I Can’t Be This Protagonist

Wei Yichen has always gone where the money was. He was a mercenary in the business world, swearing allegiance to whoever paid the highest price.

When there was a conflict of interest, he didn’t mind making a move on his former employers. 

His former employer, who he helped Qin Yubai bankrupt and put in jail, cursed that he was a dog who wags its tail to whoever has money.

Wei Yichen readily accepted this evaluation.

It was very pertinent.

Limited loyalty has always been his principle of doing things. 

“The stalker was found,” Wei Yichen said lightly, “Even he doesn’t know where you’re going.”

Wei Yichen could 100% guarantee his current employer, Qin Yubai’s rights and interests. The stalker had indeed been found and lost track of the target for a while, just as he reported. He wouldn’t fabricate evidence for Yan Shuang, but what Yan Shuang told him was divulged in private. There was no need to report that to Qin Yubai.

As for Ji Yao, Wei Yichen couldn’t care less how Yan Shuang wanted to smear his reputation, nor did he have a duty to reign the boy in.

“Fine.”

“But the dress is off the table.”

Yan Shuang’s voice was cheerful, “Why don’t I kiss you instead, mua~”  The exaggerated kissing sound was immediately followed by the phone hanging up.

Wei Yichen looked at the phone record on his phone.

There was only one record. 

Just one.

He really wanted to see how much trouble a person like Yan Shuang could cause for those people.

He would wait and see.

Yan Shuang first went to the dollar store. He grit his teeth and bought a pretty bad quality wig and a bright red dress to ensure he looked especially feminine. 

The network administrator still turned on a machine for him even though Yan Shuang made an excuse and said he didn’t bring his ID, probably because he was enchanted by the dazzling pair of eyes peeking out above the mask.

He turned on the computer, made a throwaway account, and uploaded the post.

There were already more than ten replies 30 seconds after the post went live.

He was practically invisible, but Ji Yao wasn’t. 

Ji Yao was akin to a celebrity in the school, the focus of much attention. Yet he had gone to one of the cheapest hotel chains with an ordinary boy.

Yan Shuang smiled slightly and closed the post.

There was a similar key plot point in the original novel.

After Qin Yubai gave Yan Shuang to Ji Yao, he spread the news of Ji Yao and Yan Shuang’s relationship to everyone, either because he had second thoughts or because he was just that much of a pervert. 

From the upper social circle to the school, there was not one person who didn’t know that Yan Shuang snatched up the precious Young Master Ji.

The Ji family’s reputation has always been excellent. Qin Yubai probably thought this move would make Ji Yao abandon Yan Shuang.

However, not only did Ji Yao not abandon Yan Shuang, he instead magnanimously brought Yan Shuang under his wings.

Since everyone thought his relationship with Yan Shuang was indecent, he would make it so. 

Was there anyone who would dare to object?

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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This way, wouldn’t he be able to enjoy being treated as Ji Yao’s ‘boyfriend’ earlier? It would also accelerate the development of Qin Yubai’s line.

Let the scum gongs compete among themselves!

Yan Shuang went back to the hotel to do his homework. His phone, constantly lighting up with all sorts of calls and notifications, was set aside. 

It was only when their practically invisible dormmate became a hot topic all of a sudden that the rest of the boys in the dormitory seemed to realize that two people in their dormitory hadn’t returned for several days.

Yan Shuang was too lazy to bother with all of that. He concentrated on his homework.

Universities nowadays sure gave a lot of homework, ah.

It was only after he finished everything else that he leisurely turned his phone on. 

The people in the dormitory were probably too afraid to ask Ji Yao so they came to him instead.

The post was taken down within five minutes, but that was enough time to cause an uproar in the forum of the entire campus. Screenshots were still being circulated in the forums and various other groups, the momentum already unstoppable.

Some particularly saucy replies had also been screenshotted.

His dormmates send it all to him. 

Someone replied to the post, saying that she had seen Ji Yao taking Yan Shuang to open a room with her boyfriend.

Thinking back, Yan Shuang did recall there being a young couple around at the time. It seemed like she was telling the truth. Then he replied to the dormmate who forwarded him the picture, “This is all nonsense, Ji Yao and I aren’t like that!”

The news also eventually reached Ji Yao.

Father Ji paid very close attention to his only son’s situation at school. He called Ji Yao more than ten times in a row after finding out about this incident. Ji Yao was signing documents with his trust administrator to get the money then. He indifferently glanced at his phone and ignored his father’s calls. 

He only called to force him to switch majors or come home anyway.

He didn’t want to bother with either of those things.

A while later, the secretary came knocking at the door. “Sorry, Mr. Ji is on the main line looking for…” The secretary glanced somewhat awkwardly at Ji Yao. The manager immediately understood what was going on. “Young Master Ji.”

Ji Yao glanced at his phone, which started ringing again. 

In order to not put unrelated people in a hard place, Ji Yao answered his phone.

“What is it?”

The manager immediately got up and bowed to Ji Yao, leaving so father and son could talk alone.

Ji Wensong’s voice came from the phone. 

His tone was calm, neither hurried or slow.

“I didn’t know that your financial situation had become so strained after leaving home. You’ve become so stingy that I feel bad for that child.”

Ji Yao frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Oh?” 

Ji Wensong chuckled lightly, his tone becoming sarcastic. “Why don’t you go to your school’s forum and check it out yourself, superstar.”

Then he hung up.

Ji Yao expressionlessly turned on his phone, and the truth soon came to light.

It was a post by an anonymous person in the school forum that made his father call him personally. 

The post opened with a picture, and the rest was all baseless speculation.

The picture came from a CCTV camera.

Ji Yao looked at him and Yan Shuang in the picture with a faint expression.

They had agreed to meet up at 8, but Ji Yao arrived already at 6:30. 

The hotel featured in the picture quickly became a five star scenic spot near the university, attracting countless ‘tourists’ who came here to sight-see.

Most people were satisfied with a glance from outside, others whispered in the lobby, comparing the lobby with the screenshot to make sure this was the rumoured place.

All the onlookers were boiling over with excitement by the time the black sports car came to a stop.

The pot silently boiled over. Almost no one spoke. All eyes turned to Ji Yao, who got out of the car. 

Ji Yao’s appearance was undoubtedly exceptional to the extreme. There was no mistaking that ice-cold aura that made him stand out from the crowd. People’s imaginations tended to really run wild when such a person was involved in a peachy scandal.

Ji Yao completely ignored everyone’s gazes. He entered the hotel as usual before taking the elevator upstairs.

The eruption of noise from outside after the elevator doors closed made him frown slightly.

Not to mention it wasn’t the case at all, even if it was, what did his personal affairs have to do with these people? 

Instead of knocking on the door, Ji Yao called Yan Shuang. “Open the door, I’m outside.”

Soon, the door opened.

A pair of red-rimmed eyes came into view.

“You came.” 

Ji Yao furrowed his brows tighter.

Crying again.

Standing at the door, Yan Shuang seemed to realize that he didn’t want to come in, so he started talking to Ji Yao, “There are…many people downstairs.”

Ji Yao shifted so he could see behind Yan Shuang. He noted the open window in the room. 

Yan Shuang had probably holed up in his room out of fear and cried after finding out what happened earlier than him.

There were several books and notebooks spread out on the small table in the room, and a pen sitting on one of the notebooks.

Yan Shuang looked down and suddenly said, “Sorry.”

He scrambled to wipe away the tears that began to fall again. “I’ll explain everything to them, don’t worry…” 

“There’s nothing to explain.” Ji Yao said lightly. “Pack your things. You can’t live here anymore.”

Yan Shuang looked up with a helpless expression.

Ji Yan raised his wrist and glanced at his watch. “Is five minutes enough time?”

“We’re going down now? But there are so many people downstairs…” 

“So what?”

A trace of hostility flashed in Ji Yao’s eyes, “Let’s go.”

For all the times Ji Yao had been asking for Yan Shuang to go with him, he finally did for once.

There were even more people than before in the lobby when the elevator doors opened again. 

Ji Yao walked in front with Yan Shuang half-hiding behind him.

Yan Shuang seemed shocked by all the people outside. He froze inside the elevator.

Ji Yao looked back and saw how bewildered Yan Shuang was. He reached into the shutting doors, which gently clamped his arm before reopening. Ji Yao’s expression remained unchanged. “Come out.”

Yan Shuang weakly shook his head. 

He looked very scared and panicked, like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The elevator doors once again began to close on Ji Yao’s arm. He blocked the door with one hand while reaching out with the other, palm up. His tone was nothing but certain. “Come out. I’ll take you away.”

Such a man, such a look, such a tone.

It would be strange if Yan Shuang hadn’t fallen for Ji Yao already. 

Yan Shuang placed his trembling hand on Ji Yao’s palm, rejoicing at obtaining a short-term meal ticket in his heart.

Ji Yao’s hands had always run hot. He grabbed Yan Shuang and led him forward quite forcefully. There was a sullen look on his face that showed no regard for any of the staring onlookers. He didn’t forget to check out at the front desk and retrieve Yan Shuang’s ID card either.

The guy at the front desk had already been completely overwhelmed by his demeanour. He thought, “this guy really is too charming, even if he only lasts 10 minutes.”

As the sea of people consciously parted before them, Ji Yao was able to pull Yan Shuang completely unhindered to the sports car parked on the side of the road. He opened the co-driver’s door. “Get on.” 

There were less than five people who could make Young Master Ji open the car door for them.

Yans Shuang sat down in the co-driver’s seat, his heart as still as water.

Ji Yao protecting Yan Shuang was due to a multitude of factors, including rebelling against his family, his love for Qin Qing leaking over, his sympathy for the weak, his disdain for the onlookers…but not one reason was because he liked Yan Shuang.

The sports car drove off. 

The text messages and photos were synced to Wei Yichen’s device.

Wei Yichen looked at the photo of Ji Yao walking out of the crowd holding Yan Shuang’s hand. He chuckled and said to himself, “Like filming an idol drama.”

Yan Shuang… Did he really know what he was doing?

Did he know that the thing he was relying on now didn’t even belong to him? 

He was just a substitute.

Should Wei Yichen remind him of that?

…Nevermind.

He seemed to be having fun. 

Besides, Wei Yichen was indeed looking forward to something… If Yan Shuang fell into the abyss, just who would he reach for at that time? And who would be willing to give him a hand?

In any case, it wouldn’t be him.