Bai Yao

Biodata

Background and History

Bai Yao transmigrated into the body of a young man living in Beijing in the 1970s. The original owner had endured years of mistreatment from his biological father and the Li family. After his father signed him up to go to the countryside, he died in grief, allowing the present Bai Yao to take his place 1.

The original owner had kept the location of his late mother’s dowry secret. After transmigrating, Bai Yao used his system’s remote retrieval service to collect the inheritance, which included gold bars, silver dollars, jade and jewelry. He resolved to take revenge on the family for the original owner’s suffering 1.

Appearance

Bai Yao is handsome and fair, though his looks are less striking than those of Gu Yang and Hu Yang. His comparatively ordinary appearance makes him seem approachable 13 31.

• Years of deprivation left his body worn down, and he tires on long walks 1 23.
• He deliberately cultivates a sickly appearance in Unity Village to discourage unwanted romantic attention 23 31.

Personality

Bai Yao is calculating and vindictive toward people he considers cruel. He prefers to strike from concealment, uses deception to protect his reputation, and takes pleasure in watching the Li family suffer the consequences of his schemes 4 6 8.

He enjoys gossip and watching other people’s disputes, although he tries to avoid becoming the subject of rumors himself. Initially wary of the trouble he associates with novel protagonists, he later decides to confront problems directly when avoiding them proves impractical 13 26 34 45.

Bai Yao is also sociable and pragmatic: he builds goodwill with village residents through gifts and trades, and advises his fellow educated youths on how to approach the village chief 22 31 34.

Abilities and Skills

Life Customization (Whaling) System

Bai Yao’s system can customize technological items for a fee. Precious items and products beyond the current era cost more; supplying raw materials can reduce the price 1.

• Customized products include Super Pig Feed, sleep-inducing incense and a period-appropriate watch 1 4 11.
• Super Pig Feed is described as adding one hundred jin of lasting weight to a person in seven days; Bai Yao paid one small gold bar for it 1.
• The system can also perform tasks on his instructions, including administering medicine and writing a warning letter 8 43.

System Space

The system includes a large storage space that Bai Yao uses to conceal supplies, valuables and himself 1 4 11.

• He can collect inanimate objects by covering them with his spiritual power 4.
• Collecting another living being requires physical contact and consumes money while the person remains inside. Living beings held there enter stasis; Bai Yao himself is exempt from these conditions 4.
• Entering the space lets him teleport within a ten-meter radius without paying. He uses repeated jumps to follow Jiang Rou’s bicycle 4 43.

Mental and Spiritual Power

Bai Yao uses mental power to observe people and surroundings, including through walls. He attributes its strengthening to absorbing the original owner’s soul 7 43.

• He locates hidden valuables, monitors potential threats and watches events from a distance 2 14 16.
• He can discreetly retrieve objects with it, including weapons carried by the agents on the train 16.
• His mental-power alert fails to warn him when Kong Wu moves close to him on the train 15 16.

Cooking

Bai Yao regularly cooks for himself and Kong Wu, preparing dishes such as sausage rice, noodles and filled buns. He also uses the system to help prepare food 25 36 37.

Equipment and Items

• Human-skin mask — A system-produced disguise he uses to conceal his identity at black markets 11 29.
• Bicycle — Purchased after the exhausting journey to Unity Village; Kong Wu pedals them and their supplies home on it 23 30.
• Quicklime — Released from his system space to blind two enemy agents on the train 17.
• Customized incense and smoke — Used to incapacitate Li Qiang and the occupants of black-market hideouts 4 12 43.

Relationships

• Kong Wu — Bai Yao’s housemate in Unity Village. Kong Wu often carries him on long walks and helps with household tasks; Bai Yao is attracted to him and becomes flustered by their growing intimacy 23 25 28 37 40.
• Li Dongxu — The original owner’s biological father. Bai Yao condemns his treatment of his son and publishes a notice severing their relationship 1 10.
• Li Bailian — Bai Yao’s stepmother and a target of his revenge 1 3 10.
• Li Qiang — Bai Yao’s stepbrother, who repeatedly beat the original owner. Bai Yao later incapacitates and severely injures him 3 4.
• Li Meimei — Bai Yao’s stepsister, who helped manipulate the original owner. He drugs her with a hallucinogen as part of his revenge 2.
• Li Dabao — Bai Yao’s younger half-brother, who bullied the original owner. Bai Yao feeds him Super Pig Feed and later gives him infertility medicine 4 8 10.
• Hu Yang — A fellow educated youth whom Bai Yao recognizes as a protagonist from another story. They travel to Unity Village together and help expose traffickers 14 20.
• Gu Yang — A reborn protagonist Bai Yao recognizes from a book. Bai Yao initially hopes to avoid him, but they travel to the same area and work together against enemy agents 12 16 17.
• Jiang Rou — A fellow educated youth who helps subdue the agents. Bai Yao later discovers she runs a black market and warns her of a planned attack 16 17 43.
• Zhao Jianguo — Unity Village’s chief. Bai Yao builds goodwill with him and obtains his support for relatively easy daily work, subject to helping with the autumn harvest 22.
• Xiang Qian and Xiang Hou — Twin educated youths who trade with Bai Yao and share village gossip with him 45 48.

Story Role and Major Arcs

Revenge on the Li Family

Bai Yao retrieves his mother’s dowry, steals the family’s hidden savings and drugs their meals with Super Pig Feed. He hallucinates Li Meimei in public and later severely injures Li Qiang before ransacking the family home 1 2 4.

When questioned about the theft, he points to hospital witnesses and directs suspicion toward Li Meimei and Li Dabao. After Li Dongxu is sentenced to death and Li Bailian is sent away for reform through labor, Bai Yao confronts his father and formally severs ties with the family 6 10.

Journey to the Countryside

Before leaving Beijing, Bai Yao robs a black-market hideout and exchanges vouchers at two others. At the station, he recognizes Gu Yang from a novel; on the train, he also recognizes Hu Yang and Dongfang Dazhuang as protagonists from another story 12 14.

After Gu Yang and Jiang Rou discover enemy agents aboard the train, Bai Yao secretly disarms suspects and helps the group subdue four agents. The six travelers receive sleeper accommodations, meal vouchers, promised commendations and equal shares of recovered money and tickets. Bai Yao and Hu Yang later give statements concerning three human traffickers 16 17 20.

Life in Unity Village

Bai Yao and Kong Wu rent a courtyard, divide household work and expenses, and begin fieldwork. Bai Yao trades for seeds and vegetables, buys a bicycle, and helps resolve a dispute over Hu Yang’s injury 25 30 31 33 36 39.

While following Jiang Rou, he discovers her black-market operation and learns that Brother Dong plans to attack it. He incapacitates Dong’s men, takes their goods and sends Jiang Rou a warning 43.

Notable Quote

“The Bai Yao you treated like a house servant is already dead. The Bai Yao standing here now has nothing whatsoever to do with your Li family.” 10