The Peacock's Beloved Ox

[I definitely won't abandon this! Revising as I go]

Please check out my upcoming novel!!! The blurb is at the very bottom. Please take it home with you!

Qi Yunyao's childhood friend and beloved, Xie Chonglou, suddenly went mad just before they were about to confess their feelings to each other. He rushed back to their sect, murdered his master, and was killed.

Qi Yunyao: ...

So, to investigate the truth behind Xie Chonglou's death, he disguised himself as a flashy, useless furnace and infiltrated the sword manor.

He absolutely refused to believe that Xie Chonglou would kill his master.

After all, Xie Chonglou was a man of few words! He didn't understand how the world worked! He was even an idiot who didn't understand human nature! A high-level act requiring careful thought, like murdering one's master, was simply beyond him!

-

After a grueling investigation, just as Qi Yunyao gathered some evidence and began a desperate flight for his life, he came face-to-face with the eyes he had dreamed of seeing for so long.

Good news: His beloved was alive!

Bad news: He had lost his memory!

While Qi Yunyao struggled to make sense of Xie Chonglou's mysterious return from the dead, he also had to watch out for being captured as a furnace and dragged off to cultivate.

Just as he gritted his teeth and prepared to risk everything, dragging his amnesiac sweetheart along on the run, the idiot suddenly learned how to read people!

Xie Chonglou (with a cold expression): Who are you? Why should I go with you?

Qi Yunyao: ...Why did you have to get smart all of a sudden, right now?!

In his desperation, Qi Yunyao threw caution to the wind and lied: I'm your cultivation partner!

He didn't even believe that himself, and was already braced for

being doubted,

having to argue with an idiot,

and a fierce three-day, three-night standoff, when he saw that the other man's brain, which should have been completely shut down by now, had finally gone offline.

Xie Chonglou: Okay! Then let's go!

Qi Yunyao: ...

He was already trying to keep two things in mind at once, and now he had an idiot along on the run who kept kissing and hugging him, taking every chance to cop a feel.

Qi Yunyao finally couldn't take it anymore and shouted: You forgot who I am, so how can you shamelessly keep kissing and hugging me?

Xie Chonglou blinked innocently. But we're cultivation partners! I'm just fulfilling my duties as your partner~

Qi Yunyao: ...

At last, the boomerang came back and hit him.

-

. Not a traditional cultivation novel.

. Qi Yunyao is the gong, and Xie Chonglou is the shou. You'll have to figure out for yourself which one is the peacock and which one is the ox.

. This is a gong-centric novel, but only in the sense that the story is told from the gong's perspective. It's not suited to readers with strong preferences about gong and shou roles. If you're flexible, feel free to give it a try. If not, please leave right away~

. There are side couples! More than one. (A paradise for multishippers!) If that's not your thing, feel free to scroll on by~

The Cannon-Fodder Local Finds a System

A saintly, easygoing, unlucky, motherly bear of a gong × a vengeful, lecherous, emotionally shattered little shou

The First Prince, Chu Mengyan, has only the title of eldest brother to his name, while his maternal family is weak.

He has no grand ambitions. He only wants to be a caring big brother, diligently looking after his younger siblings, and hopes that whoever takes the throne will grant him a prosperous fief so he can live peacefully as an idle prince.

His beautiful dream is shattered by his pig-brained second brother.

The second prince launches a rebellion and is defeated. All the strategists who backed him are branded traitors. Chu Mengyan has always been gentle and accommodating toward his younger siblings, only to be mocked as a bootlicker and banished to the border.

-

While Chu Mengyan is rattling along in a carriage, he hears that Ji Ci, the poisonous strategist who stirred up trouble for the second prince and used countless schemes to drive the other princes into one defeat after another, has died. The cause is unknown, but Chu Mengyan still feels regret. Then he starts feeling sorry for himself: with his mighty build, he used to be able to hold four younger siblings at once!

And what happened?

All those younger siblings who smiled and said they would make their big brother a prince one day were ruined along with him by that pig-brained second prince!!!

I'm so mad!!!

Chu Mengyan is trying to psych himself up, telling himself the borderlands aren't all that destitute. The soil is just a little barren, people's lives are a little hard, the mountains are a little rugged, and the trees, wait, why is there a person hanging from that tree?

When he went closer, the person had already stopped breathing. Only a plump orange cat was circling the body.

Fat Cat (crossed out) System: Your cannon-fodder status has been detected. Sign a contract with me! Once you do, I can help you turn your fate around! You'll even inherit the top-tier piece left behind by my previous Host!

Chu Mengyan (wistfully hard of hearing): Sorry, I'm not interested in stealing someone else's wife.

System: Too late. Your personal chess piece will arrive in three days.

Chu Mengyan: ...

Chu Mengyan: Wait, can I pick someone a little prettier? I want someone who can be my princess consort right away!

System: Your tastes are so strange!

So on the third day, Chu Mengyan found the First Poisonous Strategist, Ji Ci, who should have been long dead, beside his carriage.

The poor thing was frozen stiff in the snow, his face bruised purple and his limbs rigid!

Chu Mengyan's heart softened for a moment as he thought of his adorable younger siblings. He didn't even stop to wonder whether this man was a traitor. He scooped him into his arms, wrapped him up, and carried him into the carriage.

-

When Ji Ci lay in a pool of blood with both legs broken, he remembered the few things from his childhood that were still clear to him.

When he was young, he fell into the water, and the Second Prince leaped in to save his life.

Something cold and piercingly painful, yet warm and soft, enveloped him and finally brought him back to his senses. The man who had been an idiot for ten years opened his eyes and saw the Second Prince, just as bedraggled and soaking wet as he was.

After that, Ji Ci trampled on morality, shattered the noble families' pride, ruthlessly stirred up turmoil, and tore into his enemies in court. He used every sort of underhanded, much-criticized scheme to dismantle opposing forces and cut off the other princes' support. Once his countless machinations were complete, he helped the man who had saved his life take his place as Crown Prince.

Then he was sentenced to death for his treachery and cruelty.

Ji Ci hated himself for being blind, yet his mind still returned to that scorching chest that had pulled him back into the world. People really did never forget the things they couldn't have when they were young.

The one he had yearned for had become the blade that stabbed him.

At the thought, Ji Ci couldn't help laughing at himself as he let the snow and wind sweep away his consciousness.

But it was so warm, so soft.

In his haze, he seemed to feel that warmth once again...

-

When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he felt was the body beside his cheek, the very one he had longed for so desperately. Ji Ci managed to turn his eyes, squashing his cheek into a lump.

Ji Ci: ...

His senses gradually returned. The noisy arguing around him reached his ears. The man beside him seemed furious, his chest heaving. Every breath made his blood surge. Within the distance that had nearly drowned Ji Ci, he managed to shift his eyes and saw the man frantically arguing with a fat cat.

Chu Mengyan: Didn't you say it was a personal wife? Where's my princess consort?

System: How is it my fault that you can't hear properly? I said chess piece, someone you can command and put to use! You even picked someone beautiful. Just tell me, is he beautiful or not?

Chu Mengyan: You stupid cat who can't even speak clearly

System: Host, stop shouting! He's awake!

Chu Mengyan lowered his head and met a pair of dazed eyes.

Chu Mengyan: !!!

How could this be the vicious strategist who had committed all manner of crimes? He was clearly just a helpless little thing!

The pretty little man puffed out his cheeks and called out in a trembling voice, "Your Highness~"

The next moment, blood streamed from his nose, and with a cry, he fainted.

-

Later, Chu Mengyan carved out a domain for himself, personally settled accounts with the wicked Second Prince, and became the ruler of the borderlands.

The System popped up with a cheeky grin: Chess pieces and wives can actually turn into each other, you know.

Chu Mengyan hurriedly covered the ears of the person in his arms and shooed it away viciously: Get lost! Don't use filthy words around my sweetheart.

And a certain dedicated strategist, who had spent the night in bed and still gotten up at the hour of the hare to handle official business, could finally sleep soundly against a warm, familiar chest.

-

Content warnings:

Not suitable for readers with strong, one-sided preferences about gong and shou roles.

The shou picked the wrong person, and yet didn't pick the wrong person.

The younger siblings are important catalysts in the emotional storyline, and they have an incestuous relationship with the gong, haha. (He's an absolute blabbermouth.)

I'll start writing at around 300 collections. Slowly building up a stockpile, mwah~

Theme: Though panning and sifting are hard work, once the sand is washed away, gold is revealed.