Zhitong Game Company, 5:58 p.m.

Tao Zhiyue looked over the code he wrote today again and then clicked on the pile of unread messages accumulated on Dangdang*.

(*idk. Is it the name of a business messaging system in China like slack or discord?)

[Planning-Wang Heng: Yes, there is no problem. Brother Tao is awesome. ]

[Planning-Wang Heng: Today is another day where no bugs can be found.jpg]

[Front-end-Tao Zhiyue: Okay, then I’m getting off work~]

Two minutes passed by quickly. At six o'clock, Tao Zhiyue turned off the computer, fastened the lid on the glass water bottle, picked up the reusable shopping bag* left on the table, and happily clocked off.

( *I'm guessing here. I was thinking is this his bag or is it actually a foldable reusable shopping bag? )

The programmer, Xue Huacan, who sat next door to him looked at him in surprise: "Xiao ("Little") Tao, are you leaving?"

Tao Zhiyue smiled: "Yes, the supermarket will soon run out of food any later than this."

"How can you leave? We still have the project we have to send out by tonight." Xue Huacan frowned.

Tao Zhi remained patient: "I have checked and confirmed all the parts I am in charge of, and it's not related to any of the modules you are working on. My work is done."

Xue Huacan's brows furrowed even tighter together, "This time the contract is very tight. There are still a lot of functions left to be changed. Stay for overtime. I will send you the new requirements——"

Tao Zhiyue interrupted him with a puzzled expression, "Is the time very tight? How come I saw you swiping through videos in the afternoon at Station D...?"

Xue Huacan: "Cough! I was looking up interfaces made by others!"

So Tao Zhiyue looked at him with a face full of encouragement, "You really worked hard and studied for most of the afternoon. Then, you must have an idea about how the function can be changed."

Xue Huacan, who could only acquiesce to his words: "Of course."

"Then you work hard, bye."

Tao Zhiyue didn't give him a chance to continue talking, turned around, and walked away, leaving a chic back.

The other employees, watching the excitement not far away, couldn't help but make envious sounds.

"The King of Dumping (his work) has finally met his match. Alas, I really envy Tao Zhiyue. He's been here for less than 2 months, and he's never worked overtime."

"If you are Tao Zhiyue, you can do it too. He writes his code fast and well, and never has to rework it. I heard that he didn’t go to Dachang because he didn’t want to work overtime. Since he came, I don’t think the main programmer, Lao Li’s hair has been falling out much. Lao Li used to grab HR every day to ask if anyone had come for an interview. Those who came out of the (programming) training class would not even be spared.”

"The version I heard is that he and Mr. Guo have known each other for a long time? Otherwise, he wouldn't come to our company to make this kind of broken game.. It doesn't matter... Speaking of hair, I really want to ask what kind of shampoo does Xiao Tao use? The girl from the art group of the company next door only asks him out to hangout. Is it because he is the one with the thickest hair in our group?"

"I think the main thing is to look at the face (his handsome face), and he refused all of them anyways."

"…………… Gotcha, don’t talk about it anymore. My heart is already hurting."

The topic went further and further away, and Tao Zhiyue knew nothing about it. He took the bus to the supermarket near his home, thinking about the evening menu in his mind.

Toward the end of the day, the supermarket was crowded with people. In front of him were colorful vegetables, fruits, and poultry meat, pink to ripe tomatoes, leafy greens with dew, yellow and green peppers, live fresh shrimps, popping out of the fish tank, and soy sauced, red, cooked food* that exuded a seductive smell----Tao Zhiyue took a deep breath of this tempting fragrance.

(*This area needs to be checked for accuracy)

It's good to be alive.

No one knew that Tao Zhiyue died once.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Tao Zhiyue. He was quiet and sensible when he was young, with excellent grades and a harmonious family. After graduating from the country's No. 1 university for computer programming, he successfully entered a big, web company that everyone admired as a code farmer (programmer). He worked hard to earn enough money to settle down in the big city and make his parents proud.

As a result, before he had the down payment (for a house), he unexpectedly died.

Apart from working like crazy, Tao Zhiyue had no other hobbies, and has never been in a relationship because of his sexuality. The only concern he had was his parents. Fortunately, before his death, his mother happened to be pregnant with a second child. Even if he is gone, the second child can be there for them in their second half of life and give them some consolation for his death.

Tao Zhiyue was actually very relieved regarding his sudden death, so when he opened his eyes and found that he had come back to life in a novel world, he was full of question marks.

Especially when the plot of this novel appeared in his mind, it torn him apart (metaphorically).

This is a dog-blooded danmei novel called "Being Spoiled by a Cruel Disabled Boss". The main character is Shen Nian, who has a weak temperament and a delicate and beautiful body; he was bullied by his adoptive parents for more than 20 years until he met the cruel and indifferent, disabled president, Huo Ran. From then on, Huo Ran became Shen Nian's backer, and Shen Nian became Huo Ran's only weakness.

With the help of Huo Ran, Shen Nian got rid of his adoptive parents' family, and even discovered his own real origins. It turned out that he was the leftover young master of the wealthy Shen family. Shen Nian was immediately welcomed back to the Shen family. Everyone was slapped in the face, countless men and women admired him, and the relationship between Shen Nian and Huo Ran reached a crisis*.

(* This part I'm not sure... Something about a crisis but I don't quite understand. I suppose their relationship had a conflict.)

Later, Shen Nian cured Huo Ran's leg with his own medical talent, which proved his sincerity and feelings. Soon after, the two went abroad to register for marriage, and lived happily ever after.

Tao Zhiyue couldn't accept this plot full of the taste of an old-style, bitter TV drama, but an even more terrifying thing was to come.

There is also a character named Tao Zhiyue in the book, who was an orphan since he was a child, and became Huo Ran's first love when he was in college. Unexpectedly, the two of them encountered a car accident while traveling during the passionate love period of their relationship, leading Huo Ran to protect Tao Zhiyue at the cost of disabling his own legs.

But after Huo Ran was squeezed out by his family and lost power (from being disabled), Tao Zhiyue left him without looking back. From then on, Huo Ran's temperament changed drastically, until Shen Nian appeared and healed his cold and broken heart.

The snobbish Tao Zhiyue actually came back to find Huo Ran after he learned that Huo Ran had inherited back the group. He wanted to get back together, but the soft and weak Shen Nian stood in front of Huo Ran, scolding Tao Zhiyue. This made Huo Ran truly love him. And the more Huo Ran fell in love with Shen Nian, the more he also wanted to bring Tao Zhiyue to complete despair.

Huo Ran began to retaliate against Tao Zhiyue crazily. He caused a car accident and let Tao Zhiyue taste the same pain he had suffered. Shen Nian accidentally exposed Tao Zhiyue's cold-blooded behavior, and netizens who were filled with righteous indignation crazily scolded Tao Zhiyue. He was ruined: he lost his job and lost the ability to take care of himself because of his injuries. And so he finally committed suicide in dismal.

Tao Zhiyue whose pupils were constantly shaking (from the plot): ...scared.

Tao Zhiyue didn't know what opportunity gave him the chance to live again. He didn't have too many regrets about his death---the only thing might be that he hoped he would not have to work overtime in this next life, that he would eat on time, exercise his body, and try to live 'til 99 years old.

As an ordinary social animal who has never seen the world, it is too exciting for him to face such ups and downs of fate and a collapse of logic all of a sudden (of this kind of dog blood plot/world).

After Tao Zhiyue calmed down, he found that he was in the second half of his sophomore year. He had no memory of "Tao Zhiyue", and he didn't know if he had met Huo Ran yet. His understanding of the world comes entirely from the description of the novel, but the novel does not describe the story of the cannon fodder supporting role and Huo Ran in detail; it only says that they met in university and Huo Ran fell in love with him at first sight.

At that time, Tao Zhiyue was full of anxiety* towards the ruthless Huo Ran in the story, and also felt apprehensive about the unfamiliar world of the novel. He felt that if he stayed here for a second longer, he might be drawn into this terrible dog-blood story.

(*Supposed to be "jealousy" but I don't think that's right?)

For him who has regained this new life, living in peace and stability is more important than anything else.

So, Tao Zhiyue directly dropped out of school and fled overnight with his ID card and bank card. He had already studied enough in his previous life, and he was not interested in the university major of "Tao Zhiyue", so there was no need to waste another two years studying.

What's more, in a technical industry such as programming, understanding technology is more important than everything else. Having excellent programming skills is enough for him to overcome the hurdle of academic qualifications and find the job he wants in a plethora of game companies.

After a brief investigation, Tao Zhiyue rented a house in Jinbei City, where the climate is pleasant and the snacks are bountiful, found a job, and began to slowly save money towards owning his own house.

Fortunately, this world is basically the same as the one he used to live in. The cultural customs and development level are similar with only some details that are different, so Tao Zhiyue quickly adapted to the new life. The bad habit of hurting the liver has become a glorious young health care provider.*

(*I think this means his bad habits from the past life has served as a good reminder for his new life for living in good health this time but idk lol)

Tao Zhiyue goes to and from work on time every day, cooks breakfast and dinner for himself, reads books and plays games on weekends, goes for a walk in the park on sunny days, and cooks hot pot at home on rainy days. A year passes quickly like running water.

Counting the days, there are still two years before Huo Ran and Shen Nian meet again. Tao Zhiyue feels that as long as the two protagonists meet and fall in love, he will be completely safe as a tool man (cannon fodder character), and he can be freed from the plot at that time. Then, he will be free to live his own life completely.

Although this world does not seem to have any supernatural elements, Tao Zhiyue has already felt the power of the God of Drama.

His last job was in a new start-up company that rarely needed 996 (a full ass work day). The scale was small, but the benefits were good, the boss was reasonable, and everything spoke with strength*.

(*I think this means the boss was capable OR the job had a lot of positives)

Tao Zhiyue was very satisfied with this job, but one day he suddenly learned that the company's A (department name?) round of financing was led by a capital company under the Huo Group.

Moreover, Huo took the initiative to contact them for future investment. The reason was that they were optimistic about the company's future development direction, and they were going to send senior executives from the parent company directly. The company would also carry out in-depth cooperation with other entertainment industries of Huo's Group in the future.

Even the boss of the company was very surprised, lamenting how could such a small company be favored by the big business, Huo Group. Tao Zhiyue was dumbfounded, and hurriedly resigned and ran away.

Before joining his current company, Tao Zhiyue acted differently from ordinary applicants. At the end of the interview, he had to confirm whether the company had a financing plan.

Due to his technical skills being so good and having a strong aura when he mentioned the professional field with such a clear focus, he thoroughly surprised CEO Mr. Guo. He had to confirm carefully whether Tao Zhiyue really came to be a programmer, thinking that this must be some talented rich boy who is a young master incognito trying find a project to play around with.

Tao Zhiyue explained for a long time before he convinced his new boss who had a big brain (for imagination), that he was just an ordinary wage earner, who dropped out of school to support his family.

On this day, Tao Zhiyue, as usual, finished his meal slowly, washed the dishes, and stood in front of the colorfully printed portrait of Cupid, sincerely wishing Huo Ran and Shen Nian to fall in love as soon as possible.

Then, he sat down in front of the computer and started his happiest surfing time of the day.

Except for the company and the park supermarkets around the community, Tao Zhiyue hardly goes to other places, nor does he participate in any social activities, for fear that he will accidentally meet the characters in the original book and be drawn into those bloody plots. After all, he only knows that world was originally a novel and didn't know what each character actually looked like.

Therefore, Tao Zhiyue's social circle is very narrow, basically only colleagues, and it is often difficult for colleagues to become friends of his.

It is inevitable that a person's life will feel lonely, but fortunately there is a network online to extend a person in all directions.

Tao Zhiyue, who is alone in this world, immediately feels a warm feeling of sharing a moment with the world whenever he sees so many sand sculpture* netizens 'hahahahaha'ing with him on the screen.

(* I believe this is slang for online friends)

He opened the Sky forum he frequents, and browsed through the boards ranging from short stories from parents to frequent jokes. Sometimes he had high blood pressure (anger), sometimes hahaha, sometimes???, and finally his eyes stayed on the 'emotional life board', which topped as the first place of hot posts.

【Title】I was pursued by four people of the same sex, but I am a straight man, how should I politely refuse? [hot]

Tao Zhiyue entered with a skeptical face. Sure enough, the content of the main post was quite fantastical. It basically was saying that the host was handsome and rich, but he was not good at rejecting others since he was a child. Elites, even idol stars, straight male hosts* are too embarrassed to directly refuse, for fear of hurting other people's hearts, but he really doesn't like men.

(*Idk man what lol. I do think it's just the mc exaggerating how ridiculous this concept that the poster is basically bragging about himself low-key)

The following comments are basically asking the poster to stop this ordinary but confident story*, and if he is really handsome, he will post a photo, otherwise it will be treated as a fishing (for compliments or roasts, basically spam) post.

(*Idk? Like a wild unbelievable story?)

Tao Zhiyue, who is single and mother-fetal*, deeply agrees. As a natural gay, he dare not imagine such a dreamy plot (of having a gay harem?). But what he didn't expect was that the straight men's fishing bombs and replies would be so wild.**

(*HUUUUHH? Lol idk)

(**Look I don't get this sentence. This may be slang. Bc I've read this whole book, I think this is supposed to be a cliffhanger for the readers to anticipate how the poster will respond to the MC's response noted below in the next chapter.)

Under the gaze of Cupid, the god of love in A4 paper size on his wall, Tao Zhiyue, wearing a sand sculpture ID, casually sneered and wrote out a sentence quite skillfully.

[Director of the No. 7 Psychiatric Hospital in Jinbei City: Hello, how long has this situation been going on?]

The author has something to say:

【Notes before reading】

1. Healing sweet texts, occasionally sand sculptures, with dual perspective switching, and a lot of psychological descriptions.

2. Slow and trivial daily life, the love story of two novices, the pace is slow and detailed, and the writing is all about trivial things in life, neither intense nor exciting.

3. The style and type of writing have been marked, please enjoy reading the pictures, don’t force yourself if it doesn’t suit your taste, please don’t type three miles after reading it and say that you didn’t expect the full text to be the daily life of dating. jpg

4. The story is purely fictitious, and the fictional world is superficial. Everything is private, so please do not substitute it.

【About Chapter 1】

5. The plot of the original book and the four suitors will be explained in the future. Gong is not the same personality as the character in the book. Don’t worry about breaking the law and committing crimes.

6. Dropping out of school is just the protagonist's personal choice based on special circumstances, and it does not have any universal and reference significance. Under normal circumstances, studying is the best way to change your destiny. I wish you all the best in your studies.

7. The setting of this article is [a skilled college dropout programmer found a job in a small company that lacks people], stop criticizing the plot with the logic of [how can a high school degree pass the resume screening of a large factory]? . (Lmao @chinese readers when me: knows ppl who got 100k salary jobs in Google before they finished school and so dropped out of college)

8. To some readers:

Before commenting on "dropping out of school is so naive and so persuasive, how can you find a job without a degree"

Take a look at the comment area of ​​this chapter first. If various explanations and examples fail to convince you, you can directly exit to read more suitable novels. (Me: claps)

Because I don’t think there is any problem with this setting, I won’t change it, and I don’t want readers to force themselves to read it with the feeling of “other things can be read but this setting is wrong”. The most important thing is to have fun reading the article.

And if I change my major and continue my university studies as some readers said, I will definitely be told that "Shou is just saying that he wants to hide from reality and never follow it, and he is wearing the old routine of books and essays."

It is impossible for any book to satisfy all readers. Writing a book and reading a book is a two-way choice process. Readers choose stories, and stories choose readers. Writing and reading should be a happy thing. If there is any discomfort during the reading process, It is the best choice to quit decisively, thank you for your understanding.