Reborn: A laid-back, shameless, snarky bottom × a top who keeps switching roles with his partner
Xie Hui had severe bipolar disorder.
One day, he couldn't keep it under control. Three days after the nominees were announced at the awards ceremony, he leaped from the 27th floor of the hotel where he was staying.
Heaven knows, it had absolutely nothing to do with the awards ceremony.
That didn't stop the trending topics from exploding like fireworks at three in the morning.
Because Xie Hui and Gu Jianqiu were publicly recognized as bitter rivals, and both had been nominated for Best Actor this time around.
Under the topic [Xie Hui Kills Himself Rather Than Lose], keyboard warriors celebrated in a spectacle more glaring than the funeral home's white chrysanthemums:
"Did Xie Hui die of shame because he was afraid of losing to Gu Jianqiu for another year?"
"I heard the Xie family always thought of him as a jinx. Good riddance, now that he's dead."
"When a person dies, the lights go out. Let the past drift away."
"Drift away, my ass. If I were the organizers, I'd be reaching for an oxygen tank. What a curse!"
The first trending topic ever to spark nationwide discussion about Xie Hui was his own death. It was almost funny, and almost made him cry.
After he returned to the Xie family, they cared more about the adopted son they'd raised since childhood. Xie Hui really was that unloved, unwanted jinx.
Xie Hui smiled bitterly.
So be it. This wretched illness had tormented him for so long. In his next life, he would have to treat himself better.
For now, he would hurry to the underworld and get in line, hoping to be born into a good family next time.
He would let himself go.
*
But for some reason, Xie Hui never saw the Black and White Impermanence. Instead, he kept having strange, fragmented dreams.
In one, he saw the newly crowned Best Actor at his memorial, eyes red from crying.
"We were, we were getting better..." Gu Jianqiu's voice caught in his throat. His fingertips nearly sank into the wrist of Xie Hui's portrait.
Xie Hui was confused.
Wait, we're enemies. I'm the bloodsucker your fans talk about. The whole internet knows we can't stand each other.
Why are you crying so bitterly now that I'm dead?
*
Xie Hui and Gu Jianqiu were rivals, enemies who couldn't stand the sight of each other. Everyone knew it.
Even Xie Hui firmly believed it himself.
Last month, Gu Jianqiu handed him a thermal container with a dark expression. "The kitchen simmered this soup for ten hours. If you dare say it's bad, I'll crack your skull open and pour it in."
The month before that, Gu Jianqiu rearranged his schedule for half a month to rehearse scenes with him. After every scene, he would analyze and critique Xie Hui's performance, then insult him. "Your acting's worse than a rookie's."
The month before that...
Xie Hui shook his head, refusing to remember.
Anyway, they really couldn't stand each other.
They couldn't stand each other at all.
*
At the end of the dream, Xie Hui had finished his own funeral banquet and glimpsed the Black and White Impermanence in the distance. He closed his eyes, ready to report to the underworld.
When he closed and reopened his eyes, he discovered he was alive again.
He also discovered that he had to retrace his steps all over again.
Lord, just let me die already.
Theme: Love means choosing each other, both ways.
