I was sitting atop the earthen wall of a house laden with flowers, waiting for Dad.
With my cheeks white and plump like fluffy bread, twin locks of hair soft as a blanket, and even my stubby flat legs basking under the sunlight, I felt joyful.
‘Dad said he bought meat! Meat!’
I vigorously shook my short arms and legs, the size of toilet paper tubes, and grinned with excitement.
‘It’s a beef party today!’
Sitting on the wall, peeking out only with my head to wait for Dad, could be tiresome to anyone. Furthermore, I was physically underdeveloped compared to other children, despite having been reincarnated twice. It was due to the penalty I received from God at reincarnation.
A sound mind dwells in a sound body, they say.
For me, it was the opposite. I was born with a body much younger and immature than others, in exchange for remembering my reincarnated life.
Regrettably, the immature body often adversely affected the mature mind. It meant that occasionally my mental age would match my young physical age.
It was the same now.
I halted, trying to puff my cheeks while clenching my round hands.
‘Eek, this is too babylike behavior!’
I tried to censor myself, but strangely, my body didn’t obey me today. The weather was nice, and with the wind brushing my cheeks, I even started to feel sleepy.
‘I truly feel like a baby. I hope Dad comes soon because I’m sleepy.’
Especially on days like today, it was too hard for a baby to resist sleep…
The sunshine was warm, the air was cool, and my cheeks were hot. On such a day, I nodded off on the wall.
How many hours had I napped?
“Little one.”
I rapidly blinked my previously closed eyes and looked forward.
“Yes?”
I tilted my head, my round eyes wide open. Knights holding swords and bows surrounded our house, the small earthen wall, and me. My head was tilted as I looked at the armor glittering with reflected light.
“Is there an adult here?”
“Adult?”
“Yes. Is the gentleman living here around?”
I felt that the gentleman living here was likely my dad.
I instinctively sensed that this situation was dangerous and lied.
“That gentleman went to work.”
“Does the gentleman have… blue eyes, black hair? Is he around thirty…?”
The knight talked to me in a friendly tone.
His eyes were squinting. They had the look often seen in conmen trying to swindle my Dad’s money, which aroused my aversion.
‘It looks like these people are looking for Dad. It’s suspicious.’
If we’re talking about my dad, he’s the most purehearted and kind person in the village…
A pushover.
He’s so softhearted that he donates money to the people in the village under the guise of charity, he works everywhere without charging for labor, and he always smiles helplessly.
Thinking about my Dad, who is so exhausted that he’s like a dumpling that’s been boiled till it’s burst, I had a moment of ominous foreboding.
‘Has Dad finally got involved in something big, like being falsely accused of someone else’s wrongdoing?’
Dad is smart, but he’s so kind that he often loses out. He even occasionally guaranteed others.
Each time, I would present them with one of the lumpy potatoes from our yard and, using my cuteness, I would charm them, cancel their guarantee. I was a child known for her cuteness in this area, so when I beamed at them and asked if they couldn’t cancel, they all melted like eggs in ramen, stroked my head, and disappeared.
The problem was whether my charm would work on these knights.
‘Will my charm work on these knights?’
With a sigh, I puffed out my cheeks that had shrunk like cream buns and said,
“I don’t know. There’s no one like that here.”
And then, I turned my secret weapon, my twinkling eyes, up at them.
The knight’s mouth tightened upon receiving my gaze. I thought it was a failure and widened my eyes, but then the knight said,
“Yyou’re really cute.”
Apparently, my cuteness works everywhere.
With an internal, villainous smile, I responded shamelessly.
“Me too, Ara!”
“Tha, that… could you maybe hold hands….”
Looking at the knight who had his mouth wide open and slowly extending his hand, I shook my head from side to side.
“Not happening.”
The knight, hastily gaining his senses, shook his head several times, and then nudged the man standing next to him.
“So, what do we do now?”
“We’ve come here after receiving a report that she is certainly here, this is troublesome.”
“Do we need to withdraw for now? Should we return tomorrow?”
While they were speaking, I pretended not to hear and pondered while maintaining a calm facade.
‘Phew, fortunately, my dad seems to be excluded from the dragon’s deck.’
The knights, who were buzzing, were glancing at me… but that doesn’t really matter!
Pouting my lips and filled with a glint of defiance in my eyes, I thought.
‘I need to dig out what happened to my dad at night, and if it’s serious, I need to escape at night, no choice.’
There’s a reason why the ThirtySix Stratagems become a rule.
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
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Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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