The Scum Top in a Restriction Fic Awakens

Duan Zhao transmigrated into an old-school tragic novel for adults.

In the novel, Duan Zhao and the three others known as the Academy's Four Talents were all scum tops, while the protagonist bottom was a poor student at the academy.

The Four Talents were renowned for their family backgrounds, not their character or academic ability.

Aside from their family backgrounds, the author had also assigned each of them a type.

The icy top, the possessive top, the scheming top, and the beautiful top.

Duan Zhao was the beautiful scum top.

All four fell in love with the protagonist bottom at first sight. But too stubborn to admit their feelings, they ruthlessly tormented and humiliated him, then locked him up the day before his palace examination.

At the end of the story, the protagonist bottom received help from a benefactor and left to make a new life for himself. The four of them either died or went mad, and their regret-filled redemption arcs played out in full.

After awakening, Duan Zhao checked that his kidneys were still intact and broke out in a cold sweat.

*

Determined to prevent the tragedy, Duan Zhao resolved to change everyone's fate.

So, on the day he was originally supposed to fall in love with the protagonist bottom at first sight, Duan Zhao took the initiative and said with heartfelt sincerity, "I love you. You're the only one for me in this life."

He would pretend to love the protagonist bottom to protect him and ensure he could take the imperial examinations in peace. Besides, one must never pursue a friend's beloved. This would also put a stop to the other three talents' interest in him.

Two birds with one stone.

Sure enough, after Duan Zhao spoke up, the other three talents never looked at the protagonist bottom that way again.

Duan Zhao also failed to notice the looks the others gave him as he fussed over the protagonist bottom: looks of both loathing... and longing.

*

Word that Duan Zhao had developed a taste for men at the academy reached his family. When he returned home for a break, he got a thorough beating.

In a daze, he was visited by four people.

"You got beaten like this over someone from a common family? You've really outdone yourself!"

"From now on, you should change your ways. Stop seeing him."

"Since A-Zhao is sincere with me, I will never let him down."

The last visitor was Xie Xiguang, the least familiar to Shen Zhao among the Four Talents, and the one with the most illustrious family.

"If a man can do it, why can't I?"

*

Duan Zhao thought the repressed question he heard that night had been his imagination.

That is, until the protagonist bottom was assigned an official post outside the capital and invited Duan Zhao to join him. When Xie Xiguang heard the news, he lost his composure.

He stopped the Duan family's carriage in the street, got down, and approached the carriage window. His posture was humble as he said, "Don't go with him."

"Please."

--

A little scene:

Duan Zhao lifted the curtain, his gaze clear. "Is something urgent? I'm about to go up the mountain to pray with my grandmother."

Xie Xiguang: "...Never mind. Go ahead."

A clever beauty bottom x an icy, secretly flirtatious top

[An ancient-school story with everyone doting on the protagonist, a mild harem vibe. If it's not sweet and lighthearted, it's free.]

Theme: See through the fog and grow into yourself.