The Deposed Crown Prince Blames Me for Using and Abandoning Him

[Status: The love interest has run away] [Two formidable leads, romance and plot equally important: a ruthless, sinister, reborn deposed crown prince × a passionate, forthright engineering prodigy] Lu Chengguan, a 22-year-old PhD in mechanical engineering, had won an international gold medal and published as first author in a top journal. A rising star in future technology, he was sent to the Great Chen Dynasty by a laboratory accident. The bad news: It was a pre-industrial era, and an industrial system had yet to take shape. The good news: He transmigrated as a top-level playboy, with all his creature comforts provided and no worries about his parents. On his first day in this world, he was nearly killed in an assassination attempt. On his second, he was thrust into the service of the empire’s top intelligence agency. On his third, he drunkenly ran into the deposed crown prince, who grabbed him by the throat on the spot. Disaster. Things had gone terribly wrong from the start in the Great Chen Dynasty, and he’d been thrown completely off the path of technological progress. No matter. Lu Juanjuan pulled himself together and set off again, vowing to advance the Great Chen’s tech tree. With no industrial foundations, he started by making a vernier caliper. With no technical support, he went around picking up apprentices, Daoist priests, and the “legacies” of master craftsmen. With no room to develop, he sought out the deposed crown prince and his new, cheap father to learn a little political strategy. As he learned, he somehow helped the deposed crown prince escape his cage and make a fresh start. He also seized the opportunity to build workshops, improve smelting, and develop firearms and cannons. He thought technology and political power were a perfect match, with both sides eager to meet. But once they got together, he realized one wanted to change the world, while the other wanted to control it “We’re really not right for each other.” The other man’s eyes darkened, every word cold as ice. “Say that again.” Lu Chengguan stuck his chin out and refused to take it back. Wei Jun was reborn, returning to the eve of his deposition. He was not yet the deposed crown prince who would be confined for five years and die a humiliating death. This time, he resolved to cast aside all naivety and benevolence, and vowed to overturn everything. To do so, he was willing to clip his own wings and retreat in order to advance. After being deposed, as expected, he encountered the drunken young playboy Lu Chengguan. The youngest son of the Lu family, who had never gotten along with him, now grinned foolishly at him and said, “I like you.” Furious, he felt only that it was an affront. But he soon realized that he wasn’t the only one who had experienced the wonder of being reborn. This young playboy seemed to have become someone else, too. He was kind and brave, sincere and passionate, like a fire that could never be extinguished. He also had more brilliant ideas than anyone could count. He improved farm tools and irrigation, invented firearms and cement. There was nothing he couldn’t do, only things Wei Jun hadn’t thought to ask him about. Wei Jun observed him, tested him, and helped him in subtle ways. Before he knew it, he had given him his heart. They worked together flawlessly, their souls in harmony. Wei Jun saw him as the love of his life, someone with whom he would share the realm. Until Lu Chengguan watched him massacre the palace… Everything suddenly went off the rails. Lu Chengguan wanted nothing to do with him. He refused to be controlled and escaped his confinement, like a star falling to earth. But Wei Jun still couldn’t let go. He chased him all the way to a neighboring kingdom. Banners stretched across the wilderness, armor gleaming in the sun “Hand him over, or your city will be razed. You have one hour.” [Reader’s notes] 1. The love interest is ruthless and cruel, and is not a good person. 2. Political intrigue and industrial development. The early story focuses on political intrigue, the middle on technology, and the romance runs through the whole novel. 3. Both are virgins, and each is the other’s first love in both lifetimes. Coming soon: “Who Comes with Their Own Character Tags?!” Blurb: Shi Xu was a programmer at QianDu Baike. When the site shut down, a bug trapped him, and he transmigrated to ancient times amid a heap of garbled text. In the process, he gained a golden finger: the ability to read character tags. “Wait, you call this reading character tags? This is a damn forced pop-up, and there isn’t even an X button!” Shi Xu grumbled in frustration, seemingly on the verge of a breakdown. Now he could both “see people” and “not see people.” In his eyes, everyone was covered head to toe by encyclopedia entries that kept popping up. Their names appeared above their heads, their labels covered their faces, and their life stories filled their bodies… Everyone in this world looked like a mosaic made entirely of text. Then he met Su Xian, the only person whose tags didn’t show up at all. High-definition, no censoring, a resolution of at least 500 million pixels. Shi Xu thought he was in love. Su Xian: Just another mortal with a filthy body and a coarse appearance. Shi Xu, clutching his heart: How could anyone be so handsome? Did Nuwa make him as her final project? Su Xian cupped his hands in greeting: I’m an ignorant country bumpkin, an inexperienced latecomer. Shi Xu, staring at him without blinking: So elegant. Truly, so elegant. Su Xian: I’m just breathing. Shi Xu: What an impressive technique. Su Xian: He raises the banner of rebellion. Shi Xu: For the first time, his tags appeared. There was only one, and it had just four words: [Future Emperor] “Brother Xian, do you need a military strategist? The fortune-telling kind, who can tell you exactly when and how the other side will die…” “Xu, then tell me when and how I’ll die.” Shi Xu shook his head firmly. “I can’t see it. You’re destined to rule. How could a mere mortal presume to divine your fate?” Su Xian narrowed his long, phoenix-shaped eyes. “Good. Then you and I will go together and test this so-called destiny!” Theme: Alone, I journey ten thousand miles, and the great road stretches proudly before me