entire year of senior high had passed so quickly, but the 2 days of the exam felt especially long. When Hai Ku walked out of the exam hall, he was still a little dazed. It wasn’t until he saw his parents waving at him across the street that he smiled and ran over.

***

When the exam results came out, and Hai Ku filled out his college application with his parents, he truly shed tears.

During the task, it had felt dull and tiresome, but when the time came to leave, he felt like crying.

The warm companionship had been so hard to bear. When Hai Ku left, he made up his mind not to choose the original owner’s type, who had been constantly cared for by his parents.

Time in the world of dimensions was different from the system space. After completing his task and returning to the space, Hai Ku received ten times the experience points, but he wasn’t surprised.

[Would the host like to rest, or proceed directly to the next world?]

The pages of various worlds popped up, and Hai Ku hesitated for a moment at the sight of all the dazzling worlds.

“If I choose to rest, what would happen?”

[If you choose to rest, of course, you would chat here with this system.]

Hai Ku: “…”

Without responding, Hai Ku scrolled through the small world options and ultimately chose a world he still vaguely remembered.

‘The Black-Bellied Mommy and the Shocking Little Baby’ was a book Hai Ku read during the crazy “runaway with a child” craze, and he had quite a strong impression of it.

In this book, after the male and female leads had a one-night fling, the female lead gave birth to a little baby. To make the book stand out from other “runaway with child” stories, the female lead abandoned the baby.

When Hai Ku read the scene, he immediately thought she should be charged with abandonment!

Then, the little baby was found by the male supporting character, who raised the child until he was 10 years old. The male supporting character was already 30, and he had never gotten married because he had been raising the child. Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to get married; it was because he had health problems and couldn’t have children, so he didn’t want to burden anyone else.

This was just a small background. To say that Hai Ku had refused to help the heroine raise a child in the first world—well, things were different in this world.

The male supporting character in this world was simply an extraordinary oddball! Even the title of Holy Mary should be awarded to him.