“Get out!!”
Smack.
The hard corner of the book struck Jiang You squarely on the forehead. Pain burst through her, making her dizzy and her back tremble.
The book fell, landing on the expensive wooden floor.
A moment later, warmth spilled from her forehead, trickled past the corner of her eye, and dripped from her chin.
Drip, drip…
She wiped it with her hand. Bright red blood, with a faint metallic smell.
A flood of memories that weren’t hers surged into her mind, bringing wave after wave of stabbing pain.
Jiang You clenched her teeth, endured the pain, and left the dark, unlit room.
As the door shut, a cold mechanical voice sounded beside her ear.
【Transfer successful—】
【Novel world[1]In quick-transmigration fiction, characters travel between different fictional worlds, usually to complete specific missions. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });: *Bloodthirsty, Tormented Love: President Huo[2]“President” is a common executive honorific in Chinese business romances, used for senior corporate figures rather than political leaders. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, Let’s Get Divorced*. Tags: modern romance, tragic love.】
【Plot summary: After five years of hopelessly devoted love, Su Cha lowered herself to the level of dust just to stay by his side. In the end, battered and bruised, all she received from him was a single word: “Habit.”】
【Host identity: Butler.】
The cold mechanical voice cut off abruptly.
Only then did Jiang You remember that she was dead.
After her death, she had been bound to a system[3]In Chinese web fiction, a “system” is typically a game-like entity that assigns missions, provides information, and may offer rewards for completing tasks. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); and given the chance to be reborn.
As long as she completed her missions in each world, she could have one wish granted—whether for wealth or immortality.
The world she was in now had evolved from a melodramatic CEO romance novel[4]Often associated with the Chinese “domineering CEO” romance genre, which features powerful corporate figures, unequal power dynamics, and heightened romantic conflict. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, one crammed with every trope imaginable: tragic love, taking someone by force…
The male lead was named Huo Shu. Like so many domineering CEOs, he had suffered a tragic childhood.
His father was Huo Yuan, the current head of the powerful Huo family. His mother, by contrast, was just a minor celebrity on the fringes of the entertainment industry. She used underhanded means to get into Huo Yuan’s bed, then vanished after becoming pregnant with the male lead.
Huo Yuan was ruthless. He loathed the minor celebrity for scheming against him and kept searching for her whereabouts.
Six years later, even after learning she had given birth to his child, Huo Yuan still sent people to stage a car accident to kill her and the child who carried half his blood.
During the accident, Huo Shu’s mother shielded him with her body. That was how he survived.
When Huo Yuan learned that Huo Shu was still alive, he wanted to finish the job. Old Madam Huo[5]A respectful form of address for a senior woman or matriarch in a wealthy Chinese family. “Huo” is the family surname. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); stepped in and saved him.
The six-year-old male lead was locked away. His illegitimate status was like a shackle, and the luxurious, detached four-story mansion where he was imprisoned was more like a jail.
He was twelve when Old Madam Huo finally brought him back to the Huo family.
But the Huo family was even more like hell than that cage. As Qicheng’s most prominent wealthy family, they followed the laws of ancient times: the strong devoured the weak, and only the fittest survived.
Even Huo Yuan, a man of unfathomable cunning, likely never imagined that his son, Huo Shu, whom he had nearly killed and looked down on the most, would become the next head of the Huo family.
…
By the opening chapter of the novel, the male lead had already become head of the Huo family. The main plot revolved around the tortured romance between the male and female leads, and the entire book was steeped in melodrama: kidneys being cut out, blood drawn from the heart, confinement in a dark room, legs being broken, and people being poisoned into muteness…
The male lead was seventeen now, with six years to go before he began tormenting the female lead physically and emotionally.
Jiang You’s role was to look after the male lead’s daily needs. Later, when the female lead arrived, most of her lines would be:
—Young Master[6]A respectful form of address for a son or young male heir of a wealthy household, commonly used by servants or household staff. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); finally smiled.
—This is the first time I’ve seen Young Master treat anyone so specially.
Jiang You had rarely read books in her previous life, and she’d never had time for them. So when she finished reading this novel’s plot, her first thought was:
Is the author actually mentally well?
The whole book had no logic at all. The plot went wherever the author pleased, and there were far too many things that made no sense.
For instance, in a world with reasonably strict laws, the male lead was constantly ready to shoot people dead or unlawfully imprison them.
But that wasn’t what she needed to worry about. Jiang You asked,
“2933, what’s the mission?”
System 2933 replied.
【Host, your mission is to make absolutely sure the male lead never engages in the sensitive, illegal, or violent scenarios from the novel! Promote positivity, health, and harmony…】
2933 rambled on for ages, like the upbeat village loudspeaker that played every day.
Jiang You thought for a moment, then pointed out the key issue. “But the novel’s plot hasn’t started yet.”
Seventeen-year-old Huo Shu had been back with the Huo family for only six years. He was still powerless, constantly bullied, and seen by everyone as an illegitimate son.
2933 fell silent for a few seconds.
【The mission has not yet begun. Before the plot starts, please play your role well, Host.】
【Ding. 2933 will remind you in six years.】
Jiang You wanted to ask a couple more questions, but System 2933 hurriedly signed off, saying it had other hosts to look after.
…
Blood from the wound on her forehead had stained the corner of her eye. She went to the staff restroom on the first floor, cleaned the wound with water and put on an adhesive bandage.
In front of the mirror, cool white light fell across her face.
It was an ordinary face, so unremarkable it was hard to pick out in a crowd—the standard face of a background character in a novel.
Only her eyes were her own.
Long and narrow, deep brown, they held an endless, indescribable tenderness.
“Ah.”
She sighed, lowered her head, then looked up again. Her expression had returned to calm, just like the original owner’s usual demeanor.
She wasn’t good at acting, but she should be able to play an unremarkable, by-the-book butler.
…
Every Huo family heir personally chose a butler at the age of sixteen.
A butler’s duties went beyond looking after their daily needs; they were also responsible for the heir’s safety and education. The Huo family had a special institution that trained these all-purpose butlers for the heirs to choose from.
The Huo family’s branches were deeply intertwined, with direct and collateral bloodlines[7]Direct bloodlines refer to the principal line of family descent, while collateral bloodlines refer to relatives descended from other branches of the same family. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717870_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717870_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, much like an ancient aristocratic clan. Huo Yuan was head of the family, which was why Huo Shu could be one of its heirs despite being illegitimate.
But because of his mother, Huo Shu had to wait until he was seventeen to choose a butler.
The original owner wasn’t his personal choice. The other heirs had passed her over, leaving her for him.
A butler’s role was crucial, so the heirs took their choice very seriously.
Except Huo Shu.
He trusted no one, not even a butler who could help him become head of the family.
That was why, the moment the original owner stepped into his room, he had thrown a book at her head.
His main aim was to drive her away.
But the seventeen-year-old male lead didn’t understand the rules governing butlers. They couldn’t leave an heir unless they died.
…
Jiang You knocked on the door.
There was no answer.
As she’d expected, she stayed outside and waited.
The lingering heat of summer hadn’t faded, but the air-conditioning in the hallway was strong. She stood there for half an hour. At dinnertime, she finally heard movement inside.
Click.
The door opened from within. The air inside was even colder, a chill spilling out and starkly contrasting with the hallway. None of the lights were on. The hallway sconces cast a faint amber glow before the doorway, but the darkness swallowed it up, blurring the boundary between light and shadow.
A figure emerged from the darkness, tall and slender. He was so young that even his bones seemed to carry the rawness of adolescence.
“I told you to get out. Can’t you hear me?” His voice was low, lacking the clear ring of a boy’s voice, likely because he rarely spoke.
His tone was cold, steeped in a bone-deep chill.
Jiang You stood motionless as a statue. At his words, she lowered her eyes and answered with dutiful respect:
“Young Master, once a butler is chosen, the only way out is death. There is no returning.”
That was the rule—and the command—of the Huo family’s butler-training institution.
All butlers were orphans with no parents. They underwent round after round of tests and training. By the time they came of age, this rule had been carved deep into every butler’s bones.
The hallway fell utterly silent, the atmosphere oppressive.
Jiang You could clearly feel the young man’s gaze on her. Though he was only in his teens, the pressure he exuded was enough to make anyone uneasy.
A few seconds later, she heard footsteps pass by her side.
Jiang You pressed her lips together and had no choice but to follow.
A butler couldn’t stray too far from the heir.
References[+]