Be Tui Buliu’s Dog…

Hui Ji let out a cold laugh, recalling his previous life, one that was even worse than that of a pig or a dog. It seemed like fate had never favored him.

Hui Ji was born without a father. His mother raised him alone but couldn’t bear the burden and left him with a hastily written suicide note when he was just 10 years old. At such a young age, Hui Ji had to fend for himself, experiencing the cold and warmth of human relationships early on.

It wasn’t until he was in high school that an old lady traveled a long distance to find him. Only then did Hui Ji learn that he had a grandmother. Her support freed him from a life of poverty. He no longer had to split a penny into two, work two jobs by himself, or worry about being evicted for not paying rent. He finally got to experience a bit of family warmth like an ordinary child.

Those three years of high school were among the few happy times in Hui Ji’s life.

But the good times didn’t last. The year he got into Q University, his grandmother was diagnosed with acute heart failure. The high treatment costs quickly drained their savings. Hui Ji went from working part-time while studying to taking a break from school to work full-time, eventually juggling three jobs. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fill the financial hole.

“My body, I know it. Let’s go home and take it slow,” his grandmother wanted to be discharged. Hui Ji didn’t agree and instead persuaded, “The doctor said surgery could cure it.” Though the process was complicated, there were foreign doctors who could completely cure her.

“Surgery doesn’t guarantee a 100% success rate,” his grandmother shook her head, more stubborn than he imagined. “Besides, I’m old. I don’t want to go under the knife. I’d rather be discharged and accept conservative treatment.”

Hui Ji clenched his fists, overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness, hating this damned fate.

Calling it conservative treatment sounded nice, but to put it bluntly, it was just going home to wait for death. His grandmother wasn’t even 60 yet; how could she be left untreated so early?

Outwardly, Hui Ji agreed to let his grandmother be discharged for conservative treatment, but secretly, he worked three jobs to earn the medical fees. However, earning money was much harder than he imagined. Even though he worked desperately, his income still couldn’t cover the high surgery costs.

As time passed, the despair in Hui Ji’s heart deepened. Until one day, after visiting his grandmother in the hospital, he met a man claiming to be a talent scout who wanted to recruit him as a star. Hui Ji asked for a 100,000 yuan signing fee, and the man didn’t refuse. Hui Ji thought he had found a savior.

It wasn’t until he joined You You Entertainment that he realized it was a bloodless abyss. His manager, Tui Buliu, told him that the company did promise him a 100,000 yuan signing fee, but it would be paid back at 10,000 yuan per month. Moreover, he had to pay for music and dance training, as well as living expenses at the company. By the time Hui Ji realized it, it was too late; he was trapped in the company.

Hui Ji tried to leave multiple times, but the company had his grandmother’s address and visited her repeatedly. Hui Ji didn’t dare to take risks, so he buried all his resentment deep inside, hoping for the day he could rise to the top.

Fortunately, he had outstanding personal abilities. His music-loving mother had given him a high musical talent. Hui Ji squeezed into the variety show “JUST ME” from over a hundred trainees in the company.

At that time, he naively thought that as long as his singing and dancing skills were solid and his appearance was outstanding, he could debut smoothly. He didn’t expect that the debut spots had long been predetermined, and because he was too outstanding and stole the limelight from the predetermined person, Tui Buliu had someone break his right hand.

For the next ten years, Hui Ji couldn’t play a complete piano piece again. He failed to debut, and his grandmother’s surgery fees went down the drain. Hui Ji tirelessly searched for new opportunities. After a long time at the film set, he finally got an acting opportunity. He played the third male lead in an idol drama, and the pay just covered his grandmother’s surgery fees. But because he was a newcomer with no background, his filming schedule was constantly delayed. He often arrived early on set only to be pushed aside for various reasons, getting to film only late at night.

But none of that mattered to him as long as he got paid. After two months of early mornings and late nights, Hui Ji finally got his pay and went home.

“Grandma, I’m back!” At the moment he pushed open the door, a rare light appeared in Hui Ji’s eyes. However, that light quickly extinguished. In the dim, narrow rental room, his grandmother lay limp on the ground, clutching her phone, her body cold and lifeless.

Hui Ji stood there dumbfounded for a long time before coming to his senses and began preparing for his grandmother’s funeral. The ironic part was that on the day of his grandmother’s burial, the third male lead he played suddenly became a hit, trending on several hot searches. His Weibo account gained over a million followers, with countless people praising his godly looks and expressing their love for him from afar.

But none of that mattered to Hui Ji. No matter how far Hui Ji went or how high he climbed, even when he could overlook the entire entertainment industry, his heart remained cold. At the moment of the car accident, he surprisingly felt a sense of relief. At that moment, he could finally say goodbye to this filthy world.

He died, but not entirely. His soul floated in the air, seeing a bunch of information he had never seen before.

[The villain finally went offline, but honestly, it doesn’t feel satisfying.]
[I get it!! Mainly because this villain’s setup is too tragic. When you think about it, he didn’t really do anything bad, just got messed up for the protagonist’s satisfaction…]
[+1, if I were the villain, I’d be pissed off.]
[The author’s performance is still a bit unstable. The beginning was pretty satisfying, but when this villain came out, it all went downhill.]
[Reasonable suspicion that the author didn’t know how to continue the story and randomly pulled someone to be the villain.]

Author? Novel? Villain? Villain offline? Are they talking about him? So, he’s actually a villain in a novel? And all the pain and resentment he suffered was just a celebration for someone else’s face-slapping?

But why? Why does he have to suffer all this? Just because he’s not the so-called protagonist?

Hui Ji left the world with intense anger and resentment, not expecting to have another chance to open his eyes. He woke up in a dim alley, beating the person who broke his fingers in his past life to a pulp. Then, he met Tui Buliu…

The man looked down at him from above, his expression cold and dismissive—

“Be my dog, and I’ll make you a superstar.”

“Alright,” Hui Ji suppressed the gloom in his eyes, with a hint of mockery and sarcasm, “as long as you have the ability.”

This time, he would make everyone who hurt him pay. Since Tui Buliu had delivered himself to his doorstep, he would start with him.

…

“Then next…” Having received a promise, Tui Buliu released Hui Ji from his bindings and turned to the leader of the thugs. He used his foot to flip the person on the ground over, his voice low, “Please tell us who ordered you to beat up Hui Ji.”

The thug was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook his head, “No one ordered us—ah—!”

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly let out a scream—Tui Buliu’s shoe stomped heavily on his wound.

When the other was in too much pain to make a sound, Tui Buliu mercifully lifted his shoe, unhurriedly asking, “Still not talking?”

“No, no, no, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” The thug’s face turned pale from the pain, and he quickly rolled to the side, trembling as he spoke, “It was… someone called Brother Tao who instructed us. He gave me five thousand yuan to find someone to beat this kid up.”

Tui Buliu didn’t let him off, continuing to press, “Who is Brother Tao?”

“I don’t know,” seeing Tui Buliu’s face darken, the thug quickly shook his head, “I really don’t know, he just told us to call him Brother Tao… ah ah ah! I’ll talk, I’ll talk, he said he works at Lin’s Real Estate!!”

Tui Buliu: “Which department? What’s his full name?”

“I really don’t know, we were just doing a five thousand yuan job, how could we dare to ask so much,” not expecting these two to be so ruthless, the thug’s face turned pale from the pain, repeatedly begging for mercy, “I’ve told you everything I know, please let us go.”

Only then did Tui Buliu release his foot, turning to ask Hui Ji, “Do you know him?”

Xu Zhitang, Lin Zheng’s driver. Hui Ji had no interaction with this person. In his previous life, he was severely injured here, taking a week to barely recover enough to move normally, missing the third performance. It was after the third performance that he ran into Lin Zheng visiting Lin Su and learned that Lin Zheng had his driver hire people to attack him, just because he stole the spotlight from Lin Su’s favorite mentor. But that was based on talent to win the mentor’s favor; it was Lin Su who was not as skilled.

But this time, he wouldn’t sit back and take it.

“I don’t know him.” Hui Ji turned and left, not giving him another glance. After all, Tui Buliu and Lin Su were in cahoots; he didn’t need this person to put on a show here.

Tui Buliu questioned a few more people, only to be met with cries of pain, without gaining any useful information.

Seeing that nothing more could be learned, Tui Buliu didn’t linger, taking Hui Ji to the hospital. He had his assistant, Chi Luyang, accompany Hui Ji for a check-up, while he stood in the hospital corridor, organizing Hui Ji’s development plan in his mind.

“Mr. Tui, here to see your sister again?” a nurse suddenly approached.

See his sister? Tui Buliu was a bit surprised, but his face didn’t show any flaw. The nurse didn’t notice anything unusual, continuing, “Yesterday, Tui Yun was just talking about you, didn’t expect you’d come today.”

Only then did Tui Buliu remember that the original body’s sister had a heart problem and was also receiving treatment at this hospital. Tui Buliu nodded, his expression calm, “I promised to see her today.”

The nurse seemed uninterested in the entertainment industry, unaware of the storm Tui Buliu had stirred online. She nodded, her smile bright and warm, “Having a brother like you, Xiao Yun should feel much better.”

Tui Buliu chatted with her a bit more, successfully extracting basic information about Tui Yun. After the nurse left, Tui Buliu went out to buy a bouquet of flowers and a fruit basket, then went upstairs to see his so-called sister.

Tui Yun was 16 years old, suffering from congenital heart disease. After multiple episodes, she was now taking a break from school to receive inpatient treatment. The original body, though a scoundrel, treated his sister fairly well, even arranging a single room for her.

When Tui Buliu entered, the person on the bed froze for a moment, then hurriedly hid her phone under the covers. Kids this age all have their secrets, and Tui Buliu didn’t expose her little move. He placed the fruit basket and flowers on the table and picked up an apple to peel.

Only when Tui Yun took the apple did he clean the fruit knife and slowly speak, “How are you feeling?”

“Pre-pretty good.” The girl glanced at him and then lowered her eyes. Her thin wrist held the apple, but she didn’t put it in her mouth. The apple oxidized in the air, its surface turning mottled brown.

Later, Tui Buliu asked some simple questions, and the girl answered honestly. For ten minutes, the two exchanged questions and answers, more distant than strangers.

Just before Tui Buliu was about to leave, the person on the bed finally spoke, “May I ask, who are you…?”

Tui Buliu raised an eyebrow, responding with a question, “You don’t recognize me?”

Tui Yin: ???

Tui Yin: !!!

That attitude! That tone! Damn, is this person the original body’s brother?! Doesn’t that mean she’s been exposed on the spot?!

Help!! Why is she so unlucky, just reading a novel and ending up transmigrating into it?! Transmigrating is one thing, but why did she have the bad luck to become the sister of a cannon fodder?!

And why didn’t anyone tell her that the cannon fodder in the novel was such a handsome guy? And with such a strong aura, almost making it hard to look directly at him!

If the cannon fodder is this handsome, how handsome must the main character and the love interest be?

No, no, now’s not the time to be concerned about how handsome he is. The key is that she just exposed herself…

“Bro… I…” Tui Yin showed a flattering smile, thinking quickly, “I-I was just joking with you earlier, because you haven’t come to see me for so long! Hahaha! How was it, did I scare you? I scared myself too!”

Tui Yin finished her awkward laugh, anxiously waiting for his response. Please, don’t recognize her, she really doesn’t want to be eliminated again.

Tui Buliu stared at her for a few seconds, seemingly believing her explanation, quickly retracting his gaze, and calmly said, “It’s my fault, I’ll come to see you more often.”

“Mm-hmm.” Tui Yin nodded, showing a sweet smile. The two chatted about some irrelevant topics, and Tui Buliu finally got up to leave.

At this point, Tui Yin finally breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the next moment, Tui Buliu, who had reached the door, suddenly turned around and casually said, “By the way, the hydrangeas at home have bloomed, I’ll bring you some next time.”

Huh? Hydrangeas? Why did the topic suddenly shift to this?

“Su-sure.” Tui Yin nodded, bewildered. Tui Buliu turned to leave, but when he reached the door, he stopped again.

“But I just remembered,” the man turned slightly to look at her, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny, “we don’t have hydrangeas at home.”

Tui Yin’s hair stood on end. Did this brother notice something was off about her? Is that why he’s testing her?!

No, she absolutely can’t let him find out! Tui Buliu, being such a villain, usually did all sorts of bad things, only barely acting human in front of his sister. If he found out she wasn’t his sister, given Tui Buliu’s character, he might just end her.

Damn, what a hellish start…

No, Tui Yin, you need to calm down, you can do this! Tui Yin gripped the bedsheet tightly, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, then said with some guilt, “I must have remembered wrong, brother, you haven’t visited me recently, so you wouldn’t know I’ve been dizzy a lot, and I can’t remember many things clearly…”

Tui Buliu was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, his tone was back to normal, “It’s my fault, I’ll come to see you more often.”

“Brother, it’s not your fault,” Tui Yin lowered her head, speaking softly, “it’s me who’s not strong enough. If it weren’t for my illness, you wouldn’t have to work so hard…”

“Don’t think too much,” Tui Buliu walked to the bedside, gently patting her head, “I’ll take care of the surgery, call me if you need anything.”

“Mm, take care, brother.” Tui Yin waved with a smile, watching Tui Buliu leave. Only when she was alone in the room did she let out a long sigh of relief. But soon, her expression turned serious again.

The family of cannon fodder only has the fate of being cannon fodder. She can’t just sit back and wait for it to happen. The question now is…

Should she help her brother change his cannon fodder fate, or should she kick him aside and cling to the protagonist’s leg instead?