Do Straight Guys Have to Win Men Over Too?

The main story is complete.

Also promoting a lighthearted, goofy novel (probably), currently open for pre-orders: After Flirting with the Snowfield Messenger Who Had Been Widowed for Three Hundred Years. A beautiful top x a war god bottom (both big and small forms). The blurb is at the very end. If you like it, please add it to your favorites. Thank you~

Blurb:

An unconventional straight bottom and an unconventional cold top: a straight bottom who eventually catches on, and a cold top who loves saying dirty things.

Lu Yao transmigrates into a harem game and becomes one of the male consorts of a foolish emperor.

He looks left at an unfavored male consort whose tongue was cut out for enraging the emperor, then looks right at a cool, beloved consort who was poisoned and blinded.

Only then does he realize that men in the imperial harem have to scheme against one another too!!

So he immediately clings to the System: I want to go home!

But the System tells him: If you want to return alive, you have to win over the coldest Phoenix Lord, Xiao Jingyuan.

Lu Yao, the hopelessly straight man: I have no idea how to do that!

So he has no choice but to pursue him with the ironclad logic of a straight man:

He pretends to fall into the man's arms, his voice as booming as Liu, Guan, and Zhang swearing brotherhood in the Peach Garden: "Big brother, I fell down! Boo-hoo-hoo!"

Xiao Jingyuan: ...

Under the midday sun, Lu Yao follows the System's task and recites a love poem to the Phoenix Lord with deep feeling: "I raise my head and gaze at the bright moon..."

Xiao Jingyuan: …

Xiao Jingyuan remains expressionless and says little. Lu Yao loses every battle and stamps his feet in frustration.

Until one day, too lazy to keep pestering him, Lu Yao unexpectedly hears Xiao Jingyuan say to a maid, "Why hasn't he come to the study to see me today...?"

"Never mind. First, replace the daybed in the study. He said a few days ago that it hurt his back to sit on it."

"Also, make another folding fan just like the one the Princess Royal sent last time, and give it to him."

Lu Yao: "???"

Wait, who just said all that?

Bonus Scene:

On a winter day, Lu Yao sits with a fluffy blanket over his knees, flipping through the latest popular novel.

Xiao Jingyuan sits quietly nearby, sipping tea and sneaking glances at him between sips.

Lu Yao notices his gaze, which seems almost tangible. He rolls his eyes, pretends to turn a page casually, then suddenly turns to look at him.

Xiao Jingyuan freezes for a moment, then looks away.

Lu Yao narrows his eyes and asks, "Why are you rolling your eyes at me?"

Xiao Jingyuan: "..."

Ding-dong! Affection +1.

Lu Yao watches him suspiciously, pondering.

Ding-dong! Affection +1 again.

Hearing the affection score keep climbing while the Phoenix Lord remains cool and indifferent, Lu Yao advises him, "You need to learn how to express yourself."

Otherwise, how am I supposed to know what I did to make your affection go up?

Xiao Jingyuan turns to him, his gaze seeming to sweep over Lu Yao's pale pink lips. Taking his advice to heart, he calmly says, "You're so cute. I want to kiss you."

Lu Yao turns pale with shock. The novel flies out of his hands, and he stares at Xiao Jingyuan in horror, shaking him in disbelief. "What's wrong with you?!"

The cold, quiet Phoenix Lord from before wasn't like this!

Reader's Guide:

1. Absolutely monogamous, with both leads completely inexperienced.

2. The foolish emperor will be overthrown, and the leads are absolutely, definitely devoted to each other!

3. I'm no good at political intrigue, so don't read too deeply into it. The dynasty is entirely fictional, and the culture is universal.

4. The style is still lighthearted and silly. Also, may the straight bottom and the cold-faced, dirty-talking top rise up! (flops down)

5. A heads-up: later on, the top will love saying dirty things (loudly). It's not because he's lewd, but because he was born with little sense of shame.

Upcoming Story Blurb:

As a sword cultivator who follows the Unfeeling Dao, Wenren Xuan hopes to be just like most of the senior cultivators of the Unfeeling Dao.

Tie up his hair in a high ponytail, stick a blade of grass in his mouth, pick up his sword, and then find a cultivation partner!

There's no need to say how high the rate of finding a partner is among cultivators of the Unfeeling Dao.

Full of anticipation, he entered the Dao, only to...

Accidentally ascend to immortality.

After ascending, Wenren Xuan became a newly appointed celestial intern. He was told that to become a full-fledged immortal, he had to complete three internship assignments.

Taking the attitude that he should make the best of things, and that he could find a cultivation partner anywhere, maybe the quality would be even better in the celestial realm, Wenren Xuan readily accepted his first assignment as a celestial intern:

Subdue the water demon.

One wave sent Wenren Xuan flying to the ground.

Looking at the water demon whose strength far surpassed his own, Wenren Xuan gazed at the sky in dismay. "...Is this even reasonable?! Can someone do something about this?!"

The water demon grinned. "I didn't expect the celestial realm to worry I'd get bored and send me a little immortal to play with."

Just as Wenren Xuan was seriously considering which kind of tombstone would be most resistant to corrosion...

Snow swept down from the sky.

A gigantic white beast strode through the air, its wings blotting out the sky. Riding on its back was an immortal in white, beautiful as a painting, whose icy aura froze everything within ten miles.

He simply raised a finger and pointed.

The water demon that had put Wenren Xuan through three hours of agony instantly became an ice sculpture, its expression frozen forever.

Wenren Xuan stared blankly at that peerless face, and blurted out without thinking, "...Whoa, a beauty."

A fellow immortal who had just gotten back up fell back down with a thump, pretending to be dead again. Inside, he wailed: It's over, it's over! This kid really isn't afraid of dying! He actually dares to flirt with this ruthless man, who once froze even an ancient war god into an ice sculpture!

The entire celestial realm knows that Ling Yun Jue's heart froze the day his cultivation partner died.

Wenren Xuan knows nothing about this. He only thinks the beauty before him is both powerful and gorgeous, the perfect cultivation partner of his dreams. With stars in his eyes, he asks with complete sincerity, "Immortal Venerable, do you need a leg-hanging accessory?"

What he doesn't know is...

The cultivation partner whom Ling Yun Jue had mourned for a hundred years on Cold Mountain...

Was actually him.

Theme: Striving