Dressed As a Cannon Fodder For the Rich and Powerful

TL: Hua

Butler Cheng kept his bent posture and remained motionless; his voice was completely different from before, “I’ve investigated it; he’s clean.”

Seeing that Third Master Xun was silent, he added, “The old lady has also seen him, and she’s quite satisfied. Third Master, why don’t you look at his appearance first? It’s similar to your request.”

Xun Qian lowered his eyes; his long eyelashes pressed against the delicate white porcelain skin like a small fan, and the corners of his thin, bloodless mouth pressed down a bit. It seemed he really felt disgusted and unhappy.

“Clang—” Before Xun Qian could speak, the figure on the bed suddenly moved and then quickly rolled down.

This bed is not only big but also high, and the fall was strong enough to completely break the effect of the drug on Qi Xiaoyu’s body.

Qi Xiaoyu put his hands on the ground and struggled to get up with his stiff limbs. The hard woolen carpet pricked his torn palm and caused him some pain.

But he didn’t care about this at all. After getting up, he quickly tidied up his shirt that was tugged out of his belt, straightened the wrinkled jacket, then stood up respectfully and said in a humble manner, “Hello, Third Master. My name is Qi Xiaoyu. You can call me Xiaoyu in the future.”

Xun Qian and Butler Cheng didn’t speak. The moonlight hit the boy’s body, casting a gentle halo.

From the moment he watched “Qi Xiaoyu’s miserable life” to the time when Xun Qian came in, Qi Xiaoyu has made his current life plan very quickly and decisively: Given that he has a huge IOU in Xun Qian’s hand, and he even married Xun Qian, as well as the fact that the Xun family was one of the local wealthy families in the book, and Xun Qian has the ability to cover the sky with one hand, before the protagonist appeared, he had to clamp his tail and behave well. He had to coax this Mr. Xun, trying his best to hug his thighs, save money, pay off debts, and try to get the IOU in hand as soon as possible. It would be even better if he could borrow the resources of the Xun family to develop his own business.

Then, when the plot timeline reaches the time when the protagonist shou appears, he must try his best to match the gong and shou together, retire, divorce the president after success, and rewrite the tragic ending of being locked up in an asylum!

And in order not to be thrown into the basement to sleep tonight, he must immediately behave well and make this Bodhisattva happy.

Ah, in short, with such a foolish original owner, the glorious days of his previous life are temporarily beyond imagination. Let’s just think of it as if he had returned to the days when he was an apprentice in a theater troupe.

Qi Xiaoyu lowered his head and said in a youthful voice, “Xiaoyu is ignorant and has soiled your quilt. Please forgive me. I hope I won’t disturb your rest.”

Butler Cheng almost wanted to let go of the wheelchair and applaud him. This sharp vision, this speed of reaction, and this understanding of the rules are really rare among young people. What’s more, that meekness and innocence that came from his bones and voice were perfectly controlled, making people only feel sympathy and not anger at him.

But Xun Qian is not an ordinary person.

Xun Qian sized him up. His eyes were as dark as a cold pool without any wave of emotion, and for a moment, the atmosphere was as cold as the moonlight.

Qi Xiaoyu couldn’t help thinking of the description of Xun Qian’s character in the book: “The shadow of childhood was like a heavy shackle that firmly bound Xun Qian, causing him to be deeply tormented at all times for twenty years, both physically and mentally… which led to the development of his temperamental, surly, and even cruel personality that was close to cold-blooded.”

In the original book, after the protagonist Shou appears, the two of them love and hurt each other and slowly melt the iceberg in Xun Qian’s heart, bringing him into the sun out of love and hatred and living a normal life.

Qi Xiaoyu fully understands this miraculous chemistry between people, so he doesn’t have the extravagant hope that he can make Xun Qian normal. He only hopes that he can survive without being sent to an asylum to eat cockroaches.

Every minute and every second of Xun Qian’s silence was extremely difficult. He obviously didn’t move, but he was able to control the atmosphere to be as delicate and fragile as his skin, and it would break when touched, making everyone around tremble with fear.

After a while, when the atmosphere was extremely low, he saw Xun Qian sneer and say slowly with a long, lazy voice, “It’s not easy to find someone who looks like the one in the painting.”

Butler Cheng and Qi Xiaoyu stood still with their heads hanging obediently, not speaking.

Butler Cheng has stayed at Xun’s house for decades, and he has never seen the person in the painting. He didn’t know who the Third Master was painting, but his mind was always unpredictable, so Butler Cheng didn’t bother to speculate too much to avoid making mistakes.

“There’s no need to change the bed.” Xun Qian’s voice was still so lazy, and then he waved his hand and said, “Go down.”

Butler Cheng took a look at Qi Xiaoyu, who was extremely well-behaved with a lowered head and eyes. Except for that yellow hair, which was a bit out of place, everything else seemed to be good, so he closed the door and went out gently.

Qi Xiaoyu lowered his head meekly. When he thought that this was his creditor and the person in charge of his fate, he was particularly capable of being humble.

After Butler Cheng went out, only the deep and shallow breathing of the two of them remained in the huge bedroom.

After a while, Xun Qian stretched out his hand.

Before he could speak, Qi Xiaoyu had already walked over and held up his hand—the hand was cold and unlike a living person—and said, “I’ll help you over.”

Xun Qian finally raised his eyes to look at Qi Xiaoyu one more time. His hand was on Qi Xiaoyu’s, and his body was leaning against the wheelchair. His unbuttoning black collar loosely rested on his fair chest, and his lazy appearance was as if he were leaning against a throne, towering over all beings. “Why agree to the wedding?”

There is no such plot in the original book, so it all depends on Qi Xiaoyu’s own actions.

He mulled over the words, and combined with the setting of the original book, although Xun Qian can cover the sky with one hand, he also had several business rivals in S City, one of whom was surnamed Mao. Qi Xiaoyu had once attached himself to the youngest son of the Mao family, and they had a brief affair. However, later, the youngest son of the Mao family broke off contact when he went abroad.

Qi Xiaoyu sucked in a breath. If Xun Qian thought he had any unclear relationship with the Mao family when he came here, that would have changed the ending very quickly. The more it changed, the worse he would be…

The original owner, this silly boy, has dug so many holes for him.

“I borrowed money from a loan shark and couldn’t pay it back.” After Qi Xiaoyu said this, he obviously felt that the pressure had been lowered again.

Immediately afterwards, he added, “Plus, I admire Third Master Xun very much, so I agreed. How many people would dream of being able to follow someone like you?”

Qi Xiaoyu naturally didn’t have this idea in his heart, but as soon as the nonsense came out of his mouth, it felt natural and sincere.

During those years when he was in the theater troupe, he came and went and met countless people from all walks of life. He was able to protect himself by advancing and retreating, plus relying on his mouth to deal with people.

A mocking smile curled up on the corner of Xun Qian’s mouth, “Admiring me? Admiring me for approaching death?”

Heh, this person is unmatched when it comes to bitterness and meanness. He even cursed himself so smoothly. Qi Xiaoyu rolled his eyes in his heart, but on the surface, he was still infatuated like a little movie fan.

“Of course I admire the third master for creating such a big family business at such a young age, and I admire the third master… for being so good-looking.” The last sentence even carried a hint of bashfulness and admiration for the beauty.

Xun Qian snorted lightly. No one knows if he believed these words or not.

Xun Qian’s legs were not completely damaged; his limbs were intact, but they were light and unable to exert any force, and all the weight fell on Qi Xiaoyu.

Although Xun Qian looked thin and slender, a man of about 1.8 meters weighed a lot, and he was pressing on Qi Xiaoyu, who had just recovered from the effects of the drug, which caused his legs to tremble.

Qi Xiaoyu was trembling just like that, and helped him onto the bed.

After Xun Qian lay down on the bed, he stretched out his hand again.

Qi Xiaoyu secretly wiped off his tired sweat. This time, he really doesn’t know what he wants.

Xun Qian didn’t speak; he just looked at him leisurely.

From the teasing in Xun Qian’s eyes, Qi Xiaoyu remembered that today is a “happy” day. Could it be that Xun Qian… wants to consummate?

Can Xun Qian cope with this sickly look?

And in the original book, didn’t Xun Qian hate him so much when he met him for the first time and wanted to throw himself into the basement? Does changing tonight’s plot make such a big difference?

Qi Xiaoyu frowned, and his mind was already running fast. During those years when he was in the theater troupe, there were quite a few people who wanted to do something with him, and he dealt with them one by one. But this one in front of him…

Qi Xiaoyu said in a considerate voice, “Third Master was tired from coming here just now. Xiaoyu can give you a squeeze on your legs.”

Xun Qian glanced at Qi Xiaoyu unhurriedly and sneered at him, as if he could see through Qi Xiaoyu’s mind at a glance. “Smoke.”

Now Qi Xiaoyu was a little embarrassed, but Xun Qian’s sneer made him feel as if he was favored by the other party.

“Please wait.”

Turning around, he went straight to the desk. Qi Xiaoyu had observed this bedroom when he just woke up, and he remembered all the furniture and decorations in his heart. Now that Xun Qian wanted cigarettes, he immediately went to the desk, brought the cigarette and lighter, and lit it up for him.

Xun Qian’s fingers are long and slender, and the joints are distinct under the cold white skin.

Xun Qian took a deep breath, lowered his eyes, did not spit out the smoke, and did not look at him. “Don’t come into my bedroom if you have nothing to do in the future.”

This is really unlike the treatment of newlyweds, but Qi Xiaoyu was relieved to know that he could leave at the end of the day, but on the surface he curled his lips, showing a reluctant attitude, saying, “Okay, then I’m leaving first; you have a good rest.”

When closing the door, Qi Xiaoyu raised his eyes and glanced inside. Xun Qian was half lying on the bed when a cloud of misty smoke gushed out of his mouth, like a fleeting flower blooming from his life.

****

The next morning, Xun Qian was sitting at the bedroom window smoking a cigarette, holding the cigarette in his left hand and resting his right hand on the window sill. From there, he looked down at the neatly trimmed lawn. Under the white parasol swinging in the wind, there was a wooden dining table and a wooden lounge chair.

Sitting on the lounge chair is a young man wearing gray silk pajamas with dark stripes. The young man is holding a fine porcelain teacup with a gold rim in his left hand, and his right hand is hanging on the armrest of the chair. In front of him were peanut butter toast and a plate of sliced fruit, as well as a small stereo.

Butler Cheng, “Mr. Qi got up at six in the morning, did a set of Tai Chi in the backyard, and exercised his throat for half an hour.”

Xun Qian coughed violently and only asked when he recovered, “Exercised his throat?”

“yes.”

After Butler Cheng finished speaking, he looked up and saw that Xun Qian had stopped talking, so he continued to report, “After that, he made breakfast in the kitchen by himself. He lives in the guest room on the second floor and went to the checkroom last night to pick out some clothes that fit him. He is allowed to enter and leave the common areas freely, and other precautions have been reminded to him.”

Xun Qian looked at the leisurely figure on the lawn from a distance and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. The faint sunlight in the morning shone through his eyelashes on his almost transparent white skin, as if it had shone into a piece of crystal stone.

On the lawn, Qi Xiaoyu picked up a fine porcelain gold-rimmed teacup and slowly took a sip… Monk fruit tea—yes, he filled a cup full of monk fruit tea with the black tea cup. This kind of tea is good for the throat.

Apart from the fact that the original owner of this body was too stupid and left him with a bunch of mess, he was very satisfied with this era. There is no war, no warlords, life is comfortable, technology is advanced, and the status of stars seems to be quite high. In the morning, he heard a few maids talking about celebrity gossip, saying that a popular female celebrity can earn hundreds of millions a year.

Qi Xiaoyu felt that a broad road appeared in front of his eyes. The original owner borrowed 2 million usury loans at that time, and the revolving interest quickly became 20 million. He thought about the original owner’s 800 yuan a month’s living expenses and 2,000 yuan appearance fee on the show and felt that this was really a huge sum of money that he couldn’t afford to pay back. But if a popular star can earn 100 million yuan a year, he thought he would be able to retrieve the IOU and repay the money in less than two years!

Qi Xiaoyu closed his eyes, relaxed, recalled the content about this era that he received last night, and let himself familiarize himself with the survival rules of this era one by one.

In the air is the strong aroma of monk fruit tea, the smell of soil and green grass, the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus sent far away by the autumn wind, and the smell of sunshine.

There is soothing and brisk violin music in his ears.

The Xun family’s front yard is well built, with rows of green lawns, laurel trees, and magnolia trees in a circle.

Qi Xiaoyu took a deep breath and already began to imagine life after paying back the money and getting divorced. He would buy a big villa just like this, decorate it as he likes, fill the villa with various collectibles, raise a big dog who waits for him to come home every day, then go on a trip and eat delicious food. When he wanted to go on stage, he would perform, and when he didn’t want to, he would sing to himself… Wow, that’s what life is all about.

Qi Xiaoyu was dreaming of a bright future when the cell phone in his pajama pocket suddenly rang.

The phone vibrated for almost a minute before he realized it. This thing wasn’t invented yet during his time.

By the time he took out his cell phone, according to the original owner’s memory, and was about to answer the call, the other party had already hung up.

Immediately afterwards, several voice messages popped up.

He turned on the screen and clicked on the voice. “Qi Xiaoyu” agent Yu Xiaosheng’s voice exploded in his ear like firecrackers, “Qi Xiaoyu, where have you been these last two days? Are you still attending the top 20 meeting this afternoon?”

“Do you still want to mix around in the entertainment circle?”

“You think you’re popular just because you have hundreds of live fans? How dare you fall in love on the show and even wash other people’s underwear? They’ll sell you out as soon as you turn around, do you know that?”

“Please grow a brain; do you think you can make a debut in the top ten? You’re about to be eliminated by the show! Hurry up and grab the last chance to show your face in front of the camera a few more times!”

“At 3:30 in the afternoon, roll to the eighteenth floor of the Boyue Hotel!”

After Qi Xiaoyu listened to this series of voices, before he had time to reply, the other party sent another 5-second voice, “Did you hear that?! If you don’t show up on time again today, get the hell out of here!”