Chapter 1: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (1)
[When you return home today and see Yu Xinyu using the washing machine, you must scold him! Blame him! Say he’s lacking sincerity—how can he not even manage to wash your clothes and underwear by hand?!]
Cen Yu: “…”
“No, bro, isn’t this guy a bit too cheap?!”
He really couldn’t hold back his urge to vent!
Setting aside how he had suddenly transmigrated a month ago, and setting aside binding with a system to enter some universe’s beloved pure love novel, the character he had to play was beyond absurd!
Sweet Desire! After Abandoning the Scumbag, I Became the Universe’s Beloved!—that was the title of this novel.
It featured a fragile, dutiful wife who, upon laying eyes on a bad boy scumbag, instantly fell head over heels. Yet the scumbag didn’t take him seriously at all. To stay with his true love, the fragile wife steadfastly cut off all contact with his wealthy family to prevent them from arranging a marriage for him, insisting on scraping by on wild vegetables alongside the scumbag instead.
Furthermore, the scumbag himself was a textbook “phoenix man,” taking every opportunity to make life difficult for the protagonist.
Fortunately, at this juncture, the protagonist’s childhood friend A, the scumbag’s boss B, and the scumbag’s close friend C (who was also the arranged marriage candidate) could no longer bear the sight of it. Attracted by the protagonist’s kindness and delicate nature, they fell for this simple, resilient (and genuinely wealthy) pure white lotus.
Nurtured by everyone’s warmth, the fragile wife finally realized the scumbag wasn’t worth it, divorced him ruthlessly, and left him wallowing in regret.
Thus began the story’s “chasing the wife in a crematorium” arc, where the protagonist never looked back, leaving the scumbag weeping bitter tears before eventually jumping off a building.
—At least, according to the information the system had transferred to him, when Cen Yu arrived, these guys were still performing a comedy skit and hadn’t quite finished their back-and-forth yet.
Yes, that’s right. The person Cen Yu transmigrated into and needed to play was this ridiculously cheap phoenix man.
Recently, the system had taken pity on his fresh arrival and hadn’t burdened him with heavy tasks or intensity. He hadn’t expected that what was meant to come would finally arrive today…
Cen Yu browsed this plot with a deep frown. Although he didn’t understand why the scumbag shared his exact name, the storyline was infuriating enough to make anyone cuss out loud!
The scumbag returned home and saw his fragile wife, Yu Xinyu, washing clothes and underwear for him. Instead of being touched by his partner’s thoughtfulness, he actually berated Yu Xinyu for wasting electricity!
For just a few clothes and underwear, hand washing would suffice—why waste time turning on a washing machine??
“Unbelievable. This guy is such an idiot,” Cen Yu couldn’t help complaining to the system again.
He even suspected whether the novel’s author held a grudge against him, otherwise why would such a moronic guy share his exact name?
[Host, hang in there! As long as the cannon fodder you play lets those male leads discover Yu Xinyu’s beauty, you can retire.]
The system was a large orange cat. Sensing Cen Yu’s impatience, it rubbed its head against his calf a few times as if comforting him.
Just as Cen Yu was about to say something, he heard the system chime in—
[Execute the plot! Execute the plot!]
Meanwhile, Yu Xinyu saw Cen Yu returning home in a suit. Lowering his head to turn off the washing machine, his eyes instantly lit up, and he hurried over to the door—
“…”
No matter how many times he saw it, whenever Yu Xinyu acted like a bird leaning against a man, Cen Yu couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward inside.
Yu Xinyu was wearing an apron, his shoulder-length hair tied back with a rubber band, leaving only a few strands framing his cheeks. Upon seeing Cen Yu, his eyes sparkled, and a flush swept across his cheeks, giving him the shy, timid look of a maiden in love.
He took small, hurried steps, trotting right up to Cen Yu.
Bending his knees slightly, he buried his cheek into Cen Yu’s shoulder. “You’re back~ Hubby, I missed you so much~”
Cen Yu looked at the slightly bent-kneed Yu Xinyu with a subtle expression. In fact, he suspected that another reason the original Cen Yu had been so mean-spirited toward this person was—
Yu Xinyu was actually taller than him?
Cen Yu’s height was just a little over 180 cm, while Yu Xinyu was around 185 cm. However, the latter belonged to the slender, tall type, and coupled with his exceptionally pretty face, acting spoiled like this wasn’t off-putting.
—Except, who was Cen Yu playing!
A cold-hearted, chauvinistic scumbag!
With a swift shove, he pushed Yu Xinyu away and immediately began unleashing his lines according to the script—
“I was wondering why you wash the clothes so fast every day.” Because Cen Yu was feeling unwell today, he had come home early. “Turns out you’re just putting on a show every day! You’re not washing them properly at all!”
He pointed at the washing machine that had just been switched off. “Didn’t I tell you that clothes must be washed by hand? No slacking off!”
“Especially my underwear—it must be washed by hand!”
While venting wildly in his heart, Cen Yu continued his barrage aloud—
“You really don’t know the cost of managing a household. How much do you think the monthly electricity bill costs?”
Hearing this, Yu Xinyu immediately raised his head. “…I can give you the money for the electricity.”
Cen Yu naturally knew Yu Xinyu was wealthy. He paused to consider how a phoenix-man scumbag would react to such a line, then resumed his tirade, “I told you it’s not a matter of money!”
“It’s a matter of your attitude.”
Saying this, he took off his suit jacket and tossed it onto the sofa nearby.
He loosened the tie around his neck, stretched his shoulders and neck slightly, and said to Yu Xinyu—
“Fine, stop making excuses!”
“Hurry up and wash the clothes by hand for me.”
Without waiting for a response, he ignored Yu Xinyu—who stood with his head lowered, pinching his fingers as if immensely wronged—and walked straight past him into the bedroom.
The moment he stepped into the bedroom, Cen Yu wanted nothing more than to bang his head against the wall!
So cheap!! SO CHEAP!!!
How could there be such a pathetic speech? Even worse, he was the one who had said it!!!
The system cat popped out instantly, rubbing its head against Cen Yu a few times. [Host, don’t worry! Your performance just now was perfect!]
“…Heh.” How could it not be perfect?
Even he wanted to punch himself after hearing it.
Cen Yu truly didn’t want to complain further. He found a set of fresh pajamas in the bedroom drawer and decided to take a shower first.
In the original novel, he had left work early due to a sudden fever during this segment. Right now, his head indeed felt a bit dizzy, though it wasn’t severe enough to stop him from showering.
Stepping into the bathroom, Cen Yu looked at himself in the mirror.
His reflection matched his real-world appearance—a cold, exceptionally handsome face that carried an aloof, standoffish air.
He had two beauty marks under his left eye, positioned so closely together that from a distance, they looked almost like a tear trace.
Cen Yu stared at his reflection for a moment, then stuck out his tongue—
Revealing a tongue piercing resting on its surface.
The stud wasn’t large or conspicuous, and combined with his usual stern, taciturn demeanor, none of his colleagues had ever noticed it. As for why he hadn’t taken it out, it was likely a quiet form of rebellion.
In addition to that, Cen Yu had an industrial bar and multiple piercings on his ears.
He also had tattoos on his arm and lower abdomen…
Watching his reflection, Cen Yu unbuttoned his iron-gray shirt.
As the buttons were undone one by one, he revealed the tattoo spanning across his lower stomach.
The design was a skeleton snake coiling around a rotten apple, depicting an Eden that was no longer paradise.
The tattoo was positioned subtly—the snake’s tail rested at Cen Yu’s hip bone, winding across his lower abdomen, while the rotten apple sat on the right—
“…Hubby, I dried your new pajamas for you. Do you want me to bring them in?”
