A Self-Rescue Guide for the Black Lotus Ninth Prince

[Blurb written on 2025.2.2, screenshot saved and posted on Weibo]

Strong x strong. The bottom is reborn; the top transmigrates into a book. A wickedly charismatic, devoted-to-his-wife top x a ruthless, bewitching beauty of a bottom. The bottom is adored by everyone.

--

Only after Jiang Lerong died did he learn that he was the foil to the protagonist bottom in a beloved-by-all harem novel.

They were both born into humble circumstances. The protagonist, Shen Han, was sweet and charming, and his straightforward nature and talent for acting cute won him countless benefactors and devoted admirers. He rose rapidly through the ranks, going from a farm boy to a third-rank official, and eventually found a happy ending with the current Prince Qing, the future emperor.

Jiang Lerong, meanwhile, was cursed by his naturally breathtaking beauty, and became the target of countless lecherous eyes and cruel hands. In his last life, he was forced into the palace to become a eunuch. To survive, he fought for power and influence until, still young, he became the ruthless and powerful Eunuch of Nine Thousand Years. Memorials impeaching him piled up by the emperor's desk day after day, accusing him of letting eunuchs meddle in government and plunging the imperial court into chaos.

In the end, public resentment boiled over. The protagonist's many admirers joined forces to slaughter him, and he died by the brutal punishment of slow slicing.

When he opened his eyes again and smelled the peonies blooming inside the palace, Jiang Lerong took a deep breath.

If this face had brought him both success and ruin, then he might as well make full use of it.

He was reborn during the spring imperial examinations, less than half a year before he would be impeached by the officials and die by slow slicing.

The Eunuch of Nine Thousand Years' gilded carriage, emblazoned with a golden dragon, passed by the examination hall. Every candidate wished they could spit on the carriage of that wicked official.

Until a hand, its fingers as slender and white as scallions and its skin as smooth as jade, lifted the curtain.

They saw Jiang Lerong's face.

As pure as snow and ice, it outshone the flowers of spring.

A peony drifted gracefully out of the carriage, and everyone scrambled for it, beyond even the guards and their armored horses to restrain.

Shen Han, the protagonist bottom, who had been doted on all the way here but was now ignored: ...?

Jiang Lerong makes a habit of showing off and charming people, all while keeping his achievements hidden. Unfortunately, his body is useless. He can barely leave the house without fainting on the road and getting kidnapped.

On a dark, windy night, he looked up and found himself facing a handsome, arrogant, wicked-looking face.

The man reeked of blood. A cold silver spear with a battered blade rested behind him as he raised a hand and tilted Jiang Lerong's chin.

"Someone paid for your life... but I've decided to skip out on the job."

Xie Mian, the original story's villain and second male lead, fought Prince Qing for Shen Han for more than a decade, stopping at nothing. In the end, a military order sent him to the northwest, where he died on the border at the age of thirty.

"Oh? We both have such tragic endings? Seems we're made for each other."

"Eunuch of Nine Thousand Years... how about we turn the tables together and claim an empire?"

Xie Mian was always spouting nonsense, and Jiang Lerong had assumed he was just talking off the cuff.

Until Xie Mian shielded him in a hail of bullets and said innocently, "I was serious."

Jiang Lerong narrowed his eyes. "Are you some kind of great philanthropist?"

"Well, I was, before I transmigrated here."

Xie Mian sighed.

It wasn't as if he'd wanted to transmigrate into this bizarre danmei novel as a disposable, devoted admirer.

"Still, meeting the Eunuch of Nine Thousand Years makes it worth it."

Jiang Lerong: "?"

Jiang Lerong never expected that years later, Xie Mian would really kneel before him with the twelve-pendant imperial crown in his hands, grinning.

"My emperor, take your seat."

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