“Jiang Xiaobei, what’s taking you so long? Hurry up and come over. I’m taking you to school!”
The one calling her was her older brother, Jiang Nanli, a third-year college student and a bully who loved picking on his little sister.
Jiang Xiaobei stared at him, speechless. “What are you rushing for? It’s only two! I’m almost ready!”
Following her voice, Jiang Nanli wandered over for a look. Oh, she was writing a novel.
But the name on the page looked familiar. Jiang Nanli narrowed his eyes.
“Still writing this stuff that ruins your brother’s reputation?”
Jiang Nanli smacked the top of Jiang Xiaobei’s head, not gently. Her head jerked to one side, and she clutched it, yelling, “What are you doing, Jiang Nanli? You’re always picking on me!”
Jiang Nanli still looked as careless as ever. He held the lanyard around his neck between his teeth and scoffed. “That counts as picking on you? You know what real bullying looks like. It’d have to be like what you wrote in your book.”
He rolled his eyes.
Jiang Xiaobei stared at him in horror. “Y-you read what I wrote!”
Jiang Nanli thought that he certainly hadn’t been snooping. His sister was the one who had written nasty things about him and then gone around showing them off. Word had gotten back to him, and only then had he taken a look.
Who knew? He’d never realized his little sister thought he was that awful.
A crooked smile tugged at Jiang Nanli’s lips as he gave her a mischievous glance. Then he tossed out, “From here on, I’m going to be a bad brother who bullies his little sister. So you can get to school on your own today.”
With that, Jiang Nanli turned and shut the bedroom door, cutting off his sister’s angry shouts.
Having bullied his little sister, Jiang Nanli felt refreshed. He sauntered back to his room, lay down, and decided to go back to sleep.
Half-asleep, he thought he saw something, but the racket in his ears was getting on his nerves.
In a daze, Jiang Nanli thought he was still sleeping in class. But anyone who dared make that much noise while he was asleep was asking for trouble.
With that thought, Jiang Nanli abruptly sprang up and kicked the chair in front of him. “Shut up!”
He roared, and sure enough, the whole class fell silent.
Everyone exchanged bewildered looks.
Once Jiang Nanli had calmed down, he glanced around and froze. Damn, he didn’t recognize a single person in front of him.
“Jiang Nanli! Don’t think you can disrespect your teacher just because you’re a son of the Jiang family! If you don’t want to be here, then get out!”
Wow, what a corny line. Why was a teacher still saying that to him?
Jiang Nanli turned his face away, looking unimpressed. His profile was perfectly sculpted as he raised an amused eyebrow at the teacher on the dais. “You jest, teacher. I don’t just respect you. I practically keep you perched on my head and worship you every day.”
The whole class was stunned. He sensed someone beside him sneaking a look.
No one had expected Jiang Nanli to say something like that. They’d thought he’d just say he didn’t want to study and walk out, like he’d done before. After all, the teachers at this school couldn’t do anything to him.
It wasn’t as if that had never happened. So why was he being so… so mild today?
The teacher at the front of the class was startled too and took a step back. “W-what are you talking about? If you’re going to listen, then listen properly. Don’t make any more noise and disrupt the class!”
Jiang Nanli was usually quiet in class. He smiled and agreed. “Sure, sure.”
“Then sit down.”
As long as Jiang Nanli behaved, the teacher didn’t dare make things difficult for him and could only wave him back to his seat.
“Everyone else, carry on with your morning reading.”
The noise around him rose again. Jiang Nanli wasn’t sleepy anymore, so he looked around at his classmates.
Damn, he didn’t recognize a single one of them. What was going on? Had he walked into the wrong classroom?
“Um, C-Classmate Jiang, here’s the breakfast you asked me to bring you.”
A timid voice came from beside him.
Jiang Nanli turned and saw a frightened-looking kid offering him a bag. Inside were things like sushi.
“When did I ask you to bring me breakfast?”
Jiang Nanli thought that he didn’t even know this guy.
He Baiqiu looked surprised. He shrank back a little, his first thought being that Jiang Nanli was going to bully him again.
Then he had nothing to say. He could only lower his head and stare at the floor.
“Hey, I asked you a question.”
Jiang Nanli sensed something strange. Never mind anything else, why did everyone here look at him like they knew him so well?
“Y-you told me yesterday to bring it.”
Yesterday? Bullshit. He’d been out having a blast yesterday and hadn’t even had his phone on him. What, did his soul fly off somewhere and tell the kid to buy it?
Jiang Nanli was about to curse him out when he noticed the book lying open. Three characters peeked out from under one corner of the page.
He. Bai. Qiu!
It hit him like a bolt from the blue. He couldn’t believe it. His head was spinning.
Jiang Nanli felt the world go dark before his eyes.
How could he not know who He Baiqiu was?
Of course he did. His sister’s novel, The Scholarly Strongman’s Passionate Love, had left a deep impression on him!
Wasn’t He Baiqiu the protagonist bottom, a little white flower who got bullied by the school bully?
What was the bully called again? Oh, right. The school bully had the same name as him.
Jiang Nanli’s face darkened. He poked the classmate in front of him in the butt with his foot. The guy turned around, looking excited. “Brother Jiang, got anything you need me to do?”
“Never mind. Turn around.”
Jiang Nanli had no choice but to consider the possibility: he’d transmigrated into a book.
For something like this to happen to an atheist was truly hard to believe. But he couldn’t deny it either.
“He Baiqiu.”
He called out coldly, testing the waters.
Sure enough, He Baiqiu’s face shot up in alarm, then quickly lowered again. “I-is there something you need?”
Holy crap, it really was He Baiqiu.
Jiang Nanli rubbed his forehead, his head aching. “Where’s He Youyu?”
The person he meant was Jiang Nanli’s lackey in the book. He Baiqiu was the illegitimate son of He Youyu’s family, a secret the He family wanted kept hidden. He could attend this aristocratic school only because of the He family’s influence.
He Youyu hated He Baiqiu, and since he was close with Jiang Nanli, Jiang Nanli often bullied He Baiqiu to vent He Youyu’s anger.
He Baiqiu glanced up at him. A sheen of tears immediately clouded his big, dark, clear eyes.
“All right, that’s the end of class.”
As the teacher spoke, the bell rang.
The classroom instantly grew noisy again. Someone clapped Jiang Nanli on the shoulder like an old pal and said, “Brother Jiang, you’re in a pretty good mood today.”
They chalked up Jiang Nanli’s odd behavior to a good mood.
As he thought over the novel’s setup, Jiang Nanli realized that the character wasn’t all that different from him!
Hmph. Jiang Xiaobei really held a grudge. She’d done a pretty good job making the character feel like him.
The only real difference was that the Jiang Nanli in the book was a lot more vicious than he was. So that was what Jiang Xiaobei thought of him.
She didn’t understand her own brother at all.
Jiang Nanli lowered his head with a smile and casually answered the others. “Yeah, I’m in a good mood.”
Brilliant sunshine streamed through the window and glinted off his bright green hair.