Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I woke up inside a novel as a poor background extra.
When I saw the female lead throw away the bank card the villainous supporting lead had given her and scold him, “I don’t need your charity.”
The male lead even chimed in. “Don’t look down on us. Just because we’re poor now doesn’t mean we’ll stay that way.”
I immediately picked up the bank card.
“I need it! Please, Mr. Sterling, give me your charity! Look down on me all you want!”
The designated main couple stared at me in bewilderment.
The villainous supporting lead nodded. From that day on, I became his right-hand man and started down the road to the top of the world.
On the day I reported to Westbridge University, a huge crowd had gathered outside the gates.
I pushed my way through and saw the designated main couple of this world, along with the villainous supporting lead.
The latter was trying to force a bank card into the hands of the impoverished female lead.
She threw it aside and scolded him with open disgust. “Adrian Sterling, I don’t need your charity.”
The plainly dressed male lead nodded in agreement. “Don’t look down on us. Take your filthy money and get lost.”
Adrian Sterling’s expression darkened. For a moment, he was left with no way to preserve his pride and social standing.
I looked at the bank card on the ground, and my eyes lit up.
If I remembered correctly, there was a full seven thousand dollars on it.
I rushed over, picked it up, and looked at Adrian with complete sincerity. “I need it! Please, Mr. Sterling, give me your charity! Look down on me all you want!”
The designated main couple looked utterly stunned.
With the embarrassment conveniently lifted, Adrian’s expression softened. He waved a hand. “It’s yours.”
The male lead glanced regretfully at the bank card, then shot me a vicious glare.
In the original novel, the impoverished main couple rejected the villainous supporting lead’s attempts to win them over again and again, putting on a show of admirable backbone. In the end, they would reluctantly accept his gifts.
This time, I had claimed the rejected opportunity first. Of course they were going to hate me for it.
I pretended not to notice and praised Adrian from the bottom of my heart. “Mr. Sterling, you really are a wonderful person.”
“Are you short on money?”
I nodded.
Adrian casually handed me another gift box. Inside was a brand-new car key.
“Take my luggage to the residence hall.” He pointed toward the new car parked outside the university gates. “That car is yours.”
The male lead’s expression grew even uglier.
Normally, while trying to win over the female lead, the villainous supporting lead would also curry favor with the male lead, her childhood sweetheart.
That car had originally been meant for him.
“No problem!”
I picked up Adrian’s luggage and headed for the residence hall.
It wasn’t that I had no shame. I was simply too poor to afford any.
Five years ago, I’d been in a car accident and woken up inside this novel as a dirt-poor background extra.
How poor?
Chapter 2
I lived in a thatched shack, wore clothes other people had thrown away, and went most of the year without eating more than a few meals with meat.
If I hadn’t been a top student—with my tuition fully covered and a scholarship every year—my gambling-addicted father would have pulled me out of school long ago and sent me to work.
After the College Entrance Exams, he’d even planned to marry me off to the wealthy older woman from the neighboring village in exchange for money.
So I’d grabbed my college acceptance letter, the little money I’d managed to save over the years, and run.
I’d been working odd jobs ever since. I’d barely managed to scrape together enough for tuition, but living expenses were another matter entirely.
Now that I had seven thousand dollars, I could cover all four years of college expenses.
It wasn’t until I reached the residence hall that I discovered Adrian Sterling and I had been assigned to the same room.
According to the novel, because of the heroine, Adrian would spend his days trying to please her childhood sweetheart, the designated male lead. The male lead, however, would only mock him.
“You look down on me.”
“I may be poor, but I have two hands and two feet. I don’t need your charity.”
That was what the male lead always said. And yet, in the end, he would reluctantly accept everything Adrian offered.
The one living closest to the water gets the moon first.
I clenched my fists.
Since the male lead didn’t want the favor, I would just have to bear that burden myself.
I was such a kind person.
I could practically cry.
Thinking about the wonderful life ahead, I couldn’t help laughing aloud.
Adrian Sterling looked at me strangely. “What are you laughing about?”
“I’m just happy,” I said sincerely. “I’ll be spending all four years of college with a handsome, kindhearted heir like you.”
Adrian waved a hand. “I’m not as great as you make me sound. And you can just call me Adrian.”
Then he noticed my pitifully light luggage and looked surprised. “Is that all you brought to college?”
I had kept things simple: two outfits and a single pair of shoes. As for toiletries and everything else, I planned to pick them up at the supermarket later.
“Yep. That’s everything I own.”
Adrian frowned. Without another word, he took my hand and led me outside.
“I’m taking you shopping. I won’t have my right-hand man dressed like a charity case!”
I accepted my new status as Adrian’s right-hand man without the slightest resistance.
Being his right-hand man was a good thing.
Chapter 3
I remembered from the novel that Adrian was incredibly generous to his own people. Unfortunately, the right-hand man in the original story had been burdened with the same excessive pride as the designated main couple. He believed every kindness Adrian showed him was an act of charity, and eventually betrayed him.
That wouldn’t happen this time.
At the mall, Adrian took me straight to the clothing section.
“You’ll look great in this. Wrap it up!”
“That one suits you too. Wrap that up as well!”
“And this one!”
I glanced at the price tags and drew in a sharp breath.
Even the most ordinary piece of clothing cost several months of my living expenses.
“It’s too expensive,” I protested. “The clothes on the campus side street are perfectly fine.”
Adrian waved me off. “Don’t try to save my money for me. Money is the one thing I have more than enough of.”
He was unbelievable. I could have cried.
In less than half an hour, my hands were buried beneath bags of all sizes. If I hadn’t physically run out of room to carry anything, Adrian would have kept shopping.
“All right. This should be enough for now,” Adrian said, though he sounded reluctant to stop.
When we passed a luxury boutique, he halted again.
“Elliot, don’t you think your neck and wrists look a little bare?”
I guessed what he was planning and shook my head. “Adrian, I’m fine like this.”
“No. I won’t have my right-hand man dressing so plainly. If people look down on you, they’re looking down on me too. Understand?”
I didn’t understand.
All I knew was that an enormous fortune seemed to be descending upon me.
Resolving conflicting output formats****Refining character dialogue and plot details
By the time we left the luxury boutique, I had a thick gold chain around my neck, a Rolex on my wrist, and even a Hermès belt around my waist.
Then I decided all that was a little too flashy for a college student, so before we reached the gates of Westbridge University, I quietly took everything off.
When we arrived at the residence hall, our other four roommates were already there. Daniel Hayes—the novel’s designated male lead—was among them.
The moment Daniel saw me carrying armfuls of shopping bags, he frowned at Adrian.
“Adrian Sterling, don’t you think this is too much? Elliot is your classmate, not your servant. Making him carry all those bags for you is incredibly disrespectful.”
“You’ve got it wrong—” I began.
Daniel cut me off. “Elliot, you don’t have to defend him. I know exactly what kind of person he is. He thinks having money gives him the right to look down on everyone else. The word respect isn’t even in his vocabulary.”
Adrian had plenty of good qualities, but he couldn’t stand being provoked.
Instead of explaining the misunderstanding, he snapped, “I didn’t ask you to carry anything, so why the hell are you barking at me?”