The Villain Can Win Himself Over

Question: If you transmigrate into a cannon-fodder NPC in a melodramatic novel and one late night run into the story’s big boss, who wiped out the original owner’s entire family and gave them a miserable death, but is now clinging to life, should you choose A or B? A: Play the hero, save the beauty, and cling to the big boss’s coattails so you can get by. B: Pretend you weren’t here tonight, and respect their fate from a distance. “Because I happened to meet you…” The background music was perfectly timed. After careful consideration, Xu Lishan announced that he chose “or”: strike while you’re sick and finish you off. He fed the man a dose of poison and prayed devoutly: Buddy, have a safe trip. Hope we never meet again. Question: What should you do if, unfortunately, you made the wrong choice above and were forced to sign a three-no contract with the big boss, with no pay, no rights, and no dignity, leaving you no choice but to offer yourself to the tiger? Xu Lishan was deeply troubled. Just as he was thinking that life was bleak and his days were numbered, he unexpectedly discovered that the iron-fisted, cruel, sinister, cold-blooded mad boss might actually be… a pure-hearted boy?! Heh! If you can’t beat him, can’t poison him, and can’t outsmart him, then… Xu Lishan slyly changed tactics: make him fall for you in bed! * Prince Su Jing Shu held immense power. He kept everyone at arm’s length, and no one could tell what he liked or disliked. Still, everyone knew three things about him. First, his methods were ruthless, and he showed no mercy even to his own family. Second, his looks were unmatched, the finest in the world. Third, he had no interest in beauty, and his bedchamber was empty. In the twenty-fourth year of Anqing, a fourth was added: he had a secret affair with Xu Lishan, exchanged favors with him, and spent night and day together, even sneaking off to have sex in the wild… In short, the divine had descended to the mortal world and become someone’s plaything. Once the news broke, rumors ran wild. But who could have expected that Xu Lishan, the man in question, would pack up and run away?! Was it a collapse of morals, with Xu Lishan getting bored and moving on, while Prince Su finally fell in love only to be toyed with and utterly defeated? Or was it a distortion of human nature, with Prince Su having a cruel fetish, leaving Xu Lishan unable to endure it and forced to flee? Or perhaps… Everyone had their own theory. Neither was the case. Later, after being dragged back in chains, Xu Lishan weakly explained: he was just a love scammer who’d finally been caught out, and now he’d brought this on himself! [The flirtatious, spoiled, and venomously beautiful bottom × the sinister, cold, controlling, unhinged top] [A love scammer with maxed-out strategy × a lovesick fool who adjusts his level of sincerity on the fly] Coming Soon: “Buddha Won’t Save a Madman” (click the author’s page) The most powerful eunuch in Dayuan was dead. * Tan Yun was full of schemes and calculations. He had risen from a lowly eunuch who’d be beaten for eating an extra mouthful of noodles to a close confidant of the emperor, earning the title “Nine Thousand Years.” One day, seated high on a lotus throne, he looked down upon a neglected prince in the cold palace, a resilient boy who had endured countless humiliations. He reached out and saved him, helping him ascend to greatness. But the kitten turned out to be a wolf, and bit him until he bled. He had raised a wolf that turned on him, and once he was no longer useful, he was cast aside. Tan Yun had no reason to resent anyone. He was willing to drink poison and take his own life. But when he closed his eyes, he saw an unbelievable scene: Someone came through a river of blood, killed the emperor with a blade, and set fire to the nine-zhang lotus throne. Then he wiped the poisoned blood from Tan Yun’s lips and held his corpse until he himself turned to ashes. Both his ruthlessness and tenderness were utterly mad. Tan Yun floated in the air, eyes wide with shock, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see the person’s face beneath the hood. All he could make out was a ring on the index finger of the left hand, scarlet as blood. The trinket he had casually discarded was treasured by this person. Where had this secret admirer come from? Sadly, their meeting had been brief, and he never got to see the person’s face. Tan Yun was stunned and overwhelmed with emotion. He never expected that he would open his eyes again and be reborn at a time when he was still low-ranking. So Tan Yun set about scheming for survival and plotting for power, while also searching for that mysterious “secret admirer.” But it was like looking for a needle in the sea. Tan Yun: Gradually giving up. * The Prince of Qin’s heir was a dissolute young master, a mad dog who had been named the dynasty’s greatest menace among the imperial nobility for a list of bloody “achievements,” including killing someone in the street, murdering a relative before the emperor, and setting fires to torment the favored consort. Everyone despised and envied him, and feared him, too. One day, the heir took some medicine and went mad. He was about to add patricide to his “list of achievements.” The emperor was furious, and Tan Yun, just as he had in his previous life, went out to save the man on the emperor’s behalf, risking death at the hands of the devil incarnate. In his previous life, Tan Yun and the heir had made a life-or-death wager behind a screen, best of three. Tan Yun won and saved him. He only remembered the heir’s voice, cool as jade, and his unreadable gaze. In this life, they were behind a screen again, and the wager was still one round. But Tan Yun lost all three rounds and ended up giving himself away. The screen toppled, and the wedding couplets came down. Behind them stood a man in a red robe, his brows and eyes dazzlingly beautiful, a blood-red jade ring on his finger. He offered Tan Yun a paired wine cup filled with poisoned liquor and warmly invited him: “Let us drink the nuptial wine and go to the underworld together.” Tan Yun: ? Secret admirer, your determination to die with me is a little too intense and impolite. [The beautiful eunuch, with a bodhisattva’s face and a scorpion’s heart, who loves slurping noodles × the seemingly dissolute young lord who is secretly suffering through an unrequited love, an intermittently unhinged man who wants to die with his beloved every day] Theme: Stay grounded and build a better future together.