Henggong Fish

What am I supposed to do if I've fallen for a loyal subject, but my family doesn't have a throne to inherit?

At seventeen, Weng Xing earns a new honor and is full of ambition. But before he can realize his aspirations, he's stripped of his status and exiled, forbidden from ever leaving Jiang City.

That year, he was as desolate as the snow in Jiang City and the ice on Red Lake. Everyone kept their distance.

The only ones he could talk to were the fish beneath the ice, with pondweed on their heads.

Short of money for food, paper, and ink, he writes stories on the lakeshore and tells them to the wind and the fish.

That year, the fish in the lake was just as down on his luck.

He belonged to the Heng fish clan, which could take fish form by day and human form by night.

But he lacked the talent, and still hadn't taken human form by the time he came of age.

Was his only purpose in life to show off how magnanimous his stepmother was toward fish?

Beneath the lake's surface, the fish gazes toward Jiang City and hears a sigh from a human. "If I had a friend, wouldn't things be so much better? Little fish, be my friend! I would make heaven and earth my friends."

The man's sorrowful tears fall into the fish's eyes.

Many years later, the fish can finally take human form. When he approaches the man and says he wants to be his friend,

the man merely gives him a cold glance and asks, "You want to be my friend? What makes you qualified?"

Huh? What happened?

Is this really the same gentle, timid companion who used to cry over the lake and tell the fish how much he wished he had a friend?

A composed, clear-eyed, self-righteous mortal top who turns dark x A devoted, tender, and steadfast mermaid bottom who would die for his soulmate

Weng Xing: If it's unbearable to be the only sober person in a crowd of drunks, then let's wake everyone up! What if my methods are a bit rough? Sorry, did you think you were my fish? You've got no say in it!

Shi Heng: Whatever my person says is right!

Theme: Existence itself is already the meaning of life