I Picked Up a Little Mute by the Roadside

[An adjacent dual-update novel: the healing campus story, The Chatty Desk Mate Who Won't Stop Chasing Me, and the wealthy-family ex-wife-chasing story, He Can Play Every Type I Like. Coming next: I Became the Top After Being Reborn as a Bottom [Entertainment Industry]. Visit my author page and add them to your collection. Scroll down for the blurbs~] Blurb: Wei Xun is heaven's favored son, with the word "protagonist" written all over him. Naturally, he gets the protagonist treatment too: his master is wary of him, his fellow disciples are jealous of him, and the cultivation world persecutes him. Things can always get worse. There's no such thing as the worst of it. But none of that can stop the luck that comes with being a protagonist. A casual roadside pick-up brings him a beautiful, mute "girl." Then the mute "girl" bites him on the shoulder and tells him, "she" is a man... Wei Xun: "..." All right, a man works too. Things are already this miserable. Surely they can't get any worse. What he doesn't expect is that when the whole world turns against him, the young man he brought home will stand steadfastly behind him... But sometimes, people don't get to choose, especially when it comes to fate. Wei Xun: "I once hoped I could keep you from walking barefoot through the brambles. I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't even walk alongside you now." The young man: "Brother, will you marry me?" The young man: "Will you take me as your husband?" Wei Xun: "All right. I'll marry you." I take your surname and make it my own. So what if he's a tragic protagonist? At least he still has a bit of protagonist luck. He'll find his opportunities, and he'll find a partner too! He lights up an endless night for him, and in the dark, the other keeps a lamp burning to make the day last. Gentle, powerful, and secretly domestic top x a darkened beauty bottom with an intense dependency on his top Content warnings: 1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first, cultivation setting with original worldbuilding, happy ending (the path to happiness has a few bumps, but the ending is happy! Happy!! Happy!!!). 2. A somewhat slow burn (you'll have to wait for the raised-from-childhood bottom to grow up! See Chapter 8, "My Little Bottom Has Grown Up"). 3. Older top, raised-together romance. The top takes care of the bottom in the early stages, but after the bottom grows up, he'll pursue the top, and they'll dote on each other. 4. Things aren't easy for the leads early on, but the bottom won't stay down forever! Starting at the end of Volume One, where there's oppression, there will be resistance! He Can Play Every Type I Like Innocent, naive painter bottom Zou Yun x scheming, obsessive, highly intelligent top Xiao Sa Blurb: Zou Yun, who grew up in an orphanage, has mild social anxiety. He's never been able to understand why he took out student loans and studied fine arts under so much pressure, only to become a 996 wage slave working for clients for the rest of his life. Then he picked up a "high school student" named Xiao Sa by the roadside. Xiao Sa is domestic, sweet, and good at keeping the bed warm. He's great in bed and never clingy. He not only keeps Zou Yun's home and life running smoothly, but even helps with his work problems. He's simply the perfect tenant, the ideal boyfriend, and a real-life snail girl. Zou Yun figures that after 27 years of bad luck, he must have been saving up good karma to meet Xiao Sa. Until Xiao Sa suddenly disappears. Three months later, Xiao Sa returns to their rented apartment in a suit, stretching out his long legs and opening his arms. "Brother Yun, let me take care of you!" Xiao Sa pays off his student loans, takes him to live in a mansion, and helps him open an art gallery. Xiao Sa takes care of everything, from his daily life to his dreams. * To get Zou Yun's DNA, Xiao Sa carefully plans his approach and gets close to him. But the old man at home, who's on the verge of death yet never actually dies, keeps demanding that Xiao Sa confirm it. With no other choice, Xiao Sa has to stay with Zou Yun for the time being. To win Zou Yun's trust, he puts on a performance worthy of the world's most coveted Oscar. After everything is done, he faces the enormous mansion alone and suddenly misses their cramped little home. So he "acts" his way back into Zou Yun's life. He always thought that because he'd spent so long living in a world of deceit and intrigue, Zou Yun's simple, innocent nature just seemed different to him. It isn't until the truth comes out that he finally understands: He wasn't keeping Zou Yun as a pet. He had walked into love's prison himself. The Chatty Desk Mate Who Won't Stop Chasing Me Proud, tsundere top who says one thing and does another, top student and school bully Ding Jinyu x warm, chatty, fake-underachiever sunshine bottom Ming Xi Blurb: After eight years living under someone else's roof, Ding Jinyu finally gets to return to the hometown where he'd once enjoyed a brief, peaceful childhood. To avoid transferring schools again and make it through his final two years of high school, he decides to rein in his temper and become invisible at school this time. But... On the first day of school, he almost beats someone up right outside the principal's office. So much for keeping a low profile. Worse, someone mistakenly thinks he stepped in to help him, and as luck would have it... That "him" becomes his desk mate. His new desk mate is named Ming Xi. He has a warm smile and dimples, but he talks a little too much. He's obviously a hothouse flower. Ding Jinyu keeps his distance from his new desk mate, who clearly isn't someone he'd ever get along with. But... His new desk mate just won't stop chasing after him! An accident leaves Ding Jinyu homeless once again, forcing him to move in with Ming Xi. But the warm, whole family he'd imagined isn't there. Little by little, he sees Ming Xi's brokenness with his own eyes. Yet Ming Xi's warm, dimpled smile never changes. Why has he become an isolated island amid all this brokenness, while Ming Xi's signature smile, like sunlight, has quietly climbed onto his windowsill? Being lonely doesn't mean you don't long for warmth. This terrifying dependence, growing silently between them, finally makes Ding Jinyu panic. Ding Jinyu pins Ming Xi against a tree trunk. Streetlights shine through the sparse branches, and a lone wolf sinks its teeth into its prey's neck. Ding Jinyu's eyes are bloodshot. "Ming Xi, I'm warning you. I'm gay. You'd better stay away from me!" "What a coincidence, Ding Jinyu." Ming Xi looks up at him, dimples showing. "Does that mean I can pursue you now?" Some people remain like blazing suns even when surrounded by darkness. His childhood healed him for the rest of his life, and he also healed the childhood of someone who would otherwise have needed a lifetime to recover. Theme: Healing each other.