Twin Withered Branches

[The Clingy One and the Control Freak]

Pei Zhao looks sunny and healthy, but he's actually a clingy guy who's often sick. His daily refrain is "Big brother this, big brother that." Fortunately for him, his older brother is a doting younger-brother fanatic who takes care of everything, right down to choosing his socks.

But one day after school, Pei Zhao's world fell apart: Pei Ji was going abroad, and no matter how much Pei Zhao messed around and clung to him, nothing could change his mind.

Three years later, when he saw Pei Ji again, Pei Zhao felt that his brother was different. He was a little less restrained and a little more...crazy?

Pei Zhao: Huh? What's that little black dot in the corner?

Pei Zhao, horrified: It's a surveillance camera!

Pei Zhao, suspicious: I feel like there are a thousand Pei Jis around me. He knows everywhere I go.

Pei Zhao, worried, asks AI: Can living abroad turn someone into a pervert?

Before AI could reply, a notification chimed, and a message from his brother appeared at the top of the screen.

"No."

"I was already up to no good."

In other people's eyes, Pei Ji is the most dependable child in the Pei family: calm, restrained, and flawless. Pei Zhao is the one who causes the most worry: delicate and sickly, always going to the hospital.

Only Pei Ji knows that he's not dependable.

He has a secret. He's realized his feelings for Pei Zhao go beyond what's normal between brothers. He knows those feelings could hurt a lot of people, so he chose to go abroad, thinking that distance would make them fade.

The day he returned, his frail, pitiful younger brother rushed into his arms, clinging to him. Pei Ji knew he was done for.

He would never be able to let go for the rest of his life.

Unrelated-by-blood older top dotes on younger bottom, 1v1, both virgins

The top and bottom are not related by blood and aren't registered in the same household

A short story to tide you over. This novel is for entertainment only, so please don't read too much into anything~

----------------Divider----------------

Please check out my upcoming novel, "The Pretty NPC's Boyfriend Is the Top-Ranked Player"

Yue Tao somehow got kicked into a game world where players ate people alive, and was made to play an NPC. All he had to do was clear the game as instructed.

In the first game world, he was a palm-sized little ghost whose spawn point was right on the face of a man shrouded in baleful energy and icy menace.

The little ghost tilted up his fair, pretty face and greeted him obediently. "Hello!"

The man flicked him away without a second thought.

The System prompted: Paranormal instance. Be careful not to reveal your identity in front of players.

Yue Tao looked at his character profile: a ghost bride brought in to bring good luck to her husband, who met a gruesome death.

Weak and helpless, Yue Tao decided to cling to the most powerful person around: his cold, taciturn, short-lived husband.

On the first day, his short-lived husband threatened him, saying he would eat him in one bite.

Half a month later, the man, who wasn't short-lived at all, gently tucked him into the breast pocket of his shirt. "Be good. Don't peek while I'm fighting."

In the second game world, he was a pampered, blind, sickly beauty. From the start, he had to call a straight man who hated gay people "husband."

The System prompted: Apocalypse instance. The mission is to survive without revealing your identity.

Yue Tao, who would faint after walking a few steps, clung to the man he thought was straight and called him "husband," as his character was supposed to.

Yue Tao's chin was lifted, and he heard the other man say cryptically, "Around here, we don't call our older brothers 'husband.'"

In the third game world, Yue Tao was a greedy, vicious, dumb little streamer who broke into a forbidden ancient manor for the sake of views, only to die a gruesome death at the hands of something strange.

The System prompted: Mysterious instance. Be careful not to reveal your identity.

Yue Tao acted out his character's outrageous behavior, but the manor's owner remained unmoved. Meanwhile, his streaming career took off, and every day two wealthy patrons showered him with gifts, vying for the top spot.

Forced to wear a pink tutu, Yue Tao looked to his left at the famously cold and ruthless chairman, then to his right at the supposedly violent monster, and was utterly baffled.

Why...did they look exactly alike?

A pretty boy with great acting skills as the bottom vs. a cool, powerful top

The top dotes on the bottom

The bottom's name comes from another name for gardenia. Zhi Zhi is everyone's darling~

Theme: Put down roots and grow toward the sky.