The Heartthrob Strategist Was Reborn

The complete novel costs about as much as a cup of milk tea. I hope my lovely readers will support the official release QAQ

My next novel, Does the Frail Black Lotus Have to Be a Scum Top Too?, is coming soon. Please add it to your collection~

[Infatuating beauty bottom, a poisonous strategist who brings a nation to ruin × aloof, corrupted imperial tutor top]

After transmigrating into a chaotic ancient world, Chen Xiang took on the role of a cold-blooded, poisonous strategist to complete the System's mission to "pacify the realm." He helped a great hero ascend the throne and, in just ten years, put the shattered land back in order.

Chen Xiang's take: "I'll get it done in no time."

He didn't care about parting ways with his childhood friend and senior brother, being condemned by everyone in the land, or being discarded once the cunning rabbit was dead and the hounds had served their purpose.

So what if he died and his entire clan was wiped out? The mission was complete and the realm was at peace. That was enough.

Chen Xiang closed his eyes in peace.

Who could have guessed?

[Ding! An issue has been detected with the System mission. Host, please return and complete the mission again!]

The coffin lid was thrown open, and Chen Xiang's eyes flew open.

Wait, he'd only been dead for a few years!

What had gone wrong with the realm he'd worked so hard to pacify?!

*

Seven years after his death, Chen Xiang was forced to rise from the dead and get back to work.

[Someone harbors deep hatred toward the Host and intends to wreak havoc across the realm. Host, find the enemy and stop them as soon as possible!]

Chen Xiang: Uh.

He looked around the court. The hall was filled with a dazzling array of familiar names.

Every one of them had a grudge against him.

And yet, something seemed off.

The deep-scheming governor volunteered to leave the capital and raise his orphaned child for him;

The minister who hated constraints stayed trapped at court to protect the policies he had left behind;

The ambitious general stopped at nothing to avenge him.

Reborn, Chen Xiang was at a loss.

He stared at the tear-stained description of him in the history books as "the poison strategist who died for his country" and pondered for a moment.

...Perhaps he should go to his senior brother first.

After all, the person the System said intended to wreak havoc across the realm definitely couldn't be his pure and noble senior brother, the imperial tutor who now held the imperial seal at court!

But when he climbed over the wall into the residence in the middle of the night, he found the gentleman of the bright moon, the man he had cut ties with, defeated, captured, and taken by force, dressed in plain mourning clothes.

By the flickering candlelight, the man clutched his sleeve tightly, his eyes red.

"It's been seven years, and you still won't let your soul visit me in my dreams."

"Do you truly... hate me that much?"

Chen Xiang: ...?

Who hated whom?

He'd only been dead for seven years. How had everyone become so incomprehensible?

[Bonus scene]

"I can't be your childhood friend, classmate, colleague, confidant, nemesis, accomplice, lover, possession, mommy boyfriend, sex toy, therapist, and spiritual home all at once."

"Why not?"

Reader's guide:

1. The protagonist is a poisonous strategist, a poisonous strategist! He's ruthless and has killed countless people. He is not a good person! Please don't read if that's not for you!!! (The characters' views in the story are not the author's views.)

2. A wish-fulfillment story with an irresistible protagonist. The male lead has a whole bunch of one-sided admirers, with all sorts of feelings tangled up in love and hate.

3. This is not a political intrigue novel or a serious historical drama. The plot is easygoing and not meant to be taken too seriously, with equal parts romance and plot.

4. The setting is fictional, drawing mostly on the Han and Tang dynasties, with other dynasties mixed in. Some characters make pop culture references, but there are many original details, so please treat them all as original characters!

5. No secondary couples. The male lead only shares mutual feelings with his love interest. One-on-one happy ending.

6. Everyone is beautiful, each with their own charm, but the bottom is the most beautiful!!!

7. The System barely appears. It only has a role in the first two chapters and is used occasionally as a plot device after that.

--- Pre-order: Does the Frail Black Lotus Have to Be a Scum Top Too? ---

[Black lotus beauty, sickly and delicate, transmigrated into the scum top × scum top demon king transmigrated into the original story's bottom]

Also known as: Happy Ending with the Scum Top in the Original Bottom's Body

Wang Yan was born frail, his body as delicate as thin ice in early spring, ready to shatter at the slightest breeze.

Fortunately, he was born into the prestigious Langya Wang clan. His grandfather had held the high office of chancellor, and Wang Yan was raised in luxury and honor. He spent his days at flowing banquets, discussing the mysteries of life and composing poetry, becoming a young nobleman admired by the scholar-officials.

It wasn't until he fell into the water and awakened his memories that he realized he had transmigrated into a book.

It was a rebirth novel with a universally adored protagonist.

The protagonist, Xie Shu, was a born military genius. In his previous life, he had waged war across the land for the scum top, only to meet a tragic end after being betrayed. After being reborn, he planned his every move and ultimately killed the scum top with his own hands.

The bad news: he, Wang Yan, had transmigrated into the cannon-fodder scum top.

The worse news: by his calculations, the protagonist had probably already been reborn.

Wang Yan: ...

Got it. Now he was supposed to win the protagonist over, right?

*

Treat others as you would want to be treated, move them with sincerity, and melt away their suspicion and hatred with a whole-hearted devotion. In the end, turn an enemy into an ally and defy fate. Wang Yan knew this kind of plot inside out. It was everywhere in the novels he'd read in his previous life.

But he had no intention of going down that road.

When dealing with a potential threat, he preferred to nip it in the bud and root it out completely.

Wang Yan coughed softly, leaned against the edge of the bed, and lowered his eyes to look at Xie Shu kneeling before him.

The youth's back was ramrod straight, his brows and eyes as cold as frost. His posture was deferential, yet he resembled a peerless blade hidden in its sheath, its sharpness concealed but its chill already felt.

The realm was in turmoil. The court had fled south, and the north had become a battleground where foreign tribes slaughtered one another. Meanwhile, the southern literati indulged in wine, song, and pleasure, drinking and dreaming their lives away.

...He, and the realm, were both in need of a good blade.

Wang Yan changed his mind.

Was it really so difficult to keep Xie Shu by his side, turn his doomed fate around, take control of him, and make him useful?

Though his frail body had little strength, he had plenty of other ways to get what he wanted.

*

The top's perspective:

The former scum top, "Wang Yan," had been reborn.

He had conquered the realm and ascended the throne, only to die coughing up blood. When he opened his eyes again, he had been reborn in the body of Xie Shu, the man he had used until his death.

His original body had been taken over by another soul.

That person wore the same broken body he had once despised and resented as unfair, yet lived a life he had never imagined possible.

At first, he watched coldly from the sidelines, looking down on the man with pity as they clashed at every turn.

Later, longing and resentment burned at his heart day and night, setting his blood and bones ablaze.

Until at last, he knelt on one knee, took the other's cold fingertips, and pressed a burning kiss to them.

"I am willing to be the blade in Your Highness's hand."

"And I am willing... to be the dog at Your Highness's bedside."

[Bonus scene]

What do you do when, halfway through taming him, you discover the protagonist has turned into the scum top?

Wang Yan glanced at the arms locked tightly around his waist. ...Never mind. Taming one is as good as taming another.

Might as well make do. What else can I do, leave him?

Theme: The person who tied the knot must be the one to untie it.