The Phoenix Egg

Chu Jia grew up in a wealthy family and was spoiled rotten. Whatever he wanted, he got immediately. He barely knew what the phrase "delayed gratification" meant.

When a person's desires are too easily satisfied, their threshold keeps rising. Little by little, nothing can stir their interest anymore.

So the first time Chu Jia saw Yue Qingling, his eyes lit up, and only one thought remained in his mind:

I have to have him.

-

Yue Qingling came from a poor family. He excelled in both character and academics, was taciturn, and had a face that looked ascetic at first glance. Even rolling up his shirt sleeves to work part-time at a convenience store, he seemed to have "self-discipline" and "restraint" written all over his forehead.

Just after graduating from university and starting his first job, Yue Qingling encountered something he had never experienced in his first twenty-some years of life:

The young heir of his company was pursuing him relentlessly, and the heir was a man.

-

Second Young Master Chu had just gotten a new boyfriend and couldn't wait to show him off to his rich buddies.

When his buddies saw the handsome new object of Young Master Chu's affections, they all praised him. What a fine flower planted in a pile of manure.

His other friends privately advised him to break it off as soon as possible. The guy clearly wasn't easy to fool, nor was he someone a spoiled heir like them could toy with. Second Young Master Chu had apparently changed his tastes and started preying on an innocent young man. They'd heard he was a straight guy he'd turned gay, too. Wasn't he afraid lightning would strike him one day?

Chu Jia paid no heed to his friends' heartfelt advice.

"What are you talking about? Who's playing with anyone's feelings? I'm serious."

He really was serious. They hadn't even been together for two years, and he'd already bought an engagement ring and plane tickets to the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, his proposal didn't go very smoothly.

Yue Qingling said, "Chu Jia, let's break up."

Yue Qingling said, "It's been two years. You must be tired of the game by now."

Yue Qingling said, "I've found someone I truly like. I'm sorry. I wish you happiness."

-

Later, Chu Jia went skiing with one of his father's clients and saw a tall, lean figure approaching from a distance.

The other man stopped in front of them and took off his goggles, revealing a handsome, cool-looking face.

All three spoke at once.

Yue Qingling smiled. "Uncle Zhang, let me introduce someone."

Uncle Zhang said in surprise, "Mr. Yue, Xiaojia, you know each other?"

Chu Jia gave a humorless smile. "We're not close."

[Reader's Guide]

1. Lots of melodrama ahead. The seme is a virgin, the uke isn't. Read with caution if that bothers you.

2. Pretends to be a good guy, gloomy workaholic seme x looks-obsessed playboy uke.

3. Important enough to say three times: age gap with the seme younger, age gap with the seme younger, age gap with the seme younger.

4. One-on-one romance, happy ending, no changing the seme.

"Come one, come all, don't miss out!" The author called as they rummaged through a vegetable basket and pulled out

After Surviving Doesn't Mean I Have to Repay You with My Body!

The beggar boy Huaitang was penniless, but unexpectedly gained the ability to endlessly reincarnate.

Thanks to his golden finger, after several lifetimes of hard work, he escaped poverty and the fate of being eaten by someone during a time of chaos.

He became a marquis and a chancellor, and lived in boundless luxury.

Just as Huaitang was banging gongs and beating drums, preparing to hold a grand feast, marry a new wife, and begin the next chapter of his life

The armies of Marquis Yong came marching in.

The little city was taken, and he was shot dead on the city wall without even seeing what his killer looked like.

For several lifetimes after that, just when life was at its most prosperous, with everything going his way, he died at the hands of Marquis Yong.

Huaitang was furious. "Will this never end?!"

*

Forget becoming a marquis. Forget becoming a chancellor.

After careful reflection, Huaitang decided to deal with the source of the instability once and for all

Xiao Huaijin, the late emperor's orphaned son, a slaughterer who had taken over more than a dozen cities and killed without batting an eye.

But it turned out Xiao Huaijin's golden finger was even more powerful than his.

Huaitang couldn't kill the adult Xiao Huaijin. If he even thought about killing Xiao Huaijin as a child, he would die an untimely death first.

So he changed to a conciliatory approach and joined Marquis Yong's side early.

But Xiao Huaijin killed him anyway

Huaitang: "? Wait, you even kill your own people?"

Xiao Huaijin was nothing like his name suggested. He was petty, vindictive, and impossible to read. His subordinates could offend him at any moment, and no one was spared

Except for his father.

*

Huaitang had no choice but to change tactics again.

He rose from military strategist and trusted confidant to Xiao Huaijin's elder brother, teacher, and adoptive father.

Xiao Huaijin stopped killing him, but began looking at him in increasingly strange ways.

Huaitang had spent more than ten lifetimes dealing with Xiao Huaijin and knew better than anyone how suspicious he was.

With the realm newly unified and Huaitang holding enough power to influence who sat on the throne, it was only natural for Xiao Huaijin to regard him with suspicion.

Huaitang was quick to read the room and immediately resigned from office.

But on the way back to his hometown, he was assassinated.

Huaitang: "..."

*

Huaitang still didn't want to give up trying to fix things.

Xiao Huaijin always took his loved ones' side, regardless of the facts. Huaitang still needed to be his teacher and adoptive father to stay alive, but this time, he wouldn't need such great authority.

All he needed was their bond. He'd never had such grand ambitions anyway.

So Huaitang rescued Xiao Huaijin from the ruins and spoke earnestly to the young boy.

"No matter what happens, your adoptive father only wants you to be happy."

*

One day, Xiao Huaijin suddenly asked him, "If you want me to be happy, why won't you give in to me?"

Huaitang: "...?"

[Afterword]

Young Xiao Huaijin had always kept a secret. No one knew that

Someone had visited him in his dreams and left seventeen marks behind.

[Reader's Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, happy ending.

2. Gloomy, neurotic seme x hedonistic, saintly, naturally airheaded beauty uke.

3. A sweet story full of chaos and mishaps.

Theme: You have to keep living.