A very very good book and simplicity at its best honestly. This book is about a small, dysfunctional family of 3: Wei Qian, his younger sister (I forgot her name coz I read this in June I think), and an orphaned/homeless boy whom he takes in as a younger brother, Wei Zhiyuan. This is a 'level-up' story as Wei Qian struggles to bring up the other two when they have no adults to rely on or money.

In typical priest fashion, Wei Zhiyuan is the rather besotted/obsessed/possessive love interest/secondary main character... more>> (see Chang Geng) and Wei Qian is a hardy, tough and mature character (a bit like Lin Jingheng from Can Ci Pin/The Defective. I enjoyed the emotional intensity of the romance, but honestly the Wei Qian and Wei Zhiyuan feel like a familial relationship.

Priest's writing and the themes both shine here. It's literally a kid trying to bring up two other kids and doing odd jobs and stuff like that, but I couldn't stop reading. Firstly, 'levelling up' and domestic narratives are very satisfying when Wei Qian's efforts pay off, and also when all three start to really function and feel like a family. Secondly, the characterizations of both characters are very strong and you really feel like you went through the years with them. Thirdly, I LOVE family- and relationship-centric narratives (think stuff like Minari, Shoplifters (but less depressing), cdramas like Go Ahead, and books like The Time Never Back. It was so comforting and satisfying to read on all levels!! I was spellbound by this small character/family drama.

So, yeah, really enjoyed this. <<less

I am so happy to know that someone pick this story up to translate. It is really worth reading. There may be less romantic scenes than you expected in a BL novel, but there are meaningful lessons about dreams and determination, family love, brotherhood,... and also an realistic insight into lives of people from the bottom of the society. The plots are well-developed. To conclude, what I can say is that IT IS WORTH READING. Support you and thank you so much for the translation 😘😘

Super good novel. Worth the read. It made me cried a couple of times. I just wish Priest would write more detail intimate scenes because it just felt incomplete.

➺ 5/5 🌟

This is Priest and her love for creating pseudo-in*est, homos*xual 'forbidden love' story. This is the second novel of her with that theme, the first one being Sha Po Lang/Stars of Chaos (which by the way one of my favorite danmei, among Priest's works or even danmei as a whole). Might not be main conflict of the plot but the element is there, hanging overhead, reminding us from time to time.

Actually, I find Wei Zhiyuan/Xiao Yuan, the ML of this book, quite resembling Chang Geng from SPL in... more>> various different aspects and I want to list them all. For one, they both fell head over heels with the male figure who adopted and raised them from childhood, the person who pulled them out of the quagmire and helped them escape their childhood traumas. They also both love so deeply and so dangerously. Even the idea of being harmed in some ways would crossed their mind just to see if the person they loved would care and worry about them. They have this strong sense of possessiveness inside of them that they tried to control, repressing their feelings to the point of affecting them emotionally and mentally. They have this menacing aura around them despite being so calm and almost indifferent and behind their composed facade is hiding a wild beast ready to pounce their beloved. Yes, they are crazy in love. They also have this coquettish way of provoking the person they loved after they laid bare of their feelings, and sometimes almost in a shameless way. But also, they have this adorable childness in them even as an adult, that's hard to resist. Both sticky and clingy.

Although Wei Qian and Gu Yun are not alike, they have some similarities as well. That's their natural indulgence and care for Xiao Yuan and Chang Geng. But their way of showing it is quite different. Gu Yun have this mischievous sarcasm, almost laid-back and carefree attitude, and the way he indulged Chang Geng is like coaxing a child. While they both have innate sarcasm in them, Wei Qian has a more poisonous tongue. He's leaning towards tough love. Maybe because of his upbringing, he has a hard time showing positive emotions. He's usually closed off, even within his family, and have this firm facade all the time. Becoming the pillar of the family at the age of 12, he couldn't show his weakness or else, he and his siblings wouldn't survive. He's simply not good with words, but he shows it through actions, albeit sometimes in a rough way. That's why his way of indulging Xiao Yun is by spitting fire.

Both Wei Qian and Xiao Yuan are interesting characters. They have this strong sibling dynamic but the transition from being adopted brothers to a more ambiguous relationship is, in a narrative perspective, done seamlessly. In the characters' perspective though, the changes are slow but steady, and quite angsty. I mentioned that the conflict stemming from the pseudo-in*est/homosexuality is not the main conflict because although this is a BL story, the huge part of this story is more of a slice of life, focusing more on the progression of their little family from childhood to adulthood. This is more about overcoming a hard life with little help and hope that things will get better. Even though Xiao Yuan discovered his romantic feelings very early on, it was more one-sided and naturally the development of the romance is practically nonexistent and only until Wei Qian discovered Xiao Yuan's sexuality that the romance part slowly started. That was basically more than halfway through the story.

I devoured this story without wasting any crumbs! Dage hasn't been on my radar for a long time not until I watched some clips of the adaptation ALMOST EVERYWHERE. I was about to watch the series but I learned that it's ongoing so I stopped myself and decided to wait until it's done. That's when I found out that it was an adaptation of Dage and I have this relentless itch inside me, telling me to start the novel, to the point that I was willing to read an MTL. In the end, I found a better translation and I'm so glad that I finally started this novel. I've never been so happy to ignore my initial TBR because this novel did something to my little heart. I am aware that this novel has its own flaws and I acknowledged that, but this just made me feel things. I am not giving this a full 5 stars, but this still successfully became one of my favorites. I know it's a torture to start an ongoing series and wait every week for a single episode, but it's also a torture to wait until it's complete. I badly want to start watching! <<less

Ah, one of the masterpieces of the author of Priest. The theme is indeed Slide of Life but the content is not only daily activities but concerns many "cruel" fates.

Da Ge (大哥) is about family, friendship and people depend on each other. It's about accepting yourself and learning to let it go. Love more powerful than water, deeper than blood even if you have to beat out the world.

"I can continue to love you. If that women loves you more than I do. I can keep silent for a lifetime.... more>> Of course it will hurt. But I can turn that pain into a type of cultivation." - Wei ZhiYuan

"What kind of cultivation?" - Wei Qian

"Of course. I'll cultivation for you a life of happiness and peace." - Wei ZhiYuan <<less

I just finished this story and it had been so long since I found something good to read as I am a picky reader and I have a very hard to satisfy taste. I found out about this story as I’m currently watching the series “Unknown” and this is the original story. I fell in love with the series and I was impatient waiting for the other episodes so I searched for the book. I finished this b4 the series and of course the cdrama is amazing but the original... more>> one is so much better. I love this more because the story isn’t going as fast as the series and I really wanted to see those young moments of Wei Zhiyuan fighting for his Wei Qian. Also this story is more romantic than the series. I still love the series too but I wished they showed more of their moments. Thank you for making my heart beat while reading it. Truly amazing!!! <<less

I don't have words to describe how good of a novel it was the family dynamics.. Oh god I loved it.I read the novel after watching the first episode of the series based on this novel..I was so intrigued by the series plot that I decided to read the novel.. And man was it a suprise hell yes it was.I loved the novel and the drama both kept me invested for weeks..

I decided to read this after watching the Taiwanese drama adaptation, Unknown the series. I enjoyed the drama but I feel its lacking in character depth department. As expected, the book covered what I felt missing from the drama. Wei Qian's character here is more fleshed out. His growth as a person and interaction with different characters are the highlight for me in the book. From the rogue kid into real estate tycoon. Wei Qian is not hard to love. He really deserve the title Da Ge. Because he's so... more>> cool, he really improve himself for his siblings and has strong brotherhood with his friends. I enjoyed reading their childhood before the romance takes place. Sadly, the drama didn't cover his growth and only focus in romance. The book is giving me Liu Yao and Tian Ya Ke vibe with their found family theme.

I like that Dage has multiple meanings in the story...

It can be Wei Qian's position in his family, the eldest brother forced to be a parent figure for his siblings...

It can be Wei Qian's brotherhood with his friends/neighbors, Ma Zi and San Pang where he's looking out for them, willing to even lend his savings and protect them...

It can be Wei Qian's sketchy thug job in a nightclub, dirtying his hands to earn small money and because his fearlessness is frightening they start to respect him like a Big Brother or Dage...

It can be Wei Qian's boss in nightclub Le Ge he used to admire in his childhood, who do illegal activities to make easy money and later on Wei Qian developed hatred for him after his friend's death...

It can be Wei Zhiyuan's developing romantic feelings for his elder brother figure and their pseudo-in*est romance...

Lastly, it can the reader's impression of Wei Qian after reading his journey... That he's so cool for thriving to be strong to protect people he treasure... Hence, he's the Dage!

My only problem is the romance and ML. Wei Zhiyuan's character reminds me of SPL Changgeng but still missing something. Its one of Priest earlier works so its expected. I'll not be surprised if he's the Changgeng prototype. The romance happened so suddenly. I feel their make out escalate too quickly for my taste. It make so much sense why the s*x happened abruptly in the drama lol Its not the drama's fault. Its written like that. Its a surprise to me because I like the romance scene in Tian Ya Ke but I don't like this one.

Oh yeah, if you're a POC don't read it. It has casual colorism jokes. Take it with a grain of salt. There was a moment when Wei Qian became tanned for a while and his friend jokingly said he looked like a s*ave. And when Wei Zhiyuan became tanned after his study abroad, Wei Qian asked if Wei Zhiyuan hang out too much with black s*aves hence his appearance but him being tanned was overshadowed by their yearning emotion rather quickly when they reunited. I believe adult tanned Wei Zhiyuan was describe as cool in Wei Qian's mind secretly despite his racist remarks that come out from his mouth.

Of course, I'm not condoning it and I know it's wrong. Honestly, it's not hateful but more like toxic mindset ingrained in the culture. It reminds me of a Black American video who lives in China, this person said there's racism there but it felt more like ignorance than animosity. If the racism in America want to kill you or obnoxious, they just ignore you in China until you talk with them in their language. Instead of hate, it just make me sad since my parents are similar because they rarely watch overseas media (they barely understand English anyway), only local and local media repetitively says white skin is beautiful and black is ugly. So all this time white skin is beautiful to them! That's why whitening skin products are popular in Asian countries! They are brainwashed by the media they consumed. Keep in mind that racism scenario is not always equal to a bad person but more like closemindedness. Despite all of that, this is my harsh reality in Asian country that I see in my everyday life so I still appreciate how realistic it is because I can relate and I feel connected even if it's cruel. <<less