After the Redemption Target Went Wrong

[Signed for publication in simplified Chinese. Follow @YiWoDuan on Weibo for updates.] In the first year of Yongping, Xie Yuantai, an assistant grand secretary, was convicted and imprisoned. Once celebrated throughout the capital, as beautiful as snow and moonlight, he became a prisoner overnight. He was beaten until his flesh was torn and bloody, yet never confessed. Ten days later, Prince Zhao rebelled. His army advanced like a thunderbolt, reaching the capital in just three months. After laying siege for seven days, the emperor surrendered. In the freezing, shadowy dungeon, Xie Yuantai, covered in blood, came face-to-face with Sheng Chiji, whom he had not seen for years. Those dark, fathomless eyes fixed on him. Sheng Chiji raised his chin, his expression unreadable. “Xie Yuantai, you chose the wrong person. Do you regret it now?” - When they first met, Xie Yuantai knew he had been handed a script about redeeming the Seventh Prince. Sheng Chiji was the least favored of the palace’s princes, struggling to get by. But after seeing Sheng Chiji drown an attendant in a pond, Xie Yuantai decided he was cruel and violent by nature, far too dangerous. The Third Prince, by contrast, might have been mediocre, but he was gentle and kind, and devoted to the people. Xie Yuantai chose the Third Prince. In secret, he sent food and clothes to the Seventh Prince’s palace, never letting himself be discovered. When Sheng Chiji turned nineteen, Xie Yuantai and the Third Prince joined forces to drive him out of the capital. On the day he left, Sheng Chiji gave him a dark look. “Xie Yuantai, you’ll regret this.” - The old emperor was deposed, but Lord Xie, thrown into the imperial prison, was instead brought into the palace and confined there. Everyone in the capital knew how Xie Yuantai had joined forces with the old emperor to drive Sheng Chiji out. They whispered that the new emperor was cruel and vengeful, and that Xie Yuantai was probably suffering a fate worse than death in the palace. But in the bedchamber, under its soft curtains, the new emperor held Xie Yuantai in his arms. His eyes were bloodshot as he fed him medicine with his own hands. “One more sip, and I’ll let you go.” Xie Yuantai never got to leave. After three months of torment in the dungeon, he was at death’s door. But when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the age of nineteen. Xie Yuantai slowly turned his gaze toward the lonely Seventh Prince in the corner. - His old adversary had become a boy, obedient as a puppy, and seemed worth raising. It wasn’t until Xie Yuantai noticed Sheng Chiji watching him with an even more dangerous gaze than in his previous life that he realized something was wrong. He promptly ran away. His carefree days did not last long. When he heard the Crown Prince was making a tour of the south, Xie Yuantai was just about to run again when he collided head-on with the Crown Prince’s procession, which had come to arrest him. In the night, the boy’s expression was gloomy. His voice was soft. “Have you been so disobedient because I was too obedient?” - Remembering the past is like trying to carve a mark into a boat to find a dropped sword in the river. After Xie Yuantai left, Sheng Chiji spent the rest of his life carving marks into the river, trying to find that sword. Ten years apart in life and death, two worlds between us. A gloomy, love-maddened, possessive puppy × a cool, proud, beautiful cat. Younger top, happy ending, reborn from the start. The top will slowly regain the memories of his previous life. * A cool beauty and a mad dog, cat-and-dog dynamic. Warning: earthy romance tropes! The top is an extraordinarily lovesick man with a touch of madness. If that’s not your thing, proceed with caution. * Soap-opera tropes and a return-to-writing project. About 60% romance and 40% plot. The pacing is on the slow side. This is not a rebirth revenge fantasy, but it’s not angsty either. The plot is simple, and the focus is on romance. * An alternate world modeled on the Ming dynasty, with plenty of original worldbuilding and a small amount of palace intrigue and political scheming. Nothing too technical; the writing is meant to be clear and accessible, not archaic. * All the worldbuilding serves the protagonists and the plot. Please add my upcoming historical danmei story to your collection =3= After Nine Failed Attempts at Winning Him Over Wei Yixue died of a serious illness. When he opened his eyes, a chime sounded in his ear, and a System assigned him a mission: redeem the villain and he could come back to life. After failing to redeem the villainous great demon Shang Xingque for the ninth time, Wei Yixue threw in the towel. So, after restarting for the tenth time, Wei Yixue devoted himself to cultivation and decided to kill the villain, solving the problem at its source. After a fierce battle with Shang Xingque left them both gravely wounded, they fell together into the Demon Abyss. At death’s door, Wei Yixue watched in despair as Shang Xingque slowly approached him. Frowning, he asked the first thing that came to mind: “Who are you?” Wei Yixue’s eyes lit up! Here was his chance to survive. Taking advantage of Shang Xingque apparently having lost his memory after hurting his head, he immediately put on a mournful expression and said, “A Que, I’m your cultivation partner. Don’t you remember me?” Shang Xingque stared at the breathtakingly beautiful, frail, pale man before him and froze. He had a cultivation partner? Drawing on nine lifetimes’ worth of memories, Wei Yixue knew Shang Xingque better than Shang Xingque knew himself. He talked the amnesiac Shang Xingque around until the man soon accepted that he apparently did have a cultivation partner. Wei Yixue was badly injured and had nearly lost all his cultivation. Fortunately, he had learned a technique that let him recover his spiritual power and heal his wounds through dual cultivation. Taking advantage of Shang Xingque’s memory loss, Wei Yixue maliciously and shamelessly ordered him around. In the lightless Demon Abyss, he gritted his teeth and tricked Shang Xingque into rough, hate-fueled sex while plotting how to escape the Abyss, which supposedly no one had ever managed to leave. He also had to find a way to kill Shang Xingque once he regained his strength. But dual cultivation boosted Shang Xingque’s cultivation too. Wei Yixue carefully weighed his options and realized that killing the great demon from the original story would be far too difficult. Over countless nights at the bottom of the Demon Abyss, Wei Yixue watched Shang Xingque’s dark eyes grow ever more tender and possessive as they lingered on him. With his back aching, Wei Yixue felt his scalp tingle. When Shang Xingque was out of his mind, all he wanted was to fuck him. But once Shang Xingque regained his memories, he’d probably want to beat him to a pulp! Fortunately, the binding restriction imposed by the System suddenly disappeared, and Wei Yixue could choose to run. So, after his cultivation finally recovered and a crack opened in the Demon Abyss, Wei Yixue was sweetly chatting with Shang Xingque about how they’d furnish their cave when they got home one moment, then made a decisive escape the next. See you never! Shang Xingque clenched his empty hand, his expression gradually darkening. - At long last, free of the System’s restrictions and no longer forced to win over the cold-blooded, terrifying great demon Shang Xingque, Wei Yixue assumed a false identity, suppressed his cultivation, and joined a small sect, where he happily decided to lie flat. The disciples in the small sect might not be strong cultivators, but they were peaceful and easygoing, and the atmosphere was wonderful. His good days didn’t last long. A summons to the Ten Thousand Immortals Conference arrived at the sect. All the immortal sects had been called together, and to protect a few of his “senior brothers and sisters,” Wei Yixue had to go along. When he reached the conference, a gaze landed squarely on him. Wei Yixue’s scalp prickled. He looked up and saw Immortal Lord Shang raising his cup to him from the high platform. “Welcome, fellow...” Shang Xingque paused. “Cultivator.” From that day on, a thick, shadowy gaze followed him everywhere, like a poisonous snake lurking in the dark, coldly coiled around him. A somewhat popular, quick-witted, grudge-holding beauty who talks big and loves to lie flat × A deranged, brooding top who keeps asking, “Where’s my wife? Where’s my wife? Where’s that huge wife I got for free?” Theme: You can’t understand someone by looking only at appearances.