I Can’t Be This Protagonist

Qin Yubai and Ji Yao technically belonged to the same generation, but there was an age gap between the two. The fact that Ji Yao was still a student also contributed to them not knowing each other very well.

The Qin and Ji families were basically competitors. There’s been an ongoing competition in secret between the two. 

The Qin family that Qin Yubai took over was a mess, a balloon riddled with puncture marks. He entered the company at the age of 21, starting from the very bottom as a merchandise unloading worker. In less then seven years, he had restored flesh and blood to the emaciated skeleton that was the Qin family, restoring their place in the upper class circle of the city.

If it wasn’t because the Ji family was powerful, Ji Yao wouldn’t even have the right to bring Qin Yubai’s shoes based on market experience alone.

This half-grown boy dared to drag his people away in front of him?

Qin Yubai grabbed Yan Shuang’s other arm unceremoniously. “Perhaps you haven’t figured out whose property you’re on or whose property you’re taking away.” 

Yan Shuang was pulled between the two of them like a doll.

Ji Yao rarely got angry, not because of the hypocritical etiquette and self-restraint he had been taught rigorously since he was a child, but because he knew the sheer amount of wrath contained within him. It was to the point where he didn’t know if he could control himself if a spark were to be lit.

And now, the temperature in his chest was rising little by little.

“Let go.”

Ji Yao coldly squeezed two words from his throat. He could no longer conceal his anger at the moment.

“Who should be the one letting go?”

Qin Yubai sneered, having no intentions of cooperating.

The two of them stood in stalemate, the tension in the atmosphere once again skyrocketing. The faint smell of gunpowder hung in the air, like a single spark was all that was needed as a trigger. 

Ji Yao barely restrained his anger and directly asked Yan Shuang, “Do you want to go back to class?”

Two gazes oppressively bore down on him from opposite directions.

Yan Shuang lowered his head without looking at anyone. Under the pressure of two scorching gazes, he said in a wavering voice, “I want to go to class…”

His tears landed drop by drop on the dark marble floor, creating little flowers on the surface. 

The room was so silent that only the sound of tears landing could be heard.

Ji Yao’s expression relaxed, and he gently pulled Yan Shuang toward him.

“What are you crying for?” Qin Yubai’s tone suddenly softened. He lowered his hand that was holding Yan Shuang to instead hug Yan Shuang’s waist. His tone was affectionate, as if he was coaxing an unreasonable little lover, “If you want to go to class so badly, I’ll just have Wei Yichen send you off.”

The arm wrapped around Yan Shuang’s waist tightened in secret, seeming to give out a silent warning that also brought the person closer to him. 

Ji Yao still hadn’t let go. He looked at Yan Shuang’s lowered head.

As long as Yan Shuang is willing to resist, he would…

“Okay.”

The word that was barely a whisper drifted into the air. It was like a basin of cold water had been poured on Ji Yao’s head. 

He really shouldn’t have any expectations for this cheap and dirty soul.

His hand immediately let go.

His retreating fingers trembled slightly, sliding across a shirt that quickly dissipated every mote of heat.

Yan Shuang looked up at Ji Yao with teary eyes. Ji Yao had already turned and begun walking outside without a second glance, getting into a dark sports car parked not far away. He almost immediately started the engine and raced away, leaving a cloud of dusk in his wake. 

Ji Yao probably rushed over here as soon as he hung up.

And now, he was leaving alone, just as he had come.

As soon as Ji Yao left, Qin Yubai’s expression also cooled. He hugged Yan Shuang’s waist, holding the person close to himself as he coldly said, “You had best give me an explanation tonight, otherwise…”

His implied meaning was clear. 

Yan Shuang forcefully shoved him off and roughly wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “I’m going to class.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Ktf rbecv bo jc fculcf rajgalcu vgloafv bnfg ab atf mbegasjgv. Ktf mjg tjv jigfjvs vglnfc jkjs, ifjnlcu Hlc Teyjl jibcf tfgf.

Ktf rbecvr bo mlmjvjr mgslcu jcv atf geralcu bo ifjnfr yibkc ys atf klcv mbeiv yf tfjgv. Pa kjr delfa jcv qfjmfoei.

“Crack–“

The sound of the wine glass smashing against the ground caused a round of sharp cicada cries outside. 

Qin Yubai’s chest heaved, his hands trembling due to the anger he had concealed just now.

He finally sat down at the table after taking several deep breaths.

What he hated even more than being threatened by a half-grown boy was the feeling of losing control.

Reaching out the grab the wine bottle, something he saw caused him pause. There was a bit of red dying the white logo on the wine bottle. 

Qin Yubai turned his hand over.

A bit of broken glass was embedded in the palm, the wound spotted with blood.

Was it the wine glass? Or the broken screen of that old phone?

Qin Yubai clenched his hand, leaned back on all the way in his seat, and exhaled deeply. 

He really did lose control today.

Inside the car, Yan Shuang was carefully wiping his face clean of tear marks in the rearview. He lightly said to Wei Yichen, “Thank you for the wet wipe, ah.”

Wei Yichen remained silent.

Yan Shuang half twisted around and leaned back against the door of the front passenger seat. He blinked and said excitedly, “Did you just see that? They almost started fighting over me.” 

Wei Yichen continued to ignore him. He was driving intently like a perfect tool person, like Yan Shuang dropping the act as soon as he got on the car and asking him with a smile for a wet wipe never happened.

“What a shame. Hey, who do you think’ll win if Qin Yubai and Ji Yao actually got in a fight?”

“To be honest, your boss seems quite sturdy in terms of explosive power, endurance and durability. He should be good at fighting, right?”

“But Ji Yao’s muscles aren’t bad either even though he looks thin…” 

“It feels like they’re about evenly matched. Hey, what do you think?”

Wei Yichen continued to pretend Yan Shuang wasn’t there.

He wondered if Yan Shuang would still be so smug if he knew that he was just Qin Qing’s substitute. Would he still have this sly and cheerful smile on his face, thinking he was playing everyone on the palm of his hands?

He would await the coming of that day. 

“Right. Next time you pick me up, you need to let me know in advance, promise?”

Seeing that Wei Yichen still had a ‘say whatever you want, I don’t have ear’ look on his face, Yan Shuang smiled and suddenly leaned over to plant a quick kiss on Wei Yichen’s cheek.

“Chu–”

Tires squealed against the asphalt. The suddenly braking jolted Yan Shuang back into his seat. 

After everything settled, Yan Shuang curled up in his seat and laughed.

Wei Yichen’s cold gaze swept over the uproariously laughing Yan Shuang. “What are you trying to do?”

Even Yan Shuang’s voice was tinged with laughter. “Since you don’t know how to communicate with your mouth, I had to use my body to communicate with you.”

After laughing his fille, Yan Shuang’s face turned cold. He said coldly, “Let me know five minutes in advance the next time you pick me up. Got it?” 

When Wei Yichen turned his face away, Yan Shuang leaned over again, only to be blocked by an arm. “Got it.”

“Good boy.” Yan Shuang sat down properly again. “Drive quickly or I’ll be late again.”

Wei Yichen arrived at the back entrance of the school as quickly as he could. “Get off.”

Yan Shuang undid the seat belt. “Don’t forget what I told you.” 

Wei Yichen didn’t want to answer, but Yan Shuang had already cast another threatening look at him.

“I will notify you five minutes in advance next time.”

Yan Shuang smiled brightly, “Since you’re so good, I’ll tell you a little secret.”

“Just now…was the first time I kissed someone…” 

Yan Shuang got out of the car and ran off laughing. He waved energetically to Wei Yichen, his wide white shirt flying in the wind, making him seem like a happy little pigeon.

Utterly ridiculous.

Wei Yichen shook his head gently on the way back. The back of his hand brushed against his right cheek, where there was a faint citrus scent.

Little prostitute with a mouth full of lies. 

Despite thinking that, his face felt uncontrollably hot.

After returning to the vineyard, a member of staff was treating the wound on Qin Yubai’s hand.

The small pieces of glass were picked out little by little and placed in a metal tray on the side. Every piece of broken glass was stained with blood.

“You’re back?” Qin Yubai casually took a puff of his cigarette. 

“President Qin.”

“Go and check how Ji Yao got involved with him.”

“They’re in the same department of the same university.”

Qin Yubai abruptly jerked in his direction, a sharp look in his eyes. “You already knew?” 

Wei Yichen replied calmly: “When I first went to pick Mr. Yan up from school, I ran into Young Master Ji.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? ”

“Apologies, President Qin. I didn’t think that the two were involved in any other way. As you know, Young Master Ji’s personality is very withdrawn.”

Wei Yichen was right. Ji Yao was famous for being weird in their circle. 

He went around all day playing cool with a poker face, never willing to talk to anyone. He even ran away from home because he got into a fight with his family over his major. Qin Yubai had always felt fortunate that the only son of the Ji family was such a lawless good-for-nothing. He never expected Ji Yao’s reach to extend to those around him.

“Investigate. Investigate thoroughly. From the first time those two met, investigate everything. I want a copy on my desk before tonight.”

“Yes, understood.”

Wei Yichen bowed and went off to do his job. 

“Wait…”

After removing the last piece of broken glass, the staff member used alcohol to clean out Qin Yubai’s wound. Qin Yubai bit the cigarette, his handsome face wrinkling slightly. He blew out a smoke ring after enduring the initial fiery pain. “Buy a new phone for him.”

“Understood.””

Wei Yichen pressed the hem of his suit and left for real. 

Back at school, Yan Shuangma rushed to class without stopping. Fortunately, Ji Yao had stuffed all the required textbooks inside his backpack so he could go straight to class.

Being practically invisible had its perks. For one, no one noticed what a haggard state he was in.

After sucessfully attending the three afternoon classes, Yan Shuang returned to the hotel.

The front desk noticed him. “Hey, where’s the handsome guy?” 

“Handsome guy?”

The front desk smiled and said: “The handsome guy came to get his ID so I gave your phone number to him. I thought you two would come together.”

“Right, the ID!”

Yan Shuang was just wondering how Ji Yao got his number or why he had called him out of the blue, bluntly asking him why he wasn’t at the hotel. So it was for his ID, ah. 

But who knew where Ji Yao went? Yan Shuang didn’t see him at all this afternoon.

He was probably venting his rage in some corner, ba.

Anyway, today’s grind for the relationship line went quite well thanks to Little Ji.

Maybe a bit of coaxing was in order the next time they crossed paths. 

“Give me his ID and hold mine as a deposit instead.”

Yan Shuang exchanged his ID card for Ji Yao’s.

The photo on Ji Yao’s ID card was quite flattering.

Usually, the photo on the ID card didn’t really look like the person in real life. 

After all, the police officer was only there to capture the key characteristics of your face, not to be a photographer.

But for an outstanding character like Ji Yao, even with the most straightforward shooting techniques, it would still be difficult to conceal his handsome eyebrows and unique cold temperament. In fact, those traits were even more prominent in photos.

He was like a person from a painting, removed from the outside world.

Yan Shuang laid back in bed, admiring Ji Yao’s ID and giving him a rating. 

9.5 points, ba. Deducting the remaining 0.5 for being stingy! This hotel room doesn’t include dinner!!

Since Qin Yubai demanded an explanation from him by tonight, did that mean he would cover dinner?

Yan Shuang rolled to his feet and put Ji Yao’s ID card away. Then he placed the textbooks in his bag on the hotel room table and skipped out of the hotel.

There were all kinds of stores near the university, and many stalls too. 

Carrying his backpack, Yan Shuang searched around until he saw a phone repairing stall and quickly went to inquire, “Shibo, do you think this phone of mine can be fixed?”

Yan Shaung handed his phone to the shopkeeper.

He took a look and readily said, “Yep. Just needs a new screen.”

Yan Shuang breathed a sigh of relief, “How much would it cost?” 

“$200.”

“What, 200?! Shibo, stop joking around. This phone wouldn’t even be worth 200 if I sold it.”

“Comparing selling and repairing is like comparing apples to oranges. This phone of yours is just too old. You can sell if you want. I’ll give you 50 and you can go buy a new one.”

“That won’t work, I want to get it repaired, not sell it. Shibo, how about 100?” 

“No way, no way. 100 is way too little. That wouldn’t even cover the cost in parts…”

When Wei Yichen found Yan Shuang, Yan Shuang was squatting in front of a phone stall on the side of the road, gesturing wildly and negotiating with the vendor over whether it could be $10 cheaper.

“Really Shibo, you can go a bit lower. 110. 110 and we have a deal…”

Just as Yan Shuang felt the other party wavering, someone caught his elbow. He looked up and saw Wei Yichen, who was wearing glasses and a suit as always. Yan Shuang’s mouth opened slightly in surprise. His round, dark eyes reminded Wei Yichen of a stray dog he had once seen. 

Dirty all over with knots in its fur, but still trying so hard…to live.