Weren't You Supposed to Be a Background NPC?!

If you’re interested, little angels, please add my upcoming novel, A Guide to Growing Money Trees, to your reading list. The blurb is at the end. I truly appreciate your support. Blurb: Wu Qingmian woke up one day to discover that he was a cannon-fodder NPC in a full-dive xianxia game. According to the setting, he was once a heaven-blessed prodigy, but his spiritual energy had dried up and his spirits were low. The game’s protagonist, his own younger brother, would take his place: the proud young man, ground down and broken, would shoulder the family’s burdens, find enlightenment in the righteous path, raise his sword to the heavens, and become a legend of his age. Wu Qingmian: ... Grinding his teeth, Wu Qingmian went to clear his head in the garden, where he stumbled upon an unknown object. It seemed to be called a phone. It was small and thin, and it lit up. Most importantly, he could actually read the strange writing on it. He even saw the game’s developer... Wait a minute! Why did this guy look so much like his childhood friend and confidant? * The full-dive immortal adventure game Between the Firmament and the Earth launches to great fanfare: unprecedented freedom! Incredible realism! Delicious delicacies from land and sea! And tons of handsome men and beautiful women! The Federation goes wild, with everyone scrambling to get a spot in the game. The young protagonist makes his debut, and the whole internet erupts... Holy smokes, what a carefree young man!!! That night, the boy shoots to the top of the forum’s trending list. A masked swordsman, a hidden character, flashes his cold blade and takes down a mini-boss in an instant... Aaaah! We absolutely love mysterious, masked experts!!! That night, the swordsman’s post dominates the software’s front page. Players eagerly make their way through the story, until one day the usually bright-eyed protagonist looks troubled. The players pick up on it and rush over to show concern. The worried-looking boy tells them about his older brother, who is frail, sickly, and pessimistic. Seeing the boy so heartbroken, the players are devastated. In private, they condemn the young man they have never even met. Then, one day, they reach the story at the Qionglin Banquet, where a young man appears alongside the protagonist. Draped in a thick fur cloak, pale and gaunt, with a listless expression, he brings every player present to a standstill. This time, the young man doesn’t make it to the top of the forum. The players have already stormed the forum and crashed it completely. Before you read: 1. This is not a serious cultivation novel. It focuses on chivalry rather than immortality, and contains lots of scenes featuring players. If that’s not your thing, please steer clear. 2. One-on-one romance. The masked swordsman is the gong. The shou is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous; the gong is handsome, handsome, handsome, handsome. The shou has a bit of a harem-protagonist aura. He’s sickly at first, but very strong. 3. The author is letting loose. There’s no logic, and I’ll write whatever comes to mind, so please don’t mind. 4. Original work. Any similarities are coincidental. 5. Please add my upcoming novel, A Guide to Growing Money Trees, to your reading list. I’m begging you, let me get it off the ground! ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ Ye Yu is a wild money tree spirit, but someone chopped him down! And he was reborn as... a junior office worker... Ye Yu: ...Shouldn’t I have been reborn into a wealthy family?! No worries, there’s still a way. The money tree spirit’s guaranteed-success rule: money tree spirits instinctively attract the richest, most powerful person in the area, and can possess that person’s money tree. Ye Yu has done his research. The CEO on the top floor of this building, the most eligible bachelor in all of City A, is the person fate has chosen for him. He’ll sneak into the man’s dreams and build a rapport. Getting revenge for his miserable wage-slave life and for being chopped down will be a piece of cake! But after possessing the tree, Ye Yu recognizes that exceptionally handsome face and shakes his leaves, deep in thought. What do you do when your sugar daddy and your sworn enemy are the same person? The money tree holds up its leaves and thinks for a moment, then changes its plan. He’ll torment the man mercilessly until he can’t sleep at night, loses all his hair, and suffers terribly! After all, in the dream, Ye Yu is just a little tree. * Yan Sui has lived in darkness since birth. Love, care, support: none of these have ever been his. Then another dull, monotonous day passes, and in his pitch-black dream, a tender green color appears, like sunlight spilling in. A little tree shakes its full crown of leaves and points at him, demanding: “Manager Wu is taking the whole team to another company. Are you stupid? Why haven’t you done anything? Get up and take responsibility for my paycheck!” “I was tapping away at my keyboard with my head down, and my supervisor said I was slacking off. Go punish him for me!” Yan Sui listens quietly, his dark eyes giving nothing away. The next day, Manager Wu and Supervisor Liu are summoned for a meeting with the CEO’s assistant. Later, while making an inspection, Yan Sui catches sight of a pale, lovely profile in the distance. The brown hair looks soft and silky in the light, reminding him of a certain full crown of leaves. Supervisor Liu’s obsequious chatter fades into the background. The junior employee looks up at him, startled, mouth open, with bright eyes and pearly teeth. For some inexplicable reason, Yan Sui thinks of the little tree that pesters him every night. Would the little tree make that face too? So cute. Yan Sui finds himself looking at that employee more and more often. * The little tree in his dreams turns into a person, and its smug manner is completely different from its usual mildness. Yan Sui realizes the two of them seem to be working with different information. Ye Yu has no idea his secret identity has been exposed, and keeps making demands of him. “Remember to move me tomorrow morning. That spot gets too much sun!” Fine. Yan Sui has no intention of telling him, either. But the dreams are only a preview. One day at work, the dream comes true, and Ye Yu suddenly falls right into Yan Sui’s arms, looking utterly bewildered. Yan Sui simply holds Ye Yu tight and gives a soft laugh. Bonus scene: Later, Ye Yu asks Yan Sui, “Did I ever get on your nerves, pestering you every day?” Yan Sui strokes his soft hair. “No.” He has never told Ye Yu that his dreams have always been filled with thick, endless black fog. Until one day, a splash of tender green barged in, brimming with life. From then on, it became the only color in his dreams. Theme: Overcome your fate