On the other side.
[Great One, you’re deliberately raising Sang You to be spoiled rotten, aren’t you?]
The system said unhappily.
Gong Ze raised an eyebrow in surprise, his tone utterly innocent and pitiful. “How can you say that? I’m just putting on a good performance of a man deeply in love with him.”
Yet at the very end of his sentence, the handsome, wicked man’s eyes finally revealed a hint of amusement and maliciousness — the look of someone out for their own entertainment.
“Giving him gifts, backing him up, providing him with emotional value and the joy of being loved — how is that not doting on him?”
[Because that’s exactly how you ruined the protagonist in the last world!!!]
The system shouted at him angrily.
[Big schemer!!]
In the last world, under the setting given by the main god, the protagonist was the real young master who had been switched at birth — kind by nature, returning to his wealthy family to drive away the evil fake young master.
But after Gong Ze and the system arrived, they discovered that the switching of the babies was completely the hospital’s fault. Neither set of parents knew.
Moreover, the real young master’s adoptive parents had treated him wonderfully. Though not extremely wealthy, they were comfortably middle-class, spending all their money on the child.
The real young master’s life wasn’t miserable at all — he wore designer brands, used luxury goods, and signed up for expensive tutoring classes worth sixty or seventy thousand without a second thought.
In contrast, although the fake young master lived in a wealthy family, his parents were always busy, neglected him completely, and there was an exceptionally brilliant older brother in the house — he had a worse life than an ordinary child.
The fake young master, who should have grown up cherished as the only child, became neglected and gradually withdrawn, a pitiful little thing.
Meanwhile, the real young master grew up as the sole focus of his adoptive parents’ devotion — delicate, beautiful, given everything he asked for, confident and radiant.
His adoptive parents had cultivated many talents in him.
After his adoptive parents passed away and the two were switched back, his wealthy biological parents believed the real young master’s excellence was all due to their good genes.
To win their favor and sympathy, the real young master lied and claimed his adoptive parents had mistreated him.
The fake young master, neglected and gloomy by nature, was also said to have bad genes, which was why he wasn’t affectionate toward the family.
They blamed him for the baby switching and kicked him out.
The fake young master had been an abused, left-behind child growing up. When he finally returned to his true home where he should have been happy, his real parents had already passed away — he became an orphan again.
Not to mention Gong Ze — even the system thought it was too tragic!
The fake young master wasn’t bad at all, just withdrawn. Yet in the original story, he was written as a jealous villain everyone despised, while the real young master was the white-cut-black type — a scheming pretender who framed and harmed others.
In that world, Gong Ze was playing the role of a domineering CEO.
After entering the world, the system had expected Gong Ze to thoroughly teach that evil real young master a lesson, as per his usual style. Instead, Gong Ze immediately expressed affection toward the evil young master and distanced himself from the good fake young master.
This infuriated the system.
‘Coincidentally,’ the evil real young master’s family business soon encountered a major setback and went bankrupt.
The evil real young master was taken home by Gong Ze, who not only treated him well but also showered him with gifts and backed him up.
Terrified of losing Gong Ze, and relishing such favoritism, the evil real young master became even more eager to please him.
As for going out to work? Since Gong Ze gave him everything he asked for, why would he need to work?
In the end, that evil real young master was completely raised into a laughingstock — someone who only knew how to bicker and fuss over a man, entirely dependent on Gong Ze for survival.
Later, Gong Ze left that world and donated all his wealth.
The evil real young master was dumbfounded.
He had graduated from a prestigious university and learned so many skills, but he had let them all atrophy. Even if he tried to pick them up and find a job, he couldn’t.
And he was already old — relying on his looks wouldn’t get him anywhere anymore.
Meanwhile, the tragic fake young master was secretly sent by Gong Ze to study, with internship companies and growth opportunities arranged for him. He quickly became an independent elite earning a million a year.
Only then did the system realize — that evil real young master had clearly been deliberately ruined by Gong Ze!
Back to the present.
The system angrily launched a verbal attack on the black-bellied schemer. [Bad Great One! In this world, the protagonist bottom Sang You might be a bit pampered and proud, but he’s not a bad person!]
Others might not know, but the system knew perfectly well what Gong Ze was up to!
Gong Ze had subtly implanted the idea in Sang You’s mind that “as long as Gong Ze backs me up, no one else will dare offend me.”
In the end, once Gong Ze stopped helping him, Sang You would naturally start thinking, “I need to please Gong Ze.”
If this continued, Sang You — innocent and simple by nature — would become anxious and insecure over Gong Ze’s coldness, eventually turning into a useless person!
This hidden blade had been buried, and the hand holding the knife was Gong Ze’s. Whatever Gong Ze wanted to guide Sang You into becoming, Sang You would become.
[How terrifying…]
The system shivered as it looked at the smiling Gong Ze.
After a moment of silence, Gong Ze dropped his smile. “I never said I would treat him the same way I treated the protagonist in the last world.”
That was true.
Gong Ze hadn’t yet decided how to “handle” Sang You.
Sang You had lost his parents, then was imprisoned and violated by “Gong Ze.” At the end of his original story, just when there was a glimmer of hope, that beast in sheep’s clothing, Qin Chuan, swindled away his entire family fortune — and no one even knew if he was still alive.
A protagonist this foolish was not within Gong Ze’s usual scope of “discipline.”
Besides…
In front of the system, Gong Ze’s long, narrow eyes glinted with amusement. He propped his chin on his hand and murmured, “I actually quite like him…”
[Huh?]
Thinking of that silly, amusing little thing — who thought he was so clever, proudly fanning out his beautiful feathers and prancing around right under Gong Ze’s nose — that little captive goldfinch…
Under the system’s stunned gaze, Gong Ze chuckled softly. “He’s pretty cute.”
System: Huh?
System: HUH?! (⊙ˍ⊙)
Gong Ze thought of Sang You’s recent little schemes. Quite entertaining.
You want to string me along? Make me your devoted lapdog?
Hmph…
Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes.
And so, the villainous big schemer spent the next few days pretending to be angry at Sang You. He kept a cold face every day, leaving early and returning late from work.
Not only did he stop sending gifts in a fit of pique, but he also stopped speaking to Sang You altogether.
Sang You had planned it all out so nicely — when Gong Ze came crawling back to coax him, he would graciously accept the olive branch and forgive him. Who would have thought the man would actually stop caring about him entirely? In the end, Sang You was the one being ignored and manipulated.
After Gong Ze had given Sang You the cold shoulder for a few days, Sang You gradually grew restless.
Unaware that he was being psychologically played by the big schemer, Sang You began to self-reflect.
This man clearly likes me so much — why hasn’t he come to see me these past two days?
And no more gifts either.
Could it be that I really went too far?
How many tricks could a young master raised like a precious jewel have up his sleeve? Soon, he couldn’t stand the suspense any longer.
When Gong Ze came home from the company that evening, Sang You stood by his bedroom window secretly watching him.
Gong Ze naturally knew the young master was getting anxious, but in his wickedness, he deliberately didn’t look up.
Within a few days, a thoroughly panicked Sang You had already forgotten how he had been hesitating over whether to accept Gong Ze. When Gong Ze acted as if he didn’t love him anymore, Sang You instinctively didn’t want to lose that special favor.
This wasn’t because Sang You had fallen in love with Gong Ze.
It was simply a human instinct — the fear of loss.
And this was precisely the lever Gong Ze used to pull at Sang You’s heart — making it swing between joy and anxiety, slowly sinking into his trap.
Three days passed. Sang You’s reserve gradually crumbled.
He pretended to run into Gong Ze by chance.
He deliberately picked fights and tried to strike up conversations with Gong Ze.
Such childish tactics. Gong Ze found it amusing. As if he hadn’t seen Sang You, he coldly walked right past the young master without a sideways glance.
For several days in a row, the young master grew frantic.
“What’s wrong with this man? Why won’t he pay any attention to me?”
Sang You bit his lower lip in frustration.
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