NOVEL LINKS
total of 210 chapters + 25 extras
english translations (ongoing, as of 20th Jan 2020): https://blackbox-tl.com/novels/hsav/
mtl/machine translation (completed, tho the translation can get pretty bad & confusing): https://www.mtlnovel.com/how-to-survive-as-a-villain/
read in chinese: https://m.shubl.com/book/book_detail/100087513
I swear, this story is like a combination of MDZS and Scum Villian (๑•ㅂ•)و✧ And this is now my fave novel <33 Ahhhh i cant wait to read it <3 thank you for this info! If only I can read chinese...
Btw I have a question... since its BL and they got married.... did they do ‘it’ ? I mean did the author wrote the ‘it’? ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
yes they do! (≧∀≦) it's funny because they kept making plans to do it but don't get to go all the way thanks to the mc's poor health at some point. i also gotta warn u that something super angsty happens before they get the chance to actually do it...
ah wait soz i could've worded that better... i meant that when they first do it, they don't go all the way at first due to the mc's poor health. but when they finally do it (after major angst), they go all the way (▰˘◡˘▰)
Ahh that angst will surely break my kokoro :’) dont tell me, is it misunderstandings? Gosh I wish I can understand chinese. It will take so long for eng trans for be completed
T-They did it!! Ack I wanna read that part lmao. Their relationship is just so adorable and my love for them is the same as WangXian (looking forward to the fluffs and papapa lolololol)
yes :"(( misunderstandings, leading to major character death... well, i'll stop there. but if you have read and could handle "The Husky and his White Cat Shizun" (2ha for short), this is a piece of cake ^^ maybe u could try mtl? i have a twitter friend who's reading it by mtl, and they google translated the mtl parts that don't make sense. just be careful of the character names, apparently they get translated into smtg weird haha.
or in the meantime if you enjoyed MDZS, i'll recommend "Heaven Official's Blessing" (TGCF), if you haven't read it! it's by the same author and (currently) her latest work. the author's writing improved and in my opinion tgcf was better that mdzs (in terms of plot execution, development & writing style), and though there is no papapa, it's perfect without it ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~ it's also fully translated :"D
...
*dies of cuteness*
(novel links are in the comment section of this topic! the review ended up being quite long lol)
the novel that this manhua is based on is one of my favourite danmei (bl) novels. the love i have for this novel is on par with Mo Dao Zu Shi, which says a lot given how much of an impact and success mdzs had in 2019. i guess the reason stems largely from the fact that i'm a sucker for historical fiction, especially war fiction, and war plays a major plot point in this story, in addition to the love between the mc & ml. i'll go ahead and list out some things that i absolutely love about the novel, with some warnings:
- historical/war fiction
- the romance btwn the mc & ml is akin to romeo & juliet
- with that being said, there is a lot of angst especially later on into the story, but also a lot of sweet & fluffy moments in between— and it's a happy ending!
- the comedy is off the charts
- xiao yu'an (mc) is proactive! he's not one of those dumb, perpetually weak mcs and he's got a positive, almost silly attitude that makes him likeable. honestly he's a cinnamon roll who's trying his best, please protect him. behind his smile he's got an angsty backstory though, so watch out for that
- yan he qing (ml) is one of the nicest, most realistic i've read— he's gentle, quiet, caring; doesn't force the mc and even looks out for him, plus he's sexy ;)
- mc & ml maintain a respectful & playful relationship throughout despite the odds of their backgrounds, though they do encounter a lot of misunderstandings which leads to angst, but it's all resolved eventually
- although this is a transmigration novel, there's NO System! (System; i.e., the invisible voice that guides the mc and adds/minus points that can affect the mc's survival rate) hence, the mc can do whatever he does— though all actions have consequences...
- there's a side gay couple and a lesbian couple ヾ(☆▽☆)
- in a lot of "harem" stories the author doesn't show us what happens to the ladies that don't end up becoming accepted into the ml's "harem" (bc the ml falls in love with mc so the harem never happens duh), but in this one, the author actually takes time to show us some of the happy endings of the harem ladies/men and i love that
- some characters that you might end up having a soft spot for might go crazy, get really hurt, or d-word in the future, so please beware of the angst— like i said, war plays a major plot point, and with war comes death
- i said i'm a sucker for historical fiction, but did i mention that i'm also a sucker for angst? seriously it can get really heartbreaking and tearjerking at times, but it all gets better, i promise. in my opinion, it's worth it.
!!! FLUFFY SPOILERS BELOW !!!
since i mentioned a lot of angst, here are some fluff scenes between mc & ml to reel you in:
- our oblivious mc keeps trying his best to pair ml up with the female leads but ml only has eyes for him
- ml has a HUGE thing for mc's smile. it's mentioned several times in the story that ml loves seeing mc smile; it's a sight ml wishes to etch into his memory forever
- at one point, mc calls ml "husband", and ml calls mc "wife" back indulgently
- ml falls in love first... mc is oblivious since he believes that ml will have a harem in the future
- at one point mc is taking care of the injured ml, but due to reasons mc is disguising himself as a girl. ml later finds out that mc has been taking care of him all along, and wants to stay with mc longer. but his wound is healing rapidly due to his protagonist halo. so what does ml do? he worsens his own wound! Σ( ￣□￣||)
- ml gifts mc a jade pendant that his mother had passed down to him while mc gifts ml a jade flute, because he knows that ml knows how to play it. in the "original" story, ml gifts the jade pendant to the first female lead as a sign of love, and plays the jade flute for his lovers. but here ml only wants mc to have the jade pendant and he only plays the flute for the mc— hence, symbolism of their love.
- (what happens to those gifts will break your heart but also eventually mend them)
- a matchmaker points out that mc has a thing for ml
- when ml confesses, mc panics and asks ml "what kind of love is it? the brotherly kind of love or the romantic kind of love?" and ml pins mc down, then proceed to say just what kind of love it is— by going into explicit detail how he wants to "do" the mc
⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄
- i can't really elaborate this without giving out important spoilers, so i'll just say this: mc & ml shop for wedding clothes at one point. mc promises to "do it" with ml after they have a wedding, and ml rushes the wedding clothes preparations to just one day (meaning he wants to get married asap so they can do it XD)
- mc (since he came from the modern world), teaches ml "i love you" (in english)— it's their secret phrase of love
!!! end spoilers !!!