There's a Prince with an Illness in the Mountains
Synopsis: [Melodramatic, Crybaby Prince x Righteous Country Girl]
[Mountainous version of Pride and Prejudice | Real-life "X-Change" show]
[Mutual Redemption]
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In the spring of 2010, the large-scale urban-rural exchange reality show "Exchanging Lives" was a national hit. Xu Sirui, playing games at an internet cafe, overheard girls around him discussing the show's content and scoffed: a broken variety show full of scripts and routines, yet some people actually take it seriously.
Three days later, he was tricked by his parents into a remote mountain village. A middle-aged man approached him with a film crew, his right hand extended, a wide smile on his face: "You must be Xu Sirui, the internet-addicted young master of Delicious Food Company, right? I'm the producer of "Exchanging Lives," nice to meet you! Your parents signed you up for our wayward youth reform show. For the next semester, you'll be living with a villager's family, experiencing the impoverished life in the mountains, striving to overcome your internet addiction, turn over a new leaf, and become a new person." Xu Sirui: "...?"
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The so-called villager was a short-haired country girl, driving an ox cart, with dark skin and a plain appearance. Yet, she named herself Zhu Yingning, like the beautiful fox spirits in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," and her greatest hobby was upholding justice and punishing evil.
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On Xu Sirui's first day in the mountains, Zhu Yingning thought he was an incurable, severe prince. On the second day, she suspected he was a pervert. On the fourth day, the pervert escalated to a violent maniac. Only on the fifth day did she discover he was just a blustering crybaby.
Zhu Yingning saw a glimmer of hope for his reform. She taught him to eat flowers, took him to play with firecrackers, helped him navigate peer relationships, and tried every possible way to get him back on track. Just as she was about to succeed, the show was suddenly halted, and Xu Sirui vanished without a trace.
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They met again in the capital. She was studying alone, a "beipiao" (drifter to Beijing), her luggage a greasy snakeskin bag. Beijing was bustling, people coming and going, burying the dreams of countless outsiders. He became her first anchor in this city. Amidst the great waves of life, he uplifted her entire life.
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[Reading Guide]
① The history of a prince's cure and a mountain girl's struggle. In the early stages, the male lead goes to the countryside; later, the female lead emerges from the mountains.
② The male and female leads are not perfect characters. The male lead is a late-stage prince, and the female lead is not pretty or soft. Others train the male lead like a wolfhound; the female lead trains him like a beagle.
③ This is a growth-oriented, realistic, slow-paced novel, not a fast-paced, satisfying read. It will cover the male and female leads' lives from junior high school until they enter the workforce.
④ Male lead is C (chaste), female lead status is undetermined (not guaranteed C).
⑤ More detailed trigger warnings are in the author's notes of Chapter 28.
Content Tags: Happy Enemies, Inspirational, Counter-attack, Main Story, Daily Life, Reality.
Characters: Zhu Yingning, Xu Sirui.
Brief summary: Dog training literature, but for a beagle.
Theme: I am born a mountain, not a stream.