My Soulmate Is a Free Agent

Qin Chunxiao lives in a world with soulmate lore, in a book called The Top-Tier Star Is a Wealthy Young Master. The book tells of the tangled romance between a wealthy young master and his ex-husband, movie star Bai Ming. There’s no golden finger for making money, and no shortcut to getting rich. Qin Chunxiao, whose hometown real estate costs over 40,000 yuan per square meter, stares blankly. What’s the use of knowing this plot? It won’t make me any money. An unnamed passerby in the book, Qin Chunxiao has no involvement in the original story. He works diligently on the volleyball court, aiming to join the men’s national team before 2024, see the world at the Paris Olympics, and save enough for a down payment before turning thirty so he can move his family out of their run-down rental. A few years later, he finally reaches the highest level. As a member of the national team, he travels abroad to compete with a group of equally outstanding teammates. Then the plane breaks apart in midair. The first piece of the cabin that comes crashing toward him is blocked by the kind seatmate beside him. The moment his seatmate dies, Qin Chunxiao’s vision loses all color. The second piece of the plane takes him too. When he opens his eyes again, Qin Chunxiao has returned to seven years earlier. He’s in his final year of junior high, holding a copy of Three Years of Middle School Entrance Exams, Four Years of Practice Tests. He looks at the test paper in his hands, torn between joy and sorrow. He’s sad that he has to go through the middle school and college entrance exams all over again, but glad that, with another chance, his volleyball dream might soar even higher. Qin Chunxiao wants to become the world’s best volleyball libero. What is a libero? Someone who lies on the floor while everyone else celebrates a win. A human fortress, the first line of defense. A guardian whose presence is imposing, despite being the shortest on the team, and who can thwart every attack from the opposing team’s spikers. A hero who never gives up while the ball is still in play. Before adversity arrives, I hold it back. After it arrives, I turn the tables on it. Sunny volleyball player love interest x a wealthy top who’s lucky with money (romance begins only after the protagonist is an adult) Overt soulmates: At birth, one person can see only in black and white. They see color only when they meet the other. Covert soulmates: Both people have normal vision. When one dies, the other loses the ability to see color. The only way to confirm they’re soulmates is that a countdown appears on their bodies when they meet. Until the countdown ends, they can’t speak to each other. This story will go premium on April 21, starting with Chapter 22. You can unlock a 10,000-word update on the day it goes premium. A friendly reminder: This story is entirely fictional and has no real-life counterparts, so please don’t try to connect it to real life. Kisses. The blurb was posted on March 5, 2022, in the author’s notes for Chapter 103 of my previous story, Figure Skating: Transmigrating to the Republican Era to Write Novels. The plot and outline had already been completed at least a month earlier. Soulmate and color-blindness settings originated in Western fandom and are common tropes. A South Korean TV drama was definitely not the originator of this setting. The following is solely the author’s personal opinion. If you disagree, feel free to ignore it. Mushroom thinks people come to JJ to enjoy themselves, and authors write to tell readers an interesting story. Under those circumstances, reading and writing are both happy experiences. (So, in my personal opinion, it’s not normal for either side to expect the other to grovel when sharing writing. We’re equals enjoying words together; neither side is above the other.) Also, Mushroom has dealt with emotional difficulties before starting this story. So my goal in writing it was for readers to finish and feel, “I enjoyed that.” I hoped to make myself happy by making everyone else happy. My writing skills and prose still need work, but judging by the atmosphere in the comments when the story ended, I feel I mostly achieved that goal. During the writing process, Mushroom received lots of helpful encouragement and suggestions, which improved the story’s quality. Thank you so much. (Bows.) I also hope new readers enjoy reading it. In short, just enjoy the story. If it’s not for you, you can click away at any time. The author doesn’t mind people recommending other stories in the comments, because I decided to write this one when I saw how few stories there were about men’s volleyball and wanted to contribute. Feel free to recommend similar stories, but please don’t mention this story or Mushroom in the comments of other works. (Bows.) A sweet story you won’t regret saving. Mushroom rolls around and begs cutely for bookmarks and comments! Upcoming story: The Growth of a Second-Generation Transmigrator, God of War, and Emperor (working title; if anyone has a better suggestion, Mushroom will change it right away) Yingying has been lucky since childhood. His grandfather is the founding emperor of the Yu Dynasty, his father is a powerful vassal prince, and his maternal grandfather is a wealthy maritime merchant boss. He’s the best-looking person in the Yu Dynasty, and his transmigrator mother has a good head on her shoulders. While other parents in ancient times follow feudal thinking, using authoritarian power and a chaotic household to scar their children, Yingying’s mother plants flowers in his heart with love. “Yingying, you can do whatever you want when you grow up. You’re not a copy of your parents; you’re your own person. Mom only hopes you’ll have an incredibly free and happy life.” He also has an incredibly fun childhood friend. Although the boy keeps calling his mother strange things like “Officer Lu” and “Police Auntie,” he always has delicious food and fun things to share, pays attention to Yingying’s moods, and, when Yingying’s maternal grandfather dies, lights a thousand candles and sits with him on the steps, looking up at the stars and telling their departed loved one how much they miss him. As they grow older, his childhood friend shows him a man’s sense of responsibility, courage, integrity, and love for his country. At first, Yingying handles logistics when his friend goes to war. Later, when Yingying goes to war, his friend handles logistics for him. They are the best of partners, confidants, and lovers. Whenever they try to reveal anything about history, they find themselves unable to speak. But Yingying knows they come from the future. According to The History of Yu, Emperor Shizong Qin Zhan Ying was a formidable warrior, the strongest person alive, and a brilliant ruler. Even after he led his army to expand the empire from Siberia in the north to Baiyue in the south, Yu’s economy and people’s livelihoods continued to improve steadily despite the many wars, and the people’s happiness kept rising. He was also unmatched in looks. The history books say, “The beauty of Emperor Shizong was beyond compare in all the world.” But the greatest worry of his birth mother, Officer Lu Xiaoxuan, who had transmigrated several hundred years into the past, was how to avoid her scumbag ex-husband, who was remarrying the daughter of a powerful minister to secure the throne, and raise her delicate, picky, frail son to adulthood in an era when child mortality was extremely high. That was an even more serious problem than having no Wi-Fi. A friendly reminder: The first half of this story is about Officer Lu raising a child. She’s a plainclothes officer who left the special forces and transferred to another role. When transmigrators try to reveal history, they find themselves unable to speak. The protagonist’s mother and the top are both transmigrators. The protagonist is a child of a transmigrator, and the top is the childhood friend from the blurb. The protagonist grows from an adorable child into a formidable warrior and eventually ascends the throne. A fictional setting inspired by the Ming Dynasty. Theme: Celebrate the courage to love, refuse to bow to hardship, and never forget your original convictions.