Shu Ning shook his head, his ears buzzing.

Someone was talking next to him. Sometimes the voice sounded closer and sometimes it sounded farther away. He couldn’t hear very clearly. The sounds were vague, like waves rolling across the water.

The back of his head ached, and his temples were throbbing. Shu Ning held a hand to his head as voices around him slowly became more distinct.

“Shu Ning, exactly who pushed you?”

Shu Ning regained his senses, and his head finally became a lot more clear.

Looking around, he was in a spacious office surrounded by a few cubicle desks.

There were several traditional Chinese characters taped onto the white wall opposite of him, reading “Teach and educate the people, possess skill and moral integrity.”

Shu Ning took another peek at the nearest desk. There was a book titled Seventh Grade Literature and Language on it. It had a blue-green cover, and the corners were slightly wrinkled.

The person who asked the question was a woman in her forties. She had a head full of curly hair and deep smile lines. She stood next to the desk, one hand pressing against Seventh Grade Literature and Language. Her expression was very stern.

“Shu Ning?”

He was poked roughly in his lower back. Shu Ning turned his head and saw a tall and fat boy standing behind him. The chubby kid tried to hint at him by winking and jutted his face towards the right.

Following the chubby kid’s gesture, Shu Ning looked to the right.

A slender boy.

A huge glass window was inlaid in the wall behind him. The sunlight spilled in through the window and landed on the boy’s slightly frail-looking body. He was leaning against the desk, and his long legs were splayed. His left hand was stuffed in the pocket of his crumpled blue school uniform while his right hand was placed on the corner of a desk. He slightly tilted his head, revealing a face that looked as delicate as a fairy.

However, his bright yellow scene-style hair stole all the attention.

When he met Shu Ning’s gaze, the young man raised his eyebrows and curled the corners of his lips. His expression was disdainful and arrogant. His entire body seemed to be exuding a rebellious aura, as if to say, “So what if I hit you, what are you gonna do about it?”

Shu Ning blinked. Before he could even figure out what was going on, the teacher beside him harshly scolded, “Yin Mingzheng, watch your attitude!”

The name “Yin Mingzheng” struck Shu Ning’s head like a thunderbolt. It was as if a certain switch had been flipped, and a flood of memories poured into his head.

Yin Mingzheng.

Shu Ning.

School.

The Big Shot’s Sweetheart: Overbearing President’s Infatuation.

Instantly, countless scenes flitted across his eyes. Shu Ning’s head almost exploded.

Then, he remembered it all.

Shu Ning had a younger sister who was in junior high. She didn’t like to study. She only liked to read romance novels. As an older brother, Shu Ning couldn’t bear it anymore and confiscated her novels, one of which was The Big Shot’s Sweetheart: Overbearing President’s Infatuation. He was curious about what his sister had been reading, so he read this novel from beginning to end.

Then, he exploded with anger.

The book told of the love story between Jiang Yao, a young lady from a wealthy family, and Wei Ximing, the eldest young master of the Wei family. The story was about a quarrelsome but loving couple until about halfway into the book. Then, the melodrama started.

The Wei family accidentally discovered that Wei Ximing wasn’t actually the Wei family’s child.

It turned out that, more than ten years ago, Mrs. Wei was on her way home after worshiping the ancestors when her water broke, so she gave birth to a boy in a small nearby hospital. At that time, Wei Ximing’s mother had also given birth to a boy. Her husband was an alcoholic, so, in order for her son to survive and live a good life, Wei Ximing’s mother secretly switched her child with Mrs. Wei’s child.

The real young master of the Wei family who had been switched at birth was Yin Mingzheng.

Since then, the real young master of the Wei family was brought back to the Yin family. There was never enough to eat or enough to wear. He would be beaten by his alcoholic of a father at the slightest excuse. At a young age, he started stealing, got into trouble, and didn’t study well. He became a well-known good-for-nothing in the neighborhood. He dropped out of school before graduating middle school and worked part-time in internet cafes, drifting along with gangsters.

Later, the Wei family accidentally discovered the truth and brought Yin Mingzheng back, but they were dissatisfied with him in all respects.

Although Wei Ximing was a fake, he was elegant, noble, and knowledgeable, while Yin Mingzheng was vulgar and ignorant.

Wei Ximing spoke six languages, rode horseback, and played piano, but Yin Mingzheng knew nothing except video games.

Wei Ximing was handsome and well-spoken, while Yin Mingzheng had a head full of dyed yellow hair. Even though he was the real young master, no matter what he did, he did not look like one.

Every time, Yin Mingzheng would want to fight with Wei Ximing, to exclude Wei Ximing.

Wei Ximing silently took the 30 million severance fee that he received and left the Wei family. He spent everyday drinking alcohol in his large, 200-square-meter house that the Wei family had bought for him.

Throughout his miserable predicament, his friends encouraged him, cheered him up, and helped him deal with Yin Mingzheng. The heroine, Jiang Yao, stuck with him through it all, proving that their love was more solid than gold.

The hero and heroine were already so tragic, yet the villain, Yin Mingzheng, still would not let them go. He fell in love with Jiang Yao, and so she must marry him, whether it was through threats or promises.

So, for the male protagonist’s sake, the female protagonist, Jiang Yao, tearfully got together with Yin Mingzheng.

The male and female protagonists were forced to separate.

Wei Ximing’s birth mother, also Yin Mingzheng’s adoptive mother, knelt outside the villa for Wei Ximing’s sake. She asked Yin Mingzheng to stop torturing the male protagonist and return Jiang Yao to him, but Yin Mingzheng remained unmoved and let his adoptive mother, who had been very good to him, kneel the entire night. Eventually, she even passed out.

After the female protagonist left, the male protagonist was already extremely angry. Once he learned that his birth mother entered the hospital because of Yin Mingzheng, his anger finally reached a breaking point. He asked Yin Mingzheng to have a talk on the rooftop.

Eventually, the talk turned into a fight.

Jiang Yao ran out with tears in her eyes. She shook her head while crying, “Stop fighting! Don’t fight because of me! I’m begging you guys!”

Seeing that the two men were still fighting, Jiang Yao climbed onto the rooftop’s railing and mercifully cried, “Stop fighting, it’s all my fault! It’s all because of me that you guys are like this! Let me die!”

Wei Ximing and Yin Mingzheng hurriedly rushed towards her to pull her back. Once she was safe, the two started exchanging blows as they were pulling and struggling.

Yin Mingzheng was ruthless. He actually wanted to push Wei Ximing off the roof, but Wei Ximing pushed back and Yin Mingzheng fell off the roof instead, becoming a lump of paste on the pavement.

After Yin Mingzheng’s death, the hero and heroine were finally able to be together.

The Wei family, who were hesitant at first, also accepted the male protagonist and officially designated the male protagonist as the heir. Since then, the male and female protagonists lived happily ever after.

After reading the full novel, Shu Ning’s eyes twitched, and he immediately tore this unscrupulous romance novel into pieces.

What the hell!? Do junior high school girls read novels like this now?

Their moral compass must be broken.

Yin Mingzheng must’ve used up eight lifetimes of bad luck to have met these people!

A perfectly fine young master became a child from a poor family. He was beaten by an alcoholic father, and, although his adoptive mother was good to him out of guilt, whenever anything happened, she was useless. Every time, she was the one who needed to be protected by Yin Mingzheng.

Although there weren’t any detailed descriptions in the book, seeing how the adoptive mother was beaten to the point she switched her child with someone else’s, he could tell what kind of person the adoptive father was. Yin Mingzheng was bound to have a very difficult life in the future!

The family a person is born into can determine that person’s life. Growing up in that kind of environment, how was he supposed to learn six languages? Ride a horse and play piano? Learn speaking skills and rank at the top of his class?

You can forget about it!

He went back to his room and fell asleep with a belly full of anger. That night, he transmigrated into The Big Shot’s Sweetheart: Overbearing President’s Infatuation. He even became Yin Mingzheng’s neighbor.

He was just about to make friends with Yin Mingzheng when he unexpectedly slipped down the stairs and rolled all the way to the bottom, losing his memory.

For seven years, Shu Ning and other children had ridiculed the villain for his tattered clothes, for his father who had been to prison. They didn’t play with him, excluded him, and spread gossip about him behind his back.

The world of children was cruel and simple.

Shu Ning clearly remembered that he didn’t want to do those things, but everyone else did it. He would look out of place if he didn’t do it, so he didn’t play with the villain either, choosing to stay away from him and avoid him.

When the other children spread gossip about the villain, he also echoed a few words.

He should have been kind to the little villain, but he ended up being one of the people who bullied him. The little villain still ended up growing up in an environment of isolation, bullying, and exclusion.

Seventh grade…

They were already in middle school.

He had missed seven years!

Shu Ning felt very complicated and guilty.

He vaguely remembered that the little villain seemed to have dropped out of school in the first year of junior high. The reason seemed to be that he beat a classmate to the point of concussion, and the classmate’s parents insisted that he pay for medical expenses.

The little villain was beaten by his alcoholic father and was told to get lost and make some money to compensate.

The villain found a job in an Internet cafe and finally dropped out of school.

Is it possible that…?

“Shu Ning, tell me, who pushed you?” The chubby kid stretched out his hand and poked Shu Ning’s lower back again.

After figuring out the entire situation, Shu Ning touched the gauze on his head and said to the homeroom teacher, “Mrs. Li, I accidentally tripped down the steps by myself. No one pushed me.”

The little villain, who had been shaking his legs, suddenly stopped. He stared at Shu Ning in shock, seeming very surprised.

The homeroom teacher and the chubby kid were also stunned.

“Tripped by yourself?” Mrs. Li glanced back and forth between Shu Ning and the villain suspiciously, and said vigilantly, “Shu Ning, don’t be afraid. If someone is threatening you, just tell us. The school and your parents will help you.”

Her words were already implying that the little villain pushed Shu Ning.

Shu Ning shook his head, “I really fell down by myself.”

The chubby kid anxiously poked his back, “Don’t talk nonsense, it’s obviously Yin Mingzheng who pushed you.”

The little villain scoffed. He slightly raised the corner of his mouth, showing a mocking smile, but said nothing.

Shu Ning sighed in his heart. The truth was that the villain really didn’t push him, but rather he had accidentally fallen while they were pulling at each other.

The reason was that Shu Ning caught the villain smoking while he was on duty, so he reported the incident to the teacher. The teacher punished the villain. Since then, the villain hated Shu Ning and the two started having conflict.

Rumors that Shu Ning was gay suddenly spread at school. His seatmate, Zhang Chao, the chubby boy, said that it was the villain who spread the rumors. When Shu Ning heard this, thinking of the villain’s bad attitude, he immediately went and blocked the villain in the stairwell to question him.

The little villain ignored him, didn’t bother to explain, and pushed him away to leave.

Shu Ning reached out his hand to pull him. After the two struggled for a bit, Shu Ning accidentally fell down the stairs and stayed in the hospital for a few days.

“…and that’s all there is to it.”

Shu Ning explained the entire story. He frowned when he thought about how the little villain in the novel had to drop out of school because of this. Obviously, the villain didn’t do anything, but it was pinned onto the villain, and the villain didn’t explain himself either.

Because he had always been the “bad kid”, even if it clearly wasn’t his fault, it would still become his fault.

Who told him to have a criminal of a father, an alcoholic of a father?

Who told him to steal?

“Bad kid”, “thief”, and “dangerous juvenile”, all of these labels had been stuck to him from the very beginning. No matter what he said, he couldn’t tear them off.

Over time, he stopped explaining.

Shu Ning looked up at the little villain and found that the teenager had recovered his sloppy appearance. His undisciplined attitude and obstinate demeanor could make any parent or teacher angry.

But Shu Ning saw the fragility of a young man from his seemingly reckless and confrontational attitude.

He was protecting his last bit of self-esteem and his fragile heart with an indifferent attitude.