Shi Jihan is a graduate student who dies from exhaustion after pulling multiple all-nighters and submitting a paper he considers dregs. Upon waking, he finds himself transmigrated into a fictional world that merges three romance novels. He has become Shi Jihan, a malicious cannon fodder destined for a tragic end. In the original plot, he competes with his elder brother Shi Bochuan for inheritance, humiliates himself trying to seduce his second brother's lover, and is eventually exiled to Australia. He is bound to a system named 000, which tasks him with accumulating malice value to earn a chance at rebirth. The system offers a conversion rate where malice points can be exchanged for cash, motivating Shi Jihan to embrace his role as a corporate slave in this new life.
Shi Jihan enters the Shi family company, an international luxury goods group, to face his brother Shi Bochuan and his nominal brother-in-law Shen Qinghuai. Shen Qinghuai is married to Shi Bochuan in a contractual arrangement and leads a fashion design project that Shi Jihan previously sabotaged. Instead of causing chaos, Shi Jihan adopts a lazy, unambitious persona, refusing to work overtime and avoiding conflict. His refusal to play the villain confuses those around him. When he accidentally insults Zhou Jingcheng, the male lead of one of the source novels, he gains malice value through sheer incompetence and blunt honesty rather than calculated malice.
A key turning point occurs during a high-society banquet hosted by the Zhou family. Shi Jihan is tasked with ruining Shen Qinghuai's reputation to secure an investment from Mr. Wang. However, his bizarre behavior and accidental insights lead Mr. Wang to view Shen Qinghuai as a strategic genius, resulting in a successful partnership. Shi Jihan's attempt to sabotage the event backfires, earning him public admiration for his cuteness rather than hatred. This意外 success creates a debt of negative malice value, forcing him to find new ways to generate income.
Shi Jihan is then assigned to a tennis club where he encounters Zhou Jingcheng again. He attempts to humiliate Zhou Jingcheng but ends up losing the match due to his lack of skill. Despite this, his flattery and accidental provocations continue to generate malice points. Later, when a rival company attempts to poach Zhou Jingcheng with an extravagant dinner, Shi Jihan intercepts the menu and replaces the expensive dishes with ten plates of smashed cucumbers. This prank ruins the rival's attempt to win Zhou Jingcheng's favor and secures the business for the Shi family.
Throughout these events, the dynamics between the characters shift. Shi Bochuan begins to see his younger brother as innocent and harmless, planning to give him shares. Shen Qinghuai, initially hostile, finds himself relying on Shi Jihan's unconventional methods. The story follows Shi Jihan's struggle to navigate his role as a villain while secretly wanting a comfortable life. He uses his knowledge of the plot and modern corporate tactics to manipulate situations to his advantage, often with unintended comedic results. His journey is marked by a series of misunderstandings where his lazy and self-serving actions are interpreted as deep strategic moves by those around him.
