When Jiang Tingzhou is reborn, the first two things he does are: quit his job and break up immediately.... more>>

In his past life, after being lost at age five and then found again by the Jiang family—a family famous for their culinary legacy—he spent nearly half his life fighting against Jiang You, the adopted child who had taken his place. This false young master was deeply favored by fate, as if born under a halo of divine luck.

Jiang Tingzhou worked himself to the bone, fighting tooth and nail to prove that this little green tea (pretentious schemer) was inferior to him in every way.

He won the prestigious God of Cooking competition.

He brought Jiang Group’s restaurant chain to new heights.

Even the person Jiang You longed for but could never have fell in love with Jiang Tingzhou instead.

He poured every ounce of effort into proving that Jiang You wasn’t naturally worthy of love or admiration—there was no “main character aura.” As long as you worked hard enough, anything could be changed. He believed everyone should prefer him.

But in the end, his parents called him aggressive, his old friends drifted away, his coworkers talked behind his back about how cold and unapproachable he was, and the lover he’d forced to stay eventually left him.

Only his career had turned out well.

Yet just as he began to taste success, Jiang Tingzhou died from overwork. All he could do was watch helplessly as Jiang You played the part of a tragic, returning white moonlight and smoothly inherited everything he had built.

Then he found himself reborn—back at twenty-two, sick with a fever, still working nonstop, and being gaslit and bullied by his boss.

Wait a second… who even wants to be reborn?!

Jiang Tingzhou: [Dead fish eyes] .jpg

He’s officially given up on his luckless life. Deep down, he realizes that being reborn means nothing. Nothing he does ends well. No matter how hard he fights, it’s all for nothing. What’s the point of grinding if the end result is just emptiness?

Love, money, success—it’s all external. The only thing that’s truly yours is your body.

So he finds a quiet place to lie flat and gives up. All he wants now is three good meals a day. To eat well and live peacefully.

But strangely enough, once Jiang Tingzhou stops trying, people around him start to regret things. It’s like everyone suddenly starts liking him again.

Later, he even goes viral as the internet’s most desirable food vlogger?

#TopTierTemptationJiangTingzhou

#JiangTingzhouTheManYouCan’tSayNoToAfterMidnight

#ISeeHimAndTearsStartDrippingFromMyMouth

From the Gong’s POV:

Lu Baiyu went through a breakup that felt like falling off a cliff.

In their chat history, Jiang Tingzhou had always been the one sending dozens of messages, chatting nonstop in a sweet, clingy way.

“Hubby, miss you ❤️”

“Dreamed about you last night, I really really want to see you.”

“I made a new dish!”

“[Photo] ”

“When are you coming back to Yongqing? I want to cook for you.”

Lu Baiyu had been away on a business trip, working nonstop. He saw the messages but didn’t have time to reply—he was used to it.

Then, after finishing an international meeting, he opened his phone and saw a new message from Jiang Tingzhou:

“Hi. We’re breaking up. Bye.”

Lu Baiyu: …?

He sent a question mark.

But the chat showed a red exclamation mark.

Just like that, he was blocked—out of nowhere.

Pairing:

Former top achiever turned slacker culinary genius shou × aloof iceberg-type gong who goes feral when he loses his lover

Notes:

Rebirth, shou is a former overachiever who now lies flat; gong is a “white-cut-black” (appears pure, actually ruthless) top who’s been in love with the shou across both lives.

Plot-heavy with dramatic emotional lines. Career storyline takes up a good portion. The gong’s memories of his past life will gradually return. There are lots of misunderstandings, so expect some intense “chasing the wife back from the crematorium” drama. And yes—the crematorium part is serious.

The shou seems universally disliked, but is actually a total heartthrob. <<less

When Jiang Xiao was nineteen, he accidentally dug a dirty and penniless Lin ChengYu out of the tr*sh and fell in love with him at first sight. He accompanied Lin ChengYu through hard times, and gave him warmth for the next fifteen years until he finally became successful.... more>>

By rights, he should have been the white moonlight of Lin ChengYu’s heart. It turns out that he was just a supporting role. Successful people can be callous. When Jiang Xiao fell ill and died in a hospital bed, Lin ChengYu never came to see him even once.

Jiang Xiao after rebirth: f*ck this love.

He learned that in this world, aside from the knowledge in his head and the money in his pocket, everything else is unreliable. Now all Jiang Xiao wants is to study hard, earn money seriously, and become a common, ordinary rich man, academic tyrant, and local tycoon.

Lin ChengYu: QAQ, baby look at me! I’m rich, too. I’ll give you all my money and my life!

Jiang Xiao (slowly backing away): Thanks, but I don’t seem to know you.

#Now that I have money, my pursuers are lined up from here to France, who the hell are you?#

【Lin ChengYu, president of YongJiang Group, is well-known in the industry as a single, rich, and handsome man. The outside world thought that he was a cold, sexually indifferent orphan. Only a few people knew that he was just doing his best to hang on until a certain person turns his head.

That person used to spoil him but he didn’t know how to cherish his love. Then he suddenly left, and never returned. <<less

While other children are taught by their parents to study hard and aim for first place, Xiao Wan’s situation is a bit different. His father, Xiao Xuemang, teaches him:... more>>

“Be good, sweetheart. Could you maybe not keep getting first place all the time? It’s really rude that you never give the other kids a chance, you know?”

Xiao Wan: “…”

One day, he finally mustered the courage to ask why. The answer he got was:

“Sweetie, if you shine too bright and the people from the First Heaven notice you, both you and your dad will be taken away and locked up forever. Isn’t that scary?”

Xiao Wan: “…Wow, that’s so scary.” (deadpan)

There are eighteen Heavens in total in this world, ranked by power. Xiao Wan and his dad live in the Seventeenth Heaven—basically the bottom of the barrel. So what do those legendary mighty figures in the First Heaven have to do with them?

At first, Xiao Wan suspected his dad might be some kind of fugitive who fled to hide out here—plenty of people in the Seventeenth Heaven have similar stories.

But later, he discovered something shocking.

That legendary Emperor of the First Heaven, who lost his beloved wife and lives in agony—might actually be… his other dad?

This is a “chasing wife after crematorium” story, full of drama and dog-blood tropes. The gong is scummy at first but later becomes a devoted husband and loving father type.

The shou is in a “retirement” mode, emotionally detached, and totally focused on raising their child. No gong-swapping, there are misunderstandings—if you don’t like these tropes, better skip it! <<less

Su Ning, a behind-the-scenes genius in the entertainment industry, known as the “golden touch,” unexpectedly transmigrates into an entertainment novel as a spoiled, throwaway character.... more>>

Good News: He’s a top-tier agent in his original life, so his skills are a perfect match for his new role. Upon transmigrating, he immediately finds employment as an agent.

Bad News: He didn’t catch the protagonist’s name and has no idea who it is.

The only snippet he remembers from the novel’s summary is that it’s a tragic, no-romance entertainment story with a bleak ending. The main character is an unlucky talent who suffers from sabotage, betrayal, and ultimately dies in sorrow. In short, it’s heartbreaking.

According to the typical transmigration rules, a miserable protagonist like this needs rescuing by a transmigrated character like Su Ning.

Determined Su Ning: Whatever, if I can’t figure out who the protagonist is, I’ll just save everyone I meet and see what happens.

On his first day, Su Ning quickly rescues a pitiful young trainee who’s being bullied. The kid is obedient, adorable, hardworking, and, most importantly, pitiful.

Su Ning decides to take him under his wing. Raising the protagonist? Think of the bragging rights!

However, Su Ning has chosen the wrong target. The real protagonist was already reborn at the start of the novel.

Shen Mingzheng is the estranged son of the Shen family, who was only found as an adult. Now, reborn, he’s back with a dark ambition. He knows this world is a th**ny, corrupt place, especially the ruthless entertainment industry where everyone is out for themselves. His goal is to use every advantage to climb his way to the top, eventually taking over as head of the Shen family.

From day one, Shen Mingzheng realizes that Su Ning’s “soul” has been swapped. He then watches, bemused, as the newly-arrived Su Ning promptly rescues a character destined to become an all-powerful villain and proceeds to treat this “disguised carnivorous plant” like a harmless kitten.

Shen Mingzheng: …So weird. Better keep watching…

The more he watches, the more intrigued he becomes. So he promptly hijacks the marriage alliance initially set for the Su and Shen families and becomes Su Ning’s contract “husband.”

His initial plan is simple: leverage this “interesting” person to help him climb even higher. But this “family” setup soon proves more complicated than he anticipated.

For some reason, Su Ning seems to attract every troubled artist in the industry—idol trainees robbed of resources, actors hidden away in obscurity, unlucky singers—all damaged and th**ny individuals who grew up in darkness. Su Ning, however, handles them all as if they’re just scrappy little kittens needing a gentle pet.

“Don’t worry,” Su Ning says. “I’m here.”

In time, these struggling actors win awards, the once-overlooked idol rockets to stardom, and the discouraged singer’s new release tops the charts for months. Known as the rising stars of the entertainment industry, they publicly express in awards speeches that the greatest salvation in their lives was Su Ning.

And to Shen Mingzheng, Su Ning becomes his one and only salvation as well.

So, being the “stepdad” to a pack of deceptively sweet, secretly scheming little monsters—at least when they’re in front of Su Ning—doesn’t seem all that hard to bear.

Summary:

• MC: A transmigrated, clueless “fatherly” character who raises supposed “protagonists” but mistakes villains as lovable sidekicks.

• ML: The true protagonist, a dark, reborn mastermind who’s captivated by the MC’s peculiar charms. <<less

Lin Qinghen is truly pitiful.... more>>

His mother passed away early, he has a scarred face, his cultivation talent is poor, and he is not favored by his family. Therefore, from a young age, he learned to act cautiously and keep a low profile. Even after suddenly binding with an alchemy system, he dared not make a splash, merely wanting to live quietly by farming and refining medicine.

That is, until a dramatic plot of marrying in someone else’s place fell upon him.

His cousin, Lin Qingshuang, a favored daughter of heaven, despised her fallen fiancé. Unable to break off the engagement, she impulsively decided to send him in her stead.

Her fiancé, Yin Jiuxiao of the Yin family, was said to have been glorious in his youth, born with a bone for swordsmanship. Unfortunately, his cultivation technique backfired, ruining his foundation and blinding him. Now, he is completely disabled.

Before the wedding, he met the man once and felt a sense of shared misery. He seemed like a nice person, easy to get along with.

“I’m ugly, and you can’t see; we are a perfect match,” Lin Qinghen patted his new husband’s shoulder on their wedding night. “Don’t worry, I’ll farm and take care of you.”

Lin Qinghen had no idea that the world he was in was a novel about the male lead’s revenge after being discarded.

The pitiful, quiet husband he played was actually the main character of this novel.

Moreover, this was Yin Jiuxiao’s second life.

Perspective of the dominant partner:

In his previous life, after Yin Jiuxiao’s fall from grace followed by humiliation from a broken engagement, he awakened his demonic bone amidst hardships and ultimately ascended as a revered dual cultivator of sword and demon. Everyone who had once scorned him groveled at his feet, and he returned all slights doubly.

After being reborn, his so-called regression in strength was just an act, as was his blindness, just watching those people reveal their true natures, ugliness and all, until the Lin family, like in his previous life, attempted to break off the engagement, and he wasn’t surprised.

But Yin Jiuxiao didn’t expect this life’s engagement to turn out very differently.

What came to marry him was a meek, ugly duckling who held him and said, “Don’t be afraid, let’s have a good life together.”

Quite interesting, really.

Note:

1.A powerful, possessive dominant partner X gentle, resilient, angelic partner, with mutual pampering, the dominant partner is reborn and the submissive partner is transmigrated, daily updates.

2.A sweet story, focusing on skills rather than martial prowess.

Attention! The main character has a significant golden finger and a substantial farming storyline. Essentially, this is an upgrading-through-farming story!

Falling in love while becoming stronger.

The submissive partner’s face will gradually heal—the ugly duckling is actually a great beauty! <<less

Xie Shuangxue is aware that he’s an NPC in a game. He exists in Shenmo, the world’s most popular VR game, which has been live for three years now. For the third-anniversary celebration, the game developer, Boundless Sea, announced a major update, introducing a new map, “Floating Dream Clouds.” Along with the update, they released a new world storyline quest—The Book of Floating Dreams. This quest unveils an ancient tale of entangled love and betrayal between a Princess of the Feather Clan and the former Demon Emperor.... more>>

And Xie Shuangxue makes his entrance in this new storyline.

He isn’t the main character; at best, he’s the fourth male lead—a mere plot device with a shallow, basic background. As an orphan adopted by the Feather Clan, he harbors an unrequited love for the princess, which eventually turns into bitterness and revenge. Betraying everyone, he ultimately meets a fitting end when the princess personally executes him, much to the players’ satisfaction.

Xie Shuangxue: … I don’t think so.

Even NPCs have their own ideas.

So, the players who are grinding away at their quests encounter, for the first time, an NPC with an unexpected level of interactivity.

When he first appeared, the players thought Xie Shuangxue was just another pretty face, gloomy, shallow, with nothing special to offer. However, as the plot unfolded, they came to understand his endless suffering, his deep and hidden love, the hardships he endured, and all the sacrifices he made in silence.

This intricate character, Xie Shuangxue, ultimately reaches a moment of enlightenment in the final segment of the world quest. Smiling, he raises a sword and takes his own life. Under the snowy night sky, his black hair dances in the wind, blood as red as cinnabar flowing like ink—the very key to unlocking the new map.

On that day, the official Shenmo account crashed under the weight of furious players.

“Damn this hellish plot! Give me back my Ah Xue!”

“WTF, you dirty devs—how dare you kill off Shuangxue!”

“I swear, if Xie Shuangxue dies, Boundless Sea, neither will you live. smile”

The game department, drenched in curses and complaints: …For heaven’s sake, this was not the original plot!

Shenmo’s development team held an emergency meeting overnight and urgently contacted the CEO of Boundless Sea. Rumor has it that even the normally calm and collected boss, who also has an account in the game, sounded noticeably different over the phone, a mix of gritted teeth and indescribable emotions.

“He’s not dead.”

“He deceived all of them.” <<less

Only after dying did Fu Zhiyu realise that the world he lived in turned out to be a novel.... more>>

No wonder he devoted all his life to loving Xie Ke but Xie Ke didn’t even like him. After all, the protagonist’s journey was to the sea of stars, while he was an indigenous cannon fodder who bit the dust halfway, just blindly delaying the protagonist’s career path.

Fu Zhiyu, who woke up: What is love? What is power? The world in the novel is all fake, I don’t know what they are fighting for there (disillusioned_and_opting_out_of_the_rat_race.jpg)

He deeply reflected and regretted his previous life that was really baffling. After being reborn, he immediately decided to let go and become Buddha-like calm, not bothering with anything and living his life as a happy cannon fodder, the farther away from Xie Ke and the main plot, the better. But he didn’t expect that he was not the only one who had changed in this life.

…It seems the protagonist became strange too.

Fu Zhiyu: General Xie, please follow the script. Now let go of me, I’m tired and want to go back and lie down.

Xie Ke [gentle smile]: I will accompany you.

Fu Zhiyu: …? <<less