Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Ning Yichu suddenly brought up divorce, He Shixia was silent for a good while.

It wasn't until Ning Yichu grew impatient and splashed the water left in his cup in his face that he seemed to snap back to reality. He wiped his face nonchalantly, took the cup, nodded, and said, "Alright, after you accompany me on the show, we'll get divorced."

Ning Yichu let out a scornful laugh.

He Shixia was a hugely famous actor. Having been in the industry for ten years, he had countless notable works and awards to his name, and his reputation had always been excellent—until last month, when news of his marriage broke. The announcement was somewhat sudden, but for an actor of his caliber, it wasn't career-harming.

The trouble was, rumors also spread that He Shixia was marrying a one-night stand because of an unplanned pregnancy, which was quite damaging to his reputation.

In response, He Shixia chose to confirm the marriage but denied it was just with a one-night stand. He also, unexpectedly, agreed to go on a variety show, saying he'd bring his partner on the program.

In his previous life, Ning Yichu had been willing to go along with this arrangement. He despised being treated as something shameful to be hidden away.

Moreover, even though the marriage to He Shixia hadn't been his choice to begin with, since he had picked the path that seemed most advantageous, Ning Yichu had wanted to use the situation to get more for himself.

The result, however... was a backfire. It became counterproductive, and everything went against his wishes—every word for things going wrong applied to the outcome of his participation in the show... and to his previous life, which ended before he turned twenty-three.

Now, as Ning Yichu slowly and deliberately put on his pajamas, he looked at the silent He Shixia and asked mockingly, "What, didn't you get enough of watching me play the clown in my last life? Want to see another round this time?"

He Shixia pursed his lips slightly. "...I did you wrong before."

Ning Yichu stared at him coldly.

In truth, Ning Yichu had felt wronged in his previous life, but he hadn't believed He Shixia owed him anything—though in his more cynical moments, he had indeed wished He Shixia would die along with the others he hated. But when calm, he truly hadn't hated He Shixia.

Back then, in his eyes, He Shixia was also a victim of the drugging too. Although, like the others, He Shixia had wrongly accused him of being the mastermind, given the circumstances, it wasn't unreasonable for him to have misunderstood.

Ning Yichu himself had never uncovered the truth about that hotel incident before his death in his previous life.

Before the misunderstanding arose, although he and He Shixia had rarely crossed paths, on the few occasions they did meet, He Shixia had never assumed he had poor character or mocked him like others did. His attitude had been quite gentle.

Even under the premise of misunderstanding, He Shixia had maintained surface-level civility and wanted to compensate him... Whether genuine or not, compared to the others' scorn and ridicule, Ning Yichu had truly felt back then that He Shixia, who was still willing to play along with the charade, was a rather decent person.

After all, he had indeed struggled to accept the pregnancy, turned to heavy drinking, lost control while drunk and slit his wrist, then called He Shixia for help...

Compared to the truth—"In a moment of confusion after slitting his wrist, he regretted it and wanted to call 120 for help. However, due to excessive drinking and blood loss, he was dizzy and didn't press the full number correctly, accidentally hitting '12,' which He Shixia had previously set as an emergency contact, thus calling He Shixia himself"—it certainly seemed more like "deliberately slitting his wrist and then calling to coerce He Shixia."

Ning Yichu couldn't even prove that he hadn't drugged He Shixia, so it was even harder to explain what he'd really meant by cutting his wrist.

Under such circumstances, with He Shixia not liking him and being forced into marriage out of a sense of responsibility, how could he expect He Shixia—also a victim—to be courteous to him or show him favoritism?

Therefore, in his previous life, when Ning Yichu was in a dark mood and cursed the Nings, the Hes, and He Shixia too, to all drop dead in his heart, he would still feel a twinge of guilt, thinking he was irrationally taking out his own incompetence on them.

But that Ning Yichu, who reasoned everything out so meticulously, had already died once.

The current Ning Yichu was filled with resentment, even more misanthropic and extreme than in his previous life. He was no longer willing to think so much.

Why was it that for the same incident, everyone saw He Shixia as a pure victim, while he, Ning Yichu, who had suffered more, had to be wrongly accused as the perpetrator and be mocked and criticized by anyone?

Why should he be reasonable?

Why should he blame himself for being unlikable?

Of course, the fault lay with others, with this world.

If he was unhappy, then someone should be held responsible.

The unwilling Ning and He families had to bear responsibility, and the willing He Shixia certainly deserved it even more.

Especially... How dare He Shixia claim to like him?

How ironic.

"You weren't happy on the show in your last life..." He Shixia said softly. "Going again this time and venting all the anger pent up inside, wouldn't that be good?"

Ning Yichu sneered. "And whose fault is it that I was unhappy? Wasn't it all thanks to you, the Film Emperor, and that almost-fiancé of yours?"

He Shixia paused, only disputing the last part. "Even without what happened with you, I wouldn't have gotten engaged to Ning Zeshu. The so-called marriage alliance between the two families was originally just about the younger generation; no one was ever specified. It was my parents and his parents who were interested, but I had already clearly refused long ago. A Ning, you can't just believe your adoptive parents' one-sided claims and pin a 'former almost-fiancé' label on me..."

Ning Yichu said indifferently, "Is that so? Then I picked the wrong target. If I'd known there was no such thing, I wouldn't have climbed into your bed."

Hearing Ning Yichu mention this, He Shixia felt as if his heart had rolled through a patch of thorns.

"I'm sorry..." He Shixia walked to the bedside, slowly crouched down, and looked up at Ning Yichu sitting on the bed.

He reached out, wanting to take Ning Yichu's hand resting at his side, but Ning Yichu pulled his hand away.

He Shixia's fingers trembled slightly. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have wronged you, shouldn't have disbelieved you..."

Ning Yichu looked at him mockingly. "Oh? Have you figured out the truth?"

He Shixia tried to salvage the situation. "In this life, it hasn't been too long since that incident, only three months. This time, I will investigate and find out the truth..."

"Oh, so you still don't know the truth." Ning Yichu nodded. "You didn't know the truth in your last life either, but you were willing to believe I meticulously drugged you. But after I died, you suddenly had a romantic epiphany, realizing you actually liked me, and then you were willing to believe it really wasn't me."

"Given your current attitude toward me, even if I really did it, as long as I stubbornly denied it, you could probably investigate and come up with a 'truth' that definitely has nothing to do with me, right? Wronging me or shielding me—it all just depends on your subjective preference, what's the difference?"

It was a pity he no longer had a water cup in hand; otherwise, Ning Yichu would have liked to throw it at He Shixia again.

He Shixia lowered his eyes, not daring to meet Ning Yichu's pure, transparent black gaze anymore.

"...That pillbox of yours, I had it tested and analyzed by a testing agency. The pills stored inside at the time were indeed just vitamins and glucose... but there were also residues of other drug powders in the box." He Shixia said softly.

Ning Yichu was slightly taken aback.

He Shixia: "Actually, thinking about it carefully, it's very strange that there would be such a high concentration of aphrodisiac powder residue in the pillbox. Even if it were you, even if you really stored aphrodisiacs with other pills, you wouldn't be so careless as to leave such obvious powder in the box."

"Moreover, after that night, while you were still ill and unconscious, I had our blood drawn for tests. Based on the residual drug components, the drug we took should have been in tablet form—the drugs with that component that have been discovered so far are all tablets, easily soluble in water. Due to the drug's properties, it's generally not suitable for powdered formulations."

"If it were tablets, it would be even harder for so much powder to end up in the pillbox. Such a potent drug probably wouldn't be such low quality that it crumbles into powder at a touch. In other words, the drug powder in your pillbox seemed more like it was manually ground and put in there."

Ning Yichu scoffed. "Maybe I was afraid the tablets would dissolve too slowly in water, so I ground them into powder in advance to make drugging easier. Isn't it normal for some powder to accidentally remain in the box if I was nervous while taking it out to use? You probably thought the same in your last life, so even if you felt something was off, you still kept quiet, right?"

"No." He Shixia apologized. "I didn't think that deeply about it back then."

Ning Yichu looked at him indifferently, waiting to hear what other excuses he could come up with.

He Shixia said softly, "After I got the report from the testing agency, I didn't think much more about it. It was only after you were gone, when I recalled every detail between us, that I suddenly realized it."

Ning Yichu pointed out sharply, "You didn't think deeply because you had already pinned the crime on me based on superficial evidence."

He Shixia lowered his eyes. "Yes... I didn't know you well enough back then. I didn't investigate thoroughly. After learning the pillbox was indeed problematic, I readily believed the Ning family's assessment of your character, wronged you, didn't listen to your denials, didn't discuss the doubts with you, and even thought not digging deeper was giving you face..."

"So you hating me is only natural. But could you... not treat me as the one you hate the most?"

Ning Yichu laughed softly and tilted his head. "Because you at least investigated a bit before wronging me, while the others didn't investigate at all and just decided it was me?"

He Shixia: "I'm sorry..."

Ning Yichu lowered his eyes.

Although he now knew the original book's plot, he still didn't know the truth about the night of the accident with He Shixia.

Because the original book's plot never mentioned it.

He only knew that the world he was in was a soapy BL novel about wealthy families, starting with a "real vs. fake heir" trope. The true young master, Ning Zeshu, was the protagonist, while he, the fake young master Ning Yichu, was the villain in the first minor story arc.

The true young master, Ning Zeshu, was stolen by kidnappers when he was young. The Ning family searched for years and found the fake young master Ning Yichu, who was the same age, in a remote orphanage. Because Ning Yichu "misled" them, the Ning family mistakenly took him as their biological son and brought him home.

However, not long after, the Ning family found the true young master, and the fake young master's situation suddenly became awkward.

People said he had falsely claimed the identity of the Ning family's young master to latch onto a wealthy family, delaying the search for the true heir and causing him to suffer more hardships while living on the streets. Fortunately, the Ning family didn't hold it against him and kept him as an adopted son, and the true young master, being kind-hearted, accepted him as a younger brother.

Yet, the fake young master was shameless. Upon learning that the Ning family planned to stop supporting him after graduation, he found an opportunity to climb into bed with the He family's young master—who everyone expected to get engaged to the true young master.

With this act by the fake young master, the engagement between the true young master and He Shixia naturally became impossible. Moreover, the fake young master continued to cause trouble: as a man, he actually got pregnant, and instead of keeping it hidden, he threw a fit and publicized the matter, forcing the He family's young master to marry him.

Fortunately, "you reap what you sow." The fake young master, who used pregnancy to secure his position, ultimately suffered the consequences and died during a difficult childbirth.

And "good deeds are rewarded." As the protagonist, the true young master received endless sympathy throughout this process, along with various compensations given in the name of pity from those around him. He also met several love interests who developed feelings for him.

After the fake young master's death, the initially "good guy" He Shixia turned into the villain for the next stage, until he was murdered by one of the true young master's pursuers. Only the child of the fake young master and He Shixia survived.

After many twists and turns, the child ended up being raised by the true young master. During this time, the true young master met the main male lead of the novel, who was also the fake young master's maternal uncle, and subsequently learned that the fake young master's biological parents also came from an influential, wealthy family.

The true young master's act of raising the child despite the fake young master's previous "theft" of his resources made the fake young master's biological parents feel indebted to him.

Thus, the true young master gained affection, money, and power from both his own biological parents and the fake young master's biological parents, as well as the love of the fake young master's uncle. Only then did the long-dead fake young master completely "serve his purpose" and bow out...

However, the original book's plot spanned over ten million words. The true young master experienced countless melodramatic events. The initial "real vs. fake heir" plot occupied only a small part of the entire book, and many things in this part continued to develop even after the fake young master's death.

So, rather than saying Ning Yichu was a villain, it would be more accurate to say he was an insignificant cannon fodder tool.

And even though the original book was written in a rambling style for over ten million words, this cannon fodder villain didn't get much description. All the focus was on the true young master. This fake young master was only trotted out as a contrast whenever the true young master needed to be pitied, praised, or placed in the spotlight.

As for how a child abandoned at an orphanage entrance right after birth and found by the Ning family at age six managed to mislead the family and cling to high society—no one cared about the logic behind it.

Where he obtained the aphrodisiac, how he pulled off the perfect scheme by accurately targeting He Shixia at a crowded banquet, and how he was conveniently caught in bed in a hotel room the next morning—no one investigated the ins and outs of the matter.

The original book's plot didn't write about it either. As long as the plot points intended for the true young master were delivered, nothing else mattered, regardless of whether it made sense.

After progressing through over ten million words of plot like this, perhaps because they couldn't think of any new villains, the original book's plot started having more of the true young master's relatives and friends turn evil. Then, many illogical plots began to completely tangle and contradict each other, after which the original book crashed to a horrible, rushed ending.

In this world constructed from a novel with a terrible ending and jumping plot, as it operated, each person already had their own free will and twenty-four hours a day. Within it were many ins and outs that the original book failed to write about.

Just like now, Ning Yichu learned for the first time that He Shixia had actually sent the medicine box for rigorous testing after the hotel incident.

He suddenly felt very tired: "Then go investigate. Before you do, help me find a reliable doctor. Before I go on that show with you to find someone to hook up with, I want to terminate the pregnancy."

He Shixia didn't hesitate and nodded: "Okay... Rest for another day. The day after tomorrow, I'll accompany you to the hospital for a check-up and schedule the surgery, alright?"

Author's Note:

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That's all for today. See you tomorrow~