I Was Supposed to Be a Servant, So How Did I Become a Husband-Raiser?

[The main story is complete. Thank you for your support.]

Novel blurb: I came to work as a page at the general's mansion, but the young master seems to think I'm his future husband, raised from childhood.

Character setup: soft, sunny, adorable bottom x extremely possessive, fatherly top

1. Rumor had it that the young master of the general's household suffered from a strange illness. On the fifteenth of every month, he ate people's hearts and livers. The children in the household came and went in endless succession, and when their bodies were carried out, their bellies were always empty. Yet the emperor couldn't bring himself to punish him, mindful of his father's military accomplishments, and continued to indulge him. Not a single court official dared speak up.

After hearing the rumors, the children sold by their families would rather become eunuchs in the palace than work at the general's mansion. Only little Rong Nuo, newly sold in the capital and completely unaware of the rumors, volunteered to go there.

Everything at the general's mansion was wonderful: the food was good, and the beds were comfortable.

There was just one problem: every night, someone with icy hands and feet would squeeze his neck.

2. When Wei Wuzheng was young, he accidentally contracted a venomous parasite in Lingnan. He needed blood to suppress the parasite inside him. But every child he recruited with a generous reward was terrified out of their wits and refused to stay in the mansion.

Then one day, Wei Wuzheng heard that a child had volunteered to come. He couldn't help wondering: Who could be so brave?

After nightfall, Wei Wuzheng crept into the child's room and clasped his icy fingers around the warm neck. The child shivered at the cold and, half-asleep, mistook Wei Wuzheng for his little brother. Without a word, he pulled the human icicle under the covers.

Wei Wuzheng was furious, and a chilling, ghostly aura poured from him.

Yet two warm little paws clung tightly to his hand.

From that day on, the child seemed to think he was a page who was being mistreated. He warmed Wei Wuzheng's hands and feet every day, and even saved him a piece of the snacks he couldn't bear to eat himself.

And the little bean was barely half his height...

3. Everyone who saw Rong Nuo enter the general's mansion shook their heads in pity, waiting for his tiny corpse to be carried out. But they waited and waited, only to hear that the mansion was no longer hiring children.

Some said the young master had recovered from his illness after eating Rong Nuo.

Others claimed they had seen little Rong Nuo at a banquet in the general's mansion. Not only had the child avoided being eaten, he had even grown chubby...

Later, the general's mansion held a wedding.

Looking at the young man beside Wei Wuzheng, dressed in the same red wedding robes, everyone wondered why he looked more and more like that little boy from years ago.

Hadn't he been eaten ages ago?

So the general's mansion hadn't been looking for a page at all. They'd been finding the young master a future husband to raise from childhood?

Bonus scene:

As a child, Rong Nuo asked Wei Wuzheng, "Could you please not eat me?"

Wei Wuzheng: (He thinks I'm a monster too T-T)

As an adult, Rong Nuo asked Wei Wuzheng, "Could you please not eat me?"

Wei Wuzheng: "Keep dreaming." (He says that, but doesn't stop!)

Note: Childhood friends, HE, 1v1, the top spoils the bottom, romance begins when they're adults. Lots of made-up worldbuilding, so please don't overanalyze. Sending love~

[Blurb archived in December 2025]

Silly beauty bottom x scheming, doting husband top

When Yun Nian was seven, his mother was punished and he was confined to a dilapidated palace. He nearly died from hunger and cold. Half asleep, he dreamed that someone held him. That person's embrace was so comfortable, warmer than the midday sun. When he woke, Yun Nian felt a deep sense of loss. He wanted so badly for that person to hug him again.

Later, he found that person. It was his elder brother, the crown prince. Facing the noble and privileged crown prince, Yun Nian didn't dare ask for a hug. He only hid in a corner and timidly called him Second Brother. The crown prince regarded him coldly for a while, then casually gave him a box of pastries.

After that, Yun Nian often hid along the path his elder brother had to take. But every time he gathered the courage to ask for a hug, the other man's cold demeanor scared him off. He never got a hug, but he did eat plenty of pastries.

Until one day, Yun Nian's mother was sentenced to death, and it was confirmed that he was a "bastard." Before dying, however, his mother laid a curse, saying that Yun Nian and the crown prince shared the same fate: if Yun Nian were executed, the crown prince would die too. The emperor feared the "witch consort's" words and spared Yun Nian's life, but he couldn't stomach the boy's "bastard" status. In the end, he decided to make him the lowliest palace servant.

Yun Nian drank his medicine and lay on a little bed in the eunuch office. His whole body felt cold, as if he had fallen into an icy cave. He couldn't help thinking of that warm embrace, and murmured, "Second Brother, could you give me a hug?" Before the words had even left his mouth, he fell into someone's arms.

Everyone knew that the noble crown prince had been cursed by the "witch consort" to share his fate with that "bastard." The crown prince must hate the mother and son so much that he had begged the emperor to hand the "bastard" over to him, so he could torment him every day in the Eastern Palace.

Ten years later, the emperor died and the crown prince ascended the throne. Everyone assumed that the "bastard" had long since been tortured beyond recognition. But at the enthronement ceremony, they saw him standing beside the crown prince, dressed in snow-white robes, his bearing so refined he looked like an immortal from a painting.

The first thing the new emperor did was free Yun Nian from his servant status and appoint him imperial preceptor. He declared, "Since Yun Nian shares my fate, he should share in this prosperous age with me."

The world had no idea how tender their cold and ruthless new emperor was behind closed doors...

Bonus scene:

Even after becoming imperial preceptor, Yun Nian never outgrew his childhood habit of wanting to be held at night. But lately he had been troubled, because the hugs he wanted and the ones a certain someone offered were never quite the same.

Yun Nian: Can you just hug me, without doing anything else?

Xiao Chengluo: Sure!

A moment later, Yun Nian, his voice trembling with tears: Why did you lie to me?

Xiao Chengluo: I'm bad, Yun Nian is good. Let me hug you again, okay?

Yun Nian: (looking utterly wronged.jpg)

Theme: Compassion is where love begins