Thriving in a Torment-the-Protagonist Novel

Fang Yishi died.

Then he came back to life.

Only then did he realize he was just a smart boy in a tragic romance novel, and that he was deeply in love with the domineering CEO, Lin Tiansui.

CEO romance, tragedy edition: He runs, he chases, and neither can escape.

In his past life, Fang Yishi signed a contract to become Lin Tiansui's kept lover to pay for the exorbitant medical bills of his childhood friend. They had both grown up in an orphanage, and the gong treated him like a younger brother.

Lin Tiansui treated him as a substitute. But they never slept together.

Later, the CEO's first love returned from abroad, and Fang Yishi was put through hell.

Fang Yishi: It's fine. I can end this contract.

Then things got more and more dramatic. The CEO's first love needed a kidney transplant.

Lin Tiansui: "Give him one of your kidneys, and I'll marry you."

His childhood friend: "Brother, I want to live."

Any normal person would have firmly refused. But Fang Yishi didn't. His intelligence had been nerfed, and he kept orbiting Lin Tiansui. During the kidney transplant, one ridiculous melodramatic event after another took place.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back on the day his childhood friend had asked him to sell himself.

Fang Yishi: "Go ahead and sign. You're the one who needs the money, after all."

His childhood friend, eyes brimming with tears: "Didn't you say you thought of me as your little brother?"

Fang Yishi: "Childhood friends are like birds in the same forest. When disaster strikes, each flies off on its own."

When faced with the CEO's contract, Fang Yishi said, "I can't sign it."

The CEO: "You're abandoning your childhood friend?"

"Yes. He can't be helped."

"Hah. I thought you were different from everyone else, but it turns out you're just as vulgar."

Fang Yishi: "If you care about him so much, why don't you go do it yourself?"

After kicking the CEO to the curb and slapping his treacherous, two-timing childhood friend into next week, Fang Yishi's life started going swimmingly.

He had a bright future ahead of him, singing in bars and performing at hotels.

One day, Fang Yishi stood in for another unlucky person who had helped him countless times: his neighbor, an older girl who had been threatened into attending a banquet in his past life and died a horrific death. Wearing a red dress and using the name Yan Jiaojiao, he attended a... high-society banquet?

As he wove through the crowd, he saw things he'd never seen before, and then bumped into someone.

The heir apparent's deep-set eyes traveled over him. "What's your name?"

Fang Yishi's lips curled into a lovely smile. "If we meet again, I'll tell you."

He watched the other person walk away. (Damn it, this trope about successfully catching my attention!)

*

Later, aboard a ship, Fang Yishi saw the person he'd bumped into at the banquet again.

The other man walked up to him and raised an eyebrow. "Jiaojiao?"

Fang Yishi: "?"

He put on an innocent expression. "Are you talking to me?"

The other man gripped his chin, rubbing a thumb across his lips. "What do you think?"

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