"Xia Shule, you brought this on yourself!"
"You tried to kill Dimu over and over again. You're vicious!"
"After everything you've done, I've put up with you for far too long!"
"Don't worry. Once you're in hell, I'll send your family down to join you..."
The large hand gripping Xia Shule's hair shoved his head hard beneath the water. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free.
"Mmph... mmph!"
Xia Shule kicked violently, his consciousness fading. Only when he was on the verge of death did the hand finally pull him out.
Footsteps pattered closer and closer.
Even in his dazed state, Xia Shule instantly recognized that soft, delicate cry.
"Gechen! Gechen, don't!" Song Dimu stared at the owner of that hand with wide, innocent eyes, a scalding tear rolling down his cheek.
Jiang Gechen flung Xia Shule aside.
He gulped down fresh air, terrified that he might lose the bliss of breathing freely again in the very next second.
Too busy gasping for breath, he had no energy to spare for the two people putting on their melodramatic act beside him.
"I'm furious! It's my fault for being useless and letting him keep hurting you!"
"Gechen... it's not your fault. I understand how difficult this is for you!" Song Dimu's tear-streaked face looked pitiful. "Don't ruin your future over someone so rotten, okay? I don't want you dirtying your hands because of him!"
"Don't worry, Dimu. I'll make sure there's no trace..."
Once Xia Shule finally recovered his senses, he felt a gaze fixed intently on him, carrying a hint of danger.
He turned his head and saw Jiang Gechen's bloodshot eyes.
And so, with one light shove from Jiang Gechen, the already weakened Xia Shule became a dead man who had slipped and drowned.
Not long afterward, the Xia family went bankrupt. Driven into a corner with no way out, Xia Shule's parents threw themselves into a river.
Jiang Gechen and Song Dimu held a lavish wedding, and the two male leads lived happily ever after.
"Holy shit!..."
Xia Shule opened his eyes, his face full of terror. Beads of sweat covered his forehead, and he panted heavily, unable to calm down.
That was terrifying. What a complete scam.
How could something like this possibly happen?
He looked down at his hands, unable to shake the feeling that none of this was real.
He raised a hand, and a beam of light shone through, stinging his eyes. It was real. All of it was real.
The suffocation of a moment ago still lingered. He never wanted to experience the agony of drowning a second time.
He had been reborn.
And he had awakened his own free will.
Everything he had experienced in his previous life had actually been the story of a book, while he was merely cannon fodder meant to advance the romance between its two male leads.
The top was Jiang Gechen, and the bottom was Song Dimu.
Controlled by the plot, he had courted death at every turn, ultimately meeting a gruesome end.
The problem was that he couldn't accept his death. If he really had been an irredeemable villain who stole someone else's lover, he could have laughed off that ending.
But the whole point was that he wasn't.
Everyone knew that one staple of an angst novel was a male lead who refused to communicate, letting the other male lead misunderstand him before their love deepened through all the suffering.
And the person who advanced their romance, who was never rejected, never given a definite answer, and never told where he stood, was none other than Xia Shule!
Xia Shule's head spun. He didn't even have the strength to roll his eyes at this world and give it a vicious middle finger.
His head buzzed, as though someone had cracked his skull open and installed a floor-shaking vibrator inside.
Xia Shule's assigned role was a spoiled young master raised in luxury. There was nothing in this world he couldn't have.
That included Jiang Gechen, the male lead and top.
It had started quite a long time ago, back in high school.
Jiang Gechen had transferred in midway through the year. He wasn't much of a talker and had few friends in class.
He had been all but ostracized, and his grades had plummeted.
Naturally, when the classes were reshuffled, he ended up in the lowest-ranked class. Xia Shule was there too.
When no one else would speak to him, Xia Shule had shamelessly gone up and asked his name and where he was from.
When everyone deliberately or unwittingly shut him out, Xia Shule had invited him to eat together and join him in PE class.
Given Xia Shule's status, no one could really object, and Jiang Gechen gradually fit in.
Xia Shule's grades were poor, so his family could only send him abroad to polish his credentials. By the time he returned from that trip, everything had changed.
At some point, someone new had appeared at Jiang Gechen's side.
His name was Song Dimu. He was the male lead and bottom, the top's destined lover.
But in Xia Shule's eyes, he was just some nobody from the sticks.
Ever since seeing the two together, Xia Shule had often been unable to control his jealousy or stop the vicious words spilling from his mouth.
All his memories after that were hazy. He only knew that he had become hateful, resorting to schemes and manipulation.
He had hurt Song Dimu more than once.
At first, Jiang Gechen had tacitly allowed it.
He hadn't stopped Xia Shule; he had indulged him instead. This had greatly encouraged Xia Shule, who took it as a sign of support.
Gradually, the two male leads grew closer. Once Jiang Gechen fell in love with Song Dimu, he looked back on what he had once allowed, and regret flooded his heart.
He swore he would never let Song Dimu suffer even the slightest harm again!
And so he directed that hatred toward Xia Shule's vicious nature and the Xia family's boundless indulgence.
The only thing he didn't blame was his own cold indifference.
The final time, Xia Shule had secretly arranged to meet Song Dimu, intending to drive the country bumpkin away with money.
Xia Shule owned up to everything before that. He really had been the one to do those things.
But he swore that this time, he truly hadn't pushed Song Dimu into the water!
Xia Shule had tried to force the money on him, but Song Dimu refused. As the two tugged at each other, Xia Shule twisted his ankle and nearly fell into the pool.
Song Dimu instinctively grabbed him, only to fall in himself.
When the top arrived, what he saw was Song Dimu flailing in the water while Xia Shule stood safely on the bank.
He was furious, driven mad by anguish.
He hated himself for failing to protect the bottom, and for having indulged Xia Shule the way he once had.
He developed the intent to kill, leading to the scene at the beginning.
Even as he sank beneath the water, Xia Shule still couldn't understand what he had done that warranted killing him.
He had humiliated Song Dimu in public, mocked him, and shoved him.
But...
Before he could figure it out, he lost the ability to think.
Xia Shule shook his head, hoping to shake away everything from his previous life along with it. Since heaven had given him a chance at a new life, he would make sure to live this one well.
He would let the past drift away on the wind.
In this life, he wouldn't foolishly keep revolving around Jiang Gechen.
Whoever wanted to be cannon fodder could have the damn job!
"Xia Shule, this is my last warning. Stop following me around!"
He had only just managed to clear his head when a deep, resonant voice sounded beside him.
Xia Shule had heard that voice for years. He couldn't have been more familiar with it. It belonged to Jiang Gechen.
Only after looking around did he realize that he had been reborn at Old Mr. Yan's birthday banquet.
Just now, he had kept pestering Jiang Gechen, who had shoved him to the floor. His head had struck the edge of a table, leaving him dizzy and seeing stars.
"Jiang..."
Xia Shule was about to speak when a startled cry beside him cut him off.
"Shu Le!!" Zhou Anyang ran over, his face full of concern but his eyes brimming with glee at Xia Shule's misfortune. "Are you okay? I told you to be more careful when you followed Brother Jiang! Now you've been caught. Does it hurt?"
That was right. Today was the day he had seen his good friend Zhou Anyang's true colors.