Jiang Hengnian wakes up in the body of a doomed side character. He suffers from an eye condition, his father and older brother don't care for him, and everyone considers him ill-omened. After pushing the Second Prince into the water at a banquet, he is locked away in the Jiang family's back courtyard, where he wastes away and dies.
When he arrives, he has just two minutes left before the story reaches its ending.
Desperate, Jiang Hengnian slips and falls into the water at a crucial moment. To stay alive, he hastily flees to Jiangnan.
The journey is rough, and by the time he arrives, his eyesight has worsened. He keeps knocking over his medicine bowl and breaking things. With only a few days left before he's bedridden and unable to fend for himself, he has no choice but to force himself out of bed and seek help from his cousin.
Snow swirls around him. His whole body is freezing, and unable to make out the person before him, he calls weakly, "Cousin."
Someone stops in front of him and lifts off his hood. After a long pause, the person asks, "It's bitterly cold. How did you find your way here, Cousin?"
Jiang Hengnian is taken to his cousin's residence.
His cousin is kind and gentle, and treats him wonderfully. He never has to worry about medicine or food, and every day his cousin dresses him up until he jingles with ornaments.
Jiang Hengnian is deeply grateful, calling him "Big Brother" every chance he gets.
Until one day, when his eyesight has improved, he eagerly goes to find his cousin, only to realize the voice is wrong, and everything else is wrong too!
...If this cousin isn't an impostor, then who has been giving him medicine and helping him get dressed every morning all these days?
"Pei Rongyuan, what are you doing here?"
Jiang Hengnian jolts. Pei Rongyuan is the ruthless villain in the book, destined for a tragic end.
A chilling yet familiar voice sounds. "What is it, Niannian? Don't you recognize your cousin anymore?"
*
Pei Rongyuan witnessed the entire time Jiang Hengnian deliberately fell into the water.
He rescued him, crossed paths with him again, and was mistaken for his cousin.
People in the capital say Jiang Hengnian is ill-omened, a little bringer of bad luck. As it happens, Pei Rongyuan is also nicknamed the Fiend.
Wouldn't they make perfect brothers?
Pei Rongyuan takes him home on a whim, but soon gets in too deep and becomes addicted to caring for him. He dries Jiang Hengnian's hair and changes his clothes with his own hands, and when needed, holds him in his arms and soothes him.
Then he runs into Jiang Rui, and the deception is about to be exposed.
Pei Rongyuan suppresses the darkness in his heart and gazes at Jiang Hengnian from afar. "Niannian, come back."
"If you want a big brother, I can be one."
*
When Jiang Hengnian first arrives at the residence, he is skin and bones, and his eyes are nearly burned blind. He practices walking every day, falling countless times.
After one fall leaves a cut on his arm, Jiang Hengnian discovers that the breakable porcelain in the room is gone, the corners of the table have been wrapped in soft cloth, and when he falls, he lands in a warm embrace.
Pei Rongyuan brings him home from a restaurant, and days of back-and-forth follow.
At last, watching Pei Rongyuan bow his head to put socks on him, Jiang Hengnian says through his tears, "Brother, don't do evil. I'll stay with you and live a good life."
Pei Rongyuan hides the ankle cuffs already fitted with padded lining and says gently, "All right."
Theme: Live well
