[Le Zhiyi, get lost from the entertainment industry.]
[Everyone hates you, so stay away from my idol.]
[Whoever acts in a drama directed by Le Zhiyi, I will curse them.]
[Every celebrity in the entertainment circle is desperate to stay as far away from Le Zhiyi as possible. Who would dare to star in a drama he directs?]
“Stop looking at that. What is even the point? It is all absolute rubbish,” the system chimed in anxiously, trying to comfort him.
The fingertip on the screen did not stop because of those words; it continued to swipe gently. After a moment, the person let out a light laugh and curled his lips. His spring water-like eyes narrowed slightly, and even the beauty mark at the corner of his mouth lifted with his smile, pretty and alluring.
It even allured the system.
The system choked on its words, acting awkward and evasive. “Le Zhiyi? Hey, you have not been cursed so much that you have lost your mind, have you?”
Le Zhiyi lowered his gaze weakly, gave a soft cough, and slowly said, “Ahem, I need to understand the situation better so I can complete the mission properly.”
Seeing Le Zhiyi looking so fragile, the system wanted to say something, but ultimately closed its mouth. It had clearly requested a host who was smart, nimble, and had some physical strength, but instead, it got a fragile crispy shark who managed to run a fever the moment he transmigrated.
Worried and desperate, the system spun around in Le Zhiyi’s mind.
Inside his head, a little black ball was spinning back and forth, looking utterly foolish. Suppressing a smile, Le Zhiyi lowered his gaze and gave another light cough.
He had just finished a project and finally said goodbye to a high maintenance client. Enjoying his well-deserved annual leave, he got hooked on a web novel and ended up pulling an all-nighter reading it. The main characters had a sweet romance, but there was one vicious supporting character who was utterly detestable and met a miserable death in the end.
One second he was clapping for the romance of the main couple, and the next, he dropped dead from sudden cardiac arrest and transmigrated into the book. That alone would have been bad enough, but he turned out to be the vicious supporting character and bound with a system. If he wanted to revive, he had to change the doomed fate of this villainous character.
The moment he opened his eyes after transmigrating, Le Zhiyi had stared at the face in the mirror, which was identical to his own in the real world, and remained silent for a long time, feeling that his situation was both ridiculous and deeply unlucky.
Putting on a thoroughly weak act, Le Zhiyi sighed and said, “It is all my fault for dragging you down. My health is poor, and I do not have any golden fingers like the ones in novels. I am afraid I can only wrong you.”
With that, he covered his mouth and coughed a few times, his thin shoulders trembling slightly, making him look pitifully endearing.
The system’s spinning abruptly stopped as its conscience took a hit. “There is, there is,” it blurted out. “I have a time fast-forward golden finger. I can let you use it.”
Le Zhiyi let out an astonished ah?
“The time skip only lasts for one minute, and since you do not have any points yet, you can only unlock it three times a day. Once you get points later, you can use it more often, and the duration will also increase. This fast-forward applies to actions currently in progress, and it affects everyone. For instance, if someone is just about to start eating, they will speed through their meal,” the system explained patiently.
Le Zhiyi understood. He narrowed his eyes and smiled, “Thank you, Little Black.”
The system’s fur stood on end. “Who are you calling Little Black?”
Le Zhiyi ignored it. Having achieved his goal, he half-closed his eyes to catch up on sleep.
The Little Black system grew more and more irritated, starting to spin around again until it made itself dizzy. By then, they had arrived at the Jiang family residence.
Today was the Jiang family’s monthly family banquet, and Le Zhiyi, playing the role of Jiang Siyu’s stalker suitor in the book, shamelessly came every single month.
This time was no exception.
Le Zhiyi picked up the cake beside him and got out of the car. Relying on the memories provided by the system, he walked naturally toward the villa’s entrance, the driver following right behind him carrying a gift.
As he stepped through the front door, the few people chatting and laughing on the sofa instantly fell silent, casting mocking and teasing glances at the newcomer.
Le Zhiyi remained completely unfazed. Maintaining a poised and elegant stride, he walked straight toward Jiang Siyu, smiled, and said, “Siyu, I had this brooch custom-made for you. Take a look and see if you like it.”
As he spoke, the driver tactfully stepped forward, opened the gift box, and presented it to Jiang Siyu.
Inside the box lay a heart-shaped brooch embedded with diamonds and dangling pure diamond tassels. It was exquisite and luxurious, clearly worth a small fortune.
Jiang Siyu wore a polite smile as he gently said, “Thank you, Zhiyi. I appreciate the thought, but I cannot accept the gift.”
His tone was warm yet maintained a proper boundary.
Le Zhiyi’s eyelashes fluttered as he lowered his gaze with a wronged expression, internally sneering. Zhiyi, my foot. He was this gentle even toward a persistent, annoying stalker. He totally deserved the male lead’s future wife-chasing crematorium arc.
With a trembling voice, Le Zhiyi said, “Alright then. If Siyu does not like it, I will have another one custom-made next time.”
Well, if Jiang Siyu did not want it, he would just have to aggrievedly keep it for himself, then.
Just as the gift box clicked shut, Le Zhiyi’s arm brushed against something, and the box was snatched away by a pair of knuckle-defined hands.
It happened all too suddenly. Le Zhiyi paused and looked up to see a person dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers blocking Jiang Siyu. Beneath thin, drooping eyelids, a pair of cold eyes stared right at him.
Le Zhiyi recognized him immediately: Jiang Yinyin, the younger brother of the male protagonist in the book, and the biggest stumbling block for the villainous supporting character trying to pursue the main lead.
Only, this stumbling block smelled rather nice. The moment he stepped closer, a refreshing scent of grapefruit lingered at the tip of Le Zhiyi’s nose, refusing to fade.
“Older brother, I want this,” Jiang Yinyin said. Then, turning his gaze back to Le Zhiyi, he said indifferently, “Whatever you give, I will take. I will transfer the money to you later.”
While speaking, his eyes remained lowered, as if he could not even be bothered to look at Le Zhiyi.
Jiang Siyu chuckled indulgently. “A-Nian, stop messing around. Zhiyi, since A-Nian likes it, just let him have it.”
The people around them chuckled as well.
It was a picture of cozy domestic harmony. In the past, the original Le Zhiyi would have exploded with anger right then and there, snatched the brooch back, and stomped over to the sofa to sulk.
Yet this time, Le Zhiyi remained all smiles. He handed over the cake he was holding, his eyes curved into crescents as he looked at Jiang Yinyin. “If you like it, I will give it to you. I baked this cake myself, specially for you. Want to try a bite?”
Jiang Yinyin: “?”
The surrounding laughter abruptly ceased, and looks of sheer horror landed on Le Zhiyi and Jiang Yinyin. Wait, what? Has Le Zhiyi changed his target?
Was he seriously going to latch onto both sons of the Jiang family and refuse to let go?
The system was also shocked: “?”
Bakes a cake himself? Clearly, he bought it, and it was the cheapest option available on top of that.
Still, that was not the most important thing right now. The system shrieked, “Host, what are you doing flirting with the male lead’s younger brother?”
Le Zhiyi pouted innocently. “What do you mean? What is wrong with a little flirting? I did not touch him anywhere inappropriate.”
System: “???”
Something is wrong. The host is definitely not normal.
An oppressive silence filled the air. Holding the cake, Le Zhiyi’s wrist slowly began to ache, so he softened his voice and complained, “Do you not want it? Did you not just say that whatever I give, you will take?”
The words Jiang Yinyin had just uttered moments ago were now effectively shoved right back down his throat. His face grew even frostier as he reached out and took the cake.
“You are welcome,” Le Zhiyi said, massaging his wrist with a look of satisfaction. Under the watchful gazes of everyone in the room, he casually sat down in the exact seat Jiang Yinyin had just vacated.
Jiang Yinyin, who had just been implicitly criticized for lacking manners and had his seat stolen: “…”
With a blank expression, he glanced at Le Zhiyi, initially intending to toss the cake onto the table and refuse to touch it. But suddenly, his hands stopped listening to him. They began tearing open the packaging with alarming speed.
Once the packaging was off, his movements did not slow down at all. Instead, he picked up a fork and began shoveling the cake into his mouth like a spinning fire-wheel.
He stuffed it in fast, chewed fast, and swallowed fast. His cheeks ached from the frantic pace, and he almost choked himself to death.
Accelerating right along with him were the people around them. Their conversations suddenly sounded like they were played at triple speed, chattering away so loudly it was deafening.
After a short while, normalcy returned to the surroundings. Jiang Yinyin let out a loud hiccup and fell into a deep trance.
Watching his younger brother with a mouth full of cream, Jiang Siyu handed him a tissue and chuckled, “A-Nian, have you not been managing your diet lately? It seems you really love the cake Zhiyi made.”
Jiang Yinyin: “…”
I am not kidding, it feels like the house is haunted.
Eager to twist the knife, Le Zhiyi put on a considerate expression and chimed in, “Eat slower, A-Nian. If you like it so much, I will bake another one for you next time.”
“Bro, I am heading upstairs,” Jiang Yinyin said.
He took the tissue, wiped his mouth forcefully, cast a disgusted glare at Le Zhiyi, stood up, and strode toward the second floor.
Watching his departing figure, Le Zhiyi lowered his head and pitifully fiddled with his fingers, acting as though Jiang Yinyin’s cold shoulder had inflicted the greatest grievance upon him.
Only, in a place where no one else could see, the corners of his mouth curved high up into a triumphant grin.
System: “…”
Something is wrong. It is now one hundred percent certain that something is very, very wrong.
Just now, Le Zhiyi had directly used all three of his daily fast-forward charges, pushing time forward by a full three minutes. The system let out a hiss and asked, “Were you intentionally taking revenge on Jiang Yinyin?”
“Of course not. I was just worried that eating the cake would tire him out, so I merely lent him a helping hand,” Le Zhiyi replied innocently.
System: “…Good thing you did not. Listen, Host, our goal is to harvest affection values, so let us not offend the male lead’s younger brother, alright?”
There is a subtle scent of an evil green tea bitch here. I need to sniff around more to confirm.
Ignoring whatever the system was plotting, Le Zhiyi continued playing with his fingers. He had not taken revenge on Jiang Yinyin at all. Jiang Yinyin was simply a glutton who could not control himself, so how could that possibly be his fault?
Besides, since Jiang Yinyin looked down on him, he naturally looked down on Jiang Yinyin too.
By the time Jiang Yinyin returned to his bedroom, he had brushed his teeth twice before finally stopping. He splashed some cold water on his face, braced his hands against the sink, and stared at his reflection in the mirror, still feeling somewhat dazed.
He had been controlling his diet lately in preparation for joining a new cast, eating rabbit food every single day, which left him craving high-calorie sweets like crazy.
Could it be that I went crazy from hunger and my brain hijacked my body?
Jiang Yinyin pressed his lips into a thin line, thinking that he had better add a boiled egg to his meal tomorrow so he would not actually starve himself out of his mind.
At dinner time, Jiang Yinyin finally came back downstairs. Le Zhiyi, completely shameless, sat at the dining table and ate with tremendous relish.
This dealt yet another fatal blow to Jiang Yinyin, who was stuck eating grass, ultimately causing him to lose self-control and finish half a bowl of rice.
As Le Zhiyi got into the car heading home, the system remarked, “Host, I have a feeling the male lead’s younger brother practically despises you now. You might want to tone it down a bit.”
“He was just staring at me eat, which stimulated his appetite. It was a free livestream of a mukbang, and I did not even charge him a viewing fee,” Le Zhiyi said shamelessly, wearing a delicate, pretty, and fragile face.
System: “…”
Give me back my obedient, fragile, and well-behaved host.
Realizing that Le Zhiyi was far from as simple as he looked on the surface, the system finally relaxed a little.
The autumn night wind was chilly, and some of it seeped into the car. Le Zhiyi wrapped his coat tighter around himself and gave a soft cough. Just then, his phone chimed with a message notification.
He pulled out his phone and unlocked it.
The light from the screen illuminated his porcelain white face, lending him a touch of tranquil serenity.
The notification was an email. Le Zhiyi tapped it open, and upon seeing the contents, a genuine smile broke out on his face.
[Director Le, I heard that none of the actors dare to take on your new script, and filming keeps getting delayed. Leaving your booked production venue sitting idle for even a single day must cost a fortune, right? I can actually help you solve this problem, but it requires a little something from you. Add me on contact so we can discuss the details?]
This was also a scene straight out of the book. In the original story, the original Le Zhiyi, though plagued by brainless love-brain tendencies, was not actually stupid. He had immediately cursed the sender out as get lost. As a result, he was retaliated against the very next day, smeared all over hot searches, and his reputation was dragged through the mud.
Le Zhiyi’s fingers tapped a few times on the screen, sent his contact info over, and then leaned back against the seat to shut down his phone and catch up on some sleep.
Meanwhile, on the other end, Jiang Yinyin, who had just finished taking a shower, received a new friend request. This was his private account, and only close friends knew about it.
Wiping his hair with a towel, he hesitated for a moment, hit accept, and sent a single question mark.
A moment later, a few messages popped up in the chat window.
[Fly High To The Sky]: Yuhao Hotel, Room 604. Waiting for you.
[Fly High To The Sky]: Although your personality leaves a lot to be desired and you always offend people, your face is not bad. I will reluctantly help you out. Tomorrow, drop that arrogance of yours. See you there (red lips and rose emoji).
Jiang Yinyin: “?”