It was a dark and gloomy day, with thunderstorms ringing out from every corner of the city. When Shen Ziyu awakened from his nap, he found that he was suddenly in a new environment from where he slept last night.
"Young master, are you awake now?"
Snapping him out of his trance, he glanced around and landed his eyes on an old man that looked like a butler. Fighting his grogginess, he sat up from the bed and gave him a glare.
"Who are you? What are you doing here in my room?"
Still fresh from his slumber, his voice came out more hoarse than usual, and he suddenly noticed his long dark hair hanging on his shoulder. Shen Ziyu was now absolutely speechless.
Getting up in a hurry, he pushed the butler aside and went straight to the nearest bathroom, slamming the door behind him as he entered. Looking at the image being reflected in the bathroom mirror, his eyes were about to pop out of his body.
It must be a dream… It must be. Because why is the man he's looking in the mirror exactly like him yet so different?
The name is the same, the appearance is the same, and it doesn't seem like he's grown any taller or shorter. Aside from his long dark hair, there's nothing strange that happened to his body at all.
Darkening his eyes, Shen Ziyu pinched his arm as hard as he could. This has to be a dream, otherwise what sort of trickery is this? There's no way anyone would dare pull off such a prank on him. Even if they did, he'd kill them immediately for doing such a trick.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
"Young master, are you alright? Is there something wrong?" The same old man that woke him up kept knocking on the door hurriedly.
Sensing no traces of harm, Shen Ziyu replied, "I'm okay, I was just a little shocked when I woke up." After pinching hard enough to draw blood, he was fully convinced that this wasn't a dream. Everything was real.
Leaning on the sink, he took a long sigh and began to recall any memories from last night.
After winning the actor of the year award, Shen Ziyu and some of his colleagues decided to go out for a drink in celebration. But there wasn't anything suspicious that happened that night. Exchanging a few fake smiles with each other, Shen Ziyu was sure that he wasn't drugged.
Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he went out of the bathroom to look around for some clues. Seeing as the butler left his room already, Shen Ziyu didn't waste any second on finding out where he was.
He looked through "his" phone first using facial recognition and quickly browsed through the messages and the internet. After a few minutes of scrolling, Shen Ziyu's expression finally turned as dark as the abyss, and he quickly threw the phone in the bed.
He wasn't a well-known actor that just won "the best actor of the year" award. Instead, he was some sort of young master of a prestigious family that owned a business.
None of his colleagues' contact information was on his phone, and they weren't even on the internet. Convincing himself to stay calm, he sat down on the bed and tried to remember anything happening that night.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
"Young master, Mr. Shen Han sent me here to inform you of today's family dinner at eight. He wants to see you tonight and discuss a few things. Please call me if you need anything. I'll be downstairs if you need me."
As Shen Ziyu sat on the bed, he listened closely to the old man's words. From what he saw on the internet earlier and the butler's words, Shen Han was supposedly his father. Looking at the alarm clock beside the bed, he still had thirty minutes before the appointment.
Muttering a few strings of curses under his breath, he looked at the messages on his phone once again. There were almost a hundred names he couldn't recognize and a lot of messages talking about a party. Confused, Shen Ziyu clicked on one of them to read.
[Hey, are you coming to the party later? You better come! We're going to be meeting in the usual spot in Lumaris. I heard Qin Kei's going to be there with his lover too, haha.]
"Qin…Kei?" Repeating the name out loud, Shen Ziyu could finally remember why this name was so familiar to him.
Holy shit.
Wasn't that male lead of the novel "Love amidst the chaos"?! Widening his eyes, he began to remember a friend of his that recommended him the novel.
Yes, that's it. Shen Ziyu. That was the name of the cannon fodder in this wretched novel!
And he was in the body of the person that would later lose his reputation and all his money! Looking back, Shen Ziyu recalled that his friend mentioned a character in this novel that was heavily inspired by him and how his fate ended.
After learning this, he lost interest and didn't bother reading past the five chapters. He didn't want to see a character inspired by him to have such a miserable fate.
What Shen Ziyu hated the most was losing, and reading a character with his name going through such humiliation would definitely irritate him. Still, this was so unbelievable to process. Not only did he transmigrate into this novel, but he was also the cannon fodder that would lose all his wealth!
He couldn't allow this to happen. Not when he just recently became rich from his acting career, finally getting a shit ton of money. But thinking about it now, as the son of a rich family, won't he be fine if he just leaves the main character alone? He only met such a fate when he started to bully him anyways.
Looking back at the clock, there were only twenty minutes left before the dinner. Pushing back all his thoughts, Shen Ziyu splashed some water on his face, brushed his teeth, and went to look through the owner's closet.
Not bad.
Shen Ziyu was quite pleased with the clothes; they weren't too flashy for the eyes but rather clean and simple. Tonight, he wore a white collared shirt and black slacks on the bottom, pairing it with white sneakers.
Good.
At the very least, Shen Ziyu's appearance and name remained the same. It'd save him the trouble of learning to respond to a new name and getting used to a new face. Tidying up his clothes, he took a glance at the mirror once more and lifted up a smile.
Money really is the best, and a pretty face that comes with it is even better.
Long dark hair, a face that looks like it transcends gender itself with deep brown eyes, and a skinny yet lean body. Shen Ziyu really looked like a young master with a black card that had no limit.
He really liked this.
Back in his world, despite being a successful actor, he certainly faced a lot of financial problems.
As such, he'd constantly have to act as different characters on the same day, do fan meet-ups, and to top it off, compete with other actors.
Shen Ziyu was sick and tired of trying to maintain his financial stability.
After all, he had never wanted to be an actor in the first place.
Had it not been for that one incident, he would've lived a totally different life, and maybe he wouldn't even have transmigrated here in the first place.
…
Darkening his eyes, the youth exuberated a cold air from his body until he finally sighed it off.
Whatever.
Shen Ziyu finally went out of his bedroom and glanced around the place. Glancing at the watch on his wrist, he could still walk around for a few minutes.
It was a large mansion that probably cost hundreds of millions to build. Waltzing around the second floor, he noticed that there weren't many servants.
Rather, it seemed like the house was too lonely. Despite the glitz and glamour, the countless hallways, and the luxurious furniture, there weren't a lot of servants like he had expected.
But perhaps they did that on purpose to avoid any dangerous people from entering.
Having played the role of a young master countless times in movies, Shen Ziyu had no trouble acting like one; and if he remembered correctly, this "Shen Ziyu" in the novel was your typical cannon fodder that wanted to get in the way between the main couple.
…
Looking back, just how much did the author hate him? Why is his inspiration the exact opposite of who he is as a person?
But never mind that. Shen Ziyu threw this lingering thought to the back of his head and focused on finishing the unofficial house tour he had.
The youth took a few more minutes glancing around before deciding to go to his appointment.
Walking down the stairs, Shen Ziyu was greeted by the same butler from before to be escorted.
There were five minutes left on the clock. Good. He was neither too late nor too early but still arrived before the exact time: courtesy for the host.
"Young master, they're waiting for you at the dinner table now." Extending his hand, the old man welcomed Shen Ziyu into a large dining hall with a long table in the middle, as well as four people already sitting.
Looking at their faces, Shen Ziyu decided to sit next to the person who seemed to harbor the least malice towards him. Maybe because of the original Shen Ziyu's personality, his family had some sort of resentment against him.
Shifting in his seat, he began to secretly take a look at some of his family members. The person sitting in the middle was Shen Han, the woman next to him was his wife, and the one sitting next to him was his brother.
The meals were served by the maids and Shen Ziyu could almost taste the food just from the sight. It was like a banquet!
There were so many choices for food that one would get overwhelmed just from trying to choose one.
He waited until the rest of the people ate before digging into the feast before him. Shen Ziyu once again reaffirmed to himself: being rich is the best.
But the table sure was silent though… It's like there was some tension in the air between all of them – or perhaps just for him. Still, he wasn't fazed about this at all and ate to his heart's content.
It was only after everyone was almost finished with their food that the boss of the house finally lifted his eyes to look at Shen Ziyu.
Shen Han, who hasn't spoken a single word so far, talked to him curtly.
"Shen Ziyu, I want you to build a relationship with Qin Ye."
...
Pardon?
Qin Ye?
Who's that?