This is my third Hui Nan Que novel, and I refuse to read a translation that isn't complete. This one is well done, but it still ran to mtl. Hah :-)

The translator says this is her favourite novel by the author. Mine is, of course, "Green Plum Island". It was so heartwarming and undramatic that the next, "Chen Shen", was a surprise to me.

And then I got to "Inferior by Nature". It was much tougher and more violent than I expected.

Frankly, the part with the MC's illness was poorly written and unconvincing. The ending was disappointing because the author didn't convince me.

However, I can say with confidence that she was medically well prepared. It is possible for these diagnoses to be mixed up.

Let's go to ML. I liked him, but he was undoubtedly the "disappointment of the year". He came across as dumb as a jackass to me at the end.

Frankly, it's beyond my comprehension how anyone could be so foolish and yet somehow maintain an air of plausibility to the very end. He carried the traitor's thing on his person for about five years without being particularly attracted to him or in love with him!

I was also offended by his decision to throw the unhealthy MC into the wall. He didn't throw him, he sealed him in. And its bumped his already sore head.

Let me be clear: this is a story about a man with extremely low self-esteem and an orientation toward the external rather than the internal. Once again, we are presented with the narrative of "his love saved me, " rather than the "I love myself" that we might have wanted.

It's not my style, but I accept it.

The book is excellently written. This is an example of the principle of "show, not tell". It made me think about it endlessly, with a fluttering heart.

I give the author 5, but the text gets a 4. The text gets a 4 this time. Frankly, I wasn't blown away by the story because of the ending.

P.S. I didn't even bother hating the third person in their love story. But he is, without a doubt, gross.

Translator here! BXXD (秉性下等/Bing Xing Xia Deng, Chinese title) is a modern day novel that features a musician MC (Ji Ning) with a terminal illness in the form of a brain tumor. MC has already resigned himself to death, but one of his biggest regrets involves something he did to the ML (Ran Qingzhuang) during high school. Thanks to a coincidental reunion, MC meets ML again during the last few months of his life, and he begins to try to atone for all the ways he "wronged" ML. By doing... more>> so, he gets himself increasingly involved in a dangerous organized crime group that ML has joined.

BXXD is truly a classic HNQ novel: dog blood, angst, drama. That also comes with numerous content warnings, which I will include below, as well as several 18+ scenes. This is the kind of novel best suited for those who enjoy MCs that are the self-sacrificial type, with low self-esteem, and have acts of service as a love language; or MLs who are silent protectors, quite stubborn/tough (嘴硬), but ultimately so, so committed.

If you tend to get easily frustrated by characters who would rather (literally) die than admit certain things about themselves - you may want to skip this novel. On the other hand, if you have a soft spot for those kinds of characters (like me), Ji Ning will become your new son that must be protected at all costs. In addition, ML does have a romantic history with another side character, but there is no cheating/unfaithfulness.

This is my favorite HNQ novel, and its updates were something I looked forward to every day, so I'm very happy to be translating it! If you choose to read it, I hope you'll also enjoy Ji Ning and Ran Qingzhuang's love story.

Content warnings: minor description of animal gore, terminal illness, unhealthy family relationships (ab*se as discipline), dub/non-con (drugging), needles, descriptions of torture <<less

Read this novel by mtl in one sitting after being introduced by the translator and absolutely enjoyed it! This is going to be a ramble.

Ngl, I get tired of the overpowered perfect MC archetype because I usually like MCs that have flaws, that face challenges, that struggle, that go through character progression. This MC thus is great because he fulfilled all my criteria. Especially also because he's another case of a shou that loves their gong extremely (as much as their gong loves them or even more!) instead of being... more>> the cliche ice-cold indifferent or reluctant.

MC is a case of unreliable narrator, partly because of his amnesia and partly because of his somewhat abnormal way of thinking. Fatalistic and self-sacrificing. I love it. In his memories, he kept thinking of his relationship with ML as friendship at best, when it was pretty clear his words and actions showed he was in love way before he remembered he was in love. Despite being self-sacrificing, he's not a saint but for one person, and he's not a passive character either. Despite being a cellist, he was very active in moving the plot of this mafia/organized crime setting interestingly. It's a great suspenseful story, where the mix of romantic and non-romantic plot was serviced well.

ML himself is also an imperfect character, with a rough background, and dislikes the MC for their past. But I don't blame him because he was very human and not omnipotent. Despite his rough words, he's always shown his love through his actions and protection. Also, I get tired of novels where gongs are always in the wrong or who have to grovel or worship a shou. So it's refreshing to find novels where they're treated like an actual person (aka with more respect), or where they're not wronged for being a victim of manipulation/deception/etc. (Side note: I don't understand why lots of novels beatdown or "faceslap" people for having been manipulated because they're victims too and gets really old sometimes)

Also I want to say f that guy LS <<less

Ji Ning (MC) upon discovering that he has brain tumour chose palliative care instead of operation since it was a complicated and a high risk one. He met Ran Qingzhuang (ML) his high school friend by chance when he went to play cello at an event. He wanted to make up to Ran Qingzhuang for reporting him and Lin Sheng to the school when he saw them making out in a classroom.

As the MC have brain tumour, please take his POV with a grain of salt. ML wasn't scummy, he's... more>> a caring guy. The two of them just have too much misunderstanding and the time they met up again was just so rocky. The whole plot made me jittery while exploring through the dark secrets of the Jin family. The first person's POV also made me feel so much everytime I see his illness act up. The MC is also one of the "all-out" MCs when in the mood. The usual MCs were all like "no stop I can't take it anymore" but this MC was like MORE!!! And those seductive words he spew was just so hot. The

Spoiler

tattoo really

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made everything even hotter.

The last few chapters made me cried. Don't worry it's a HE but it's just very emotional. Really another nice novel from Hui Nanque! <<less

Every novel by this author goes by the same formula: misunderstandings, unreliable narrator, and drowning in dogblood. I could basically predict what the misunderstanding was going to be, but it was still such a relief when the truth was revealed. It takes them a while, but the full truth does come out eventually.

The premise of this novel features a cellist MC who has basically no self-esteem or ability to stand up for himself, with a stoic and hard on the outside but inner romantic type of ML. Without MC's brain... more>> tumor, it's safe to say that they would have never reconciled in this lifetime, but luckily for the plot, death is a big enough motivator for MC to inch his way out of his comfort zone.

For anyone worried about the past love:

Spoiler

ML basically never truly had feelings for him, as all the reasons he thought he liked his high school sweetheart were fake. MC was his true first love all along...

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I cried a bit reading, but it was honestly a bit too dramatic for my taste. The ending:

Spoiler

The author kind of just hand waved his brain tumor away, which I get was necessary for a HE but I do feel a tragedy would have been more effective narratively. I probably wouldn't have read this if it was a tragedy though, so thank you author for not ending it in MC's death lol

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I love the translation as well, but I couldn't wait so I did end up MTL'ing (this author's writing style is pretty easy to MTL as it's in first person POV), but best believe the translation is definitely worth waiting for! <<less

If you are fan of angst, look no more this is the novel for you. Author is really an expert in this genre. MC and ML are both super likeable character, we have kind of like the amnesia trope/unreliable narrator going on here and there are misunderstanding, but u don't feel like cliché, its written in a very natural kind of way. The set up is also not repetitive, gangster background. All in all angsty plot with likeable characters, fills you with love, the characters have for each other. And... more>> to the author Hui Nan Que, this is my second novel after fall of rationalism, I really love your style, the characters are really unique and loveable. I love you <3 <<less

This is so freaking good. I only read this via MTL but the story's so engaging that I couldn't put it down. I love thd MC so much, I still can't get enough of their interactions during highschool. I wonder if the extras contain some of the ML's thoughts in highschool? 😭 I'm so glad it's an HE. Highly recommended!

But please be aware of trigger warning: Violence, Crime, Drugs and Death

4.5-5 stars (bring some tissues)

I read this last on my Hui Nan Que-binge a while back, very happy it's getting a translation, it deserves to be wider know.

This one has the best plot of HNQ's novels. While not being my favorite, I think it's still one of the author's best books (along with Old Injury, Eternal Burning, Selfish Gene, Yesterday Was Like Death). The use of unreliable 1st person narrator and non-linear storytelling works very well here. The narrator is extremely unreliable and everything he tells about the past... more>> and the ML should be taken with a hefty dose of salt.

The MC is dying of a brain tumor and his last wish is to make it up to his old high school classmate, the ML, because he betrayed him back when they were in school by exposing his love affair with another male student, getting them both expelled and forced to separate. Which is a terrible thing to do. The MC claims he did it because he and the ML's love interest were competing for a scholarship, and the MC wanted to get rid of the competition.

But the more you read, the more the MC's claim doesn't add up. The MC show himself to be very selfless, morally upright and kind to people around him, and he has a strong moral compass. So very soon it becomes clear that something about his past doesn't add up. As the novel unfolds, the MC grows closer to the ML, who hates him (or does he?) and the past gradually gets uncovered.

The MC and ML are also involved with gangsters, and there's a lot of tension and angst related to that overall plot, because it becomes a matter of life and death to the main characters.

The MC is very pitiful, which is what makes the story very angsty (I cried a lot during some parts). Also there's a very sad story involving animals, so if you have issues with that, be cautious when reading because it's not for the faint at heart.

Overall the story is quite complex and well-written, really recommend. <<less

I liked it very much. The relationship was very natural. The characters are fleshed out. The beginning, development and conclusion of the story complement each other. No nonsense. It's not too much of an exaggeration, love is magnificent from the first scene to the last scene.

I‘m not sure what to rate this story, so I’ll simply say if I had to rate it then it’ll be between either 4 stars or 3, 5.

I find this novel quite good honestly, starting from the title to the cover to the content. But despite that knowing me I still found some faults in it.

before I start the review I’ll like to say that the translation is worthy of praise, I usually never get all that fascinated by translations, but when it comes to this one it’s easy to... more>> understand and neatly done.

now back to the main topic, the characters; I like how they’re portrayed as not good nor bad, they don’t pressure you into liking them nor force you to hate them despite the novel being first pov, the author doesn’t justify anybodies wrong doings only explaining them, in fact it’s up to the reader to have original interruptions about the characters and their actions, which is quite refreshing to me.

next the plot; it has a great pacing and keeps you entertained, it’s been a while since I felt like catching my breath while reading. And what I especially liked about the story was the setting and the way things play out.

the romance; I honestly wasn’t all that interested about it but I think this novel somehow manages to balance between it and the plot which is rare but a good thing at the same time.

now you may ask why did I deduct a star, well you know that feeling of something is missing, like something just doesn’t set right with you, for example:

Spoiler

the ending, the MC’s illness just gets thrown away, honestly I would have preferred a much tragic ending, the MC’s death would have gave a perfect touch to the novel

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well over all the novel is a so-so for me. <<less

One thing that makes a romance novel boring is the slow burn. Usually, I follow the three chapter rule which totally put slow burn novels at a disadvantage. But, for this novel (after reading 2 of HNQ's) I expected a lot. And girl, did not disappoint me at all. I loved the everything about the novel. Including all characters, at some point, I thought Ji Chenyu will become a third party. But meh. I most especially love the MC & ML, truly golden-hearted (that I could never be/have) ... more>> person.

Hui Nan Que, just like that you're on my favorite author list. 🥰 I should've known you earlier.💗 <<less

It’s not that much of a fluffy story but a good read for a weekend stay.

I don’t think this novel is 10/10 rave ratings, but this is also a novel I couldn’t resist MTL in one sitting after reading the beautifully done translations by Tiny Salt. MTL is readable too.

So there are definitely some plus points that’s floating inside here