“Senior Brother, are you really going to be all right by yourself at home?” Yan Lu asked worriedly as he stood at the doorway.
Gu Qianran shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
Yan Lu’s eyes were full of reluctance. He watched him for a long while before answering softly, “All right, then.”
Gu Qianran found him inexplicably pitiful.
“Senior Brother, why don’t I stay and keep you company tonight?” Yan Lu’s eyes suddenly lit up again, his voice filled with anticipation.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Gu Qianran seemed to see a tail wagging behind him.
This guy was so clingy.
Gu Qianran shook his head. “No need. You’ve already kept me company for so long. I’ll really be fine on my own. It’s already very late, so go home and get some rest.”
His refusal was too decisive. A trace of disappointment flashed across Yan Lu’s face, but he soon put on a smile again and nodded. “All right, then. Get some rest, Senior Brother. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Yan Lu stared at him without blinking. Just as Gu Qianran was beginning to find it strange, Yan Lu suddenly took a step forward. He was more than half a head taller than Gu Qianran, and the close distance created a faint sense of pressure. Gu Qianran suddenly grew nervous.
“Good night, Senior Brother.” Yan Lu lowered his head slightly and pressed a gentle kiss to Gu Qianran’s forehead before speaking warmly.
The sudden gesture stunned Gu Qianran. He stared with wide, incredulous eyes, unable to say anything for a long while.
“A good-night kiss.” Yan Lu stepped back and smiled.
Gu Qianran finally managed to steady himself and nodded. “Uh… yeah.” He also took a step back, braced one hand against the doorframe, and said, “Go home and get some rest. Good night. See you tomorrow!”
With that, he decisively shut the door.
All he could see was the door panel. Gu Qianran let out a sigh of relief and leaned weakly against it. He raised a hand to touch his kissed forehead, his expression indescribably conflicted.
He had actually… been kissed by a man?
He had actually been kissed by a man!
Gu Qianran was so furious that he wanted to bang his head against the door twice. What a disgrace!
After squatting by the door for quite some time, Gu Qianran finally used it to pull himself to his feet, then walked unsteadily toward the sofa. He threw himself facedown onto it and sighed softly.
If he wasn’t mistaken, he had transmigrated. And not only that, he had transmigrated into a melodramatic substitute** novel he had read before.
As for why he had read the book in the first place, it was because his younger sister had told him that the cannon-fodder white moonlight in it shared his name. So, with the attitude of an onlooker watching gossip unfold, he opened the novel.
The story was incredibly predictable. Once upon a time, there was a domineering CEO named Yan Lu. He had a white moonlight, but that white moonlight had taken his mother’s money and abandoned him. So he found a bottom who resembled his white moonlight and used him as a substitute. There was abuse, then love, then breaking up and getting back together, getting back together and breaking up, a hundred or so chapters of melodrama, and then…
Gu Qianran caught up with the ongoing serialization.
What made him feel cheated was that, from beginning to end, the white moonlight’s name appeared only three times. It was false advertising at its finest.
Feeling emotionally deceived, Gu Qianran went to confront his younger sister, only for her to shift the blame by saying that she hadn’t read the contents at all. She had merely read the synopsis and sent him the link. She was deeply impressed by her brother’s diligent dedication to the front lines of gossip and shamelessly asked him what he thought of the story.
So Gu Qianran told her an extremely touching love story and strongly recommended that she witness this divine romance for herself. Deeply moved, his sister declared that she would read it that very night.
The next day, his sister, whose eyes were swollen from crying, nearly sent him to join that divine couple in a threesome. To save his life, Gu Qianran immediately stated with firm conviction that neither the top nor the bottom was his type. He preferred obedient, well-behaved, clingy little puppies.
That was probably what people meant by speaking a prophecy into existence. He had barely finished saying that he liked little puppies when fate sent one straight to him.
How infuriating. But he still had to keep smiling.
When he heard the name “Yan Lu” from Madam Yan, Gu Qianran, who had read countless novels, quickly realized that he might have transmigrated into a book. Since he had no idea what the exact situation was anyway, he might as well go along with it and see what happened. With that thought in mind, he naturally began playing the role of “Gu Qianran.”
Judging by the result, his performance had been a success. At the very least, nobody had discovered that he wasn’t the original “Gu Qianran.”
After what had happened that evening, he had figured out one thing: the current situation was almost completely different from the plot he knew. Even the timeline was different. At the very least, the Yan Lu he knew was a mature, stern-faced, domineering CEO who held the lifeblood of the global economy in his hands, not an immature little puppy who only knew how to cling to his white moonlight Senior Brother!
According to the transmigration-into-a-book formula he had read about, transmigration was usually accompanied by changes to the plot. A character’s characterization would change as well, and in the end, the transmigrator would fall in love with that character, with the two of them achieving great harmony in life together. This rule applied to most transmigration novels on the market.
Gu Qianran’s gaze gradually turned sharp, but unfortunately, that rule didn’t apply to him.
So he was a little puppy, was he? The distance between a little puppy and a domineering CEO was only one descent into darkness. Since fate had sent him a little puppy, he would send a domineering CEO back in return.
Fair was fair.
Gu Qianran began thinking about what he should do next.
Break up with him, force him to descend into darkness and embark on the path of a domineering CEO, abuse the little substitute, then go through abuse, love, and finally achieve great harmony in life together. Happy ending?
That was actually a pretty good plan. Gu Qianran nodded, but then he thought of a very important question. Breaking up would be easy enough, but how was he supposed to make Yan Lu turn evil?
According to the usual formula, the most straightforward method would be to take the money his mother offered and leave. But now…
His mother approved of their relationship!
Gu Qianran grabbed a cushion and covered his face with it. There was no way around it. Maybe he should just smother himself and see if he could transmigrate back.
The phone in his trouser pocket rang twice. Gu Qianran tossed aside the cushion and took out his phone. It was a message from Yan Lu saying that he had arrived home.
Although he wasn’t really in the mood to deal with anyone, Gu Qianran thought about it and replied that he knew. But just as he was about to put down the phone, another message came from the other end. It was a cat-head emoji with flowers blooming around it, and it looked extremely happy.
Gu Qianran stared at the emoji and curled his lip. He could practically picture Yan Lu’s delighted smile.
Was he really that happy? he thought dismissively. Then, with an inadvertent glance, he noticed the contact name he hadn’t paid attention to earlier.
ATM?
Was it the ATM he was thinking of? Gu Qianran frowned. Something was definitely off.
He swiped the screen and began looking through their chat history. After quickly skimming through it, he fell silent.
Almost all the messages had been sent by Yan Lu. The original owner rarely initiated conversations, and even when he did, it was usually to ask for money or things under one pretext or another. Yan Lu, meanwhile, obeyed him in everything, replying with a stream of “Sure, sure, sure” and “I’ll give it to you, I’ll give it to you, I’ll give it to you.”
He really had been treating the man like an ATM.
Looking at the countless transfer records, Gu Qianran knitted his brows tightly. This white moonlight was such a fake, pretentious bitch.
This unexpected discovery left Gu Qianran silent for a long time. What exactly was going on?
Things seemed to be getting interesting.
His most urgent task now was to learn more about the original owner of this body. Gu Qianran prepared to search for information on his phone. But just after he exited the chat interface, a conspicuous blue icon caught his eye. It belonged to an app called “Sheng Gao Forum.”
Gu Qianran tapped it. The app opened with automatic login, and before long, it brought him to the main page. He found the pinned post and opened it. After reading it, he understood what kind of forum this was. It was the student forum affiliated with Shengqiao High School.
In other words, the original owner was a student at this school?
And a high school student, no less.
At the thought of returning to high school, Gu Qianran’s heart sank into immeasurable despair. He continued browsing the forum. As he scrolled, he saw his own name displayed prominently in a title, with Yan Lu’s name right beside it.
Looking at the post titled Gu Qianran and Yan Lu Are Together!!!!!!!!, he was rendered speechless for a moment. The students at this school were quite the gossipmongers. They could fill fifty pages over a piece of relationship gossip. Impressive.
Although he felt that a post like this had nothing worthwhile in it, curiosity got the better of him, and Gu Qianran still clicked on it.
The first dozen or so replies were filled with everyone’s astonishment, but before long, different voices began to appear. Although it was difficult for text to convey the speaker’s emotions, Gu Qianran could still sense the deep malice in those few words.
“How could Yan Lu possibly like someone like Gu Qianran?”
Meow? What kind of person?
Gu Qianran patiently continued scrolling.
The gossipmongers did not disappoint him. Before long, they revealed the answer.
From these comments, Gu Qianran summed up “Gu Qianran’s” many offenses: poor, bad grades, a bad personality, fond of clinging to powerful people, scheming, vain, incompatible with people from high society… In short, aside from having an unbelievably attractive face, “Gu Qianran” was useless in every other respect. He was the lowest of the low.
Gu Qianran thought about those transfer records and silently nodded. He was pretty low indeed.
He continued scrolling. Although he only understood the situation in broad strokes, as a gossip enthusiast, he was having a wonderful time.
“I can’t believe Gu Qianran got together with Yan Lu. I thought he’d make a move on Meng Chenyu or Tang Zhen. They’re classmates, after all, so it would be more convenient.”
“Would Meng Chenyu or Tang Zhen even be interested in him? Yan Lu’s just a little easier to fool. Just wait. Once Yan Lu comes to his senses, dumping him will only be a matter of time.”
Gu Qianran stared at the comment and sneered. Hah. I’m the one who wants to dump him now.
“Can I ask how the two of them met? Aren’t they in different grades?”
Gu Qianran thought to himself, I want to know too.
“They’re both in the Student Council.”
So that was it.
As Gu Qianran read the post, he organized the information in his head. He had to admit, gossip was the greatest source of productivity. By the time he finished climbing through the entire thread, he already understood about eighty percent of the original owner’s situation, including his family background, interpersonal relationships, performance at school, and so on.
He had only one thought about it all: What kind of white moonlight was this?
Gu Qianran glanced at the time. It was already very late, and he seemed to have school tomorrow. He should probably go to sleep. After looking around the apartment, which was small enough to take in at a glance, he easily found the original owner’s room. He retrieved a change of clothes from the wardrobe and entered the bathroom, humming a tune.
After taking a shower, he came out wiping his hair and flopped onto the bed. He continued thinking about his great breakup plan when his phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and saw another message from “ATM”: Senior Brother, I’m going to sleep. You should get some rest too. You have your midterm exams tomorrow, so don’t stay up too late. Good night.
Gu Qianran stared at the message for a while, then suddenly shuddered.
Midterm exams?
The label attached to “Gu Qianran” instantly appeared in his mind: bad grades!
Gu Qianran climbed off the bed and went barefoot to the desk, where he began rummaging through everything. As he searched, he unearthed several test papers.
When he saw the bright red scores on the papers, Gu Qianran even felt like performing a dramatic death on the spot. Thirty points? Had this test been written with his feet?
Unwilling to believe it, he continued to the next paper. Wonderful, this one was 43 points. After going through all the test papers and adding up the scores, he got 233 points. He felt that the number was mocking him.
What a disgrace!
He pulled out the chair, sat down, and casually picked up a textbook to read.
Who cared about breaking up? Was breaking up more important than avenging this humiliation?