Reborn in the 1980S, I Fell in Love with a Rugged Man

A beautiful fashion designer who’s a sweetheart x a rough, gruff man with a sinister mind and a smiling face After a car accident, chief designer Chen Shuyu died unexpectedly and was reborn in the 1970s or 1980s. The good news was that the family he’d landed in valued him deeply. The bad news was that they’d pinned all their hopes on him, expecting him to leap over the dragon’s gate and rise to greatness. Chen Shuyu carried a thermos to the general store, where he poured hot water for the workers playing cards. His father had specifically told him to curry favor with the leader of the group, hoping the man would take him on as a worker. After a few encounters with the boss, Chen Shuyu could only think that his father’s hopes were probably doomed. The man was calculating to the extreme. He wouldn’t even pay to have his clothes mended, and Chen Shuyu had accidentally overheard him judging him with his buddies. “Can’t carry a load, can’t lift a thing, and he’s no smooth talker either. Just a pretty little face, all coy and fussy. He’ll never amount to anything.” Still, if someone brought their flattery right to his door, he might as well enjoy it. Chen Shuyu heard him say that with a laugh to his buddies. He was a rotten, black-hearted bastard through and through. Chen Shuyu’s response was to sneakily sabotage him behind his back. The two of them traded tricks and got even with each other, until one day Chen Shuyu realized the man had stopped retaliating and was quietly putting up with his revenge. Even more astonishingly, the man had started paying for his clothes to be mended. Chen Shuyu’s father thought his son had offended the man and told him to hurry up and apologize. Chen Shuyu stayed silent, thinking instead of how the man had helped him in all sorts of ways, both openly and behind the scenes. At first, he’d assumed the man had grown a conscience. But one offhand remark from the man left him stunned. “Chen Shuyu, how come the same soap leaves you smelling so good?” Normal people wouldn’t think someone else smelled good. And shortly before Shao Mingxuan was about to leave, he made a point of calling Chen Shuyu out to see him. “Chen Shuyu, come with me. I’ll protect you for the rest of your life.” The night sky was hot and dark, and cicadas sang through the whole summer. The man, who was mean and underhanded and had a roguish streak, looked at him cautiously. Waiting for an answer. Men falling in love with men was rare in this era, and Chen Shuyu didn’t dare take the gamble. So he deliberately led Shao Mingxuan on, and the two of them built a business together under the name of “brothers.” Shao Mingxuan found it harder and harder to endure. His jealousy and possessiveness had reached an unhealthy level, and he was constantly anxious, unable to understand what was wrong. Until one day, a business partner took him to experience something new. Shao Mingxuan laughed, his expression unreadable. “Ha. Chen Shuyu, well played!” Set in an alternate version of the 1980s. The love interest is reborn. Both leads are each other’s first and only partners. There’s a little coercion. All the characters have flaws. Everyday slice-of-life, rough-and-ready romance, a sweet little treat, older top, written to satisfy my own tastes. Theme: Learn from each other and improve together