Liu Muye had never imagined that one day he would cross over into a novel he had written himself.
The plot of "Young Master Nangong's Pampered Pet"—a thoroughly flopped romance novel aimed at female readers—was actually quite simple. To sum it up in one sentence:
The sweet everyday interactions between an overbearing CEO and a wealthy heiress.
To sum it up even more simply:
A cheesy Mary Sue romance novel.
Mary Sues were a cliche from ages ago. A book written with such tropes was bound to flop, and frankly, it deserved to.
Just like its vulgar and self-explanatory title, the male lead's name was simply Nangong Ye.
The female lead's name was Shangguan Yurou.
Don't ask why the male and female leads had double-barreled surnames; asking only meant understanding that it was just a cheap trick to make them sound more elite.
After all, nowadays, if the protagonists' names sounded even slightly mediocre, readers would tear the author to shreds—a harsh reality Liu Muye knew all too well.
Since it was a Mary Sue romance, it naturally needed a cardboard-cutout female supporting character to drive the plot. The wicked supporting female character's name was Han Juyou.
That was right, none other than the girl Liu Muye had written jumping off a building in the novel's grand finale.
As a pure plot device, Han Juyou served one sole purpose in the book: to drive the narrative forward.
Whenever the male lead fell ill, she would show up before the female lead to take care of him, causing misunderstandings.
Whenever the male lead lost something, she would frame the female lead for stealing it, making him despise her.
Whenever the male lead and female lead were about to get engaged, she would hire someone to run the female lead over, giving her amnesia.
In short:
Whenever there was a shortage of plot, she was dragged out to forcefully push things along—and with plot developments as devoid of logic and as cringe-worthy as these, Liu Muye was destined to wander further and further down the path of total failure.
"Achoo!"
On his way to Silia Business School, Liu Muye let out a sudden sneeze. He rubbed his nose and muttered softly, "Who's talking behind my back?"
He pulled out the identification card from his wallet and inspected it closely. It looked nearly identical to his real-world ID.
His photo hadn't changed, his ID number hadn't changed, and his birthday hadn't changed—still September 17th.
The only difference was his home address.
His current home address was: Unit 1, Changong Manor, Inner Ring District, Shangjing City.
Looking at the address on the ID, a wave of secret delight washed over Liu Muye.
Why did he write novels in the first place if not to make money? Since he couldn't be rich in reality, he might as well be rich inside his own book!
Aside from the wallet, there was also a smartphone that Luo Ji had just given him, kept right alongside the wallet. Its functions were no different from a real-world phone, except that the chat app contained no real-world contacts whatsoever—only a handful of people from the book's world, along with a ridiculously long string of cold digits for his account balance...
Tens, hundreds, thousands, my brother, my daddy, my grandpa, my divine ancestor!
"Awesome, insanely awesome! I'd rather die in the book I wrote than ever leave!"
Staring at the balance on his phone screen, Liu Muye uttered a thoroughly unaspiring sentiment before pushing open the car door and stepping out.
The driver stated, "Thirty bucks."
Liu Muye immediately retorted, "Are you kidding me? It's barely a couple of kilometers, and you want thirty bucks? You're even more a rip-off than the taxis in Sunan!"
Hearing this, the driver muttered under his breath, "Stinking poor loser, why take a cab if you can't afford it?"
"Who says I can't afford it?!"
Having suddenly become wealthy, Liu Muye wasn't quite used to it yet, but the driver's remark snapped him right back to reality.
He opened his wallet, yanked out two hundred-yuan bills, tossed them onto the passenger seat, and said coolly, "Keep the change as a tip."
Seeing the two crisp red bills on the passenger seat, the driver instantly flipped his attitude: "Oh-ho, right away! Thank you, boss! You're so generous, boss—you're the most handsome man I've ever laid eyes on!"
Liu Muye raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like what you were just saying."
"I was just blind and didn't recognize a true VIP. Look at this foul mouth of mine." The driver gave himself two light slaps across the face, then flashed a flattering, ingratiating smile. "Boss, please don't take it to heart."
"Do I look like I have the time to get angry with you?"
"Right, right, right. You're broad-minded, boss, please don't lower yourself to my level..."
A smirk tugged at the corner of Liu Muye's lips. Amidst the driver's profuse apologies, he turned and strolled toward Silia Business School.
Silia Royal Business School. Liu Muye hadn't spent much ink describing this academy in the novel, but to highlight the male lead's elite status, it had been designed as a top-tier international business institution.
Right now, standing before the school gates, Liu Muye found himself staring in sheer bewilderment at the entrance. It was as grand, majestic, and imposing as a triumphal arch, every stone pillar meticulously carved, the gateway adorned with magnificent painted beams.
Is this really the school from my novel?
It's even more luxurious than I imagined...
As Liu Muye muttered internally, a sudden thought struck him, and his eyes lit up. He lowered his voice and whispered to himself, "I'm the son of the chairman of the board. Doesn't that mean this luxurious school basically belongs to my family?"
With that realization, Liu Muye strutted with even greater arrogance, marching into the school grounds with the swaggering, unyielding gait of a Stephen Chow movie character.
The security guard at the front gate even saluted him respectfully: "Good morning, Young Master!"
"Mmh~"
Liu Muye let out a casual hum, nose in the air, and kept walking.
As a result, because he wasn't watching where he was going, his foot caught on something and he tripped hard.
"Who the hell leaves their stuff lying around?!"
Just as Liu Muye, having taken a classic face-plant into the dirt, was about to blow his top, a gentle female voice sounded beside his ear.
"I'm so sorry, classmate. My luggage tripped you up. Are you alright? Do you need me to take you to the infirmary to get checked out?"
A young woman helped him to his feet. He was just about to wave it off and say it was fine, but when he turned his head, he caught sight of the heart-shaped tear mole sitting just beneath the girl's left eye.
Liu Muye's pupils contracted violently, and the name slipped past his lips before he could stop it: "Han Juyou!"
"Huh? Do you know me?"
The young girl turned her head and looked straight at Liu Muye...