Just a note for ppl not used to Chinese history. This novel is set after the Qing Dynasty; during the period when the Republic of China was in power (1912-1927). The Qing dynasty, or the Qing Empire, officially called the ‘Great Qing’, was the last dynasty in the imperial history of China. It was established in 1636, and ruled China from 1644 to 1912, with a brief restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. So it’s more modern than actual dynasty novel settings, but it isn’t quite modern time either.
Another thing, while I try to get it across, I’d like to further explain the NU tag ‘polite protagonist’ here. Qiu Yixin speaks very formally and politely most of the time, and is one of the most polite-speaking characters in this novel. He sticks to calling the Zhao Family by their ‘titles’, except for the older Zhao brothers. He likes to use chengyu (types of old idioms, but are more formal than eng idioms) and more formal turns of phrases. I just want to highlight this, so that you see when and who he breaks this polite exterior of his for with swears, informalities, being rude etc.
Recently I’ve met with a troubling thing; I’ve fallen in love with a man.
Although I’m a man too, this isn’t the main problem of this mess. After all, the whole city knows about the fact that I like men, since my boyfriend is Zhao Gongzi, who is the mayor’s nephew, gangster leader Master Zhao Si’s son and Warlord General Huo’s little brother-in-law.
The crucial bit of the matter is, the man that I’ve fallen in love with isn’t Zhao Gongzi.
Ah, woman, your name is watery poplar flower. Ha, man, but is your name not ‘saying three in the morning and four in the evening’!
I held onto my book and fell into a despairing sorrow, an unendingly despairing sorrow.
Nowadays, everyone is saying that love is free, but it’s not as if many people advocate for being an ungrateful bastard. When love is mixed in with too many feelings of gratefulness and loyalty, then it becomes less pure and simple. Well, mainly it becomes hard for me to be pure and simple, Zhao Gongzi was pretty pure and simple. He purely and simply took me in, who at that time had lost my whole family, and made me his companion in school up till I was eighteen. I graduated from the European academy and he finished school, and then he got me into bed.
Before I turned 18, I was always confused about why he treated me so nicely, and I finally got the answer. I also lost something with that knowledge.
I suppose that it can be counted as good begets good.
Fuck his mom。
I said nothing, you didn’t hear anything.
“Yixin, come out.”
Oh, Zhao Gongzi’s come back and is calling for me.
My name is Qiu Yixin.
I feel a little guilty.
I went to the living room, and saw Zhao Gongzi taking off his hat. His hat, which was green.
I felt very conflicted.
To tell the truth, I’ve suspected that there’s something wrong with his head for many years already.
When he saw me, he said, “How come it took so long for you to come down? Come here, I have something to give you.”
I walked over and he handed me a book.
“Thank you,” I said.
He moved his face close to mine and told me to kiss him.
I didn’t really want to kiss him, he’s already gifted this book to me ten times, can’t he put in a little more effort?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
P mbeiv bcis afii tlw atja P’v pera fjafc rbwfatlcu ktfc P kjr eqrajlgr, jcv atja P tjvc’a fnfc klqfv ws ojmf sfa, rb P vlvc’a kjca ab ufa jcs bli bc tlr ojmf.
Lf rjlv la’r jigluta, tf’v xlrr wf atfc.
When he finished kissing me, I asked him what was the smell on his breath. He replied that he’d just eaten a scallion pancake outside.
P rlcmfgfis klrtfv atja tf’v vb rb fnfgs vjs rb atja P mbeiv offi j iba ifrr uelias atjc yfobgf.
My heart is dead. Or at least it’s as still as a well of water.
Zhao Gongzi said, while changing clothes, “Tonight there’s a ball, in honour of Boss Zheng. You’re coming with me.”
I felt a gust of spring wind ripple across my water.
He glanced at me. “What are you doing, changing too? I did so because I went to a smokehouse, and there’s a smell. Didn’t you stay home the whole day today?”
I put down the clothes, and very naturally said, “I’m just moving them to another place to hang up.”
“Whatever, change too, then. Wear something that matches with me.”
I chose an outfit that had basically nothing to do with his.
He asked, a little unhappily, “I’m wearing green, why are you wearing red?”
I really don’t know why he likes green to such an extent.
I said, without batting an eye, “This way it’s more fashionable.”
He said, “Fashion, hah, do you take Laozi for an idiot? You don’t want to match with Laozi, is that it? This whole month whenever I mention sleeping together, you say your stomach hurts…hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt your mom! Do you think Laozi won’t hit you?”
I said, “I don’t like green. Zhao Long, if you have the guts then kill me, if you don’t kill me then you’ll have to take on my last name!”
“What crap are you spouting?!” His expression changed, then pulled out his belt. He bellowed out, “Hand me that blue set! Red and blue look much better together right?! What the hell’s the use of you going to that European academy, huh?!”
I hate him, can’t he just actually hit me for once?
Zhao Gongzi and I went to the party. Many people came up to us to exchange pleasantries. They praised us, saying that he and I were even becoming even more of a match made in heaven, a lovely couple.
Zhao Gongzi was full of disdain, and privately said to me, “Do they even need to say it?”
I think that they don’t need to say such obvious nonsense either.
Not long after, someone said that Boss Zheng had arrived.
My heartstrings were plucked once more by the god of love, Cupid, and unconsciously looked over and saw that person in the crowd of people.
His name is Zheng Qi, rumour has it that he’s from capital city. It’s unknown who’s backing him, but his business is booming. He’s polite and courteous, learned and well-mannered, and is schooled in both Chinese and Western practices. I suspect that he’s studied abroad.
Zhao Gongzi took me to exchange greetings with Mr. Zheng.
Mr. Zheng smiled gently, I became entranced within his smile.
Mr. Zheng said that he’d gotten me some gifts from out of town. So then I accepted a copy of an original edition English novel that couldn’t be found in bookstores here.
Mr. Zheng invited me to a dance. Zhao Gongzi stepped on my foot and said that my stomach hurt and that I couldn’t dance.
I said my stomach suddenly didn’t hurt anymore, Zhao Gongzi said no, your stomach still hurts, I said it really didn’t hurt anymore, Zhao Gonzi asked me if I was going to be hurt myself or if he needed to help me be hurt, then I said I suddenly felt like my stomach indeed still hurted a little.
And so, Mr. Zheng switched to politely inviting Zhao Gongzi to a dance.
Zhao Long is such a shameless bastard.
After Zhao Gongzi stepped on Mr. Zheng’s feet an uncountable number of times, he came back to stand beside me. He said that my stomach hurt so he was going to get the driver to send me back early. I said my stomach suddenly didn’t hurt anymore, Zhao Gongzi said no your stomach still hurts, I said it really didn’t hurt anymore, Zhao Gongzi asked me if I was going to be hurt myself or if he needed to help me be hurt, I said if you have the guts then make my stomach hurt immediately, if I’m not hurt to death then you have to go by my surname from now on. Zhao Gongzi’s expression changed, he rolled up his sleeves, then toppled onto the sofa and said that his stomach suddenly hurt.
Me and Zhao Gongzi went back home early.
When we got home, Zhao Gongzi shut the door and said that he wanted to have a chat with me.
In my whole life till now, he has only ‘chatted’ with me two times. The first time was when I was 18, the second is today.
“Let’s chat then,” I replied.
“You’ve taken a liking to that Zheng guy, haven’t you?” Zhao Gongzi asked.
“En.”
“Fine, then go and find him.”
I asked, “Really?”
Zhao Gongzi said, “If it’s not real then would it be fake? Scram.”
I resolutely turned around and hurriedly rushed towards the door, not stopping even for a single step.
Even like this, I still didn’t make it.
Like a mini hurricane, Zhao Gongzi stormed over to the door and locked it. He pointed at me and shouted, “You’re actually fucking going?! Use your fucking brains and think if that’s possible! Did everything you learn in school go shit?!”
I said, “You told me to go.”
“Then, if I told you not to go would you really not go? When have you ever fucking listened to me?!”
I sincerely tried to convince him. “Between me and you, there’s really no love.”
Zhao Gongzi hollered at me, “Who the hell wants to have love with you?! Laozi just wants to do you! Get it through your fucking head, okay?!”
I continued to sincerely try to persuade him. “Jin Xian’er likes you a lot, he loves you.”
Zhao Gongzi hollered at me again, “How many times must I say that I haven’t touched him?! Are you going to go on about this until next year?!
I still tried to persuade him, patiently and sincerely. “Nothing good will come out of forcing things.”
Zhao Gongzi continued to holler, “If you keep doing this, then you’ll be forcing Jin Xian’er to die, do you really want to force me to run him out of town?!”
I calmly said, “I’m not talking about Jin Xian’er anymore.”
Zhao Gongzi shouted, “When has Laozi ever wronged you?! You’re always like this! From your class rep to your teacher to my dad! Ah! You’ve liked my uncle too! Ah! I don’t even remember what that martial arts actor’s name was! Ah! That rice-carrying worker! Ah! The worker at the bank! Ah! That European guy at the bakery! Ah! This time you’ve even fallen for a fucking eunuch?! Ah!!!!
“Huh?”
“Huh fucking what, huh?!” Zhao Gongzi gripped my neck while shouting, “Zheng Qi is a fucking eunuch, did you not notice?!”
“Huh?”
“Huh the fuck, huh!” Zhao Gongzi continued gripping my neck, “Are you blind?! How do you think he got rich? He stole antiques from the palace and sold them!”
I said, with composure, “Plato.”
Zhao Gongzi asked, “What to?”
“Plato.”
He asked, “What the hell is that?!”
“This is why we can’t have love between us. You and I have no common interests or hobbies.”
He said, “It’s not like I said that I want to have common interests or hobbies with you!”
I replied, “I don’t care if he’s a eunuch, I just care if he understands Plato or not.”
Zhao Gongzi asked, “Then do you not care that he already has a wife?”
“Huh?”
“The maid-in-waiting! ! You know, Dui Shi! Ugh, that woman that’s always following behind him!”
“Isn’t that his adopted little sister?”
Zhao Gongzi coldly laughed. “So? My dad tells people that you’re my adopted brother.”
I imploringly requested, “Could you please take me for an actual adopted brother?”
“Oh, alright then.” Zhao Gongzi said.
It seems that Zhao Gongzi is a horrible beast of a big brother.
He forced me to call him Ge Ge for the whole night.
Ha. Ha.
Once again, another of my sprouts of love and freedom was squashed before they could grow and bloom by Zhao Gongzi.
Annoying Zhao Gongzi.
Rinrin: Hiyo! Another Yourwei novel !! (and there will be a few more)
ANNOY is another of Yourwei’s free and short novels, so be sure to jjwxc to see the raws if you wanna see them or comment on the original!
Another Info Dump so people can understand the mc’s situation better: while it’s called ‘adoption’ (both in English and Chinese), it’s truthfully not the type of adoption of modern times (sometimes it can be, in this case, it is not). It’s more like being accepted into a gang/mafia-type family/rich aristocratic family as a servant-underling with the express role to accompany the family’s child. While on paper it might seem like they are ‘brothers’, they are absolutely not equal in standing, one is the young master of the family, and the other is in servitude to the family, even if Yixin doesn’t ‘work’ in the sense that he’s a butler or cook, etc.
Hahahahaha zhao gongzi certainly is an interesting fellow! Thanks for the chapter!
I am not sure how to feel about this yet. 🤔 This gong… 🤦🏻♀️
This is an interesting writing style. Thank you for the chapter😊
Lol it’s kinda like a slap stick comedy
Also, the shou falls in love a lot huh
Why does it seem like….this MC doesn’t even try to fall in love he just goes “ya, that man’s fine”
I’m on the fence about this…
thanks for the chapter <3
I got confused lol I guess this is my first time reading a novel with this kind of opening
Also I thought the tsundere one is the Shou or is the love not sparked yet XD
well, that is how the author classified them on the summary page
For my part, I would say that Zhao Gongzi fits more the type of tsundere that we western fans think of because of anime (in the chinese it can be slightly different sometimes…) and Mr Qiu is more of a kuudere, though definitly proud in his own polite way
and also, not to spoil too much (I hope), they’re quite a ways along in their relationship…though maybe it’s not as easy to detect right now? I guess…
Well, they’re living the married life, anyways
Oh ohh~ (altho im asian so I dont know if that thinking also applies to me.. but) I think I kinda see whats happening now XD thank you for answering my confused thoughts & thank you for translating ^^
They’re married?! Oh. So I guess this is basically just a pair of married couple arguing. I was kind of skeptical to continue with this ’cause I honestly didn’t like the opening, but I’ll try to give this a shot especially since this only a short story.
LOL this is new
Wow so interesting!Mc is kinda funny and yet kinda sad. Thank you
Thank you for translating this story ❤️