Everyone knew that Master Qiao Si stood for the word “ruthless” in City S.... more>>

No one dared to call him by name,

Even Master Qiao Si himself seemed to have forgotten his actual name.

At this point of life, Master Qiao Si thought he was capable of seeing through anything in the world,

Except for his half brother –

He’s willing to exchange anything he could afford for a look from Qiao Che.

Duan Heng, who came to serve him ten years ago,

A future star under his patronage and one of his pets,

Was also one of the “tributes” to Qiao Che.

However, this young man was like a loyal and handsome large puppy for him.

His bold love was almost addictive.

Momentary happiness, though it might be illusory, was nonetheless happiness.

Those feelings that should have been long forgotten started to come back…… <<less

Liu Xin met Dong Xian through an accidental encounter in a bamboo forest; by a twist of fate, the two became teacher and student.... more>>

Just great.

How dare Liu Xin, nephew to the emperor, accept defeat?

Liu Xin tried everything, from studying history [endlessly debating], to respecting social rank [making trouble], to critiquing his work [provoking him], yet he failed to reveal a single of Dong Xian’s flaws…

However, Liu Xin’s heart gradually changed with time.

In a moment of passion, the two men crossed a line and committed a taboo.

Can this play of spy-vs-spy come to such a simple end?

_____________________________

Jovial Records of the Bamboo Beauty by Asuka T陶子 recounts the life of Liu Xin, Emperor Xiao’ai of Han, and his legendary love for Dong Xian, his male favorite.

Liu Xin and Dong Xian coined the idiom, passion of the cut sleeve, that avid danmei readers might’ve come across.

In Chinese culture, the term ‘cut sleeve’ has been a euphemism for homosexuality for over two tousand years; ever since Liu Xin refused to wake the sleeping Dong Xian and cut off his own sleeve to attend court in time. <<less

After falling in a pond, Prince Dong Fang Hao Ye woke up with his memory lost. ... more>>

When he met the Prince consort Bei Tang Yao Yue afterwards, one word came to his mind: Beauty.

Even though he could not remember Bei Tang Yao Yue, his manly instinct remained the same.

But what was going on? Why was his Wangfei a man?

The beauty who made his heart restless was actually a man.

What surprised the Prince even more was that he actually has no position in his own house! Not only that, he also did not have a ‘good relationship’ with his beloved consort.

How can this be?

To save face, he the Prince, must toughen up! <<less

Sun Zhiyi has always been cunning, and that has never changed from childhood to adulthood.... more>>

When he was young, without a mother, he really liked his cousin's mother and deliberately caused himself pain, making his delicate aunt pity and embrace him.
As he grew older, he had a preference for the arts, loved playing rock music, and even formed a band. Later on, he dabbled in literature and adopted a melancholic and mysterious persona. However, all these pursuits couldn't earn him any money, and he had a tendency to spend lavishly. When he ran out of money, he would discreetly seek his cousin Sun Zhixing's help, resorting to robbery. He didn't want his beloved aunt and mother to find out about it, as he knew it would break their hearts.

As he grew older still, he realized that he was attracted to men. He brought a girlfriend back home, but within a month, everyone knew that she had abandoned him. He would sigh under the trees in autumn and sit in the snowy ground during the harsh winter, feeling a deep sense of sadness. It hadn't even been half a year, and everyone in the Sun family knew that he had been deeply hurt by a woman. Since then, no one ever asked him if he had a girlfriend, afraid of stirring up painful memories.

In his actions, he was characterized by three words: speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness. <<less

“We are all like mermaids living below the sea. Around me, all that I know, is the sight of complete darkness.”... more>>

Lin Jing’s credo in brief–as long as it’s open, there is no PLAY that can’t begin.

Yet surprisingly, that strict good student who encouraged him to attend class everyday, Zhou WenYang, stirred some genuine feelings within him.

It wasn’t easy for both those boys to finally workout their “cohabitation”, but mistakes, accidents and the like were an unfortunate constant:

First, came the witch, then soon after her a wolf stormed in, following these intrusions–somewhere quietly waiting–was the toad!

Once more apologetic and thoughtlessly fickle, Lin Jing looked towards the indifferent Wen Yang, heartbroken.

… was it all truly hopeless? <<less

As a prison guard, Ye ShiJiu Lang is selected to enter the "Absolute Wing Hall"── a prison dedicated to prisoners with serious crimes.... more>>

Here, there is only conquering and being conquered, and the rules are set by the strong!

Ye ShiJiu Lang is forced to be with Gu Yan, and is also forced to cater to the "King's” unethical desires.

Helplessness, resentment, pain, and humiliation are the price that must be paid to survive here.

From the moment he entered this hell, he has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Knowing the inside story, he will never be able to resist or escape…

When used to pain and fear,

Should he continue to fight and resist, or submit and obey?

It turns out that as early as nineteen nights ago, he has lost the right to choose. <<less

“This is a story about a shou who commits su*cide because of an incurable illness but whose spirit refuses to leave, and so he stays beside the gong and watches the gong’s regrets.”... more>>

Note: The first 24 chapters of this version roughly corresponds to the first 10 chapters of the WN version. After that, the trajectory of the story changes. <<less

Beitang Ao, Master of the Four Heavenly Sect’s Northern Sect, Ming Dynasty nobleman and inheritor of the title “King of Beitang” (Ruler of Beitang). He was elegant and cool as snow; but within his body, a peerless martial skill was contained.... more>>

Yan Feili, General of the Northern Sect, in his need to seek vengeance on behalf of a benefactor, met Beitang Ao and after being subdued, pledged his allegiance to the Northern Sect.

For eight years, Yan Feili held feelings for Beitang Ao. In the beginning, it was no more than a God-like reverence but gradually, it became a greed fueled admiration.

Following the incident in the Demon Forest, Yan Feili soon discovered he was pregnant. It turned out that Yan Feili was, to his surprise, a descendant of the “Moye” tribe. He kept his pregnancy hidden until the child could be born, but soon afterwards, was sent off by Beitang Ao, beginning the dispute between the two.

When all is said and done, how will these “entangled emotions” be “resolved”?

Entangled emotion: or deep seated emotions (literal translation: Complex), is a call back to the “情结” in novel’s name.

resolved: another call back to the title as the word “了断” can also mean to break/end. <<less

Ouyang Xiwen was a high school English teacher, introverted and amiable.... more>>

Xiao Xuan was from a well-off family, a two-faced top student.

While betting with his friends in an abominable game, Xiao Xuan used his good image to get close to Ouyang, acting as a poor student who loved his teacher.

Ouyang started to draw out his life's blueprint, waiting for Xiao Xuan to enter college, to come of age, to get an official job after graduating college...

But after the game ended, Ouyang suddenly found that he was the only one who had fallen into it, yet Xiao Xuan had an outsider's soberness from beginning to end.

And yet, though he understood the truth, he was still unable to resent the wide-eyed boy who incessantly called out "Teacher" ... <<less

Lee Mo Yan, known as "Lee", an elite of the legal world who is approaching his forties, had worked hard to pave the way to get to where he was. However, all that he worked for vanished into thin air when a political scandal broke out involving a politician he backed and when his lover dumped him. Finding himself in a worrisome situation, Lee received an unexpected invitation from an upperclassman from his past.... more>>

Upon returning to T City to become an office worker after living in Los Angeles, he encountered Ke Luo, the boy who had left him without saying farewell. Pretending it was nothing, he continued to live frivolously. That is, until he fell apart after realizing that he was a substitute for someone else…

Could this sadness be love arriving a little too late? <<less

BeiTang MinQian:... more>>

He is a world class super model and is the only son and heir to a prestigious aristocratic family.

Because of the pressure as the family’s sole successor, he must face the norms of an expected societal marriage.

Su YuanHeng:

He is a talented neurosurgeon and was an orphan abandoned at an orphanage.

A chance encounter during a surgery led him to fall in love at first sight with the then 14 years old, BeiTang MinQian.

But the childhood trauma of being abandoned by his father had cast a dark shadow in his heart that is impossible to be erased.

These factors caused their ambiguous relationship to be even more unsettled. Before everything even became clear, an even bigger ‘random incident’ unexpectedly occurred —

Facing a relationship that is full of cracks, the ‘fate’ that God bestowed upon them… is it actually deep or shallow?

At night, when Su YuanHeng is lying on the big cold bed by himself, the blistering heated air obstructed his breathing.

He turned on the air conditioner to high. Wrapped in a thin blanket, he tossed and turned in bed. The days without BeiTang MinQian by his side, he thought that he was already used to it. But when this person came back for just one night, his pathetic body still longed for his embrace.

Su YuanHeng slowly closed his eyes and dazily reminisced about his very distant past. His father had once held him in his arms, mumbling tenderly, “Xiao Li, FeiLi…the meaning of this name is ‘never to leave forever.’ You must remember…”

“Remember…”

“Daddy, I remember, but what about you? You still left me…”

Even the person that is by his side, there is going to be that day when he will also leave him … <<less

Even the most capable people cannot escape calamity. Zhang Ping, who dreamed of becoming the world’s best, voluntarily enters the palace to become a eunuch before his father has to resort to plundering and crime. ... more>>

How can a prince be so thin and bony, that was Zhang Ping’s first impression of Huangfu Jie.

The prince looks at the kneeling eunuch, the scars and wounds on his body not yet healing.

Zhang Ping’s eyes turn red—I curse your ancestors for eighteen generations!

He is just little uglier; weirder than normal people.

Are ugly people not human? I, Zhang Ping, swear to cultivate the world’s second best over here in the palace! <<less

"I will search for you, definitely..."... more>>

Dream divination is Liu Xiao's born gift, even though he is incapable of having feelings.
It's as if a part of his soul is missing, left behind in the distant past, a thousand years ago.
Yet he's unable to resist fate, destined to be tied once more at the moment he encounters that man.
The lawyer, Gong Qian Shi, appears upon receiving an assignment, causing throbbing ripples to emerge for the first time in Liu Xiao's deathly-stilled heart.
And the connection between the dreams of the past and that of the future gradually becomes clearer... <<less