A Harmonious Journey Through the Jianghu

Tides Entwined, ongoing

*

Tao Yao has a beautiful face that seems to say, "I'm too delicate to do anything for myself."

But don't be fooled by appearances!

She can slaughter a three-hundred-jin pig all by herself.

Her family sells her to a hard-drinking butcher she's never met. But the very second she arrives, the drunk trips over his own feet, plunges headfirst into the village pond with a splash, and dies.

Some gossips say she's a husband-killer.

Tao Yao wipes down her gleaming butcher's knife and smiles like spring sunshine. "Wow. That's just... wonderful!"

From then on, she tends her butcher shop and little courtyard, sharpens her knives, and celebrates the single life.

Ye Conghan, a heroine of legendary renown in the martial world and the young chief of Frostkeep, is tired of fighting. All she wants is to lie back somewhere with a beautiful view.

At first sight, she falls for the empty house next door to Tao Yao's. It's quiet. More importantly, Miss Tao Yao looks like she stepped right out of an ink painting of Jiangnan.

Ever since the cheerful heroine Ye moved in, Tao Yao has had a System, and its notifications never stop:

Ding!

"Give Ye Conghan a bowl of water. Reward: one fresh front leg of pork!"

Ding!

"Ye Conghan mooches a meal. Reward: one secret braising recipe!"

Looking at the System's rewards, then at Ye, who keeps coming by to borrow soy sauce, return a bowl, watch her butcher pigs, or eagerly help sharpen her knives, Tao Yao decides that life is pretty good.

However...

One sunny afternoon, Ye Conghan accidentally finds a sheet of paper covered in writing:

[Give Ye Conghan a bowl of water]: Reward: 1 pork foreleg [check]

[Invite Ye Conghan to stay for a meal]: Reward: 1 braising recipe [check]

[Let Ye Conghan pat your head]: Reward: 2 fresh pig kidneys [check]

[Make Ye Conghan a loving bowl of pig trotters]: Reward: 1 whole pig [check]

Ye Conghan: ...???

With a bang, Tao Yao, who has just come in humming with her butcher's knife in hand, is stopped by a figure bristling with murderous intent.

Ye leans one hand against the wall and holds up the incriminating reward list with the other.

"Tao. Yao."

"Yes?"

"That pot of loving pig-trotter soup you made me!"

"Was it because you care about me, or because of that [one whole pig]?!"

Martial arts enthusiast / enormously jealous / love at first sight / restrained and self-controlled

X

Career-minded / naturally flirtatious / falls in love over time / slow to realize it

1v1

● A preview of my new story opening in October: My Tentacle Lover Wants to Eat Me Again Today

Lan Jue is a monster born in the deep sea. When she first sees the human floating among the waves, what surges in her heart isn't pity, but the most primitive instinct: a pure hunger to take her apart and devour her.

If this "food" willingly belongs to her and lets her consume her,

that would be a supreme delicacy beyond compare.

Everyone at WORSA knows that Lan Jue, the beautiful and powerful new arrival, seems to be missing a few screws.

[1]

Lan Jue solemnly carries the biggest piece of fried fish to the director. "Eat this. Have a good meal."

(That way your meat will be more tender.)

[2]

Lan Jue walks straight over to Yin Ning, who's alone, and squeezes her arm. "Normal body temperature. Excellent elasticity."

(Quality ingredient inspection complete.)

[3]

The morning meeting ends.

In front of all her colleagues, Lan Jue asks Yin Ning:

"I've finished my assignment. Can I eat you today?"

The conference room freezes. Dead silence.

Everyone: !!! (O_O)? What did she say? Eat her?

And in broad daylight, no less!

Yin Ning's face is icy as she turns a page in her file. Her voice is steady and emotionless.

"No."

Short and decisive, with no room for discussion.

No one knows where this strange exchange began.

With the shipwreck months ago.

Lan Jue "rescued" Yin Ning, giving her fish and shrimp and keeping her warm.

Yin Ning was grateful, but couldn't shake her suspicions.

Until late one night, cold, slick "vines" silently wound around her ankle.

Yin Ning opened her eyes. Lan Jue was still asleep beside her.

But below her waist were several monstrous tentacles of indescribable shape, their surfaces gleaming a dark blue-purple. They slowly writhed and stretched, silently curling around her and climbing upward.

If she could guide this power from the abyss, if she could understand the mysteries of this deep-sea monster...

Yin Ning would pay any price for it, even if the price were herself.

A help request titled "I Have a Heartless Boss" goes viral on the full-dive communications network.

The anonymous poster says she's been on land for a year, working every day for a human, but the promised wages still haven't arrived. She asks what to do in this situation.

People are outraged. They can't believe something like this still happens in this day and age. This boss is no human being! They strongly urge the poster to reveal her identity so the World Court can deliver a fair judgment.

Anonymous poster: I'm not human. I don't want money. I want to eat her.

Comment: ?! What kind of eating? Wait, why are you insulting yourself?

Lan Jue gives the reply some serious thought. How many meanings can "eat" have? Could Yin Ning's eating and her own eating not mean the same thing?

After doing some research, she gets it.

That kind of eating seems a little sweeter.

1. Powerful, possessive, and earnestly learning to be human nonhuman top x highly educated, chaste, and scheming human bottom

2. The setting is fictional. Please don't judge it by real-world standards.

3. All main characters are women.

● Recommended: My Scheming Friend by Chen Muzhou

(Complete!)

Chi Feixia has been dumped again, so she calls her longtime friend Sheng Yulan to cry about it.

"Why did she break up with me? What exactly did I do wrong? Why does every relationship of mine go so badly? Does Heaven think that a beauty like me has to suffer before sending the Fairy Zixia to come for me?"

She gets an idea and decides to get back at her ex. "Why don't you pretend to be my girlfriend? I'll show her that giving me up was the biggest mistake of her life!"

Sheng Yulan's voice on the other end of the phone is unusually calm. "Get a grip. Heaven doesn't have time to deal with trash."

In the end, Chi Feixia persuades Sheng Yulan to pretend to be her girlfriend so she can flaunt their relationship in front of her ex.

There's just one thing: Sheng Yulan takes everything seriously and always wants to do it perfectly. Even a photo of them showing off their relationship on social media has to be staged just right.

Chi Feixia is a little troubled, but she was the one who suggested it. Sheng Yulan is just taking it too seriously.

Every one of Chi Feixia's relationships begins with a bang and ends in tears. Her longest lasted just six months, and her shortest only three days.

Chi Feixia and her friend Sheng Yulan come to a conclusion: Maybe she just doesn't love them enough. The other person is always so forward that she can't refuse. After all, a beauty like her is loved by everyone, makes flowers bloom wherever she goes, and is basically a living Mary Sue. It's only natural.

Sheng Yulan: [Wake up.]

Chi Feixia: [Oh, right, I forgot about you. I wonder what kind of person our Yuyu would like. I've looked at several bridesmaid dresses already, just waiting for you to get married.]

Sheng Yulan: [You won't get the chance to wear one.]

Chi Feixia is horrified. Does Sheng Yulan plan to stay single forever?!

One day later, Chi Feixia wakes up to find that Sheng Yulan has already left for work.

She stays home to clean and finds a notebook from Sheng Yulan's school days. It was a gift from her.

Only a few pages at the beginning have writing. The rest contains a simple pencil sketch of a girl dozing with her head on a desk.

[My Summer]

Energetic, chuuni young heiress x obsessive, scheming hunter

Theme: Heaven rewards hard work, and honest toil is never betrayed. Seize your chance and turn the tables.