The Dust Era

Drafts, extras, notes, essays, and more for After My Betrothed's Second Differentiation.

Synopsis of After My Betrothed's Second Differentiation

[Tea-in-his-words, sweet on the outside and dark within, tearful and delicate pretty-boy gong + mild-tempered, MAX-strength, aloof old-school shou]

1.

Jian Xiu, an Omega professor in the Literature Department of Central University, is brilliantly talented, beautiful as a peach blossom, gentle in nature, considerate in speech, and born into a prestigious family. Just one glance from him can steal a few pieces of your soul. He easily tops Central University's list of Omegas people most want to marry.

Unfortunately, this famous flower is already spoken for. They say Professor Jian has had a betrothed since childhood: a top-tier Alpha, highly compatible with him, from a family his family has known for generations. They were childhood sweethearts, with a deep bond

Yeah, right!

A proper family-marriage partner should be as good as nonexistent when not needed, with both parties keeping out of each other's way. On that score, Professor Jian and his betrothed are both the cream of the crop.

Professor Jian smiles. It would be even better if that person really didn't exist.

One day, Professor Jian undergoes a second differentiation and becomes an Alpha. Before he can celebrate and raise the banner against feudal arranged marriages, someone tells him, "Um, your betrothed has undergone a second differentiation too..."

And they've turned out to be an Omega, of all things!!!

2.

Why did everyone else's first meeting with their betrothed happen at a restaurant or a ball, while his happened outside a hospital restroom? Why did everyone else get flowers and fine wine, while he got an attack during a riot?

And why is this Omega, who shot the rioters with a gun, so...

So, so beautiful...

Jian Xiu: "Hello, could I ask your name?"

Wei Qi: "?"

After his second differentiation, Professor Jian was transferred to Central Military Academy, where he saw again the Omega he'd been dreaming about: Wei Qi, his betrothed, whom he'd never met before.

Before his differentiation:

Jian Xiu: "Down with feudal tyranny! Let love be free!"

After his differentiation:

Jian Xiu: "Actually, it's not so bad when everything's already arranged."

Before his differentiation:

Jian Xiu: "So what if we're highly compatible? Who wants to marry someone they've never even met?"

After his differentiation:

Jian Xiu: "Actually, the unknown can bring us pleasant surprises."

Before his differentiation:

Jian Xiu: "I'll stay single forever."

After his differentiation:

Jian Xiu: "Hello. Let's get married."

Wei Qi: "???"

3.

In Jian Xiu's eyes, he and the person he loves have one hundred percent pheromone compatibility, were betrothed as children, underwent a second differentiation at the same time, and met by chance again and again. They're practically destined for each other, a match made in heaven.

But why is this person so utterly oblivious?!

Jian Xiu: "Oh, Colonel, look, we've run into each other again! What a coincidence!"

Wei Qi: "I have reason to suspect Professor Jian is following me and attempting to obtain classified information illegally."

Jian Xiu: "..."

Would it count if I'm trying to get you into bed?!

Jian Xiu, teary-eyed: "Waaah, Colonel, I fell down. I need a kiss from you before I can get up!"

In keeping with a soldier's duty to care for the people, Wei Qi silently carried him away, silently applied medicine, and silently soothed him: "Bear with it. It won't hurt."

Jian Xiu: "!"

Professor Jian, who believes in learning through experience, seems to have found the key to the answer!

4.

Wei Qi is an S-rank Alpha with a powerful mental realm, a senior officer stationed at the military's border. His daily routine is eating, sleeping, doing paperwork, beating up the Zerg, beating up space pirates, then eating and sleeping again...

Life is full of fighting, but otherwise perfectly ordinary.

Oh, and he has a betrothed far away in the Central Star System whom he's never met, but who's supposedly a beauty.

Then comes his second differentiation. In one fell swoop, he's back at square one, transferred straight from the border to Central Military Academy, where he happens to meet his betrothed, who has also undergone a second differentiation. And yes, they're a great beauty.

Now an Alpha beauty more gorgeous than an Omega.

Colonel Wei's notes: Very good at acting cute, and cries a lot.

And so Colonel Wei's life becomes eating, sleeping, writing lesson plans, beating up students, beating up colleagues, then eating

Wait, no!

There's also comforting the crybaby, soothing the drama queen, and placating the green tea...

Then eating, sleeping, and saving the world. An ordinary life.

Serious plot perspective (spoilers):

At first, Wei Qi thought Jian Xiu was just a frail orange blossom who had suddenly differentiated into an Alpha. He stumbled through life, looking easy to bully and manipulate to anyone who saw him. Everyone thought he had no edge, just a pretty face.

Wei Qi thought he was simply acting out of compassion.

But only later did he discover that Jian Xiu had never been weak.

Eras turn, civilizations are remade, and history repeats itself. Humanity journeys across the stars, begins anew, and species are reborn. All things beneath the frosty heavens compete for freedom, yet every speck of dust in an age weighs heavily on someone's shoulders. Some guard the edges of order; others shatter the selves they've spent half a lifetime building.

It turns out that every coincidence in our lives was planned long ago.

Humanity once betrayed me, cast me out from morality and the law, wronged me for ten years, imprisoned me for ten years, forcibly erased every achievement, honor, and pride from the first half of my life, and made me give up all my hatred, stripping away every means of resistance.

Fortunately

Wei Qi, beneath the Butterfly Nebula, I met you.

If the biochemical algorithms of biological instinct have decreed that I will fall in love with you.

If my love for you is destined to be inseparable from genetic compatibility and a second differentiation.

Then I feel fortunate. I am grateful for this fate-like genetic theory.

It turns out that long before we met, knew of each other, or even existed, perhaps at the very beginning of biological evolution, perhaps when a breeze passed over a field, a current moved across the sea, or a grain of dust rolled across the Gobi... it was already decided that I would love you.

"I am Alpha, I am Omega.

I am the first, I am the last.

I am the beginning, I am the end."

Excerpt from the Bible, Revelation

Content warnings:

1. The main plot really is about saving the world, and the romance really is one-on-one.

2. Ensemble cast! Ensemble cast! Ensemble cast! There are tons of supporting characters!!!

3. Lots of supporting characters means lots of side plots and points of view. Some characters will definitely have messed-up values.

4. Gugu likes worldbuilding that holds together logically, so some parts draw on a lot of biological research and references, along with plenty of original worldbuilding. Sources are listed in the author's notes.

5. Both leads are strong (being smart counts as strong too), but the shou has MAX physical strength from beginning to end. The gong can't keep up with him in that area. The shou handles most physical dangers, so give the gong a break and don't expect him to manage (despairing mom-face).

6. Gugu talks a lot. If you don't want to read Gugu's rambling, feel free to mute it (heart~)

Theme: The world has room for every speck of dust.