The Cold, Aloof Opera Performer Who Was Seized by Force Faked His Death and Disappeared

[Completed, please leave a rating! Also check out my upcoming novels, The Second Prince Is Always Fighting for What He Wants and Me, the God of War, Got Tangled Up by a Tree. Their blurbs are at the very end.]

*

When Xue Manxue first performed at Fenglou Terrace, a line of cars stretched outside the opera house, blocking the entrance completely.

They said some important person had come to show his support.

After the performance, Xue Manxue received a gift from that important person: an opera crown from a former dynasty, glittering with luminous pearls.

"Throw it away." He coldly told his junior fellow to take it.

A mocking laugh came from the doorway.

Xue Manxue looked up and met a pair of pitch-black eyes.

A man leaned against the doorframe, three buttons of his shirt undone and an expensive trench coat casually draped over his shoulders. His tall frame nearly blocked out all the light at the entrance.

He waved the others away. As Xue Manxue watched him warily, he seized his wrist and pinned him against the door, his voice amused but brimming with fury:

"Looking to die, are you? You dare throw away a gift from me?"

*

Word that Lu Shijin was doting on Xue Manxue spread throughout Pingjing. Everyone wondered how the haughty young master Lu, always surrounded by admirers, could fail to win the favor of a mere opera performer.

Only Lu Shijin knew that after their trip to Jiangnan, the two had finally put the past behind them. Then one joking remark from him, "He's only an opera singer. Why would I ever fall for him?" sent things right back to square one.

It would have been one thing if the performer treated everyone else the same way. But he was warm and friendly to a male teacher.

Lu Shijin sneered. If his canary refused to sing, he would drag him home, lock him in a cage, and make him sing for him day and night.

Xue Manxue said, "Lu Shijin, this is all you're capable of."

Lu Shijin pinned him to the bed, his voice hoarse. "I'm capable of plenty. You'll have to find out for yourself, nice and slow."

*

When he received news of the performer's death, Lu Shijin hadn't even finished his meal before rushing home in the middle of the night. But all that awaited him was a cold, pale corpse.

Lu Shijin went mad.

The ancestral shrine he built for Xue Manxue became forbidden ground in the Lu household. No one dared go anywhere near it.

By chance, Lu Shijin found himself seated beneath an opera stage once more.

When the slender figure onstage began to sing in a lilting voice, the whole theater fell silent.

Lu Shijin rushed onto the stage, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. "Weren't you dead? Why are you here?"

*

They said the "Master Xue" who had come from the south had become Lu Shijin's beloved, and the Lu estate had returned to its old days of revelry every night.

Only Lu Shijin knew that he couldn't even get through Xue Manxue's door now. All he could do was kneel and beg pitifully:

"Wifey, I was wrong. I'm a bastard, I'm shameless. Please let me in."

#The story of an opera performer who heads north, gains both fame and fortune, and tames a vicious dog along the way#

#The gong goes mad and bites people when his wife isn't there to soothe him, then willingly puts on a muzzle in the end#

[The aloof, beautiful Jiangnan performer who refuses to bend VS the unhinged, wolfish, shameless, wealthy gong]

[Reader's Guide]:

♥ Old-school, shameless tropes, coercive romance, a groveling chase, and faking one's death. This blurb is only an outline, not the entire story.

♥ The story is 40% plot and 60% romance. The groveling chase takes up 50% of the novel. Both leads are virgins, happy ending, 1v1. Do not split up or reverse the CP.

♥ The shou is not a doormat and has his own career and character growth. The gong is not a perfect character. Later on, he will support the shou's career, and the two will grow together.

♥ Not for readers who are overly protective of their favorite character! Set in an alternate Republican-era China, with some ensemble scenes in the opera world and a relatively serious tone.

♥ Side couple warning: three side couples, around 50,000 words total.

---------------------- Upcoming Novel Recommendation ----------------------

♥ The Second Prince Is Always Fighting for What He Wants → Author's profile

The imposing Second Prince rescued a young nobleman while out on a campaign. The man was as beautiful as a celestial being, but couldn't lift a finger to help himself.

Since he'd already rescued him, the Second Prince couldn't just abandon him, so he had no choice but to bring the deadweight along.

Who could have guessed that the seemingly delicate young nobleman would be so ruthless when slaughtering a wild boar?

"Look at me! Impressive, Your Highness?"

Blood splashed across his fair, jade-like face, like a mandrake blooming in the mortal realm.

The Second Prince was stunned:

So beautiful. I love him.

But all he said was, "What's so impressive about that? I've killed a tiger myself."

His actions, however, betrayed him. Without a word, he cradled the young man's face. "Your face is covered in blood. It's filthy. Let me wipe it off."

With an unspoken young love in his heart, he escorted the young nobleman home.

But when he showed up with the token of love they'd agreed upon, he found a bridal sedan chair waiting there.

The curtain lifted, revealing that very same stunning face.

The Second Prince was dumbfounded. He grabbed the matchmaker.

"Where is this sedan chair going?"

"To the palace, of course! Our xxx is marrying the emperor and becoming a consort!"

The Second Prince flew into a rage and turned around to find the emperor at the palace. But before he could finish speaking, he was beaten with thirty strokes of the cane and banished to the frontier.

He had forgotten that he was merely an unwanted child born to a low-ranking palace maid.

And so the seed of hatred was planted.

Damn emperor! Stealing another man's wife!

*

While assassinating an enemy general, the shou is caught in an accident and badly wounded. The Second Prince, sent by the army, rescues him.

Who would have thought that the prince, though imposing, was actually a clueless fool with no social graces?

He doesn't even realize that the shou is an enemy spy.

Since he's already there, the shou decides to show off his skills and infiltrate the enemy forces.

As he demonstrates his abilities along the way, he basks in the success of his plan, failing to notice the increasingly strange look in the Second Prince's eyes.

One night, after the camp has been drinking, a sneaky figure creeps up beside his bed.

He is about to slit the intruder's throat when something soft touches his lips.

He opens his eyes in shock and catches the Second Prince stealing a kiss.

The young man's dark eyes shine like jewels, as innocent as a fawn's.

His scolding turns into:

"Uh... just one kiss? How about... one more?"

From then on, their relationship takes off. He even gives the Second Prince his personal jade pendant as a token of their love.

But when they return to the capital, everything takes a sudden turn. He receives orders to assassinate the emperor.

Thinking of his country, now on the brink of disaster, he sends the Second Prince an apology letter without a second thought, then puts on a wedding dress and marries the old emperor in the palace.

He expects to have to endure a round of false pretenses, but it turns out the emperor is impotent.

He could have said so sooner. He had no reason to be so anxious.

*

In the tenth year of Jian'an, Prince Yong'an storms the capital. He charges toward the inner palace, cutting through the stench of blood, and drags the shou out, dressed in court robes.

The defeated old emperor spits out a mouthful of blood.

"You unfilial son! That's your consort mother! Your stepmother!"

The tall, impossibly handsome man lowers his eyes and looks at him as if he were trash.

"Father, you're old. How could you possibly satisfy my stepmother?"

Then, as the shou stares in shock, he roughly grips his chin.

"Now it's time to settle things between us!"

*

Good news:

The shou's country has been completely destroyed. He has no way to serve his country anymore, and never has to scheme day after day again.

Bad news:

He's become the enemy emperor's empress...

Stepmother romance, both leads are virgins, happy ending

[The gong is innocent at first, then becomes unhinged and possessive VS the shou is a sweet-looking but calculating, runaway assassin]

---------------------- Upcoming Novel Recommendation ----------------------

♥ Me, the God of War, Got Tangled Up by a Tree → Author's profile

Meeting that idiot Bai Shiqi was the worst luck Lu Ye had ever had!

He was the bravest God of War in Heaven. Getting sent down to the mortal realm as punishment for cutting down one of the Matchmaker's trees was bad enough. Then, to earn enough fate points to return to Heaven, he opened a matchmaking agency and endured a crowd of bizarre clients day after day. At the end of it all, his company nearly got acquired. That was bad enough too!

He put up with all of it!

But then he ran into Bai Shiqi in the bathroom at the acquisition banquet.

The man was as beautiful as a celestial being but as dark-hearted as a black lotus. Standing by the urinal, the first thing he said to Lu Ye was:

"Nice color, but it's a little thin."

Lu Ye had never met anyone so irritating in his life. He barely managed to keep his temper and not hit him.

When he returned to the banquet, he realized he'd made the biggest mistake of his life.

That idiot he'd met in the bathroom was now smiling and waving at him across the table.

"Hello! I'm Bai Shiqi, CEO of XX Company."

XX Company was the conglomerate acquiring his company.

Lu Ye gritted his teeth. "Damn it!"

*

The two of them became sworn enemies. To save his company and settle old scores, Lu Ye kept sabotaging Bai Shiqi:

Including, but not limited to, letting the air out of his tires so he'd miss an important product launch, having someone water the company's money tree to ruin their feng shui, and spreading rumors that he was gay to tank the company's stock price...

But Bai Shiqi seemed to gradually accept it, or perhaps admit defeat. He never retaliated, not even once.

Lu Ye was pleased with himself. Now you know better, huh?

But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the way Bai Shiqi looked at him.

*

One time, after drinking, Lu Ye woke up in Bai Shiqi's bed.

They were both naked, and his butt hurt like hell.

Lu Ye grimaced and grabbed Bai Shiqi. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Bai Shiqi looked at the man he'd carried back to his room the previous night. Lu Ye had fallen on his butt, thrown up all over him, and then made him help wash and change his clothes. Bai Shiqi seemed to understand what Lu Ye had misunderstood.

"Don't worry. I won't make you take responsibility."

Lu Ye stared at him in disbelief. "You're the one who should take responsibility for me, aren't you?"

Bai Shiqi's eyes lit up. "So I can take responsibility for you?"

Lu Ye roared, "Of course not!"

Wait...

"You like me?"

Bai Shiqi smiled gently. "You just figured that out?"

Lu Ye's face went pale in an instant, as if he'd eaten ten piles of shit.

Damn it!

*

In his past life, Bai Shiqi was a tree in the God of War's temple. Every day, he listened to the man lean against him to escape the heat, ranting about the thrill of the battlefield and the boredom of the ceasefire.

He gradually came to understand the loneliness of the last immortal of the forsaken Celestial Clan, but all he could do was embrace the man with his branches. He couldn't speak.

Then came the upheaval of the gods, and the God of War underwent his tribulation. Bai Shiqi finally gained consciousness, growing flesh and blood from his branches.

After countless cycles of reincarnation, he found the man again amid the battles in all eight directions.

He resolved to stay by his side and protect him as a human.

There was just one thing that troubled him: the other man didn't remember him.

But that was all right. He would make him remember.

[The tsundere, sharp-tongued, strong-willed God of War shou VS the gentle, scheming gong who is merely a pair of divine trees]

♡ The gong has a secret identity reveal.

♡ Fake enemies, real bickering lovers.

♡ Strong leads, both virgins, happy ending, sweet romance.

♡ One more clarification: it's just a joke. The shou isn't actually thin there (laughs).

Theme: Life is precious because of its resilience. Beneath the melodramatic tropes lies a story of redemption.