What?! After Spreading Wild Rumors, My Childhood Friend Came Back

An energetic, passionate little bunny x a lazy, world-weary bad fox | [Mystery-solving + a touch of food]

Childhood sweethearts reunite after years apart, falling in love and solving cases amid the bustle of everyday life, healing and saving each other in this sweet little romance.

Zhu Zhixia studied alongside the Third Prince, Li Changzhou, for several years. They should have been childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable, but somehow they were always at odds.

Later, her nemesis left for the border. Her father was convicted and died, and Zhu Zhixia and her widowed mother carried his coffin back to their hometown. Her mother opened a restaurant, while Zhu Zhixia found work as a constable. The two of them barely scraped by.

But her clan relatives were like wolves and tigers, and powerful men coveted her looks. One even tried to force her to become his concubine.

To protect herself, Zhu Zhixia began spreading rumors everywhere.

"The Third Prince has been secretly in love with me since he was five. He's been pestering me all these years!"

Everyone: "...How old did you say?"

"I'm Li Changzhou's unattainable moonlight. He went to the border to earn military merit and clear my family's name, hoping I'd fall for him!"

Everyone: "But didn't the Third Highness enlist before your family was convicted...?"

Faced with their doubts, Zhu Zhixia insisted that they didn't understand a thing!

"He used to do all my schoolwork for me!"

Everyone believed a third of it.

"See this jade pendant? He forced it on me as a token of his love."

Everyone believed half of it.

"And that scar on his arm? I bit him."

Considering the Third Prince's temperament, if she'd bitten him and gotten away unscathed...

Everyone believed every word!

Rumors spread far and wide, and at last her life got a little easier.

But her good days didn't last long. Li Changzhou came back from the border! And he became her immediate superior!

Zhu Zhixia: ...

What she never expected was that the dog of a county magistrate would believe the rumors and, to curry favor with Li Changzhou, drug her and offer her to him as a grand gift, right there in his bedchamber.

In the dim bed curtains, Zhu Zhixia's face was flushed. She raised her head and clung tightly to the bed frame. "L-L-Li Changzhou! I suggest you control yourself. Taking advantage of someone in need, is that any way for a gentleman to behave?"

At this, Li Changzhou climbed onto the bed on one knee. His gaze was mocking as he replied nonchalantly, "Oh? But the rumors say I've been pining after Miss Zhu for years, loving you without hope. In this situation, it seems... it would be rather hard to control myself, wouldn't it?"

A chaotic night followed.

When she woke up, Zhu Zhixia found her clothes neat and intact, with no sign that anyone had touched her. Li Changzhou, on the other hand, had his robes wide open, and several vivid red scratches marked his neck.

Zhu Zhixia: ...

After much hesitation, she finally forced herself to ask cautiously, "Did I... do anything last night?"

Li Changzhou calmly straightened his robes. "Oh, nothing much."

Zhu Zhixia breathed a sigh of relief.

"You just took off my clothes."

"?!"

He raised an eyebrow and added lazily, "Then spent the whole night crying that you loved me but couldn't have me, and insisting on taking liberties with me."

Reader notes:

1. Light mystery, episodic cases, and a fairly simple plot.

2. Set in a fictional world inspired by the Song Dynasty.

Theme: A passionate life, hidden in the ordinary