My Best Friend Got Rich and Now Insists We Get Married

[Unhinged ghostly man × sweet, clueless darling. The top only goes crazy after seeing the bottom again at the start of the story. He wasn’t crazy from the beginning, just rotten and not yet given time to fester.]

-

As children, Tao Xueli and Gu Fengli were the closest of friends in the old city, close enough to take turns licking the same popsicle.

After finishing it, they tossed the stick aside and started dreaming:

“Whoever gets rich first will buy the other a Ferrari.”

“And a big house, too.”

“I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life.”

Later, Gu Fengli disappeared, and Tao Xueli spent twelve years looking for him with a photograph in hand.

When they met again, Gu had become the heir to one of the most powerful families, smoothly mingling with guests at a banquet.

People around him called him President Gu, and the name on his business card was Gu Lin.

Only then did Tao Xueli learn that the little brat from the old alley, who used to lick popsicles with him and brag that they’d get rich together, had even lied about his name.

At least he was still alive, so Tao Xueli felt relieved.

On the day he left X City, an impossibly flashy Ferrari suddenly pulled up in front of him.

The window rolled down. The Gu heir, now using his real name again, looked at him and said calmly:

“Get in.”

“I’m here to make good on my promise.”

Tao Xueli thought he was just trying to show off.

But the Ferrari was real, the mansion was real, and so was the gold card. Gu Lin even solemnly took out a stack of documents and told him:

“These still aren’t good enough for you.”

“I think you should have half my family fortune, too.”

Tao Xueli: “???”

Gu Lin looked calm, as if he were discussing something perfectly ordinary. “But you’re not my biological brother, so splitting the money with you directly wouldn’t be proper.”

Tao Xueli nodded vigorously.

“So…”

Gu Lin looked him in the eye and smiled faintly. “Let’s get married.”

“That way, I can pass everything I own to you, fair and square.”

-

After their reunion, Tao Xueli gradually realized that the Gu heir wasn’t doing as well as he’d imagined.

He had to hold Tao Xueli’s hand whenever they went out and sleep with their foreheads pressed together. He was a grown man, yet clung to him like a child every day. He was terribly insecure and even had surveillance cameras installed in the bedroom. When asked why, he replied, “I’m harder to kill when my eyes are open.”

The infighting among the wealthy was truly terrifying. Tao Xueli regretted getting married as soon as he did and wanted a divorce…

What frightened him most was gradually realizing that the Gu heir might actually have something wrong with him… Tao Xueli could order him around and he’d take it as flirting, and if Tao hit him, he’d lick his hand. He’d kiss him until he was breathless, then turn around and bury his face in Tao’s arms, asking softly, “What kind of puppy does Xueli like?”

Tao Xueli, completely frazzled: “Y-you… are you a pervert or something?”

Gu Lin smiled and pulled him into his arms, his voice low. “You’re only realizing that now?”

Tao Xueli, utterly devoured: …qwq

PS: Bottom’s POV, romance-focused, slow burn and slow-paced. The top is desperately deprived of the bottom, mentally ill, a perverted freak, insecure and self-loathing. Don’t treat him like a normal person.

PPS: Neither lead is perfect. Feel free to discuss them normally, but comments attacking a character out of personal spite will be deleted.

Coming next: “Day and Night Under the Villain’s Spell”

[[Unhinged top who’d do anything to worship his darling × bottom who calmly watches the villain rise to power]

-

Song Shiyan transmigrates into a melodramatic novel as its unfortunate bottom lead.

In the original story, he’ll be betrayed by a friend, framed by a classmate, targeted by the top lead’s first love, and finally dragged to his death by the top lead’s unhinged older brother.

Song Shiyan: …

Damn it, what a shitshow.

To get away from this pack of lunatics, the first thing he does after transmigrating into the book is move house and transfer schools, avoiding every plot point that might bring him into contact with the top lead.

But three weeks after transferring, he catches the attention of the top lead’s unhinged older brother.

The man goes out of his way to be nice to him, picks him up and drops him off at school, puts straws in his drinks, watches movies with him, solves his problems, and even cooks for him himself…

Song Shiyan: What’s he after?

System: I’ll go sound him out.

After doing so, the System is horrified:

“Oh no! He has a System too!”

Song Shiyan: “?”

System: “He’s got a villain-rises-to-power plot. If he wins you over, he can steal the top lead’s protagonist aura!”

Song Shiyan: …

System: “He’s not trying to hurt you, but he is trying to deceive you into falling for him!”

“Oh…”

From then on, Song Shiyan simply watches the great villain Xie Que rise to power.

On a rainy day, Xie Que stands outside the school gates with an umbrella.

System: “Seduction plot point: share an umbrella.”

At the cinema, Xie Que takes his hand in the dark.

System: “Seduction plot point: holding hands.”

When he walks Song Shiyan home, Xie Que deliberately lingers downstairs.

System: “Seduction plot point: an awkwardly intimate pause before saying goodbye.”

At last, Song Shiyan looks up and asks, “Is the next step kissing me?”

Xie Que: “…?”

Song Shiyan: “Go ahead and kiss me. Just remember to bring me lunch tomorrow.”

-

At first, Xie Que really was after the protagonist aura.

But Song Shiyan suited him so perfectly: smart, beautiful, not clingy or troublesome. He knew Xie Que wasn’t a good person, but never pestered him with questions.

He was comfortable to hold, sweet to kiss, and incredibly accommodating in bed.

He’d already won him over, so Xie Que figured things could just go on like this.

On the day the System announced [Protagonist Aura Transfer Successful], Xie Que was in a good mood. He booked the finest restaurant, invited his little beauty to dinner, and decided to discuss the “terms” of their arrangement going forward.

He could give Song Shiyan plenty of money, but marriage was absolutely out of the question.

As long as Song Shiyan stayed obedient, Xie Que could support him for the rest of his life.

But that very night, Song Shiyan suddenly dumped him.

With a hint of uncertainty and faint amusement, Xie Que asked softly, “Do you know what you just said?”

“I said,” Song Shiyan replied, looking him in the eye and repeating himself, “we’re over, dear Mr. Xie.”

Xie Que laughed right then and there.

He figured he must have acted too convincingly while pursuing Song Shiyan all these years. Had Song really come to think he had the right to call it off?

It wasn’t until much later, when Xie Que stood under an umbrella outside Song Shiyan’s home, looking through a whole wall of floor-to-ceiling glass at Song Shiyan resting his cheek in his hand and watching him quietly, that he suddenly realized:

From the very beginning, he was the one who had no right to decide.

Theme: Through wind and snow, we’ll never part.