A beautiful, cunning fox of a bottom who pretends to be sick × a roguish, carefree wandering stray-dog top
The capital has a famous diviner who can read fortunes, tell people's fates from their faces, ward off evil spirits, drive out demons, and read the feng shui of a place. There is nothing he cannot do.
Officials, merchants, commoners, and beggars all want him to tell their fortunes. They want his accurate readings, but they also want to see his true face, because rumors say he is a beauty.
Especially beautiful in his sickly state.
Everyone who has met Shang Yao knows he is frail. He pants every few steps and coughs every few more. His face is deathly pale, his lips faintly pink, and the corners of his eyes are tinged red. Yet in that very state, every frown and smile of his is so pitifully beautiful that people can't help but feel for him.
Especially when his eyes ripple with laughter, and he hides his face behind his sleeve as he cheerfully says that this fortune-reading will cost one hundred taels, not a coin less.
But nobody knows that the first thing Shang Yao does every morning is dye his light-colored hair black, soak his jade-green eyes in medicine until they turn black, then apply his homemade white powder to make himself look sickly.
Once everything is done, he heads out to do business.
Until one day, Wei Zhen catches him in the act of faking his illness.
Wei Zhen: "So this sickly act is fake. Are you in such a hurry to meet your maker? Is your fortune-telling fake too?"
Shang Yao: "Want me to tell your fortune, Wei Manor's orphan?"
Wei Zhen smiles. "Then let's hear what the charlatan has to say."
Shang Yao smiles. "A cursed star who brings ruin to your parents. Sooner or later, you'll bring ruin to yourself too."
His words come true.
With countless pursuers closing in at the edge of a cliff, Wei Zhen is badly wounded and has nowhere to run. Shang Yao stands opposite him, deathly ill and pale, holding a sword. But the blade is pointed at Wei Zhen.
"Stop loving me. Hate me instead."
The rain pours down, and the blood on the ground mingles with the rain. Shang Yao smiles helplessly. "Wei Lincheng, I've been deceiving you from the very beginning. All along, I only wanted to kill you."
A story about someone who pretends to be sick until he really is, who approaches under false pretenses but has true schemes, and who ultimately gives and receives genuine love.
P.S.
- Both are sharp-tongued, a couple who are always at odds in the art of verbal sparring.
- At first, they are like sworn enemies, constantly picking on each other and rolling their eyes at every opportunity. But when danger strikes, they are in it together. Once they realize their feelings, the top does most of the pursuing.
- In the middle and later parts of the story, after the events in the blurb, the bottom turns around and pursues his husband, but neither of them loses their sharp tongue.
- Both are romantically exclusive, one-on-one. They love each other fiercely, hate each other and love each other, and their actions always speak louder than their words.
Theme: It never hurts to have more than one skill
