The Real and Fake Young Masters' Inferno

Completed, please leave a rating, xoxo! [Coming soon: The Real and Fake Young Masters' Melodrama II, They Regretted It After I Died to Forge Their Swords, and A Love Triangle. The blurbs are below; this novel's blurb is first.]

1.

Wei Yingcheng should have had a bright, smooth life, but fate played a cruel joke on him.

He never expected his life to have been stolen, much less that he'd have to pay such a terrible price for it.

The moment his parents brought Wei Yu home, he became a fake young master worth nothing.

Contempt, exclusion, rumors, and sneers came at him from every side. He endured it all in silence, doing everything he could to earn the chance to leave the Wei family and study abroad.

But then an "accident" robbed him of all his memories.

When he woke up, Wei Yu smiled and said, "Brother, don't go. Didn't you say we'd never part?"

2.

Wei Yingcheng couldn't remember why he'd fallen from the building, or anything he'd been through before. He felt like a stranger to Wei Yu, too.

But Wei Yu's displays of affection kept drawing Wei Yingcheng further in... Perhaps they really did love each other.

Wei Yingcheng gave up his place and stayed. The two agreed to speak honestly with Wei family's parents about their relationship.

But a slap from Father Wei left him reeling. All he heard was Wei Yu saying:

"I treated you like my dearest friend and brother, yet you seduced me just to stay with the Wei family. You really scare me."

3.

In the pouring rain, Wei Yingcheng knelt in the Wei family's courtyard and couldn't get up.

He woke from the dream.

Wei Yu had never loved him. Worse, he had personally cut off every path Wei Yingcheng could take to escape.

One was real and one was fake; one sought revenge and one was deceived. They were like the north and south poles of a magnet, destined to repel each other.

But after Wei Yingcheng left, Wei Yu went mad trying to bring him back.

Real young master: Wei Yu, a masterful actor and a rotten bastard.

Fake young master: Wei Yingcheng, quiet and introverted, but with a heart harder than stone once he sees the truth.

First version posted on 2022.2.25 (screenshot archived)

Reader's Guide

1. This is part of the series next door, The Seductive Stand-In Refuses to Fall in Love [Reborn]. The characters and plot for Wei Yingcheng and Wei Yu follow this novel. A seductive stand-in protagonist will also make a guest appearance.

2. The real and fake young masters are not blood-related and aren't on the same household register, so there's no incest or other moral issue.

3. This is an old-school, melodramatic novel. This country bumpkin of an author loves this kind of thing. Angst early on; the crematorium arc starts in Chapter 22. The full novel is expected to be 400,000 to 500,000 words.

4. Updates will continue unless something unexpected happens. If I need time off, I'll post a notice or leave a comment. Updates are between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. each day.

5. Special reminder: You can insult Wei Yu in the comments, but watch your language and cherish your account. Moderators are watching you!

The anti-piracy setting is 80% plus 24 hours. Creating is hard work, so thank you for supporting the official version ^-^

[Coming Soon 1: The Real and Fake Young Masters' Melodrama II]

1.

Ye Zhou thought he'd spend the rest of his life rotting away.

A nobody at the bottom of society, a useless scumbag, a bastard, a disgusting bug.

Then one day, while he was squatting on the street and smoking, a group of people came up to him and said he was a child of the Gu family of S City.

The wound on Ye Zhou's face was crusted with dark blood. He bared his teeth and told them to get lost.

The Gu family was one of the most prominent clans in S City, so far above him that they might as well have been on another planet.

If they wanted to scam someone, they should go after a rich person. He was a nobody with a worthless life. What could they possibly want from him?

But when Gu Shuhe showed up, Ye Zhou suddenly fell quiet.

2.

What did Gu Shuhe represent to Ye Zhou?

Perfection, excellence, omnipotence, and something forever out of reach. Talking to him probably meant getting beaten up again, too.

But that was fine. Ye Zhou liked seeing Gu Shuhe angry, and the way he looked at him as if he were trash.

Whenever Ye Zhou saw the elegant Gu Shuhe show his hypocritical true colors in front of him, he felt a strange thrill.

The Gu family's young master, worshipped by everyone, wasn't even legitimate, and deep down he was just as rotten as I am.

Dragging Gu Shuhe down with him was one of the few joys in Ye Zhou's trash life.

But when Gu Shuhe began treating him a little more kindly, Ye Zhou didn't know what to do.

What was this? Had he heard about Ye Zhou's past and started feeling sorry for him?

Ye Zhou didn't need pity.

If pity worked, he'd have gotten rich a long time ago.

But this was Gu Shuhe.

Like a hedgehog, Ye Zhou showed him his soft underbelly, gambling on whether Gu Shuhe would stroke him or stab him.

Sadly, he lost everything. His belly was split open.

3.

The Gu family had three children:

Gu Shuhe, handsome and talented. Even after it was discovered that he wasn't their biological child, they continued raising him as the heir.

Ye Zhou, brought home later, with terrible character and impossible to reform, despised by everyone.

And Gu Tianci, sickly since childhood and kept hidden away at home, yet the darling of the whole family. He developed a serious illness and urgently needed a blood transfusion.

Ye Zhou was a ready-made blood bag. His difficult personality was his only flaw.

And Gu Shuhe took care of that one flaw.

Later, Gu Tianci needed a new heart...

Ye Zhou: A stubborn survivor who embraces his own ruin, a prickly hedgehog on the outside but soft and innocent within, the real young master.

Gu Shuhe: A cool and arrogant darling of heaven, seemingly a gentleman but dark and volatile underneath, the fake young master.

[Reader's Guide]

1. A melodramatic crematorium arc.

2. The medicine is my own made-up version and serves the plot, so don't take it too seriously.

3. This is an initial draft of the blurb and may change.

4. Not directly connected to The Real and Fake Young Masters' Melodrama. It's a different story with different protagonists, but it carries on the central trope. The author is terrible at coming up with titles, so the title carries on too.

5. More to come.

[Coming Soon 2: They Regretted It After I Died to Forge Their Swords]

As Min Yi cut the spiritual root from his own chest, he thought: So all these six years, when I thought I'd been saved, were just a debt I had to repay.

*

Min Yi was born in a pool of blood. Perhaps Heaven was punishing him for causing his mother's death. A red birthmark covered half his face, and he was frail and sickly, gasping for breath every few steps.

His biological father hated him for killing his beloved wife, and his family despised him for being ugly and mediocre.

No matter how hard he tried to please them and prove himself, they gave him nothing in return.

Instead, they locked him in a small courtyard and forbade him from appearing in public.

Min Yi spent ten years living in the dirt, keeping company with snakes and insects.

But children his age, dressed in fine clothes, would often come to the fence, trick him into coming out, then throw stones at him while singing:

"Ugly monster, sickly ghost, hated by all and loved by none."

They loved seeing Min Yi's eyes turn red as he trembled, but at least he could hide in the thatched hut afterward.

It was dirty and messy, crawling with cockroaches and rats. No one wanted to go near it.

Then suddenly, a man as aloof as the moon and as beautiful as an immortal descended from heaven appeared before him. With pristine fingers, he brushed aside the dirty hair covering Min Yi's face.

"Little one, would you like to come with me to Wuwen Sect?"

*

Wuwen Sect, the greatest sword sect under heaven, the sacred ground no sword cultivator would allow to be defiled.

Feng Shengxue, the greatest sword cultivator under heaven, a master revered by all sword cultivators for his noble and serene bearing.

Min Yi became the most cherished junior disciple in all of Wuwen Sect, and Feng Shengxue's only disciple.

His senior sisters doted on him, caring for him in every way and looking after his every need.

His senior brothers protected him, always rushing to his aid whenever he was in trouble.

His master took pity on him and kept him by his side, raising him personally.

Min Yi spent six beautiful years that he hadn't even dared to dream of, until his sixteenth birthday arrived.

Min Yi knelt in a pool of blood. The Qianji Powder in the water, which had drained him of his power, had been administered by his senior sister. The demon-locking nail in his shoulder, which left him unable to move, had been driven in by his senior brother. And the person pointing a sword at him was the master he had secretly loved.

Min Yi looked at Feng Xuesheng's face, cold as the bright moon reflected in the blood, and grabbed the hem of his pristine robe. "Master, is there not even a trace of compassion in your heart for me?"

Feng Xuesheng pried his hand loose and plunged his sword into Min Yi's spine.

An utterly yin and evil demon. Unless his bones could be used to forge a sword, he had no value in staying alive. How dare he speak of love to me?

But when Min Yi cut out his own spiritual root and stumbled off a deep cliff, the heart that Feng Xuesheng's ruthless sword path had sealed for years suddenly throbbed with pain.

He Wuju, the Demon King of the Three Realms. They say he is cruel and violent, has slaughtered countless people, and even raised his spirit beast, the wolf Chi, by feeding it the hearts of beautiful people.

Even during the five hundred years He Wuju spent in seclusion, his evil reputation was enough to stop children from crying.

One day, Chi suddenly came back carrying a blood-soaked person in its mouth.

1. The blurb is incomplete. The main plot is that everyone gets their crematorium arc.

2. Min Yi is the gong. He'll become healthy and handsome later.

Cover artist: Nicolas Ergou from The Record of Affectionate Thoughts

[Coming Soon 3: A Love Triangle (Completed)]

Ye Zhuo was the dog Lu Yanyi could never get rid of, the servant who did everything he was told, and the playmate who had stayed by his side for over twenty years.

But Lu Yanyi was the young master, adored by everyone, while Ye Zhuo was the housekeeper's son. Their friendship was far from simple, given the vast gap between them. Ye Zhuo knew it, and so did Lu Yanyi.

Ye Zhuo was merely the star Lu Yanyi had spent the longest time with, and the one most obedient to him. The perfect Ji Limin was Lu Yanyi's sun.

Ji Limin came from an illustrious family. He was impeccably handsome, gentle, and composed. At sixteen, he shone brilliantly, and soon replaced Ye Zhuo as Lu Yanyi's best friend.

Most of the time, their friendship had only two leading characters. Whenever Lu Yanyi and Ji Limin occasionally crossed the line, Ye Zhuo would go from supporting character to buffer, letting the two young, confused boys keep up the pretense of being friends while their relationship remained ambiguous.

Once Lu Yanyi and Ji Limin made up, Ye Zhuo would return to his corner, quietly protecting and accompanying them.

Did Ye Zhuo care? Perhaps he did, but it didn't matter. He himself didn't matter.

*

Their youth passed, and they went their separate ways.

Lu Yanyi became a beloved superstar. Ji Limin lived up to everyone's expectations, took over the family business, and excelled. Only Ye Zhuo remained Lu Yanyi's assistant, following close behind him.

The good news was that their friendship hadn't changed.

The bad news was that Lu Yanyi was eager to turn friendship into love.

On stage at an awards ceremony, Lu Yanyi announced to everyone that he was going to propose to the person he loved most. Ji Limin lifted his proud, cold face and walked away. Humiliated, Lu Yanyi changed the name on the tip of his tongue to "Ye Zhuo."

The camera flashes turned toward this quiet, almost invisible man. A reporter asked how he felt about being proposed to by a superstar.

"Do you feel honored? I mean, you're just an insignificant little assistant."

Ye Zhuo replied calmly, "If Lu Yanyi can be happy, I'll do anything."

People said Ye Zhuo's answer showed how humbly he loved Lu Yanyi, and how he'd finally gotten what he'd waited for all these years.

But only Ye Zhuo knew that he really had been waiting for this day. Not for Lu Yanyi's proposal, but for one of two equally proud men, Ji Limin and Lu Yanyi, to finally lower his head and confess his feelings.

He had also fulfilled his father's dying wish: You must protect Yanyi until he no longer needs you.

Now everything was well, and everyone was happy. This awkward friendship of three had finally reached its ending.

Ye Zhuo was free.

After giving the two of them his blessing, he left. But on the way out, both Lu Yanyi and Ji Limin stopped him.

*

When a star decides to stop shining, the moon and the sun both rush toward it.

Reader's Guide

1. A melodramatic, sort-of love triangle. One third angst, two thirds two dogs fighting until they're bloody.

2. Ye Zhuo (gong) is fairly ordinary-looking, the sort who gets more attractive the longer you look at him. He has his own career.

3. Ji Limin has no romantic interest in Lu Yanyi. Lu Yanyi's feelings toward Ji Limin are more about refusing to accept defeat. I still need to think more about their relationship.

4. I haven't figured it out yet. I'll add more when I do.

Original version: 2023.1.18; revised again on 1.21

Theme: Kindness needs an edge.