A Few Moments of Tenderness

Coming soon on my homepage: The Beautiful Canary Who Always Wants to Escape. Please add it to your library!

A recommendation for my friend's novel: I'm Done Being This Stand-In, by Lin Jian Zhu Jiu.

Its blurb is at the very bottom.

★This novel's blurb★

Jiang Xu arrives at the Song family under the name Song Wenjian. Song Wenjian has an older brother named Song Wenjing.

On the day Jiang Xu enters the Song family, Song Wenjing chokes him until his neck turns red and demands to know who he really is. Jiang Xu looks up at Song Wenjing timidly and slowly replies, "I'm Song Wenjian."

Though doubtful at first, Song Wenjing gradually falls for him.

In the gym, he holds the boy who is afraid of the dark and gently pats his shoulder. "Don't be scared. I'm here. Look up, and the sun will be there."

As Qing Shui No. 2 High School's heartthrob, Song Wenjing receives love letters by the truckload. Jiang Xu sorts them into categories, but Song Wenjing corners him against the wall and points at the trash can, warning, "Keep sticking your nose in my business, and next time, you'll be the one I throw in there."

But the next day, when he sees a love letter on Jiang Xu's desk, he grits his teeth so hard they nearly crack. "You're so young. Who said you could accept love letters?"

What a hypocritical big brother. Jiang Xu grins foolishly, nodding and agreeing.

Jiang Xu can't go to school, so he gets a private tutor. For some reason, Song Wenjing feels restless.

From then on, Song Wenjing skips class more and more often.

But whereas he used to skip school to go to the arcade, now he rushes home every time.

His grades keep improving, too, until he becomes Jiang Xu's private tutor and spends every night in his room.

An indescribable feeling gradually spreads between them. When Song Wenjing learns that Jiang Xu isn't his biological younger brother, his convictions crumble in an instant.

Jiang Xu leaves, disappearing from his world. Only then does Song Wenjing finally understand that his feelings for him have long gone beyond brotherly affection.

The night he finds Jiang Xu is snowy.

As snow drifts beyond the window, in a bed warmed by lamplight, he presses Jiang Xu's wrist down firmly and says:

"Be good. Call me big brother."

Reading guide:

1. Both leads are eighteen. When the bottom pretends to be the top's younger brother, he is already eighteen, though he claims to be sixteen under his assumed identity.

2. In this setting, homosexuality is accepted, and DNA testing technology is not very advanced.

3. At first, the bottom borrows Song Wenjian's name.

Brooding, scheming, unexpectedly adorable heartthrob top: Song Wenjing

Timid, flirtatious, deceptively innocent runaway bottom: Jiang Xu

| They save each other

| Happy ending

★The Beautiful O Who Keeps a Canary★ Blurb

After his family falls on hard times, Song He becomes the young lover of Shengding Group's vice president, suffering beatings and torment until he can barely endure it.

Sheng Yuli appears like a savior reborn. He pins Song He in the hallway, bites his lip until it bleeds, and asks:

"Auntie, why don't you come with me?"

Song He nearly gets caught in bed by Sheng Yuli's uncle and flees in a panic, not daring to entertain the thought.

He knows that Sheng Yuli is another abyss.

At a Sheng family banquet packed with guests, Sheng Yuli casually wraps an arm around Song He's waist, rubs his lower back with his thumb, and introduces him:

"This is my auntie."

Song He trembles all over. Knowing Sheng Yuli is doing it on purpose, he suffers punishment from Shengding's vice president that very night.

-

One scheme follows another, and the torment never ends.

On the night of his heat, Song He is locked in a karaoke bathroom, trembling.

Sheng Yuli takes him into a private room, pins him beneath him, presses his fingers to Song He's gland, and says seductively:

"Auntie, I can give you everything you want: the truth, and this place."

"All right."

After one peaceful night, he becomes the canary Sheng Yuli keeps.

-

A canary may be a caged bird, but even a bird has a world of its own.

After getting his revenge, Song He disappears for three years. When Sheng Yuli finally finds him with their little one in tow, he shows up at the door carrying a durian.

The little one knocks and tells Sheng Yuli to put the durian down, holding a small branch in his hand. The instant the door opens, he says, "Daddy, kneel!"

Then he tosses the branch aside, throws himself into Song He's arms, and bursts into tears. "Waaah, Papa, I brought Daddy here to apologize!"

| Possessive top × beautiful canary bottom

| One-on-one, both pure

| The bottom is kept by the top's uncle at first, but the uncle is impotent

★I'm Done Being This Stand-In★ Blurb

In his sixth year as Fu Yanguan's stand-in, Shen Ci suddenly loses his memory. He forgets who he is, and even forgets that he's a stand-in with no official status.

Fu Yanguan likes skinny bodies, the kind with waists you can circle with one hand.

Shen Ci pinches his own skin-and-bones body, slaps Fu Yanguan's head sideways, and points at him as he scolds, "I've been with you for six years. Do you never feed me enough?!"

Fu Yanguan is stunned. That very night, he orders a roast suckling pig and brings it to Shen Ci with a pitiful expression.

His white moonlight returns from abroad and affectionately takes his sugar daddy by the arm. The little stand-in catches them together and slaps the white moonlight's face sideways!

"So you're cheating on me? Fine!"

Shen Ci angrily packs a little bundle and gets ready to leave. Fu Yanguan hastily lets go of the white moonlight. Not knowing how to coax him, he fidgets with his fingers and awkwardly says:

"Don't go. We're having stewed goose tonight."

The little stand-in, who has already put on some weight, silently sets down his bundle and nods stiffly.

"Fine."

Stewed goose is so delicious. He can leave after he's eaten.

-

Fu Yanguan has recently started walking on eggshells. Ever since Shen Ci lost his memory, he gets scolded no matter what he does.

If the housekeeper doesn't clean properly, Fu Yanguan gets scolded.

If the chef's dinner isn't tasty, he gets scolded, too.

If the little stand-in loses half a kilo, he gets scolded even worse.

His friends all tell him to find someone new. If a pet dares to bully its owner, it should be thrown out.

He waves a hand and says casually, "I'm used to keeping him around."

| Loud, hot-tempered little stand-in vs. sugar daddy who keeps suffering in silence

| One-on-one, both pure

Theme: Love is hard to say out loud.