“… The recipient for the Thirty-Sixth Best Actor at the Golden Phoenix Award is—Yan Zijin! Let us welcome Yan Zijin onto the stage to accept his award!”
Following the host’s voice, the spotlight fell onto a certain spot in the guest seating area. Yan Zijin stood up slowly, nodding and smiling reservedly to those around him, and then went onstage amidst warm applause to receive his award and deliver his acceptance speech.
After accepting the award came the media press conference and individual interviews, and once those were wrapped up, it was off to the celebration banquet hosted by the production crew.
This was the very first Best Actor trophy of Yan Zijin’s life. At the celebration banquet, he was in a fantastic mood, accepting every single toast offered to him, and was quickly plied with alcohol until drunk. Late at night, his assistant sent him back to the hotel, where he fell asleep on the bed without taking a shower, and then he dreamed a dream—dreaming that he had actually transmigrated into a novel. It was precisely the one he had read out of sheer boredom last month while filming in the mountains.
He dreamed that he had transmigrated into the cannon fodder villain inside. However, despite being a wealthy and powerful villainous supporting character, he ended up being topped by the protagonist shou [bottom].
When the dream progressed to this point, Yan Zijin couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It really was a dream, to be so illogical.
As he laughed, Yan Zijin woke up, and then he could laugh no longer.
The unfamiliar environment before his eyes was clearly not the room he was familiar with, not to mention his exhausted and sore body, as well as that domineering arm draped across his waist…
As his consciousness awoke, his memories also began to flood back.
So he really had transmigrated into the villainous supporting character of the novel, and had indeed rolled between the sheets with the novel’s protagonist—and was even the one on the bottom.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to resist, but every time he was pressed back down, only to be dealt with even more ruthlessly afterward.
Yan Zijin: …
Yan Zijin covered his face.
He felt a sudden urge to curse out loud.
How on earth had things turned out like this?
Why did he transmigrate? Why did he transmigrate into a villainous supporting character? Why did he transmigrate into a villainous supporting character whose future he knew would be utterly miserable? How long would he stay here? Could he still return to his original world?
None of these questions had anyone to answer them.
As a calm adult, Yan Zijin never indulged in fantasies about things beyond his control. His greatest strength was always being able to face reality bravely, then adjust his state according to reality and continue striving for a better life.
Thus, after feeling dejected for only a short while, Yan Zijin calmed down.
Now that things had come to this, Yan Zijin felt that the very first thing he needed to do—and the most important—was to leave the scene as quickly as possible.
Making this decision was fast, but Yan Zijin had considered it thoroughly after careful deliberation.
As the villainous supporting character in the original text, if he wanted to avoid his miserable end in the future, he must not offend the novel’s male lead, Ning Siyin.
The best relationship was having no relationship at all.
With no intersection, it was almost impossible for conflicts to arise, and without conflicts, it was impossible to offend the other party.
Although after last night’s events, Yan Zijin deeply suspected whether this person behind him had also swapped souls like himself.
But no matter what, that was still the protagonist! He was no reckless fool and wouldn’t gamble with his own little life.
Gently and carefully, he lifted that arm off his waist. The other party had no reaction whatsoever to his movements, appearing to be fast asleep.
Resentment flared in Yan Zijin’s heart as he endured the soreness to roll out of bed, picking up the clothing scattered on the floor and putting them on one by one.
Mottled red marks and bite marks were all over his body, reminding Yan Zijin of what had transpired upon him.
If it weren’t for his mind firmly remembering that the other party was a protagonist who couldn’t be offended, Yan Zijin would definitely drag that person on the bed up and beat him to a pulp.
“It wasn’t his fault, he was drugged too,” Yan Zijin muttered under his breath.
Last night his brain was groggy, but he could feel that Ning Siyin was in the exact same state as himself—he had clearly been drugged as well.
He didn’t know if it was due to the plot’s force, where the protagonist had to consume that drug, or if someone saw that Shen Qing failed to force Ning Siyin to drink the spiked red wine and successfully drugged him through other means.
Either way, this matter was just an accident! Definitely an accident! It had to be an accident!
Yan Zijin directly ignored the calm and unhurried posture Ning Siyin had when he first entered the door last night, which proved that even if it was an accident, it was one Ning Siyin had intentionally allowed to succeed.
“Look at his appearance, then look at his figure. So you really didn’t lose out, really didn’t! Maybe you even got the better end of the deal!”
Yan Zijin babbled on, trying to brainwash himself.
Yet he didn’t even dare turn his head to look at the bed, terrified that a single extra glance would spark the flames of fury in his heart.
Therefore, he didn’t see that the person on the bed had already opened his eyes, brazenly sizing up the person who was hurriedly getting dressed at the bathroom doorway.
Finally strapping on his wristwatch, his mind had thoroughly returned to peace, and Yan Zijin regained his usual cool composure and self-restraint.
He took a deep breath and stepped out.
Through the slowly closing room door, Ning Siyin was still lying quietly on the bed in the exact same posture as before without any change. That elegant and handsome face was just as described in the novel, making hearts flutter.
See, told you that you didn’t lose out.
After leaving the top floor, Yan Zijin located the room Hu Lei was in.
Hu Lei had drunk quite a lot and hadn’t woken up yet.
Yan Zijin went straight into the bathroom.
He took a shower, washed away the mess left on his body from last night, changed into clean new clothes, and Yan Zijin finally felt a bit more comfortable.
Hu Lei was still asleep, so Yan Zijin didn’t press further; instead, he sat down on a chair and began to carefully ponder over his transmigration.
He felt something was a bit strange.
Last night was a complete chaotic mess, so he failed to notice. Just now while dressing in front of the bathroom mirror, Yan Zijin saw himself in the mirror and discovered that Shen Qing’s face in the mirror was completely identical to his own.
Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?
Yan Zijin was even somewhat bewildered.
If he didn’t truly possess detailed memories of twenty-eight years as Yan Zijin in his mind, he would have suspected whether he had really transmigrated at all, and that Yan Zijin’s life was merely a dream he had dreamed.
The key point was that before the age of fourteen, Shen Qing was also named Yan Zijin, and his memories were completely identical to his own.
The divergence occurred at fourteen.
When he was fourteen, his maternal grandmother passed away. The pre-transmigration Yan Zijin went to the Film and Television City with an uncle from town after graduating from junior high, gradually entering the entertainment industry step by step.
As for this current body, he was brought back to the Shen family, renamed Shen Qing, successfully completed high school and university, and was currently working in the Shen family’s own company.
A parallel world?
No one could answer this question for him.
Just then, Hu Lei turned over on the bed and woke up.
“Shen Qing? Morning.”
Yan Zijin snapped back to reality.
Hu Lei stretched, opening his mouth wide in a yawn; he had clearly slept very well, looking nothing like the drunk-as-a-dead-pig state when he was handed over to the waiter last night.
In such a chaotic state last night, Yan Zijin had still remembered to settle Hu Lei. That was because in the original novel, after the Shen family fell from power, while all former friends avoided Shen Qing like the plague, Hu Lei still refused to give up on this friend, even attempting to rescue him from his plight.
And Hu Lei was also one of the rare characters in the original novel who had never admired Ning Siyin, and had even repeatedly advised Shen Qing to stay away from Ning Siyin.
“How did you run into a conflict with Ning Siyin last night?” Yan Zijin asked.
In Shen Qing’s memories, Hu Lei was a bit timid and fearful of trouble, apologizing first whenever something happened regardless of right or wrong. Even after drinking wine last night, he wouldn’t take the initiative to pick a fight.
Speaking of this, Hu Lei felt a bit angry.
“Someone tripped me,” he said.
Yesterday there were too many people talking at once, so Hu Lei didn’t mention it. Now with only his good friend Shen Qing by his side, he spoke out the truth.
“I lost my balance and bumped into Ning Siyin who was standing in front, and then he slammed me to the ground.”
To be honest, Hu Lei was somewhat dumbfounded at the time. According to his personality, he would have apologized immediately upon bumping into someone, yet Ning Siyin didn’t give him the chance; a second before he could open his mouth, Hu Lei was thrown out.
Hu Lei rubbed his buttocks which were still throbbing with pain. If the carpet hadn’t been thick enough and a sofa hadn’t cushioned the fall a bit, he might have been injured last night.
“You didn’t get into a conflict with him, did you?”
He remembered that last night, after Shen Qing knew he was thrown down, he wanted to settle scores with Ning Siyin on the spot, but was stopped by him. Later, the people nearby kept urging drinks, and soon he was plied drunk, and he didn’t remember what happened after that.
Yan Zijin paused for a moment.
“No.”
Having suffered a massive loss on his end alone certainly couldn’t be counted as a conflict.
“It’s good that there was no conflict,” Hu Lei said. “This Ning Siyin is definitely no simple character; we had better stay away from him.”
When he bumped over last night, the look in the other’s eyes the moment he turned around gave him a fright, and he still had lingering fear even now.
Yan Zijin deeply agreed and nodded in concurrence.
“Indeed, but we won’t have any intersections in the future anyway.”
Even if there were, he would try his best to avoid them.
“Then do you know who tripped you?” Yan Zijin asked.
Hu Lei recalled for a moment and named a person, “Only his position was the most suspicious.”
Yan Zijin flipped through his memories; the person Hu Lei named happened to also be the one who spiked the red wine and continuously egged him on to settle scores with Ning Siyin.
Sure enough, someone was calculating in the dark regarding this matter, likely targeting Ning Siyin.
Yan Zijin was not a person who bore grudges over every minor offense; since things didn’t go like the plot in the novel, he didn’t plan to retaliate either. However, that person who spiked the wine and egged Shen Qing on, no matter what the reason was, he didn’t intend to have any further contact with him.
After confirming the reason for last night’s events, Yan Zijin decided not to do anything and pretend as if nothing had happened.
After tidying up, the two went down to the buffet restaurant downstairs.
They came down early, so there weren’t many people in the restaurant, making it easy to spot the eye-catching Ning Siyin sitting right in the middle.
Sitting opposite him was a burly, somewhat ferocious-looking man.
Based on the scar on the corner of his left eyebrow, Yan Zijin recognized the other party’s identity.
This man was the one who ended up together with Ning Siyin in the novel.
He was also the person Yan Zijin had spent the entire night hoping for, yet who never appeared until the end.
No wonder he was only reluctantly acknowledged by the protagonist Ning Siyin near the grand finale of the novel; it was eight out of ten due to this guy’s action being far too slow.
Yan Zijin evaluated in his heart.
You missed such a golden opportunity! If you don’t work twice as hard in the future, watch out that you won’t even win your wife over by the novel’s grand finale!
It just so happened that the other party raised his head and caught Yan Zijin’s disdainful gaze, looking over in slight confusion.
Ning Siyin, sitting opposite him, noticed his movement and followed his line of sight to see Yan Zijin holding a dining tray.
Two sets of gazes met in mid-air.
Ning Siyin was stunned for a moment, then quickly curved his eyes, displaying that trademark smile described many times in the novel.
That face was exceptionally striking; when not smiling, he was cool and aloof like an unreachable flower on a high peak. But as long as he smiled, he immediately turned exceedingly refined, warm, and gentle, making people long to draw near.
Yan Zijin: …
Yet he instantly recalled the wildness of last night. As well as that pair of hands gently holding the porcelain spoon— fingers long, fingertips rounded, looking utterly harmless. But Yan Zijin knew how firm, domineering, and unforgiving the strength of them pinching his waist was, allowing no movement of escape for the prey under his palm.
His expression was refined, his smile warm, and his voice gentle.
“Good morning.”
It was a very plain greeting, yet upon hearing it, Yan Zijin almost couldn’t hold back from slamming the breakfast on his tray right over.
Fortunately, reason stopped him.
This is the novel’s male lead, and I am now the villainous male supporting character; if I want to stay alive, I can’t offend him.
Reciting it three times silently in his heart, he managed to suppress the urge to flip the tray.
Yan Zijin turned his face away expressionlessly, pretending to see him out of the corner of his eye, and walked straight ahead holding his tray.
To survive, the best relationship between himself, this villainous male supporting character, and the protagonist, was having no relationship at all!
He had made his stance obvious enough; Ning Siyin was a smart and proud person, so he surely wouldn’t take the initiative to come looking for him.