DANMEI Reading List (RAW)

164. The Rental Shop Owner

Translator: Chinese BL translations

Chapters: 17 + 2 Extras

Tags: modern, reversible CP, introvert MC, troublemaker ML, younger ML, ML with sad past, character growth

Synopsis:

I think that was the moment when everything started to change.

I don’t know why but I had never liked anyone in all those years. Even though I liked men, I had never taken a liking to any.

I thought it was out of sympathy and pity at that time.

But someone once said that love stemming from sympathy and pity is actually more down-to-earth. I think it was Zheng Zhihua talking about his wife.

Impressions: Have you read this? This has actually been on my TBR for a long long time but for some reason, I keep running over to looong untranslated danmei instead of finishing off this short fully translated one.

The cutesy cover + the title, I thought this would be a fluffy slice of life told from the perspective of a Rental Shop Owner about his customers/daily life maybe? Booy, was I wrong.

So our MC is a rental shop owner bored with life. There's a punk who always visits his rental store and 'borrows' his collection of gay movies without returning them. After some time, our punk ML hits some kinda nerve on our MC and MC ATTEMPTS to beat him up. This all ends horribly wrong with ML ending up sentenced 10 years into prison. So our MC feels guilty.

ML was a little brat. MC is older and he started it, but it caused our teenager ML to be in jail. So he visits him and awkwardly tells him to study hard. Laters, due to good behavior, ML gets released early and went to find MC and confess his love btw. They try it but they have to be in a long distance relationship cos ML works far away from MC. MC is worried about ML cos his job seems dangerous, he is all but ready to sell everything and go to him when ML suddenly breaks contact. MC is worried that he's in a bad crowd and later confirm that its true ane chases after him. But ML also wants out cos he wants to be with MC now. Luckily, they both didn't get killed. Laters, they become a secret gay couple. The End.

It wasn't heavy but its fairly serious. There's the jail, ML's dangerous work and his sad past. MC's POV is also somewhat bland(?), so it doesn't feel fluffy or lighthearted. I suppose I really like MC's growth when he started liking ML and started going out of his comfort zone for him. Also, like how much ML loves our MC. This pitiful younger ML just somehow pokes my meng point.

The Extras from their fujoshi shop assistant POV was pretty funny though and I also liked the last extra with ML POV. I just wished it was shown how he fell for our MC~~~

Read this. Read this. Anyways its just a few short chapters and even fully translated. It wa somewhat interesting that MC & ML can switch but I still prefer to think of our MC as the shou XD XD XD