Don't Think You Can Trick Me into Getting Back Together

[An early work, which I revise from time to time]

Completed work: Summer Gravity, a 150,000-character, sweet campus romance set at university. Long-haired, scheming top x pure-hearted, double-standard, short-tempered recipient. Come check it out if you're interested!

[Cheerful little sun, sensitive and perceptive inside, ceramic artist recipient x initially aloof, wooden-post, later chases his wife, actor attack]

Blurb:

1. Ye Lan is a pottery creator on Bilibili who often livestreams at night.

One time, while chatting with viewers in his livestream, he let slip that his ex-boyfriend was an actor.

By the time he realized what he had said, the number of people watching was several times higher than usual. He couldn't explain quickly enough, so he decided to end the stream. When he turned around, he saw someone holding his dog.

It was unmistakably the ex-boyfriend he had just mentioned on stream!

Under the dim streetlights, Ye Lan's fingers stiffened, and his breathing paused for an instant.

He hadn't managed to end the stream. Everyone had seen who the man was.

The viewers were stunned. "??? Ji Shengze? What is he doing here? Could he really be the actor ex-boyfriend he was just talking about?"

2. Ji Shengze was a top-tier star and actor in the entertainment industry. Born with a naturally stern expression, he had won the honor of Best Actor thanks to his exquisite acting, and had landed endorsement deals and awards by the handful.

After an accident left Ji Shengze with a head injury, he kept thinking he might have a boyfriend.

It was strange.

Because he had severe psychological trauma and a tendency to fear homosexuality. Everyone around him believed it, too.

His inexplicably missing memories made him irritable.

When he finally found the man, all the signs suggested that they had broken up for some reason, and that the other man didn't want to see him again.

Ji Shengze: "...?"

Did that mean this man had dumped him?

3. Because the stream had attracted so much attention, a show he had worked with before invited him back, asking him to livestream pottery with Ji Shengze.

Ye Lan kept things strictly professional and wanted nothing more to do with Ji Shengze in his personal life.

But Ji Shengze kept pestering him with all sorts of baffling excuses. Ye Lan finally reached his limit and brought up the reason they'd broken up, hoping to make him shut up for good.

Unexpectedly, Ji Shengze cried in front of him until he hyperventilated from respiratory alkalosis.

Ye Lan thought, feeling little at all: So you know it was your fault. So you can feel guilty, too. So your life hasn't been going well, either.

Bonus scene:

During a livestreamed show, the host asked Ji Shengze, "Is there anything you regret?"

Ji Shengze nodded. "Yes. I broke up with my first love."

The host asked curiously, "Do you still like them?"

Ji Shengze paused for a moment, gently rubbing the tattoo in his palm. "I do. I'm still trying to win him back. If I manage to, I'll step away from the spotlight and elope with him."

[If I tattoo your mark on my palm, does that count as catching you?]

Reading and content advisory:

Somewhat realistic, melodramatic, told out of order (N is the present, P is the past, with roughly equal parts of each) + misunderstandings (there are many, but they will be explained) + amnesia trope (amnesia only takes up a small part of the story, and the title will say so) + giving up the entertainment industry for love (chasing his wife, no crematorium) + 1v1, happy ending

1. The recipient has a tendency to cry uncontrollably, and is highly empathetic, but he's not useless or constantly crying. He cries when something upsets him, but at heart he's still cheerful. Various circumstances have made him a little conflicted about love.

2. As an actor, the attack has people who like him and people who dislike him, but his character and acting are both beyond reproach. P.S. The attack has no family connections. He struggled for years after entering the industry before winning Best Actor. He's filmed lots of kissing scenes, and the role isn't his first kiss. He was nearly taken advantage of through casting-couch abuse, but it didn't actually happen, though there will be a little of that in the story.

3. They broke up only two months ago. The plot is extremely melodramatic, but this isn't a crematorium story. The protagonists aren't perfect, and they're firmly 1v1. The relationship before and after their breakup will both be shown, and the title will say so (N is the present, P is the past), with roughly equal parts of each. Also, the side couples aren't pure, but they don't take up much of the story, and the title will say so.

4. I'm terrible at titles and blurbs, sob. I made up all the place names and variety show names. I looked up pottery-related information on Baidu, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. The platforms were based on Bilibili and Douyin, with some fictionalized alterations. The characters aren't based on real people. The on-screen comments and posts only serve the plot, so don't overthink their logic. The story is mainly from the recipient's perspective and partly set in the entertainment industry.

[Inspired: 2023.07.03]

Theme: Cherish the people in front of you, and cherish love.