Why Is My Archrival Senior Brother Like That?

[The blurb has been taken down. Check it out while you can!]

Actors have it rough, and young actors have it even rougher.

Mei Tanxin was only thirteen or fourteen, yet he'd already become a sensation in the capital. Still, his master sold him to a rival troupe for just one silver note.

And of all people, he had to end up with the one he hated most.

Cheng Liyun, who competed with him for the title of top child actor every year and always managed to beat him.

Cheng Liyun was a nobleman among the lowly. Born into a Kunqu opera family, he'd been pampered since childhood, and his master was the top man in the theater world. By comparison, Mei Tanxin, who had grown up as a refugee under the care of a third-rate clapper singer, was practically a mud ball.

Cheng Liyun was so arrogant that whenever he looked at Mei Tanxin, he seemed to show no more than his nostrils.

And yet even his nostrils were so perfectly shaped!

Infuriating!

So while Cheng Liyun practiced, Mei Tanxin splashed his foot-washing water on him. When Cheng Liyun slept, he stuffed his stinky socks into those extraordinary nostrils. When Cheng Liyun was about to take the stage, Mei Tanxin replaced the fine throat-soothing tea in his precious imperial kiln teapot with strong liquor.

But that day, Cheng Liyun performed The Drunken Concubine and brought down the house.

Damn it all! Mei Tanxin had taken a beating from his master for nothing.

In the end, Cheng Liyun magnanimously suggested they compete properly in a few rounds, with the loser calling the winner Grandpa.

Mei Tanxin jumped at the chance, only to find he couldn't beat him in singing, recitation, acting, or martial skills. He couldn't even beat him at dirty tricks.

Mei Tanxin ground his teeth. "How about a real man's contest?"

At last, he managed to drag the beauty into the latrine. But when he pulled down his pants and took a look, Mei Tanxin let out a howl and ran out, sobbing miserably.

He couldn't even beat that guy in that department.

Cheng Liyun was waiting with his hands tucked into his sleeves, ready to be called Grandpa. But when he heard the sobbing, he froze on the spot. He was really crying?

...How could he actually be crying?

After that, Mei Tanxin noticed that the iceberg beside him seemed to have changed.

After performances, Cheng Liyun would wordlessly stuff a handful of snowflake candy into his arms. If Mei Tanxin angered their master, Cheng Liyun would kneel in his place. Though he had never deigned to entertain guests, he even took the stage himself to shield Mei Tanxin from the liquor those powerful men tried to force on him.

*

A few years passed, and they both grew up.

To promote Mei Tanxin, Cheng Liyun never again performed any opera that Mei Tanxin had made famous. On the playbill, he always wrote Mei Tanxin's name above his own.

Mei Tanxin thought Cheng Liyun was the best person in the world to him.

So he wanted to be good to him, too.

But his senior apprentice brother already had everything: fame and fortune. What could he possibly still want in this world?

Mei Tanxin racked his brains, but couldn't figure it out.

Then one day, he suddenly realized that Cheng Liyun never smiled, and that had never changed.

That smile, like ice melting and snow dissolving, had never been seen by anyone but him...

He was the only thing Cheng Liyun wanted in this world.

Reader's Guide:

[There's a big backlog, and this won't be abandoned. Updates are slow because I'm waiting for a ranking slot. Please save it for later, sob!]

1. Two leading actors, and they switch roles [!]. The senior is a refined-role actor; the junior is a martial-role actor.

2. A fictional late Qing to early Republican setting, without those unavoidable tragedies (meaning no separation or death, though there will be some angst). The worldbuilding has an optimistic direction!

3. A huge, unequivocal happy ending, with a sweet romance!

4. One-on-one, both physically and emotionally exclusive.

Theme: Pure hearts and honest intentions