Chapter 3: Transmigration into the Book

On the hospital bed, President Li—normally handsome, wickedly charming, and radiating the domineering aura of a born king—now looked like a Psyduck clutching its head in thought.
Profound. Adorably stupid.
Assistant Huo questioned his life for a moment, then silently followed Li Haitian out.
Early that morning, Li Haitian paced the corridor outside his room two or three times, going from upstairs to downstairs and refusing to use the elevator, as if he had come out for a leisurely stroll.
Pah. Since when had he started talking like this?
Finally, after completing yet another circuit downstairs, Li Haitian stopped.
He looked at a young man in the distance and instantly transformed from a contemplative Psyduck into someone having a fit.
“He… that person is…!”
Damn. By the time Assistant Huo tried to block Li Haitian's view, it was already too late. He never would have imagined Su Qing would appear at this private hospital.
“President—President Li, wait!”
Li Haitian lunged forward. A shout came from the other side as Xiang Mingyuan stepped in front of Su Qing. “Don't you dare come over here and hurt Qing again!”
“Su Qing, it really is you?!” Li Haitian rubbed his hands together and kept trying to circle around Xiang Mingyuan to get closer to Su Qing.
Xiang Mingyuan finally snapped. “You lawless bastard!”
A heavy punch flew straight at the man's face.
Assistant Huo let out a yelp. He had only just caught up when Li Haitian's tall frame crashed into him. He hurriedly wrapped both arms around Li Haitian's waist to stop him from charging forward again. “President Li, calm down!”
The commotion had already attracted hospital staff, and nurses rushed between them.
Su Qing tugged Xiang Mingyuan back, his expression ugly. “Let's go.”
After landing that punch, even Xiang Mingyuan felt nervous. If Li Haitian pursued the matter, they could not possibly stand against Sea-Sky Group's power.
That was why, after Su Qing woke up, Xiang Mingyuan had not asked whether he wanted to report Li Haitian for unlawful imprisonment. Su Qing himself had not brought it up either.
–
The slender, tall figure staggered away, carrying disgust and fear for him.
The things Li Haitian had not been able to understand suddenly became clear.
Back in the hospital room, Li Haitian lowered the gauze he had been using to stop his nosebleed. He looked up, folded his arms, and gave Assistant Huo an unfathomable, meaningful look. “Special Assistant Huo, that wasn't very brotherly of you.”
He swung his long legs off the bed and, under Assistant Huo's shocked gaze, stripped off the hospital gown and changed into ordinary clothes.
His flawless inverted-triangle build and solid eight-pack abs were revealed in full.
Assistant Huo: This… this… where did this rough northeastern-man accent come from?
Li Haitian tossed the hospital gown over his shoulder, and the domineering-CEO aura switched back on. “You're the one who let Su Qing go, right? Chen Zhen—no, Huo Zhen. He's a weak patient. How could he possibly knock you unconscious with a plate?”
Huo Zhen's expression changed, and he glanced at the top of Li Haitian's head.
Li Haitian still had that ridiculous bandage wrapped around the injury the donkey had kicked into his skull.
“Hmph.” Seeing Huo Zhen refuse to speak, Li Haitian understood.
“Special Assistant Huo, you had the nerve to do it but not the nerve to admit it?”
“Uh, I can expl—”
“You did very well.”
“Huh?”
Huo Zhen looked up blankly and saw Li Haitian irritably pinch the bridge of his brow. “I'll give you a bonus later. Right now, we need to find Su Qing first.”
He had to explain everything to him.
Huo Zhen's expression instantly became indescribable.
Had his boss changed his nature or not?
“President Li, aren't you going to see Miss Su?”
–
Once they were out of the hospital and no one followed them, both Su Qing and Xiang Mingyuan let out relieved breaths.
Su Qing, however, remained cautious.
This really was nothing like Li Haitian's usual behavior. After suffering a loss at their hands, he had not immediately sent bodyguards to drag them back.
“Qing, I think he might still… still keep bothering you. What are you going to do?”
Su Qing set his doubts aside and gave the anxious Xiang Mingyuan a reassuring smile. “I know what I'm doing. Don't worry.”
“Then talk properly with Su Xi. At least…” Xiang Mingyuan did not finish, but Su Qing understood.
“I will…” Use whatever could be used to protect himself. After all, there was no one he could rely on.
Su Qing covered his lips and murmured the words.
For now, Su Xi was still a useful shield. In front of her, Li Haitian would not dare do much to him.
Seeing Su Qing deep in thought, Xiang Mingyuan relaxed a little.
Su Qing had always lived too passively, which made him seem naive and foolish. Now that he was finally willing to use his brain, his intelligence would not disgrace his former status as a political science and law student.
After Xiang Mingyuan dropped him off in an old residential district in western River City, he received a call from his academic adviser.
As a miserable graduate student, he existed only to be ordered around by his adviser and temporarily possessed no autonomy over his own life.
Su Qing refused his insistence on escorting him all the way home. Life was not easy for anyone trying to make it out in the world.
Besides, he did not want to go back yet.
The place he currently lived in was an apartment arranged by the company, and he was still sharing it with someone else.
That roommate had a rather uninhibited lifestyle and was also a gossip. They truly did not get along.
The thought of having to deal with him made Su Qing's head ache. He wandered outside alone and, without realizing it, arrived in front of a small courtyard house.
When he and Su Xi had first come to River City seven years ago, they had stayed here for a long time.
His late grandmother had been an old friend of the owner and had specifically asked him to look after them.
The owner lived alone and truly treated them like his own grandchildren.
Who would have thought Su Xi had secretly set her sights on this little courtyard house?
Returning to an old place only to find everything changed, Su Qing had originally not wanted to bother the sharp-tongued but softhearted old man again.
Yet the moment he turned around, there stood Old Liu with a sour expression, looking at him as if every feature on Su Qing's face offended him. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he casually carried a small bottle of vinegar.
“Grandpa… Liu.”
“Hmph!” Old Liu gave a loud snort of displeasure and automatically put on a stern face.
But when he saw the guilt and self-reproach in Su Qing's eyes, as well as the pale, haggard face of someone who had walked all morning, he ultimately could not bring himself to lose his temper.
The front gate slammed open with a bang. The old man strode inside, then immediately stormed back out irritably. “Are you coming in to make dumplings for me or not? I bought this bottle of vinegar specifically to eat with dumplings!”
Su Qing hurried after him.
Old Liu truly could not stay angry at him.
If the boy had learned even a fraction of his sister's smoothness and shrewdness, he would never have ended up… Forget it!
She was not his real sister anyway.
The moment Su Qing entered, he headed straight for the kitchen and prepared to cook. The old man had taken care of him a great deal in the past; making him a meal was the least he could do.
“Why are you rushing around like your pants are on fire? Don't make people think I'm exploiting a sick man. Go back to your room and rest. Can't you see it's still early?”
Old Liu had practiced traditional Chinese medicine for decades and had long since noticed how weak Su Qing had been these past few days. He had no idea what the boy had suffered outside. Sigh.
“Never know how to come back and visit. Do you still have this old man in your eyes? Think you're famous now, some big star, so you can forget poor neighbors like us? Hmph!”
“…” Su Qing said, “Grandpa Liu, I don't think I'm very famous…”
The old man's eyes widened. “The girl next door talks about you, the big star, every single day!”
Su Qing knew it was probably because of the web drama that had recently begun airing. He was not in a hurry. It still needed time to gain momentum.
Seeing a cleaned old hen in the kitchen, he put it into a pot to stew before obediently returning to his room.
Old Liu muttered and grumbled the whole way there, then consciously stopped at the doorway.
Su Qing knew the old man's personality and had never taken his scolding to heart. When he saw that his room had been kept exactly as it was, he was so touched he almost fell apart.
Ever since he started working, he had always lived in places arranged by the company and only dared come back to see the old man during holidays.
He truly had not expected Old Liu to keep his room for him.
The room next door, where Su Xi used to live, was already locked.
By late morning, the sun was high. The courtyard house stayed warm in winter and cool in summer; outside, spring sunlight filled the air.
Green bamboo cast shadows beyond the window. Inside, the room was comfortable, and the rare peace was even more precious.
Su Qing, sleeping soundly, was awakened by the sound of an argument.
Was Grandpa Liu fighting with someone again?
“No treatment! No treatment! I already said I won't treat him. Go back wherever you came from!”
Usually, after spending so much time with the old man, Su Qing did not think about it much. But remembering the novel's settings, Old Liu really was supposed to be a famous miracle doctor.
Still, the old man had long since stopped treating people casually. Who had gone to such trouble to track him down and come here?
“You rotten old man, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! Damn it!”
The hotheaded young voice made Su Qing frown slightly.
Old Liu might lack many things, but a temper was not one of them. If these people had come begging for help yet still acted like this, they were even less likely to get what they wanted.
“Cheng!” Fortunately, someone sensible intervened. “How can you be rude to Miracle Doctor Liu? Hurry and apologize to the elder!”
The second male voice also sounded young, but clearly steadier and more sensible than the youth called Cheng. He pressed the other boy down to offer a solemn apology, then once again begged Old Liu to come out of retirement.
Old Liu's expression improved a little, but where stubbornness was concerned, he remained stubborn.
At that, the second youth's temper also began to fray. “People say physicians have benevolent hearts. We came all this way and observed every courtesy we should, yet you won't even let us through the door. Is this how the great Miracle Doctor Liu conducts himself?”
Su Qing sat on the bed by the window of the west wing. Through the old-fashioned screen, he could only make out a vague scene beyond the front gate.
Old Liu blocked the entrance. On the steps below stood two angry youths confronting him, both drenched in sweat from the sun and red in the face.
Behind them were several black cars. The courtyard wall blocked his view, so he could not tell how many more there were. Only the car in the middle was white.
Just as the two sides reached a stalemate and neither would yield, someone inside the white car spoke.
“Sheng, Cheng. Both of you, step back.”
“Brother!”
“Listen.”
The two light words immediately stripped the rebellious youths of their tempers. They obediently did as told.
Listening to that voice, Su Qing felt as though there were a screen between his ears and the speaker, just like the mesh before his eyes—everything hazy and ethereal.
“The two children from my family were rude, Miracle Doctor Liu. We were also too abrupt. It was wrong of us to come to your door without warning. Please forgive the two of them. They only…”
A soft sigh dispersed like smoke. “They are only worried about my health.”
For some reason, Su Qing heard in those words the calm acceptance of someone whose end was near, and melancholy rose in his own heart.
That made sense. If they had not been truly desperate, they would not have gone to so much trouble to find this place.
“Grandpa Liu, why not let them come in and try?” Su Qing called out across the courtyard and through the screen just as the voice from the white car fell silent.
One voice was like a clear spring; the other like a cold moon. At that moment, the two created a strange harmony.
Bamboo shadows swayed in the courtyard. Su Qing's voice was indescribably pleasant, crisp and clear like a stream trickling through a forest.
The voice of the person inside the white car, even beneath the noon sun, was like the distant cold moon of late autumn—aloof and far away.
Su Qing was not trying to be generous with someone else's kindness. He had simply seen the difficult position Old Liu was in.
On one hand, Old Liu truly was stubborn. At his age, if he said he had retired, then he had retired. Even the emperor himself could not make him change his mind.
On the other hand, he also understood the need to protect himself. The visitors were probably bringing him a difficult illness he could not cure, and he did not want trouble.
If they had been ordinary people, he could have stubbornly refused them entry without consequence. The problem was that this patient clearly had an extraordinary background.
If Old Liu kept resisting, who knew whether they might become angry and bring trouble down on him?
Old Liu was a clever man. After decades practicing medicine among all kinds of people, his eye for such things had long since been honed sharp.
But because of his pride, he could not bring himself to back down!
“Ahem, ahem.”
Hearing those deliberately fake coughs, Su Qing nearly laughed. Suppressing it, he continued, “They're begging so desperately for their elder brother. Why not honor their filial concern and do a good deed? That way, even if in the end you're willing but unable to help, no one can say you stood by and watched someone die.”
That last sentence finally eased Old Liu's greatest concern.
What worried him most was failing to save the patient and ending up covered in blame.
The two youths at the gate had not expected anyone else to be in the house, much less someone speaking on their behalf. They exchanged glances. Both were clever and naturally understood Su Qing's meaning.
But they could not make the decision themselves, so both lowered their eyes toward the car.
Author's Note: I just opened a new upcoming novel in my author column. Please bookmark it (shy) ↓
The Cannon-Fodder Substitute Who Looks Like a Celebrity Quits, *starry-eyed*
Synopsis:
Xu Wuyang happens to look exactly like superstar Qiao Ling.
The difference is that Qiao Ling comes from a wealthy family and entered the entertainment industry on the strength of a face beautiful enough to conquer an era, winning the love of the entire nation.
Xu Wuyang, meanwhile, has been a rebellious delinquent since childhood. Raised in a poor single-parent family, he is stubborn and not particularly likable.
The two people from completely different worlds become connected because an unscrupulous platform binds Xu Wuyang to Qiao Ling for publicity. Needing money for his younger sister's medical treatment, Xu Wuyang agrees to sign a contract and become an online celebrity.
Before his first livestream, Xu Wuyang falls asleep from exhaustion in the lounge and has an enormous dream.
In the dream he sees his entire future: harassed online by Qiao Ling's fans, treated as a substitute by Qiao Ling's pursuers, and left with an ending so miserable it could make anyone cry.
Xu Wuyang wakes with a “Holy shit!” and immediately packs his belongings and goes home. He refuses to play the contrast character anymore!
Half a month later, some of Qiao Ling's fans discover that the shameless clout-chaser Xu Wuyang has appeared again.
They sharpen their knives, ready to kick him out of the entertainment industry once more, only to discover:
In fields of golden rapeseed flowers, the young man's heavenly voice soars into the sky.
In a forest veiled in mist, his singing is like an elf's song—stunningly beautiful.
Xu Wuyang's voice strikes directly into every listener's heart. It makes scalps tingle while also giving countless netizens a sudden revelation.
Qiao Ling only has a face. What kind of human treasure is Xu Wuyang?!
With the same breathtaking beauty, Xu Wuyang can also sing brilliantly, excels in both character and studies, and worked his way from a small county all the way into the big city.
Qiao Ling's fans collectively defect. Since the two have the same face anyway, investing in Xu Wuyang cannot be a loss.
After returning home and switching to livestreaming on his own, Xu Wuyang looks at the smiling boy next door—his childhood sweetheart, an excellent student—and defects too.
Holy shit, isn't this the behind-the-scenes creator who will single-handedly build Qiao Ling into a superstar in the future?!
–
Qing Zhen: future world-class composer and lyricist, and the hidden head of the Qing family empire.
For now, he is still the good-tempered boy next door who warms Xu Wuyang's bed, cooks for him, and occasionally gets jealous.
He watched with his own eyes as Xu Wuyang marched into the great city without looking back and gradually fell into hell, while he himself was powerless to make him stay.
In the future, when the destitute Xu Wuyang ends up on the streets and is bullied by thugs, a man wearing a terrifying mask saves him.
That night Xu Wuyang is taken into an ancient residence, where his heavenly voice soothes the man's soul after years of drought.
Xu Wuyang's own voice turns hoarse like a nightingale crying blood, withering by dawn.
Xu Wuyang knows none of this. The young Qing Zhen wraps his arms around him from behind in aggrieved silence, just like any ordinary friend.
Then Xu Wuyang suddenly turns, leans close, and kisses his forehead. “Is this where you get the scar that makes you wear a mask in the future?”
Xu Wuyang sighs with a stern face. Ah, the Qing Zhen who becomes so powerful and famous in the future is actually too afraid to see him because his looks were damaged. That is just… far too good at making Xu Wuyang's heart soften!
Pairing: 1v1 HE
Beautiful and sweet-voiced little hedgehog bottom who is soft only in front of the top.
In bed, the top fucks the bottom until he cries out; out of bed, he is an obedient, devoted househusband top.
Note: The bottom awakens to the truth; the top is reborn.
Red heart, Shao, immortal, exchange, read, good