Unlike the original owner, who had been so anxious to transfer that he hadn't given himself much time to do anything besides forcibly improving his pain tolerance, Chen Yu had scored well enough on his admission tests to enter the most superior "1A" class right away.
There was just one such A-level section per grade, and hundreds of students had to vie for the top ten leading spots to qualify. Moreover, these places were subject to change based on the results of midterm and final exams, further decreasing the odds of success.
Nonetheless, the rewards were worth the effort.
For the sake of wooing the people likely to become its greatest donors, Donghua Academy had invested a great deal to create a separate building in the center of its campus wholly for this select division.
In addition to practical benefits like convenient access to the specialized business, medicine, and art schools, the exclusive aura emanating from the manicured garden and dividing wall that surrounded the structure, through which the plebs could only enviously peek at their role models, further gave its occupants a boost in confidence.
The interior had also been meticulously designed to optimize conditions for studying.
From the precisely crafted lighting to the custom-made ergonomic chairs and the floors that were thickly carpeted to prevent distracting noises, every detail had been accounted for, including relaxation facilities on each floor.
Led into such an extravagant setting, Chen Yu quietly laughed and scanned the so-called future leaders of the country.
En, this was why they claimed God was fair.
As if to make up for their presumably high IQs, this exalted group was remarkably average in appearance, their nondescript presence further muted by their school uniforms, which turned them into a faceless cluster of navy-blue vests, white shirts, and tan pants.
Stroking his own charming face, Chen Yu sympathetically shook his head. Oh, the fate of background boards...
This view finally convinced him that it was good that his status had been upgraded from anonymous Passerby D, no matter how sad the original owner's end had been. At least cannon fodders were guaranteed a flash of screen time and a personality of some sort, whereas soy sauce characters were stuck hanging around in the corners as scenery.
Naturally, the elite pair of protagonists that stood far above both of these lowly categories was also present in this room.
After all, they couldn't have engaged in their rivalry for the school's number one rank, which was what had sparked their romance in the plot, unless they'd already been eligible to be in 1A.
According to the original storyline, when Lei Xinzhen had suddenly seized the spotlight that the shou had previously monopolized, Kan Yawei had responded to his defeat as befitted a main lead, competing honorably rather than resorting to dirty tricks like a mere cannon fodder would have, then, during this back-and-forth, the two teenagers had inevitably gained an appreciation for each other.
Thanks to Chen Yu's bad taste in homewrecking, he hadn't bothered to interfere in their flirtation, nor had he shifted the timing of his transfer from the original owner's, so by this point, the couple had probably just celebrated their second month together.
Having deemed this honeymoon period the most interesting time to attack, Chen Yu had purposely chosen not to change the schedule. Instead, he'd concentrated on adjusting his character specs, because in his worldview, there was no such thing as an unbreakable relationship, only incompetent third parties.
Consequently, the first impression he made on his peers was far better than the original owner's had been.
Not only was he healthy enough to seem delicate rather than sickly, but also, he had scored exactly one point higher in his assessment exams than Lei Xinzhen's formerly record-breaking total, a feat that the instructor, Teacher Fu, was proudly advertising to the class.
In the odd blend of ambitious competition and idealism that was high school society, these two traits alone were enough to garner everyone's attention.
But would Chen Yu be so petty as to fight with kids purely for such meager benefits? Of course not.
No, his aim was to set the table for a full course of misery.
For starters, he savored the fulfillment he gained from witnessing his arrogant brother twist in discomfort, irritated by the fact that someone he'd never put in his eyes was pressing on his head yet unable to break his amiable public persona to vent it.
Ultimately, however, this display was only fit to be hors d'oeuvres.
Thus, when Lei Xinzhen remembered to control himself, quickly relaxing his clenched fists and pasting on an appropriately congratulatory expression, Chen Yu judged that the boy was ready to handle some more. It was time to begin preparing the appetizers.
Accordingly, once he felt that the teacher's gushing praises had awed the children enough, he introduced himself with a touch of shyness.
"Pleased to meet you, everyone. My name is Lei Xinxiu, and as you can see, Xinzhen is my brother. I hope we'll all have a fun time together from now on."
Although this was sufficient for a greeting, Chen Yu was betting that a person like Teacher Fu, whose proudest achievement in life clearly was being assigned to lead such a privileged class, wouldn't let him end there.
As expected, in the next second the lanky, middle-aged man eagerly urged, "Very good, Student Lei, share some more of your experiences, hm? Let's see...Why don't you tell us what motivated you to work hard so that you could join us here? Was it the reputation of our 1A that you heard about outside?"
Chen Yu didn't comply with this patent bid for compliments, preferring to smile angelically and dig a small pit.
"Well, Xinzhen has been in 1A for a few months now, and..."
Gratifiedly precluding that his former best student had brought in an even better one, Teacher Fu happily nodded, until Lei Xinxiu's next words erased any trace of joy from his bespectacled face.
"He's been complaining a bit about how bored he is. I figured I should come keep him company."
Next to him, Lei Xinzhen immediately opened his mouth to deny this ridiculous charge, aware that if he couldn't refute it, both the instructor and the students would be offended, but he couldn't find a plausible defense besides the unflattering truth, which was that he hadn't chatted about such trivial things with his brother for years.
Unfortunately, this unsettled reaction turned into a confirmation of guilt in the others' eyes, and, before he could collect his wits to clear the misunderstanding, Lei Xinxiu shifted everyone's focus again.
Tilting his chin down slightly, he blushed and confessed as if he hadn't detected the weird tension in the air, "And, and I saw someone, oh, I mean, I have someone, no...that's not right, there's someone special here that I wanted to p-pursue."
Having breathlessly rushed out all the words, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally wandered toward Kan Yawei, lingering just long enough that the perceptive people in the room, including the target himself, definitively identified whom he was referring to, then bashfully jerked his face away.
Kan Yawei was startled, his initial suspicion that Lei Xinxiu had exposed Xinzhen's private comments out of spite replaced by his assurance that this was simply a straightforward, inarticulate type of person, but he didn't reveal any improper emotion except for a hint of surprise.
As for the revelation that Xinzhen hadn't even informed his own brother about their relationship, he had been adamant that they maintain absolute secrecy, so Kan Yawei tried not to let the discovery make him overthink things too much. While he wasn't thrilled by how furtive they had to be, no matter what, he was in love with Xinzhen, he wouldn't be shaken by a few words.
Only, beneath his unaffected façade was a faint smugness that someone even more accomplished than his boyfriend was candidly courting him, along with a vague sense that this was natural, he deserved this kind of public adoration.
In contrast, under the barely suppressed infatuation bursting from his fervent eyes, Chen Yu didn't feel much at all.
The protagonist shou was indeed an attractive youth.
His slender figure was well-proportioned like a model's, while his curly, light brown hair and tender white cheeks with their cute dimples perfectly complemented each other to lend him an innocent air.
No doubt the boy would look as adorable as a hamster when he unpretentiously munched his food and as noble as a prince when he domineeringly stood up for himself.
It was a pity that in this world, Chen Yu had locked his sights on a silly madman, he didn't have much time to play with little boys.
Still, he'd have to put in a minimum amount of effort to convince everyone that he was an enamored suitor, and dealing with any pesky insults would be troublesome.
He had therefore enacted this drama to better situate his romantic chase of Kan Yawei; when everyone had been hurt, believing that they'd been disdained by Lei Xinzhen, Lei Xinxiu's passionate approach to their very own star had soothed their egos, assuring them that they had people so charming that even fellow boys were enchanted.
In short, he'd made his homosexuality easier to stand by setting it up as proof of their saving grace.
And it had worked, as evidenced by the generally supportive atmosphere and the students' lively teasing.
More importantly, the Teacher Fu who normally would have severely denounced puppy love the instant it was mentioned simply coughed and clapped him on his back, laughing it off as a joke and amiably walking him to his seat.
For the instructor, Chen Yu's topic change had been particularly timely, because he technically should have questioned Lei Xinzhen about what he'd been saying behind his back but didn't dare to berate him due to the brat's background.
With Lei Xinxiu's diversion, he'd managed to both avoid confronting Lei Xinzhen and preserve some face, so he of course found him more pleasing to the eye than that two-faced brother of his.
In this way, nearly everyone was quite satisfied with Chen Yu and tacitly approved of his suit.
On the side, however, stood a person who had been utterly infuriated by all of this.
Everything had happened too quickly for Lei Xinzhen to stop. In merely a few minutes, his image had been stained and his boyfriend propositioned, and yet, there wasn't anything he could do about it.
His sole option was to admit that Wei'er was dating him, but a lame, belated concession would only highlight how bold and sincere Lei Xinxiu's confession had been. That contrast might actually backfire and provoke these idiots into siding with Lei Xinxiu.
Forced to swallow this injustice for the time being, Lei Xinzhen sat down after being perfunctorily waved away by Teacher Fu and cast a probing stare towards the culprit.
Despite what he'd just experienced, he couldn't erase his conviction that Lei Xinxiu wasn't clever enough to manipulate this whole situation. The fool in his memories had never been half as capable, and no one in Lei Jia would have taught a fake second young master these strategies. Had it been nothing more than a series of coincidences?
Chen Yu ignored the beam boring a hole into the back of his head until a few others also noticed and exchanged knowing looks that scorned Lei Xinzhen for daring to speak and not daring to take responsibility, then he peered back at last and smiled, his eyes blatantly contemptuous.
While he planned to portray a naïve, slightly awkward character for the public, he didn't intend to hide from Lei Xinzhen the fact that he was targeting him.
For one thing, it was too late to guilt-trip the boy by pretending to be an unsophisticated, exploited victim. The protagonist gong had obviously adapted to taking advantage of his brother, he'd long removed any fraternal feelings that could torture his conscience.
For another, he felt it would be more fun to watch the brat helplessly struggle, positive that he was deliberately framing him yet unable to get anyone to believe him.
Besides, pulling aggro was so much easier than playing house. Take the degree of hatred he'd drawn from their first encounter, for example. At this rate, he would finish his task too soon to really appreciate the excitement.
Quite content with his haul for the day, Chen Yu threw his toys aside and turned to Teacher Fu's lecture, resolved to prolong the enjoyment by lying low.
His 'low' profile lasted until the moment he walked out of the school gates, when a glossy Rolls-Royce Sweptail slid to a halt in front of him, much to the awe of the other students. Even at a predominantly aristocratic school, a car worth millions was unusual, and this kind of model was particularly stunning.
Actually, this was an unanticipated development for Chen Yu as well.
As a condition of his enrollment at Donghua Academy, Chun'yu Dao had demanded that Lei Xinxiu devote several hours a day to his research, but he hadn't told Lei Xinxiu that someone would be sent over to ensure that he complied. For some reason, it appeared that the man didn't trust him to abide by the agreement.
In reality, he needn't have worried.
Although Chen Yu had never really exerted himself to woo anyone in a long-term manner before, he considered himself at least an armchair expert—he had, after all, taken part in hundreds of dog blood stories about the poor little flower melting the iceberg male lead with her pure, unyielding care and proximity—and he knew that sticking to the target was Seduction 101.
Therefore, there was no chance that Chen Yu would pass up an opportunity to approach his own block of ice.
Not that he was concerned about how long Chun'yu Dao was taking to warm up to him—how hard could it be to fake some benevolence for a while?
Then again, he shrugged as he obediently slung himself into the car, if that didn't work, flashing this body a bit should be enough for that cold fish to jump into the frying pan itself ah.
Anyhow, he reviewed, he should currently be in the 'drawing interest through a suddenly discovered aberrant innate talent that happened to be useful to the male lead' phase.
Based on his experience, this step required that he act completely absorbed in improving himself, so as soon as he arrived at the huge underground laboratory, he headed directly to his personal research room without stopping to greet Chun'yu Dao.
The man would probably come see him soon regardless, if his guess about the person who'd been spying on him throughout his classes was correct.
In the meantime, he had some analysis to do.
Having deduced most of the original owner's thought processes from the cursory descriptions of Lei Xinxiu's actions in the plot, he'd surreptitiously administered various regimens to his own body a few weeks ago as a trial, simultaneously tracking certain microRNA levels through blood tests.
In this way, despite the conspicuous lack of Geiger counters and dosimeters in the otherwise well-equipped laboratory, he had managed to confirm that rather than a relatively innocuous problem like sepsis, his organ failures had been caused by a severe degree of radiation sickness.
Scrutinizing the string of numbers, he raised his brows and hummed.
More interestingly, these figures proved that once he'd jumpstarted the decontamination, his body had automatically filtered out the radiation even after he'd cut off treatment.
It seemed this body had an inbred ability to neutralize radiation, which meant that Lei Xinxiu's deteriorating cycles of sickness had been caused not by an internal malfunction but by the continual reintroduction of corrupted tissue, no doubt the work of his good lover.
And the sole possible source of those polluted organs was Lei Xinzhen, since presumably, no one else would merit the sacrifice of Lei Jia's second young master.
But that brought into question why one of these identical twins could fix himself and the other couldn't, unless one of their bodies had been tampered with, or...they hadn't been twins to begin with.
Right as Chen Yu arrived at this intriguing conclusion, Chun'yu Dao entered the room, and he instinctively paused at the sight of the youth's sparkling, pitch-black eyes and maliciously smirking thin lips.
Truly, the more he observed 004, the more he realized how dangerous he was. In all likelihood, the boy was, at this very second, calculating schemes to trap his next prey.
Yet he couldn't bear to restrain such a prodigy.
In fact, he'd been so pleased by the boy's shocking abilities in the lab that even with his certainty that Lei Xinxiu couldn't have improved his health so quickly without infringing on his promise not to independently change the treatment plan, he hadn't revoked his permissions.
Nor had 004 disappointed him, the results showed that in this short time, he had made great progress in curing himself and was close to determining the truth.
For someone like Chun'yu Dao whose world revolved around research, this kind of genius was priceless, so much so that he was even hesitating on whether he should keep pursuing his experiment.
All of this, however, was predicated on Lei Xinxiu continuing to impress him, and the information in the report he'd just received about the boy's day at school had raised a red flag.
At the prolonged silence, Chen Yu curiously put his thoughts on hold and raised his head, his mouth fixed in a sneer before he recalled his plan of attack and instantly softened the curve into a gentle smile. Now that going OOC wasn't a concern, it was somewhat difficult to remember to wear his mask, he'd slipped up a few times already.
Nevertheless, he swiftly readjusted his temperament and gently shook the man's arm, calling, "Doctor?"
Roused from his contemplation, Chun'yu Dao frowned briefly upon registering the touch but didn't resist, more concerned with deciphering 004's expression. What was this little demon up to, why was he grinning at him that way?
Although the other's current demeanor was unquestionably lovely, so authentic that he himself nearly believed that the youth was really a harmless bun, he couldn't help finding such a deceptive look alarming, reflexively associating it with the various tricks the boy had pulled over the past few weeks.
It was thus only when his extended inactivity caused Lei Xinxiu's face to turn faintly impatient that he nodded, satisfied by the perfect harmony between that sarcastic expasperation and his elegant features, and coldly advised, "While you have indeed recuperated much of your strength, it isn't to the point that you can support studying, researching, and dating all at once. I'm sure you know which of those three you should prioritize."
Whereas at first glance, these words sounded as if the pervert's characteristic possessiveness had resurfaced, Chen Yu had ascertained from various points—such as the fact that the man hadn't taken advantage of the openings that he'd intentionally revealed to install camera surveillance on him—that his lover's soul hadn't reasserted itself.
Chun'yu Dao's behavior now probably resembled that of a scientist conserving a specimen more than anything else.
There should no longer be a problem with the man's soul strength, so Chen Yu couldn't figure out why he was still dormant. Perhaps he just needed some stimulation to wake up?
Since so far, only his declaration of his infatuation with Kan Yawei had had an impact, Chen Yu decided to see if a repeat performance would work.
But when he accordingly refused to agree to Chun'yu Dao's tacit command, tearfully biting his lip in his reluctance to part from his first love, he realized yet again that sadly, he and his lover were rarely on the same page.
Not to mention resonating, Chun'yu Dao didn't even try to bargain with him as he'd expected. Instead, he simply skipped over directly to seizing control, announcing, "Given your inability to manage the risk of overexertion, I'll take over your monitoring. From tomorrow on, I'll be stationed nearby at all times when you're at school and carry out checkups throughout the day, the relevant schedule for which will be sent over within the next hour."
Chen Yu internally facepalmed, this was not at all what he had been aiming for.
Because it would unavoidably hamper his plans if Chun'yu Dao was constantly calling him in for inspections, he hurried to helplessly plead, "No, Doctor, I don't want everyone to hear that I'm sick," muttering in his heart, 'And you're sicker.'
His coat tugged by the boy, Chun'yu Dao, who'd already started to leave after his unilateral proclamation, paused. Indeed, nothing good would come out of his subject being exposed to too many prying eyes, but the monitoring had to be done, so he calmly revised, "I'll be at the academy as a school doctor," then walked out.
Left alone, Chen Yu rested his chin on his hand, twirling a pen on his thumb and contemplating life. But upon consideration, that proposal wasn't too bad. He'd always been fond of infirmary plays.
All right, he decided, this young master was a filial child, he wouldn't talk back to his father.