His tone was terrifyingly calm, echoing repeatedly through the empty room.
“Gentleman,” the AI, processed at lightning speed, swallowing the words “little tyrant wife” that were on the tip of its tongue.
[Young Master, please calm your anger. Of course, you are the most noble Young Master.]
A qualified butler should not shirk the responsibility of delivering information, but “Gentleman” sensed that its Young Master did not want to hear the real answer at all.
It wasn’t that it didn’t dare to say it.
Ahem.
It definitely wasn’t that it didn’t dare to say it.
“Gentleman” promptly changed the subject.
[The information extracted from the system is rather complex. I’m afraid my retelling might be inaccurate. Would the Young Master like to see it for yourself?]
Wen Ying nodded, exhausted in both body and mind.
In an instant, a flood of information surged into his mind.
Books with pink, delicate covers, titles written in extravagant cursive script, lined up neatly five of them in total.
“The Demon Young Master’s Cross-Dressing Little Tyrant Wife.”
On the cover of each book was an angry-looking girl with pink hair and big eyes, alongside a tall, handsome black-haired young man with an air of superiority.
Not to mention the rose and star motifs that were blindingly bright.
Can’t they have any expression other than anger?
Wen Ying quickly scanned through them, silently criticizing with a cold face.
Without realizing it, he habitually crossed his arms, wearing an aloof, keep-away-from-me expression.
The cover of the first book gleamed brightly, and the pages slowly unfolded.
The female lead’s name was similar to his surnamed Wen, with the given name Yingying.
Like him, the girl had just turned eighteen.
Wen Yingying had once come from a wealthy family, having studied abroad for years a true heiress.
But by the opening of the book, her mother had passed away from illness, her father had jumped to his death due to debt, and her smooth path had turned into a hellish start.
Just as she was at her wit’s end, the wealthy Huo family, old friends of her father, came knocking, offering to cover her tuition and pay off her debts.
The Huo family was willing to help, but they had their own little condition.
“Young Master Jueyue has been unruly and disobedient these past years, and Master Huo is quite troubled.”
“We hope Miss Yingying can attend Mingying Academy and help reform the rebellious Young Master Huo.”
Wen Yingying agreed.
She was stubborn and willful by nature a domineering little white flower but she had no choice but to bow her head for survival.
The girl then disguised herself as a male, using the name “Wen Ying” to infiltrate the all-boys’ Mingying Academy. However, with her long hair, long lashes, heterochromatic eyes, and striking looks, her identity was quickly exposed.
Seeing this, Wen Ying fell silent.
He turned to look at himself in the mirror.
Long hair, long lashes, round eyes, heterochromatic eyes.
A perfect match for Wen Yingying’s appearance.
But who on earth judges gender based on such physical traits!
The subsequent plot made it even harder for him to read on.
Wen Yingying, due to her recklessness and impulsiveness, caught the attention of the Four Young Masters of Mingying, naturally also drawing the notice of the school bully, Huo Jueyue.
Following the principle of “if you love her, bully her,” the hot-tempered school bully became her “bickering sweetheart.” Along the way, Wen Yingying encountered many handsome men, leading to scenes of the school bully getting jealous, her misunderstanding, the school bully forcing her hand, and her running away a classic love story.
Wen Ying felt that the female lead was unlucky to have caught the eye of Huo Jueyue, who was always so handsy.
And that was just the content of the first book.
Following the principle that suffering five times is better than suffering all at once, Wen Ying tried to continue reading the remaining books but found he couldn’t.
[You cannot absorb too much external content at once it could damage your brain.]
“Gentleman” stopped him just in time.
Wen Ying:
He felt his brain damage was already irreversible.
Closing his eyes, he asked without any hope: “Can I not play Wen Yingying?”
He really couldn’t imagine blushing and falling into the hot-tempered male lead’s arms, eating outside in the rain just to catch the gentle second male lead’s attention, or stomping his feet and pointing at the cold third male lead while cursing him out.
Not to mention enduring the male lead, second male lead, and third male lead suddenly barging in while he was changing clothes.
Was there no legal system in this world?
That was practically sexual harassment.
[I would not advise the Young Master to do that.]
[This world was built based on the book. If the female lead role is missing, the world may collapse, which could in turn endanger your safety.]
[However, the Young Master need not worry too much. I have analyzed 1,693 methods and have already found a shortcut.]
As the words fell, a light screen popped up in front of Wen Ying.
In the center of the screen was a plot progress bar, with names labeled “affection points” in the upper right corner. But the plot bar was gold, while the names were all grayed out.
[This is content I extracted from the system’s hard drive. You only need to pass through the plot nodes.]
[As for the affection points of the supporting characters and male leads, they only affect the system’s rewards and penalties. You don’t need to obtain them they have no impact on you.]
[Displaying their affection points is merely for the Young Master’s reference in making choices.]
“Gentleman” explained earnestly.
[So the Young Master doesn’t actually need to form any real connections with anyone.]
[First, stabilize the situation. During this time, I will work hard to contact His Majesty and strive to take you away early.]
“Wait.”
Hearing about contacting the Star Emperor, Wen Ying’s expression turned strange for a moment.
“Let’s take it one step at a time. No need to rush to find Father.”
[Understood.]
“Gentleman” took note of his unusual reaction and responded with tacit understanding.
[If the Young Master needs it, I will contact His Majesty then.]
Wen Ying tapped the plot node, and a line of text popped up on the blinking dot.
Wen Yingying is about to transfer to Mingying Academy, where she will face the harassment of the male lead, Huo Jueyue.
He silently recited the node summary in his mind, then picked up the phone lying on the pink bedsheet.
Today is August 31st, and school starts on September 1st.
According to the plot of Chapter 1 in Book One, when Huo Jueyue hears that his father has sent someone to spy on him, he’ll rebel and come to cause trouble at the door the day before school starts.
To conceal her female identity, Wen Yingying will refuse to come out, and Huo Jueyue will humiliate her, spout a bunch of bold declarations, and then storm off.
At the end of Chapter 1, Wen Yingying, with tearful eyes, bites her lip and pounds the door with her fist: “You idiot, don’t you dare bully me!”
Wen Ying naturally has no hobby of pounding doors with his fist.
He figures no normal person would, either.
There’s still a lot to do, and as long as he avoids Huo Jueyue’s harassment, the details don’t matter.
The phone can be unlocked with his birthday. He fumbles with it for a while, barely figuring out how to use it.
He checks his bank balance, finds a delivery app squeezed among a bunch of messy software, and has someone run errands to buy men’s clothes.
The fabric of the clothes in the pictures doesn’t look great no matter how he looks at it he’s never worn such shabby clothes.
But Wen Ying can only casually order a few pieces.
While fiddling with the app, messages keep popping up from an app called “Tieba,” and the phone buzzes and dings nonstop.
Wen Ying has no time to pay attention. He has “Gentleman” open the surveillance camera that’s been idle at the front door.
Most of the furniture in the house was taken away by debt collectors, but thankfully the camera wasn’t ripped off and sold for cash.
For future plans, he’d better have evidence of Huo Jueyue going crazy.
Not long after placing the order, messy knocking comes from outside.
“Hey! If you’re a man, come out!”
The male lead’s voice is quite pleasant, full of youthful energy, but arrogant enough to make one frown.
“So you’re the poor wretch my dad found?”
Wen Ying pushes open the bedroom door in his nightgown.
He drags over a chair, pours himself a cup of hot water, sits by the door, and continues staring at his phone.
There’s no way he’s opening the door it’s thirty-seven degrees outside, and Huo Jueyue won’t last long yelling.
Sure enough, after just a few shouts, the pampered young master starts chugging water.
“Cough, cough, cough Hey, shorty.”
The handsome young master coughs a few times from the water, then yells loudly.
“From now on at school, we go our separate ways. Don’t think you can boss me around ”
Wen Ying’s hand pauses.
Shorty?
His height is decent he’s only a shoe’s difference shorter than Huo Jueyue. It’s just that he used to be too skinny from anorexia, and standing next to his brother, who’s nearly two meters tall and trained in the military for over a decade, he looks short.
He really hates being called shorty.
“Does Young Master Huo want his card frozen again?”
Wen Ying speaks coldly, his voice neither loud nor soft.
Huo’s father is quite troubled by Huo Jueyue’s reckless behavior, and his card was just frozen a few days ago.
So-called rich young masters are nothing but bullies relying on family money.
The voice outside quiets down, tinged with reluctance.
“You’re going to tattle?”
“You’re the one who came to my house to cause trouble.”
Wen Ying says calmly: “I have no interest in making trouble for you, and I won’t meddle in your affairs in the future. Can you leave now?”
The outside goes completely silent.
The surveillance shows Huo Jueyue and his two lackeys haven’t left yet, standing there like statues.
The old camera’s footage is heavily degraded, but it’s still clear enough to see Huo Jueyue’s face darken considerably.
Like he’s angry.
“Tsk.”
Suddenly, Huo Jueyue tilts his head back in irritation, lets out an affected sigh, angles his sharp jawline, and his gaze turns suddenly piercing.
He casually reveals his Adam’s apple, collarbones, and the sweat-soaked, bulging muscle lines on his chest.
“Is he itchy?”
Wen Ying crosses his legs, watching the monkey show outside with little interest: “Showing off.”
Granted, Huo Jueyue might be a bit better-looking than the male concubines his imperial princess sister keeps, and he’s a better performer too.
But he doesn’t like men.
Huo Jueyue’s pecs might be more interesting to blood-sucking insects.
[Your home is at the foot of the mountain, and there are indeed many mosquitoes and bugs around here.]
“Gentleman” suppresses a laugh, feigning surprise with a pause.
[Wow, his favorability toward the young lord has dropped!]
“Good.”
Checking the time, the clothes he ordered should be arriving soon.
At the thought of finally getting rid of this too-tight nightgown, Wen Ying’s mood improves a lot.
The weather is scorching, and it’s not easy running around so fast. He plans to give the delivery guy a bigger tip once he receives the goods.
Huo Jueyue’s male pheromones don’t intimidate Wen Ying instead, they attract the hungry mosquitoes at the foot of the mountain, whose eyes turn red as they swarm his full chest.
Wen Ying watches as Huo Jueyue is about to be bitten into retreat, when suddenly the commotion outside starts up again.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The one speaking is the rich kid beside Huo Jueyue. His voice is loud, shaking the wind chime by the door three times over.
The faint smile at the corner of Wen Ying’s mouth vanishes.
Another person appears in the surveillance feed.
The newcomer is plainly dressed, his face not clearly visible, but he appears to be about the same height as Huo Jueyue.
“Still not leaving?”
Wen Ying didn’t want to involve the innocent delivery man, so she called out, “If you don’t leave now, I’ll have no choice but to contact Uncle Huo and have him personally come pick up Young Master Huo.”
Perhaps her tone was too firm, as it actually intimidated Huo Jueyue and his two lackeys.
“Tsk, just stay away from me after school starts.”
Huo Jueyue blustered with false bravado before turning to leave with his two companions.
As he left, he accidentally bumped into the delivery man’s shoulder.
The delivery man didn’t budge, nor did he even glance at the embarrassed young master making his exit.
Wen Ying couldn’t conveniently step outside, but the app indicated that the delivery required his personal confirmation for sign-off.
Creak,
The heavy door opened a narrow crack.
“Give it to me.”
Wen Ying’s tone softened as she extended her hand, observing the delivery man outside through the gap.
The moment she saw the delivery man’s face, Wen Ying froze.
It was a face far too young he looked only eighteen or nineteen.
He possessed looks that rivaled Huo Jueyue’s handsome and striking, with a pair of wolf-like sanpaku eyes that carried an intense, oppressive presence.
The delivery boy’s expression bore no hostility, showing a maturity that didn’t match his appearance.
Compared to the loud, immature rich kid Huo Jueyue, Wen Ying was more inclined to believe this person was the male lead of this world.
But the male lead wouldn’t be reduced to delivering packages in the scorching heat.
The room was dim, so the person outside couldn’t see that she was wearing a nightgown.
Wen Ying retreated further into the room and handed him the signed receipt.
As a prince, he had never personally received a package before, but he learned quickly.
“Thank you.”
The boy’s voice outside was on the deeper side, and he handed the clothes to Wen Ying with hands bearing faint scars and calluses.
“Mm, thanks for your hard work.”
Wen Ying’s tone unconsciously lightened again as she reached out once more.
She used to play the violin, so she had some calluses too, but her skin was fairer than the person outside.
[Little Highness, what did you do?]
Amidst the harmony, “Gentleman” suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
This time, it was genuinely astonished.
[Why is Qu Huo’s favorability toward you rising?]
Qu Huo.
Wen Ying had some impression of him.
The book had too much exaggerated prose, and Wen Ying had skimmed through the character introductions, yet she remembered this relatively plain name.
He seemed to be the male lead’s biological older brother who had been separated from the family and endured nineteen years of hardship.
He was also the villain who repeatedly caused trouble for the male lead at school and eventually turned dark after facing repeated disappointments.
As for the finer plot details, Wen Ying hadn’t read the later books, so she wasn’t sure.
In her hesitation, her hand paused, inadvertently brushing against the fingers of the person outside the door.
[Qu Huo’s favorability rose again!]
“Gentleman” reminded Wen Ying.
Wen Ying’s fingers curled, easily gripping the heavy bag.
Through the door crack, she looked at the tall youth, her dark pink pupils reflecting starlight-like glimmers.
So, he was Qu Huo?