Cast Aside Glory

When Jiang Shiyu transmigrated here, he had already spent eighteen years lying in some poor, remote backwater.

His life was as carefree as a salted fish's, and he thought he was destined to spend his days enjoying himself like this, until a carriage arrived from the capital to take him home.

On his first day in the capital, he met someone.

A fitted red robe, flowing wide sleeves, and a body weakened by illness. Exquisite features and peerless elegance, yet a bone-chilling coldness surrounded him.

One glance was enough to capture Jiang Shiyu's heart.

From then on, it was as if Jiang Shiyu had been bewitched. He would do any foolish thing just to make the beauty smile.

Helan Chen merely watched him with a faint look, his phoenix eyes slightly raised and full of icy indifference.

Jiang Shiyu: ...I love him even more.

And so the salted fish began to turn his life around, working hard to become worthy of that person.

At last, one day, he stood before Helan Chen and confessed his feelings.

All he got in return was:

"Love is the most useless thing in the world to me. Yours is no different. It disgusts me, even makes me sick."

Jiang Shiyu felt as if he had been struck by lightning, but he didn't take a single step back.

Someone asked him why he insisted on loving someone who was never going to stay for him.

He thought for a moment, then said, "Love begins without our knowing and grows deeper with every passing day. Even if I fly into the flames like a moth, I have no regrets."

In a corner beyond his sight, someone had been standing in the shadows for a very long time.

Helan Chen's life was short and set in stone. He was meant to stride resolutely toward his destined end.

Until he met him.

That fool who threw himself at him without hesitation, like the sun.

It turned out that someone who had spent years walking in darkness truly couldn't bear the light.

Because that light was so warm, so warm that he couldn't help thinking:

If only we had met sooner.

If Jiang Shiyu had asked him then whether he wanted to leave together...

He probably would have given up everything, left that cage with him, and gone to the distant place of his dreams.

The sun rises in the east, and you are my salvation.

Bonus scene:

Jiang Shiyu crouched in front of Helan Chen like a puppy, gazing up at him with sparkling eyes. "Didn't you promise me a reward? What is it?"

Helan Chen raised an eyebrow. "What reward do you want?"

His voice lifted at the end, carrying an indescribable allure.

Jiang Shiyu smiled at him, then suddenly straightened up and kissed his lips.

"You! How dare you!" Helan Chen shoved him away with a sudden burst of strength, wiped the corner of his mouth, and glared at him. "Audacious!"

Seeing the reddening corners of his eyes and his lips, now flushed from being rubbed, Jiang Shiyu couldn't help swallowing. In a husky voice, he said, "I'd die beneath the peonies and still enjoy the pleasure of it. Your Highness, you promised me a reward. You can't take it back."

Helan Chen's phoenix eyes widened. Through gritted teeth, he spat out each word: "Utterly outrageous!"

Jiang Shiyu smiled, his bright, delighted grin shining like the sun.

Helan Chen often thought: If I had never seen the sun, the night would not seem so hard to bear.

P.S.

1. Love at first sight

2. Transmigrated sunny, warm-hearted gong x sickly beauty shou

3. Mutual pining, slow burn, devoted love

4. One-on-one romance, both are each other's first and only

5. Younger gong

Note: At first, only one of them has a crush; later, the feelings are mutual. The shou isn't truly cold-hearted. He simply doesn't know how to love.

He doesn't reject you because he feels nothing.

It's because his life is as fragile as paper. How could he promise you a long life together?

If you don't say it, how will you know I'm not a coward?

You stand right there, and I'll fly straight to you without looking back.

Theme: Live well. Beauty is all around you