Ren Jiangqing discovers that he's the universally hated cannon-fodder character in a xianxia novel.
In the story, because he spoils his villainous disciple too much, he tortures his male lead disciple, Qi Chiyu, until he's completely broken. In the end, the villainous disciple sells him out to the demon clan, and he falls right into the hands of Qi Chiyu, who has turned demonic. He's imprisoned for years and tortured to death.
Fine. Now that he knows how things end, surely following the opposite plot will keep him alive.
There's just one problem: he's already been tormenting the male lead, Qi Chiyu, for a while, so he'll have to make it up to him twice over.
Ren Jiangqing takes great care of Qi Chiyu and guides the villainous disciple when appropriate. He thought he could finally rest easy, but the male lead he'd been looking after turns out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, deeply calculating and nothing like the lofty, honorable person he seems. The villainous disciple shows no signs of going astray, yet the male lead he dotes on is becoming rather abnormal.
The male lead, Qi Chiyu, acts more and more strangely, looking at him as if he can't wait to devour him whole. The villainous disciple is a clueless idiot who can't help at all. Ren Jiangqing feels that his death is near.
Seeing that the villainous disciple is being used by Qi Chiyu and is about to betray his master, Ren Jiangqing goes along with the plan and stages his own death, finally escaping from both troublesome disciples.
*
Qi Chiyu holds grudges and hates his sanctimonious master. He plans to repay every torment his master inflicted on him twofold.
His master favors his eldest disciple, so Qi Chiyu makes sure to turn master and disciple against each other.
His master flirts around, so Qi Chiyu ruins his reputation until no one dares go near him.
At last, Ren Jiangqing is alone, scorned by everyone and in a situation where all cry out for his death. Just as Qi Chiyu is feeling triumphant, Ren Jiangqing suddenly drops dead.
His master is all false sentiment and cold arrogance.
Even at death's door, he refuses to say a single kind word.
Five years later, the demon lord Qi Chiyu comes across someone who looks almost exactly like his master at a fortune-telling stall.
Ren Jiangqing, whose fake death succeeded, has disguised himself as a wandering fortune-teller and finally landed his first customer. He looks up and sees a face full of resentment. Sweating profusely but pretending to be calm, he says, "Sir, would you like your fortune told? No charge if it's wrong."
Qi Chiyu: "Please tell me where my heartless, faithless master is now."
Theme: Growing up happily.
