Chapter 1: The Fake Young Master Reborn

Chapter 1: Rebirth of the Fake Young Master

Chi Xingcun lay on the narrow ninety-centimeter bed in his dorm, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

He had never stayed overnight in the dorm before, but for the past month, he had been coming back every night on schedule.

Yes, he had been reborn.

"Xingcun, the party's about to start. Aren't you going?"

His roommate Xue Tianye made a point of calling out to him.

He heard another roommate mutter quietly, "Don't waste your time on him. He'll definitely go. Fu Chenzhan's hosting tonight—how could he possibly not show up?"

"True that..."

The three roommates left together, and the dorm room fell silent.

Chi Xingcun buried himself under the covers, stewing in frustration.

Yeah, if it were the old him, wherever Fu Chenzhan was, he'd be right there too.

As the young master of the Chi family, he had been pampered and willful since childhood. After falling for Fu Chenzhan, he began clinging to him without caring about anything else.

Later, when he learned that he and Fu Chenzhan had been betrothed as children, he went even more overboard.

People called him Fu Chenzhan's little lapdog. At first, he got angry when he heard it, thinking, "How could they describe me like that?" But later, on reflection, he figured they weren't wrong.

He loved Fu Chenzhan to the point of desperation.

For him, he'd even face death without flinching.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until his death that he realized how pathetic he was as an uninvited lapdog.

Chi Xingcun was eighteen years old. In his past life, he had died at twenty.

At nineteen, he learned that he was a fake young master. He and the real young master, Chi Xingye, had been switched at birth as revenge by the Chi family's mentally ill nanny.

Chi Xingcun's biological parents were ordinary townsfolk.

Upon learning the truth, Chi Xingcun refused to accept reality. He wouldn't go back to his biological parents and shamelessly kept living with the Chi family.

At first, the Chi parents understood him and took pity on him, letting him stay. But after a while, they started to get fed up with him.

Because their biological son was an extremely well-mannered child. In comparison, Chi Xingcun was willful and foolish—no one could stand him.

Even the parents who had raised him felt that way.

They scolded him for being childish, looked down on him for being dumb, and were relieved he wasn't their real kid.

Chi Xingcun had been spoiled rotten and couldn't handle being wronged, but he still didn't face reality. He packed his stuff and moved out.

But he didn't return to his biological parents' home. Instead, he went to Fu Chenzhan, making a scene and weaseling his way into Fu Chenzhan's house.

Fu Chenzhan had never liked him, not even a little.

Everything Fu Chenzhan tolerated was out of sheer helplessness.

Chi Xingcun had never once considered how much Fu Chenzhan might despise him. He only believed that since they were betrothed, they would eventually marry—they were as close as two people could be.

Fu Chenzhan's friends couldn't stand him either.

It wasn't until later that Chi Xingcun realized that in their eyes, he—the one who forced his way into their group—was even more ridiculous than a clown.

Until Fu Chenzhan himself rejected him and broke off their engagement right to his face.

He was thrown out of Fu Chenzhan's house.

Fu Chenzhan's fiancé was actually Chi Xingye.

He inexplicably began to resent Chi Xingye, causing trouble for him at school in every way, like a madman who drove everyone away.

Then he was abducted and threatened by the Chi parents who had raised him, and they only let him go after he promised to leave the city.

With nowhere to go, he could only return to that strange house.

But unexpectedly, his biological father wasn't the simple, honest man he appeared to be. Behind closed doors, he beat him for all sorts of trivial reasons.

He went from being a pampered young master with soft, tender skin to someone constantly covered in bruises and wounds. He called the police, but his father said it was a drunken mistake. The result was that he got beaten even worse, almost to death. He never dared to call the cops again.

Later, he attracted the attention of a local developer. His father had people tie him up, intending to hand him over to the developer to cash in on him.

He jumped out of the car halfway there, his head slamming against the railing of a bridge. He never woke up.

In that moment of death, his whole life flashed before his eyes. He regretted being so insufferable, but was also relieved he would never be beaten again.

......

The nightmares of his past life haunted him relentlessly, giving him no peace for the whole month.

But his rebirth came with a price.

He was shackled to a system. The system told him he had to get Fu Chenzhan and Chi Xingye together before the time he died in his past life, or he'd die again.

Fu Chenzhan and Chi Xingye were the protagonists of this book, and he, Chi Xingcun, was a hated, villainous side character.

Chi Xingcun thought, no wonder he'd ended up with such a miserable fate.

"Host, you haven't gone to see Fu Chenzhan in a whole month. Do we still have a shot at completing the mission?"

System 009 had accompanied Chi Xingcun for a month and was starting to question everything.

Chi Xingcun said with great confidence, "You just don't get it. Fu Chenzhan was sick of me clinging to him before. Only by forgetting me can he possibly fall in love again."

The system was quiet for a moment. "Host, what you said makes some sense. But won't you have to see them when you set them up later?"

Actually, Chi Xingcun knew deep down that all his talk was just an excuse to avoid Fu Chenzhan.

He had pestered Fu Chenzhan for over a decade. There was no way Fu Chenzhan would forget him that quickly.

He sighed softly.

Chi Xingcun still showed up at the party.

Their class was seated in the rows closest to the stage.

The moment Chi Xingcun arrived, his classmates spotted him and started whispering.

"Knew he'd show up."

"I heard Chi Xingcun is deliberately avoiding Fu Chenzhan because Fu Chenzhan didn't give him a gift, and he's still expecting Fu Chenzhan to come coax him back. I mean, how is that even possible?"

"Honestly, if he keeps clinging like this, he might end up getting cornered by Fu Chenzhan's fans behind the school gate."

It's only been half a semester since freshman year started, and the whole school was already buzzing about Fu Chenzhan and Chi Xingcun.

Even classmates from middle school and high school showed up on the forum to join in on the drama, sharing all sorts of stories about their past.

Hearing all this, Chi Xingcun suddenly remembered what had happened at this point in his past life—

His birthday was October 2nd, and he'd been looking forward to Fu Chenzhan giving him a gift.

But when Fu Chenzhan came back from the international competition, he didn't bring him anything.

He sulked and pestered him for days, but Fu Chenzhan still ignored him completely.

So he got angry with Fu Chenzhan and avoided him for a few days.

But in his past life, he didn't have that kind of backbone—he caved after just three days and went looking for him.

Getting cornered had happened to him before too, because he was just that insufferable—anyone would feel sorry for Fu Chenzhan.

When the performance ended, the host walked back to the center of the stage under the lights.

Chi Xingcun looked up and saw the person who haunted his dreams and kept him up at night.

The young man stood tall and lean in a crisp black suit, poised and elegant, with his hair slicked back. His handsome, striking features made both the boys and girls in the audience unable to hold back their screams.

Fu Chenzhan had inherited the Fu family's exceptional genes—his looks outshone even the stars on TV.

What Chi Xingcun loved most was the way Fu Chenzhan's long, deep, upturned eyes would lift slightly to look at him—cold in expression, but with a hint of laziness that was utterly captivating.

Unfortunately, Fu Chenzhan was much taller than him, so most of the time he looked down at him... Chi Xingcun didn't like that, because it made him seem too cold and heartless.

On stage, Fu Chenzhan commanded everyone's attention. Someone so favored by heaven—how could he ever like someone as foolish as him? It was only after dying once that Chi Xingcun finally understood this.

Chi Xingcun sent a message to the butler.

After the party ended, the driver's car arrived at the school gate.

Chi Xingcun didn't linger—he left the auditorium and got into the car.

Fu Chenzhan left through the back door, but still got cornered by students at the back entrance. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a familiar figure and looked up, only to see Chi Xingcun getting into the Chi family's car.

His gaze darkened.