Chapter 1: The Awakening of the Vicious Simp
“Run! The chandelier is falling!”
“Holy sh*t! That chandelier is coming straight for my life!”
The crowd surged, the ground vibrating under the stampede of feet. Just as Lin Huaizhi was about to grab someone and make a run for it, he was suddenly shoved from behind.
A massive pain exploded in his head.
Blackness swarmed Lin Huaizhiâs vision, and he instantly sank into darkness.
Bad news: Lin Huaizhi was knocked unconscious by a falling chandelier.
Good news: He didn’t die and transmigrate.
Worse news: The impact knocked the plot of a dual-male-lead novel into his brain. Why is this worse? Read on.
Lin Huaizhi and the Protagonist Top, Chu Xiaoran, were elementary school classmates. Because Chu Xiaoran gave him a piece of bread when he was starving, he became the sole light in Lin Huaizhi’s life.
Why did a single piece of bread hold such power?
Because of a poverty-stricken home, a spineless mother, a gambling-addicted father, and a life where he couldn’t get two square meals in three days.
To the young Lin Huaizhi, who was chronically hungry to the point of wanting to gnaw on the bedframes, that bread was indeed enough to be etched into his bones.
They reunited more than ten years later.
He was now the chairman of a top domestic entertainment company, while Chu Xiaoran was a nobody who had just entered the entertainment industry. With his help, Chu Xiaoran quickly became an A-list star.
The story up to this point was quite beautiful.
Mutual redemption and all that.
The problem was, the “dual” in “dual-male-lead” had nothing to do with him. The Protagonist Top was the A-list star Chu Xiaoran, and the Protagonist Bottom was an eighteenth-tier nobody named Fang Mo. As for him? He was just the vicious simp in this novel.
To be precise, he was the vicious simp for the Protagonist Top, Chu Xiaoran. His only function was to serve as the lubricant, catalyst, and harmonizer for the two protagonists’ relationship.
Oh.
He had one other function.
That was to have his reputation destroyed and die a miserable death at the hands of Chu Xiaoran. He was only vicious toward people who got close to Chu Xiaoran; toward Chu Xiaoran himself, his love was deep and unwavering. Not only that, but he was also destined to leave all his assets to Chu Xiaoran before he died, allowing Chu Xiaoran to complete his transformation from a traffic star to a capitalist, giving him the money to play the domineering CEO role with Fang Mo.
Excuse me?
A freelancer acting like a king, leeching off him, and an eighteenth-tier nobody of a “delicate wife” get to be the main characters? They get a novel praising their beautiful love, while he, Lin Huaizhiâa self-made young talent with money and looksâis relegated to being the vicious simp for the Protagonist Top?
And another thing: fine, have your dual leads, have your “white moonlight.” But making Chu Xiaoran his white moonlight? Making him obsessed, crazy, and charmed to the point of brain-dead retardation, losing even basic judgment? Is this a plot a carbon-based lifeform could come up with?
The more Lin Huaizhi thought about it, the angrier he got, until he literally woke up from rage on the evening of his third day in a coma.
The moment he opened his eyes, he heard a fierce argument by his earâ
“The boss was hit by that chandelier because he was trying to save you! He’s still in a coma, and you haven’t visited him once in days. Now that you’re here, you take one look and want to leave? Are you unwilling to even look after him?”
“Did I ask him to save me?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, who knows if this is just another ‘bitter meat’ trick he deliberately orchestrated? It’s not like he hasn’t pulled stunts like this before. The second season of This Is Love starts filming the day after tomorrow. I don’t have time to play out some tragic drama with him here.”
Lin Huaizhi laughed out of sheer anger.
“You really give yourself too much credit. Me, acting in a tragic drama for you? What kind of thing do you think you are?”
Unfortunately, his throat was raw and hoarse, so his mocking words lacked any imposing momentum.
The young assistant, Zhou Ning, heard the noise and reflexively turned around. Seeing Lin Huaizhi’s open eyes, he literally jumped with excitement and ran out of the ward.
“Doctor!”
“Doctor, the patient in Bed 1 is awake!!”
In contrast to Zhou Ning’s joy, Chu Xiaoran’s face was full of impatience.
He was slightly surprised by Lin Huaizhi’s attitude, but he didn’t take it to heart. After all, Lin Huaizhi was his simp; no matter what attitude he showed now, he would eventually come crawling back to curry favor.
“It’s good that you’re awake. I’m very busy recently, so don’t look for me if it’s not important.”
Chu Xiaoran frowned, making no attempt to hide his blame and disgust. “If you hadn’t insisted on asking me out to dinner, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“And don’t delight in thinking you can use this method to evoke my sympathy or guilt. I don’t buy that act; it only makes me dislike you more.”
Lin Huaizhi slowly mentally typed out a question mark.
“Insisted on asking you to dinner?”
“Evoke your sympathy?”
“If you’re a dog, stop trying to speak human; otherwise, I keep thinking there’s a person standing in front of me.”
He understood every individual word, but strung together, they sounded exactly like barking. And seeing how delusional this dog-thing was, did he write this damn worldview-shattering novel himself?
“Say whatever you want, but I hope you can learn to be sensible. Stop using various excuses to ask me out. I am truly very busy.”
Lin Huaizhi: “??”
A pile of curses reached the tip of Lin Huaizhi’s tongue, but Chu Xiaoran turned and walked away.
Lin Huaizhi: “…”
Sometimes he really wanted to call the police. For a moldy piece of bread past its expiration date, he had poured his heart and soul out to Chu Xiaoran. Not only did Chu Xiaoran act entitled while mooching off him, but now he wanted his money and his life.
Did he think Lin Huaizhi was made of clay?
Lin Huaizhi watched Chu Xiaoran’s retreating back, his gaze dark and deep, like a snake hanging from a tree branch, flicking its tongue.
Just wait.
The debt of gratitude has been repaid; now, itâs time for revenge.
After an examination, Lin Huaizhi’s body was found to have no major issues. All that remained was quiet rest and attention to his diet. He drank two cups of water, finally saving his parched throat.
“This Is Love starts filming its second season the day after tomorrow?”
This Is Love was a romance variety show funded by Huameng, and Lin Huaizhi was the boss of Huameng.
Though they called it filming, it wasn’t pre-recorded. The show utilized a live-stream format. Because it featured a clash between celebrities and ordinary people, combined with Huameng’s powerful backing, the first season had achieved impressive results.
But Lin Huaizhi didn’t care about that. He cared about the candidate list.
“Yes, the day after tomorrow. That Chu Xiaoran is too much. You ended up like this because of him, Boss, yet he cares more about a broken dating show than you.”
As Zhou Ning answered, he was still indignant on Lin Huaizhi’s behalf, unable to suppress the dislike in his eyes.
But as soon as he finished speaking, he began to regret it. After all, his boss really valued that ingrate. In the past, he had been scolded for saying things like this. Today… Zhou Ning stole a glance at Lin Huaizhi.
Eh?
The boss isn’t angry at all today?
Was his body snatched by a spirit?
“Call the director. Tell him I want a list of the guests.”
“Ah? Okay, right away!”
Zhou Ning paused for a moment, then hurriedly pulled out his phone. Two minutes later, Lin Huaizhi looked at the photo on the phone and, sure enough, saw the name Huo Chen.
Huo Chen.
Huo Chen was the crazy villain in this illogical, sh*t-written dual-male-lead novel. Worth tens of billions of dollars, ruthless in his methodsâanyone who provoked him died.
At the same time, he was the Protagonist Bottom, Fang Mo’s, biggest backer.
After all, crazy villains are always attracted to the “truth, goodness, and beauty” of the Protagonist Bottom, while the Protagonist Top is surrounded by vicious simps with good family backgrounds and money.
It could be said that for Lin Huaizhi to meet such a miserable end, this lord was the FMVP (Finals Most Valuable Player). After all, how could he compete against Chu Xiaoranâan idiot moocherâplus a fake-noble Fang Mo who preached sincerity daily, all backed by Huo Chen?
But you know what? If this man, Huo Chen, was really as described in the novel text…
Then he was absolutely Lin Huaizhi’s type!
The more Lin Huaizhi thought about it, the more excited he got. Who said the crazy villain had to like the Protagonist Bottom? Since he’s a crazy villain, he should naturally be with him, the vicious simp.
Crazy and Vicious.
He and Huo Chen were born to be a pair!
“Zhou Ning, notify the director. I’m going to be a guest.”
He was going to see if this man, Huo Chen, was really like what was written in the novel. If he was, Lin Huaizhi would spare no cost to get his hands on him.
And if he wasn’t…
Then Huo Chen would still have to be his!
Reading Guide:
- Park your brain here (Don’t overthink the logic).
- Bottom chases Top. The Top is relatively cold; don’t expect too much from him in the early stages, but he is very much a “love brain” (lovesick).
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