Reborn as a Frail, Irresistible Darling

[Main Story Complete]

When Ni Xueqiong was eight, he fell gravely ill. His father searched everywhere for renowned physicians but found no cure. Just as Xueqiong was near death, a Taoist priest passing through the area saved him.

The priest said that the boy was frail and sickly, with a fate full of hardships. The only way to break the curse was to find someone born on the same year, month, and day, who would stay by his side and ward off calamities and evil spirits for him.

As it happened, there was a kitchen boy in the household named Xinu, whose birth details matched Xueqiong's exactly.

Ni's father adopted him as his son and had him stay by Xueqiong's side as the second young master of the Ni family.

Xinu resumed his real name, Helan Xi. For ten years, he cared for Xueqiong devotedly, granting his every wish and fulfilling his duties without fail.

After the Ni family was arrested and executed, the two escaped the capital and wandered from place to place.

That night, the two boys who depended on each other held a wedding ceremony in a dilapidated Guanyin temple and pledged their lives to each other.

When the soldiers stormed into their home, Xueqiong was kicked to the ground, crumpled in a wretched heap, coughing up blood.

The young man who was usually as gentle as water, smiling softly as he kissed him, stood to one side, coldly watching his humiliation.

Only then did Xueqiong realize that Helan Xi had merely been using him.

Xueqiong was thrown into prison and nearly died of illness in his cell.

Meanwhile, Helan Xi passed the palace examination and was appointed chancellor.

The young top scholar rode in scarlet robes and jade belt, mounted on a white horse with golden tack. Flower branches and handkerchiefs tossed from the balconies fluttered across the ground, while drums and cheers echoed for miles.

Dressed in prisoner's garb, Xueqiong was escorted into the chancellor's residence. Facing the dashing, handsome, aloof Chancellor Helan, basking in his glory, he cursed him as a vile slave.

He hated Helan Xi, hated his wolfish ambition and faithless heart. He wanted nothing more than to flay him alive, tear out his tendons, and drink his blood and devour his flesh.

Reborn into another life, when Helan Xi knelt before him like a prisoner, broken and battered...

There was no longer a noble and unblemished Chancellor Helan in this world, only Xinu, fallen into the dirt and begging for his mercy.

*

Helan Xi was born into humble circumstances and had a cold nature.

That year, the Taoist priest asked him if he was willing to stay by Xueqiong's side for the rest of his life, keeping him company and protecting him.

He agreed, still too young to understand.

He did not yet know that he would pay for those words with his entire life.

The Buddha said that greed, anger, and delusion are the three poisons of life.

If only he had realized the truth sooner. Then perhaps he would not have ended up as bones in the earth, his tears of blood exhausted over two lifetimes.

[The soul drifts away, but this hatred will never end]

Gentle, dark, and devoted top x reborn, hardened bottom

Content warnings: Dark, melodramatic angst; physical and emotional abuse; the bottom suffers first, then the top; the groveling is intense.

Please follow my upcoming novel, The Ghost Husband

Si Ying had been spoiled and pampered since childhood. His father was the local governor, but after being dismissed for corruption, the Si family was stripped of its possessions, and Si Ying was left to wander the streets, starving.

With nowhere else to turn, he remembered the burial goods interred with his ancestors in the family tomb. Taking an iron shovel, he headed up the mountain.

That night, a howling gale and torrential rain swept over the mountain. Halfway through digging up the grave, Si Ying dropped his shovel and ran to a cave for shelter.

To his astonishment, there was a coffin inside.

As lightning flashed and thunder roared, the air in the cave grew restless. The coffin lid creaked as if something inside were about to break free.

A long, strong, deathly pale hand reached out from inside the coffin.

Si Ying's eyes widened. He turned to run, but a cold hand clamped around his waist. A deep, ominous voice sounded by his ear, its breath so chilly that he shivered. "I've finally found you."

The next moment, Si Ying was dragged onto a wedding bed. Before he could react, something cold and heavy pressed down on him.

From then on, a ghost he could never shake followed him everywhere.

The ghost was quite handsome, with raven hair, a defined nose, thin lips, and foxlike eyes that held a touch of wickedness. The only problem was that he was out of his mind and kept trying to pin Si Ying down every chance he got!

One moment, he was furious, tearing living people apart, glaring at Si Ying with a vicious, resentful look as if Si Ying had wronged him somehow.

The next, he turned into an innocent little flower, staring at the scattered limbs with a deathly pale face. "W-what happened here?"

Si Ying: ...

Later, Si Ying discovered that two people lived in that body. The one who killed without batting an eye was Wei Zhao, the tyrant of the Wei Kingdom from a thousand years ago. History was full of his crimes: he had murdered his father and brother, and was infamous for his wickedness. The other, an innocent and kind-hearted young man, was none other than Wei Bi, the elder brother Wei Zhao had murdered.

Terrified, Si Ying watched himself grow more and more haggard each day as Wei Zhao drained his vitality. With his life hanging by a thread, he resolved to destroy the thousand-year-old ghost and set himself and Wei Bi free.

On the day Wei Zhao's soul was scattered, he roared furiously from within the soul-destroying array.

"Si Ying, do you think this will let you escape me and be with the one you love? Back in the Wei Kingdom, I placed a curse to bind our fates together. Even if you die, I can still find you! If not in this life, then the next, and the one after that. I'll be waiting for you!"

Afterward, Si Ying often dreamed of that day: Wei Zhao sat inside the array, his long hair trailing on the ground. His eyes were filled with towering hatred as he stared at Si Ying, and his deathly pale face held a fragile look, as though he might crumble at any moment.

After Wei Zhao disappeared, Si Ying's father was reinstated and cleared of all charges. He also arranged a marriage for Si Ying, and life gradually returned to normal.

On their wedding night, red candles burned in the bridal chamber. The bride sat quietly on the bed beneath her red veil, softly calling him her husband.

Si Ying lifted the veil and found a pair of icy foxlike eyes beneath it.

Wei Zhao!

In an instant, the red candles went out, plunging everything into darkness.

Si Ying turned to run, but a cold hand wrapped around his waist. That familiar voice sounded beside his ear again. "I've been dead for barely any time at all, and you're already in such a hurry to marry someone else?"

A melodramatic love triangle spanning past and present lives

Theme: Even in adversity, never give up hope of living.