The Billionaire I Was Never Meant to Love

Chapter 1: Transmigration At midnight, lightning split the sky. The rain had not yet begun, but the air was already heavy with a sense of tragedy. When Nuo Nuo regained consciousness, she hit the ground hard. A teenage boy beside her, his voice hoarse with anxiety, hurried to help her up. "Nuo Nuo, are you okay?" It hurt. It hurt so much. Supported by the boy, Nuo Nuo struggled to stand. Something had sliced open her knee, and tears welled in her eyes as she fought the urge to cry. The boy looked frantic. Lowering his voice, he whispered, "Shh! Nuo Nuo, don't make a sound. Let's get farther away. Don't be afraid—I promise I'll get you out of here." Cold sweat covered the girl's forehead beneath the night sky, damp strands of hair clinging to her cheeks. She was only seventeen, yet already breathtakingly beautiful—three parts seductive, seven parts innocent. In the darkness, the boy couldn't clearly see her face. Supporting her, he hurried forward. She had just fallen with a loud crash. If they didn't run now, there would be no escape. The pain became unbearable. She let out a tiny sob. The next second, fierce barking erupted from the darkness. One after another, the lights inside the villa came on. The boy's body stiffened. He began trembling. "H-He found us..." Grabbing Nuo Nuo's hand, he tried to drag her away. Nuo Nuo blinked. Who? Who found us? What was happening? She had been sleeping peacefully in her dorm room. Before bed, her roommate had dramatically summarized an absurdly melodramatic romance novel, making everyone laugh hysterically. Yet now she had somehow woken up in the middle of the night, being dragged along in a desperate escape. She didn't even know this boy. And she hurt too much to run. It felt as if her knee had shattered. She shook free from his grip. The boy froze and turned around. "What's wrong?" Large tears rolled down her cheeks. She had already concluded that the boy was a little dense—well-meaning, but not exactly perceptive. Before she could answer, several enormous dogs charged toward them, arriving in an instant. The pain no longer mattered. Nuo Nuo was terrified of dogs. When she was little, she had been bitten by one. The trauma had been carved into her bones. With her injured leg, escape was impossible. Despair flooded her heart. The boy was frightened too, yet suddenly he forced himself to calm down and stepped in front of her protectively. Three enormous black German Shepherds raced toward them through the darkness. Only when they came close did Nuo Nuo recognize the breed. She burst into tears. Clutching the back of the boy's shirt, she stared at them in horror. German Shepherds. Military dogs. Even if they were eaten alive, the dogs probably wouldn't be full afterward. Yet amid her terror, a strange sense of familiarity crept over her. Her roommate's laughter echoed in her ears. "Let me tell you about this classic old-school CEO romance from Jinjiang called The Tyrannical CEO's Seventeen-Year-Old Runaway Wife. At the beginning, the runaway heroine tries to escape at night with another boy, but the CEO's German Shepherds come charging out and nearly maul the boy to death..." Nuo Nuo began trembling. Before her eyes, one of the shepherds sank its teeth into the boy's leg. Blood spread across the ground. One dog sniffed at Nuo Nuo's feet. Its tail swished once. Ignoring her completely, it turned and joined the others in attacking the boy. The teenager clenched his teeth without making a sound, punching desperately at the dogs. They paid him no attention. He really might end up crippled... Nuo Nuo shook uncontrollably. Seeing the blood pooling beneath him, she gritted her teeth and suddenly threw herself around one of the shepherds. "Don't bite him!" Her voice came out unexpectedly soft and sweet. To her astonishment, the dog actually released its grip. It barked fiercely at her instead, as though issuing a warning. Her legs went weak. But realizing the dogs wouldn't attack her, she hurriedly pulled the other two away as well. By the time she succeeded, she was completely overwhelmed. She collapsed onto the ground with a thud. Moments later, a group of men dressed in black hurried over. Someone held an umbrella. A pair of polished leather shoes stopped before her. Their owner walked with effortless elegance. Looking down at her, he spoke lazily. "Did you have fun?" Nuo Nuo looked up through tear-filled eyes. She couldn't see his face clearly. The man radiated cold nobility and danger. Although the rain had not yet begun, a black umbrella already sheltered him. Only the small space around him lay beneath a patch of darkness. Her voice trembled. "Qiu Li?" He didn't answer. Instead, he gave a low chuckle, seemingly amused that she dared address him by name. Nuo Nuo's heart sank. She had really transmigrated into the novel. So this was the beginning. She had tried to elope. And Qiu Li had caught her. The boy had called her "Nuo Nuo." Which meant... She was Song Nuo Nuo. Only then did she remember. Song Nuo Nuo wasn't the heroine. Her younger twin sister, Song Lian, was. This was one of Jinjiang Literature City's classic early CEO romance novels. At the beginning of the story, Song Nuo Nuo was sent to Qiu Li. She begged her classmate Hang Rui to help her escape. The boy secretly loved her, so he agreed without hesitation. As a result, Hang Rui was nearly mauled to death by Qiu Li's dogs. Qiu Li merely remarked indifferently, "If she wants to run, don't let her come back." Song Nuo Nuo was sent back to the Song family. The Songs were on the verge of bankruptcy. In desperation, they sent Song Lian in her place. Unlike her sister, Song Lian was the true heroine—righteous, fearless, and unwilling to bow before such a tyrannical man. She tried to escape too. But because she was the heroine... Everything was different. Although Qiu Li still caught her, he found her adorable instead. After countless clashes and misunderstandings, they eventually fell in love. As for Song Nuo Nuo... Her attempted elopement became a joke. Hang Rui's injuries destroyed his promising future. His family forced Song Nuo Nuo to spend her life caring for him. She was an illegitimate daughter despised by the Song family. At first, she remained loyal and stayed with Hang Rui. But poverty slowly crushed her spirit. Both of them missed the college entrance examination. Neither received a proper education. Years later, watching Song Lian marry into wealth while Qiu Li became even more powerful and handsome, Song Nuo Nuo could no longer accept her fate. She abandoned Hang Rui and returned to Qiu Li. Only to suffer an even more tragic ending. The "runaway wife" in the novel had always been Song Lian. Yet now... The runaway girl was her. Recalling the plot, Nuo Nuo wanted to cry. She had become the illegitimate supporting character with the worst ending. Worse still— She was seventeen again. If she wanted to escape her fate, she'd have to survive another year of high school... And take the college entrance exam all over again. In her original world, she had already finished her first year of university. One night of sleep... And she had returned to square one. Thinking about endless mock exams and mountains of review books made her head spin. But there was something more urgent. She had to save Hang Rui. She couldn't reveal she wasn't the real Song Nuo Nuo. Her dirty little hands hovered in the air. She didn't dare touch Qiu Li. Supporting female characters never ended well after touching the male lead. Swallowing her pride, she wiped away her tears, knelt before him, and said in a trembling voice, "President Qiu... it's all my fault. I was childish. I'm sorry." She looked pitiful, tears falling endlessly. Qiu Li raised an eyebrow in surprise. The three German Shepherds crouched at his side, waiting silently for a single command. Hang Rui gritted his teeth and staggered toward her. "Don't beg this devil." The "devil" merely glanced at them coldly. Nuo Nuo avoided Hang Rui's hand. She understood better than anyone. This man truly was a devil. What belonged to him... If he couldn't have it... He would destroy it. In the original story, both she and Hang Rui had been completely ruined because of this night. She couldn't allow history to repeat itself. She raised her tear-filled eyes toward Qiu Li. Lightning illuminated the villa grounds. For the first time, he saw her face clearly. Despite her miserable appearance, she resembled a peach blossom in full bloom—radiantly beautiful, yet breathtakingly pure. Her bright, innocent eyes pleaded silently. Qiu Li's gaze remained icy. After a long silence... He reached out. His fingers wrapped around her slender neck. It was so delicate.