The Fated Con Artist

[Feigned sincerity, carefully laid plans, gentle and calculating seducer gong

x

Closeted homophobe who is love-struck and goes crazy, shou]

Lu Yinji is a closeted homophobe who can't stand people. He hates anyone who breathes, and even kicks dogs he passes on the street.

His childhood friend starts dating a guy and is considerate enough not to bring him around Lu Yinji. Then one day, his friend says his boyfriend might be cheating and asks Lu Yinji to help catch him in the act.

Lu Yinji: "Why me?"

His friend pulls out a photo and points at a blurry figure in the background, fuming. "Look at him! He's at least 188 centimeters tall, clearly works out, wears custom-made clothes, and drives a car worth over a million. I can't take him on!" His family is just nouveau riche, after all.

Lu Yinji, also nouveau riche, is baffled. "If you can't take him on, what makes you think I can?"

His friend nods solemnly. "You can go crazy. You have a registration slip from the mental health center."

Lu Yinji: "..." The only reason he ever goes to the mental health center is that his family and friends treat him like he's not even human.

Seeing his friend fret like an idiot over his relationship, Lu Yinji scoffs. "I told you not to like men. You're a man yourself. Don't you know what men are like?"

His friend sighs at the sky. "I can't control who I like! And he's really great when he isn't cheating."

Lu Yinji: "?" You're the one who's worth ten yuan per jin of crazy.

Even so, Lu Yinji agrees to help his friend catch the cheater.

The operation goes off with a bang, and they make a lot of progress catching the cheater, though it isn't a complete bust:

The good news: his friend's boyfriend wasn't cheating. The other guy is his cousin.

The bad news: Lu Yinji falls for that handsome, gentle man.

You're a man yourself. Don't you know what men are like? So why fall for one?

But liking someone is never something you can control.

Bai Zhen is intelligent, witty, and exceptionally handsome. His deep eyes are always full of affection. Night after night, he kisses Lu Yinji's ear and tells him he loves him.

You can't trust what a man says in bed. Lu Yinji knows this perfectly well, yet stubbornly refuses to believe it, and deserves to fall for him so completely.

"What's your name?"

"Bai Zhen."

"Bai as in pure white, Zhen as in a precious treasure?"

"Bai as in plain white, Zhen as in true or false."

The first thing Bai Zhen tells Lu Yinji, and the only truth he ever tells him, is his name.

Every word after that is a lie designed specifically for Lu Yinji, luring him into a trap.

Can anyone really fall in love with their enemy's son?

Bai Zhen thinks: Anyone might, but he never will.

His reason for getting close to Lu Yinji is simple: the son must pay for the father's debt.

-

Back when his childhood friend was left heartbroken by a con man, Lu Yinji mocked him for falling for such a crude scam.

When he meets the con man who seems made for him, he sees through the lies, only to keep making the same mistake over and over again.

[Gong is cultured and well-mannered, and kills with nothing but a gentle blade (not literal killing); shou is uncultured and ill-mannered, and throws punches when he goes crazy (actual punching)]

A seductive gong who pursues the shou by seducing him, but pays a price along the way too ☺️

🎬Notes:

1. Mutual pampering, 1v1 happy ending. A melodramatic love story with plenty of emotional intensity.

2. The shou's mental state is beautiful. He goes crazy at the drop of a hat, but he's not ill. He's simply uncultured.

3. A sea of hatred and a sky of love: the hatred is real, and the love is real.

Blurb dated August 13, 2026. It may be revised before the novel officially begins, but the core will remain the same.

Theme: Love and redemption