The All-Purpose Flower Vase

Everyone knows that Xie Chang'an is a pretty airhead. Even his own fans are used to their idol's incoherent speech and all sorts of clueless antics.

So they can't be bothered to control the comments or spend money. Everyone just gets his beauty for free.

And yet he is still...

A walking trendsetter, a mobile luxury-brand billboard, a magnet for phone cameras, and a symbol of beauty in his era.

His fans and haters use the same lines:

"What does he have besides his face?"

"He traded seven lifetimes of intelligence for one lifetime of good looks."

"If you can't talk, just keep your mouth shut and then amaze everyone."

Everyone thinks that as long as he has his looks, he has it all, and that once he passes his peak, he'll be finished.

But when he turns twenty-five, this block of wood whom everyone has been hoping would hurry up and get out of showbiz finally starts to wise up.

"This performance has something to it. How could he make it feel so real if he hadn't been through it?"

"He knows martial arts? He can barely get onto a bed... Whoa, what the hell just flew over my head?"

"He's just a giant baby. No way he can cook... Master Chef! Do you need someone to cling to your leg?"

"He didn't even graduate from vocational school and got five points on the college entrance exam. How would he know L'Hopital's rule? What, he got into Tsinghua?"

After finishing his quick transmigration travels, Xie Chang'an returned to this world to enjoy retirement. When he first arrived, his excitement turned to misery: he fell headfirst off the bed and nearly knocked his soul loose. His soul and body wouldn't merge properly, making him act as if he'd gone back to elementary school, and leaving him less capable than an ordinary person.

Then, at twenty-five, he was tricked into joining a variety show, where on the very first day he took an elegant face-first tumble.

And his soul snapped back into place...

Xie Chang'an was tired of making a living off his face. At last, he could return to his body and dominate through sheer ability. But after his soul returned, his 98-point face somehow became a 105-point face... What happened to the promise that his overwhelming charm would improve?

-

The protagonist won't stay in showbiz forever.

After reaching the top, he'll leave to pursue other ventures.

Then he'll crush people with his overwhelming advantage.

-

Update schedule: This novel updates to match the rankings, with at least 15,000 words a week.

Novel guide:

- A pretty-boy top-tier star slaps faces on a livestreamed talent show (6-69)

- A chaotic superstar sets the record straight and slaps faces online (70-88)

- After leaving showbiz, he takes on high-speed action and slaps faces with his overwhelming advantage (89-93)

- What's it like to painstakingly work a romance plot into the story? (Extras not yet started. Chapters currently involving romance: 3, 5, 10, 12, 13, 17, 23, 32, 33, 35, 43, 50, 51, 60, 69, 71, 73, 79, 82, 83, 84, 93-)

(Version dated January 11, 2023)

-

My new novel is out. After a few adjustments, I'll start updating daily:

"The Beta in an Alpha Boy Band"

Blurb:

Li Xingjia has known since childhood that he would become an alpha. So although he isn't the oldest in the group, he looks after his teammates in every way.

When they were kids, he was the most popular. Fans from other groups affectionately called him Brother Li, hoping their own kids would grow close to him and be looked after by him.

But gradually, as his teammates shot up, grew into their looks, and became handsome or dazzling in their own ways, each developing their own appeal...

Li Xingjia, who was still looking after everyone, began to fade into the background.

"Big brother" became "nagging mom."

"Dreamy" became "fatherly and preachy."

"Their CP is hard to ship," "He doesn't belong in a top-tier group," "Alpha fraud," "An unworthy golden melon"...

When every member had differentiated as an alpha, he became the beta in an alpha boy band.

Li Xingjia looked at his test results, which said he would never differentiate, then at his perfect academic record, and promptly submitted his application to leave the group.

His teammates tore it to shreds, their eyes red.

"Brother, are you leaving me behind?"

"Brother Li, if you're gone, I'm quitting too."

"Li Xingjia, I can't sing properly without you."

"Xiao Jia, don't listen to those awful people. I can protect you now."

-

At first---

Li Xingjia held A's hand as they crossed the road, watched the stars with B, taught C to play guitar, and carried sleeping D home.

Later---

A clung tightly to Li Xingjia's hand as they walked through a flower-lined corridor. B risked everything to reach the summit just to photograph a star for him. C sang a song he'd written for him in front of fifty thousand fans. D, a clingy little thing with an apparent case of skin hunger, refused to let go once he was picked up.

At first---

Fans: An unworthy golden melon.

Later---

Fans: Why is this kind of... ship-worthy?

And at long last, watching the alphas in the group show off like peacocks around Li Xingjia, compete to outshine one another, turn green with jealousy, and even come to blows (?), the fans finally understood:

Ah, so planting melons can get you flowers!

A self-disciplined, serious, gentle and kind beta bottom x an alpha top with overwhelming possessiveness

Theme: Beauty can invite jealousy, but with undeniable strength to back it up, one can make the prejudiced see past their bias.