Thanks for the Invite, I'm Playing in the Mud at an Elite Boarding School

A reverse-harem story set at an aristocratic academy.

#A wholesome, handsome, straight male lead

Si: pronounced si, second tone, meaning to wait; qi, second tone, used in the compound surname Moqi; yi, third tone, used in names. In the surname Wansi, it is pronounced Wan Si Yi.

Synopsis:

Saint Lawrence is one of only two world-renowned elite public schools. Anyone with enough influence to become famous worldwide, in any field, is either at Cosmos or Saint Lawrence. They produce talent in droves and hold an absolute monopoly.

It's hard to say whether these elite schools produce the finest people, or whether the finest people sustain these elite schools. In any case, Cosmos and Saint Lawrence have extraordinarily strict admissions requirements.

Unlike Cosmos, which admits students exclusively by recommendation, Saint Lawrence has a program called "Heaven's Gift." Each year, it selects students from across the continents who come from ordinary families and rank in the top 200 on the standardized entrance exams. Ninety students are drawn from a pool of 1,600 and admitted as Gifted Stars, with tuition, room, and board fully covered, plus an annual stipend of one million.

Wansi was one of the "Gifted Stars" picked in the draw.

Wansi: ...Wow.

Isn't this exactly the kind of special-admission student destined for an angsty, awkward love story?!

Wansi frantically looked up the relevant information and tried to change his school preferences.

Wansi: Can I just not go? Cancel it, cancel it!

[Note: Once selected as a Gifted Star, the place cannot be transferred, deferred, or declined.]

"Sorry, dear, all your original school choices have been voided."

"Dear, accepting the offer is the only option available. Would compensation of zero yuan be okay?"

Wansi: ...

The newly graduated high schooler crossed his hands and looked thoughtful. Then he spent thirty hours on a train overnight, crossing Qimingze, Heng, and Que continents to reach Saint Lawrence, on the Rose Islands.

Standing before the vast, empty Saint Gern Square, paved in white jade, Wansi slowly raised a V sign behind his back.

Years later, Wansi would lament: ...You unlucky kid, don't go! You should've run off and wandered the world instead!

[Wansi's approval rating for Saint Lawrence]

Got lost, but a handsome blond Western senior came to help. No need to wander aimlessly after all, yay: +10

The dorm buildings have a very... bizarre aesthetic. What decent school builds dorms that look like this?: -10

Forced to arrive late, tried climbing in through a window, and ended up in front of a classmate and a teacher. (A friendly tip: if you're not handsome, don't try this.): -10

Caught red-handed by a cold-faced student council member while climbing out of school: -15

He had to write a reflection, do maintenance work, and deal with all sorts of strange and awkward things. But all the food on the ground floor at Saint Lawrence is delicious, and he's made lots of good friends, too.

Back to zero, back to zero~

Deciding to take Saint Lawrence in stride, Wansi wandered around, expecting to graduate without a hitch. Then he realized he might not be able to leave.

They... seem kind of off.

Really off!

#The love interests include those who are emotionally and physically sensitive, gentle and refined, secretly in love, righteous and innocent (1/2), possessive and brooding, aloof and untouchable, and straight men who turn gay, among many others.

Note: It's not just Xiao Ji and Jichun Fu who have unusual traits. About 80 percent of the cast has hidden surprises. I'll say no more.

Note: Xiao Wan has a special emotional state in which his personality changes drastically and gets very intense. (From gentle and wholesome to world-weary and violent.)

Note: There are more love interests I haven't mentioned yet ↓

(Unlocked: A playboy, blond and purple-eyed, mixed-race celebrity love interest. 189 cm, Barbie doll plus edition, with the added trait of being a pure-hearted straight man. P.S. He is chaste.)

I've got pretty love interests, handsome love interests, younger love interests, straight love interests, and resentful-housewife love interests, but the protagonist is straight. Really straight.

1. Everyone is chaste. No dropped story. Updates total 10,000 words a week, every Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday at midnight. I enjoy adding extra chapters, and the story will absolutely be completed. I'll take responsibility for the world of my story to the very end. You can skim the first two chapters: once you reach the character introductions, skip ahead to Chapter Three and start reading carefully there. (Scratches head.) I really can't do anything about this. Xiao Wan explicitly told me that these are the things that happened during the start of his school term. After getting his admission letter, he was overwhelmed with ideas and nervously prepared for the trip to school. I can't leave it out, because this really is the opening scene of Xiao Wan's story. But it may feel redundant to readers, so please skim Chapters One and Two. The pacing becomes normal from Chapter Three onward. Many thanks!

2. ...The author is still growing, so please leave feedback! I'll read it carefully! I hope you won't just lurk quietly; please respond, I beg you.

3. Important notice: Xiao Wan is straight. He isn't opposed to gay romance, nor is he deliberately pursuing it. He simply doesn't really understand it. He's still a pure-love warrior, and if nothing unexpected happens, he'll end up lying in a coffin with the ideal type he vaguely imagines: a cool, long-haired beauty with straight black hair and no clear face. Unfortunately, unexpected things do happen, and plenty of them.

4. Honestly, our Xiao Wan has a bit of a sense of humor.

5. Another important notice: The first two chapters cover "having his life plans thrown off and being dragged into an aristocratic school, with lots of complaining" and "leaving home alone and taking the journey very seriously." They drag a little, but I feel these chapters are important to Wansi's personal memories, so please skip straight to Chapter Three. I beg you!

6. You can keep an eye on the author notes of chapters that aren't marked "Please read the author note." I'll randomly add some Easter eggs and spoilers there.

Another little story: You Call That Being a Knight?!

At the most legendary magic academy, a great mage returned from his travels bearing the sacred artifact, the Mirror of Birth. As an opening gift for this year's graduating class, it was meant to give the brave even more courage as they stepped into the future.

Legend says the Mirror of Birth can reveal a moment from the future of anyone who touches its surface, granting knowledge of the future and the unknown.

On the eve of graduation, Xibo, the academy's most virtuous and celebrated sword knight, touched the mirror in front of a crowd of onlookers.

The mirror revealed his future:

Inside a huge, magnificent cage of pure gold, Xibo was bound with golden chains like a prisoner. His knight's armor had been stripped away, and his sword had been sealed.

Long black hair trailed to the floor. His glossy eyes were clouded with misery. His rumpled white clothes could not hide the suggestive purple marks around his neck. A golden strand of hair curled around Xibo's neck. A pair of hands, white as marble, held his chin. The contract crest of the elven royal family on the side of his neck was white on the inside and green on the outside, the green darkening almost to black. Enormous white wings folded around him, blocking out the sky.

The elven royal family's contract crest forms only with a lover. The contracted person's love for the elf appears on the inside, and the elf's love for the contracted person on the outside. The stronger the love, the deeper the color.

An angel folds its wings around its lover only when they are joined, so the lover cannot bear to escape.

Xibo stood frozen.

You will be bound by thorns. You will be imprisoned by wings. You will be confined in a golden den, cut off from the light of day.

A quiet, reserved, reliable knight who travels the world with his sword, loved by multiple men.

The love interests include a devoted demon dragon tyrant, an ascetic and orderly little-third elven king, and a cold, arrogant, domineering three-winged angel.

Xibo is actually supposed to be a love interest. He's human, but there's nothing I can do when his partners are a demon dragon, an elf, and an angel.

That's probably about it.

Synopsis written at 10:12 p.m. on September 30, 2026.

Theme: A lotus in the mud, though I am neither the mud nor the lotus