I Cried, I Was Faking It

The main story is complete, so feel free to dive in~

Mu Li: Lin, a new escort job came in on 7/21r! Keep your silver safe, and don't let your classmates snatch it again! Supporting the original is no easy thing!

Lin Yijiu: Mm. With A Li here, they definitely won't get it. Thank you all for supporting the original.

Mu Li transmigrated one day and became the benefactor of the top student at Chengdao Academy. He heard that the talented scholar topped the rankings every month and was the apple of every teacher's eye, as well as a thorn in the side of certain classmates.

Who knew if the bookworm had read himself stupid, but every month he dutifully paid protection money to certain classmates. Even when beaten up, all he did was stand at attention, cover his head, and crouch down.

Mu Li was furious at how spineless he was. "Are you stupid? You're just standing there letting them hit you?! Can't you hit back?!"

To his surprise, the bookworm replied, "A-ancient sages said: When Heaven is about to entrust someone with a great responsibility, it first tests their resolve and wears out their muscles and bones..."

Mu Li was furious, but couldn't help feeling softhearted at the same time. Forget it, if I keep scolding this bookworm, he'll start crying.

*

Lin Yijiu had been taught since childhood that he must do nothing except what would help him become the top candidate in the imperial examinations. Even though he had been blackmailed for years, he had to endure it for the sake of passing the exams.

Until he was saved by a sunny boy with red hair.

The boy was softhearted. When a little girl on the street started crying, the furious young man immediately offered her his candied hawthorn on a stick with both hands.

He tried crying too, and the boy hurriedly fumbled to comfort him.

There was just one problem: Mu Li was straight. Even after kissing him, he said he was straight, and that it was just a goodbye kiss between friends.

Lin Yijiu understood at once and grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers. "If friends can share a goodbye kiss, then holding hands is even more ordinary. Isn't that right, A Li?"

Mu Li: "I-is that so?"

Someone couldn't stand Lin Yijiu's act of playing weak and jabbed at him. "You're a grown man, Young Master Lin. What's the point of pretending to be delicate?"

Lin Yijiu smiled at him, casually flipped the skewers he'd just grilled, and was sternly stopped by Mu Li.

"Your hand's already burned, and you're still grilling! Are you asking for a beating?"

"I'm not some delicate young master. I can handle a little thing like this..."

"Handle what, my ass! You're a weak scholar. Move your hand, give it to me!"

Lin Yijiu glanced at the man, his expression unreadable, but his voice was obedient. "...Oh."

A teary, theatrical, scheming green-tea top (Lin Yijiu) X a sunny, chuunibyou school bully bottom (Mu Li)

[Ding!]

A slice-of-life story about eating, drinking, having fun, and bickering. Slow-paced.

There will be a little court intrigue later on, since the top has to take the imperial examinations, but it only takes up a small part. The focus is still on everyday life.

Lighthearted above all.

A lovers-reunited story.

A sweet little novella. Please bear with my made-up nonsense.

Paragraph comments are open, and the author's notes include bonus scenes. Come take a look~

Seeking Bookmarks Break

The Blacksmith's Pretty Husband

[New story is now open~ Please bookmark it~]

Chun Mu'er grew up surrounded by cheap rouge and face powder, constantly exposed to all the coquettish tricks of swaying hips, arching fingers, and coy smiles.

Those were the only things he knew how to do.

When he was fifteen, a handsome husband from the brothel slipped him a bundle and told him to run. In a daze, he fled, hiding here and there along the way, but he couldn't escape the brothel's thugs. At the point of despair, he came across a wedding procession.

He thought he was saved, but the matchmaker dragged him into the bridal sedan by force.

"The new groom ran away, so we'll use you as his replacement!"

Lying in the sedan, Chun Mu'er was utterly despairing. He had let down the handsome man's hopes. He had escaped one abyss only to be thrown into another, and his life had never gotten any better.

When a cold, fierce-looking man lifted the sedan curtain, he thought he was about to be punched to death.

To stay alive, he tucked in his dainty fingers, straightened his pert bottom, and copied the way others walked with their toes turned out. He'd heard the husband next door was as fierce as a tiger, so he imitated him, often planting his hands on his hips and glaring.

He thought he was doing a good job, but who could have guessed that even when he stood with his hands on his hips and cursed in anger, he still looked utterly coquettish?

Somehow, rumors spread that he was a male courtesan. The husband he'd replaced also came back. Looking at his blacksmith husband's cold, dark face and rock-hard fists, he thought he was going to die.

He wasn't the only one who thought so. The onlookers were all ready to watch the male courtesan get beaten to death.

But the ones who got beaten were the people who spread the rumors and the husband who had fled a thousand miles before coming back.

The usually expressionless blacksmith held his newlywed husband and gently coaxed him. "Good husband, don't cry. Let's go home and eat. I'll make your favorite braised pork today."

The blacksmith couple lived happily, but their home lacked the laughter of children. Others said that Chun Mu'er had come from a filthy place, and who knew if he could even have children?

Only Chun Mu'er knew he'd been given drugs, and would probably never have children in this lifetime.

To keep the Zhao family from having no heirs, he found a matchmaker and said he wanted to get the blacksmith a concubine.

He thought the blacksmith would be pleased. Instead, the blacksmith pulled the bed curtains shut with a cold face and made him practice every day and night: forging iron by day and pounding away at night.

After three years of this, he finally conceived their first child.

As long as he went deep enough, hit the right spot, and put in enough effort, that damn drug couldn't stop it.

Theme: Because of you, I became a better version of myself.