A Rich Second-generation Villain Can’t Just Enjoy Life — Chapter 433

Chapter 433: The Chicken Fillet Dropped, and a Protagonist’s Hope Died With It

Long Hao rubbed his rumbling stomach. Since his rebirth, it had been over a day, and he still hadn’t eaten.

The void in his stomach was a gnawing, acidic pit, a constant reminder of his powerless state. That feeling was magnified a thousandfold by the phantom tastes and smells still haunting his memory from Zhenxiu Pavilion. He could almost feel the buttery texture of the seared foie gras melting on his tongue, the delicate aroma of the black truffle soup, the crisp sweetness of the iced dessert wine. But it wasn’t his memory; it was the memory of watching Shen Anyu indulge.

He had watched his nemesis, the man who stole his life and his fiancée, being flanked by the impossibly beautiful Xu sisters. Xu Ruoshui and Xu Ruoxue, a pair of celestial twins, had catered to Shen Anyu’s every whim, their slender fingers peeling fruits and refilling his glass with a reverence usually reserved for an emperor. The sight had been a spear of pure, unadulterated envy straight through Long Hao’s heart, twisting in the wound of his hunger.

*‘Family, who can understand this feeling?’* he lamented internally, his stomach clenching painfully. The injustice was a bitter pill. To be reborn with knowledge of the future, only to be starving on a street corner while the villain who ruined you feasts like a king… it was a humiliation that burned hotter than any physical pain. The man enjoying that life, that opulence, those women, should have been *him*.

The sheer injustice of it all fed a burgeoning fire of resentment. Every pang of hunger was another log on the pyre of his hatred for Shen Anyu.

[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao feels intense envy. Plundering +9996 Destiny Points!]

[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao feels the bitterness of injustice. Plundering +9998 Destiny Points!]

[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao’s resentment deepens. Plundering +10021 Destiny Points!]

Unaware that his emotional turmoil was only enriching his enemy, Long Hao scowled, kicking a loose pebble on the sidewalk. “Damn it,” he muttered under his breath, the words laced with venom. “That bastard Shen Anyu eats so well… he really knows how to live.”

A grimace twisted his features before slowly morphing into a determined, almost delusional smirk. “Just you wait. In the future, I’ll live even better than him. The food I eat will be rarer, the wine more expensive, and the women serving me… they’ll be a hundred times more beautiful.”

He closed his eyes, painting a vivid picture in his mind: himself, seated at the head of a grand banquet table, with Su Hongmian on one side and a dozen other peerless beauties on the other, all looking at him with adoration. The fantasy was a potent drug, momentarily soothing the ache in his stomach and soul.

Across the street, hidden behind the tinted privacy glass of a silently idling Maybach, Shen Anyu watched the pathetic display with a faint, mocking smile. He held a crystal glass of aged whiskey, the amber liquid swirling gently as he observed Long Hao’s foolish grin. The Child of Destiny was like an ant in a jar, completely oblivious to the god watching its every move. To him, Long Hao’s grand ambitions were nothing more than the laughable delusions of a cornered rat.

Finally succumbing to his hunger, Long Hao located a street food vendor and bought three hand-pulled pancakes, loaded with egg, sausage, and crispy chicken strips. The greasy, savory aroma was intoxicating. He devoured the first one in three massive bites, the warm food a balm to his empty stomach. With a renewed sense of purpose, he ambled toward his next destination: Tianji Pavilion.

But as he arrived at the familiar address, his confident stride faltered. He stopped, his second pancake halfway to his mouth.

“Huh? Wait… where’s Tianji Pavilion?” His eyes scanned the street, a knot of confusion tightening in his gut. “Such a massive, famous Tianji Pavilion… where did it go?”

His gaze slowly lifted to the brand-new sign hanging where the ancient, mystical plaque of Tianji Pavilion should have been. Gaudy, pink-and-purple neon lights blinked aggressively, spelling out: “Aunt Bai’s Foot Bath & Spa.”

Long Hao stood utterly frozen, completely dumbfounded.

*‘What… what is going on?’* His mind raced, refusing to process the scene before him. *‘Where is Tianji Pavilion? Did I take a wrong turn? Am I on the wrong street?’*

He frantically retraced his steps, checking street signs and landmarks. No, this was the place. His memory, reinforced by the countless hours he’d spent in his past life watching livestreams exploring Magic City’s Antique Street, was flawless. Tianji Pavilion was supposed to be right here. How in the hell had it become a cheap-looking foot massage parlor?

“Tianji Pavilion?”

A voice snapped him out of his spiraling confusion. The owner of a neighboring antique shop, an old man polishing a vase, had overheard his frantic muttering. The man sighed with a hint of nostalgia.

“Ah, you’re looking for Tianji Pavilion? It closed down about half a month ago. The shop was sold, and now it’s… well, that,” he said, gesturing with his chin toward the garish neon sign.

He leaned against his doorframe, warming to the topic. “Speaking of which, Master Chen Tianji of Tianji Pavilion… now *there* was a true master. His fortune-telling was unbelievably accurate, practically a divine art. He could read your entire fate, good or bad, with a single glance.”

The old man’s eyes twinkled with the memory. “I still remember the day it opened. Master Chen pointed at a man walking by and declared the fellow was wearing a green hat. Sure enough, the man’s wife was cheating on him! It caused a huge scene, but it proved Master Chen’s skill was the real deal.”

[Akarin’s Note: Wearing a “green hat” is a common Chinese slang for being cuckolded.]

“His price was steep, of course—100,000 Yuan per divination—but people lined up for it. It was worth every single Yuan. A pity, really. They say Master Chen decided to go travel the world, so he sold the shop. A man of his caliber was never going to stay in a small place like our Antique Street forever.”

*‘What?’*

*‘Celestial Master Chen Tianji… went traveling the world?’*

The words hit Long Hao like a physical blow. His hand went limp. The half-eaten pancake slipped from his grasp, and the crispy chicken strip, the most precious part, tumbled out and landed with a soft, pathetic *splat* in the street dust.

He was utterly, completely dumbfounded. What kind of bizarre, unexpected plot twist was this? The script of his rebirth had gone completely off the rails.

[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao’s mentality has shattered! Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]

[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao is doubting his very existence! Confidence severely impacted! Plundering +66666 Destiny Points!]

From the comfort of his Maybach, Shen Anyu chuckled softly, taking a slow sip of his whiskey. The system notifications were like sweet music.

*‘Chen Tianji traveling the world… yes, that’s correct, in a sense,’* he mused, a cruel glint in his eyes. *‘More accurately, it’s Chen Tianji’s ashes that are traveling the world, scattered to the four winds. A fitting end for a man who tried to peek into a fate he had no right to see.’*

“Traveling the world… how am I supposed to find him now?” Long Hao whispered, his voice trembling with despair. In his past life, Chen Tianji was a cornerstone of this street, a reclusive master who, while occasionally leaving for short trips, would never abandon his sacred shop. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Customer, feeling tired? How about a nice, relaxing foot bath?” A stout, middle-aged woman with a disturbingly eager smile appeared at the spa’s entrance, breaking his trance.

“No! No, thank you!” Long Hao waved his hands frantically, backing away as if she’d offered him poison. How could he possibly be in the mood for a foot bath when his future plans were crumbling into dust around him?

He turned and stumbled away, his face a mask of grim frustration. *‘Chen Tianji is gone. The first major investment I planned is completely gone. I can’t even find him!’*

He sighed, a wave of exhaustion washing over him. *‘Nothing has gone smoothly since I was reborn. I just hope… I truly hope my plan to invest in the Immortal Doctor, Lu Ran, will finally work out!’*

Clinging to this last shred of hope, Long Hao returned to the designated stall location and began to wait.

Meanwhile, Shen Anyu casually scrolled through his phone. A secure message had just arrived from one of his subordinates, containing a full intelligence dossier on Lu Ran.

The file painted a picture of classic, tragic hardship. Lu Ran, twenty-three years old, an unremarkable graduate from Magic City Industrial University. His parents had perished in a car accident when he was seven, leaving him, his younger sister Lu Qiong, and his grandfather Lu Qing to fend for themselves. But fate hadn’t finished with them. His sister was chronically ill, and recently, his grandfather had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, followed by a devastating cancer diagnosis.

To pay for the mounting medical bills, Lu Ran worked a menial job during the day and came to the Antique Street at night to sell small, intricate handicrafts made by his bedridden sister. The file described his life as “exceptionally difficult.”

Shen Anyu’s lips curled into a knowing smile. On the surface, Lu Ran was just another unfortunate soul lost in the massive city. But to someone like him, the pattern was as clear as day.

*‘Parents deceased? Standard protagonist configuration, check.’*

*‘Has a dependent sister and owns a house? Standard protagonist configuration number two, check.’*

*‘Such a miserable, tragic backstory to kick things off? Classic. Nine times out of ten, this boy is a Child of Destiny.’*

Shen Anyu’s analysis continued, his thoughts dripping with cynicism. *‘Next, he’ll probably acquire a System, stumble upon an ancient treasure that requires a blood bond, or conveniently fall off a cliff and land on a secret inheritance. Then begins the grand counterattack—the face-slapping, the rise to power, the journey to the pinnacle of life. If a dump truck were to hit him and fail to kill him, I’d be a hundred percent certain.’*

As he mused on these tired tropes, a subtle shift in the flow of energy in the air caught his attention. He looked up from his phone, his gaze sweeping to his left rear.

*‘He’s here.’*

Shen Anyu’s eyes locked onto a young man hurrying through the crowd. He was in his early twenties, with a refined, scholarly face etched with worry and exhaustion. It was Lu Ran, exactly as the photo in the dossier had depicted.

Without hesitation, Shen Anyu secretly activated his Tianji Observation Technique.

His perception of the world warped. The mundane colors of the street faded to grey, and in their place, the invisible threads of fate and destiny became brilliantly visible. Above Lu Ran’s head, an astonishing sight unfolded. A dense canopy of golden-purple qi, the color of imperial destiny and immense wealth, swirled and intertwined like a coiling dragon. Beneath it, a vibrant, lush green qi, representing life force and longevity, pulsed with incredible power. Among all the Children of Destiny he had encountered, Lu Ran’s aura was one of the most potent, easily comparable to the likes of Long Hao and Ye Linyuan.

This was it. A top-tier protagonist.

*‘System, use the Son of Destiny Identifier. Appraise Lu Ran.’*

A robotic response echoed in his mind, but it was not what he expected.

[Ding! Appraisal failed. Lu Ran is not a Child of Destiny!]

Hmm?

Shen Anyu’s eyes narrowed, the amused smirk vanishing from his face, replaced by a look of sharp, predatory interest. *Not* a Child of Destiny? How was that possible? Everything—from Long Hao’s knowledge of the future “Immortal Doctor Lu Ran” to the overwhelming, imperial-level qi signature currently burning in his vision—screamed that this man was extraordinary. Few, even among the confirmed Children of Destiny, could boast an aura as magnificent as Lu Ran’s.

And yet, the system said no.

*‘Interesting,’* Shen Anyu thought, a genuine spark of curiosity ignited within him. He wasn’t disappointed. On the contrary, an anomaly was always far more intriguing than a predictable script.

At that moment, Long Hao’s eyes lit up as he spotted the refined young man hurrying toward him. He practically leaped forward, his face alight with desperate hope, and intercepted Lu Ran.

“Lu Ran, I need to talk to you about something!”

“You are?” Lu Ran stopped, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. He looked at the overly excited stranger with clear surprise, certain he had never seen this man before in his life.

“My name is Long Hao! It’s a pleasure to meet you. From now on, we’re going to be friends!” Long Hao said, struggling to suppress the overwhelming excitement in his voice.

Heaven, he could feel tears welling up. At this moment, Long Hao wanted to drop to his knees and weep.

It hadn’t been easy!

It had been so unbelievably, soul-crushingly difficult!

Since his rebirth, he had finally, *finally* met a future prominent figure who was still alive and accessible!

Not like the Shura Demon King, Chu Yun, who was already apprehended. Not like the War God, Yan Lingxiao, who was already dead. Not like Qi Fan, who had died a sudden and mysterious death. Not like Ye Yan and Xu Ping’an, who had vanished without a trace. And certainly not like Chen Tianji, who was off “traveling the world.”

A living one!

He had finally met a living, breathing, future powerhouse!

Immortal Doctor Lu Ran, I, Long Hao, am clinging to your thigh.