A Childhood Friend Is Hard to Raise

[Preorder: The blurb for my next novel, I'm His Dad [Reborn], is at the bottom.] Xu Zhixing had a wonderful childhood friend: rich, handsome, and good at school. Although he often wore a scowl, he always did whatever Xu Zhixing asked. From helping him with his homework when they were little to delivering his love letters when they grew up, he was almost always willing to help. After getting drunk at a gathering following their high school graduation, Xu Zhixing once again asked Lu Ximing to deliver a love letter for him. "Lu Ximing, just this last time, okay?" Xu Zhixing thought Lu Ximing would readily agree, but this time he unexpectedly grabbed Xu Zhixing's chin, his tone more resolute than ever. "No." Not only would he not deliver this one, Lu Ximing had never delivered any of the previous love letters either. Lu Ximing's parents divorced when he was five. The couple went their separate ways to start new lives, leaving Lu Ximing behind as a burden from their past. When the nanny went grocery shopping, Lu Ximing would be left alone and locked inside, sitting on the balcony. The child on the neighboring balcony, Xu Zhixing, waved a lollipop and grinned at him. "Why do you sit on the balcony alone every day?" At first, Lu Ximing didn't want to answer Xu Zhixing. But Xu Zhixing asked him every day, and one day, fed up with being pestered, Lu Ximing replied, "Because no one will raise me, so I have to be alone. Do you understand?" He thought he'd sounded scary enough to drive Xu Zhixing away, but the next day Xu Zhixing was still crouched on that balcony. The lollipop in his hand had been replaced by a pink piggy bank. Xu Zhixing shook the bank excitedly. "Lu Ximing, I have lots of lucky-money savings. I can raise you." "Will you play with me?" From that day on, Lu Ximing understood one thing. His price was 272.5 yuan: the entirety of five-year-old Xu Zhixing's belongings. Sunny, cheerful, sickly, straight bottom vs devoted, obsessive top with hyperthymesia Notes: 1. Slice of life. 2. One-on-one, each other's first love. 3. Same protagonists and ABO setting as After Being Temporarily Marked by My Childhood Friend. The bonus chapters are complete. Preorder: I'm His Dad [Reborn] After a car accident, Cheng Che transmigrates seven years into the future and becomes a first-year high school student. He also realizes that this world is just a novel. The protagonist is named Yu Song, a typical handsome, strong, tragic overpowered hero, while the main villain is... Lin Yunqing?! Isn't that the wonderful son he adopted? To keep his son from turning evil, Cheng Che works hard to change the plot and ease the tense relationship between his son and the overpowered hero. In his son's name, he fusses over the hero and secretly helps him out. He also educates his son, determined to bring this promising young man back to the right path. After Cheng Che has been working at it for a while, his son becomes more and more upright, but the overpowered hero turns evil. Yu Song comes from a poor family, is withdrawn, and is the most inconspicuous student at school. He is often bullied and harassed. Then one day, a transfer student named Cheng Che joins his class. When Yu Song is in trouble, Cheng Che lends him a hand and drives off the students bullying him. But every time he helps, Cheng Che insists he's doing it on Lin Yunqing's behalf. He thinks he's a clever liar, but his story is full of holes. Yu Song assumes they've come up with some new trick and refuses to be moved. But his eyes keep drifting to Cheng Che in his blue-and-white school uniform. He thinks Cheng Che is going to torment him, but later realizes Cheng Che never intended to. Because Cheng Che doesn't care about him at all. He only cares about Lin Yunqing. Yu Song thinks that if he can become good enough, Cheng Che will eventually pay more attention to him. But no matter what he does, he can never match Lin Yunqing's place in Cheng Che's heart. "How am I not as good as Lin Yunqing?" Yu Song asks, nearly in despair. Cornered against a wall, Cheng Che hesitates. "Maybe... possibly... because..." "I'm his dad?" Lin Yunqing never imagined that his adoptive father, who had been dead for seven years, would be Reborn as his classmate. And not only that, he'd tell him that he's just a villain in a book, advise him not to get himself killed, and urge him to get along with the overpowered hero. Lin Yunqing is overjoyed: No problem. I'll listen to everything Dad says. From then on, Lin Yunqing treats Yu Song like a real brother, until one day he discovers that Yu Song has an unmentionable kind of interest in his dad. Lin Yunqing: Yu Song, I'll kill you! I treated you like a brother, and you want to be my dad? Notes: 1. The son isn't biologically his. Cheng Che was 23 before the car accident and is 17 after being Reborn. 2. The couple is Cheng Che (bottom) and Yu Song (top). Cheng Che and his son have a purely familial relationship, with a three-person family's school life. Theme: No matter how fierce the storm, never give up on life.