The Novel with the Gay Birds

Su Yan had actually remembered that he still hadn't read any bl stories even though he himself was already publishing his second story. This couldn't go on! He had to finally take a look at a few of them to learn what this genre was really about. There certainly were some things to take note of too just like with the xianxia stories he had read before.

He opened the website where he was publishing too and went to his own profile. Since his boyfriend had made the effort to put some things into his library he should make use of that. He scrolled through the list and his eyes lit up.

"Awr, Ah Chang, you're too nice to me! You actually left me little messages!" Su Yan grinned happily and read through Nie Chang's notes. There was one for every novel he had put into the library.

Some were just descriptions of varying length like [A sweet story about a veterinary and the owner of his patient] or [This story is about a transmigrator that becomes a disciple in a daoist sect and is faced with the advances of his junior martial brother]. Mn, the second one sounded quite similar to 'Like a Ray in My Night' so it seemed even though he didn't know the genre yet he hadn't done anything too strange. Well, it figured, otherwise, the system certainly would have warned him.

Su Yan shook his head and looked further through Nie Chang's notes. Some seemed to have other information in addition to the description. For example, there was a story where Nie Chang had written [A short novel about an actor and a businessman falling in love. It's a lot like some famous female lead novels so you might feel it's familiar]. There was even one story where he had noted down [It's set in a xianxia world and follows a few common tropes of the genre so this might be a good novel to start reading].

Su Yan smiled even more brightly. Ah, his boyfriend cared so much for him! He even made suggestions with what he should start! Mn, he shouldn't let his good intentions go to waste. It really would be best if he read this novel first.

He almost clicked on it but still reconsidered in the end. It would also be letting Nie Chang down if he didn't look at the rest of the list first. Maybe Nie Chang had found him some alternative that was saved further down? He should take a look at everything first before he started reading!

Su Yan scrolled further down, his mood climbing higher and higher. Nie Chang had really put a lot of effort into this although it had seemed as if he finished with putting the books in his library after just a few minutes. Mn, his boyfriend was really great.

Su Yan almost wanted to scroll up again when he glanced at the last novels when his gaze seemed to be magically drawn to a rather strange looking cover. The background was pink and there were four chicks scribbled in the four corners that were linked through some kind of twisting vine. The rest of the cover was covered by a title in bold characters that read [The Adventures of the Four Birds].

Su Yan frowned. 'The Adventures of the Four Birds'? What kind of title was that? No, what kind of novel was that? Nie Chang didn't really want to tell him that there were even novels about gay birds, did he?

Su Yan took a look at the message Nie Chang had left with that one and raised his brows. It seemed he wasn't that far off. Nie Chang had actually written more than usual for this novel:

[This novel is about four men who travel together in search of suitable marriage partners. The further they go the more theirs goals change though. This is one of the weirder novels in the genre so I wouldn't recommend reading it soon. It would be better to only have a look at this after you've read several of the other novels so you won't get a crooked view on the genre.]

Su Yan pursed his lips. Why should he get a crooked view on the genre just because he read this novel? From his explanation it didn't sound so strange. Actually, it even started to make sense: It was a novel about four men who set out on a journey together, hence an adventure of four people. The birds were probably only some kind of metaphor to show that those four would find freedom on this journey or maybe he already found their freedom when they set out.

As for why this was part of the bl genre … Wasn't that obvious too? Those four wanted to find women to marry but would probably all go home with a man! Or at least one or two of them would. What was strange about that? They had probably just needed a bit more time to understand what they wanted.

As someone who had also needed a bit more time to figure out his own feelings Su Yan could understand very well why this might be a problem for someone. Look at him! Because of how his father had raised him he hadn't even known there were gay people! And he was someone living in the twenty-first century!

He only needed his little finger to figure out just how hard it would have been for someone to recognize his true feelings in ancient times. And honestly, a novel where four men set out to find marriage partners? This could only be something set in ancient times!

His curiosity piqued, Su Yan clicked on the novel Nie Chang hadn't recommended to read for now. Mn, his boyfriend had gotten it wrong this time. It was just that he couldn't understand the genius of this author because he had always known he was gay! But for him who had experienced similar problems as the protagonists of this novel this was the perfect novel indeed.

Ah, he couldn't wait to read this!