[Characters and setting are based on Investiture of the Gods, with elements drawn from folk legends]
[Amnesiac Nezha, a ruthless, overprotective madman × Ao Bing, a beautiful and tragic Dragon King]
Rumor has it in Heaven that Ao Bing, lord of the East Sea Dragon Clan, was granted the title of Canopy Star for protecting Jiang Ziya. He later resigned from office and returned to the sea, where he keeps watch over a dragon egg born with a congenital defect and shuns contact with the outside world.
At the time, Nezha heard all this and felt nothing.
Until the Flat Peach Banquet, when a drunken Nezha stumbled into a side hall of the Jade Lake.
The Dragon King was changing clothes.
He was thin as paper, his flesh clinging to his cervical bones, his blue-green, wave-patterned robe half slipped off. Beneath a purple-gold crown, his face was luminous and elegant, like the faint outline of distant mountains.
In a flash, Nezha understood.
The Dragon King’s husband was dead? Wonderful.
Oh, that wasn’t what he meant. He was very sorry about the death, of course. It was truly heaven’s doing. No, he meant that life was so fragile. That ill-fated ghost had certainly picked a timely moment to die.
A few breaths later, Nezha barged into the Dragon Palace with armfuls of betrothal gifts. “If you ever need help, just contact me. I’d be happy to take responsibility for you in your husband’s place... I’m not trying to take advantage of you. After all, you don’t have a husband anymore, so you must need a new one.”
Ao Bing’s expression turned complicated. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.
As it happened, Ao Bing had struck a deal with the Heavenly Emperor to descend to the mortal realm and deal with strange cases from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Nezha immediately petitioned for an imperial decree, joining him on the trip as an inspector.
By day, Nezha slays demons and monsters, attending to the Dragon King’s every need.
At night, he demands to know which of them Ao Bing prefers, him or his late husband.
Ao Bing never answers. He just assumes Nezha is having another bout of madness in the middle of the night.
-
Later on.
The local City God holds a banquet, where Nezha runs into several former subordinates. His old men are overjoyed to see their former commander. After a few rounds of drinks, they lose their sense of propriety.
“General, you really haven’t changed. Five hundred years ago, you nearly died and lost your soul for the Third Prince of the Dragon Clan. Now you’ve finally managed to stay by his side. Seeing it makes us brothers both happy and sad, ”
The smile on Nezha’s lips freezes. “What did you say?”
“You don’t remember?” The old soldier has no idea he’s just blown everything wide open and keeps talking. “That memorial tablet in the Crystal Palace is yours, General.”
The world spins. Memories long sealed away come flooding back.
Nezha: “...”
So he wasn’t the new man after all. He was that ill-fated, short-lived ghost.
He’s been jealous of himself, and all three realms have been laughing at him.
[Reader’s Guide]
1. Both leads are virgins, one-on-one romance, happy ending. Third-person narration, mainly from Ao Bing’s point of view. One lotus and one dragon, both pursuing each other, two hopeless romantics working their way through the plot.
2. Includes amnesia, a groveling romance, running away while pregnant, faking one’s death, and a small amount of horror. Each arc ultimately ends on a happy, virtuous note.
3. Classic tragic romance. Nezha doesn’t resent Ao Bing. He’s a true saint.
Theme: Love is an instinct that survives forgetting.
