After Being Forced to Take the Role of the Scumbag Protagonist - Chapter 7

Xu Ying slept until the sun was high in the sky the next day.

He wasn’t usually a heavy sleeper, but the alcohol had left him with a lingering lethargy. He didn’t float down from his room like a ghost until nearly eleven o’clock, driven by a gnawing hunger.

Today, the patriarch and Xu Tingshan’s wife were out. Without their “vulture-like” eyes watching his every move, Xu Ying ate like a frantic hamster, stuffing food into his mouth. Halfway through, he seemed to choke; he turned and retched everything back into the trash can.

Wu Yunzhi happened to be coming downstairs for water. He saw Xu Ying hunched over the bin, his eyes flickering with an unreadable emotion. He didn’t speak. Instead, he poured two glasses of water, left one warm glass on the table for Xu Ying, and walked away.

According to the schedule, he was supposed to accompany Xu Congrong to a bridal shop at two in the afternoon to try on formal wear. He took a short nap and prepared to drive Congrong over.

But Xu Congrong had either slept in or simply forgotten. Wu Yunzhi waited in the living room until four o’clock before Congrong finally descended the stairs, his face pale and drawn.

Despite knowing he had stood Wu Yunzhi up for two hours, Congrong’s “young master” temper remained unchanged. Instead of apologizing, he snapped at Wu Yunzhi:

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“…” Wu Yunzhi looked at the several missed calls on his own phone, then stood up. “Let’s go.”

He had no desire to argue with Xu Congrong over something so pointless.

Seeing that Wu Yunzhi wouldn’t take the bait, Congrong wanted to explode, but since Wu Yunzhi hadn’t actually done anything wrong, he took his frustration out on the bridal shop staff. He was so difficult that he eventually reduced one of the assistants to tears.

Wu Yunzhi couldn’t stand it. He stepped forward, his voice low and firm as he spoke to Congrong. “Don’t take your anger out on bystanders.” He paused, watching Congrong’s face redden with fury. “If you don’t want to try on clothes today, we can come back tomorrow.”

“No, we’re doing it today.”

Congrong was a man who grew more stubborn the more he was told “no.” He took pleasure in going against Wu Yunzhi’s suggestions. “I’m finding a suit today.”

“Then speak properly and pick one,” Wu Yunzhi frowned. “If you refuse to actually put the clothes on, how is anyone supposed to find a fit for you?”

“I’m paying them. It’s their job to satisfy my requirements.”

As Congrong spoke, his complexion worsened again. He waved his hand dismissively, gesturing for Wu Yunzhi to back off. “Retract your pheromones. I can smell them.”

Wu Yunzhi swore he wasn’t intentionally releasing anything. Even if an Omega were standing right in his face, they shouldn’t be able to smell a thing. He began to suspect Congrong was just making things up to be difficult.

The standoff continued: Congrong wouldn’t try on the clothes, but without trying them on, nothing fit. With the engagement date looming, the attire couldn’t be ignored. Eventually, Congrong reached a “compromise.”

He called Xu Ying and demanded he come to the shop to serve as his body double.

As fellow male Omegas, they were nearly identical in height and build, and their features were strikingly similar. Xu Ying was the perfect mannequin.

Between normal siblings, helping out because one felt unwell wouldn’t be a big deal. But Congrong’s tone was that of a master summoning a servant, and it made Wu Yunzhi deeply uncomfortable.

Xu Ying clearly didn’t want to be there. Yet, for some reason, he showed up anyway—expression sour, but present.

Wu Yunzhi sat in front of the vanity mirror, watching Xu Ying emerge in one suit after another. For a moment, his mind drifted.

If that car accident hadn’t happened… in the real world, maybe Xu Ying and I would have already had our wedding. We would have been a happy, legitimate couple.

What a pity…

Wu Yunzhi lowered his head, his long, dark lashes trembling slightly to hide the glint in his eyes. Even now, he couldn’t understand why Xu Ying’s subconscious had created a character like Xu Congrong. Why did he need this antagonist in his mental world?

Wu Yunzhi tightened his grip on his plastic water bottle. He couldn’t watch Xu Ying change anymore. He stood up and went to the back alley of the shop to smoke.

He wasn’t a heavy smoker, but the events of the last few days were starting to fray his nerves. Specifically, the thought of the upcoming engagement to Xu Congrong filled him with a restless, inexplicable irritation.

As he stood in a cloud of smoke, wondering if there was a way to jilt the wedding and still get the money, a pair of pale, delicate hands reached out and snatched the cigarette from his fingers.

Wu Yunzhi looked up. It was Xu Ying.

Xu Ying took a drag from the end Wu Yunzhi had just touched, but he wasn’t a smoker. The harsh smoke immediately hit his lungs, sending him into a coughing fit.

“Cough, cough…!”

“…If you can’t smoke, don’t try,” Wu Yunzhi muttered. He took the cigarette back, crushed it under his shoe, and tossed the butt into a nearby bin. “Go back inside. Your brother…”

“Xu Congrong left ages ago.”

Xu Ying leaned against the brick wall, arms crossed. His eyes were dark, devoid of the soft, drunken vulnerability of the night before. Now, he was all thorns. “Wu Yunzhi, for the sake of your ‘ex-boyfriend,’ I’m giving you a piece of advice: Don’t marry Xu Congrong.”

“Why?” Wu Yunzhi glanced at him. The white suit Xu Ying was wearing was a perfect fit; it made his skin look as pale and pure as fresh snow. “Do you hate your brother that much?”

“It’s not about hating him. If I hated him, I’d be happy to see him married to a scumbag like you. But I…”

“But what?” Wu Yunzhi cut him off. He took a few steps forward, pinning Xu Ying between his body and the wall. He tilted his head, a mocking brow raised. “If it’s not because of him… is it because of me?”

Looking at the Alpha’s handsome face so close to his own, Xu Ying’s legs nearly gave out. He had always been dangerously attracted to Wu Yunzhi’s looks, and being this close didn’t help. He pressed his hand against the wall to steady himself.

“It’s not for you either.” Xu Ying looked away, his eyes darting around as he tried to maintain his composure. “I’m just being a good person and giving you a warning.”

Seeing that Xu Ying was genuinely flustered, Wu Yunzhi let out a small chuckle. He decided not to tease the Omega any further and stepped back to leave.

“Thanks for the warning,” he said flatly. “But I don’t need it.”

He turned to walk away without hesitation. His indifference snapped Xu Ying’s self-control.

“Wu Yunzhi!”

Before they had met, Xu Ying had been gentle and soft-spoken. But Wu Yunzhi had a way of pushing him until he became someone else—someone sharp and desperate. He couldn’t play it cool anymore.

“You want to be with Xu Congrong for his money, right? But have you ever stopped to think? After you marry him, you won’t get a single cent from the Xu family!”

“…”

Xu Ying had shouted the words so loudly he was breathless. His chest heaved, and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. He stared intensely at the back of Wu Yunzhi’s head, terrified that his words had no impact. For the few seconds that Wu Yunzhi stood frozen, Xu Ying felt like his heart had stopped beating.

Wu Yunzhi didn’t turn around immediately.

Just as Xu Ying was about to let out a breath of pure despair and hang his head in defeat, Wu Yunzhi finally turned. He looked at Xu Ying with a calm, steady gaze.

“I’m listening,” Wu Yunzhi said.

Still caught in his own swirl of grievance and hurt, Xu Ying blinked, looking like a bewildered little squirrel. “…What?”

“Why won’t I get a single cent?” Wu Yunzhi crossed his arms. There was no panic in his eyes; instead, a faint, curious smile played on his lips.

“Tell me everything.”

This chapter strips away the last of the “social climber” facade to reveal the desperate, ugly reality underneath. Wu Yunzhi uses the truth as a weapon to drive Xu Ying away, while Xu Ying finds himself trapped in a moral nightmare, holding a secret that could save his pride but cost Wu Yunzhi his life.

Before Xu Ying could even process the strange, flickering amusement in Wu Yunzhi’s eyes, he gathered his resolve. The words spilled out of him like a waterfall, desperate and unfiltered.

“Because for someone like you, someone with no background, the Xu family will force you to sign a prenuptial agreement and perform a strict asset notarization before you ever see a marriage certificate!”

“And your education… you only graduated from high school. The patriarch isn’t going to stay in the dark forever. Once he finds out, there’s no way he’ll let you into the core of the company. At best, he’ll toss you into some dead-end, peripheral position just to keep you occupied.”

Xu Ying’s voice grew increasingly frantic toward the end. “They just want to use you for your… your genes. You’ll see after the wedding. They’ll find every excuse to claw back the money, the gifts, and the property Congrong gave you. They won’t let you take a single cent from this family!”

“Is that so?” Wu Yunzhi’s response was a flat, deadpan drawl. “I’m so scared. Am I being used?”

Stunned by his dismissive, almost mocking tone, Xu Ying froze. “Wu Yunzhi, you—”

“I don’t care if they give me money or not,” Wu Yunzhi interrupted, his voice turning cold as ice. “What matters is my father’s gambling debt. Someone has to pay it.”

He looked directly at Xu Ying. “Did you forget why I only have a high school diploma?”

His expression remained blank as he spoke. “It’s because the day before the national exams, debt collectors broke my arms and legs. I couldn’t even crawl to the testing hall the next morning.”

“Xu Ying, I am terrified of being poor. I refuse to let anyone trample on me again just because I’m broke.”

Wu Yunzhi stepped closer, hooking his fingers under Xu Ying’s chin. He tilted the Omega’s face up until they were so close their breaths mingled, a hair’s breadth away from a kiss.

“The patriarch is obsessed with the family’s ‘face.’ He nearly beat his own son to death just to preserve that reputation. Surely he wouldn’t want it known that his grandson-in-law is a gambler’s son drowning in debt, right?”

“You already know I’m a scumbag,” Wu Yunzhi whispered, a sharp edge to his smile. “They’re using me, and I’m using them. A scumbag for a family of snakes—isn’t that a perfect match?”

“…”

Listening to Wu Yunzhi’s self-destructive logic, Xu Ying’s eyes widened in horror.

He had spent all this time believing Wu Yunzhi had left him because he was bored or simply wanted a more luxurious life with Congrong. He never imagined that the real reason was a crushing debt.

If he stopped Wu Yunzhi from marrying Congrong now, would that mean the debt would go unpaid?

Looking into those dark, bottomless eyes, Xu Ying found a sudden, desperate surge of courage. He clenched his fists and blurted out, “How much… how much do you owe?”

Wu Yunzhi maintained his grip on the Omega’s chin, looking amused. “What, you want to pay it for me?”

Xu Ying didn’t flinch. He remained fixated on the question. “How much?”

“…Five million in total.”

The air left Xu Ying’s lungs instantly.

Five million. Even if he sold everything he owned, even if he sold himself, he couldn’t come up with that kind of money.

Seeing his reaction, Wu Yunzhi released his chin and stepped back, re-establishing a safe distance.

“The next debt collector is coming in a month,” he said, leaning back with a casual, lazy shrug. “He told me if I don’t have the money this time, he’s taking my hands. That’s why I have to marry Xu Congrong within thirty days. I need the Xu family to clear that debt for me.”

He crossed his arms, his smile returning—a hollow, mocking thing. “As long as they pay, I’ll cling to this family like a parasite until every cent is settled.”

“So, Xu Ying… stop trying to ‘help’ me.”

He emphasized the word “help” with a biting irony. His voice was low, sounding almost like a sigh that was quickly carried away by the wind. “You were right. I’m a scumbag. I’m not worth it. We’re over, so just go and live your own life.”

“…”

Xu Ying stood paralyzed, staring at Wu Yunzhi’s retreating back. He was beyond shocked, yet he hadn’t missed a single syllable.

Five million…

He gripped his phone until his knuckles turned white, thinking of the photos inside—the proof of Xu Congrong’s infidelity. He wasn’t rich like his brother; he had nothing to offer Wu Yunzhi.

If he showed him the photos, Wu Yunzhi might act on impulse. The engagement would be canceled, the wedding called off.

And if the wedding was called off… Wu Yunzhi wouldn’t be able to pay the debt. And then they would take his hands.

Pale and trembling, Xu Ying remained standing in the alley long after Wu Yunzhi had disappeared, unable to find a single word to say.

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