Spring Comes to the Sick Tree

A collection of bittersweet, melodramatic pining and chasing-after-your-lover stories. A non-commercial audio drama is in production~

In the tenth year that Xie Shuchun has loved Lin Xun, and the eighth year since they parted, they meet again.

He has always known Lin Xun is no good. Ever since college, people have come and gone from Lin Xun's life like the changing of the guard.

So he should never have accepted Lin Xun's sudden invitation.

But he went anyway.

Then Lin Xun arranged resources and projects for him, and even clashed with others on his behalf, saying ambiguously, "Take on more projects in the capital, and keep me company."

He believed him.

So when Lin Xun kissed him while drunk, he turned his head but didn't pull away.

For that moment, he pretended Lin Xun truly loved him.

Like a moth to a flame, he threw himself in without hesitation.

Wide awake, he watched himself fall beyond saving.

Three months later, the project ended, and it was time for him to leave.

"The money you helped me earn is enough to go back to my hometown and pay the bride price."

He was taking a gamble, hoping Lin Xun would ask him to stay.

But Lin Xun's smile never faltered. He simply gave him a jacaranda brooch and said, "Good luck with your blind date."

He should have known he was nothing but a passing guest, easily forgotten.

So when Lin Xun drove for twenty-eight hours and 2,800 kilometers to find him, eyes red as he asked, "How could you give away the keepsake I gave you?"

Xie Shuchun looked at the road-weary man before him and suddenly wanted to laugh. "Lin Xun, I hate jacarandas most of all. My first ten years were just like their flower language: waiting for love in despair. So now..."

"I don't want your heart anymore."

The wind swept past the jacarandas outside the window, scattering pale purple blossoms across the ground.

Lin Xun clutched his clothes, but couldn't hold on to him.

"What do I do? I hate them too... Whenever they bloom, I can't hold on to my spring."

-

Reading guide:

1. A scum top who knows it (Lin Xun) x a clear-eyed romantic bottom (Xie Shuchun)

2. Content warning: the top is unfaithful and loves playing around without taking responsibility

3. Bittersweet / melodramatic / pining / painful romance / chasing after your lover

4. Jacarandas bloom in April and May, so when they fade, spring leaves too

[Coming Soon] "Flowers from a Sickly Frame," the story of Lin Xun's childhood friend, Meng Qichuan

Known in their circle as a devoted older brother, Meng Qichuan always gives his cousin Meng Jun everything he wants.

When Meng Jun wants to study, he donates a building.

When Meng Jun wants the stars, he buys the naming rights.

They were even kidnapped together, and Meng Qichuan took several knife wounds trying to save Meng Jun, nearly dying.

But no one knows that he hates Meng Jun most of all.

His application failed because Meng Qichuan sabotaged it. The kidnapping was his plan from the start.

He hates that ever since Meng Jun was born, he has taken all the family's attention.

Even more, he hates that because of Meng Jun, he became disabled and was cast aside by the family, while Meng Jun doesn't even remember what happened.

Until Meng Jun wrecks his engagement party and, emboldened by drink, bares his heart to him: "Brother, isn't it me you love? I only want you. You can't find someone else... You can't stop wanting me!"

Only then does he realize that the person he hates most in this world is the one who loves him most.

How ridiculous.

After exposing the secret of Meng Jun's birth and watching his younger brother fall into the mud,

Meng Qichuan is overcome by both satisfaction and emptiness. He lets Meng Jun capture him on purpose.

He watches the obedient little dog turn into a wolf.

Every day, Meng Jun whispers to him, "Brother, do you even have a heart? Was it a lie when you said you loved me?"

He removes Meng Qichuan's prosthetic leg, restricting his movement: "If I do this, will you never leave me?"

When he hears Meng Qichuan say he hates him, he laughs coldly. "How can you hate someone without loving them?"

Yet when a fire breaks out, he pushes Meng Qichuan outside and refuses to leave the flames himself.

Meng Qichuan throws his prosthetic leg into the fire. "Meng Jun, come out and I'll stop hating you. If you don't... we'll die here together!"

At last, flowers bloom from a sickly frame.

-

Reading guide:

1. A vicious-dog younger-brother top (Meng Jun) x a scummy but pitiable bottom (Meng Qichuan)

2. Content warning: They aren't biological brothers. The top was born from his aunt's affair. The bottom is unfaithful before the story and faithful afterward; the top is faithful.

3. Melodrama / pseudo-incest / love and hate / painful romance / bittersweet satisfaction

[Coming Soon] "I Stabbed My Dao Companion Through, and He Became the Heavenly Dao"

The Immortal Dominion Sect has a notorious elder named Lu Cangya, famous for being both mad and foolish.

He is breathtakingly beautiful, unrivaled in the world, but while his cultivation is adequate, his wits are always lacking.

Everyone under heaven laughs at him. Only his frail Dao companion, Shen Lichuan, as cold and smooth as a piece of ice jade, shows him the slightest warmth.

His senior brother tells him fish from the cold pool are good for Shen Lichuan's illness.

So in the bitter cold, he lies on the ice for three days and brings a silver fish to Shen Lichuan. "A Li, eat."

The sect leader tells him that killing the great demon wreaking havoc down the mountain and taking its gallbladder will cure Shen Lichuan's illness.

So he goes alone with his sword, returning covered in blood and wounds, and presents Shen Lichuan with the fresh gallbladder. "It's good for A Li's health!"

Others laugh at him for being foolish and trick him, saying that if he follows the righteous path by "killing his husband," he and Shen Lichuan can ascend together and be recorded in the immortal registers.

He believes them.

So he runs his sword through Shen Lichuan's chest.

He proves his own immortal path.

And restores Shen Lichuan's status as the Heavenly Dao.

Shen Lichuan appears like a god descending from heaven and plucks out a strand of Lu Cangya's life-soul before casting it away.

From then on, Lu Cangya is no longer mad or foolish.

Yet through the long years, the only thing he remembers is Shen Lichuan's calm words: "Thank you for accompanying me for a while. From here on, we owe each other nothing."

-

Reading guide:

1. Pairing: a cold, detached Heavenly Dao top (Shen Lichuan) x a formerly mad and foolish, now sweet-hearted bottom (Lu Cangya)

2. Neither is truly scummy. The bottom is foolish because he is missing a strand of his life-soul; the top has severed his emotions after regaining his status as the Heavenly Dao.

3. Both get their own crematorium arc.

Theme: Walk hand in hand with the one you love and build a beautiful future together.