The Dark, Hated One Returns to Their Youth

Darkened Weasel Spirit Bottom x Proud, Peacock-like Rich Young Master Top

In everyone else's eyes, Shen Qing had always been like a drab little rat. The only thing he had going for him seemed to be his excellent grades.

But after entering the workforce, even that one shining accomplishment seemed to lose its luster.

A big company was hardly short of top graduates, and Shen Qing struggled just to find his footing.

Meanwhile, Zhao Kaiqian, the underachiever he had once looked down on, had spent a few years abroad and returned as a high-tech talent recruited by the company, becoming Shen Qing's parachuted-in direct superior.

Zhao Kaiqian came from a privileged family. Even the company president went out of his way to curry favor with him, making Shen Qing, once a treasured gem, look all the more drab.

To keep his job, Shen Qing followed his coworkers' example and tried to ingratiate himself with Zhao Kaiqian, but Zhao Kaiqian nearly mistook it for Shen Qing offering himself as a shortcut to success.

One day, rumors spread around the company that Shen Qing was pestering Zhao Kaiqian. His coworkers mocked and belittled him.

Shen Qing went to confront Zhao Kaiqian, only to stumble upon him acting intimately with Shen Qing's friend, Bai Yue. Zhao Kaiqian pressed Bai Yue about his relationship with Shen Qing.

Only then did Shen Qing understand that he was merely a sacrificial extra, there to make the protagonist's romance shine.

He slunk back into his rat hole and got drunk in his shabby rented room.

When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to college, to the year he first met Zhao Kaiqian.

*

Zhao Kaiqian had always thought Shen Qing was a sweet, adorable little hamster. It took one vicious bite for him to realize Shen Qing was a wicked weasel spirit.

Zhao Kaiqian wasn't attracted to men, but when he saw Shen Qing's tearful, dazed eyes, he thought maybe it wasn't impossible.

Shen Qing treated Bai Yue like a dog, training him, then taunted Zhao Kaiqian: "Does it hurt, seeing the person you like act so submissively in front of me?"

Zhao Kaiqian: "Who did you say I like?"

Someone held Shen Qing by the ankle. Only when his leg tensed so hard it began to spasm did he belatedly realize he had gotten something wrong.

Reader Notice:

This is not an angst novel. The top is the only one engaging in domineering, coercive pursuit.

In his previous life, the top wasn't in love with anyone. Everyone was one-sidedly infatuated with the bottom.

The bottom seems universally disliked, but is actually universally adored. One-on-one romance.

Theme: After the darkest hour, the flowers finally bloom.