According to the plot, the protagonist was in his decline phase: kicked out by his family, staying at a distant uncle’s house, with even his spending money coming from the charity of friends.
The book said this person smiled at everyone with just the right amount of warmth, even at his enemies.
But Xiao Muyu had not smiled once since he appeared in the private room.
Clearly, he was the one who had come off worse that night.
The private room at the nightclub that night hadn’t even had a decent bed. It was truly awful.
The next day he’d even come down with a fever, while Xiao Muyu could still sprint a hundred meters.
After getting into the car, Qin Jin deliberately buckled his seatbelt.
Their impression of each other had already hit rock bottom anyway. The Simp mission couldn’t be done on this person, so he might as well set his sights on someone else.
“What’s your name?”
“Qin Jin.”
“Did you bring your ID card?”
He nodded.
“Do you have any infectious diseases?”
So he was worried about catching something.
Qin Jin shook his head. “I haven’t had relations with anyone.”
Even though it had clearly happened the week before last.
Combined with Qin Jin’s flat, indifferent expression, it had a definite hint of innuendo.
Xiao Muyu paused, a little uncomfortable.
Qin Jin’s stomach growled twice. Qin Jin rubbed it. “I’m hungry.”
The driver stayed silent. Apart from the questions at the start, he hadn’t spoken a word, as if Qin Jin were invisible.
Until the car stopped in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Hm?
Before Qin Jin knew what was happening, he was dragged to a spot next to the Civil Affairs Bureau to take a few half-length photos together.
Then the other man produced a sheet of paper.
It was a declaration of no blood relation.
The man across from him had already signed it and pushed the pen and paper over. Qin Jin looked at the pen and paper oddly, then at the other man.
“What, can’t you read?”
The possibility that Qin Jin was illiterate made Xiao Muyu’s expression darken further.
He wasn’t normally someone who let his emotions show so freely.
But with Qin Jin, he couldn’t even manage a fake smile.
“I can read. It’s just… what do you want me to sign this for?”
The moment the question left his mouth, a thought flashed through his mind: farm Dog Coin. If he went along with the protagonist’s wishes, wouldn’t he make money?
“Done.”
On the white paper, the bold yet restrained characters “Qin Jin” sat right next to Xiao Muyu.
What happened next truly made his jaw drop.
“Hello, I have an appointment.” A smile finally appeared on Xiao Muyu’s face as he spoke to the staff member.
“Wait, we’re getting married?!”
“Mm.”
The same-sex marriage law had only just been introduced this year.
By the time each of them held a little red marriage certificate, Qin Jin was stunned.
“This marriage certificate won’t affect your normal life. It’ll last three months at most, and once it’s over we’ll divorce. I’ll wire you money every month.”
With that, Xiao Muyu opened the car door, his voice flat. “I’ll take you back now.”
“…”
Wait, is this how it’s supposed to go?
Qin Jin’s mind went blank.
Was his partner a free gift with a phone credit top-up? The thing was, he hadn’t even topped up yet! This guy had come to him on his own!
Before Xiao Muyu could get in himself, Qin Jin kicked the car door, and it swung shut again.
Qin Jin’s leg blocked his way.
Xiao Muyu looked at Qin Jin expressionlessly.
“I never asked you to take responsibility! Why drag me here to get married for no reason?!” Qin Jin growled.
“You’re only reacting now?”
“How can you force someone into marriage?!”
“Is that so? You mean the kind of force where you held the pen and signed the paper yourself, then held the pen and discussed with me how to fill out the registration form, and then swore the oath and got the certificate with me?”
Seeing Qin Jin shout out several “you”s in a row, Xiao Muyu finally deigned to show a fake smile, very faint.
After getting in the car.
The man in the driver’s seat turned the steering wheel.
“In about three days, someone will come looking for you. If I’m not mistaken, the amount they offer you won’t be less than 100,000. Ask for whatever you want, but my suggestion is two million, split 50-50.”
Those words stirred up some scattered fragments of the plot in his mind. Qin Jin slowly shifted from dazed to thoughtful.
He asked, “Anything else?”
“There is. You’d best take this certificate, and after you get the money, ask them for an apartment too. That apartment will be yours, so don’t be shy with them.”
In the original book’s plot, the Xiao family had already cut off his main expenses and even hired people to beat up the man abroad.
The two of them, protagonist included, had nearly been sent to a conversion therapy center abroad.
“What if they try to hit me?”
He asked this question sincerely.
The Xiao family’s influence was so great that its reach extended even abroad.
“Didn’t you even beat Liu Daqiang? Besides, I know you need money. After this is done, give me three years and I’ll help you pay off your debts.”
The protagonist had even investigated him.
Qin Jin stretched slightly. “How do you know I have millions in debt?”
Just now, he’d finally recalled some of the original plot.
In the original plot, Xiao Muyu and the underling arranged by the other protagonist put on a show every day, fooling the Xiao family into believing it, and in the end used money to break up the couple.
With that money, Xiao Muyu directly joined with the other protagonist to register a new company.
Anyway, this was the protagonist’s test of his family and the starting point of his career line.
The author had used a very long section on this plot to describe the protagonist and the underling putting on a show every day, with the underling in charge of reporting to the other protagonist.
The other protagonist would get inexplicably jealous, and every night dream of those described scenes, except the underling was replaced by himself.
By the time the protagonist tested again and again, and found that his family was utterly disappointed in him and might abandon him over his orientation, he had already used that money to finish registering the new company.
That night, the two protagonists drank endlessly. One was drunk and reeking of liquor, the other still thought he was dreaming, and afterward things naturally fell into place.
Damn, so all that buildup was just to let them have a good time once.
The more Qin Jin thought about it, the more his head throbbed.
The car stopped at the school gate.
Xiao Muyu said flatly, “Sorry, I have things to do, so I won’t join you for breakfast.”
After getting out, Qin Jin thought of something and knocked on the car window.
He wanted to ask Xiao Muyu why he hadn’t chosen to put on a show with him, but instead married him.
Clearly, in the original plot, the protagonist hadn’t gotten a certificate with the underling.
But Xiao Muyu in the driver’s seat didn’t even spare him a glance, and simply drove off.
Disgusted by him?
Didn’t want physical contact with him?
Qin Jin scoffed.
If not for the risk of coin deduction, he would definitely have cursed this person thoroughly!
The summer was muggy. It didn’t take long under the sun to be covered in sweat.
After class, Qin Jin still hadn’t eaten.
He was just about to go out for duck blood vermicelli soup when a few messages popped up on his phone.
It was Liu Daqiang.
However long he’d played pool at the club last night, Liu Daqiang had watched for just as long.
『Drama Club assembly.』
A club?
The Drama Club’s space was very large, and they could even borrow the school’s small auditorium. Its location was right next to the small auditorium.
He arrived at the club entrance.
The people inside, with dragons and tigers tattooed on their arms, sat in neat rows on both sides.
Qin Jin carried a bag. “I brought two portions of chicken cutlet with meat sauce and cheese mixed noodles. Is Liu Daqiang here?”
His eyes swept the room. Liu Daqiang wasn’t inside.
Someone came over fawningly. “Oh, you even brought something Big Brother Qiang likes? So kind of you. He’s next door. The auditorium door isn’t locked, just go in.”
“No, it’s just that he wanted some last time and I forgot to buy it.”
“No, no, just remembering what Big Brother Qiang said is already the greatest brotherly loyalty!”
This fawning manner was truly strange.
Qin Jin still remembered how loudly this person had cheered when he’d been hit on the head by the door in the toilet last time.