Admiring Fish from the Abyss

He Xianyu, Chancellor of the Lingxiao Kingdom, was tall, handsome, brilliant, and a top-tier Tianqian.

He spent his whole life working himself to the bone for his country and its people. But with an incompetent emperor above him and factions everywhere below, one slip was all it took for his political enemies to kill him.

He died, but that wasn't the end of it. The moment he opened his eyes, he had been reborn as a low-grade Dikun in a remote village, someone who had attempted suicide after being jilted.

As it happened, there was also a low-grade Dikun in the neighboring village who was being beaten by his spouse and was on the verge of death.

The chancellor grabbed a handful of melon seeds and went to watch the spectacle (strike that), to observe and learn how to be a Dikun from scratch.

The supposedly abused Dikun had a Tianqian by the throat, pinning him to the ground and pummeling him with a flurry of punches.

He Xianyu took a closer look. Well, would you look at that!

Wasn’t that his nemesis, General Ji Linyuan, the Defender of the Nation?

Ji Linyuan died on the road back from a victorious campaign. Until his final breath, he was convinced that He Xianyu had tried to take his life again.

But when he woke up, he heard that He Xianyu had confessed to his crimes and been executed six months earlier, his head displayed in public.

The Tianqian was beaten black and blue and ran around clutching his head, begging for mercy. “What else does my hero want to know? I’ll tell you everything!”

Ji Linyuan suddenly felt that life was pointless. But when he looked up, he caught sight of a familiar figure at the door. There was even a piece of melon seed shell at the corner of his mouth. He had punched too hard and knocked out his bargain-basement husband.

The instant their eyes met, he was sure He Xianyu had recognized him too.

Then that bastard turned around and ran.

He Xianyu thought that being reborn as a low-grade Dikun after dying was already bad enough. But it turned out things could get worse: he couldn't shake the person he hated, and even their gender changes had to happen in sync!

On a scorching hot day, he was wiping his arms by the river when Ji Linyuan appeared out of nowhere and accused him of failing to uphold Dikun virtue.

He Xianyu never let a grudge sit overnight. That very evening, he snuck into the kitchen and switched the salt jars. After everyone at the table had eaten until their faces turned green, he happened to pass by and mock Ji Linyuan for being a Dikun who couldn't even cook.

After that came a long, drawn-out battle. Even drawing little turtles on each other's embroidery was no big deal.

The former chancellor and general, now poor enough to chew tree bark, signed up together for a flower-appreciation contest with a thousand taels in prize money. Onstage, they exposed each other's secrets and accused one another of being neither virtuous nor proper.

Why did he have to die? Wouldn't it be better to just be a Tianqian? Why did this man have to compete with him at everything, wherever they went? After the contest, the two of them thought exactly the same thing.

When Ji Wei was in college, his favorite topic in history class was He Xianyu, the chancellor of the Lingxiao Kingdom a thousand years ago. The more he admired the chancellor, the more he hated the general who opposed him at every turn.

Before he could spend his whole life as the chancellor's most devoted solo fan, he inexplicably died and transmigrated.

He had arrived at a rather unfortunate point in time: the chancellor had already been executed and his body cremated.

But no matter. He had a mostly useless System that claimed he could revive his idol if he became a great villain and earned enough points.

Following the System's instructions, he finally collected enough points and sneaked into the chancellor's residence. There, he found a whole box of precious keepsakes that Chancellor He had treasured in life, to use as the medium for the revival ritual.

But the revival point went awry, and his chancellor ended up in a remote mountain village.

Ji Wei went to great lengths to find the reborn chancellor, only to discover in horror that the general had come back to life too?!

And nobody told him those two would get together?!

Reader's guide

Ancient-era ABO

Switch, one-on-one

Sickly former chancellor He Xianyu, a learned lecturer x energetic former general and hunter Ji Linyuan

Two nutjobs who kept competing over who was more of an alpha back when they were both Tianqian.

After they both became Dikun, they switched tracks and kept competing over who was more of an omega.

In truth, they’re an old married couple with emotional wiring so strange that they’re mutually in love without realizing it.

Goofy, with no regard for logic.

The actual story is even fluffier than the blurb.

There is a transmigrated supporting character with quite a lot of screen time, a devoted solo fan who turns into a couple shipper.

Saved on 2025.10.02

Saved on 2025.11.22. Everything except the tags may change.

Theme: Love