Night Weir

/* Main story complete, bonus chapters ongoing */

[Younger love and healing + handsome, powerful, tragic male lead + nation-building + political intrigue. No transmigration, rebirth, or golden finger. Plot-driven.]

A pragmatic, kind-hearted engineer who is mistaken for a deity because he's handsome and good at math: top

A battle-hardened border soldier with an overpowered skill set, war trauma, and a sharp tongue despite his soft heart: bottom

As they work together and trade barbs, they develop a love like a home invasion. The border soldier is the one being robbed.

[Formal synopsis]

Li Yan comes from a family of upright officials and is exceptionally intelligent. He was the youngest director in the Ministry of Works, yet instead of staying in Chang'an as a comfortable official, he takes on the miserable job everyone else avoids: going to Lingzhou to build canals.

The region is all barren mountains and treacherous waters, full of difficult people and beset by problems both inside and out. His colleagues think he's lost his mind, but Li Yan feels that away from the wastrels in the capital, the world is wide open and full of possibilities.

Then he is tied up as a spy by Lingzhou's fiercest "troublemaker," a border soldier.

The man has golden eyes, a sharp tongue, and an arrogant disposition... a complete waste of such a handsome face.

Worse still, this beautiful troublemaker has a distinguished record of service, but is not entirely in his right mind. He's always babbling like a madman, half-sane and half-crazed: talk of debts of blood, revenge, and living as if each day might be his last.

Everyone in Lingzhou calls him Commandant Liang.

The borderlands are dangerous, and their rules are strict. Li Yan can barely make any headway.

Everyone else is waiting to see him fail, but Liang Jia, the sharp-tongued, soft-hearted madman, reluctantly lends him a hand, protects him, teaches him how the world works, and helps him get things done.

Li Yan grew up with few close family ties, but on this desolate frontier, he gradually comes to rely on a stranger.

When a great enemy approaches, Li Yan is sheltered beneath Liang Jia. His nose is filled with the fragrance of flowers and medicinal herbs, and only then does he realize that beneath the commandant's dazzling record of achievements, a slender waist is all that holds him up.

That night, Liang Jia has another episode. When he looks up, his eyes are bright with gold and red.

...How pitiful.

Li Yan's heart burns. He wants nothing more than to hold this madman in his arms and take him away.

Later, Li Yan discovers that Liang Jia's ramblings are no idle talk. His past has worn him down until he has only one wish left.

He doesn't want to live anymore!

How can that be?

Li Yan shakes his head over and over. How can he become a widower just after meeting the one he loves?

He decides that, just as he takes charge of Lingzhou's waterworks, he will take charge of this man's future too...

But Liang Jia coolly steps back. "Why are you meddling? Get back to Chang'an."

Li Yan steps forward, cornering the flustered commandant against the wall, and reaches out to touch his cool cheek.

Their breaths mingling, Li Yan lowers his eyes and softly asks beside his ear, "It's not nice to seduce someone and then abandon them... Do you really want me to leave?"

Liang Jia says nothing and doesn't move away. He only closes his eyes instinctively, his lean frame trembling in Li Yan's embrace.

So Li Yan sweeps the long hair from his face and kisses him without giving him a chance to refuse.

"Brother Liang, how can I call it meddling when you love me so much?"

Possible content warnings:

The political intrigue is kindergarten-level, the math is fifth-grade, the waterworks engineering is muddled, the local gentry are an amateur outfit, and the emperor loves his father and meets him at Chang Le Gate. The bottom is a prematurely gray, overpowered war god, while the top believes that mastering science and math will take you anywhere.

Neither the top nor the bottom is perfect. At the beginning, each can infuriate the other when viewed from the other's perspective.

Their early relationship is full of bickering.

The bottom has severe war trauma (PTSD), so he may seem unstable from time to time.

Coming soon on my profile: another story in the same series, The Ruler Who Looks Nothing Like a Ruler. A lighthearted, dual-transmigration mystery.

[Synopsis]

A dual-transmigration story: an unofficial history even more absurd than the official history.

An eccentric emperor in his past life, a collector of antiques in this one: top

An unlucky imperial tutor in his past life, an archaeologist in this one: bottom

Also known as:

Bottom: Let's talk this out. Don't smash that gilt silver bowl with the scrolling lotus pattern!

Top: ...What bowl?

[Formal synopsis]

As the saying goes, teach someone in one life, dig up their grave in the next.

Qi Qinghuai is in his late twenties. His day job is crouching in an excavation trench at the tomb of Emperor Wenxiang, conducting archaeological digs by day and restoring artifacts by night.

Emperor Wenxiang is the subject of countless rumors and seems to attract bloodshed wherever he goes. As crown prince, he was lecherous, superstitious, and bloodthirsty, providing countless bizarre stories. After ascending the throne, however, he transformed into a model ruler who diligently served his people. If he hadn't handed power over to his successor so smoothly, he might even have been considered a great emperor for the ages.

The contrast between his two sides is so great that, these days, someone would probably call in an expert to take a look.

Historians argue endlessly about it, while unofficial historians gleefully seize on the imperial tutor, barely mentioned in the official records, and spread rumors:

"He must have lost the love of his life!"

Qi Qinghuai, victim of unofficial history and imperial tutor at the center of the storm, puts down his little spade and wipes his brow in silence. He isn't sure whether he lost his love, but...

That damned emperor really was the one he'd secretly loved in his past life.

Whenever he thinks of it, he berates himself. After all that turmoil in his past life, how could this be the only thing he remembers?

Alas, the man is long dead. Otherwise, he'd have taken a good look at what sort of man this bastard was. Not even the Soup of Oblivion could wash him away!

The next moment, he digs up a two-piece Boshan incense burner. Just as he puts the pieces together, his vision blurs

When he opens his eyes again, he has transmigrated to ancient times. A refined, handsome man in ancient robes stands before him and invites him to join forces.

The man introduces himself as Liu Yunxiu, the seventh son of Emperor Wenhe of Great Jing.

...And the future Emperor Wenxiang.

Then he realizes that Liu Yunxiu is just a tiny bit different from the history books...

For example:

According to Miscellaneous Tales of the Western Capital, Liu Yunxiu's greatest passion in life was tall, muscular women who looked like men. His residence had three thousand beauties.

Qi Qinghuai stares at the rows of heavily made-up, muscular men before him, wide-eyed and trembling.

"These... these are your, uh... beauties?"

Only later does he learn that the emperor disapproves of his sons keeping retainers, so to secretly recruit strategists and agents, they have no choice but to temporarily make "beauty" their profession.

Qi Qinghuai rubs his temples. If a student isn't taught well, it's the teacher's fault... Let the succession struggle be the succession struggle, but couldn't we have chosen a more dignified approach?

Later, Qi Qinghuai, marked with ambiguous red traces, nudges the vigorous crown prince beside him. "Do I have to offer my beauty to you too?"

Liu Yunxiu is aghast. "Teacher, how could you think that of me?"

Qi Qinghuai: "Fine, I won't think that of you... Could you at least keep your hands to yourself and stop touching me?"

Theme: Science and technology change lives