After Being Forced to Take the Role of the Scumbag Protagonist - Chapter 4

Thanks to that bottle of stomach medicine, Wu Yunzhi fell asleep shortly after taking it and remained pain-free for the rest of the night.

Due to the nature of his previous life’s work, he was a habitual night owl, awake when the moon was up and dead to the world during the day. It took the butler three or four attempts to finally drag him out of bed the next morning.

The Xu family followed a rigid, traditional schedule. Meals and sleep were strictly timed. They didn’t care when Wu Yunzhi went to bed; they simply served the food at the appointed hour, ate as a family, and cleared the table. By the time Wu Yunzhi walked out of his room, rubbing his messy hair, all he saw was a table full of empty plates.

He stood there, stunned, blinking at the remnants of a breakfast he had missed.

As the eldest son, Xu Congrong had a streak of arrogance in his bones. He seemed remarkably indifferent to his future fiancé. Not only did he fail to ask about Wu Yunzhi’s stomach pain from the night before, but he also lectured him, telling him to wake up earlier next time so as not to keep his grandfather and parents waiting. It was, according to him, “proper etiquette.”

“…”

Wu Yunzhi was speechless for a moment. Is this the Qing Dynasty? he wondered. Who the hell sets a timer for breakfast as a test of moral character?

But in the Xu household, rules were everything.

The family had built its fortune as traveling merchants generations ago, but over time, the estate had been fractured by too many heirs and constant infighting. Since the patriarch’s father’s time, the family hadn’t produced a truly capable leader. While their assets were still vast, several of their companies were bleeding money. The foundations were shakier than they looked; the family felt like a grand skyscraper on the verge of collapse.

Ironically, the more precarious their situation became, the more they obsessed over “decorum.” They believed that strict rules would discipline the younger generation into becoming worthy successors.

The patriarch, Xu Jianghe, had nearly lost his life to his own illegitimate siblings when he was young. That trauma had not only left him with a cold heart but had also damaged his health. His son, Xu Tingshan, was a Beta, a disappointment to a man who believed only an Alpha should lead, but he was the only heir Jianghe had. Under a suffocating mix of extreme spoiling and harsh discipline, Tingshan had grown into a man who was cowardly yet rebellious, following the rules on the surface while constantly looking for ways to break them in secret.

When Tingshan fathered an Omega and a Beta, the patriarch was devastated. Despite his disappointment, his hatred for “bastards” meant he forbade Tingshan from having affairs. When he discovered Xu Ying, an illegitimate son and an Omega to boot. He had nearly beaten Tingshan to death. Since then, the family’s “moral standards” had become borderline tyrannical.

Because Xu Ying carried the double stigma of being both illegitimate and an Omega, the patriarch despised him. Yet, curiously, he demanded that Xu Ying follow every family rule to the letter.

He also feared that Wu Yunzhi, as an Alpha, might become power-hungry and reveal his “fangs” once the old man passed away. Thus, he intended to give his future grandson-in-law a “show of strength” to put him in his place.

This was why the old man had purposefully started breakfast without him. He wanted to see how Wu Yunzhi would react. He didn’t want a partner for his grandson; he wanted an obedient mascot.

Wu Yunzhi knew his place as the “pauper son-in-law” who couldn’t rub two pennies together. He had no right to challenge the Xu family. He simply sighed at his bad luck and turned to go back to his room.

The patriarch, who was waiting for an apology, froze mid-sip of his tea. He cut a sideways glance at Wu Yunzhi. Xu Tingshan, acting like a loyal eunuch, immediately called out:

“Yunzhi!” He snapped. “Where are your manners? Come and have tea with your grandfather.”

Wu Yunzhi thought to himself, What is this passive-aggressive, old-man nonsense? But on the surface, he put on a lazy smile. He leaned against the staircase railing, arms crossed, and let out a long yawn.

“No food left, so I’m going back for a nap.”

“Hmph.” The patriarch’s displeasure was instant. “The sun is high in the sky and you’re going back to sleep? And you call yourself an Alpha. Truly, you can tell you come from a common, small-time family. No discipline at all.”

Wu Yunzhi nearly asked, “Which feudal grave did you crawl out of?” but he swallowed the insult for the sake of his own safety. He maintained his nonchalant, “ruffian” attitude.

“True,” he said. “At least in my ‘small-time’ family, we can afford to eat whenever we want. Not like the great Xu family, where even a meal is so strictly rationed that if you’re a few minutes late, you might starve to death.”

Wu Yunzhi knew he was late, and he didn’t expect anyone to wait for him. He didn’t even care if they made him a new plate. He was fine with being hungry as a consequence of his own actions, but he hated being lectured. If someone poked him, he poked back.

His retort turned the patriarch’s face a sickly shade of green. The old man hadn’t expected a social climber to be so arrogant. He started to stand up, ready to roar, when a sharp clack echoed from the dining table.

Xu Ying, the last to leave the table, had accidentally dropped his soup spoon.

The tableware was a custom set Xu Tingshan had bought abroad for a fortune. It was a complete set, considered a work of art. Seeing a piece of it shattered, Tingshan rushed over—not out of concern for his son, but out of grief for the expensive spoon. He began berating Xu Ying immediately.

Suddenly, no one cared about Wu Yunzhi’s minor verbal offense. Everyone turned their fire on Xu Ying, calling him clumsy and useless. They barked for the maid to clean up as if Xu Ying hadn’t just broken a spoon but had committed a heinous crime.

Since Xu Ying had no allies and was “just” an Omega with zero inheritance rights, Tingshan and the others were merciless.

Throughout the scolding, Xu Ying never defended himself. He stood in the corner, head bowed, as if he were used to it, or simply didn’t care. In that moment, seeing him with his head down, Wu Yunzhi was reminded of when they were together. Xu Ying had always kept his head down back then, too.

But back then, he was usually looking down and smiling. Now, his lips were pressed thin, and he was utterly silent.

“…”

Wu Yunzhi decided the entire Xu family was mentally ill. Losing interest in the farce, he walked out the front door to find a quiet spot for a smoke.

He wasn’t a heavy smoker. Usually, he just held a cigarette without lighting it, but he felt strangely restless. He lit one up and, out of curiosity, googled the price of that tableware set.

The cigarette fell out of his mouth.

Staring at the string of zeros, he gasped. Rich people are truly insane. One set of dishes cost as much as a limited-edition sports car.

He looked back toward the kitchen and saw that the scolding was over. Xu Ying was walking toward his room. Sensing Wu Yunzhi’s gaze, Xu Ying’s footsteps faltered, but unlike the previous night, he didn’t look back. He kept walking.

Wu Yunzhi clicked his tongue and crushed the cigarette butt under his shoe.

He didn’t want to go back inside yet, so he borrowed a car from Xu Congrong, drove out for breakfast, and when he returned, he went straight to Xu Ying’s room.

Xu Ying clearly hadn’t eaten. He was slumped over his desk, clutching his stomach. He was a stubborn person; he was too proud to beg the family for a meal after being humiliated, but he wasn’t as carefree as Wu Yunzhi. He just sat there, warring with himself, starving.

Wu Yunzhi opened the door. Seeing that Xu Ying didn’t turn around, he leaned against the doorframe for a moment before walking over and placing a bag of food on the desk.

Xu Ying still didn’t look up. Wu Yunzhi knocked his knuckles against the wood.

“Hey,” he said. “I bought you some breakfast.”

Only then did Xu Ying look up. His face was deathly white, like a ghost’s. Unlike Wu Yunzhi, Xu Ying had suffered from neglect and abuse by his nannies as a child, which had left him with severe hypoglycemia. If he missed a single meal, he was liable to faint.

Seeing him so weak, Wu Yunzhi felt a pang of pity. Omegas really are fragile, he thought, like fine porcelain that breaks if you touch it too hard. His remaining conscience won out. He opened the bag and showed him the contents.

“Toast and soy milk.” He paused, then added pointedly, “It’s not poisoned.”

A treatment he never got when they were dating, yet here it was after the breakup.

“…” Xu Ying found it bitter and ironic. He looked deep into Wu Yunzhi’s eyes and asked hoarsely, “In what capacity are you giving me this?”

Wu Yunzhi thought for a second. “As… your brother’s future husband?”

The light in Xu Ying’s eyes died instantly. He looked away, his fists clenching under the table. He slumped back on his arms.

“Take it away. I’m not eating.”

“Seriously?” Wu Yunzhi pushed the bag closer. “You’re not going to eat?”

“No.” Xu Ying’s temper flared. “You’re the one who said once we break up, we shouldn’t pester each other. Isn’t that right, Brother?”

Wu Yunzhi hadn’t expected Xu Ying to use his own words against him. He wasn’t a masochist; he didn’t enjoy being snapped at. He threw his hands up, leaving the food on the table.

“Fine. Starve then. I guess I’m just playing the villain for nothing.”

He walked out, leaving the dizzy and exhausted Xu Ying behind. As the door swung shut, he saw Xu Ying sweep the breakfast bag into the trash can before burying his face in his arms again.

“Ungrateful brat,” Wu Yunzhi muttered, closing the door and walking away.

Once he was gone, the hunger became unbearable for Xu Ying. But the pain in his stomach was nothing compared to the sting of that phrase: “your brother’s future husband.” It felt like a thousand blades were hacking at his nerves. His ears rang, and the world started to go black.

The sun climbed higher, its light spilling across the floor and illuminating the paper breakfast bag in the trash.

The trash can was clean; the liner had just been changed. Inside, there was nothing but the sealed box containing the warm sandwich and the soy milk.

After a long silence, Xu Ying stood up. Slowly, inch by inch, he leaned over and pulled the paper bag out of the trash.

He stared at it for a long time. Then, he opened the carefully sealed box, took out the warm sandwich, and finally took a small, slow bite.

As if he couldn’t bear to finish it too quickly, he took a bite, then stopped. Another bite, then another long pause.

When he was finished, he carefully folded the empty paper bag and hid it in his cupboard. He washed the glass soy milk bottle until it sparkled and placed it inside, right next to the bag.

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