One day, in the magnificent and opulent Demon Palace, Huai Xu, the Demon Lord's maid, held up a storybook from the mortal realm and asked Nan You, "If one day the honored lord were to suffer a great calamity, lose all her powers, and end up stranded in the mortal realm, how would she get out of it?"
Without a second thought, Demon Lord Nan You replied, "Obviously, she'd find some sucker, eat his food, drink his drink, then trick him into coming to the Demon Palace and having children for me."
Huai Xu: "Would there really be someone like that?"
Nan You: "Of course."
Li Yisheng, standing behind Nan You, turned ashen. Hah, some sucker.
He returned to his bedchamber and threw out every last pillow and blanket belonging to the Demon Lord. "You're sleeping in the flower bed tonight!"
The noble and unruly Demon Lord picked up her pillows and blankets one by one. "Fine, I'll sleep there. But don't go feeling sorry for me if I catch a chill."
Huai Xu had the misfortune of witnessing the honored lord and her consort bickering. She quietly closed the book and slipped away, wondering to herself: Our honored lord is so powerful she can command the wind and rain. How could she possibly catch a chill?
Li Yisheng, a swindling charlatan who lives off other people's food and drink, takes in a stubborn little girl. He means to make her a maid to sweep the house, but ends up waiting on her hand and foot every day.
He feeds her so well she gains ten pounds a month, growing as cheerfully as a pig. Before long, it looks as if she'll eat the family out of house and home.
Luckily, she was born with yin-yang eyes. She can see ghosts and eat them, earning him enough money to scrape by.
Later, she transforms and turns out to be the Demon Lord who saved his life ten years ago. Once her identity is restored, she drifts away, never to return.
Li Yisheng knows that humans and demons follow different paths, and he's penniless to boot. Though he misses her, he doesn't dare go looking for her.
Who could have guessed that a few years later, the Demon Lord would suddenly knock on his door?
Her opening words were, "Do you want to get married?"
Li Yisheng: "Huh? Who would I marry?"
"Me." Nan You shot back, "Who else would you marry?"
"The butcher's daughter on East Street thinks you're too skinny and isn't interested."
Li Yisheng ventured, "What about you?"
Nan You answered honestly, "You've got a bad temper and you can't cook. As a charlatan, you'll probably starve to death. No one else would want you."
Li Yisheng angrily slammed the door, but he couldn't stop the love surging in his heart.
So he married her, and was later coaxed into having two children.
The heroine: an arrogant, unruly, obnoxious Demon Lord. The hero: seemingly prickly, but actually a capable charlatan.
Still a gender-bender story. Note: When the heroine is a child, the hero feels only familial affection for her, since she once saved his life. The hero has a secret crush on her in her Demon Lord days, so the romance begins after she returns to her adult form.
Theme: A peaceful world, with clear skies and calm seas
