"You mean Madam Yan?"
"Mmm, she was an accident, but also my good fortune."
Mentioning his wife, Old Master Yan's face lit up with a happy smile.
...
Forced to consume dog food, Lin Qingge's mouth twitched fiercely. He sincerely suggested,
"Old Master Yan, you should actually write another book titled 'Opening Act: I'll Make the Male Lead My Underling,' it would definitely become a huge hit."
But a wry smile appeared on Old Master Yan's face:
"I admit, my intentions were impure at first.
But after living here for a while, I discovered that the people here are also people, all real.
Yet, thinking about the idiotic plots I wrote, full of forced face-slapping for the sake of satisfaction, I just want to slap myself a few times.
The ones I owe the most are the male lead, whom I set up as a beautiful and strong tragic figure, the old Prince of Zhennan who inexplicably gained a son and was then inexplicably killed by this son, and the entire Prince of Zhennan's mansion that was consequently implicated.
To rectify the chaos, I immediately found Yan Liang when he was still a beggar and took him under my wing, teaching him diligently.
For this, I recited the 'Eight Honors and Eight Shames' in his ear every morning, noon, and night, and then took him out to do good deeds from time to time.
However, I don't know exactly where things went wrong.
Although Yan Liang didn't join the army and fight on the battlefield to become a great general as I wrote, he secretly joined the Imperial Guard without my knowledge and, with the male lead's halo, rose to become the head of the Silver Dragon Guard."
Upon hearing this, Lin Qingge opened his exceptionally bright eyes and said with a piercing gaze,
"Old Master Yan, do you know Brokeback Mountain?"
As a liberal arts student, Old Master Yan was immediately startled and took several steps back, his tongue stumbling slightly:
"N-no, it can't be?
I wrote a proper male-oriented novel, the male lead is straighter than reinforced concrete, how could he be Brokeback Mountain?
What's more, for so many years, my wife and I have been all over him right before his eyes, twenty years like a day, and I never saw him react in any way?"
"Giving up the world, guarding only you, becoming a Silver Dragon Guard who obeys only you...
Tsk tsk, what a deeply touching brotherhood!"
Lin Qingge drew out the last syllable meaningfully, then changed the subject, asking about the matter most interesting to him:
"Old Master Yan, since we've both transmigrated into novels, what role do I, or rather my elder brother Lin Jingxing, play?"
"As for that, I'm actually not sure."
"What?
How can you not know what you wrote?"
Faced with Lin Qingge's questioning, Old Master Yan shrugged innocently:
"Of course I know what I wrote, but the problem is that your sibling and you weren't written by me.
More accurately, we're not even characters from the same book."
"Ah?"
Lin Qingge, feeling his CPU was about to melt, was completely confused.
"This, the situation is like this.
When I was writing novels in my previous life, I met a girl. She wanted to write historical romance but didn't know how to build a dynasty framework.
Because we chatted quite congenially, I impulsively gave her the background of my novel to use as the framework for her new work.
I also happened to help her review the outline, so I remembered the names of the twin siblings Lin Qingge and Lin Jingxing.
However, they were only supporting characters, and I only glanced at it quickly back then and didn't remember the specific plot details."
After hearing this, Lin Qingge's lips curved into a teasing arc:
"Tsk tsk, willingly handing over your hard-earned work, she must not be an ordinary girl, right?
Old Master Yan, your wife knows about your helpfulness?"
"This...
To be honest, when I was a single dog from conception, I did feel a stir of affection. So, I changed the original heir of the Prince of Zhennan's mansion into a郡主 (junzhu - a princess), and then incorporated the girl's personality and my imagination of her.
Thus, the Princess Pingyang, Duan Sainan, came to be.
So, the second thing I did after transmigrating into the book was to take the male lead I picked up to 'accidentally' meet her."
"Oh ho, you created your own wife, Old Master Yan, your move is truly something!"
"Average, average, third best in the world."
Looking at the man in front of him who was not only chuunibyou but also possessed a hint of foolishness, Lin Qingge became even more confused.
"I say, Old Master Yan, even if no one else is around, you should at least pay attention to your persona, right?"
Upon hearing this, Old Master Yan shook his head like a rattle drum and poured out his woes to Lin Qingge, his fellow countryman:
"What persona, it's all just a pretense.
As a fresh graduate who has never experienced the harshness of society, suddenly being thrown here, do you know how uneasy and scared I am?
All that nonsense about casually reciting ancient poems or singing a few songs and being considered a genius, or making just two dishes and earning a fortune every day, it's all bullshit!
The ancients only had a limited level of civilization in their lives, they weren't stupid.
And quite the opposite, people here are all more scheming than a sieve.
I'm afraid of revealing any flaws, so I'm cautious in every step, thinking ten steps ahead for every move I make, looking a hundred steps ahead.
With the golden finger of knowing the entire plot and Yan Liang's male lead halo, I've achieved what I have today.
The world only knows me as cunning and scheming yet willing to give up high positions and wealth for the one I love, enduring the name of a live-in son-in-law of the Prince of Zhennan's mansion and marching to the frontier.
Little do they know, I truly dislike the deceit and treachery in the imperial court and just want to eat soft rice with a hard stance!"
"Uh...
Whatever makes you happy."
Lin Qingge nodded in agreement, then subtly withdrew his hand that the other party had grabbed.
Perhaps due to holding back for too long, Old Master Yan, who had finally found two people to confide in, continued to speak to himself:
"You don't know, I've been pretending to be a divine stick for too long all these years, so long that I've forgotten what I was like at the beginning.
Speaking of which, I truly envy you.
When you transmigrated, you had the world's number one assassin as your bodyguard, and everyone around you was a big shot, even the child you raised is the future crown prince!"
Looking at Old Master Yan, who had shed his inhibitions and had a gleam in his eyes, Lin Qingge suddenly understood who the simple-minded Yan Tinghao took after.
"Right, getting back to the point.
Even if our books were mixed, you should at least remember who the protagonist of the book we transmigrated into is, right?"
"Let me think.
I remember that girl wrote a tormented love story about a body double.
It was very popular back then for the white moonlight, who had disappeared for years, to suddenly reappear, and then the male lead would heartlessly abandon the body double by his side.
However, it wasn't long before the male lead discovered that the body double had replaced the original at some point, leading to a 'chase wife crematorium.'
Overall, it should be the kind of 'she escapes, he pursues, she grows wings but cannot fly' scenario.
But that girl said that when she actually started writing, she changed her mind.
Saying she wanted to innovate and not follow the usual path, so I don't know the actual situation."
With a rough guess in his mind, Lin Qingge stopped dwelling on the plot and posed another crucial question:
"Have you met my elder brother Lin Jingxing?"