WHV | Chapter 1

September had just begun, but the weather in Nancheng was still sweltering, with rolling waves of heat rising faintly from the ground.

The blazing sun poured down, and its glaring light slipped through the car window that had not been fully closed.

Yu Wei narrowed his eyes and rolled the window up, then said to the driver in front, “Uncle Wang, stop the car ahead. Traffic’s jammed at the gate. We’ll walk in.”

Today was the first day of admission for new students at Nan University. The area around the school gate was packed with people, and the sound of laughter mixed with car horns echoed at the entrance.

The driver answered and pulled over. The blurred scenery outside the window gradually came into focus. Rows of plane trees lined the roadside in a tangled pattern, but even they could not block the sun’s enthusiasm.

The car came to a stop about a hundred meters from the gate. After turning off the engine, the driver glanced into the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Yu Wei sat stiffly by the window in the back. Beside him, a teenager was sprawled at an angle, taking up most of the space, his head drooping against a gray backpack as he slept like the dead. His mouth was slightly open, and if one looked closely, there seemed to be some unidentified liquid at the corner of his lips. The occasional smack of his lips was incredibly hard to ignore, especially in the quiet car.

Yu Wei stared blankly at the boy asleep in front of him and took a deep breath. He had heard that smacking sound the whole way here. His irritation finally hit its limit, and he lifted a hand and slapped him awake.

“Yu Song, wake up. We’re at the school.”

His sweet dream was abruptly cut off. Startled, the boy shot up, his head smacking the car ceiling with a loud thud. He clutched his head and looked around the car in a daze, only to see Yu Wei sitting there with his arms folded, watching coldly.

That scare chased away every bit of sleepiness. Yu Song was instantly awake. He pouted and scooted miserably over to Yu Wei’s side, looking for comfort. “Ge, you’re so mean to me.”

“Get out of the car already. I still have to go back to the company after dropping you off.”

Yu Wei ignored his pitiful eyes, opened the door, and got out. He walked quickly to the back of the car, opened the trunk, and took out Yu Song’s suitcase. Before his hand even touched the luggage, the driver dashed over in a hurry and said, “Oh my, how can I let the young master carry something this heavy? I’ll do it.”

Yu Song had brought two suitcases. Besides daily necessities, they were filled with all his beloved figurines, so their weight was obvious. Yu Wei was still planning to help, but the driver gently persuaded him aside, and he stood helplessly by the roadside without stepping forward again.

In the end, he still had not gotten used to being a young master.

Yu Wei let out a breath. Only after silently telling himself three times that he was a capitalist did he feel justified letting the driver carry the suitcases. Once they were taken out, he reached for them and said, “Uncle Wang, I’ll take him in. You wait here for me.”

With that, before the driver could say anything, Yu Wei dragged the suitcase toward the school gate. Yu Song had already gotten out of the car with his backpack in his arms and was following behind him. Yu Wei glanced back at him. Yu Song was pouting, his face full of grievance, but the moment Yu Wei looked over, the expression melted into a smile, his appearance very obedient.

“Ge, walk a little slower.”

His face-changing speed was on par with a Sichuan opera performance. Yu Wei shook his head helplessly and slowed his pace so he could keep up. Once Yu Song caught up, Yu Wei couldn’t help teasing him. “Does your head hurt? Did you get yourself knocked stupid?”

Yu Song took the suitcase from his hands and grinned as he acted spoiled. “It doesn’t hurt. It actually woke me up. I’m not sleepy at all now. Ge, you’re really good at waking people up. Ge is amazing.”

Yu Wei: “…”

If not for Yu Song’s serious tone, Yu Wei would have suspected he was being sarcastic. But Yu Song’s expression did not look fake at all. He really seemed to be praising him sincerely.

Yu Wei shot him a complicated look twice over, and Yu Song was still beaming. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed silly. Yu Wei could not help but sigh inwardly. The thought patterns of a brain-dead cannon fodder really were something else.

Three days ago, Yu Wei had transmigrated into a novel.

In his previous life, he had just been an ordinary accountant, overworked and underpaid. He had finally slogged through four years to earn his intermediate accounting qualification, and promotion was just in sight when he worked himself to death at his desk. After dying, he ended up inside a book a coworker had once complained about.

He closed his eyes and opened them again, going from a miserable wage slave to a capitalist with a terrible death, and becoming the brother of a brain-dead cannon fodder whose name only appeared a few times in the book.

And that brain-dead cannon fodder was the grinning idiot beside him, Yu Song.

In the novel, Yu Song was the little cannon fodder who bullied the protagonist during college by relying on his family’s money, the kind of extra dragged out a couple of times to promote the relationship between the two leads.

In the end, the protagonists got together, the cannon fodder lost his value, and the author spent ten seconds arranging for him to end up with his family ruined and his life destroyed, dying on the street.

As for Yu Wei, he was just a nameless passerby who only got two minutes of screen time before exiting the stage. He only got a name because of his cannon fodder younger brother. He showed up as a highlight, then had just a few begging lines to max out the protagonists’ satisfaction, an NPC.

He had fought himself to the death for three thousand yuan in his last life, so in this life, as a rich man, Yu Wei gladly accepted his new identity and decided to take things as they came and live the rest of his life freely.

But the biggest hidden danger in his prosperous life was this bargain-bin younger brother.

This bargain-bin younger brother looked stupid, and in truth he was not very smart either. But he was capable enough.

From what Yu Wei knew, the Yu family was not some small household, and certainly not merely ordinary rich. Yet such a wealthy family had somehow been driven bankrupt by Yu Song with ease, and they had been completely powerless to fight back.

A rich family going bankrupt just like that, as if it were a joke, with no logic at all.

When he heard his coworker talk about it in his previous life, he had already been somewhat dissatisfied with that ending. Now that he had transmigrated into the book, Yu Wei was even less willing to accept that outcome and obediently lie down to wait for disaster.

So on his very first day here, after figuring out the situation, he had discussed with the original owner’s parents about transferring Yu Song to another school. Unfortunately, this school was the best institution in the city, and Yu Song did not have the ability to get in on his own. The only reason he could enter was because the original owner’s parents pulled strings and worked themselves nearly to the bone to force him in. So if Yu Wei suddenly asked to change schools for no reason, it simply would not work.

Besides, he had come too late. There were only three days left until Yu Song’s enrollment. Time was tight. The best he could do was keep Yu Song away from the protagonists, stop him from causing trouble, and make sure he obediently got through four years of college.

But he had never read the book in his last life. He only heard about it when his coworker saw that Yu Wei had the same name as the little cannon fodder and, thinking it must be fate, told him a few things over lunch.

Lunch break was one of the rare chances to rest. Yu Wei had no interest in novels, so he had nodded along the whole time with mm-hm and ah-huh. Aside from the part related to his own name, he had only half-listened to the rest, and none of it had left the slightest trace in his brain.

What impressed him most about the book, aside from the plot related to his own name, was the genders of the two protagonists. Because the leads were both men, they would fall in love, kiss, do things…

At that thought, Yu Wei’s face twisted a little.

That kind of bizarre setup made it impossible for him to forget even if he wanted to.

But now that he had transmigrated into the book, all of that was secondary. The most important thing now was still protecting his own life and his future wealth and comfort.

Finding the protagonists and making sure Yu Song did not provoke them was what mattered most. But as for who the protagonists actually were, Yu Wei still had no clue at all. Last night he had almost thought about it the entire night, searching his memory with no result.

When his coworker had explained the book, he had not mentioned the protagonists’ names at all, using only top and bottom the whole time. Not even Yu Song’s name had appeared. His coworker had always called him Cannon Fodder B.

Yu Wei did not know the protagonists’ surnames or given names in this world. But since Yu Song was an important cannon fodder used to facilitate the protagonists’ relationship, the protagonists would definitely appear around him. All Yu Wei had to do was slowly screen the possibilities, while also keeping Yu Song from quarrelling with the people around him, and try his best not to let him make enemies.

He had not read this novel, but he had read others. In books, the protagonists were usually either insanely good-looking, insanely well-born, or started out dirt poor and later made a comeback into someone insanely impressive. To put it simply, protagonists could not be ordinary people.

Appearance was the most direct and easiest way to find them. So he decided to start with looks, screen the targets, and investigate further from there.

After all, when he listened to his coworker, he had heard that there were no ugly men in female-targeted fiction. Back then Yu Wei had not believed it, until he saw Yu Song. Even as a cannon fodder, he was fair-browed and handsome, with long legs and a tall build. So Yu Wei felt that the protagonists could only be even more handsome than this little cannon fodder.

Today his important task was to find the protagonists, and incidentally escort Yu Song through registration.

Yu Song’s dorm was a quadruple room. He had come over mainly to see whether his three roommates included anyone suspicious enough to be a protagonist.

Unfortunately, when the two of them arrived at the dorm, no one was there. Only the bed by the door had already been made up with sheets and quilt cover, clearly meaning its owner had already arrived and gone out.

The dorm had lofted beds with desks underneath, its own private bathroom, and even a small balcony. The environment was very good. Yu Wei had already graduated from college five or six years ago, but looking at this dorm setup still made him a little envious.

Yu Song put down his suitcase and rested for a while, then went downstairs to buy daily necessities. Yu Wei followed him down. The shop was packed with people, so crowded he could not squeeze inside.

“Ge, go back up first. It’s too hot outside.”

“Can you manage on your own?”

Yu Song had been born a rich second-generation heir, with nannies taking care of him at home. It was understandable that he might not know what to buy, so Yu Wei was not very reassured.

“Ge, do I really look that stupid to you? I can buy things myself.”

After Yu Song cajoled and wheedled for a long time, Yu Wei went back without insisting. It was so hot he felt like he was about to melt anyway. He returned to the dorm to wait for the others to come back and, incidentally, probe them.

Yu Wei turned and walked into the dorm building. There was already a line at the elevator, and everyone in it had luggage. Since he was empty-handed, he did not join them in fighting for the elevator. Instead, he turned and took the stairs.

Yu Song’s dorm was on the fifth floor. He climbed slowly while checking work messages on his phone. When he reached the landing on the second floor, a male voice came from ahead.

Yu Wei did not even look up. He kept going upstairs and brushed past the boy at the corner of the stairs, hearing him say on the phone, “I’m in 508. It’s not heavy, I can carry it myself. No need for anyone to come.”

In this hot weather, most people chose to take the elevator. At that moment, the stairwell was quiet except for the boy’s voice on the phone. As Yu Wei walked by, the sound fell into his ears. He paused, perked up his ears to eavesdrop, then took a few steps back and waited until he finished his call.

Shi Ciyan hung up and put away his phone, then looked at the passerby who was blatantly eavesdropping. His absent-minded gaze lifted, meeting a pair of round, bright eyes. Shi Ciyan’s words stopped for a moment.

The person in front of him had delicate features and fair skin that had turned faintly red from the heat. His round eyes, black and white and impossibly clear, were fixed on him now, with a hint of amusement in the depths of his gaze, like scattered diamonds in the dark, impossible to forget.

Shi Ciyan lowered his eyelids and lifted the suitcase by his feet. “Move aside.”

Yu Wei acted as if he had not heard him and stayed at the stairwell without moving. “You live in 508 too?”

He was standing on the higher step, but his height was level with the boy in front of him. As he spoke, his gaze roamed boldly from the top of the teenager’s head down to his feet, then back up from his feet to his face and stopped there.

This face was far more handsome than Yu Song’s. As a science student, he could not find the words to praise it for a moment. If he had to put it into words, then Yu Song was something carefully molded by Nuwa, while the boy in front of him was definitely Nuwa’s proud masterpiece. Every feature seemed measured with a ruler, perfectly fitting in every way, comparable to the BJD doll that the new intern at their company treasured so much.

But as expected, there really were no ugly men in female-targeted fiction.

Could he be the top or the bottom?

He did not believe someone with a face this handsome was some nameless passerby.

Even if he was not a protagonist, he could still be a villain or a cannon fodder with plenty of screen time.

[Important character, please keep your distance]

Suddenly, dark red subtitles appeared above the boy’s head. Yu Wei’s eyes widened and he leaned closer, trying to see them clearly. The next second, the subtitles disappeared, as if it had all been his illusion. But that one second of text was enough to shock him. Even while shocked, he secretly rejoiced that there was actually a cheat ability.

“Move aside.”

The boy spoke again, interrupting his thoughts. Yu Wei’s mind was now full of the four words important character from just now. He did not catch the boy’s distant tone at all. He stepped down two stairs, walked in front of the boy, and his gaze grew even hotter.

“My younger brother also lives in 508. I’ll help you carry it.”

The moment he stepped closer, a faint sweet banana scent quietly drifted in on the air and slipped into his nose. Shi Ciyan slightly lowered his head and looked from above at Yu Wei’s nape, faintly able to see a little of the pheromone-blocking patch exposed there.

An omega with a fruit scent.

And a warmhearted omega.