Good-for-Nothing

[A crybaby in the early chapters, then a cold-faced secret guard shou x a cruel and ruthless gong at first, then a devoted puppy]

The day his whole family was imprisoned, Yu Changqing's world came crashing down. He went from the pampered young master everyone adored to a lowly servant anyone could bully.

He watched with his own eyes as his entire family was beheaded, while the official overseeing the execution was the prince he had revered most. In that moment, he wished he could die.

The prince took him back to his manor to be a plaything in his bed. Yu Changqing wanted revenge, wanted to kill him with his own hands, but all he got were repeated failures and punishments.

He did the dirtiest, hardest work, snatching food from the jaws of vicious dogs while starving. He was bitten all over, with no one to show him any mercy.

Until the day that man grew tired of him.

He was sent to the secret guard camp, where he heard the man's orders clearly.

Prince: Leave no survivors. Kill him.

Chills spread through his body. Yu Changqing clutched himself desperately. Only one thought remained in his mind: He wanted to live. He wanted to stay alive, and to live well!

After countless days with blood on his hands, he finally carved out a path to survival. Stepping over countless corpses, he climbed to the position of leader of the secret guard camp.

-

He saw Xuan Ming again five years later. By then, Yu Changqing was eight feet tall and no longer the pampered crybaby who would burst into tears at the slightest scratch.

But Xuan Ming once again wanted him dead.

Repeated ambushes cost Yu Changqing a finger.

When sending troops to suppress bandits, Xuan Ming deliberately gave Yu Changqing the fewest men, just to get him killed. Then, when the man returned alive, he found flimsy excuses to have him punished.

Again and again, Xuan Ming pushed Yu Changqing into darkness and inflicted pain on him, driving him farther and farther away.

Only when the other man really left did Xuan Ming realize he had apparently grown accustomed to Yu Changqing's presence.

-

Xuan Ming realized that Yu Changqing seemed not to have smiled in a long time, and had not called him by name in ages.

On a rainy night,

A drunk Xuan Ming found Yu Changqing. He stared at him coldly for a long while before finally saying, "Changqing..."

He wanted to hear Yu Changqing call him by name, but the other man only furrowed his brow and knelt before him. "What are your orders, Your Highness?"

That wasn't what he wanted to hear...

Xuan Ming got drunk and lost control. That day, he pinned the unapproachable leader against the city wall and kissed him repeatedly in front of everyone. Then he knelt at the man's feet and cried his eyes out.

He kept shouting that they had been a married couple in all but name for ages, making the usually impassive Yu Changqing's face turn black as soot.

As a result, before dawn the next day, Master Yu fled without looking back.

One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first and only. The worldbuilding is entirely the author's invention.

The gong must win back the shou after hurting him. The gong has his reasons for hating the shou, and the shou has his reasons for hating the gong.

There won't be angst for angst's sake.

Theme: All the hatred in the world will eventually lose to love.