ATIBESLM 2

Ye Lingwei had a good sleep, and when he woke up, he was in a single room at the hospital. A bouquet of lilies and carnations sat on the table in the corner. Steam was still rising from the teapot on the glass coffee table, obviously just been brewed. Someone had been here and they had just left.

There was the crisp sound of high heels in the corridor. Ye Lingwei lazily lifted his eyelids to look over, and then the door was pushed open, revealing a woman with exquisite makeup wearing a slim-fit black suit.

Ye Lingwei couldn’t determine who this was, so he could only respond with silence. As it happened, speaking little was also part of the original host’s character setting.

The woman sat down on the chair next to Ye Lingwei’s hospital bed and said, “President Ye was just here. He waited for you for a while, but seeing that you hadn’t woken up, and since there was an urgent matter at the company requiring his attention, he left.”

Ye Lingwei blinked his eyes, half his face hidden in the quilt. With a look of disappointment in his eyes, he asked quietly, “Da-ge¹It means Big brother. was here?”

Xu Mei felt her heart ache seeing the boy like this. After all, how old was he? He’s just a high school student. Actually, she had intended to leave as well but President Ye made her stay. The reason wasn’t that Ye Lingwei had no one to look after him, but rather to have Xu Mei ask Ye Lingwei what exactly he spent his days doing at school once he woke up.

It would be one thing if it were just bad grades, but he can’t handle interpersonal relationships either and is constantly doing stupid things—those were President Ye’s exact words.

Looking at Ye Lingwei now, however, Xu Mei simply couldn’t bring herself to ask. She couldn’t reconcile this frail and harmless-looking boy with the gloomy and stupid person President Ye had described.

What was there to ask? President Ye’s younger brother was clearly being bullied at school!

Everything starts with looks. Although it’s superficial, Ye Lingwei had to admit that this was the truth. People tend to have a higher tolerance for those who are good-looking.

Ye Lingwei was young, but he was an incredibly bold person. 

He quickly accepted that he was now inside a novel and had become a ‘cannon fodder’ character who was supposed to have died at noon. He also quickly figured out what he needed to do most right now.

First, study. Second, destroy those snobs who looked down on him. Ye Lingwei was someone who retaliated for the slightest grievance. No matter who he was or who he became, he would ensure that person achieved greatness.

He was now Ye Lingwei—that unloved, uncared-for, and disliked cannon fodder supporting character, Ye Lingwei.

Ye Lingwei thought for a moment, then reached his hand out from the quilt and hooked his finger around Xu Mei’s. “Jiejie, I’m hungry.”

Xu Mei looked at Ye Lingwei, and her motherly instincts immediately surged. She pulled out her phone, and without even asking what Ye Lingwei liked, she rapidly tapped away, ordering every delivery option nearby that was suitable for him to eat.

However, before the delivery arrived, she received a call from Ye Lingwei’s eldest brother, Ye Cen, demanding she return to the company immediately. Xu Mei nagged Ye Lingwei about countless things, making him repeat them several times, before she left with reluctant reassurance.

Ye Lingwei looked at the closed door, lay back on the bed with a clear conscience, and unlocked his phone. Quite a few new messages had come in: from the class monitor, the homeroom teacher, the principal of students, and also… from the boy who had hit him with a bottle—Wei Yang.

Ye Lingwei just glanced through them once. Everyone expressed concern for him—very fake concern. Ye Lingwei turned off his phone, looked at the darkening sky outside, and suddenly smiled.

It was actually quite challenging. To redraw a messy and chaotic life from scratch was also something very worth doing.

It was only while eating that Ye Lingwei realized just how great an impact the original host’s heart disease had on him. Heart conditions are graded, but the original host’s was congenital. Although his family was cold to him, they absolutely never mistreated him physically. However, the original host’s poor health was also partly due to psychological reasons.

When he felt unhappy, it directly affected his body. He had no appetite when eating. Even though he was Ye Lingwei now, the body still belonged to the original host so even if he wanted to eat a few more bites, he couldn’t force them down.

Looking at the dishes that had barely been touched, Ye Lingwei felt stifled.

Ye Lingwei returned to school the next morning. He skipped morning self-study and walked into the classroom during the first period. As soon as he walked in, he attracted everyone’s gaze.

He sat down at his seat without looking sideways. Before the chair was even warm, the class monitor came over. The girl said, “Teacher Zhang said you don’t have to sit here anymore.”

Here? Where is here? Next to the trash can?

Ye Lingwei smiled and refused, “No need. I’ll just sit right here. I think this spot is actually quite nice.”

“…”

“Suit yourself.”

Shencheng No. 3 High School had the best faculty in Shencheng and was also the high school with the highest college advancement rate every year. Some said that getting into Shencheng No. 3 High was equivalent to stepping one foot over the threshold of Shen University or Jing University.

These two universities were currently the two highest institutions of learning. Those who didn’t make it into these two would, at the very least, get into a key university, and those who didn’t go to either chose to study abroad to gild their credentials.

At No. 3 High School, there are plenty of people with good grades and the same goes for those from wealthy families. Everyone wears uniforms and keeps a low profile; no one goes around yelling about who their father is. Everyone lets their grades do the talking—grades are king.

So, someone like Ye Lingwei, who drags the class down, undoubtedly became the target of the class’s hostility. Not to mention, he possesses no other likable virtues or talents impressive enough to earn him respect. Even if he were placed in other classes, he would be equally unwelcome.

After what happened yesterday, the classmates restrained their behavior toward Ye Lingwei a great deal. After all, they are still just teenagers; no one actually wants to cause a death.

What they were doing now was simply ignoring Ye Lingwei.

Ye Lingwei listened to the teacher explain the problems. The curriculum for the third year of high school had already been completed during the second year. Now was the review stage, where knowledge points were repeatedly brought up and explained, and once explained, they started grinding through practice questions. Everyone’s nerves were taut.

Ye Lingwei already knew all of this. He only needed to review a little bit to catch up with ninety-nine percent of the people in the class.

Well, as for those he couldn’t catch—that would be due to error.

As soon as the second period ended, Ye Lingwei was called to the Academic Affairs Office. When he arrived, Wei Yang, the one who had smashed him with the water bottle, was already there.

Wei Yang who was being forced to apologize was extremely unwilling. Looking at Ye Lingwei, who currently seemed lively and vigorous, or at least not dead—his heart was full of skepticism about whether the other boy actually had a heart condition.

Ye Lingwei’s grades were too poor, whereas Wei Yang’s grades were in the upper-middle tier of the grade level. One didn’t need to think to know which side the teachers stood on, even if the one in the wrong this time was Wei Yang.

Without giving Ye Lingwei a chance to speak, the apology ended. Wei Yang left a step ahead of him. Ye Lingwei revealed a puzzled expression. “Teacher, is this just a formality? I haven’t even said ‘it’s okay’ yet.”

The teachers were very awkward. Because Ye Lingwei was indeed easygoing and had no temper, they were used to treating him this way. Being questioned by him for the first time, they were filled with a guilty conscience.

Ye Lingwei naturally didn’t hold a grudge. Someday, when he did something wrong himself, they would also stand by his side just as unhesitatingly.

However, he didn’t completely let it go. He looked at the two teachers before him and smirked with mocking eyes. “Are you playing games?”

The boy dropped these few words and leisurely walked out, leaving the two teachers standing awkwardly in place. That look of his was just like looking at clowns, completely stripping away their dignity.

When the morning’s classes all ended, Ye Lingwei’s eyelids were exceptionally heavy. Even if he was unwilling to admit it, the original host’s body was very poor. A morning’s classes were enough to make him exhausted—no wonder the grades were bad. That really couldn’t be blamed on him.

Just as he was preparing to lie down and rest a while, Wei Yang came over from the side. He clenched his fists as he stood in front of Ye Lingwei’s desk. With a dark face, he questioned Ye Lingwei in a deep voice, “Why did you pretend to be sick?”

Ye Lingwei rested his chin on his hand, expression lazy. “I do have a heart condition, do you want to see my medical records?”

“…” Wei Yang was currently in a fit of anger, not noticing at all that Ye Lingwei was any different from before. He began to argue, “But you clearly didn’t have an attack yesterday, why did you…”

“Ah.” Ye Lingwei suddenly covered his chest and gasped for a breath. Wei Yang’s voice stopped abruptly. He froze in place from fright.

Wei Yang didn’t talk. Ye Lingwei put down his hand and tilted his head. He smiled faintly, like a beautiful fox whose scheme had succeeded. “You fell for it again.”

Wei Yang looked at Ye Lingwei, unable to recover his senses for a long time. Heaven knows he was almost scared to the point of fainting just now, but in Ye Lingwei’s eyes, this was just a game to toy with him.

Anger accumulated in his eyes.

Ye Lingwei lay on the desk. He looked up, facing Wei Yang with a smile, while delivering a gentle yet extreme force warning, “There won’t be a next time.”

Chilled to the bone by Ye Lingwei’s icy gaze, Wei Yang instantly calmed down. He stood there for a long time, not daring to utter even a single harsh word. He couldn’t figure it out nor could he guess what Ye Lingwei was thinking right now. He couldn’t even predict which of his sentences might give Ye Lingwei another opportunity to mess with him.

He didn’t feel that Ye Lingwei was any different from before because Ye Lingwei had never really been understood from the start. So no matter how he acted now, no one would be suspicious.

They would only be surprised—do rabbits bite people too? That must be because the rabbit has been bullied for too long.

Ye Lingwei was that bullied rabbit in everyone’s eyes.

Wei Yang turned around numbly and returned to his seat. However, even after a long time, he still felt a chill down his spine. Around him were friends he could joke and play with, and everyone could be seen through at a glance. No one was as temperamental as Ye Lingwei, unfathomable, making people uneasy. No one knew what unreasonable thing he would do in the next second.

“Are you okay?” His deskmate gave him a shove.

“Do you feel like Ye Lingwei has changed?”

“Being bullied every day—if it were me, I would change too. I would kill you all.”

Wei Yang’s face went completely pale.

Although his rest time was disturbed by Wei Yang, Ye Lingwei’s mood wasn’t affected. He looked at the SMS notification from the bank regarding a transfer of fifty thousand and smiled mockingly.

The original host’s eldest brother was just like this, too lazy to say even one extra word to the original host. If there was anything, he just used money to dismiss it.

However, having money isn’t bad.

Ye Lingwei turned off his phone screen and saw the auntie carrying rice and milk in from the door.

To save everyone’s time, No. 3 High School specially launched a meal ordering system. Every week, after the lifestyle committee member collects the statistics, one can order meals from the cafeteria. Once the lunch hour arrives, the food is delivered to the classroom. Of course, those willing to eat in the cafeteria can still go to the cafeteria as it’s entirely voluntary.

However, those who ordered meals accounted for almost eighty or ninety percent of every class. Everyone thinks that being able to save a minute counts as a minute.

Ye Lingwei had also ordered a meal.

The class monitor and the lifestyle committee member helped the two aunties distribute the meals. Although Ye Lingwei had no appetite, he took the boxed lunch Li Mengran handed over and threw it aside, though he did drink a few mouthfuls of the milk.

When Li Mengran finished distributing the meals and tucked the hair at her temple behind her ear, she glanced at that boy in the furthest corner. Most of the sunlight fell on his face—it was almost transparent under the sun, an unhealthy white that made him look like he was about to melt into the sunlight.

When giving him the meal, he even said thank you. Actually, he wasn’t as unbearable as everyone said, it was just a pity that his grades were too poor.

After Ye Lingwei finished drinking the milk, he discovered something else. It was the original host’s picky eating habit. Inside the boxed lunch, there were carrots, shiitake mushrooms, fish chunks, dried tofu, and shredded chicken.

Almost simultaneously upon seeing these dishes, thoughts quickly popped into Ye Lingwei’s mind: don’t eat carrots, don’t eat fungi, don’t eat fish with bones, dried tofu is too oily, and shredded chicken looks dry at a glance.

“…”

Ye Lingwei felt that sitting next to the trash can was actually quite convenient. Having finished the milk, he tossed it in, then stood up, intending to go to the supermarket to buy some bread to make do for now, and eat when he got home at night.

As soon as he stood up, the row of students behind him clattered into action, making space for him so he could pass easily, terrified that he might bump or bruise himself.

Ye Lingwei didn’t spare them a glance as he passed in front of them. Some people in the class were stealing glances at him while eating. Only then did they realize that Ye Lingwei was actually good-looking, but because he used to always keep his head down and stay silent, no one had absolutely noticed.

Ye Lingwei walked through the corridor. Class 7 was located towards the back, and since he was wearing a uniform, no one really noticed when he passed by. However, it just so happened that outside the corridor of Class 1, a few boys were gathered together, lazily basking in the sun and chatting.

They each held a bottle of soda in their hand. Ye Lingwei swept a glance over them and knew immediately who they centered around—that boy with his uniform unzipped, elbows resting on the balcony railing, eyes closed, listening to the people next to him chat.

He had his eyes closed, but with the corners of his eyes slanting upwards, one could still tell they were phoenix eyes.

When Ye Lingwei approached, the sound of their chatting quieted down and their gazes unanimously fell onto Ye Lingwei.

Ye Lingwei’s expression didn’t change. He felt nothing. He also had a good appearance in the past and had been pursued by many people. However, he also knew what kind of magnificent face the original host had—a soul-stirring beauty that made people want to hide it away.

Ye Lingwei was used to being scrutinized like this so he just slightly frowned and quickened his pace.

Just as he walked in front of the boy in the lead, he opened his eyes, his gaze landing straight on Ye Lingwei’s face.

Almost instantly, Ye Lingwei’s fine hairs stood up. That gaze of being watched made the back of his neck go cold, like a knife scraping your bones inch by inch and licking your blood vessels.

Ye Lingwei’s brows furrowed tighter, not very pleased. He swept a glance carrying a slight warning at that boy before going down the stairs from the corner.

Not until Ye Lingwei’s back disappeared from view did Gao Linhao excitedly say to Fei Lan, “See? Isn’t he actually really good-looking?”

Fei Lan savored the memory of this beautiful little friend’s eyes, nose, and mouth. He then gave a rare nod. “It’s alright.”

Just as Gao Linhao said, quite beautiful.

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  It means Big brother.