The Down-and-Out Hero and the Charming Scholar

[Lu Jianfeng (gong) × Xie Shaojing (shou)] Lu Jianfeng thought that after ten years living by the blade, he was already immune to every poison. That was until his mission target summoned the last of his strength to lunge at him, offering to give himself up in exchange for his life. With a grim face, Lu Jianfeng brought his blade down: “I’m straight, straighter than my blade!” As blood sprayed, a figure emerged from the woods. He glanced at the curved saber in Lu Jianfeng’s hand and rolled his eyes. Xie Shaojing: “You can fool your buddies, but don’t fool yourself.” Lu Jianfeng was stunned. “Since when were we buddies? And who are you, anyway??” - The young man who had suddenly appeared called himself A Jing. He admired the Saber Lord’s reputation and had traveled a thousand miles to meet his idol, chattering incessantly and loudly declaring his devotion. Lu Jianfeng wanted to avoid trouble and had initially planned to kill him to keep him quiet, but the constant chatter gradually made him lower his blade. Saber Lord Lu Jianfeng: “I don’t know what ‘stanning’ is, but he talks so much, he must really just be passing through.” A Jing: “Idol, I know you’re the Saber Lord! You have a straight saber, your demonic blade!” Lu Jianfeng: “I pawned my straight saber to pay for the journey. The Saber Lord legend is fake.” A Jing: “Oh no, Idol, you’ve had such a hard life. My heart aches for you! Take me with you. I can pay, and I can even help you redeem your saber!” Lu Jianfeng had no idea what to do with such an enthusiastic superfan. Not only did he spare A Jing’s life, he also tacitly accepted A Jing as his follower. - The young man A Jing claimed to be a scholar. Whenever they passed through a town, he went into a bookstore, but never bought any books. Instead, he always came away with money. Curious, Lu Jianfeng followed A Jing through the bookstore’s back door one time. The shopkeeper lit up at the sight of A Jing and brought out a ledger filled with dazzling royalty payments. Written by Young Master Jing: completed works, “Reborn, I Bent the Icebound Demon Lord,” “The Workaholic Tutor Only Wants to Fall in Love”... Ongoing work: “The Secret Records of the Saber Lord.” Hm? What was that last one? Lu Jianfeng glanced at the young man beside him, thoughtful. Young Master Jing quickly snapped the ledger shut, glared at the shopkeeper, then turned to Lu Jianfeng with a pitiable look. - Native swordsman gong × transmigrated explorer shou - [Reader’s Note] 1. The books written by the shou feature a secondary couple. They are listed in the supporting-character section in gong × shou order, and all secondary couples are BL. 2. This story is set in an imagined ancient world. The author knows nothing about history, so please don’t nitpick. 3. This is a love story, and the plot serves the romance. “Main gong POV” only means the story is told primarily from the gong’s perspective. Both leads in the main couple are protagonists, and the entire story revolves around their romance. 4. The author may delete or respond rather sharply to comments that break up or reverse the official pairing, pair characters in non-BL ships, or are posted under aggressively controlling fan usernames. 5. Original title: “The Down-and-Out Saber Lord Doesn’t Want to Be an Assassin” - The above is this story’s blurb. The following is the blurb for the serialized story. Modern danmei: “Idol, Bro, I’m Really Not Gay!” [Li Cheng (gong) × Zhou Jiaxing (shou)] Obsessive fanfiction-writing gong × esports mercenary shou - “Shocking! Ink’s Hardcore Male Fan Is Actually Gay! The World’s No. 1 Mage May Soon Become the World’s No. 0 Mage!” - Li Cheng has two social media accounts he uses regularly: His main account is devoted to ink, an esports superstar. He follows every match and writes a match report for every game, with incisive analysis and a witty style. But his mindless, unwavering support for his idol has stirred up countless flame wars on the red and yellow forums. His side account belongs to a hardworking fanfiction author. He has written a huge amount of assassin × mage BL fanfiction for “Divine Revelation,” a massively popular MMORPG played around the world. He is a mysterious treasure trove who has published several collections but has never appeared at a fan convention. In his junior year of college, Li Cheng finally got the chance to meet his idol, shake his hand, and get his autograph. Overcome with excitement, he pulled a book out of his bag and eagerly handed it to ink, Zhou Jiaxing. When his idol lowered his head and said nothing, Li Cheng followed his gaze and finally realized that the book he’d pulled out was a new BL fanfiction collection that wouldn’t go on sale at the convention until the following month. The good news: It wasn’t fanfiction about his idol himself. The bad news: It was about an assassin gong and a mage shou, while his idol was the world’s number-one mage and he himself played an assassin! - ink, the number-one mage in the national server of “Divine Revelation,” went pro in the second year of the professional league. In just one season, he managed to make the unpopular mage class a guaranteed ban in every match he played. After being mocked as a “one-trick” and “good for nothing but his looks,” ink, Zhou Jiaxing, spent the entire second season after his debut on the bench. At the end of the season, he decisively transferred teams, rose to number one on the national server as a summoner, and then won the first championship of his career. From age eighteen to twenty-four, Zhou Jiaxing spent six years as a pro. He mastered all five mage classes, played for four different teams, and won three championships, becoming the world’s undisputed number-one mage in “Divine Revelation.” As for his role on the team, both his affectionate and disparaging nicknames were “the final piece of the championship puzzle.” Zhou Jiaxing knew that people online had mixed opinions about him. On the night of a finals loss, he had read the barrage of comments flooding his account. He had also read the in-depth match reports his devoted fans had written for him, complete with meticulous statistics and data. But he had never imagined that his most devoted fan would be so dazzling in person, or that Li Cheng liked not only the character he played in the game, but also Li Cheng himself. - Theme: Stand side by side to uphold justice, overcome hardships, and grow together.