Prince charming, your persona has collapsed! - Chapter 26 - 21: The Moon Shines Brightly over My Hometown

Ruan Yōu became a brainless cannon fodder in the Mary Sue entertainment novel, with fair skin, a beautiful face, and long legs. She was criticized by fans as “trying to climb up” after looking at the top male lead too much, and the female lead took the opportunity to suppress her, causing her career to plummet.

Ruan Yōu accepted her fate and decided to retire from the industry to study finance and live a laid-back life as a salted fish.

However, her billionaire parents and CEO brother came knocking on her door, their eyes filled with guilt.

Ruan Yōu: ?!

Retiring forty years early and living a life reclining on the couch as a rich woman has just arrived!

**

Fu Jiazhan had known since he was a child that the little princess who had been betrothed to him had gone missing.

Mrs. Ruan spent her days in tears, holding his hand and choking out, “If Yōuyōu hadn’t gone missing, you and she would be about the same age, and you could have grown up together and taken care of her.”

Fu Jiazhan remembered those words, and when Yōuyōu returned to the wealthy family, he prepared to take care of her as her fiancé. But his future mother-in-law found three rivals for him.

- Description from Novelupdates

In this world, there are people who, despite having both talent and luck, always fall a step short of happiness, and Lin Xiaoguai, unfortunately yet fortunately, is among them.Born in the sixties as the beloved youngest daughter in her family, Lin Xiaoguai was both beautiful and intelligent. However, she was burdened with four mediocre and weak older brothers and four formidable sisters-in-law. Her family background was initially poor, dimming her prospects, but just at the right age, she encountered the restoration of the college entrance examination and succeeded in entering university. Her father, overjoyed by the occasion, went to sleep never to wake again, leaving Lin Xiaoguai devastated and ill. During her high fever and delirium, her greedy in-laws married her off. Fortunately, she met a decent man, but his family proved to be a relentless headache, ultimately costing her the ability to become a mother.Disheartened, she divorced and moved far away. On her own, she carved out a new world in the city, living comfortably and leisurely with money and leisure, but unexpectedly, in her later years, she suddenly acquired a powerful ability that should have appeared decades earlier. Thankfully, her broad-mindedness prevented her from succumbing to depression.When calamity struck, she thought her end had come but woke to find herself back at the beginning.Considering her past, Lin Xiaoguai realized that if she wasted this second chance, she would truly be foolish.

The Path to Immortality is elusive, and everyone wants to achieve it even if there's only a glimmer of hope.Tian Yongheng is a person who regained his past life memories after his family was brutally slaughtered. His extreme fear of death and desire to be undying have forced him to step onto this dangerous path of Immortal Cultivation.He is not a Chosen One who is the favored son of heavens, nor is he the reincarnation of a Great Emperor. Armed with a unique system of unknown origins and his obsession with immortality, he sets forth to carve a way of his own in this world where fate toys with one's very existence itself and cosmic horror-like beings devour universes for fun.However, can he really touch the illusory, eternal and ethereal Immortal Dao that is everlasting and everchanging?Will he ever be able to reach the end of this grand path to eternity, establishing himself as a myth and beyond? or will he also drown in the long river of history just like many others?-------The background settings and world building of this story are greatly inspired by Top Tier Providence, Secretly Cultivate for a Thousand Years. the main characters are also pretty similar, so if you like stories where the MC is a hidden powerhouse who, despite being hidden, is still known across the world, then you can give it a try. Please be patient while reading, as this is my first time writing a novel and don't hesitate to point out any mistakes I do in the comments.Also, I'm not a native of China, so there are probably going to be a lot of mistakes in names and history and stuff, please bear with it.Note: English is not my first language and the cover image is not mine.

[TRIGGER WARNING: Mature Content + Dark Themes]EXCERPT:“Axel, no. We… can’t do this!” I jolted back when he pulled up my skirt.As if to retaliate, he grabbed my wrist and yanked my body to his. “We can do whatever I say we can do, María José.”“I’m your brother’s reject. Do you even hear yourself right now? He didn’t want me, Axel. What does that make me to you?”“I don’t care about Álvaro’s foolishness. It's his loss for losing a woman like you.”“Okay, I must confess. I'm not worried about him either. It's Rosa… you're getting engaged to my sister in a month!”“Let me remind you, María José—I don’t give a fuck about that, either.”No matter how hard I jerked, he wasn’t letting me go. And part of me—so, so foolishly—didn’t want him to.______Having spent her life avoiding the spotlight, María Jośe never imagined she’d be the one to bring shame to her esteemed De la Vega family. With beauty as captivating as a field of lilies, she is the prized daughter of an ambitious father who cares more for his reputation than his children’s happiness.When Álvaro Montenegro, the arrogant heir to the Alpha title, sets his sights on her as his chosen Luna, María Jośe is desperate for a way out.But everything changes when the Moon Goddess answers her prayer in the most unexpected way: María Jośe discovers she is an Omega—wolfless and the lowest rank in the pack. Once held in awe, she is now shunned; a source of shame to her father and a target for ridicule in the pack.As her life turns upside down , María Jośe's hatred for the pack grows. The only solace she finds is in her growing, forbidden bond with Axel Montenegro—Álvaro’s older brother, who has turned his back on the pack to live as Beta.These two developed a love-hate friendship born from their shared disdain for the pack’s cruelty, which slowly evolves into a passionate, secret romance.But when Álvaro discovers Axel’s interest in María Jośe, jealousy ignites within him and he suddenly wants María Jośe as his own.Love, vengeance, and betrayal all brewed into a whirlwind of drama, desires, and deadly comebacks. Will María Jośe rise from the ashes of her former life, or will she be consumed by the power struggles of the pack she despises? Will she give in to the oldest brother who is scared of commitment or the younger one who fiercely seeks redemption?