After tidying up, Lin Zili stormed over to the entrance of a company. The receptionist, seeing him, braced herself as if facing a formidable enemy and hurriedly stopped him. “Boss’s wife, I assume you are here to see our President? He is not in right now.”
Lin Zili rolled his eyes, causing the receptionist to blink in surprise. Indeed, even a beauty rolling his eyes was a sight to behold.
“Who is your boss’s wife? That dog of a man and I have already broken up. If he is not here, where did he go?”
The receptionist coaxed, “The President is out on an assignment. We do not know when he will be back. Shall I notify you once he returns?”
Lin Zili retorted sarcastically, “A President still needs to go out on assignments?”
“Fine, I will not make things difficult for you. If he is not here, so be it. There will always be a chance to catch him.”
The receptionist breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly ushered him away. Once he was completely out of sight, she wiped away a cold sweat. The President is truly something. He could not even hold onto such a stunning beauty; he deserves to be single.
After returning, Lin Zili wasted no time entering the new world. Once he arrived, he sat in a dilapidated rental apartment and sorted through the plot of this world.
Song Wanwan was a kind, resilient white lotus heroine who had lost both her parents and lived with her grandmother. By chance, she met the male lead, Xie Chenxi, who was captivated by her indomitable spirit, triggering a plot of him chasing her while she desperately tried to escape.
Lin Zili was currently playing a small-time hoodlum who relied on his younger sister for survival. In the original plot, he fell in love with Song Wanwan at first sight, pestered her relentlessly, and was eventually beaten until his limbs were broken by the male lead, leaving him to beg for food under a pedestrian bridge for the rest of his life.
After reading the summary, Lin Zili sighed. How melodramatic. Being this miserable, he does not even qualify as a third-tier male character.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door. “Brother, dinner is ready. Come out and eat.”
Lin Zili opened the door and saw a young girl standing there. She had delicate features, a high ponytail, and was dressed in a simple T-shirt and jeans, radiating youthful energy. This was his younger sister, Lin Ruoxi, the person he relied on for survival.
Lin Zili scratched his head apologetically. “Sorry, Ruoruo. I fell asleep and forgot to cook. Sorry to have troubled you.”
Lin Ruoxi laughed. “What are you talking about? I am old enough to cook. You work so hard every day, so it is only right that I make you dinner.”
Lin Zili smiled, feeling a pang of guilt. There was no job; he had lied to Lin Ruoxi, claiming he worked as a waiter at a restaurant, when in reality, he spent his days collecting protection money with a group of thugs.
He hurriedly pushed Lin Ruoxi toward the dining area. “Alright, enough. I am hungry. What delicious thing did you make? I can already smell the fragrance.”
After eating, he washed the dishes and slipped out on a pretext.
Walking down the street, he saw his reflection in a window. His hair was dry, straw-like, and dyed a garish color. Even at the risk of losing character points, he went to a hair salon and dyed it back to black. As someone who loved beauty, having this yellow hair was more painful than death.
After he finished, the hairdresser looked at Lin Zili, who looked like a completely different person, and stared in amazement. “Young man, you are so handsome, why ruin yourself? Listen to me, never dye your hair yellow again. It is a terrible waste.”
Lin Zili looked at his reflection. His lips were red, his teeth white, and his black hair was styled in a trendy, textured cut that made him look handsome and well-behaved.
Satisfied, he paid and left. He navigated through twists and turns until he reached a dilapidated building, where he could hear the noisy sounds of commotion from inside even before entering.
Lin Zili knocked on the door. Moments later, a loud, rough male voice shouted, “Who is it?” The door opened.
A man with a cigarette dangling from his mouth stared at the good boy before him and snapped impatiently, “Kid, who are you looking for? Is this somewhere you can just walk into?”
Lin Zili rolled his eyes and pushed past him. “What do you mean, who am I looking for? Do I not come here every day? Are you blind? You do not recognize me just because I changed my hairstyle?”
Hearing the familiar voice, the man dropped his cigarette in shock. He stared with wide eyes. “Lin Zili!?”
Lin Zili kept walking inside. “What? Why are you calling your grandpa?”
The man bustled around him, shouting, “My god, did you get plastic surgery? Did you look like this before?”
Lin Zili said impatiently, “You are the one who had surgery. I am all-natural. I was just tired of the yellow hair, so I dyed it black for fun. When I get tired of the black, I will dye it purple.”
The man hurriedly said, “No, no, black looks good on you. Do not dye it anymore. If you had looked like this earlier, we would have been treating you like royalty.”
“Hey, I do not have a partner yet. What do you think of me? Shall we give it a try?”
Lin Zili stopped and turned back, looking at him with a half-smile. The man fluffed his hair and puffed out his chest, thinking he looked cool.
The next moment, Lin Zili slapped him on the head. “What kind of spring dream are you having? Do you think you are worthy?”
The man did not get angry. He did not even feel much pain, thinking that Lin Zili’s fiery temper made him even more attractive.
“Fine, fine. I am a toad lusting after swan meat. Let’s go, Brother Hui is inside waiting for you. He says he has something for you.”
The two pushed open the door to the side room. The noise inside was even louder, with groups of people crowded around tables, playing mahjong or poker, the air thick with smoke.
“Brother Hui, you were looking for me?” Lin Zili approached Brother Hui, who was focused intently on his cards. Hearing him, he did not even look up and shoved a slip of paper into Lin Zili’s pocket.
“There is a deadbeat here who owes us 100,000 yuan. Go collect the debt. Damn it! That is my card, put it down!”
Brother Hui threw down a card forcefully, but suddenly noticed the room had gone quiet. Seeing the stupefied expressions of his lackeys, he asked suspiciously, “What is it? Did you see a ghost?”
Following their gaze, he turned and saw Lin Zili. Upon seeing him clearly, his eyes widened. “Who is this handsome guy?”
Lin Zili felt their expressions were a bit too exaggerated and gave a helpless smile. “Brother Hui, it is me, Lin Zili. I just changed my hair. Is that really such a big deal?”
Brother Hui came to his senses and shook his head. “Yes, it is a big deal. Your old hairstyle was like a pile of dog fur, so long it covered your face. You looked like a textbook hoodlum.”
“To be honest, this is the first time I have seen your face in all this time. I had no idea you were so handsome.”
He took the debt slip back from Lin Zili. “Never mind, do not bother with the debt collection. I will give you an easier job later.”
Lin Zili hurriedly snatched the debt slip back. “No, I can do it.” Collecting debt paid much more than collecting protection money. With this 100,000 yuan debt, if he collected it, he would get at least 5,000 yuan. His sister was about to take the college entrance exam, and 5,000 yuan was no small sum for their family.