CH 1

Genius Artist – Replacement of the White Moonlight for the Rich CEO

【Devoted Side Male Lead System binding, transferring character memories and plot summary… progress 85/100】

【Ding! Transfer complete. The story of《Genius Artist》has begun. Host, please play your role properly. Your character is key for the development of the plot. You can leave this world when the audience’s enjoyment surpasses 100%.】

【Role play system number 711, at your service!】

Lu Shijin opened his eyes. Unfamiliar memories poured into his mind like tidal waves, pounding against his brain and causing his temples to ache. His head only cleared after a long while.

There were two sets of memories in Lu Shijin’s mind. One belonged to himself. In the end, he was fired from his company and ordered by his boss to take all his belongings with him and to scram. On the way home, he was absent-minded and was hit by a speeding truck. His body was sent flying like a ragdoll for tens of meters—

He was probably completely dead.

As for the other set, based on the information that the system gave, it seemed to belong to a side character in《Genius Artist》who Lu Shijin would be playing as.

“Student, do you feel uncomfortable?”

The female teacher supervising them as they were doing their exams noticed that a student in the back seemed to be holding his head in pain, so she went over to the student and asked with concern.

Lu Shijin slowly lifted his head and smiled weakly at the teacher, “Sorry teacher, my head hurts a lot. I might not be able to continue with the exams.”

The features of this person were soft and bright, his skin fair. He seemed to have as much aggression as a soft, white bunny. His eyes were large and moist, meeting the teacher’s gaze full of sincerity. He completely seemed like a good student.

Especially the smile on his lips; it showed his struggle yet also his firm will. Although he was smiling, it made people feel like he was enduring unimaginable pain, making their hearts clench.

“But it’s the finals…” Although the teacher sympathized with this suffering student, she still kept her responsibilities as the supervisor in mind. She gently encouraged Lu Shijin, “Try to endure it if you can.”

Lu Shijin closed his eyes and massaged his temples, “Thank you teacher, but my head really hurts. Can I choose to retake the exam some other time?”

He slightly frowned. His delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed and showed his grievances naturally. Seeing this, the teacher’s heart completely softened.

“Okay then. You can hand in your exam at the front and then leave. Don’t disturb the other students.”

After handing his paper in and leaving the examination classroom, Lu Shijin exited the school building.

It was currently the time for final exams. All of the students had almost completed their courses and their classrooms were being used for exams, leaving the school campus empty and quiet.

“Your character is a model student, excellent in his studies as well as his character. Leaving the examination place will lower your grade. Do you know what the consequences are?”

The system’s cold voice suddenly appeared in Lu Shijin’s mind.

Lu Shijin was a reporter in his past life and interacted a lot with the written word. Naturally, he had read a lot of transmigration novels, so he quickly accepted the reality of him becoming a transmigrator.

Lu Shijin calmly said, “If I didn’t leave, then wouldn’t I have had to do that long test paper?”

The system’s voice held a bit of dislain, “You could’ve bought a prop card in the system shop to help you complete the exam. You don’t have to do it yourself.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“You didn’t ask.”

Very well, this is a system with character.

Lu Shijin well-temperedly continued asking, “Then can I see what props are in the system shop?”

“There’s no purpose. You don’t have any points that can be exchanged for props.”

“How do I get points?”

“There are two methods. Points are automatically rewarded when the plot progresses to a certain point. The other way is to exchange for them with audience enjoyment. Currently, the plot progress is 0 and the audience enjoyment is 0.”

Implying that he was so poor, he couldn’t even afford to look at the props.

Lu Shijin laughed. His transmigration seemed different from what he imagined. It would be fine if he didn’t have a golden finger, but since he also had a system that didn’t seem very approachable, his road ahead was probably going to be very hard.

“System, I have a few questions.”

“Ask.”

“The system and host are bound together, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then if the host dies, what will happen to the system?”

The system stuttered, “W-what do you what to do?”

“What do I want to do?” Lu Shijin stood at the largest man-made lake on campus. Looking at his reflection in the water, he smiled. His reflection mirrored that smile. “I don’t want to live.”

The system tried its best to conceal its panic, “Please calm down, the devoted side male lead system is already the simplest of all the systems. As long as you follow the plot, it’s very easy to complete your tasks. As long as you finish the final task, the Lord God will grant you a wish!”

Lu Shijin took two steps forward. The tips of his feet were already at the lake. A step further would bring him into the lake.

“But when other people play these kinds of games, they either immediately start screaming for help or breeze through the game. You didn’t give me any information, so how am I supposed to play? It’s easier to die.”

“Nonono! We can discuss this!”

As a role play system that was among the simpler kind, number 711 had many previous hosts, but none of them were like Lu Shijin who had immediately given up.

In its experience, every time the hosts heard that they could have a wish granted, they would diligently play their characters according to the plot and selflessly devote themselves to making the main character more eye-catching.

Something along the lines of ‘Even if the main character abuses me thousands upon thousands of times, I’ll still treat them like my first love.’

As a system, 711 also had its own thoughts.

It has seen what every single host has done to help the main lead. Even if they knew that it was a trap, they would still jump in.

Although it was sad and unfortunate, as a system, 711 didn’t have any choice other than to cooperate with its host to complete the tasks.

711 thought that Lu Shijin would be as submissive as its previous hosts; it didn’t expect that he would be so opinionated.

Lu Shijin stretched out a foot and tapped the surface of the water, sending ripples across his reflection. His reflected expression was a bit strange.

“We can discuss this?”

“Yes yes yes!”

“Then continue.”

“I didn’t finish speaking last time. It’s like this: although you can’t buy any props from the shop, this system can let you use a prop card from the shop for free. What do you think?”

Lu Shijin sat on the muddy ground and began taking off his shoes and socks, “Ten times.”

“Three!”

“Fifteen.”

“Five!”

“Accepted”

711: . . . Sobs, this is daylight robbery!

Lu Shijin slowly put a foot in the water, “Also, I didn’t appreciate your tone just now.”

711 was really afraid that he’d go seek his death and go into the deep water, “Change! I’ll change! If you don’t like my current tone, I can download a Lin Chi-Ling* voice pack, okay?”

(*A Taiwanese celebrity known for being kind and gentle)

“No need to go that far. Having some whiny female voice in my brain would be even more annoying.” Lu Shijin stretched his back, sighing. “If you’d changed your tone earlier, wouldn’t we not have to go through all this?”

711 laughed emptily, “Then host, can you proceed with the task now?”

Lu Shijin didn’t reach for a yard after taking an inch. He was quite satisfied with what the system had promised him.

But he still didn’t stand up and instead soaked his calves in the water.

Not only did the body that he was occupying have a nice face, he also had good-looking legs. They were straight, slender, and well-proportioned. With even slightly more or less muscle, his legs would appear too bulky or too skinny.

Lu Shijin moved his legs around in the water. Although it was the middle of winter, the lake wasn’t frozen. However, the bone-chilling cold enabled him to think with a lot more clarity.

《Genius Artist》was about an artistically gifted young man named Ruan Siheng. After he had exhausted his inspiration and was unable to draw, he remembered his original wish in art and regained his inspiration due to help from his family and friends. Finally, he became a famous artist.

Lu Shijin’s character was an insignificant yet important devoted side male lead.

The arts university he was currently at was the most famous one in the country. It was built near a beautiful mountain range and had a very elegant atmosphere. Every building on campus was artistically designed. The people who could attend this school were of two types.

One was the rich kind, and the other was the kind with talent and dreams.

The Lu Shijin of the story 《Genius Artist》belonged to the latter group.

Lu Shijin’s family circumstances were ordinary. For them to send him to study art, a field that burned money like paper, it was naturally thanks to someone else.

This person was Huo Qi. He was the eldest grandson of the main branch of the wealthy and influential Huo family. He was the standard love-struck CEO of these types of plots.

Huo Qi was Ruan Siheng’s highschool classmate. He began crushing on him back then.

But all Ruan Siheng cared about was his art.

In order to pursue his achievements in painting, Ruan Siheng went abroad to focus on art under the tutelage of a famous art family before finishing high school

In the process, he had left before Huo Qi could confess.

Ruan Siheng studied for eight years straight. Throughout this time, Huo Qi didn’t forget about him at all. One day, Huo Qi ran into Lu Shijin, who had just gotten into university.

Lu Shijin’s appearance was about five to six points similar to Ruan Siheng’s, especially when he was focused in front of the easel. He resembled the white moonlight in Huo Qi’s memories very much.

And since they both studied art, wasn’t it simply fate?

Huo Qi extended a contract to Lu Shijin, promising him that he would take care of all the expenses during university.

Having not yet experienced the real world, Lu Shijin was as innocent as a bunny and naively believed that Huo Qi actually liked him.

Never realizing that he had unknowingly become a stand-in for someone else.

“The host’s task is to step forth when the main character needs you in order to bring about the perfect ending. It really was lucky for the host to have bonded with a devoted side male lead system. According to a report I got, our difficulty is only at two stars. It would be super easy to complete the task. You can do it, host!”

Lu Shijin ignored 711’s attempt at being cute, “Lucky? If being a stand-in is so lucky, why don’t you do it?”

“The host really enjoys joking, I’m just a system.” A pitiful, weak, and innocent one TvT

With his beautiful peach blossom eyes and double eyelids, Lu Shijin looked into the distance without concern, “You said that finishing a task will grant me a wish. Can the wish be anything?”

From his words, 711 recognized that it seemed to have a chance and quickly tried to lure him. “Of course, no matter what your wish is, it will be granted. The host can even return to the real world if you wish!”

Lu Shijin grabbed a blade of grass and bit it in his mouth. The slightly bitter liquid numbed his taste buds. He had long forgotten what sweetness tasted like.

“Who said I wanted to go back?”

711 was stunned. Most of its previous hosts wished to return to the real world after completing their task. After all, the real world had their family, friends, and everything they were familiar with.

If Lu Shijin didn’t want to be reborn, then what did he want?

711 had a bad premonition, “Then . . . what do you want to do?”

The grass in Lu Shijin’s mouth swayed up and down, just like 711’s current mood.

Lu Shijin’s lips curved upward, “What I want . . . I don’t care about the enjoyment of others. I just want to enjoy myself.”

711 noticed that the angelic face of the host suddenly had a bone chilling smile on his lips, making it figuratively shiver.

It felt as though Lu Shijin was very likely to exchange for a bomb in the system shop in the next second, then go find Huo Qi to die together.

“Host, your phone’s ringing.” Although 711 was worried, it still didn’t forget to dutifully remind its host when it heard the phone ring.

Lu Shijin took out his phone from his pocket. The caller ID was ‘Secretary Hao’.

“Hello.”

“Mr. Lu, hello. Mr. Huo wants to see you tonight. There is half an hour before I arrive in front of your school, please prepare.”

Huo Qi never personally contacted Lu Shijin. If he wanted to see him, he would always instruct secretary Hao to do so.

So, other than secretary Hao, no one knew that there was a Lu Shijin beside Huo Qi.

After secretary Hao finished speaking, he didn’t hear a response from Lu Shijin, so he was a bit annoyed, “Mr. Lu, did you hear?”

Lu Shijin asked 711, “Must I see this oh-so-important-person?”

711 hurriedly reminded, “Host, you have to act according to the plot to finish your task. Huo Qi’s the main character. When he needs you, you must go.”

Lu Shijin laughed with ridicule, then said into the phone, “Okay.” Then, he hung up.

Secretary Hao thought that he hallucinated. Before, when this stand-in got his call and learnt that Huo Qi wanted to see him, he would always be jumping for joy.

But he seemed to have heard a cold sneer just now?

Lu Shijin put on his socks and shoes, then patted his pants as he stood up, picking up a pebble from the bank in the process.

Slightly leaning back, the pebble in his hand flew out, skipping across the water seven times before sinking.

711 was very supportive, “Awesome!”

Lu Shijin stretched his fingers, very satisfied with his score.

“Let’s go, convenience store*. Let’s go meet this Mr. Huo.”

*7-Eleven is a multinational chain of convenience stores and Lu Shijin is making fun of how the system’s number is 711.