The Supporting Male Characters Who Died Alone All Those Years Later

Nian Shiyu’s face was covered in tears as she looked at He Dongchen with misty eyes. Hadn’t Big Brother promised to protect me forever?

He Dongchen sighed, attributing it to the original owner’s actions.

Just as he was about to speak, the homeroom teacher, sweating profusely, came looking for him with the test papers. Seeing He Dongchen surrounded by a group of people, the teacher thought he was injured and quickly squeezed into the middle, grabbing He Dongchen and asking, “What happened? Are you hurt?”

He Dongchen shook his head. “No, I just got delayed a bit by opening the door.”

The homeroom teacher, having heard about He Dongchen’s actions from other teachers, felt both relieved and worried. “Next time something big like this happens, find a teacher. Don’t take risks yourself. What if you got hit by a student rushing out? What if the fire got out of control?”

There was another thought the homeroom teacher didn’t voice; What if he couldn’t open the door in time to save people? He Dongchen would have been drowned in a sea of criticism. No one would think he tried his best or that the door couldn’t be opened; they would only blame him for not asking a teacher for help.

He Dongchen sensed the homeroom teacher’s unspoken words, feeling touched. He then slightly nodded, casting a half-smiling glance at Nian Shiwen and Nian Shiyu beside him, as if to say, even the homeroom teacher knew his actions were dangerous, yet these self-proclaimed siblings demanded he do something even more dangerous.

How ironic.

The onlookers snapped back to reality. Yes, why were Nian Shiwen and his sister angrily questioning He Dongchen for not going upstairs to rescue people?

How could he have done that in such an emergency? Going against the flow of people, braving the thick smoke? Rushing around the experimental building like a headless chicken?

That would have only added to the chaos of the rescue efforts.

The homeroom teacher sensed the subtle atmosphere and grabbed a nearby student to ask what had happened. Upon learning the details, the teacher became furious, placing hands on hips and shouting at the Nian siblings, “Have you been watching too many idol dramas? Rushing in to save people! Do you think you’re superheroes? Have you studied for nothing?”

The class teacher went on and on, lecturing the two for the entire afternoon, determined to make them understand that this kind of thinking was extremely dangerous and unacceptable!

Nian Shiwen and Nian Shiyu didn’t dare to talk back, looking like wilted cabbage, dejected and listless.

He Dongchen covered his mouth and chuckled softly from the side. The weather was really nice today.

***

Afterward, Father He somehow found out about the events of the afternoon. His gaze toward the Nian siblings now carried a hint of scrutiny.

Having my son risk his life to save people? What nerve! The son I cherished with my life—why should he risk his life for them?

The He family fell into a tense silence, the quiet almost terrifying.

Father He didn’t even want to see Nian Yao’s concerned face and went on a business trip, not returning for half a month.

Nian Yao remained clueless, busy caring for the siblings who had narrowly escaped death. She even went out of her way to buy a basket of their favorite hairy crabs and meticulously shelled them for them.

“Xu Yan, why aren’t you eating?” Nian Yao asked, still taking the time to care for her stepson.

Lu Xuyan, slouched in his chair, replied in a low voice, “No appetite.”

His hand under the table turned slightly, causing a faint pain that made him frown and grow more impatient.

The other three didn’t notice; Lu Xuyan was always like this, appearing uninterested in everything.

***

The fire incident had a significant impact. Orders came from above to thoroughly investigate and eliminate any hazards, resulting in a two-day school break. He Dongchen didn’t want to go home, so he spent those two days at the Wen family’s house.

Wen Qiqi shoved her phone screen in front of He Dongchen. “Your door-opening incident is all over the internet.”

The video was very complete, showing He Dongchen’s reaction when he heard noises while passing by the laboratory building, his sprinting to find something to break the door, the handsome way he pulled the door open, and the panicked students swarming out, crying with relief after escaping.

With passionate background music, the entire video was incredibly moving, bringing tears to the eyes of anyone who watched it.

He Dongchen’s identity was revealed online, along with Nian Shiwen’s words, leading to a wave of ridicule.

Siblings with no blood relation, who had just become a family half a year ago, how could they self-righteously demand that someone risk their life to save others?

There were even some with dark thoughts, secretly believing that Nian Shiwen had ulterior motives. Didn’t these rich family dramas always play out this way? The stepson brought by the stepmother scheming against the legitimate son for the family inheritance.

He Dongchen didn’t pay attention to the online gossip and drama.

2 days later, He Dongchen returned to school, attending classes as usual and working on his new writings.

***

Time flew by.

The next summer, He Dongchen walked out of the exam hall.

Father He, who had been waiting outside, didn’t ask about his grades. Instead, he handed He Dongchen a bottle of water and asked, “What are your plans for the summer? Do you want to intern at Dad’s company?”

He Dongchen opened the bottle, took a refreshing sip, and replied, “I’m planning to check out the website side of things.”

“Alright.” Father He was disappointed but didn’t stop him. He thought about giving a warning to the management over there later, to make sure they wouldn’t take advantage of his young son.

When he got home, Nian Shiwen and the others weren’t there. He Dongchen went to his room to start packing. “I’m an adult now. I’m planning to move out.”

Father He opened his mouth, then finally said, “Leave a key for Dad…”

Later, when Nian Yao and the others discovered that He Dongchen had moved out, they also noticed that Father He often went over to eat and stay the night.

To outsiders, it seemed like they had driven away the legitimate heir and taken over, but they knew well that wherever Father He was, that was the real home. They had just changed houses.

Because of the fire incident, the Nian siblings were severely criticized and had completely drifted apart from He Dongchen, living separate lives without interfering with each other.

Although Nian Shiyu still had two older brothers protecting her, she couldn’t handle the constant grievances and often felt down. It shouldn’t have been like this…

Wasn’t an older brother supposed to protect his younger sister?

In late June, the results came out, and He Dongchen once again topped the charts as the valedictorian. Father He was overjoyed, flooding his Moments with posts.

He Dongchen initially wanted to decline interviews, but considering the website needed publicity, he accepted two interviews to promote his novels as an author.

This shocked the onlookers.

Look at him! While achieving top scores, he also wrote several novels with remarkable success. This disparity with the rest of the world was overwhelming.

Many people flocked to the website, eagerly finishing the novels and frantically urging for updates on the ongoing series.

Even with eight hands, He Dongchen couldn’t satisfy their insatiable appetites. Gradually, readers began to turn their attention to other novels, enjoying them as well.

For a while, the website’s traffic surged, leaving the pirated sites envious and frustrated! They coveted the traffic but couldn’t steal it!

Authors from other websites had long heard that Green Net’s anti-piracy system was foolproof. Seeing its effectiveness, they were eager to join.

He Dongchen entered the company and quickly took over the management. Since he had provided a powerful anti-piracy system before, he faced no obstacles.

Everyone was smart enough not to oppose a capable boss with backing.

He Dongchen thrived in the company, making significant reforms, setting future development directions, nurturing authors, increasing publicity, and relentlessly combating piracy.

***

4 years passed in the blink of an eye. By the time He Dongchen graduated from college, Green Net had become the largest original novel website in the country, with countless authors under its wing. Getting a contract became increasingly difficult, and many people pleaded desperately for a chance.

As Green Net grew, authors switched platforms, and readers followed. Other websites saw massive drops in traffic and were forced to address their piracy issues. Those with resources developed their own solutions, while those without directly purchased Green Net’s system.

As one website after another strengthened its defenses, the piracy sites couldn’t steal anything, leading to their impotent rage and eventual disappearance from the internet.

Years later, people had no idea that piracy had once been a thing.

He Dongchen maintained a pace of writing one novel a year, gradually publishing several books. With his scholarly aura and good looks, he became quite popular online.

One day, a film company approached him, wanting to adapt his novel into a movie.

He Dongchen had kept a low profile over the years, so the visitors didn’t know he was the owner of Green Net. They kept praising and expressing their admiration for his novel, not taking him seriously and instead engaging the vice president, who often appeared in public

The vice president felt awkward, sneaking glances at the young boss sitting nearby, who’s casually twirling pen seemed to symbolize his career’s fate.

He cleared his throat, interrupting the visitors, and solemnly pointed to He Dongchen, saying, “Allow me to introduce, this is our company’s owner.”

The visitors were confused. Wasn’t he just an author? How could he be the owner?

They hesitated for a moment, quickly regained their composure, and warmly engaged in conversation with He Dongchen.

After listening to their lengthy and verbose talk, He Dongchen finally said, “I want to be the screenwriter.”

How could I let someone else butcher my creation?

The visitors looked troubled, forcing a smile and saying, “There’s a significant difference between an author and a screenwriter.”

“Oh,” He Dongchen responded coldly.

Then, not long after, the visitors attended their company’s shareholders meeting and saw He Dongchen sitting at the head of the table.

They must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day!

He Dongchen smiled. His first action after assuming control was to adapt his novel into a film, personally overseeing the adaptation.

People in the industry were stunned. Did we wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Because he couldn’t adapt his own work, He Dongchen angrily acquired the film company?!

This was the kind of plot even novels wouldn’t dare to write.

The vice president of Green Net remained calm and said, “What’s there to be excited about? Back then, this young boss was so unhappy about his novels being pirated that he developed an anti-piracy system.”

It was just basic operations.

Nowadays, a significant portion of the company’s revenue came from selling the system, which had expanded from online literature to include comics and films.

Some companies even came with bags of money to have custom systems designed by the young boss.

On the surface, it might seem like a novel website, but in reality, it was run by a tech genius.