Another Big Sap

Zhou Ye knew every last detail about the grudges and disputes between Lin Shi and Ji Xi, explaining them with great familiarity and perfect order.

In a short time, he went from describing the violent jungle-style upbringing in Lin Shi's home to how Ji Xi had somehow offended Lin Shi for no reason at all.

Just listening to him, Yan Xianjue could feel Ji Xi's helplessness.

Ji Xi's situation was much like his own in his previous life.

Barely getting into university had already taken every ounce of his strength.

Yet under such circumstances, Ji Xi had held onto the top rank in his grade for nearly three years.

He could pick any good university in the country.

The hardships involved and the effort he had put in behind the scenes were obvious.

"Your family doesn't have much contact with the Lin Household, so you probably don't know that their family has gotten more and more insane these past few years."

Zhou Ye's family was also one of Shenzhen's wealthy families, though it still fell somewhat short of the Yan Household and the Lin Household.

His family had risen to wealth overnight, and Shenzhen's old-money families looked down on them.

"I heard that whenever Lin Shi failed to come first as a child, his dad beat him like a dog."

"It's pitiful to have a father like that. His mom is just a clinging vine—she watches her son get beaten and doesn't dare say a word."

The more Yan Xianjue listened, the more familiar it sounded.

He slapped his palms together.

Isn't this the plot from that campus novel?!

Yan Xianjue was deeply shocked. Wasn't this supposed to be a massively blended business-war novel?!

Why was there even campus-novel nonsense in it?

What's so pitiful about him? Ji Xi, who got dragged into this for no reason, is the one who's pitiful.

Just staying alive already takes all of his strength, and at school, he still has to be bullied by Lin Shi just because he studies better than him?

If he can't get first place, shouldn't he reflect on whether the intelligence his parents passed down to him isn't enough?

Having an unfortunate family isn't an excuse to inflict violence on others.

Yan Xianjue had remembered who Lin Shi was.

When he was little, Mother Yan had once taken him to a banquet hosted by the Lin Household.

There, he witnessed young Lin Shi personally skinning the pet hamster he had raised.

Yan Xianjue had nightmares for over a week after going home, and for more than a month, the sight of meat made him reflexively nauseous.

After that, the Yan Household rarely had any dealings with the Lin Household.

Yan Xianjue began to reflect on why, despite already being in his final year of high school, he had only just realized that Lin Shi attended the same school as him.

Wasn't this exactly the definition of enemies meeting on a narrow road?!

He rarely read campus novels because his own school life had basically nothing in common with them, leaving him with no sense of immersion.

He had only checked it out because it was a long-followed author's first attempt at switching genres.

And that one look had thoroughly traumatized him.

He immediately unfollowed the author.

Lin Shi was also the male lead he hated most out of every novel he had read.

In the novel, the school tyrant fell for a girl at school.

That girl was the Top Student's deskmate.

Whenever the school tyrant sneered at and mocked the Top Student, she would speak up for him.

The next time, the school tyrant would only go even further.

Gradually, the bullying escalated from a few insulting remarks to physical violence.

Yan Xianjue had never expected such a coincidence.

When he came over, he ran into the Top Student after he had been drenched from head to toe by a bucket of water thrown by one of the school tyrant's lackeys.

Then, on the way back to the classroom, he ran into the famous scene where the female lead righteously defended the Top Student.

Ji Xi sincerely felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

He had told Su Su many times not to interfere in matters between him and Lin Shi anymore.

What others could notice, he had naturally noticed too.

Every time Su Su helped him once, Lin Shi would become even more excessive the next time.

More than once, he had told Su Su that he did not need her help.

Yet she still did whatever she wanted.

Ji Xi did not feel that she was helping him.

Instead, he felt that ever since he met Su Su, his high school life had become unbelievably difficult.

But all the special treatment he received at school was because his grades were good enough.

No matter what, he could not deliberately get questions wrong and give up his position as first place just because of Lin Shi's attitude.

This was the only thing he could currently keep in his grasp, like driftwood in the hands of a drowning man.

He irritably brushed away Su Su's hand as she tried to come over and support him.

He had merely been drenched with a bucket of water. What he needed were dry clothes, not someone to hold him up.

She was always like this, declaring herself a savior without considering anyone else.

Ji Xi tightly gripped the towel a passerby had tossed him.

Two more months. Just two more months. As long as the Gaokao was over, everything would be fine.

Ji Xi comforted himself like this in his heart.

Tsk, hasn't this female lead realized that the more she protects Ji Xi, the angrier Lin Shi gets?

Yan Xianjue was genuinely puzzled.

Is she really showing classmates' affection and standing up for Ji Xi, or is she trying to get Lin Shi's attention?

The more Yan Xianjue thought about it, the more he felt it was not impossible.

After all, the author had to find a way to create interactions between the male and female leads.

Ji Xi was simply a useful tool.

He silently pitied Ji Xi for a few moments.

Just as he was about to follow the force of Zhou Ye pulling him aside to make some room—

He unexpectedly stepped on a girl's foot.

"It's fine." The girl waved her hand cheerfully.

Yan Xianjue saw her staring intently toward where the male and female leads were confronting each other.

He knowingly shifted aside, giving the girl with a face full of eager gossip the best viewing spot.

Returning the favor, the girl handed Yan Xianjue and Zhou Ye each a handful of sunflower seeds.

Cracking seeds as she watched, she asked, "Are you two here to see Ji Xi too?"

"Huh?" Yan Xianjue said. "We were coming back from the restroom and just happened to pass by."

"Oh, oh." Leaning against the railing, the girl said, "I thought you were here to watch the show too."

Zhou Ye casually asked, "Are you in this class too?"

"Yeah." The girl nodded. "My name is Shen Fangli."

Hm?

That name sounds familiar. Isn't that the name of another unfortunate sap in the novel?

The unfortunate sap herself: ???

The smile on Shen Fangli's face gradually disappeared.