Can Even the River God Be Coveted?

★ Please add my upcoming book What Should I Do When My Wife Has Another Episode? to your collection! The blurb is at the very bottom. ↓

[Blurb]

On the River God's festival day, Shen Chi was chosen to be the new River God's husband. Dressed in a groom's clothes, he was thrown into the river by the crowd as heaven and earth looked on.

In a daze, he saw a breathtakingly beautiful figure catch him in their arms. With a sorrowful look, they pressed a kiss to his lips and breathed life into him...

That must have been the River God.

When he awoke, he'd forgotten everything. He was only glad to still be alive, and that there was a monster beside him stopping him from jumping into the river again.

The monster was handsome, as elegant as a jade tree, but woefully ignorant and had never tasted anything good.

He was greedy, cold to everyone, and liked ordering Shen Chi around.

Still, despite his indifference, he hadn't abandoned Shen Chi. And though he liked ordering him about, he'd saved his life when it mattered.

Having grown up without much love, Shen Chi was deeply moved. This monster was a good monster. Serving him wasn't out of the question.

*

Pei Zhen was the River God who ruled over thousands of great rivers. After five hundred years of slumber, he awoke and found a mortal child.

When he learned that his merit was running dangerously low, his first priority was to catch a few demons and ghosts and kill them to earn merit.

But the child in front of him looked up at him pleadingly, asking him not to leave. Pei Zhen was cold-hearted and wanted to toss him aside, until he discovered the child had an extraordinarily unusual fate.

Wouldn't he make the perfect bait for attracting demons and ghosts, helping him build up his merit?

Pei Zhen smirked. A live lure had practically delivered itself to his doorstep. There was no harm in keeping him close.

*

Pei Zhen had lived for 3,100 years. Having stayed away from the human world and known nothing of love for ages, he was slow to realize something important.

The mortal child he'd raised as a pet for years seemed to have developed some rather improper feelings for him.

"You dare to blaspheme a god? The nerve." Pei Zhen coldly removed the hand resting on his waist.

The other man's frame had grown taller than his. He caught Pei Zhen by the chin, turned his face back, and said plaintively, "We already performed a ceremony before heaven and earth. Why can't I..."

He spoke each word into Pei Zhen's ear with bitter intensity: "Don't even think about leaving me."

Then he tenderly licked Pei Zhen's earlobe and sighed with satisfaction.

"...My dear adoptive father."

"...My dear master."

"...My dear husband."

Pei Zhen: "..."

#At first, he was only raising a mortal for fun

#Being his master wasn't out of the question

#After being forced into it, he came around

[An aloof, noble, beautiful divine being x a dark, possessive gong]

[Reader's guide]

1. The characters are not paragons of virtue. Even gods have selfish desires.

2. One-on-one, both are virgins.

3. The gong is raised by the shou, and the romance develops later. Includes dog-like devotion and imprisonment.

4. The plot makes up 40% of the story. It features catching demons and exorcising ghosts, not solving mysteries.

★ Stop by and don't miss this delicious upcoming book! ★

The upcoming book is on my profile. Could you all please add it to your collections? It really, really, really matters to me, qvq.

[Blurb]

Xie Xiyan is the youngest and most handsome associate chief physician at M Hospital, and people have plenty of praise for him.

But no one knows that the crushing workload keeps him constantly tense, and that he has developed self-destructive tendencies.

Then one day, a little snake suddenly appeared in his home.

He really didn't like cold-blooded creatures like snakes.

And he'd heard that snakes might be venomous.

After staring into its round, bead-like eyes for a moment, Xie Xiyan decided to keep it anyway.

Other ways of dying would waste society's resources. Getting bitten to death by a snake in his sleep sounded pretty good.

It was very nice. Very eco-friendly.

On the first day after bringing it home, he let it roam free.

He hoped it would fulfill its purpose.

On the fifth day, Xie Xiyan ordered food for reptiles.

It couldn't die before he did, could it?

On the tenth day after bringing it home, and the tenth night of insomnia, he was still alive!

After searching for a long time, he found the little snake curled into a coil like a mosquito coil, fast asleep.

"..." Useless thing.

Xie Xiyan composed himself and tried not to care about it. After all, snakes were cold-blooded creatures, and he felt nothing for any living thing.

Still, having another species in his cold, empty home made him a little restless. It made him late for work and eager to leave early.

He kept wanting to check whether it was dead yet.

Xie Xiyan didn't care about it.

He just happened to drop a little tasty food on the table, and the snake ate it. Sometimes he'd put on an educational video, and two hours later, the snake would still be watching with its tiny, fingernail-sized head tilted up.

Oh, the video? He'd just forgotten to turn it off...

The snake even got bold enough to climb into his bed and sleep there, because Xie Xiyan didn't pay it any attention.

When he woke up in the morning, the snake would be in a different spot each time.

Sometimes it was wrapped around his neck, sometimes coiled around his wrist, and occasionally sprawled across his chest.

It was heavy enough to keep him from getting out of bed.

One morning, he woke up and discovered it had turned into a person.

Even heavier.

If you're interested, please add it to your collection. Mwah! 3

Theme: Persevere and strive onward. Even in the most desperate circumstances, believe that there is still a chance to survive