"Kick the ball to me."

As Shen Jianan's head felt heavy and his consciousness gradually returned, the first thing he heard was a little boy's voice. He felt puzzled and groggily opened his eyes, only to see a square in front of him with the sounds of children playing all around.

Shen Jianan was confused. Wasn't he dead? Where was he? Was this a dream?

Before he could think too much, he suddenly saw a football flying straight towards him. Just as he had regained his senses and his mind was still a bit foggy, he instinctively closed his eyes.

But the expected pain did not come.

"I must be dead," Shen Jianan thought.

The sunlight shone on one side of his face, warming his skin.

Slowly, Shen Jianan opened his eyes again, and in the light filtering through the trees, he saw a cool and handsome young boy standing in front of him with his arms outstretched, blocking the way.

There was a football rolling at his feet.

"I'm Jiang Chi," the young boy introduced himself coolly.

Shen Jianan was taken aback. He finally realized why he felt a sense of familiarity when he first saw this scene. It was because this was the first scene of a BL novel he had read before he died, and the attacking protagonist in the novel was named Jiang Chi.

And the corresponding position he was in right now...

It's about growing up together with Jiang Chi for more than ten years, being a cannon fodder childhood friend with the same name and surname as Sheng Jianan who will also die of illness sooner or later.

Did he reincarnate? Did he enter a BL novel?

When Sheng Jianan got this novel, it was already tattered and missing many pages, so he didn't read it completely. He only remembered the vague content of the book, but the love triangle between the three main characters was very clear.

The protagonist, as well as the cannon fodder childhood friend, became good friends after they met in this scene. Jiang Chi consciously took on the role of being the protector of the sickly little childhood friend who always got bullied, and the two grew up together, inseparable and intimate.

In theory, such a precious and rare friendship should have been maintained for a lifetime. But it was no match for the BL novel, "Childhood Friends Can't Beat Fate."

It's about growing up together with Jiang Chi for more than ten years, being a cannon fodder childhood friend with the same name and surname as Sheng Jianan who will also die of illness sooner or later.

Did he reincarnate? Did he enter a BL novel?

When Sheng Jianan got this novel, it was already tattered and missing many pages, so he didn't read it completely. He only remembered the vague content of the book, but the love triangle between the three main characters was very clear.

The protagonist, as well as the cannon fodder childhood friend, became good friends after they met in this scene. Jiang Chi consciously took on the role of being the protector of the sickly little childhood friend who always got bullied, and the two grew up together, inseparable and intimate.

In theory, such a precious and rare friendship should have been maintained for a lifetime. But it was no match for the BL novel, "Childhood Friends Can't Beat Fate."

Destiny is the most unreasonable thing.

No matter how much Jiang Chi cared for the little childhood friend in the past ten years, showering all his affection on him, making the little friend's heart flutter and ache with unrequited love, Jiang Chi was always a straight man who avoided anything gay, and he never noticed the little friend's feelings for him.

But once the protagonist appeared, Jiang Chi, the straight man, immediately bent at a right angle and aggressively pursued the protagonist, completely like a different person.

As the cannon fodder in this novel, the little childhood friend was the natural antagonist of the protagonist. Therefore, he was persecuted by the protagonist and his friends, and being weak and sickly, he never even received a glance from Jiang Chi before he was on his deathbed. The ending was very sad.

Sheng Jianan felt very sorry for this little childhood friend. He was obviously the precious one who Jiang Chi cherished and no one else was allowed to touch him, so why didn't Jiang Chi care for him in the end?

This is probably the power of novels, Sheng Jianan thought. After the author put down their pen, the tragic life of a paper person was decided, regardless of whether the behavior and logic were consistent.

But this time was different. Sheng Jianan was reborn and he had a thirst for life. He would never let others decide his fate again.

In his past life, Sheng Jianan's father didn't love his mother and he died of illness before he turned eighteen. Since fate had given him a chance to be reborn, this time he would choose to live a healthy life, get along well with his new parents, study hard, go to a good university, find a good job, and take a good look at the future of this world for both himself and the poor child he used to be.

Now that he already knew the ending, he could certainly avoid the tragedy from happening as much as possible. He would never follow in the footsteps of being a cannon fodder.

"My name is Sheng Jianan," he introduced himself to the boy in front of him.

Perhaps because of his weak physique, his voice was also soft and tender, making people want to protect him.

At this moment, a gentle woman's voice came from beside him, "Nannan, come home for dinner. Dad bought your favorite pork ribs."

The sun was shining brightly and there was laughter and joy all around.

Everything was just beginning.

____________________________

"The vehicle is arriving at the front of Xia City University."

Sheng Jianan dozed off and was awakened from his sleep by the announcement on the bus. His eyelashes trembled slightly as he struggled to wake up from his drowsiness.

He had dreamt again. In recent years, Sheng Jianan would occasionally dream of the scenes where he and Jiang Chi met. His subconscious seemed to be constantly reminding him, preventing him from making the same mistake again.

Sheng Jianan looked out of the window.

The bus slowed down and drove under the plane trees in front of Xia University's gate. Through the dappled light and shadows between the leaves, he saw a male student standing at the school gate.

The male student was tall with long legs, dressed simply and handsomely. At the moment, he was texting with his head down, looking like he was waiting for someone. During this period, the gazes of many male and female students passing by fell on him, but he remained indifferent.

Sheng Jianan could almost imagine the handsome expression of Jiang Chi with his eyebrows furrowed at this moment.

As Jiang Chi raised his head, Sheng Jianan's phone, which he was holding, vibrated twice.

He lowered his head to unlock the screen, and the car slowly stopped at the station.

[Jiang Chi: You were supposed to arrive at 1:30, but it's already past 2 now. What kind of driver is this?]

[Jiang Chi: I want to complain!!!]

Whenever something happens to him, Jiang Chi always overreacts, while Sheng Jianan has long been accustomed to it. They were about to meet, but he didn't rush to reply to the message and got out of the car directly.

Just as Sheng Jianan was walking towards Jiang Chi, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

Sheng Jianan turned around and saw a tall, wheat-skinned boy.

When the boy saw his face, he raised his eyebrows and his eyes flashed with admiration, and said, "Senior, what a coincidence, do you remember me? My name is Cen Jin. We talked at the basketball court when you were waiting for Jiang Chi. I got on the bus a few stops before you. I don't know if you saw me."

In a moment of hesitation, Sheng Jianan nodded politely.

In fact, he had not seen him. He usually pays little attention to his surroundings, and most of the time, Jiang Chi is chatting incessantly with him, asking him to pick him up, take a taxi, and asking why he didn't bring him home, etc. He simply doesn't have time for anything else.

Cen Jin noticed Sheng Jianan as soon as he entered the university.

It's no wonder, Sheng Jianan's appearance and temperament are well-known in the school. He has a cool and godly look, with a flawless face, and his temperament is rare and out of the ordinary. He exudes a sense of coldness that keeps people at a distance of thousands of miles.?But in fact, he is not cold, and he maintains appropriate social interactions with people, except for Jiang Chi.

Every aspect of Sheng Jianan almost perfectly attracted Cen Jin. If he could take Sheng Jianan out, Cen Jin could almost imagine how much face he would have.?However, there was always someone by Sheng Jianan's side, like a mangy dog, and he never had a chance to get his contact information.

Today was really his lucky day. He had just come out of the hotel and had run into Sheng Jianan alone. This was quite rare.

Seeing Sheng Jianan nod, Cen Jin's eyes lit up, and he suddenly felt that he had a chance. His tone was a bit pretentious and confident, "Senior, I know you are just like me."

Sheng Jianan hesitated for a moment, looking at him with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"You and I, we are the same," said Cen Jin again, with a very confident tone and hints in his words. "Senior, instead of wasting time with people who don't understand you every day, why don't you come and hang out with me? I can bring you into our same circle. He doesn't understand you, but I understand everything about you."

Seeing Shen Jianan's silent expression, Cen Jin thought he was somewhat tempted but was hesitant to express it. After all, Shen Jianan was introverted and seemed very quiet, but which confirmed male student who had acknowledged his own sexual orientation wouldn't want to find his own circle?

Cen Jin became somewhat confident and picked up his phone to shake it. "How about it, senior? Add me on WeChat?"

"Not interested," a pleasant but cold voice came from behind them.

Shen Jianan glanced sideways and indeed saw Jiang Chi standing coldly by his side. As if declaring sovereignty, he slung an arm over Shen Jianan's shoulder and hooked him.

The whole summer university knew that their relationship was very close, to the point where they were almost inseparable outside of class, and they were a well-known pair of good brothers at school. No one could get involved.

But there were always people who were not sensible, and Jiang Chi looked coldly at Cen Jin.

Cen Jin, of course, knew that Jiang Chi would occasionally play ball with him, and every time they rested, he could hear the other person say he was done playing and had to go pick up Shen Jianan from class. It was as if playing ball was just a tool to pass the time while waiting for Shen Jianan.

When the two of them were together, it was even worse, sticking together like conjoined twins. He saw Jiang Chi practically wanting to feed water to Shen Jianan and it was no wonder there were all kinds of rumors outside.

If it weren't for Cen Jin's careful observation for a while and accidentally overhearing Shen Jianan explaining to others that they were just childhood friends and very good friends, he would have suspected that this was the two of them indulging in their little hobby of openly and honestly engaging in an underground romance.

But some straight men were indeed shameless, even inferior to gays.

Cen Jin looked at Jiang Chi, with a slightly reduced expression on his face: "This seems to have nothing to do with you, Senior Jiang."

Jiang Chi seemed to have heard a joke and chuckled, asking back, "It has nothing to do with me? The whole Xia University knows that Sheng Jianan's matter is my matter, don't you know?"

Cen Jin also laughed: "Even if you have a good relationship, Senior Jiang should not interfere with Senior Sheng's freedom to make friends, right? After all, even the best of friends will eventually part ways."

After a slight pause, he glanced at Sheng Jianan and said meaningfully, "Senior Sheng will eventually have new friends and... love interests."

Sheng Jianan's eyes flickered and he looked at Jiang Chi sideways.

Sure enough, Jiang Chi's expression paused, and a hint of distress that only he could detect flashed in his eyes.

Jiang Chi had not yet come up with a good solution for the fact that Sheng Jianan would inevitably need to date someone else and become closer to another person in the future.

"... This is not about controlling." Jiang Chi smiled faintly, with a hint of disdain in his expression, "It's about selection. Your unrestrained behavior in daily life is not worthy of being friends with Sheng Jianan."

Upon hearing this, Sheng Jianan suddenly remembered hearing the name Cen Jin from another friend before.

It seemed that he often played basketball with Jiang Chi, and there were many men and women around him playing together. His private life was particularly chaotic. Because he was often mentioned in the basketball team, he had conflicts with Jiang Chi.

Cen Jin couldn't argue with this, and stared at Jiang Chi for a while. He had to admit that Jiang Chi had some degree of pressure on him in terms of height and aura.

Cen Jin cleared his throat and decided to shift his gaze to Sheng Jianan, winking at him suggestively, "Believe me, Senior, no matter what I was like in the past, I am one hundred percent sincere to you now. Please be friends with me."

He deliberately spoke vaguely and suggestively, because he was sure that Jiang Chi was controllable in front of Sheng Jianan.

Only when Sheng Jianan was not around would he act like an unreasonable mad dog. He had only complimented Sheng Jianan's good looks and his waist being softer than a girl's, and his legs being thin and straight, but he had inexplicably been beaten up a few times by him.

This move was indeed effective. Sheng Jianan immediately felt the air pressure around him drop a bit, and the force on his shoulders became a bit heavier.

Jiang Chi's possessiveness towards him was something he had always been aware of.

Without waiting for Jiang Chi to speak, Sheng Jianan lifted his eyelids and said indifferently, "Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying. We also have different interests, so I'll leave first."

After speaking, he nudged Jiang Chi and left with him, avoiding any further conflict between them.

____________________________

On the way back to the dormitory, Jiang Chi took Shen Jianan's schoolbag as soon as possible, slung it over his shoulder, and possessively held his hand by his side.

Shen Jianan was wearing a white shirt today, with his sleeves rolled up to his wrists, revealing a sleek forearm. He was slender and tall, with a pale complexion that was somewhat translucent under the sunlight, revealing a delicate beauty that hinted at some frailty.

Noticing Jiang Chi's gaze, Shen Jianan turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Chi looked at him and said, "You are so attractive, it didn't take long for someone to try to take my place."

Shen Jianan paused and pulled out the mineral water bottle from his schoolbag, took two sips, and licked his moistened lips. "How much did you hear?" he asked.

Jiang Chi hesitated, his face not looking too good. "He asked for your WeChat and wanted to be friends with you. Did he say anything else?"

"No," Shen Jianan twisted the bottle cap and said, "No one wants to take your place."

Seeing that there was still some water left in the bottle, Jiang Chi asked, "Do you want to drink more?"

Shen Jianan understood his meaning, shook his head, and handed him the water bottle directly.

Jiang Chi chugged the rest of the water in one gulp.

While unscrewing the bottle cap, Jiang Chi's eyes turned slightly cold as he thought of something. He smiled sarcastically and asked, "Why would he try so hard to be friends with you if he didn't have the purpose to take my place?"

Although Jiang Chi had heard from Ling Mo that Cen Jin had many shady friends and an extremely reckless lifestyle, he didn't know the specifics and didn't care. He just didn't like the fact that Cen Jin always seemed to show an interest in Sheng Jianan, whether intentionally or not.

After a two-second silence, Sheng Jianan looked at him and said, "You want to be friends with me too."

Jiang Chi didn't catch the implied meaning behind this statement and pulled Sheng Jianan towards him, shamelessly getting very close to him and asking, "Can I be like him? What's our relationship?"

Jiang Chi's possessiveness towards Sheng Jianan had grown stronger as he aged, and Sheng Jianan had long since grown accustomed to it. However, it was unfortunate that this possessiveness had nothing to do with love.

Although Sheng Jianan knew that he was destined to fall for Jiang Chi and had been prepared for it for a long time, he still couldn't help feeling disappointed. In the countless moments when Jiang Chi was good to him, he occasionally had a fleeting thought that maybe Jiang Chi had a slight attraction to him. Perhaps he could change the trajectory of the novel.

But perhaps was just perhaps. Life was not easy to come by. Since he couldn't control his feelings, he could at least control his actions and hide his emotions so that Jiang Chi would never find out. When his destined other half appeared, he could safely leave without getting involved in their affairs.

Sheng Jianan lowered his eyelashes.

"You see, as soon as I leave you, you get harassed by others." Jiang Chi's voice interrupted Sheng Jianan's contemplation. He looked up and heard Jiang Chi take advantage of the moment to make a request, "So we can't be separated. You have to call me the next time you go back, okay?"

"You left, and I couldn't even eat today." Jiang Chi muttered.

Sheng Jianan remained silent.

In the past, he had indeed been harassed because of his overly attractive appearance, and it was mostly Jiang Chi who had resolved his troubles. Jiang Chi had fought for him since they were young, and he had lost count of how many times he had fought for him.

Therefore, in high school, many classmates jokingly referred to Jiang Chi as his personal bodyguard. When Sheng Jianan went east, Jiang Chi would never go west. Putting aside their predetermined future, Jiang Chi was truly a very, very good friend.

Sheng Jianan nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. Are you hungry now? I'll accompany you to eat."

"No need, let's just have dinner later." Jiang Chi hugged Sheng Jianan, whom he hadn't seen all morning, and was very satisfied. He suddenly felt that the saying "love makes the world go round" was true, because they had the closest relationship in the world.

This time, Sheng Jianan went home alone because his mother said she missed him and had made some food for him. Jiang Chi happened to be in class, so he took the opportunity to go home for a visit. As in the past, they usually went home together.

Their two families lived in the same community, and their parents had known each other since they were very young and had a good relationship. Although Jiang Chi's family was always very rich and even richer later on, considering that the two children had a good relationship and had to play together every day, no matter how many new houses Jiang Chi's parents bought, they still spent most of their time in the old house in this area.

Jiang Chi himself even told his parents when he was a child that all the new houses should prepare two rooms, one for him and one for Sheng Jianan. Of course, they could also live in a big room together, as he wouldn't mind.

Because of these things, Jiang Chi's mother had teased him a lot, saying that he had found himself a child bride. But of course, Sheng Jianan naturally refused to go, so Jiang Chi stayed in the old house.

When they arrived at the dorm, Sheng Jianan took out a few small gift boxes from his backpack filled with snowflake pastries and biscuits. Jiang Chi could tell right away that they were made by Sheng's mom. Sheng Jianan was always frail and sickly, often needing to take bitter medicine. His mom would always make some delicious and healthy desserts to cheer him up.

Sheng's mom was in charge of making the treats, while Jiang was in charge of cheering him up. Jiang leaned against the desk next to Sheng Jianan and asked, "Why did your mom prepare so many?"

Sheng Jianan picked up two of the boxes and placed them on the desks of their absent roommates. Then, he placed the last box on the bookshelf and said, "This one is for Ling Mo."

After he finished dividing the boxes, Jiang Chi looked around and then suddenly pushed Sheng Jianan from behind, trapping him against the desk. His warm breath tickled Sheng Jianan's ear as he dodged to the side. Jiang Chi chuckled and said, "They all have one, but I don't?"

Jiang Chi rested his chin on the side of his face, one hand around his waist, as if threatening him. If Sheng Jianan had said no, he would have hugged him tighter. Sheng Jianan glanced at him from the corner of his eye and then pulled out another box from his backpack and opened it. "My mom said that since we're always together, she didn't prepare a separate box for you. She put ours together."

Jiang Chi was very satisfied with Sheng's mom's approach. This was how he and Sheng Jianan should be, intimate and inseparable. Jiang Chi happily picked up a snowflake pastry and fed it to Sheng Jianan's mouth, then threw one into his own mouth and said with a smile, "Who's Auntie? She's my real mom."

As he spoke, his hand that was around Sheng Jianan's waist suddenly pinched lightly. This was Sheng Jianan's sensitive spot, and he instinctively dodged to the side.

Without noticing, Jiang Chi hugged the person back, "Why did you get thinner again? Did you not eat today?"

Sheng Jianan casually picked up a biscuit, "I did eat. No matter how much I eat, I don't gain weight. You know that already."

Jiang Chi touched his stomach and realized that he really wasn't gaining any weight. He had been watching him eat all day, but he still hadn't gained any weight.

Sheng Jianan had a physique that was not easy to gain weight. No matter how much delicious food the Jiang and Sheng families fed him since childhood, his waist remained thin, and Jiang Chi could circle it with one hand.

Sheng Jianan wanted to take his hand down, but he was instead held by Jiang Chi's wrist, intentionally wrapped around by his whole hand.

"My hand is bigger than yours." Jiang Chi scratched his palm and gestured.

Sheng Jianan glanced at it twice, pulled his palm out, and pushed him away a bit. "It's too hot. When are you going to play basketball? Remember to bring the biscuits for Ling Mo."

As soon as he heard about basketball, Jiang Chi remembered the unpleasant scene from earlier.

"Even the best of friends will eventually part ways. Senior Sheng will eventually have new friends and love interests," Cen Jinhui's bitter voice crossed Jiang Chi's mind.

"I'm not going." Jiang Chi refused without hesitation. "You don't have any classes I can mooch off of these past two days."

As he spoke, Jiang Chi looked sideways at Sheng Jianan, who was slowly nibbling on a biscuit, with a bit of crumbs on his lips.

Noticing his gaze, Sheng Jianan glanced over. "What's wrong?"

"Jianan," Jiang Chi asked, "do you want to date someone?"

____________________________

The author has something to say:

The original owner's body was not stolen, and there is an explanation in the last chapter~