Using Myself as Bait

Also known as He's a Gentle Freak

Shen Wei comes from a wealthy family. Though reserved and taciturn, when he was young he once loved someone with all his heart, recklessly and without regard for himself. That person was Fu Chenlou, a poor boy stuck in the mire.

The poor boy gave Shen Wei everything he had: care, protection, tenderness, and his lonely, sincere heart. But he simply never said he loved him.

Shen Wei accepts defeat.

When Fu Chenlou was thirteen, his father died by suicide and his mother remarried. The only family he had was a little sister who cried all the time. He lived in the dirtiest, darkest part of the city, with no money or strength. He survived by scavenging and working as a child laborer, stretching every yuan until it nearly split in two.

By eighteen, the innocent child had grown into a cold, handsome young man. He barely scraped by, risking his life as a sparring partner for boxers.

Then fortune suddenly smiled on him. Shen Wei, a naive, gentle, beautiful little princess, barged into his bleak and terrifying life.

When he was hurt, she worried for him. When he was bullied, she stood up for him. When he was insulted, she argued on his behalf. When his mother abandoned him again, she cried and told him she would be there for him.

She liked him.

But growing up takes time, and feelings eventually fade. How long could the little princess's novelty with him possibly last?

So when she pretended to be drunk and kissed him, he lowered his eyes and refused her, tender but unyielding.

"Weiwei, you've been spoiled."

Sure enough, she refused to give up. She made clumsy attempts to show her love, clinging to him tighter and tighter, afraid of losing him.

And he held back his restrained, burning love, pretending his gaze was indifferent.

*

Shen Wei is a sheltered princess living in a castle, innocent and childish, with a tender, resolute nature that commits wholeheartedly. Fu Chenlou is a hardy weed growing by the roadside. Rough, weathered by hardship, cold, worldly, and timid.

But when a weed meets a princess, it wants to bloom into a brilliant flower, foolishly hoping the princess might stop and look, even for a moment.

[Reading Guide]

Second-chance romance after a breakup / healing / devoted to each other alone / heartwarming. They are seventeen or eighteen at first, then twenty-five or twenty-six later.

I will always love the Wei-Lou pairing.

After Awakening, I Cling to the Villain's Leg

Wen Ao is the Taishi's stepdaughter, a gorgeous, vain, willful young woman. She's in love with Xiao Mingzhang, heir to the Duke of Zhenguo, but he's already taken, and the one he loves is her stepsister, Li Chenglan.

Wen Ao is abducted and wakes up in Prince Ninth's bed.

Her memories come rushing back. She's the female supporting character, while Li Chenglan is the heroine. Prince Ninth lusts after Li Chenglan, and the male supporting character, Xiao Mingzhang, doesn't want his beloved to be harmed, so he sends her stepsister in her place.

Because of this, she'll lose everything and meet a miserable end.

So Wen Ao stabs Prince Ninth and gets thrown into a mass grave.

To stay alive and get revenge, Wen Ao drags out another person from the mass grave: Xiao Mingzhang's sworn enemy, Cui Jiuyin, a future imperial favorite who will hold The Outcast in his hands, ruthless and merciless, feared by all.

Ignoring the villain's cold expression, Wen Ao cares for him every day and urges him to rise quickly to a position second only to the emperor, so she can benefit from his success.

*

Cui Jiuyin is born into a noble family, a refined and immaculate young gentleman, but the forces at court crush the Cui family and bring it to ruin.

Seriously wounded, he ends up in a mass grave. When he opens his eyes, he sees Wen Ao looking at him with greedy, ulterior motives.

She is stingy and lazy, yet spends the money she's saved on clothes for him. He thinks she must want something from him.

She brazenly claims to be a celestial maiden, yet secretly sells her jewelry to pay for his studies. He still thinks she's up to no good.

She says she foresees that she'll one day become a high-ranking court official. He scoffs at that too.

She's vain and spoiled, greedy, afraid of pain, and unable to endure hardship. Cui Jiuyin goes from looking down on her to finding her quite agreeable.

But he never imagined she would leave.

So when she gets her revenge and wants to go, he begs her in tears:

"Aoao, don't go. I was the one who didn't know what was good for me. I was the spoiled, vain one..."

"Zhen Niang, don't go. Don't leave me..."

Message: A gender-swapped story of the Little Prince and the Rose