The Grave Robbers' Chronicles: An Old Friend in the Evening Breeze

[Content warnings]

* This is an otome-style, reader-insert story. “You” refers to the reader, not an original heroine. Comments referring to the heroine as “the girl,” “our precious girl,” “our daughter,” or the like are prohibited.

* Your role: a member of the Zhang family.

* Important timeline changes: You went missing during the Zhang Family Ancient Tower incident, and everyone thought you were dead. Years later, when you reunite, you disguise yourself as a man and approach Wu Xie under the name “Chen Kong.” The story begins here, with you and the others standing on a cliff inside a tomb. (The name “Chen Kong” appears only once or twice in the first chapter and not afterward.)

* All the characters are based on their original portrayals, and some plotlines from the original work are incorporated. However, the timeline and certain experiences have been changed for this story, so please don't read if that bothers you.

* The style is slice-of-life, with second-person reader insertion. If that's not your thing, please skip it.

* Wu Xie is the main focus. The other characters have an all-inclusive feel, but Wu Xie is the primary character from the Daomu Biji series. Other characters, such as Hua Ye, Hei Yanjing, and Zhang Haike, won't appear as often. It's difficult to write in other characters, but I'll do my best. There are family bonds, friendships, and romance, so savor them all. I'm not very good at writing romance, so the plot and romance are split about fifty-fifty.

* I'll do my best to keep the characters in character. If anyone goes out of character, that's on me. Everything else is yours.

* No disruptive comments, character bashing, or comments about male-male pairings.

* Updates will be slow, irregular, or whenever I have time. Feel free to bookmark it when you're done reading.

If all of the above is fine with you, welcome!

You: You come from overseas to Shanghai and then meet Wu Xie and the others here. You originally wanted to deal with your health issues and spend more time sharing their exciting life above and below ground. But Wu Erbai tells you to stop contacting Wu Xie. You find the whole thing absurd, and once you learn about Wu Xie's health, an inexplicable irritation wells up inside you. You tell Wu Erbai, “We can be a pair of doomed lovers, if that's what it takes.”

Wu Erbai, incredulous and shocked: “I absolutely will not allow this!”

Wu Xie: I've finally seen the truth. I'm apparently destined to clash with your Zhang family for the rest of my life. My rational side is always banging a gong in my ear, telling me to come to my senses, stay away from you, and remember that it's wise to be wary of people. But whenever I turn around and see you standing there, acting like the sky could fall and you'd use it as a blanket, completely unbothered, all that pitiful self-control of mine goes straight to the dogs. I know that following you will probably lead me into another bottomless pit, but I bet I'll still curse under my breath as I jump in with my eyes closed.

But Second Uncle thinks I don't appreciate how lucky I am. I only have to say, “She's just a friend,” and the old man shoots me a glare. Fatty piles on too, saying things like, “The one who lives closest gets the girl,” and, “You're too confident. You'll lose half your chances.” I just want to curse them out. Why does every one of you think there's something going on between us? Though, to be fair, it's not entirely impossible. But I'll never forget how you patted me on the shoulder back then and said with a swagger, “Little brother, call me big sis and I'll take you places.”

This is a story worth telling. Whether it brings laughter or not doesn't matter, and neither does the next life, because no life could ever be more thrilling than this one.

Theme: A story that gives you a more interactive, immersive experience with the characters of Daomu Biji. In other words, this is a Daomu Biji otome-style reader-insert story.