I Can’t Be This Protagonist

Ji Yao drove very steadily.

Yan Shuang just hugged his canvas bag and remained silent along the way. 

Damn, the wasabi in that bento really packed a punch.

His eyes were kind of spicy even now.

The steering wheel turned, “There are tissues in the glove box.”

“Thank you.” 

Yan Shuang thanked him and wiped his tears with a tissue.

“I brought the money.”

As the car drove into a horse farm on the outskirts, Ji Yao parked and took out a thin check from his pocket.

Yan Shuang stared at that thin check, his mind turning a mile a minute. How could he accept this million dollars without the Transmigration Bureau interfering?

The moment Yan Shuang’s fingertips touched the check.

There was a knock on the car window.

The timid Yan Shuang jumped in his seat.

Ji Yao carelessly dropped the check in Yan Shuang’s lap and rolled down the car window. 

Xiao Qingyang smiled and said: “Brat, Uncle’s even called me all the way out here, asking if I knew you went with a boy to… Oh, is this the one?” Xiao Qingyang looked at Yan Shuang behind Ji Yao, “Hello.”

Yan Shuang cautiously said, “Hello.”

“My name is Xiao Qingyang. I’m Ji Yao’s older cousin.”

Xiao Qingyang. 

Yan Shuang had an impression of him.

This character frequently appeared throughout the book and played the role of a tool person very well.

“My name is Yan Shuang…”

“I know.” Xiao Qingyang interrupted him. He said to Ji Yao, “Get out the car, the room’s ready for you.” 

“En.” Ji Yao said to Yan Shuang, “Let’s go.”

“How is it? Looks good, right?”

Xiao Qingyang was quite pleased with himself.

Ji Yao has been living here ever since he left the Ji family. 

Many scented candles were lit in the originally cold room, and rose petals were spread from the floor to the bed.

It really looked like a room fit for newlyweds.

If only there was a ‘fortune’ poster.

Ji Yao’s face was dark. “I’m not staying in this room.” 

Xiao Qingyang: “Huh? You don’t like it? I wanted to put a happiness poster by the bed, but I thought that might be too cheesy for you…”

Ji Yao’s cold look made Xiao Qingyang shut up. “Fine, I’ve prepared other rooms too.” He was just joking around with this ice sculpture-like cousin of his.

The rest of the rooms were much more normal, just like ordinary guest rooms.

Ji Yao told Yan Shuang. “You’ll sleep here tonight.” 

Yan Shuang: “Can…we go to school together tomorrow?”

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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“You don’t need to bother with this matter.”

“The person’s already at my place, so how can I not? What if Uncle finds out I’m not only sheltering a rebellious child like you, but also your lover…””He’s not.” Ji Yao interrupted Xiao Qingyang, “Him and I aren’t like that.”

Xiao Qingyang smiled knowingly. “Then what are you two?” 

Ji Yao simply ignored him, “I’ll take him elsewhere tomorrow.”

“To where? Are you two going to live together?”

Ji Yao went to his room and immediately shut the door, almost hitting Xiao Qingyang in the face.

Xiao Qingyang rubbed his nose. Dude, what about bros before hoes… 

Not like that, huh? He had grown up playing with Ji Yao, and never had he seen Ji Yao pay attention to anyone. Even a cousin like him only made it by sticking relentlessly to Ji Yao.

Ji Yao seemed to get along with the sickly child adopted by the Qin family when he was younger, but that sickly child stopped coming out once he grew up. And after the Qin family climbed up again, the conflict of interest made personal relationships between the two families stagnate.

But this boy…seemed a bit too ordinary.

Xiao Qingyang dismissed him as a temporary fling that Ji Yao would soon get bored of. 

After all, this cousin of his has always had a hard time keeping interest in anything.

Xiao Qingyang shrugged and decided to mind his own business.

Yan Shuang slept especially soundly that night, and there was a delicious breakfast waiting for him when he woke up. True to his word, Ji Yao drove him to school.

Once Ji Yao made up his mind to do something, no one could stop him. 

Of course, the sight of the two of them walking together attracted the attention of many people.

Although Ji Yao was walking beside Yan Shuang, he still kept a little distance away. At the same time, his expression was cold. It seemed like he was just walking with Yan Shuang, which was far from the rumoured peachy scandal circulating the school forum.

Entering the classroom, Yan Shuang sat down in the middle as usual, “Ji…”

Ji Yao had already sat down at his customary spot near the back entrance. 

He didn’t care about the rumours, nor did he care what Yan Shuang thought. Everything he does because he wanted to.

He could take Yan Shuang away in front of everyone, and he could sit far away from Yan Shuang in the classroom.

He never sent these kinds of mixed signals intentionally.

He was just born with the innate talent to drive people crazy. 

Yan Shuang was too busy going crazy for school to go crazy for love just yet, so he immediately tossed Ji Yao to the back of his mind. He wanted to find Ji Yao when class ended for appearance’s sake, but the guy had already left. Oh well, saved him from putting on a show.

Yan Shaung left school grounds and went to sell the new phone to the shopkeep who fixed his phone.

The shopkeep was surprised. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

“How could that be? I was just too busy yesterday. Don’t I still owe you ten dollars?” 

“Haha, ten dollars, huh? Forget about it.”

The boss happily bought the latest phone for a pretty fair price. His daughter wanted one, but this model was really hard to buy right now. How lucky.

“Boss, do you know any tailors? Ones with connections.”

“How many connections? I know someone who owns a clothing store, he knows a tailor that often makes clothes for rich people.””Great, could you give me their contact info? I want to do business with them.” 

“What’s a university student like you going on about doing business all day for…” The shopkeep realized he misspoke and smiled apologetically. “I’ll send it to you over WeChat.

“Thank you, Boss”

Yan Shuang directly transferred the money in the account to the orphanage director.

The director was more than surprised. She kept asking Yan Shuang where the money came from. 

“I found a part-time job that pays quite well. Don’t worry about it, Director.”

Yan Shuang had nowhere to go, so he went back to the dormitory.

He was ‘clean’ now.

The people in the dormitory regarded him strangely, but at least they didn’t come up to question him. 

After all, it wasn’t their business as long as it didn’t affect them.

Yan Shuang put his canvas bag away calmly and took out a book to read.

His phone vibrated.

It was a bank account text message. 

Complete salary transaction of $10,000.

Yan Shuang: Muah! One man’s trash really is another person’s treasure!

Qin Yubai isn’t bad, ah. He already made arrangements for Yan Guofu’s salary.

Yan Shuang had a feeling this was one of Qin Yubai’s schemes, but he didn’t care. He gladly accepted this sugar-coated cannonball. 

He’d leave the money where it was for now. If he gave more money to the director so soon, she would probably get nervous.

Add to that Ji Yao’s clothes, which were at least worth a grand…

Wonderful~

“What are you reading that’s so funny?” 

Zhang Shuai took the initiative to talk to Yan Shuang, “Do you have a group yet for European literature homemork?”

“Yes.” Yan Shuang said, “I’m with Ji Yao.”

Zhang Shuai: “…”I was inexplicably gay’d.

Actually, Yan Shuang didn’t even mention this to Ji Yao. 

It was better to wait.

When everyone else had formed groups, he would shyly approach Ji Yao and say that no one wanted to take him. Then Ji Yao could only take responsibility.

His phone vibrated again.

Yan Shuang took out his phone. It was Qin Yubai. 

He had probably caught wind of what Ji Yao did last night.

Yan Shuang took the call. “Hello?”

“Where are you?”

Qin Yubai’s voice was gentle and calm. There was no trace of his previous arrogance. 

“I’m at the dorms.”

“Could you come over?”

Yan Shuang lazily turned a page. “I have class in the afternoon.”

“How about tonight?” 

“I want to see you.”

Yan Shuang was silent for half a minute on purpose. “Okay.”

Qin Yubai seemed to be relieved on the other end. “6 o’clock, back entrance.”

“En.” 

It was that dull middle-aged driver again.

Yan Shuang sent a message to Wei Yichen in the car. “When will you be back?”

This time Wei Yichen replied very quickly. “Tomorrow.”

“Will it be you picking me up next time?” 

Wei Yichen stopped replying again.

Yan Shaung smiled. This person was trying to play with fire in a restrained fashion.

In his experience, everyone who like to play with fire would end up committing a crime.

The car did not stop at the usual hotel, but a high-end restaurant. 

The waiter came out to escort him. “Mr. Yan, please come this way.

Yan Shuang realized very soon after heading in that Qin Yubai had reserved the entire restaurant.

There was only one table open in the huge restaurant.

Qin Yubai wasn’t even late for once. He was in his seat ahead of time. When he saw Yan Shuang come over, he even stood up and pulled the chair for Yan Shaung like a gentleman. “Sit.” 

Yan Shuang refrained from smiling. Men really had no bottom line when their competitive streak was aroused. Just look at how quickly his miserly attitude and habitual lateness were cured.

“I saw that you weren’t quite used to eating Western food last time.” Qin Yubai said with a faint smile. “I’ll teach you today.”

Yan Shuang: “I was pretending last time.”

Qin Yubai: “…” 

Yan Shuang: “I know how to eat Western food.”

The smile on Qin Yubai’s face remained unchanged, “Really?”

Next, Yan Shuang demonstrated what high-quality male Western dining etiquette was.

Qin Yubai could barely maintain his smile. He was also quite surprised. “Who taught you?” 

“I taught myself.” Yan Shuang set down his knife and fork, and wiped his lips with the napkin. “Some high-end restaurants require waiters who are proficient in Western dining etiquette to better serve the guests.” He raised his glass of red wine for a sip. “Like here,” He asked the waiter replenishing his glass, “right?”

The waiter smiled at him, “Yes, but your style of dining is very elegant and pleasing to the eye.”

“Are the guests dining for your appreciation?” Qin Yubai asked coldly.

The waiter immediately apologized. 

Yan Shuang lowered his eyes. Capitalists were always like this, never able to hide their arrogance. Or perhaps they didn’t even think of it as a form of arrogance at all. It would explain why they reveal it so naturally.

The screen of the phone lit up, attracting both of their attention.

Qin Yubai: “Who is it?”

Yan Shuang swiped open his phone, “A email notification.” 

He tapped on WeChat and was redirected to the Email app.

The sender– Qi Feiyun.