Chapter 2: The Blessed Life of Perfect Lying Flat

Walking up to the second floor and turning the corner, a figure stood there. Tall, straight, and silently waiting.

Shang Ying was already feeling irritated. When her eyes met his, her expression was somewhat indifferent. For a brief second, she couldn't quite remember who this was.

It wasn't until she took two steps closer that the boy slowly spoke up.

"You had a fight with that woman." After a two-second pause, he called out very faintly, "Sister," his voice so quiet it practically dissolved into the air.

Yet, Shang Ying still heard it. It was also because of this "Sister" that she finally dug this person out from her memories.

Shang Yi, the youngest child of the Shang family and Shang Ying’s fraternal twin. He had a cold and incredibly detached personality, rarely uttering more than a few words. Although they were twins, their relationship in the book was extremely strained.

‘If a younger brother is disobedient, it must be the older sister’s fault.’

‘The fault lies in not giving him a good beating.’

‘What exactly was his ending in the book again?’ She seemed to recall he got his throat slit. A lonely youth meeting his "little sunshine" female lead, Lin Yuan, only to suffer from unrequited love. Hearing it actually sounded quite aesthetic and pitiful.

But Shang Ying still felt that giving up a good life free of material worries to die for some bullshit love was the ultimate act of stupidity. Besides, he didn't even get the love in the end, and his corpse probably looked hideous.

‘She really couldn't understand this bunch of wealthy people!’ They clearly had never experienced poverty!

She might as well just buy him a "little sunshine" electric space heater to hug while he slept, and see if it could cure this illness of his. If that didn't work, she'd throw him into the countryside to farm for a couple of days, letting him see if the actual midsummer sun was warm enough for him.

The boy’s gaze drifted to the exam paper in Shang Ying’s hand. Before he could get a better look, Shang Ying expressionlessly crumpled the paper into a ball and stuffed it into her bag.

Shang Yi witnessed her subtle movement. His face remained as flat as a sheet of paper, his gaze direct but entirely lacking warmth, as if he were examining an object rather than a human being.

Sensing the subtle tension in the air, Shang Ying scoffed internally. This brother of hers was also a straight-A student. He had probably never seen an exam paper with such a low score in his life.

‘Oh, looking at it this way, she was the only good-for-nothing in the entire family.’ The Shang family's genes fluctuated more terrifyingly than the stock market, dropping drastically or soaring high. But seriously, why did she have to be the one who took the plunge?

"We fought. She chose to jump out herself to draw fire away from the old man, so I just blasted them both together," Shang Ying explained casually.

Shang Yi just stared at her. After a long while, he let out a faint "mm," and without another word, he turned around and went back into his room.

The most painful part of transmigrating into a high school student's body was having to wake up early for school.

Shang Ying stayed stubbornly in bed for an extra ten minutes, her brain rapidly cycling through every possible excuse to skip school. Ultimately, realizing the Shang family would never grant her permission, she dragged herself up, washed up, and got dressed like a walking corpse, looking as if a demon had completely sucked out her life force.

Good heavens, if she did something wrong, just punish her by making her eat two bags of QQ gummies! [1] Why make her experience high school life all over again? It was pure torture.

During breakfast, Shang Ying still looked entirely lifeless. Shang Heng, who sat beside her, was so affected by her overwhelming aura of resentment that he put down his pastry and cast a cold glance at her school uniform.

Seeing her dead-inside look, Shang Heng felt a surge of irritation and couldn't resist scolding her.

"Look at yourself! What kind of attitude is that? You're being sent to school, not to an execution!"

Shang Ying let out a cold chuckle and shot back without hesitation, "What's the difference? If you think you're so great, why don't you go?"

‘Let's see if you'd enjoy going through school a second time.’

After the incident yesterday, Shang Heng's head was still throbbing, and he didn't feel like wasting words on her. He glared at her once and fell silent. Either way, interacting with her was just looking for trouble.

What an unfilial daughter!

When the car arrived at the main door, Shang Heng reluctantly got in. Turning around, he saw Shang Yi still standing there, and impatiently urged.

"What are you standing around for? Get in, or you're going to be late!"

Hearing Shang Ying's words, the driver couldn't help but peek through the rearview mirror, completely astonished. Has the oldest young mistress changed her personality today? She actually invited the young master to share a ride with her?

You see, in the past, it was always Shang Ying who threw a massive tantrum at home insisting she wouldn't commute with Shang Yi. As a result, Shang Yi had been pushed away and given a completely separate car for his drop-offs.

Shang Yi was also surprised. He lowered his eyelashes, his thoughts unreadable. After a moment of silence, and under Shang Ying's thoroughly impatient gaze, he stepped into the car, positioning himself quite a distance away from her.

Looking at the twins sitting with enough space between them to fit a whole extra person, the corners of the driver's mouth curled up slightly. As expected, bickering was normal between siblings, and they would always make up eventually, not to mention they were fraternal twins.

Shang Ying's resentment toward school only intensified once they actually arrived. If there was a Taoist priest around, they would probably drag her off to perform an exorcism to clear out her dark energy.

On the path leading into the school, Shang Yi initially walked very fast, his feet moving like they were on wheels. Shang Ying, feeling annoyed, called out to him, forcing the two of them to walk side-by-side.

"I don't want to go to class."

Shang Yi stared at her fixedly for a while, unsure if she was actually speaking to him, and chose not to answer.

"Say something. Are you mute?"

Receiving no response, Shang Ying impatiently glared at the human log beside her.

Shang Yi still remained silent, merely shaking his head slightly as he walked rigidly beside her, looking like a cold block of ice. Shang Ying rolled her eyes but didn't push further; after all, their relationship was notoriously terrible.

If someone didn't want to engage with her, she couldn't exactly grab them by the collar and force an answer.

Although the twins were in the same grade, they weren't in the same class because their academic performances were worlds apart. Shang Yi was ranked first in the entire grade, while Shang Ying was ranked 150th.

While 150th might sound decent at first glance, under the glorious light of the Shang family's hyper-achieving legacy, it was a score so trashy it couldn't get any lower.

However, Shang Ying thought the number was quite auspicious. One hundred and fifty, a perfect score!

Stepping into her classroom right as the bell rang, she noticed quite a few classmates casting curious glances her way. Shang Ying paid them no mind. Her head was entirely consumed by her sheer resistance to being at school.

Locating her seat, she dropped her backpack and slumped heavily into her chair. The desk was piled high with a chaotic assortment of test prep materials. She averted her eyes in pain and let out a deep sigh.

They were already so obscenely wealthy, so why did she still have to study? With so many excellent people in the family, what was wrong with her just lying flat and living off the family fortune?

Suddenly, the thought of her original prison-cell ending flashed through her mind. In the air-conditioned classroom, a sudden chill rushed from the soles of her feet straight to her head, causing her to shudder involuntarily.

‘No, no, no.’ Eating prison food might be stable, but she politely declined. Life should still be full of excitement! For the glory of the family, and to ensure her own ending wouldn't be so tragic!

Shang Ying’s expression grew serious. She had to make absolutely sure her family stayed as far away from the plot of the original male and female leads as humanly possible.

As long as her crazed, foolish older brothers and her stupid younger brother didn't fall for the female lead, they wouldn't be targeted by the male lead. And as long as she didn't offend the female lead, the male lead would surely treat her like any other irrelevant background character.

Who cares about being a villain? As long as she stayed safely on the sidelines, no one could force her to play the antagonist.

Thinking this way, Shang Ying felt instantly refreshed, as if she were already enjoying a life of effortless luxury, eating and drinking well, the perfect, blissful life of lying flat.

"Hahaha..."

"Yingying, what are you laughing at?"

"Huh?" Hearing a voice nearby, Shang Ying snapped out of her far-off daydream. She blinked and looked up, only to find a girl had stood next to her desk at some point.

Conclusion: She had absolutely no idea who this was.

——

[1] QQ Gummies - QQ gummies are popular Asian fruit-flavored candies known for their signature "QQ" texture, a Chinese/Taiwanese term describing a bouncy, elastic, and chewy bite. Most commonly produced by the brand Want Want (famous for its Hot-Kid mascot), they are made with ingredients like corn syrup, gelatin, and concentrated fruit juice.