Winning the male lead

The azure sky and the deep sea stood in contrast, with the sun casting its golden rays onto the brand-new luxury yacht, as if gilding it. The boat was a fiery red, with the owner’s name boldly written on it—L&T.

Le Tian, with his hands in his pockets, sighed in admiration. “Shen Lixing really understands me. This bright red color, so festive—I love it.”

The system had nothing more to say. It had taunted and threatened him earlier that morning, but Le Tian, without a word, got up and immediately ran to admire the new yacht Shen Lixing had bought for him, completely ignoring the system’s warnings.

“Too bad I never learned how to drive one,” he lamented. He had arrived in this world too early, and Shen Le Tian hadn’t yet reached the age to learn how to operate a yacht. He himself was too lazy to learn.

The system coaxed him, “You could have Shen Lixing teach you.”

Le Tian became suspicious. “What’s your trick this time?”

The system, caught, fumed, “I’m just trying to help you! Do you want to fail your task and be mentally exiled?”

Upon hearing the warning about mental exile, Le Tian wasn’t as panicked as before. He stretched his arms and embraced the beautiful weather. Cheerfully, he said, “Hey, have you ever heard of paid pooping?”

The system was speechless.

Le Tian continued happily, “The task isn’t time-limited, right? We can just enjoy life for now and complete the task later. After all, who would dare try to steal the rich young master’s wife?”

If the other person was richer or more handsome than him, then he could just complete the task by default. Thinking this way, life seemed so much more enjoyable.

The system remarked, “Now I understand why you, with only B-grade mental strength, managed to collapse so many worlds of the Alliance and keep escaping capture.”

Le Tian’s mindset was so relaxed, his shamelessness was unrivaled, and he always found ways to exploit loopholes.

Le Tian grinned, “You’re welcome.”

Meanwhile, back at home, Yu Miao was being scolded by her agent. “What on earth are you doing, my dear? Do you realize who you are now? The fiancée of the young master Shen! Why did you go to that kind of place? Why can’t you just sit back and wait to be the young mistress of a wealthy family?”

Yu Miao had been drugged, and her head still ached. Hearing the agent endlessly talk about “Young Master Shen,” she felt an indescribable distaste. Her relationship with Shen Le Tian was a sham. “I wanted to act. They said there was a role, so I took it.”

“So, you’re crazy? You’re about to be a young mistress, and you’re still thinking about acting? Aren’t you embarrassing Young Master Shen?”

“Enough!” Yu Miao snapped, “Young Master Shen, Young Master Shen—am I just his accessory? I’m me, and he’s him. My work won’t stop because of him!” She was determined to act more, repay Shen Le Tian the money, and then end this absurd relationship.

As soon as her thoughts began to change, the system quickly alerted Le Tian, who was wandering around the yacht: “Yu Miao wants to break up with you.”

Le Tian froze as his hand touched the luxurious sofa inside the yacht. “Are you kidding me? Is someone trying to steal my woman? Is he richer than me? Is he more handsome than me?”

The system replied, “Sorry, she just wants to break up with you.”

Le Tian fumed, “How dare she break up with me when she owes me so much money?!”

The system responded, “Maybe it’s… the heroine’s dignity? She doesn’t want to be tangled up with you, the playboy. I told you, this is punishment. It’s not that easy to complete.”

Le Tian immediately started to panic. Although he wasn’t anxious to find a partner, he knew that the heroine’s boyfriend identity could not be lost. Based on his past experiences, no one else, except for the male lead, could rekindle a relationship with the heroine. Moreover, their relationship was weak and based on money.

The system reassured him, “The good news is that she won’t break up with you just yet. You still have some time.”

With the pressure on, he became more anxious and began to seriously consider how to get Shen Lixing and Yu Miao to meet.

Having played various roles in hundreds of romance worlds, he had extensive experience. From his knowledge, the most common ways for a domineering CEO like Shen Lixing and a heroine with a starkly different background to develop feelings were two:

The heroine’s previous generation caused harm to the male lead’s family, and the male lead decided to seek revenge.
The heroine directly harmed someone important to the male lead, and the male lead sought revenge.

Basically, if there was a grudge, everything would fall into place.

Le Tian suddenly had a bold idea.

“I’m going to commit suicide.”

The system: “…”

“Of course, fake suicide,” he added, patting the sofa. “I’ll blow up this yacht, leave a suicide note saying I couldn’t bear the burden of Yu Miao wanting to break up with me, and I died for love.”

The system, confused, asked, “You think Shen Lixing will fall in love with Yu Miao after this?”

Le Tian was confident, “According to romance novel logic, yes.”

The system: “…Then how do you plan to fake your death?”

Le Tian: “That’s the tricky part. Let’s talk.”

The system immediately felt an ominous premonition.

“You see, as the greatest fugitive, every other system failed to catch me, but you succeeded. Such an accomplishment! If you can force me to complete my punishment,” he gave a thumbs-up, “then you’ll be the talk of the system world.”

To be honest, the system was quite proud of catching him, but this man was impossible to control. The main goal of the punishment was to capture him as a guardian. If it succeeded in taming this rebellious number-one fugitive, it would be celebrated in the system world for a hundred years.

“I’ll help you,” the system hesitated and replied, “But you’ll have to listen to me from now on.”

Le Tian smiled brightly, “No problem.”

With the system’s promise, he knew the task would be much easier. Blowing up the yacht and staging a death were simple for the system.

But the suicide note? He wanted to write that himself.

The system approved of his idea. “The tone of the suicide note is very important.” It would directly influence how Shen Lixing would treat Yu Miao after Le Tian’s staged death.

Le Tian said, “I’ve decided to add a little surprise in the note.”

“How about an acrostic poem?” he asked enthusiastically.

The system replied, “An acrostic of what?”

“My identity!” he said thoughtfully. “I should give Shen Lixing a reason to later forgive Yu Miao. If he finds out I’m not his biological brother, maybe he’ll thank her for ‘driving me to death,’ and then they’ll love each other even more.”

The system: “… You’ve really thought this through.”

Without wasting time, he got to work. He rummaged through a drawer on the yacht and found a pen and paper, preparing to write his suicide note.

I cried,

For those who don’t love me,

It’s the last straw,

Will you forgive me,

Dear little uncle,

Life is short,

Your nephew goes first.

He hesitated when he reached the “Zi” character, and casually wrote “Zi yu yang er qin bu dai” (a Chinese proverb meaning “A son wishes to care for his parents but they are gone”), just to fill in the gap. After finishing, he admired his own work. “Truly literary.”

The system: “… What nonsensical nonsense is this?”

After finishing the note, Le Tian folded it neatly and put it in his pants pocket. He turned to the system and said, “Let’s find a good day to blow up the yacht.”

The system replied, “I thought you really liked this yacht.”

Le Tian casually shrugged, “I can’t even drive it. Blowing it up and having fireworks sounds good.”

The system said, “I heard you come from a humble background. I didn’t expect you to have such luxurious tastes.”

Le Tian responded, “Hey, I make up for what I lack. By the way, after this punishment, I’m going to be handsome and rich in every world, right? Otherwise, finding a guy better than me would be too easy.”

The system replied, “That’s true.”

“Great!” Le Tian said, spreading his arms and taking a deep breath of the fresh yacht air, the scent of money. “Hey, I’ve got a proposal. Now that we’re in a cooperative relationship, in the next world, can you give me a role that’s both rich and powerful? Being a young master is nice, but I still have someone riding on my head at home. It doesn’t feel quite right.”

The system agreed readily, “Sure, no problem.”

With their new strategic partnership, Le Tian was in high spirits and suggested celebrating with a candlelight dinner for the system.

The system: “… As long as you’re happy.”

Le Tian booked the top private restaurant in the city, asked them to turn off the lights, and sat at a corner table with candles to enjoy a French meal.

“Single man’s romance,” he boasted, taking photos with his phone and posting them on Weibo, pretending he was in the midst of a passionate romance.

Just as he was about to take the first bite, his phone rang. He picked it up, and upon seeing the caller ID—little uncle—he didn’t dare to delay. He answered quickly, sweetly calling, “Little uncle.”

Shen Lixing directly asked, “Where are you?”

Le Tian gave him the name of the restaurant.

“I’ll be right there,” Shen Lixing replied, hanging up the phone.

His tone was serious, and his attitude felt off. Le Tian began to feel nervous. He whispered to the system, “What’s wrong with him?”

The system replied, “He probably wants to have a meal with you.”

Le Tian said, “Remove the ‘probably’ from that sentence.”

The system: “Just go, what’s the big deal?”

Le Tian sighed, “You’ve learned bad habits…”

The system responded, “We’re strategic partners now, we learn from each other.”

It seemed the system still hadn’t forgiven him for his previous negative attitude. He reluctantly put down his cutlery, asked the waiter to bring another set of utensils, and decided to wait for Shen Lixing to arrive so they could eat together.

Shen Lixing arrived soon after, dressed in a sleek black suit with neatly combed short hair and an aloof expression.

As soon as he entered, Le Tian immediately stood up respectfully and greeted, “Little uncle.”

Shen Lixing glanced at him briefly, his narrow eyes sharp like a glowing blade.

Le Tian was confused and muttered to the system, “What’s with that look??”

The system remained silent.

“Why are you eating alone?” Shen Lixing asked as he sat down.

Le Tian smiled, “Well, now that little uncle’s here, I’m not alone.”

On the table were two glasses of red wine. Shen Lixing picked up his glass, sniffed it, and commented, “1992 Romanée-Conti.”

Le Tian, secretly thinking, What a poser, smiled and said, “I opened it especially for you, little uncle.”

Shen Lixing took a sip, “The wine’s good,” and then continued to stare at him silently over his wine glass.

Le Tian felt the awkwardness in the air and decided to drink some wine to ease the tension.

As the wine reached his lips, Shen Lixing’s voice broke the silence softly, “I read your mother’s diary.”

“Pfft!” Le Tian, unsurprised, spit out his wine.

The red wine splashed all over Shen Lixing’s shirt… and his firm chin.

After a long silence, the system finally spoke up, “Uh oh.”