The Price of Survival

When it came to Jiang Zhe in the game, the phrase ‘beautiful, strong, tragic’ was often used. However, if one were to strip away the ‘strong’ aspect, only ‘beautiful’ and ‘tragic’ would remain.

As a specially admitted student to Fenghua High, Jiang Zhe’s family background naturally paled in comparison to that of the wealthy scions. In fact, his family struggled to even meet the baseline of an ordinary household.

His birth mother had succumbed to a terminal illness. Soon after, his father remarried, bringing a stepmother and her son into their lives. Less than a year later, his half-brother was born.

Originally, Jiang Zhe’s family circumstances hadn’t been so dire. Both his parents were graduates of prestigious universities, and after several years in the workforce, they had established their own small company. There was a time when they even resided in a villa.

Unfortunately, when Jiang Zhe’s mother was suddenly diagnosed with a terminal illness, the company’s burden fell solely on his father.

Without his mother’s calm and meticulous management of affairs, the company’s financial records became a chaotic mess, and the employees grew increasingly anxious. Just as his mother was on the brink of death from the advanced stages of her illness, the company, too, reached its final, desperate moments.

Following the declaration of bankruptcy, Jiang Zhe’s mother’s funeral arrived as scheduled.

Thus began the decline of the Jiang family. Initially, they possessed reserve funds that could have sustained them for over a decade. However, Jiang Zhe’s father, unwilling to accept defeat, impulsively invested every last penny into re-establishing the company.

While Jiang Zhe’s father would have excelled as a teacher if he had pursued a scientific research path, his ventures into business were akin to throwing meat buns to a dog—never to return.

Ultimately, the new company also failed, exacerbating the already precarious financial state of their family.

Though the ambition to brave the commercial world still flickered within him, the lack of capital forced him to abandon the idea. It was then that Jiang Zhe’s father met his seemingly gentle stepmother. He overlooked her elementary school education, and after they quickly formed a relationship, Jiang Zhe’s father finally began to live a more stable life.

Amidst the mundane realities of daily life, Jiang Zhe slowly grew up. His stepmother’s attitude toward him was sharp and biting. His elder stepbrother, already in his twenties, had become a civil servant; though his salary was modest, he loved to compare himself to others and indulged in luxury goods. His seven-year-younger half-brother was a mischievous child, always stirring up trouble and annoying everyone.

His aging father had receded into the background, possessing little presence within the household.

Jiang Zhe, who had always been solitary, felt he was born to be alone. Thus, despite his striking appearance, he never leveraged this advantage to make many friends, preferring to remain silent and solitary.

Subsequently, luck brought him to Fenghua High, and Su Lianlian took the initiative to offer him warmth…

As the Jiang Zhe now inhabiting the game recalled this, he couldn’t help but let out a sharp ‘hiss.’ His head throbbed, and he wondered why he hadn’t transmigrated into the body of an orphan with a car and a house, whose parents were both deceased?

After all, the original Jiang Zhe’s upbringing was already tragic enough, yet even more terrible things lay hidden.

Jiang Zhe was not his father’s biological son.

Indeed, Jiang Zhe’s mother had been pregnant when she ran off and found Jiang Zhe’s father, an honest man, to take over the role of a father. He had unwittingly become a ‘happy dad.’

According to his game-obsessed niece’s earnest analysis, Jiang Zhe, as the male protagonist, only possessed an outstanding face, lacking any other special talents or redeeming qualities. He ranked last among the five male leads, yet his role in the game’s plot was far from insignificant. Therefore, Jiang Zhe’s true father must have a considerable background and might even turn the tide in the late stages of the game.

He was destined to become the female lead’s most beloved husband, akin to an empress in ancient times—the legitimate queen whom other concubines, no matter how hard they fought, could never defeat.

This had caused Jiang Zhe, who listened to his niece’s incessant chatter at the time, to develop a dark expression. He utterly disliked this game character who shared his name. He promptly reported his niece’s secret in-game purchases to her parents, earning himself a brief period of peace.

Thinking of his noisy, chattering niece, Jiang Zhe felt a pang of nostalgia, wishing he could close his eyes and reopen them back in his original world.

However, he had died in a car accident. Going back now might mean waking up inside an urn…

The phone continued to vibrate incessantly, the call showing no signs of disconnecting. Jiang Zhe was not one to hesitate; he would have to interact with the original owner’s family sooner or later, and there was no avoiding it.

However, the original owner’s relationship with his family was poor, bordering on indifferent. Thus, Jiang Zhe wouldn’t have to go to great lengths to put on an act.

“Is something wrong?”

“Jiang Zhe, it’s already March! Where’s last month’s subsidy?”

As soon as he answered the phone, his stepmother’s accusatory voice rang in his ear, causing Jiang Zhe to raise an eyebrow.

The special enrollment subsidy at Fenghua High was substantial, comparable to an ordinary employee’s monthly salary. It amounted to five thousand yuan each month, intended to support students from impoverished families in continuing their education.

Ever since Jiang Zhe began studying at Fenghua High, his monthly subsidy had been handed over to his family.

Fortunately, board and lodging at Fenghua High were free; otherwise, he would have been forced to live off scraps. Of course, he hadn’t always submitted without resistance, but his stepmother had seized his lifeline.

If he didn’t obediently hand over the money, she threatened to make him drop out of school and work.

Jiang Zhe was seventeen this year, not yet an adult, and his guardian’s rights held significant sway. Even if dropping out wouldn’t be as easy as his stepmother claimed, the subsequent developments were not something he could ignore.

If his parents simply argued that their family was too poor for him to study and the subsidy wasn’t enough, would the school continue to provide even more funding?

Or would he have to fight legally to continue his studies?

Given his stepmother’s boorish and unreasonable nature, she would resort to irrational sophistry. By simply dragging things out, Jiang Zhe’s high school education was destined to be cut short.

Originally, Jiang Zhe didn’t care whether he continued his studies. But after meeting Su Lianlian, he became unwilling to leave. Even if his monthly subsidy was fully surrendered, leaving him with not a single penny, he was content as long as he could see Su Lianlian every day.

However, the current Jiang Zhe was not the original owner, nor did he intend to passively accept his fate.

If they wanted his money, they would have to prove themselves worthy.

“It’s all gone.”

As he thought this, Jiang Zhe’s tone remained cool, completely oblivious to the immense power of those three words, which churned the calm surface into a raging tempest.

In the next moment, his stepmother’s teeth gnashed audibly, her voice growing sharper: “You wasteful brat! Five thousand yuan, all gone? What did you buy? Return it immediately, or you won’t be going to school anymore!”

Even though it was just a phone call, without a face-to-face meeting, Jiang Zhe could vividly and accurately deduce his stepmother’s mental state.

It was nothing more than the cooked duck flying away, the enslaved laborer daring to resist, trying to salvage whatever they could, and then brandishing threats to consolidate her power and authority.

It was predictably boring. Jiang Zhe had no desire to associate with the original owner’s awful family. For the three years of the plotline where he couldn’t resist, it was best for them to mind their own business and not interfere with each other.

If they dared to upset him, Jiang Zhe wouldn’t care who they were.

Who couldn’t play dirty? Jiang Zhe had plenty of ways to neatly send the entire family to prison for ‘tea,’ without implicating himself.

However, expending effort on insignificant people was undoubtedly a waste of energy.

For now, he would maintain peace and prioritize the game’s plot!

Therefore, the subsidy issue had to be swiftly and decisively cut off at the root, so he would no longer be the Jiang family’s ATM. After all, this body’s core had changed; he would simply consider the original owner dead!

Jiang Zhe would not seek meaningless blood ties. He only cared about personal gain and would not allow himself to be in an awkward, miserable situation, asking others for help.

“Not only this month’s subsidy, but from now on, I won’t give you anything. If you want to use my schooling to pressure me, hehe, you can try. We’ll see if I drop out first, or if your son loses his civil servant job faster. After all, misappropriating funds isn’t a small matter.”