As the Minor Gay Love Rival in Het NovelsChapter 2.8

The male lead-daren went to go nurture his emotional connection with the female lead. Fan Yuan also started to relax and follow the plot.

As the original work never concretely said exactly which bar he went to, Fan Yuan defaulted to the bar closest to Fang Xu’s house. Otherwise, how else could he take this opportunity to get wildly drunk and run to his house and spit out the truth? Drunk-driving?? Of course, this was unacceptable! He was but an obedient, law-abiding citizen. 37eLCw

When he arrived at the bar, the lights dazzled his eyes. Thank goodness the music wasn’t too loud. He found a corner and played his part, ordering two bottles of vodka. He seldom drank foreign liquor. After all, he needed to keep sober at all times while he was carrying out his mission. It was hard to avoid getting into trouble when drunk and delaying the plot was not good, either.

However, he had played a drunkard before and had noisily poured more than half a bottle of 130-proof Shao Daozi down his neck at once. At the time, his throat felt slightly scorched and he completely choked, but he also didn’t feel giddy at all and was at least able to finish up his mission in a state of sobriety. He had thought it was likely that he had the kind of constitution that made it possible to drink a thousand glasses and not fall down, and had even felt immeasurably self-satisfied for a long time because of that.

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So he really didn’t think very much of two bottles of 80-proof vodka.

While waiting for the server to bring the alcohol to him, he took off his suit jacket and casually threw it aside. He loosened the very top button of his shirt that he had always kept fastened. Doing as he pleased, he rolled up his sleeves. His hair, which had always been neat and tidy, was currently spilling onto his forehead in a disorderly mess. His chaotic appearance carried an air of depression and the dazed look in his eyes made people feel for him. He was just like a young man who had lost his love, lost his job, and lost his way. sQg4LU

Fan Yuan poured himself a glass. The clear, sparkling liquid slowly washed down his throat. There was only a rich, mellow taste that was neither spicy nor burning. At last, he relaxed, and taking large gulps, he began to drink.

“Ding……”

“What’s wrong, Xiao Wu? Are you afraid I’ll get drunk? I’ll be fine, this liquor has a low percentage of alcohol.”

Xiao Wu was silent for several minutes. The robotic voice slowly intoned, “Ding. I just received an alert. Master’s slitting of his wrists ahead of time in the previous world has had an extremely bad cascading effect on the plot and they have now added an additional penalty.”

v2kTo3

“F*ck! They’ve already taken away half of the energy rewarded, what else do they want to do, huh?! Don’t tell me they want to take away another half of my already halved reward?!”

“Ding. They’re taking it all back.”

“……” The glass Fan Yuan was raising paused for a moment in the air. His hand jerked and almost caused some liquor to spill out. He softly gasped for a few moments before calming down. Fuming with rage and grinding his teeth, he said, “Don’t they have any humanity?!”

Because he had never made any mistakes before, every time he was given an energy reward, the large part went towards upgrading Xiao Wu. The remainder was only enough to shuttle back and forth between the task world and the cultivation room. He had very little in reserve. After all, he was very confident in himself and had never dreamed that he would encounter so many setbacks in the midst of a mission. Thinking back on it now, he really was tu yang tu sen po. 15U7dN

Fan Yuan wanted to cry yet had no tears. He started to bargain, “Can’t I wait until after this mission is over to give it back? Where do you see such large amounts of energy reward being given back these days? We still have to use energy to support the original host to live to a sufficient age and lifespan. I can’t just keep dicking around in this world, you know?”

“Ding. According to the instructions from above, Master is required to return it immediately.”

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.

“……I’m not reading this wrong, right? Is this amount of energy worth all this concern of theirs? Or is it that someone intentionally wants to screw me?”

“Glcu. Cmmbgvlcu ab rsrafw mbcpfmaegf, atlr rbga bo qbrrlylilas lr nfgs ijguf, yea ja qgfrfca, la’r tjgv ab lwjulcf ktb la mbeiv yf. Qtb kbeiv yf ybgfv fcbeut ab vfilyfgjafis wjxf atlcur vloolmeia obg jc ecgfwjgxjyif ilaaif wjif rlvf mtjgjmafg ilxf Zjrafg?” uAFwCz

“……”

Mjc Tejc vgjlcfv atf uijrr bo qeglolfv ildelv lc tlr tjcvr lc j rlcuif ueiq. Szagfwfis jcugs, tf rjlv, “Mlcf, ulnf la yjmx, ulnf la jii yjmx. Ktlr jwbeca……atlr jwbeca bo fcfgus, P mbeivc’a mjgf ifrr, bxjs HCH”

Xiao Wu: “……”

******************* mqed9Y

Drinking on-and-off, Fan Yuan managed to drain an entire bottle due to his extremely bad mood, but was unable to drink anymore after that. He didn’t feel the alcohol as he drank, but its after-effects were large. He was so uncomfortable he ran to the bathroom to throw up, feeling slightly dizzy. Thank goodness it was still about an hour from the time the plot officially kicked off. There was enough time to ease his tension. He grabbed his coat and left the bar.

It was still winter and the wind outside was fairly strong. As expected, cooling his head in the breeze helped him sober up a little. He leaned against his car. Twisting off the cap of a bottle of purified water, he slowly began to drink.

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Actually, staying behind in this world and spending twenty or thirty years here was nothing. Before, when he played small roles, he had stayed in many worlds. As long as he didn’t disturb the plot and didn’t break character, with the help of his system, he could live a free and easy life. Furthermore, his part in this world would be over soon. He could totally look at the time after that as a vacation. Twenty years would pass in the blink of an eye.

Thinking this way, he actually felt much more carefree. OF3usl

“……” Xiao Wu, who had just been thinking of comforting him, swallowed its words back down.

#What an experience it is to have a happy-go-lucky master#

Although his mood was light, he still had to show his sadness. He quietly looked up at the night sky with its few scattered stars. Their faint light contrasted with his dull grey eyes. The scene looked cold, lonely, and desolate.

Suddenly, he tilted his head. A delicate-looking boy was standing to the side and eyeing him. When he saw Fan Yuan look over, he showed him a charming smile. Fan Yuan was stunned and unconsciously wanted to return his smile. Fortunately, a cold wind blew by and the word “CHARACTERIZATION” flashed in capital letters in his muddled brain. He immediately tightened his lips. O4EVcw

He coldly asked, “Can I help you?”

The boy was wearing a slim-fitting wool sweater and skintight leather pants. His small, fine waist was outlined and faintly discernible. He cocked his head to one side and smiled seductively. He slowly made his way over to Fan Yuan and said temptingly, “Hey handsome. Been dumped by your girlfriend, eh? I know of a hotel nearby with a good atmosphere. How about we go over there and have a chat? Who knows, you might feel good getting it all out.”

Fan Yuan was astonished. The effect of that bottle of vodka was just too huge. His mind was all confused now and then he heard a beautiful boy asking him to go to a hotel and talk. For a moment, he was slightly muddled, but he knew he still had to follow the plot. He coldly refused. “No, I have something I have to do soon.”

“Pfft……You’re seriously too cute. You have no experience, is that it?” He fit his body snuggly against Fan Yuan’s and gently ground against him. “Doing men feels a lot better than doing women, you know~” pefuHW

Anyone who didn’t get it after hearing that was truly an idiot. Fan Yuan pushed the boy away. Frowning, he exclaimed, “I’m not gay!”

And yet, that boy still refused to give up. How could you give up so easily after encountering such a top-notch good? He pasted his body on Fan Yuan’s again. “How can you be so sure if you’ve never tried it out? Try it with me, why don’t you? Feels so good. A lot of gays start out thinking they’re straight too. They’re just like you before they try it, you know.”

Fan Yuan was so angry he wanted to hit someone. He had always held it as a point of pride that he was a straight guy. Who could have guessed that a day would come where he would be hit on by another guy. Although this boy was truly beautiful, there was still a huge difference when compared to a soft, sweet-smelling girl. Could it be that now he projected the aura of a gay guy from head to foot?!

Xiao Wu saw that it had a chance to serve up some chicken soup right away. “Ding. My sensors indicate that this Passerby 1 is without a doubt a shou. Him being attracted to Master is evidence of Master’s gong-like qualities.” DQ9ijl

Fan Yuan (flipping a table (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻): “What the hell am I going to do with the qualities of a gong?? Are you suggesting that it’s possible for me to top the male lead?!”

Xiao Wu: “…………”

Fan Yuan’s face was wooden as he pushed away the boy. His eyes sharp, he said, “It doesn’t matter whether I’m gay or not. What matters is that I already have someone in my heart and can’t accept anyone but him. Go find somebody else, okay?”

Having said his piece, he accurately tossed the bottle of purified water into a nearby trash can. The clanging sound made the boy tremble faintly. Fan Yuan didn’t say anything else. Turning around, he left. ZYTtMK

The boy stared blankly at his back for a moment before pouting and added, “He turned out to be a lovestruck fool.”

He took out his cell and dialed a number. “Hey. It’s not clear whether or not he’s straight, but he said he has someone he likes. As for who it is, I don’t know……That’s fine, halve the salary if you want, makes no difference to me.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

*******************

The bar was more than a thousand meters away from Fang Xu’s residence. Fan Yuan swayed and staggered his way to Fang Xu’s door. He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground. He rubbed his temples, but it didn’t bring him any relief. He really regretted throwing the water away in order to act cool. At the very least, it could have brought a little relief to him. cmf5Dg

“Ding. Does Master want to buy some medicine that will help him sober up at the supermarket?”

“That’s not necessary……We’re already at this stage. Whatever it takes, I have to finish acting this part of the plot.”

After sitting for about twenty minutes, Fang Xu was finally brought home by the company’s driver. Fan Yuan’s mind quaked as he watched that tall, straight figure slowly draw near. He nervously took a few deep breaths. It was extremely probable that he would suffer a beating by the male lead-daren coming up, but he couldn’t shrink back.

Fang Xu naturally saw him in one glance. He was also slightly nervous, on top of the insuppressible sense of excitement he felt. The faint scent of alcohol lingering on Fan Yuan’s body floated into his nose—a traditional Russian-produced vodka. It seemed that he had drunk quite a bit; it’s no wonder he looked so uncomfortable. 21CiOL

He squatted down so he could look into Fan Yuan’s eyes and restrained the impulse to directly pull him into his arms. “Didn’t I tell you to go back first? What are you doing just sitting here by my front door? You were even drinking?”

Fan Yuan’s brain was a little confused hearing him disregard the lines in the script again. For a moment, he didn’t know how he should deal with this. He suddenly thought, who cares whether or not he’s sticking to the script. Just directly kiss him and be done with it.

His heated gaze fixed on Fang Xu’s lips as he continuously encouraged himself in his heart. As long as he kissed him, his main part in the plot would be finished!

Fang Xu’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He watched Fang Yuan looking at him yet not moving any closer. He had just thought to say a sentence or two to provoke Fan Yuan when two soft, warm moist lips pressed on his own. Fan Yuan’s alcohol-infused breath bewildered Fang Xu for a moment. His two fists tightened as he feared he wouldn’t be able to endure and resist pulling him into his body. KhRVA1

When Fan Yuan kissed Fang Xu, he was stunned. He had never exchanged kisses with anyone before and more practice was naturally out of the question, but Fang Xu’s lips were soft and sweet. He thought that this actually didn’t feel too bad……He glanced down at the male lead-daren’s tightly balled-up fists. In his heart, he thought, The male lead is this angry, how is it that he hasn’t pushed me away yet? Should I add more fuel to this fire?

Thinking this, he extended his pink tongue and gently licked Fang Xu’s lips, and then pushed his tongue inside to start his exploration……

He was aware of the slight trembling of Fang Xu’s body. Fan Yuan gave his cleverness a thumbs up and proceeded to probe more deeply into his mouth. He had just swept across Fang Xu’s soft tongue when his head spun and everything suddenly changed. He was heavily pulled to the ground by Fang Xu. He still hadn’t had time to react when Fang Xu’s tongue rubbed against his own again, only this time he was the passive party. His lips were sucked and nibbled until they were slightly sore. Fang Xu’s sweet-tasting tongue pushed inside, invading his mouth. It impatiently ran across his teeth and forcefully plundered. Fang Xu sucked on Fan Yuan’s pink tongue, his actions tender yet carrying an unmistakable, irrepressible dominance. Fan Yuan had the impression that he was going to be swallowed up, but he unconsciously sank into the pleasure ignited by his touch.

The two unselfconsciously made out like this right in front of Fang Xu’s door as if no one else were present. SOK6Il

Xiao Wu: “……”

Gui La: “……”

A few minutes later, Fang Xu finally withdrew from his mouth. Fan Yuan was dizzy and dazed from his excellent technique. Fan Yuan’s eyes glistened; his cheeks were flushed from the alcohol he had consumed, and his confused expression was innocent and pure yet charmingly wretched at the same time. Fang Xu felt as if all of his consciousness had almost been entirely consumed by an evil fire.

He hoarsely read out his lines in a low voice. “Why did you kiss me?” lRSjZ1

Fan Yuan heard the correct line and even though he thought that there was something not quite right here, he still said without thinking, “Because I like you. I’ve liked you since the first time I saw you seven years ago.”

Fang Xu’s lips crooked up in a smile, his eyes full of naked lust and wicked, possessive desire. “In that case, let’s try dating then, shall we?”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Fan Yuan: (⊙v⊙)??????

#Male lead-daren, you’ve got the wrong line, right?!# njGHC

Translator's Note

A type of Chinese liquor. The name shao daozi (燒刀子 – shāo dāo.zi) literally means “burning knife,” named that way because it is so strong that it makes your throat feel as if you’re gulping down a red-hot knife as you drink. Very appropriate for a liquor that is 65% alcohol. Remember kids, if you drink that high a percentage of alcohol, you’re going to have a pretty bad time, both at the time of consumption and then perhaps again in the morning. (Also, please note: I am saying “kids” in a joking manner. Please don’t drink until you’re 18 or 21 or whatever the proper drinking age in your area is.)

Translator's Note

Literally, “he didn’t place them in his eye” (不放在眼裡 – bú fàng zài yǎn lǐ).

Translator's Note

Okay, so the raws don’t really say he lost his way. It’s more along the lines of “he was disappointed/frustrated,” but I chose to translate it the way I did to parallel the structure of the Chinese as the raws used three words that all began with the character 失 (shī: to lose, to miss, to fail): 失戀 (shī liàn – to lose one’s love, to be brokenhearted), 失業 (shī yè – to lose one’s job, to be unemployed), and 失意 (shī yì – disappointed, frustrated).

Translator's Note

So this is Chinese internet slang. Before I tell you what it means, do me a favor and sound out the words out loud. Hint: the “Chinese” in this phrase is really gibberish as the Chinese characters don’t make much sense grouped together as they are. It’s actually approximating the pronunciation of several English words to form an English phrase. Tu yang tu sen po (圖樣圖森破 – tú yàng tú sēn pò). Do you hear it? It’s supposed to be “too young, too simple” (“too (tu) young (yang), too (tu) simple (sen po)”). This phrase is the response Jiang Zemin gave when dodging a Hong Kong reporter’s question (about politics, natch) in 2000. Instead of answering the question, he lashed out at HK reporters in general for being “too young, too simple, sometimes naive.” His tirade was all in Chinese except for the quoted words. Chinese netizens pounced on this opportunity to mock his (apparently) bad accent in English and lo, a meme was born. The original meme includes the “sometimes naive” part that was left out above as “shang tai na yifu” / “shangtai (sometimes)| nayifu (naive)” (上台拿衣服 – shàng tái ná yī.fu). I’m sure you already gathered this, but the meaning is “to have a simplistic view of something.”

Translator's Note

Well, Fan Yuan, you’re not wrong. Someone does want to screw you, but probably not in the way you’re thinking. :blobhyperthink:

Translator's Note

His waist is actually described as 小蠻腰 (xiǎo mán yāo). Xiao Man was the name of one of the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s concubines. She had a very small, delicate waist that he immortalized in one of his poems.

Translator's Note

Literally “handsome ge”(帥哥 – shuài gē). In mainland China, they’ll sometimes use this as a term of address to get a man’s attention or to hit on him, haha. The female equivalent is 美女 (měi nǚ – “beautiful woman/beautiful female”).

Translator's Note

Here, he states, “被女朋友甩了吧 ” (bèi nǚpéngyǒu shuǎi.le .ba – “been dumped by your girlfriend ba”). That final particle, ba (pronounced .ba in clear tone/neutral tone) is a modal particle that indicates suggestion or assumption/surmise. I know some translators here on Chrysanthemum Garden choose to leave it in because it can have so many different flavors and there isn’t really a fitting English equivalent. I have been choosing to translate it, usually as “eh,” “huh,” “right,” or “you know.” I just wanted to point it out in this instance as none of those translations seem to fit very well here as he’s assuming that Fan Yuan has just been dumped, but he doesn’t know that for sure. I could use “I surmise,” but that phrase seems a little too formal for this situation. If you would prefer that I keep ba in in the future, please let me know in the comments or on the CG discord.

Translator's Note

I bow down to the author’s pun mastery. The raw is “发泄发泄说不定你就舒服了” (fā xiè fā xiè shūo.budìng nǐ jiù shū.fu .le – literally “venting your feelings, venting your feelings, can’t say for sure you won’t then feel comfortable”). The pun comes in with word choice. “发泄” (fā xiè) does mean “to vent one’s feelings, to get it all out,” but it also has a slang meaning “(of a man) to cum, to climax.” And 舒服 (shū.fu) does mean “comfortable,” but it also means “to feel good” (especially in a sexual context). So essentially, he has plausible deniability in that he could just be innocently suggesting that Fan Yuan will feel better after venting to him (but we all know he’s not) OR he could be saying that having an orgasm will make him feel much better.

Translator's Note

For some odd reason, Chinese netizens/webnovel authors love referencing the (originally) English-language book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. If you’ve never read those books, they’re basically feel-good, sometimes sickeningly saccharine, sometimes bittersweet stories. I haven’t read any in a long time, but from what I can remember, they’re usually very uplifting in the end, like a balm for your soul. I feel like netizens’ attitudes toward this series and the resulting slang are mocking but also slightly fond? Maybe I’ve got that wrong, haha. Anyway, any time you see “A gave B some chicken soup/A served up some chicken soup for B”-type of sentences, it just means that A is trying to comfort B.

Translator's Note

Although the written characters for “he/him” (他) and “she/her” (她) as well as “it” (它) are different, they are pronounced the same way (all three are pronounced tā). This can lead to some wacky hijinks where person A is talking about his partner (without using an obvious word like “boyfriend” that gives gender away) and person B thinks he’s talking about his girlfriend. It makes situations where you can’t tell someone’s gender right away a whole lot less stressful, let me tell you. That’s why our beautiful wannabe shou here isn’t sure if Fan Yuan’s crush is a man or a woman.

Translator's Note

“The sky spins, the earth goes round; giddy with one’s head spinning; fig. huge changes in the world” (天旋地轉 – tiān xuán dì zhuàn).

Translator's Note

Charming because it was so wretched. Fang Xu thinks Fan Yuan is loveliest when he’s flustered from being bullied. Ya boi Fang Xu is a little bit of a sadist.

Translator's Note

Another instance where ba is used.

Leave a Comment

57 comments

  1. 💖👀🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

    ml, mc! do your best! (ง •̀ω•́)ง✧

    lmao their systems renderedspeechless

  2. ଘ(੭ुˊ꒳​ˋ)੭ु.°♡
    Thanks for the chapter! 💕💕💕

    • Thank you for the great translations! (+1 🌸 to Lanlan)

  3. Ekekek fan Yuan so shock 🤣🤣🤣
    Thank you so much for the chapter 😍 😍

  4. For a moment i forgot who Gui La is until i read the comments. Hahahahahaha. Sorry, system Gui La’s three views was broken. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Xiao Wu, comfort Gui La 😂😂😂😂

    • Gui La is such a sweetie. Poor buddy, trying to rein in ML. It’ll never work out in your favor hon, better just stop trying and accept it

  5. ML’s wait for confession from MC (though only it’s in the plot) has now arrived!!!!!

  6. Hohoho it’s finally ML’s time to strike!

    Thanks for the chapter! 💕

  7. Thanks for the chapters
    Your translation is really awesome and I really love this novel !

  8. Although I feel sorry for Fan Yuan, this is too funy! XD

    Thanks for the chapter! 🙂

  9. Fan Yuan, you’ve been played. It’s obvious the other transmigrator posing as Fang Xu is the one is making things difficult for you! I’m sure he was who made him return all the energy, that way he must stay in that world.

    HAHA

    Thanks for the chapter!

  10. It seems MC need to reduce his happy-go-lucky personality if he wants to be success

  11. Hahaha two system are speechless.

    Thank you for the update

  12. i can’t stop giggling omg YuanYuan you’ll seriously get eaten haha

    • His name in this arc even sounds like he’s gonna get eaten. The name is Tang Yuan, which sounds similar (same pronunciation different tones) to tangyuan (sticky rice dumplings served in usually sweet soup around the Lantern Festival at the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations). Every time I see his full name here in this arc I get hungry, haha!

  13. Hahahahahaha, captured?

    THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK !

  14. Woah.. Realy…just let it gooo! Let it gooo! Don’t hold it back anymooooore..!

  15. kkkk innocent lamb !!! Thanks for more this chapter, Go coffee Bjss

  16. The kiss & confession are backfire hilariously. Now that you can’t escape to the other world, you have to accompany ML daren until you’re old & gray. Thank you for the translation…

  17. I’ve seen “ba” used by translators before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen an explanation for it. Honestly, I just assumed it was pure nonsense with utterly no meaning whatsoever, the way “like” in English is often misused. (Example: “So I, like, went shopping today and it was totally, like, the best thing ever!”)

  18. I find it hard to believe he has never had an OOC before he became a gay male rival, he is obviously a klutz.

    • To be fair, all of his OOCs were caused by the ML refusing to say his lined and relying on improv instead. Before MC’s encounter with ML, all he had to do was read out his lines dutifully and everything would fall into place ♡

      Unluckily for him, our MC just do happened to meet somebody who delights in his misfortune haha

  19. I just wanna take a moment of appreciation for this writer’s continued dedication to road safety.

  20. Lolol aaaaand that’s how you catch a flight risk shou!!😘😏

  21. Am I the only one who wants the MC to teach the ML a good lesson? That guy really deserves a beating.

  22. «A lot of gays start out thinking they’re straight too. They’re just like you before they try it, you know.» trulala!

    That kiss was chef’s kiss. A round of applause to ML for being hawt ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ

  23. poor MC getting abused by the ML lol his rewards were even taken back because of him aaahhh wanna strangle that ML. Let’s see how will he fall in love with that kind of ML. He better treat him right, later!!

  24. The two unselfconsciously made out like this right in front of Fang Xu’s door as if no one else were present.

    Xiao Wu: “……”

    Gui La: “……”

    Two speechless systems watching their masters make out

    😂😂😂

  25. cant believe MC has played so many roles, is thousands of years old yet has never kissed. a whole new level of ”no bitches ?”

  26. MC and ML making out passionately~ (¬‿¬)

    their systems: we are blind, understood? we haven’t seen anything at all, great that we agree→ ←

  27. pop the party poppers in celebration! 🎉🎉

    Good on ML for sticking to the script. But now our poor, naive MC fell for his trap!!

    I hope MC didn’t brush his teeth after throwing up in the toilet. It mustn’t be pleasant for the ML to taste all of that bile 🙄🙄🤭

  28. PLSSSSS ML IS RUINING FY’S LIFE LMAOOOO

    At this point I’m starting to get worried he’ll die from not having enough energy ffsfhhjk