Chapter 004: A Part of the Play

Chapter 004: A Part of the Play

Jin Shuyi had never felt so unjustly treated before. After all, it was quite normal for classmates to share class notes, and he was the class monitor.

And honestly, Jin Yu’s jealousy seemed a little misplaced, right?

According to the original story, the main leads should still be at the stage where they couldn’t stand the sight of each other.

Was it possible that Jin Yu had already claimed Su Xu as his own, getting jealous no matter how others treated him?

If you're this jealous, you’re asking for trouble!

Jin Shuyi really wanted to roll his eyes at the main lead. He was just a convenient scapegoat, thrown into the story because the author couldn’t be bothered to come up with a new character!

As the system had promised, the original body was indeed top-tier in terms of family background, looks, and even luck. Such a character was very convenient to appear anywhere the plot required.

Therefore, during the time when Su Xu was being bullied, the original body, as his older brother, would occasionally step in to help when Su Xu had nowhere else to turn.

To the original Jin Shuyi, Su Xu was still a real person, not just a plot device. If his younger brother went too far and ended up killing Su Xu, or if Su Xu later regained his family’s former assets and took revenge on the Jin family, it wouldn’t be a good thing for Jin Yu or the Jin family.

He had originally acted for Jin Yu's sake, but this help was a lifeline for Su Xu. As a result, when Su Xu later took revenge on Jin Yu, he softened and gave up because of the help Jin Shuyi had once given him.

But by then, Jin Yu had already fallen deeply in love with Su Xu. When Jin Yu found out that Su Xu had given up because of Jin Shuyi’s advice, his hatred for his “hypocritical kindness” hit its peak.

Why did Jin Shuyi get born into luxury, while he had to block his ears every night and fall asleep in pain and fear? Why did Jin Shuyi get all the love while he was treated like a rat in the gutter?

Everyone hated him, and he never got any real love—not even from his own father, who never treated him like a son.

The original Jin Shuyi had no idea that his well-meaning plans would end up being the final straw for Jin Yu. The kindness he had shown in a moment of softness eventually became the blade that destroyed his family…

Jin Shuyi thought, 'I’m the most wronged person in this whole story—this little bit of injustice is nothing compared to what I’ve already been through.'

At this point, he had already offended Jin Yu as much as possible.

So, was he just supposed to let himself get beat up?

Jin Shuyi, resigned to the situation, thought, 'If Jin Yu wants to be jealous, let him. Who can out-jealous a guy like him?'

But Su Xu’s inexplicable blushing was still something Jin Shuyi needed to be wary of.

He was just a wronged party freely given for the love between the leads. At most, he would lose the family fortune. But if he got involved in the romantic plotline, he feared that these two crazy leads would drag him to the cliff’s edge and make him choose who would jump first!

"Yes, this is what I should do as the class monitor," Jin Shuyi said in an official tone, wishing he could write "stay away from me" on his face.

His words made Su Xu's expression turn ugly, his face flushed red and pale in turns. The other boy bit his lip, nodded slightly, and lowered his head, hiding his expression but revealing a hint of grievance.

Su Xu was good-looking, and there had been no shortage of people pursuing him before. But after his family went bankrupt, his pride drove away those who were only interested in his wealth and tried to take advantage of him.

But the loss of the family fortune didn’t mean his face was any less attractive.

The moment Su Xu showed a hint of disappointment, Jin Shuyi felt several gazes land on him, as if blaming him for being so heartless to a sick person.

Jin Shuyi thought, 'Well, great, I'm the villain no matter what I do.'

I’m already a wronged party, can you all just give me a break!

Jin Shuyi had no intention of interacting with these two outside of what the plot required. He turned around and returned to his seat.

He even feared that Su Xu might come to him with questions about the class notes. The notes were done very carefully and in detail, and he had even consulted a tutor to help. Even a primary school student could understand them.

This matter should have ended there, but the next day, Su Xu came to find Jin Shuyi.

This time, Su Xu's face turned red again, but compared to the day before, there was a hint of embarrassment on his handsome face.

"Class monitor, can I borrow your notes to make another copy? The ones you gave me... I can't find them."

No matter how you look at it, Su Xu's family circumstances were not as good as before. He couldn’t say that someone had taken the notes he was given yesterday, nor could he appear to belittle Jin Shuyi's hard work. The other classmates now had better family backgrounds than him.

Su Xu had reviewed those notes and knew how much effort had gone into them. The content in class wasn't as detailed, and Jin Shuyi had even added some extra material.

Even though he was still the top student in his grade, seeing those notes still moved him.

But now the notes were lost, and since their class went beyond textbooks, Su Xu had no choice but to ask Jin Shuyi for another copy.

Jin Shuyi had read the novel and knew Su Xu's character. He also knew that some classmates would deliberately do silly things to attract Su Xu's attention.

Without asking any more questions, he took out the original notes, "It's fine if you return them to me tomorrow, just don't miss class."

Fortunately, Jin Shuyi had anticipated something might go wrong, so he hadn’t written these special notes in a separate notebook.

When Su Xu took that stack of notebooks, his expression was very serious, as if silently vowing to protect them this time.

Jin Shuyi suddenly felt a flicker of his long-dead conscience come back to life.

When he first entered the book, he had decided not to develop feelings for anyone in the story.

He was just there to help improve the plot. Once his task was done, he would leave. Besides, the original character's ending in this world wasn't good. Even if he were to retire and find a world to settle down in, he would never come back here.

But now, he was actually feeling compassion for the protagonist!

No, no, he needed to think about the protagonist's annoying traits to clear his head.

Jin Shuyi went over the plot in his mind, only to find his conscience hurting even more.

The protagonist didn’t seem to have done anything wrong. Even in the darkest moments of his life, he never lost hope. As for his revenge against the antagonist, wasn’t it just retribution? And in the end, those revenges weren’t fully carried out because of his soft heart.

In this world, the original character was the only one who had shown the protagonist any warmth. But Jin Shuyi, in order to avoid getting involved with the main characters, had given him the cold shoulder without even understanding the reason.

Jin Shuyi couldn’t help but think, "I really am despicable!"

Su Xu had just been a bit awkward while apologizing because he had shown his most embarrassing side to someone he wasn't familiar with. And that person had even changed his clothes for him. Anyone would react the same way.

Thinking back to his cold tone at the time, Jin Shuyi felt that he had indeed been a little too harsh on someone who was actually only twelve or thirteen years old.

Especially when he learned that Su Xu was afraid that if the notes were left with him, others might tamper with them, so he had even skipped half a class to make copies of the notes.

His long-dormant conscience finally stirred!

Jin Shuyi wasn’t one for directness, so when dealing with Su Xu, he took on an older brother-like attitude, slightly furrowing his brows, with a maturity beyond his years, "I should have made the copies for you. You missed half a class because of this."

Su Xu rarely showed a sincere smile in response to someone else's scolding, "The first half of the class was all from the textbook. I've already studied it, so it wasn't a big deal."

The smile was faint, yet it belonged to a teenager who had endured so much hardship and injustice at such a tender age. In the spring sunlight, he was like a flower bud quietly blooming—gentle yet strikingly beautiful.

Jin Shuyi's just-revived conscience was killed by this smile.

He felt a prickling sensation on his back, as if needles were stabbing him.

Those who harbored feelings for Su Xu had exhausted every trick in the book, yet never managed to capture his attention.

How does Jin Shuyi manage to stay so aloof and still have Su Xu smile at him?

But even if some classmates might feel jealous, no one would ever dare to do anything.

When it came to family background, academics, or popularity, none of them could hold a candle to him.

"Brother, are your notes really that amazing? Even the valedictorian can’t stop praising them." As the two were chatting, Jin Shuyi suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.

Jin Yu leaned forward, resting his head on Jin Shuyi’s shoulder, his body pressed close in an intimate gesture, their ears almost touching.

With this sudden interruption, Jin Shuyi lost interest in everything else. He felt like prey caught in a python’s coils, the more he struggled, the more constricted he became.

It was unclear whether Jin Yu was genuinely interested in those notes or just upset that Su Xu had caught his attention. Jin Yu stretched out his slender arm, reaching behind Jin Shuyi, his large hand landing on the notebook, making the A4-sized notebook look miniature in comparison.

Jin Shuyi was almost enveloped by the person behind him, as if reliving that nightmare where he was nearly strangled to death by a snake, a shiver running down his spine.

His body instinctively trembled, a very slight, almost imperceptible shiver, but it was noticed by the predator beside him. Jin Yu moved even closer to his ear, and Jin Shuyi could almost feel this guy’s hair brushing against his ear.

Generally, boys going through puberty and voice change have unpleasant voices, like the sound of a saw. Some even jokingly called it a "crow's voice."

But perhaps due to the protagonist's halo, even though Jin Yu’s voice was hoarse, it wasn’t unpleasant, like an unripe wine with a raw texture.

The deliberately lowered hoarse voice carried a hint of intriguing teasing, rising slightly in his throat, emitting a sound of ambiguous confusion.

Jin Yu: "Hmm?"

What Jin Shuyi heard: Watch me charm you to death.

Jin Shuyi: I’m begging you, if you’re feeling... worked up, go find Su Xu and talk to him alone. Dragging me into this is awkward, alright?

Even though I’m part of your little game, I’d rather not be involved, alright?

But Jin Shuyi had always played the role of an indulgent, doting older brother in front of Jin Yu, so he couldn’t just push this guy away when he was babbling in front of him.

Luckily, Jin Shuyi had plenty of ways to deal with this kid.

"I wouldn’t say amazing, but if you’re willing to learn, I can teach you."

Jin Shuyi used to bring up studying every now and then in front of Jin Yu because this kid’s grades were horrendous.

To get Jin Yu into the top high school, the admission fees paid by their father were astronomical. As the older brother, Jin Shuyi had been instructed to help his younger brother with his studies.

But whenever studying was brought up, Jin Yu would get a blinding headache, likely due to some deep-seated childhood trauma—though the original story doesn’t go into much detail.

This psychological condition caused such intense headaches that his eyes would turn bloodshot.

In the original story, in order to fight for the family inheritance, Jin Yu forced himself to study financial knowledge. At his worst, he smashed everything in his apartment and was covered in cuts from the broken porcelain.

Of course, the only one who could cure him was Su Xu.

So it was a mutual rescue; these days, no protagonist is complete without some quirky affliction.

Jin Shuyi was the only one who knew about Jin Yu’s condition. Because the current Jin Yu wouldn’t let anyone see his weakness.

Even if he pretended to be a good-for-nothing, beyond saving, like a hedgehog using its sharp spines to guard against the world.

But this little hedgehog had just said something that made Jin Shuyi wonder if he was imagining things.

"Alright," Jin Yu said, "If you teach me, brother, I’ll definitely listen carefully."

Jin Shuyi's fake concern froze mid-sentence.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to play out!

Jin Shuyi would rather suspect he had misheard than believe Jin Yu wanted to study.

But this kid... seemed to be serious!

That evening during study hall, Jin Yu switched seats with Jin Shuyi's desk mate.

"Brother, you said you'd explain the problems to me."

Jin Shuyi's eyelid was twitching, and he almost lost his composure. He really wanted to grab Jin Yu's ear and ask: Do you even know what book you’re holding?!

Middle school physics! A kid who hadn’t even mastered basic elementary school subjects like math, Chinese, and English, Jin Shuyi would bet that Jin Yu couldn’t even understand the problems, and now he was here to torture him with it.

So that's what this was about!

Jin Shuyi finally realized what Jin Yu was up to!

He should have known Jin Yu wasn’t really interested in studying; he just wanted to make things difficult for him.

To that, Jin Shuyi just thought: Not a chance.

While the system seemed like a mere decoration, it had given him a boost when he signed the contract. Close call, almost let Jin Yu succeed.

Jin Shuyi put down his pen and started reading the problems to Jin Yu in a very low voice. Sure enough, this guy couldn’t even recognize all the words in the problems.

Tracing back, Jin Shuyi discovered the root of Jin Yu’s illiteracy—

This kid couldn’t even recognize all twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

Well, that explains a lot.

Jin Shuyi assigned Jin Yu his first task of the day—to write the twenty-six letters from memory.

Finally, the world was quiet.

Once Jin Yu was left to work on his task, Jin Shuyi finally returned to his own homework, completely missing that Jin Yu’s pen was trembling as he wrote those letters.

The students around them were all quietly working on their homework. Their class was a top students' class, and after finishing their homework at the school's after-school program, they still had extracurricular tutoring at home.

No one noticed that Jin Yu was practically gritting his teeth as he wrote the basic letters on the lined paper, soon breaking out in cold sweat.

About ten minutes later, just after finishing one subject's homework, Jin Shuyi saw the person next to him slump onto the desk as if he had fallen asleep.

Sure enough, Jin Yu wasn’t the type to show his weaknesses.

But since this kid was torturing him, he wouldn’t let the other off easily either.

Jin Shuyi patted Jin Yu on the shoulder, "Don’t slack off, I’ll check later."

Let’s see if Jin Yu would try to pretend to study and bother him again.

After waking Jin Yu up, Jin Shuyi went back to focusing on his own homework.

Jin Shuyi wasn’t in the habit of bringing homework back home. While others might have extra tutoring, he was slacking off, spending his time at home watching dramas, reading novels, and playing games.

By the time he finished his homework in a rush, the bell for the end of class rang.

He glanced at Jin Yu's notebook beside him. Sure enough, the kid had barely put in any effort. His handwriting was crooked, looking like he had scribbled *Tadpoles Looking for Mom* all over it.

However, as an overprotective brother, Jin Shuyi still forced himself to give a few compliments.

The two packed their bags to go home. When Jin Yu stood up, he wobbled as if unsteady.

Knowing the plot of the original story, Jin Shuyi was startled. No way, had he only copied the twenty-six letters a few times?

He turned to look at Jin Yu's face. The teenager, who usually loved exercising and was healthy with rosy lips and white teeth, now looked deathly pale under the harsh fluorescent lights of the classroom, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

Just when he thought Jin Yu was exaggerating, Jin Shuyi’s guilty conscience kicked in again.

Seriously, the original story didn’t mention it being this bad.

Even when leaving the school, Jin Shuyi was worried that Jin Yu might fall down the stairs.

The two got into the car to go home, and as soon as the back door was closed, Jin Yu leaned over towards him.

The tall guy nearly squashed Jin Shuyi.

Realizing the kid had been in pain, and he had pushed him to keep writing, Jin Shuyi felt guilty.

No point in saying more; his conscience was back in full force.

Feeling guilty, Jin Shuyi gently helped Jin Yu lie down, his voice softening. Was his lap really that much comfier than the leather seat?

But seeing the pale face in the dim light, Jin Shuyi couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

He merely sighed softly and asked, "Where does it hurt?"

The teenager resting his head on his lap buried himself deeper into Jin Shuyi's waist. His hoarse, muffled voice almost sounded like he was pouting.

Jin Yu said, "Brother... my head hurts so much." His face rubbed against Jin Shuyi's leg, his coarse hair feeling like it could poke through the fabric of his school suit pants.

And yet, this little troublemaker wasn’t done asking for more. "Can you massage it for me?"