Every Day the Villain Continues to Fail
[Quick Transmigration]
o0o
It was the time when the night was as dark as ink.
In his dreams, Jiang Ze faintly heard a delicate and weak sobbing. The sound was sharp and fine, seemingly belonging to a child, making his heart tighten involuntarily.
The Ning family’s villa was an old Western-style house with some years behind it.
By day, it appeared elegant and vintage, but at night, under the scattered shadows of the lights, it inevitably took on a somewhat eerie and sinister atmosphere.
Brass lanterns hung along the deep corridors. Whether it was just his imagination or not, the flickering flames seemed uncertain, as if they possessed a life of their own, trembling and swaying.
Especially the oil paintings on the walls, the beautiful woman, under the dim and shifting light, appeared to lower her gaze as if watching the mice scurrying through the hallway.
Jiang Ze furrowed his brows, reaching behind his waist to grip the firearm concealed beneath the hem of his shirt.
Following the faint and fragile sobbing, he arrived at Ning Yiwei’s study.
The door to the study was not fully closed, leaving a narrow gap of about a finger’s width. A soft, warm yellow light spilled through the crack, illuminating a small patch of the floor just outside.
His curiosity flared in an instant, quickening his heartbeat. What mistake had that doll-like young master made to warrant such a late-night reprimand from Ning Yiwei?
Ning Zhen was only sixteen years old, an age when a child’s self-esteem was at its peak.
To be scolded until he cried like this meant that Ning Yiwei was not as gentle as he appeared on the surface.
Hiding behind the door, Jiang Ze’s pupils instantly dilated as he took in the scene inside the study.
The boy, dressed in a white dress, had both hands bound by ropes hanging from the ceiling.
His long, dark brown ankle-length wig was askew due to his sobbing pleas, and his porcelain-pale cheeks were streaked with wet, glistening trails.
No one knew how long Ning Zhen had been tied up. His tears had dampened his eyelashes into clumps, and even his voice trembled as he begged "I'm sorry, Uncle. I know I was wrong. I'm sorry"
He cried so pitifully. His amber-colored eyes gleamed faintly, as if washed with water, and the corners of his eyes were stained with a striking red hue.
Jiang Ze noticed the boy’s restrained arms, where the sleeves had fallen, revealing layers of overlapping whip marks.
The elegant man in a robe pressed the handle of the whip against the boy’s sharp, pale chin, studying his delicate features with a seemingly gentle gaze before sighing. "Why is it that you just can’t seem to learn?"
Ning Zhen’s eyes widened, and his tears flowed even more fiercely. "I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please forgive me. I won’t dare again"
"Alright, cut!"
"This scene was fantastic"
As Yan Hui’s voice fell, the waiting crew members immediately stepped in to release Ruan Yao, who had been suspended in midair for quite some time.
The boy was as light as a feather, carrying a faint, elusive fragrance. The crew member who caught him in his arms froze for a second.
Ruan Yao’s face still had shimmering teardrops on it. As he steadied himself on the crew member’s shoulder, he broke into a bright smile. "Thank you"
The crew member's face flushed instantly, and he quickly and carefully set Ruan Yao down, his voice stiff. "I… uh, please be careful, the floor is dirty"
Ruan Yao wasn’t wearing any shoes. His snow-white feet stepped directly onto the deep-colored plush carpet, his curled pale pink toes resembling round pearls resting on a velvet cushion.
The crew member felt the air grow slightly warm and anxiously looked around. "I’ll get you a pair of slippers"
As the makeup artist arrived to take him away for a style change, Ruan Yao spoke to the system in his mind "I’ve realized that everyone in the production crew is really nice"
The system replied "Yesterday, you said Xie Tong was a mean and sharp-tongued nuisance"
Ruan Yao took off the dress. "Xie Tong is an exception"
As soon as the words fell, someone barged into the changing room.
Xie Tong furrowed his brows. "What are you hiding back there for?"
Ruan Yao, who had just been badmouthing him, felt guilty and clutched a dress to his chest. "I'm changing"
Xie Tong, that scoundrel, had no idea what was going through his mind. His mouth moved faster than his brain. "We're both men. Why are you so shy?"
He took a step forward. At nearly 1.9 meters tall, his presence was overwhelming when he approached. Instinctively, Ruan Yao took a step back.
Behind him were rows of clothing racks. As he retreated, the long, flowing ribbons hanging from the hem of a dress got tangled around his legs. The moment he moved, the ribbons tightened.
"Careful!" Xie Tong was startled and reached out to grab his hand.
In his panic, Ruan Yao completely forgot about the dress in his hands. Before Xie Tong could touch him, he frantically grabbed onto a nearby portable clothing rack instead.
The rack, which had a piece of white chiffon draped over it, tipped over the moment Ruan Yao clutched it. The chiffon fluttered in the air before finally landing over his head.
"You!" Xie Tong was about to scold him for being so clumsy again, but when he saw Ruan Yao's dazed expression, the words got stuck in his throat.
The dress that had been covering Ruan Yao's chest slipped to the ground, exposing his completely bare upper body.
To make costume changes easier during filming, he was only wearing a pair of shorts that reached his upper thighs.
His entire body was as fair as creamy jade, with faint pink hues at his joints, just looking at it made one want to pinch him hard.
The makeup-painted whip marks on his arms hadn't been removed yet, and against his snow-white skin, they stirred something in the heart.
And more than that…
Xie Tong's gaze couldn't help but linger on Ruan Yao's chest. Two soft, rosy little cherries, it almost looked like… they would taste delicious.
A completely bare body, yet draped with an utterly pure white chiffon veil.
Like a delicate, beautiful little bride.
Xie Tong had no idea where his thoughts wandered, but his cheeks turned an odd shade of red, making him look strange.
Ruan Yao warily eyed Xie Tong and pulled at the ribbons around his legs. "If you're not changing, then why did you come in here?"
At his questioning, Xie Tong stiffened and turned his face away. "Hmph, why do you care why I'm here? On the other hand, you're being so secretive about changing. Are you hiding something?"
Ruan Yao hurriedly reached for his casual clothes. "I'm not hiding anything"
Xie Tong, full of mischief, suddenly snatched Ruan Yao's clothes away with a serious expression. "If you're not hiding anything, then why are you acting so suspicious?"
He leaned in close, squinting as he studied the boy’s delicate features.
"Give me back my clothes!" Even Ruan Yao's ears were burning red with embarrassment.
But the difference in strength was too great, Xie Tong easily pinned him down, making him look even more like a helpless little creature struggling in vain.
"No can do. I need to check"
Xie Tong put on a stern face, pretending to be righteous.
Ruan Yao was too easily intimidated and fell for it instantly. His face turned pink with frustration, looking utterly wronged as Xie Tong took in every inch of his body. "I don’t even have anywhere to hide something…"
Really so foolish.
Just a little coaxing, and he fell for it, even exposing himself to him completely, without realizing how attractive he looked like this.
"There’s no need to look here, right?" Ruan Yao pitifully held onto his shorts, his fluffy hair sticking up in dejection.
Xie Tong coughed, at least managing not to turn into a beast on the spot. He tossed the clothes back to Ruan Yao while reprimanding "Hurry up and put your clothes on. What kind of appearance is this?"
Ruan Yao was furious.
It was clearly this bastard who wouldn’t let him change clothes first!
"Why were you inside for so long?" Yan Hui pushed open the door just in time to see Ruan Yao fixing his clothes, his slender, soft, pale waist flashing by.
His iron-gray eyes instantly darkened. The mixed-race man walked in with a sly smile. "Come out quickly, I have a task for you"
He grabbed Ruan Yao’s wrist, his fingers pressing against the fake whip marks, rubbing them indifferently.
Ruan Yao felt a ticklish sensation from his wrist but was too embarrassed to shake the man off. After all, Yan Hui was the one who had given him this opportunity, and making him angry didn’t seem like a good idea.
"What is it?" Xie Tong’s gaze turned unfriendly as he looked at where the two were touching. He was the first to speak, acting as though he had the final say over Ruan Yao.
Yan Hui raised an eyebrow thoughtfully at Xie Tong. "A live stream. The fans have been asking for a behind-the-scenes visit, so we might as well do a live stream to introduce everything"
He intimately wrapped an arm around Ruan Yao’s shoulders, his deep eyes narrowing with satisfaction. "I think Yao Yao is very suitable"
It was obviously a move to help Ruan Yao gain popularity before the movie’s release.
Yan Hui’s reputation as a flirtatious and wild figure in the entertainment industry was no secret. Seeing how he was practically doting on Ruan Yao unconditionally, it was hard not to overthink it.
Especially since, why did he get to call him so intimately?
Xie Tong had already been suspicious that Yan Hui had ulterior motives for Ruan Yao, but he couldn’t help but recall catching Ruan Yao kissing another man.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
To be tangled up with two men at the same time.
Xie Tong hadn’t even figured out what position he had to be angry from, but he had already puffed up like a furious pufferfish.
Yan Hui watched the angry pufferfish storm off with a smirk, then leaned closer to Ruan Yao’s ear and whispered "Yao Yao, don’t get too close to Xie Tong"
Ruan Yao already thought Xie Tong was awful, always picking on him, so he nodded gloomily. "I understand"
After all, the triple-gold award-winning actor looking down on someone like him, who was struggling for fame, was only natural.
"That Xie Tong has had plenty of scandals. Who knows if they’re true or not?" Yan Hui lifted a strand of Ruan Yao’s long hair that had fallen by his ear. "A man who never refuses anyone, better to stay away from him"
"I heard that last month, a female celebrity even confessed to him publicly. Who knows how messy things are in private?"
The 'notorious' Director Yan didn’t mind shifting the blame onto Xie Tong at all.
After all, he had spent so many years navigating this world, where reading people was everything. It was obvious at a glance that Xie Tong had more than just ordinary feelings for Ruan Yao.
He was nothing like Sheng Yirong, that petty man.
If you owned an unparalleled treasure, what was the point if you couldn’t flaunt it?
The entire world should know how stunning, how dazzling this gem was. And yet, only he could own it. Only he could touch it.
Just thinking about those envious, greedy gazes made Yan Hui shiver with pleasure.
Ruan Yao found this closeness very uncomfortable and tried to move the hand resting on his shoulder. "I get it. I wouldn’t take the initiative to provoke him anyway"
Only then did Yan Hui reveal a truly satisfied smile, lightly kissing the tip of Ruan Yao’s ear. "Good"
Ruan Yao rubbed his now flushed ears and, feeling lost, asked the system "System, why do people in this world like kissing so much? Is it because the entertainment industry is more open?"
The system was visibly displeased with Yan Hui, flashing an angry emoji on the screen. "That Yan Hui is obviously taking advantage of the host!"
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Author’s Note:
Xie Tong: A disaster falling from the sky.
Xie Tong is the kind of guy who has tons of gossip about him but is actually just a clueless virgin~