A Harem-Drama Heartthrob, But in the Wrong Book

[Two sets of illustrations are now available. Switch between them in the illustration bar above. All 54 commissioned illustrations have been posted in the protagonist's personal super topic.] [Beautiful, sweet-on-the-outside, scheming younger shidi bottom x all kinds of crazy, domineering male leads from web novels. A melodramatic story! The cover was commissioned for the protagonist, Shen Qingyi.] Shen Qingyi is the protagonist of a fanfic featuring an ensemble cast from a dark cultivation novel. He is gentle and serene, with breathtaking looks. Playing the part of a delicate, pitiable flower, he easily captures the hearts of the male leads. That is how the story should have gone, if only his System hadn't malfunctioned. [System: Wait, baby! We got the wrong book! How did we end up in the original dark cultivation novel next door?!] The devoted master-and-disciple route: System: The fanfic says he raised you for over a decade, always protecting you in secret... He'd do anything for you and dote on you endlessly! System: Even if you fell for someone else, he'd just wait patiently! I'm telling you, he's absolutely in love with you! Shen Qingyi: His starting affection for me is zero. What kind of parallel universe version of him is head over heels? * The ruthless family patriarch route: System: Look at this eligible bachelor! Sure, he's all about taking what he wants and forcing love, but your tenderness healed his dark past! Shen Qingyi: His dark past...? System: That's not the point of a romance! Shen Qingyi: He killed his whole family. Killing me too would be no trouble, right? System: He killed his whole family? Seriously??? * The aloof Sword Venerable route: System: This... this fanfic says... in the end, he'd give up the entire Sword Sect and everything else just to keep you safe for the rest of your life... Shen Qingyi: That sounds... a lot like some desperate fantasy someone had on their deathbed. * The mysterious otherworldly demon route: Shen Qingyi: sighs Shen Qingyi: He isn't even human. In the modern world, he'd get rejected by a matchmaking agency over his household registration, okay? System: Host, you have such a beautiful face... and look so sweet... Why are you so sharp-tongued? * Unlike the fanfic versions, the original male leads are dangerous and inscrutable. They hardly seem like the lovesick, devoted husbands the System promised. Before trying to win them over, A-Qing and the System's first priority is survival. All they have to consult as they deal with these men is an out-of-character pure smut fic, stripped of its explicit content and barely a few pages long. System: It's okay! We have a complete romance support system. Take a look at the dual cultivation technique I've been keeping under wraps. It's super effective! System: Baby... trust me! Being lovesick is your husband's default setting! Wait! Why is your OOC score even higher than the original male leads'?! Shen Qingyi, the youngest disciple of the nine peaks of Yuntai, has a face that's almost too beautiful. He even looks a little naive, fragile, and easy to bully. Almost everyone who sees him for the first time thinks, What a sweet-looking boy. Like a cat, a sensitive, anxious, rather neurotic little stray. And like a cat, he really is bad-tempered and easily ruffled. He gets gloomy when people come near him. He's timid, and even when he's angry, he doesn't dare swipe at anyone. The little cat has no idea what a terrifying conspiracy he's been caught up in. But he can snarl at the bad humans: “I hate you! Stay away from me! Or I'll kill you!” How interesting. People love cats. [Cultivation realms in this story, from lowest to highest: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Severing, Tribulation Transcendence, Mahayana.] Warnings: 1. The author's tastes run to dark, melodramatic tropes, so there are plenty of potential triggers. If you dislike the bottom being all talk and no action, please take note! The one guarantee is that the bottom's characterization comes first. I've posted lots of commissioned art on Weibo, so enjoy! 2. All the tops are virgins, and every one of them gets a turn. They're all lovesick, all have a scheming side, and they're genuinely bad people. There are true villain tops. Please read with the expectation that the tops are not good people. The cat is bad too... but he just wants to survive. He's a scaredy-cat, so please don't scold him. 3. At heart, this is a melodramatic everyone-loves-him story, with misunderstandings, bitter love, and groveling after the breakup. A-Qing doesn't spend much time leveling up, and by the end he'll inherit all of his husband's premarital assets. 4. The original male leads are exactly A-Qing's type of bad, and he dislikes all of them equally. 5. Features a dual cultivation technique. The System doesn't ship its Host with anyone in particular, but it favors the cat. It may ship A-Qing with the male leads all day long, but its top priority will always be its Host. (The System is not a top.) Coming soon: [A melodramatic father-and-son reverse harem] (The title may change when it launches.) * Father-and-son reverse harem / traditional patriarch becomes the mistress * Over-the-top, shamelessly vulgar Mary Sue melodrama Xia Xiangbei decides to become a cold-hearted gold digger, closed off to love and focused on making money. At a yacht party, rich men are as plentiful as items on a store shelf, and he can take his pick. After much deliberation, Xia Xiangbei approaches the man everyone has their eye on. * At first, Xia Xiangbei's gold-digging scheme goes very smoothly. The man is languid and carefree, with the confidence and air of a wealthy playboy. Though he knows exactly why Xia Xiangbei is there, he still lazily teases him with the occasional joke from an older man, keeping him entertained. A waiter comes over and tells the man, “Sir, your son is here to see you.” The man stands up and casually hands him a slip of paper with his contact information. Xia Xiangbei accepts it with a sweet smile. As soon as the man leaves, he rolls his eyes and tosses the slip aside. Smart, older, smooth, and with a kid to boot. He's the textbook stingy scumbag, the stale bargain-bin item on the shelf. Who would want to take on a washed-up old man like that? Xia Xiangbei makes a quick getaway and finds a younger, gullible target. So generous! So easy to milk! Like a fiercely loyal guard dog, jealously baring his teeth at every male who comes near. A little rich second-generation heir! Easy! To handle! Everything is perfect, until the guy takes him home. The older man who opens the door has a face Xia Xiangbei recognizes all too well. The man raises an eyebrow at him, while his son steps in front of Xia Xiangbei and says stiffly, “He's a classmate from my school.” Liang Songxue gives a knowing “Oh,” but doesn't expose the young men's lie. * As expected, the man later asks to meet him in private. Xia Xiangbei is ready to accept a check. He won't entertain any other terms from the man! Liang Songxue: I know your brother will be stuck in the hospital for the rest of his life, and that you badly need money. Liang Songxue: So think it over again. Why not trade up for a richer, older boyfriend who'll die sooner and leave you his inheritance sooner? Xia Xiangbei: . Xia Xiangbei: You're offering yourself as compensation for breaking up with your son? Xia Xiangbei: Sorry, I'm not interested in a money pit over thirty-five. * The day he met Xia Xiangbei was the first time in Liang Songxue's life that anyone had looked him over and considered whether to pick him. ...It was very, very cute. He watched with amusement as the little money-grubber got all those young men wrapped around his finger, and watched him warily and openly despise him while thinking he was hiding it well. His son liked Xia Xiangbei, but could never bring himself to admit it. That worked out perfectly. It's not as if he was trying to steal him. His son was the one who couldn't get his act together, wasn't he? 1. The top is a virgin. 2. Traditional patriarch x fiery, bratty bottom, but the son also gets plenty of scenes as a top. 3. Set in a fictional modern world, an old-school melodramatic rich-family romance. The author's kink is for the son to break up with the bottom, then come home every New Year to spend the holiday with his stepmother. 3. The top is not a good person and has no sense of morality. Theme: Cats are good, people are bad!