After We Broke Up, He Held My Urn

Coming soon: Who Falls First Is a Dog and My Evil Disciple Lifted the Lid of My Coffin. Please add them to your favorites!

My friend's novel, The Two-Faced Beauty's Cover Is Blown. Please add it to your favorites!

At twenty, Li An and Ji Xiuming got together. One was a down-and-out young master, the other a favored son of heaven.

At twenty-seven, Li An finally realized that what he had called love was only one-sided.

"It took me a lot of effort to win Li An over. Don't you have the trophies you won displayed at home?"

"He may be aloof, but I still got him. I keep him at home on display. After getting used to all those fancy dishes outside, you need some plain porridge now and then."

"Let him go? Why rush? I haven't had my fill of him yet. Maybe later."

"He's good-tempered. When we break up, he won't make a scene. Easy."

Li An leaned against the door outside, a cigarette between his lips. Smoke blurred his face as he quietly accepted each knife plunging into his chest.

The courtship, the passionate romance, the breakup: those few sentences from Ji Xiuming summed up seven years together. It had all been a joke.

Later, Li An left, just as Ji Xiuming had said he would: without a fight or a fuss, gone without a trace.

*

Ji Xiuming had imagined the two of them breaking up, but he'd never thought Li An would leave his life in such a horrific way, leaving behind only a phone stained with blood and a badly mangled car.

He'd thought his love for Li An in their early years had been no more than a fleeting impulse, an attraction sparked by a glimpse of a handsome face on campus, and wounded pride after being rejected.

But now, his heart on the verge of breaking told Ji Xiuming that his love for Li An had long since seeped into his bones and blood. The ridiculous thing was that he'd once foolishly believed he was the clearheaded one, immune to the ties of love.

But he came to his senses too late.

Ji Xiuming searched the entire hospital and called in every favor he could. In the end, all he got was an urn of ashes.

The last message Li An sent him was just three words: Let's break up.

*

Everyone who knew Ji Xiuming knew he had a first love he could never talk about. That person had loved him to the depths of his soul, but died in a car accident.

Years later, at a banquet, Shengming Group sought to partner with the overseas Dingyang Group. As the head of Shengming, Ji Xiuming saw Dingyang's general manager for the Asia region at the banquet: Li An.

The restraint he'd maintained all evening shattered when the banquet ended. Ji Xiuming cornered Li An in the parking lot and asked through gritted teeth, "What are you playing at?"

"I should be asking you what you're playing at, Mr. Ji. Maybe I left in such a hurry back then that you hadn't had your fill of me and want to take me home to put on display for a few more days." Li An cut him off, grabbed his tie, and yanked him forward. Their noses nearly touched. "Or are you looking for a bedmate?"

His flippant, icy words pierced Ji Xiuming's heart like a sharp pendant. For a moment, Ji Xiuming couldn't tell if the tie was choking him or if the mockery in Li An's eyes was making it hard to breathe.

Li An's long fingers curled around the black tie. He sneered. "It's true that I'm good-tempered and won't make a fuss, but unfortunately, I'm no longer interested in you, Mr. Ji."

"And forget about being bedmates. Mr. Ji, you're terrible in bed."

Notes: 1. This is an angsty groveling-after-the-breakup story, and it's ridiculously angsty. Be warned! Seriously, it's extremely angsty!

2. I know the top deserves to be cursed out. He won't be replaced, and there will be a happy ending. Yes, even this can have a happy ending.

3. A short romance-focused story, updated daily. Schedule uncertain. No backlog, no outline, just winging it...

---- My friend's novel, The Two-Faced Beauty's Cover Is Blown ----

The young master of a family of scholars with a century-long legacy: refined, courteous, and elegant.

In private, though, he's a spicy little strawberry who loves cross-dressing.

Shen Qinghuai always thought he'd kept his secret well, until the day after a night of passion, when he found the man he'd slept with and thrown out at home. His grandfather even assigned the man to work under him as an intern.

You've heard of a grandfather who sabotages his son, but one who sabotages his grandson?

Help: I'm a man who's always maintained a well-behaved persona. What do I do when my one-night stand in women's clothes becomes my immediate superior?!

Waiting for answers. This is urgent!!!

Fortunately, the man acted as though nothing had happened that night.

But then, at a bar, on a masked cruise ship, and at a holiday beach,

Shen Qinghuai, dressed in women's clothes, kept running into him again and again.

He pulled Shen Qinghuai into his arms and kissed him, danced with him, and held him protectively against his chest.

Shen Qinghuai's cover was blown once, twice, countless times. In the end, he simply gave up trying to hide it.

But to his surprise, the man prepared a room full of dresses for him to wear at his leisure.

Qin Yanzhi had loved the little girl next door, who was like a Barbie doll, since childhood.

He helped her practice calligraphy, played house with her, and helped her dress up.

Later, the little girl became a boy, and no longer recognized him.

No matter. He would make him remember.

Content warning: The bottom wears women's clothes.

Message: If you miss someone, you may never see them again. Treasure the present.