This Plot Is Doomed

Lu Zhi turned and saw him. His gaze fell on the new bedding set, and his expression darkened for a moment before swiftly changing into one of pitiful misery.

Shen Ranxin curiously moved closer. "...Weren't you teamed up with Cheng Cheng? Why are you back so soon? Did you run into muggers on the way?"

"No. Don't ask." Lu Zhi hissed. "Teacher Shen, I can't put the medicine on properly by myself. Can you help me?"

Seeing how miserable he truly looked, with barely any uninjured flesh left on his handsome face, Shen Ranxin took the ointment from his hand.

"It hurts." Lu Zhi lowered his eyes. "Teacher Shen, be gentler."

Shen Ranxin frowned. "...Put your hand down. Don't move around."

Lu Zhi blinked and withdrew his hand from Shen Ranxin's waist.

"Who hit you?" Shen Ranxin asked as he applied the medicine. "They hit you pretty hard."

Lu Zhi tossed his unruly silver hair and proudly declared, "Cheng Cheng did."

Shen Ranxin's hand froze. "Huh?"

No, had Cheng Cheng picked up the wrong script?

He, Shen Ranxin, was supposed to be Lu Zhi's mortal enemy!

Someone help! Someone was stealing his role! Was nobody going to do anything about it?!

[President Lu actually looks pretty proud.]

[This afternoon, I was too busy watching Shen Ranxin's wild antics to check out Lu Zhi and Cheng Cheng's side. What happened? Can any class rep explain?]

[I'll do it. Here's what happened: Lu Zhi and Cheng Cheng chose the boxing competition at the gym. The last person standing would get a five-thousand-yuan prize. They fought their way through round after round, and Cheng Cheng, an omega, was especially ruthless. By the final match, it was President Lu against Cheng Cheng.]

[Holy crap, I never would've guessed Cheng Cheng had that in him!]

[He's a dancer, after all. There's no way he has zero skill with his hands. Honestly, this isn't even President Lu's field, and Cheng Cheng still beat him up like this!]

[Does anyone get it? My ship started fighting because of a universally hated internet pariah.]

After Shen Ranxin finished treating Lu Zhi's wounds, Fang Yu and Jiang Ye returned as well.

But this pair did not seem to have achieved very good results. Fang Yu's expression was foul, and the moment he arrived at the little villa, he shut himself in his bedroom.

Jiang Ye stood at the door for a while before turning around and sitting downstairs in the living room, staring blankly into space.

Gu Yifei was in an excellent mood. Seeing Jiang Ye looking so dejected, he sidled over with particular smugness. "Jiang Ye, what's wrong? Didn't you earn enough money? Let me tell you, Shen Ranxin was amazing. He made—"

"No." Jiang Ye cut him off. "I took Teacher Fang to an internet café to play as a substitute, but he got cursed at by the opposing side because he wasn't very good at the game."

Shen Ranxin glanced at the tightly shut bedroom door. "Teacher Fang doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd get angry over something like that. Did something else happen?"

Jiang Ye froze. He stared blankly at the camera, and the tips of his ears quietly turned red. "I lied. He might think I'm a bad Alpha."

Gu Yifei perked up at once, gossip written all over his face. "What did you lie about?"

Jiang Ye pressed his lips together and lowered his head solemnly without saying a word.

Shen Ranxin was curious too. "Can't you say? Teacher Fang is a pretty magnanimous person. An ordinary little lie shouldn't have made him that angry, right?"

Leaning off to the side, Lu Zhi drawled, "I know what he lied about."

Jiang Ye lifted his head, glanced at Lu Zhi, then got up and left.

Shen Ranxin said, "You know?"

Lu Zhi nodded. "If Teacher Shen wants to know, come here and I'll tell you."

Shen Ranxin took two steps toward him. "No, I'm really not that nosy, but Teacher Fang has such a good temper and still got this angry. I'm just really curious..."

The next moment, Lu Zhi held his chin and lightly brushed his thin lips against the corner of Shen Ranxin's mouth.

Shen Ranxin's brain instantly crashed. Gu Yifei jumped up too. "You shameless—"

"It's like this. There seemed to be too much ointment at the corner of your mouth, so I wanted to rub it off—ugh!"

Shen Ranxin drove a fist into his lower abdomen.

Lu Zhi bent over in pain, finally tasting the consequences of stealing a kiss.

"It hurts." Lu Zhi sucked in a breath, then clicked his tongue and chuckled. "I'll still kiss you next time."

Shen Ranxin's next punch was already poised to strike.

Lu Zhi coughed. "This afternoon, the slip Jiang Ye drew wasn't actually Teacher Fang's."

Shen Ranxin paused, his attention immediately diverted. "What?"

Gu Yifei's face turned cold. "You know that too?"

"Of course I do." Lu Zhi pulled a small slip of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. Fang Yu's name was written on it.

"Because Teacher Fang's slip was with me."

Shen Ranxin and Gu Yifei exchanged a glance.

Captain Jiang had indeed acted a little strangely when drawing the slips today, and he had not unfolded his slip in front of the camera.

But given his credibility and established image, there was no way he could have lied, so the production team had not required him to show the slip.

Jiang Ye, a straight Alpha who had never lied before, had told a small lie to the camera—to the whole world.

As for what intentions were hidden beneath that lie, Shen Ranxin had no idea.

But with Teacher Fang's temperament, even if he knew, he should have just laughed it off. Why would he be this angry?

As night fell outside, it was nearly time for dinner.

The guests were all starving. They looked at the table full of ingredients, yet Cheng Cheng was still nowhere to be seen.

After all, the whole household was waiting for him to cook.

Shen Ranxin asked Director Chen, "Does Cheng Cheng have another task? Why hasn't he returned yet?"

Director Chen said, "Didn't Lu Zhi tell you?"

Everyone was stunned.

Gu Yifei said, "He did. Didn't Cheng Cheng just beat him up? President Lu's face may be worth a fortune, but he doesn't need to be too embarrassed to come home. None of us blamed him—"

"No." Director Chen pulled a long face. "Cheng Cheng was rushed to the hospital because his injuries were too severe. He's still lying in the hospital now."

Everyone: "..."

Shen Ranxin turned to look at Lu Zhi.

Lu Zhi, who had spent the entire afternoon acting pitiful because of the injuries on his face, said, "Didn't I mention it?"

Shen Ranxin: "...What do you think?"

"Then maybe I forgot." Lu Zhi said, "Why are you all looking at me like that? Cheng Cheng really did cause the injuries on my face. I never said I didn't beat him up too."

Shen Ranxin took a deep breath and covered his forehead, thinking painfully.

The protagonist bottom had beaten the protagonist top until his face was ruined,

And the protagonist top had beaten the protagonist bottom into the hospital.

They were seriously hoping the other would die sooner and be reborn sooner.

This plot was doomed.

Just destroy it all.

In order to maintain his devoted-dog persona,

Shen Ranxin prepared to visit Cheng Cheng in the hospital.

Lu Zhi grabbed his wrist. "I know how hard I hit him. He won't die. Don't go."

"Let go." Shen Ranxin frowned. "You know how hard you hit him, my ass."

"You're not allowed to go." Lu Zhi leaned close and gritted out by his ear, "If you dare go, however long you stay there, when you come back tonight, I'll make you hurt for just as long."