I Refuse to Be a Caged Bird

Coming soon: "My Disciple Is Both Scheming and Crazy". Laid-back, Buddhist-minded master x sweet-talking, deranged disciple. Blurb at the end

Melodrama | Subverting expectations | Coercive possession

After transmigrating into a book she'd only read the beginning of, Yu Chaowan figured that, going by the usual logic, all she could do was cling to the female lead, follow the few pitiful plot hints to the end, and then go home!

But she'd never expected that transmigrating into a book with no script would be like taking an open-book exam that had suddenly turned closed-book! The plot got crazier by the day, the male and female leads became siblings, and she somehow ended up playing out a switched-at-birth heiress story with the female lead.

Yu Chaowan was baffled. Had she been given the script of a villainess?

She'd planned to run away overnight, but the male lead, Xie Yanzhi, caught her red-handed, leaving her no choice but to sell herself to him to save her life. Then Xie Yanzhi turned around and married her off to Lou Yi.

On their wedding night, before her veil had even been lifted, Lou Yi said coldly, "Once I find Xin'er, you'll obediently give up your place as my legal wife."

A white-moonlight love? A substitute? Stealing a subordinate's wife?

Yu Chaowan was numb. What kind of transmigration-fueled comeback story was this? It was a godawful melodrama!

Then one day, she discovered that the male lead, who seemed so graceful and noble, didn't even blink when he killed someone. And she, his "younger sister," was nothing but a plaything in his hands, brought back from the dead.

That was when she understood: this so-called transmigration was nothing but a horror movie starring her alone! Now all she wanted was to make it out of the set alive.

*

Xie Yanzhi had spent years lying low and carefully plotting. To him, there were only two kinds of people: useful and useless. He kept the useful ones and crushed the useless ones. But Xie Jiaojiao had become an unexpected variable.

Had she come back from the dead, or returned in someone else's body? He was going to find out what she really was.

Gradually, he found Xie Jiaojiao rather interesting, and simply changed his mind and let her live.

When he saw her standing beside Lou Yi, though, it irritated him to no end. He thought, Since I'm the one who gave her away, I can take her back.

But the only thing Xie Jiaojiao felt when she looked at him was fear.

He bent down and cornered her at the edge of the bed. "Are you afraid of me?"

She tried to curl herself into a ball, trembling without a word.

"People who fear me," he whispered against her ear, each word deliberate. "I want them to fear me for the rest of their lives."

*

Xie Yanzhi walked toward her. Blood seeped through his moon-white brocade robe, but he didn't seem to notice.

Yu Chaowan's hands shook, but she held the dagger tightly and backed away, one step, then another, until she had nowhere left to go.

"Zhaozhao," Xie Yanzhi stopped in front of her and reached out, gently brushing his thumb across her trembling lips. "It's time to go home."

Yu Chaowan trembled all over and pressed the dagger's tip against his chest. "Xie Yanzhi, don't push me..."

Xie Yanzhi leaned forward. The blade sank into his chest, and blood spread across Yu Chaowan's hand, so hot she wanted to let go.

But he held her hand and pushed the dagger in a little farther. "Zhaozhao, stab me here. But remember, as long as I'm alive, you have to stay by my side. If I die..." He bent down, his hot breath spilling across her face. "You'll come with me."

Yu Chaowan looked up into those deep eyes. "You haven't done all this just to make me... love you, have you?"

Xie Yanzhi's expression faltered.

She suddenly laughed, her face full of scorn. "As if you're worthy."

Reader's Guide

1. Important note up front: the male lead is sexually and emotionally pure, pure in every way!

2. Don't take the blurb at face value!

3. The male lead is a patriarchal tyrant. He can't be redeemed, and I won't try to redeem him.

4. Fictional history, with plenty of original worldbuilding. Please don't nitpick historical accuracy.

5. This story is melodramatic, extremely melodramatic, outrageously melodramatic, old-school melodramatic, and crammed with every melodramatic trope imaginable. Subscribe with caution. Feel free to criticize the story, but don't attack the author personally.

Blurb dated February 28, 2026. Screenshot for reference.

Coming soon: "My Disciple Is Both Scheming and Crazy"

Laid-back, Buddhist-minded master x sweet-talking, deranged disciple

When Shi Yu transmigrated into this cultivation world, the System gave her a mission that was only half complete:

1. Protect Qin Shou, the original male lead, and help him ascend successfully.

2. Stop... destroy...

"System? Be clear. Stop who? Destroy what?"

System: Bzzt... Bzzt... Connection lost.

Shi Yu: "...What a useless System!"

After waiting ten years, Shi Yu had become the youngest Core Formation cultivator in the Mingyue Sect. At last, the original male lead, Qin Shou, came to pay his respects at the mountain gate.

Shi Yu was about to take Qin Shou as her disciple when a gentle voice suddenly cut in from beside them:

"Ayu, don't you remember me?"

"I'm Min Zhao, your betrothed, promised to you when we were children."

Shi Yu: ?

Qin Shou: ?

After their engagement was called off, Min Zhao's eyes glistened with tears, though he wore a docile smile.

"Becoming Master's disciple is a blessing Min Zhao could only earn over three lifetimes."

And so, the original male lead Qin Shou and Min Zhao, her "former betrothed," both became Shi Yu's disciples.

Shi Yu thought she could finally focus on her mission in peace, but then...

Because Shi Yu gave Qin Shou one extra bottle, Min Zhao went into qi deviation that very night, coughing up blood all over the floor and nearly ruining his cultivation.

Shi Yu was so alarmed she got up in the middle of the night to make pills, wondering the whole time if she'd been playing favorites.

From then on, if Qin Shou got something, Min Zhao had to get it too.

When the demon clan invaded, Shi Yu was surrounded. Min Zhao suddenly appeared and took a blow for her. His white robes were stained with blood, yet he smiled tenderly.

"As long as Master is safe."

Shi Yu's heart clenched, and she reached out to catch him as he swayed.

His bloodstained fingertips gently brushed her features, his voice bewitching.

"Master was worried about me, weren't you?"

Qin Shou: ...Was that little scratch really such a big deal?

The three of them slayed demons and monsters together, purged evil spirits, crossed the Bloodmist Forest, and sailed over the Endless Sea. At last, they found a clue to ascension.

In the deepest part of the Demon Realm, violet-gold lightning gathered in the sky. Shi Yu stood in a sea of blood, holding a divine weapon.

One step forward would help Qin Shou ascend and become an immortal. One step back would let her shield Min Zhao from the tribulation lightning.

Amid the lightning, Min Zhao still smiled. He refused to believe he would lose again in this life.

[Bonus Scene]

As soon as Shi Yu's soul entered this world, the System was thrown to the opposite shore of the Endless Sea and forced to bind itself to a mortal. After countless hardships, it finally guided the mortal across the Endless Sea and to the Mingyue Sect, where he met Shi Yu.

Pointing at Min Zhao, the mortal started to reveal the truth. "Shi Yu, he's actually..." Then he suddenly froze.

Min Zhao stood across from him, still smiling, but a golden light had spread across his eyes, like an abyss slowly opening its gaze.

The System's mechanical voice rang frantically in the mortal's mind: Warning! Energy entity detected that exceeds the world's rules

The warning cut off abruptly.

Min Zhao's voice forced its way into the man's consciousness, cold as the deepest abyss: "If you don't want to disappear completely, keep quiet."

System: ...Going offline. Have a pleasant day.

Shi Yu glanced at the mortal, then looked at Min Zhao. "A-Zhao, what's..."

Min Zhao leaned against Shi Yu, looking aggrieved. "Master, he's so mean."

Theme: Live life on your own terms