Have You Lied Enough?

Pre-release listing: I Promised We'd Divorce After a Year, But I'm Not Letting You Go. Please add it to your favorites! Blurb at the end.

Blurb:

Fu Wansi is thirty-four this year. He's always had a parade of admirers around him, but none have ever made it into his heart. He has plenty of drinking buddies, but only one true friend: Cheng Bo.

But Cheng Bo has openly loved Fu Wansi for over a decade, and Fu Wansi has rejected him for just as long.

One day, Fu Wansi was drinking at Cheng Bo's club. He stepped outside for some air and happened to run into a boy dressed as a waiter.

The boy stood with his side to Fu Wansi, leaning lazily against the doorway. His tall, graceful figure seemed caught between youth and adulthood, and he lightly bit down on a cheap, thin cigarette.

Hearing a sound, he turned his head slightly and looked at Fu Wansi with curiosity, then gave him a sweet, obedient smile.

At their first meeting, Fu Wansi found himself sincerely linking the words "cute" and "sexy" for the first time.

Later, Fu Wansi learned that Zuo Chi's family was in debt and that his own mother had delivered him to Cheng Bo's club. In an effort to pay off the debt, he'd been tricked into all kinds of sordid work. He curled up in Fu Wansi's arms, crying that someone had forced himself on him.

The boy was handsome, sensible, and good at coaxing people. With half genuine affection and half convenience in mind, Fu Wansi "bought" him back from Cheng Bo.

Fu Wansi had been with plenty of people, but he'd never given anyone his heart. He never expected to fall for the little lunatic Zuo Chi, then lose himself completely.

He dated Zuo Chi, bought him a car and a house, and, to comfort him, took the bottom's role after Zuo Chi tearfully said, "I was forced before, and I'm so scared."

Like a lovesick teenager, he poured all the earnestness of his life into this relationship, until it was too late to turn back.

-

After his father suddenly passed away, Fu Wansi woke up to find everything had changed.

Zuo Chi, who had always been obedient and sweet, stood before him with one arm wrapped intimately around Cheng Bo's waist.

Zuo Chi looked at Fu Wansi with the same innocent smile as before, but the contract he casually tossed over made everything perfectly clear in black and white: Fu Wansi would get not a cent of the Fu family fortune. The new heir's name was "Cheng Bo," or perhaps "Fu Bo."

Cheng Bo's words rang like a thunderclap in Fu Wansi's ears.

"Zuo Chi and I have been together for over a year. He heard that I used to like you, so he insisted on meeting you, and helping me get back what I'm owed while he was at it..." Cheng Bo gave a laugh. "I didn't want things to come to this either."

Only then did Fu Wansi realize that from beginning to end, he was the only one who had been devoted, infatuated, and sincere.

It was all fake. Every last damn bit of it.

One day, rain poured down as the doorbell suddenly rang.

Zuo Chi stood outside, drenched from head to toe, his face pale as he looked at Fu Wansi and smiled. "Uncle, I missed you so much."

Fu Wansi slammed the door shut.

His phone chimed with an unread message.

[If I kill Cheng Bo and get the money back, will that make you happy? ^ ^]

Warnings for melodrama:

* A younger, acting-prodigy, sweet-faced psycho top x an artistic, sharp-tongued, fearless bottom who loves deeply. 22 x 34. His mental state is delightful x he's got a terrible temper.

* Both have plenty of experience. The bottom has mostly been a top with others, but has tried being a bottom. The top has a very messy private life and cheats after they first get together. After they break up, both have relationships with other people of uncertain status. Once they reconcile, they are faithful to each other.

* The top was never forced (he made it up), he doesn't like Cheng Bo, and he's very rich.

* The story is revised often. The only official version is on Jinjiang.

* The cover character can be imagined as the bottom. Non-exclusive authorization from the artist: [Juan Si Ji] - Er Gou

* Blurb written on July 14, 2021, screenshot saved.

Pre-release listing: I Promised We'd Divorce After a Year, But I'm Not Letting You Go

Blurb: [Older top, marriage first and love later]

Jiang Lin is twenty-nine, nearly thirty.

His family keeps urging him to get married, and he can't be bothered with romance. He figures he can find someone he likes well enough to enter a one-year marriage of convenience with, then divorce next year and call it a job done.

The first time he sees Chi Yanqing is on a rainy day, when he goes to pick up his cousin from university.

Jiang Lin stands outside the classroom with a cigarette in his mouth, unlit. He isn't looking for his cousin at all. His gaze is fixed entirely on Professor Chi at the lectern.

A slim waist, broad shoulders, long legs, a handsome face, and an elegant yet distant air

Years after graduating from college, those are the only words Jiang Lin can come up with.

-

On the day of their blind date, Jiang Lin sees Chi Yanqing's face across the table and immediately sends his mother a text as soon as he steps outside.

[I'm done for this time.]

Both have reasons they must marry, and Jiang Lin also secretly wants to claim Chi Yanqing for himself first. So, in a daze, they go and register their marriage.

They agree beforehand to play along in front of both families and act like a loving couple, then go their separate ways once they leave. They will meet at the civil affairs bureau in a year to get divorced.

Jiang Lin has no intention of playing along. He genuinely likes Chi Yanqing.

After they register their marriage, Jiang Lin smokes a cigarette outside the civil affairs bureau. One word is all that fills his mind: pursue.

-

To outsiders, Chi Yanqing is perfect in every way.

A professor at the country's top university, University A, he seems so otherworldly that even speaking one extra sentence to him feels like an offense.

His acquaintances don't see it that way. When they drink, they call him "a hypocrite to the core."

Chi Yanqing lights a cigarette and smiles, neither confirming nor denying it.

They set strict rules before registering their marriage, but afterward, Jiang Lin turns up at the classroom door every day to "pick up his cousin," making sure to come during Chi Yanqing's classes. Chi Yanqing has long since seen through his intentions.

He sees through them but doesn't call him out, letting him come every day.

One rainy day, Chi Yanqing leaves his umbrella in the classroom and waits outside the teaching building for Jiang Lin to walk over. Smiling, Jiang Lin asks, "Professor Chi, you didn't bring an umbrella? Shall I give you a ride?"

Chi Yanqing drops the act and says, "Thanks." Then he gets into Jiang Lin's car of his own accord.

-

Chi Yanqing is thirty-four, five years older than Jiang Lin. Jiang Lin can't get the better of him, no matter what he tries.

* Bar owner bottom x university professor top. Open pursuit x secret flirting.

* Older partner, five-year age gap, marriage first and love later, in a world where same-sex marriage is legal.

* Blurb written on July 7, 2023, screenshot saved.

Theme: I hope we can all grow up well.