Mutual Domestication

At the age of ten, Lai Li was brought into the Dai family of Danshi, becoming their adopted son in name and rising to the top overnight. The Dai family's eldest son, Dai Linxuan, was refined and gentle, as pure as moonlight and a cool breeze. He doted on his younger half-brother all the same, indulging him without restraint. After twelve years, he had successfully raised Lai Li into someone even more unruly and lawless than a spoiled rich kid. Just how lawless was he? After an accident caused by a landslide, Dai Linxuan opened his eyes to find himself in a dim, sealed room. Photographs of himself covered every inch of the walls. Lai Li knelt before him, took a drag from a cigarette nearly burned down to the filter, pulled him close by the neck, and gave him a wanton kiss. Then he murmured, "Brother, you're so sexy." Through the hazy smoke, Dai Linxuan seemed to return to a certain morning. At the other end was a temple bustling with worshippers. In a suit and tie, he knelt on a cushion. "One night, more than seven hundred days ago, I made a mistake." The abbot beside him looked compassionate. "It's enough to correct it in time." "Unfortunately, I'm a sinner who refuses to repent." Dai Linxuan's eyes and brows were tinged with an almost sickly tenderness. "By now, that mistake has grown into a sin." "I am guilty." "But I will never repent." Now, his sin tilted his head and smiled at him. "Brother, you were the one who started this." Even if I'm a monster, you still have to love me. * Lai Li had never been loved by either parent. His life was like that of a cockroach in a sewer: revolting to be alive, yet unable to die. Baseness and malice were his very nature. But when he was ten, someone kicked open his rusted iron door, bringing sunshine with him, and gathered him into his arms, intending to take him up to the clouds. He threw away the tattered doll in his hands. From then on, he had a new toy. His new toy was precious and gentle, like a flower reflected in a mirror or the moon reflected in water, perfect beyond belief. Until one day, the new toy broke. Large patches of its body began to rot, spreading little by little to every limb and bone, giving off an increasingly foul stench. It reminded Lai Li of the rotten meat he'd smelled as a child. That wouldn't do. When a toy broke, you had to fix it. Otherwise, all you could do was throw it away. [Once a paragon of grace, now a wealthy young master whose gentleness has turned pathological] [His twisted, deranged younger brother was never normal, only good at pretending to be] ☆ A powerful couple who take turns on top. They're both crazy, each for their own reasons. Eight-year age gap. No blood or legal relation. Devoted to each other in both body and heart from beginning to end. Happy ending. - Here's another upcoming switch couple story. If you're interested, feel free to visit my author page and bookmark it: Who Can Outdo Whom? Bai Xiang and Yu Sen, both pillars of the industry's new generation of male stars, were famously at odds. On the surface, they never crossed paths and each kept up appearances. Behind the scenes, though, they directed their teams to kick each other when they were down, take advantage of their misfortune, and pull away the ladder beneath them... They'd stab each other in the back at the first opportunity. Netizens happily munched on popcorn and watched the drama. After a while, they began to notice something strange: Why did these two only go after each other? Why did they only drag each other and leave everyone else alone? The netizens, never ones to pass up a spectacle, hammered out a forceful declaration late at night: "They only have eyes and hearts for each other. What else could that be but love!" The day after their ship's fan forum exploded in popularity... Yu Sen was hit with a scandal of epic proportions and faced astronomical breach-of-contract penalties from his business partners. Bai Xiang suffered a serious accident while filming and announced he was taking a temporary break from acting. Netizen 1: ...We just started shipping them, and now they're breaking up? Netizen 2: They even got into trouble at the same time. Isn't that a kind of double suicide for love? * With both legs broken and his sight gone, Bai Xiang sent everyone away, keeping only a young caregiver with a pleasant voice by his side. The caregiver also served as his bodyguard, cook, and housekeeper... In private, Bai Xiang never bothered to maintain his polite public image. He showed the caregiver his worst side without reservation. When he was in a good mood: "You're so versatile. Why not add warming my bed to your list of services?" When he was in a bad mood: "Read me some dirt on Yu Sen." "..." From the caregiver's silence, Bai Xiang sensed a hint of murderous intent. He repeated himself. "Yu the mutt. Dirt. Don't understand?" The caregiver-bodyguard-cook-housekeeper gave a menacing smile and read him the trending topics that had topped the charts in recent days: #Insider Reveals Bai Xiang Lost His Cool After Hearing Yu Sen Was in Trouble, Leading to His Accident on Set# #Shocking! Bai Xiang's First Love May Have Been Revealed! And It's...# #Three-Time Best Actor Loved Someone Who Didn't Love Him Back, Dragging Him for Years Just to Get His Attention# The revelations were vivid, the timeline clear, the writing moving. There were photos for every claim, and the photos themselves were the evidence. Netizens cried out: What a heartbreaking missed connection! Bai Xiang even wondered whether the accident had made him lose several years of his memory. He listened in a daze. "Inseparable, passionate, devoted unto death... Eighteen-year-old me and Yu Sen??" "Yes. You even bottomed for love." "?" Yu Sen and Bai Xiang could never be friends. They knew each other's true natures and had seen all of each other's darkness and disgrace. They were equally arrogant and conceited... They were so jealous of and sick of each other. If they couldn't be friends, they could be lovers. P.S. They're genuine enemies. The entertainment industry is not a major focus. The story begins after both leads suffer setbacks in their careers and start looking for a new direction in life. It's mostly slice of life, with a bit of a road-trip feel. See the author's note in Chapter 1 for the full reading guide. Theme: Don't get trapped in past hardships. Look ahead.