I Got the Target of My Affection Wrong

The System is unreliable, and Jiang Zhi's romance mission has restarted three times.

The first time, she found her target before he had hatched and dusted the dirt off his eggshell.

The second time, she came face-to-face with her target as he slithered around on the ground, his glossy black snake eyes fixed on her.

She braved her fear and stayed with him for a while, until she witnessed the thrilling sight of a giant snake shedding its skin.

Jiang Zhi went deathly pale. "...How about I come back in fifty years?"

She really wasn't brave enough to sleep with a snake.

Who knew the System had set the wrong time? When she woke again, five hundred years had passed.

System: "Host, you have two years left to win him over. If you fail, you'll be stuck here forever."

This time, she was sent to the wilderness. In the distance, a man in black and a man in white were locked in fierce combat. Jiang Zhi couldn't tell which one was her snake-shedding target.

Even the System was confused. "Just pick one?"

Jiang Zhi: "We can do that? Then I'll pick the one in white."

The man in white was the Sword Venerable.

*

After the Sword Venerable finished fighting the Black-Robed Demon Venerable, he came across an innocent young woman injured by the pressure of his sword formation.

Tears streamed down the girl's face, her red eyes making her look like a pampered little rabbit.

Jiang Zhi confidently told the System, "Men in white are all gentle gentlemen. He'll definitely feel sorry for me and take care of me."

Sure enough, the Sword Venerable was as gentle as jade.

He took Jiang Zhi back to his sect to treat her injuries, personally taught her swordsmanship, and promised to take her as his only disciple.

On the eve of the apprenticeship ceremony, Jiang Zhi suddenly realized: If they really became master and disciple, how would they ever date!?

So she snuck into the Sword Venerable's cave residence in the middle of the night,

planning to sleep first and fall in love later, turning the apprenticeship ceremony into a wedding ceremony.

She had barely lifted the Sword Venerable's covers when the System shrieked in her ear: "Zhi Zhi, we picked the wrong target! The Sword Venerable and the Demon Venerable are twin brothers. We're supposed to win over the younger brother, the Demon Venerable!"

Jiang Zhi was stunned.

Before she could move, a huge snake tail swept out and wrapped around her.

The usually mild and considerate Sword Venerable dropped his disguise. His eyes brimmed with possessiveness as he swallowed her up, a wild, wicked smile on his face.

"Zhi Zhi, let me tell you a secret."

"Last life, you chose my younger brother. This life, you can only belong to me."

Reader's notes:

1. The aloof male lead descends from his pedestal and falls into love.

2. Mountains of personal headcanons. I'm letting loose, and every golden finger and bit of logic serves the romance.

3. One-on-one, no harem.

4. The novel will be under 200,000 words, with the paid chapters starting at 60,000 words.

Currently serializing: A Self-Raising Guide for Dragon Mom

[Gentle, considerate dragon dad vs. human girl who just wants to survive]

A story about transmigrating into an interstellar beastfolk world as its only human, being raised plump and healthy by a giant dragon, and eventually successfully riding a dragon.

Blurb:

When Jiang Yao woke up, she was locked in a golden cage. On a raised platform, a horned monster shouted in a language she didn't understand. Below, all was pitch black, until several pairs of eerie eyes lit up.

A deep voice called out, "Fifty thousand crystals and a small asteroid."

He'd pay a fortune for this human.

Bang! The hammer fell.

A pure gold curtain was drawn over the cage, and Jiang Yao, a rare human pet sold at a sky-high price, was sent to her new owner.

The Duke of Solitary Mountain, the cold and cruel Golden Dragon who made everyone tremble in fear.

[Bonus scene]

The evil dragon's eyes were bigger than basketballs, its sharp claws as thick as Jiang Yao's waist. Its enormous body lay far away atop a tall mountain of gold coins, twisted horns rising from its head and casting a shadow like an evil demon.

Jiang Yao trembled, convinced she was about to die.

The evil dragon tossed her a glittering little dress with the tips of its claws, mumbling in a strange, unfamiliar language.

Jiang Yao tentatively changed into the frilly dress.

The dragon happily swished its tail and tossed her a gold coin.

Jiang Yao stared blankly at the gold coin, which was bigger than her face.

The dragon tilted its head, then tossed a pearl into the cage with the little human.

It opened its abyss-like maw and pointed a claw at itself.

Did it want her to eat it...?

Jiang Yao hesitated. The dragon seemed to lose patience, rumbling in its throat and puffing out a little spray of sparks.

With a loud wail, Jiang Yao burst into tears.

The dragon's smile froze. "...?"

Why was the little one he was raising crying?

The dragon pulled out A Guide to Raising Rare Ancient Humans and studied it carefully. It said ancient humans were a picky species.

After a moment's thought, it pulled off a scale shimmering with cold light and held it out.

The rarest dragon scale in all the stars. Surely his little one would like this!

The next second, Jiang Yao wailed even louder. "Waaah...!"

The dragon was at his wit's end. "Raising a human baby is so hard!"

The next story I'll write: Spring at Yumen Gate

The Eldest Princess of the Sheng Dynasty flees to the grasslands and gets lost. A pair of hunting brothers find her and take her home.

The brothers have similar features, but their eyes are different. The elder brother is strong and quiet, with the cold eyes of a lone wolf on the grassland at night. The younger brother is gentle and considerate, with crescent-shaped eyes as bright as a breeze.

They give the princess food and water, sew warm winter clothes from thick animal hide to protect her from the cold, and climb the Tianshan Mountains to gather medicine for her injured foot.

They care for her in every possible way.

But the princess is wary. She lies to the brothers, claiming she has lost her memory and doesn't know where her home is, afraid to reveal her identity.

Her own brother was framed and killed, and the new emperor has taken the throne and is determined to wipe out his enemies. Only these isolated grasslands can keep her safe from the pursuers for now.

The princess wants revenge. The only people she can turn to are the two hunters sharing her tent, whom she asks to send letters to her old ministers and subordinates.

The letter is placed before the brothers.

The elder brother says nothing, sitting in the tent with his legs spread as he wipes down his hunting arrows. The younger brother merely watches the princess with a smile. The atmosphere freezes in an instant.

...Something doesn't seem right.

The princess, accustomed to being waited on, finally realizes it belatedly.

She looks down at the rabbit-fur boots on her feet, the fresh roast lamb on the table, the brightly colored exotic beads around her neck, and even the braid in her hair, which the younger brother came into her room to weave himself that morning...

It's like a net, tightly woven and laid long ago to trap her, a limping, slow-witted rabbit.

Why would strangers who had never met her treat her kindly for no reason?

The younger brother smiles. "Cuicui is the pretty wife my brother and I found. Of course we're good to you."

-

While the younger brother is away, the princess gets the elder brother drunk and tries to escape on horseback. But she underestimates the strength of the grassland men, and their anger at being deceived.

When she returns to the tent, her red lips are disheveled, and scraps of her dress are hastily wrapped around her shoulders.

The princess begs the younger brother for help, but he is no longer his usual gentle, easygoing self. Smiling, he brings out a chain and says it will come off after the wedding ceremony.

In tears, she insists she can only marry one of them.

The two brothers stand beside the bed, their tall figures looming over her.

"All right, then. Cuicui, would you like to choose the elder brother or the younger brother?"

Theme: Face life with a smile.