Raising a Chubby Imperial Beast in the Palace

Xie Yan was an unfavored illegitimate son in the prime minister's household. Ever since he transmigrated here, he had been content to laze around. But his stepmother withheld food and clothes, and his concubine mother was gravely ill, so he had no choice but to sneak out of the manor and sell calligraphy and paintings to scrape by. One evening, returning late and trying not to be discovered, he wandered into a forbidden part of the manor's rear courtyard. There he found a pitch-dark secret passage, where a tortured, starving beast was imprisoned, so thin and haggard that he couldn't even tell what kind of creature it was. Moved by pity, Xie Yan began sneaking food to it whenever he returned from outside. Half a year passed like this. When Xie Yan went to feed the beast again, it was gone. The emperor, missing for three years, suddenly returned and executed the entire prime minister's household for treason. Xie Yan thought he was doomed, but was told that he was of royal blood from a neighboring kingdom. Faced with a choice between being executed with the rest of the household or fleeing, Xie Yan decisively chose the latter. He never expected that, upon reaching the neighboring kingdom, he would discover that he had been brought back only to serve as a pawn. He had two purposes: to go to the Ruan Kingdom for a political marriage, and to assassinate its emperor. Xie Yan: ... One day, after his marriage alliance, he still hadn't even met the emperor and had already been thrown into the cold palace. He accidentally stumbled into a place and found the beast he had cared for so long ago. Overjoyed, Xie Yan scooped it up and pulled a pancake from his robe, stuffing it right into the beast's mouth. "You've gotten so skinny!" The emperor: Hmmmm, this way of force-feeding someone like a duck is so practiced, so familiar, so... Couple: A ridiculously lucky, immensely strong bottom who pretends to be foolish x A dragon top with the worst luck imaginable, who absorbs the essence of heaven and earth and doesn't need to eat Content warning: Mpreg Upcoming story "After Returning to the Present, I Ruined the Rich Family's Tyrant Cat with Pets" In his previous life, Ji Feng saved Feng Haoyu, only to be replaced by his twin sister. The Feng family took his sister away and raised her as a child bride. Later, when the Feng family's fifth uncle made his fortune, the whole family joined the ranks of the wealthy elite. Ten years later, Ji Feng got into C University through his own efforts. But when his rich and beautiful sister ran into him, she was afraid he'd expose her, so she framed him and had him killed. After Ji Feng died, he transmigrated to ancient times and became a young nobleman. An old Taoist priest also took him in as his last disciple. After dying again, he woke up back in his first life, on his first day in C City. On his way home from a late-night part-time job, Ji Feng passed an alley and got caught up in a shooting. He watched as the driver of the Feng family's elusive head, whom he had met once in his previous life, shoved a cat covered in blood and grime into his arms. With his dying breath, the driver gasped, "Th-this is... is... Fifth... Fifth Master..." "Fifth Master's cat. Got it, got it." Ji Feng watched the driver choke up, stare wide-eyed, and die. Later, Ji Feng kindly returned the cat to the Feng family. The next day, an even more miserable and bedraggled cat came back. What could Ji Feng do? He kept it, of course. Then, half a month later, Fifth Master disappeared, the Feng family's assets were frozen, and Feng Haoyu's family lost their investment and suffered a cash-flow crisis, bringing them to the brink of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Ji Feng went from a poor kid to the most handsome and coldest heartthrob in C University's history, the strongest student in his department, a martial arts champion, and a master of all six arts, fought over by luminaries from every field of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Only Fifth Master Cat knows that the Ji Feng hailed by C University as the most beautiful and aloof man in its history is secretly a sweets addict, a plush-toy lover, and a neat freak who has to pet his cat exactly one hundred times before bed, not a single time less. Someone: If this keeps up, I'm going to go bald. One day, Ji Feng discovered that his cat had been petted bald, and had turned into... a person. Ji Feng stared at the face before him, identical to the missing Fifth Master of the Feng family in the rumors. He suddenly remembered what the driver had said and choked. ...So he had meant it literally, not left the rest of the sentence unsaid. Theme: