The World-Weary Villain's Growth Manual

[Jaded, cool guy VS sweet, dramatic girl]

Lu Shixu wakes up to a disastrous start: she’s transmigrated into a story about rival kingdoms as the frail, short-lived younger sister of the villain.

The bad news is that she’s suffering from the very chill that will kill her.

The worse news is that her parents died young, her villainous brother can’t be bothered with her, their family is dirt poor, and they can’t afford medicine.

Lu Shixu bursts into tears.

She grabs the villain’s sleeve just as he’s about to leave, crying so hard that her face is covered in snot and tears.

"Brother, don’t leave me all alone."

Her brother pauses, then pulls his sleeve free without a hint of regret, leaving her with a cold, indifferent silhouette.

Lu Shixu cries even louder.

Lu Shixu is terribly frail. She can’t lift a hand or carry anything heavy. A gust of wind knocks her over, a little rain makes her sick, and if she misses a meal, she faints.

To survive these turbulent times, she can only rely on her villainous brother.

So she uses every trick she can think of to win him over, determined to become the person closest to him.

The villain listens to all of Shixu’s requests without expression, then says coldly that she’s a pain.

And yet, their home keeps changing for the better.

Their thatched hut becomes a brick house. The barren fields are now full of crops, and the cellar is piled high with grain.

Lu Shixu gets to eat meat, wear new clothes, and raise a big yellow dog.

In the depths of winter, Shixu buries her head in a thick fur coat and half-closes her eyes in bliss.

She thinks that now her brother hasn’t been driven out of the village and has gradually earned the villagers’ respect and approval, he probably won’t end up like he did in her previous life, bearing a reputation for cruelty and taking his own life alone atop Yong Mountain.

*

Lu Shiwei was born cold-hearted and indifferent to life. Even his father’s death wasn’t enough to make him shed a single tear.

The villagers say he’s a cursed star who brings death to his family, and everyone avoids him.

He scoffs at them. What does it matter to him if they die?

Until one day, the little sister who had always treated him like a monster grabs his sleeve and begs him for help.

For some reason, Lu Shiwei’s heart gives a strange little flutter. It’s a feeling he’s never had before.

After recovering from her illness, Lu Shixu grows stranger and stranger.

She starts sticking close to him and telling him things no one else knows.

For example, there’s a salt mine in the mountains, pearls in the river, and a spring beside the barren fields...

And there will be torrential rain in the third month, a severe drought in the fifth, and snow and ice in the tenth, making travel impossible...

Lu Shiwei avoids every disaster, and the villagers are spared as well.

He goes from being a harbinger of disaster to the "bringer of good fortune" in their eyes.

[Extra Scene]

Later, the realm falls into chaos and warlords rise up.

Lu Shiwei flees with his sister, and the whole village follows them without question.

Lu Shixu watches as Lu Shiwei instinctively learns how to gather followers, seize territory, and eventually raise an army and contend for the realm.

Lu Shiwei says his sister deserves to be pampered, and the pressure is immense.

Lu Shixu: ...

Theme: Hard work brings prosperity.