How to Survive As a Villain

by Yi Yi Yi Yi, 伊依以翼

"How to Survive as a Villain"

Xiao YuAn trasmigrated into a novel. As the homosexual young Emperor imprisoning the Male Lead of a Stallion novel.

This is indeed miserable, and sad.

Because of this, Xiao YuAn began to work hard to survive.

But!

To those cannon fodders, even if you want to badly treat the Male Lead, can you stop sending him to my bed? Xiao YuAn thinks that there’s nothing wrong in pampering the Male Lead, but that’s just because he wants to bathe in the glory of the Protagonist!

Xiao YuAn: “Don’t abuse the Male Lead ever again!!! You guys aren’t afraid of death, but I wanna live!!!”

A story that starts out with the Shou taking care of the Gong, and then, the Gong takes care of the Shou.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, China, LGBT, Historical, Historical Fiction, Queer

1680 pages, Unknown Binding

About the author

Associated Names:
* 伊依以翼 (Chinese)
* Yi Yi Yi Yi (English)
* Y.Y. Dĩ Dực (Vietnamese)

Reviews

[Andegret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Transmigration novels are my biggest guilty pleasure.

To be honest, I didn't expect much from this book, but it turned out to be really good.

The novel has about the same amount of light-heartedness and angst. Sometimes it gets very dark very quickly. There are like 40 consequtive chapters in the middle which are pure emotional suffering that I really liked.

The MC's inner conflict is on point. After transmigrating he goes back and forth from being his own person to assuming the position of the body he's transmigrated into. At places he seemingly can't understand who he really is. Like in the arc with the war/surrender he loses himself completely, and regains his individuality only after escaping from politics. But even then he easily slips into another persona if he's reminded of his body's identity. This all makes the whole transmigration aspect much more realistic.

Special mentions to writing of the mental state of a monarch whose country lost in a war. Angsty to the extreme. The romantic tension was amazing as well.

Storytelling-wise, this book is also really good. It omits all the unnecessary scenes, so every single scene in the novel is impactful and interesting. There are really no places where I as a reader got bored.

The only part of the book that didn't hold up to everything else was the last 20 or so chapters - they were very predictable, had a ton of unnecessary drama, there was also an unnecessary antagonist. The way the doppelganger was used was disappointing as well (when the doppelganger was first introduced to the plot, I thought the author was going for something mind-blowing, but alas, it turnes out in the most predictable way).

But also, that very last bit had a lot of fluff and some of the best jokes in the whole book, so yeah, this novel is actually really good.

The author has at least two other novels, and I need to read them asap.

[richa ⋆.˚★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started it I was enjoying but past 60% of it, I realised how we have lost our direction and the pace. Overall another of my fun, silly little danmei that pushed me out of a slump.

[Aki Ryuichi · Rating 5 out of 5]

No duden jóvenes que TODOS nos merecemos que alguien nos sonría como XYA le sonríe a YHQ y que alguien nos ame tanto como YHQ ama a XYA (y viceversa).

Solo diré: Espléndida, está en mi top.

[sofka · Rating 3 out of 5]

started off pretty fun but halfway through I lost interest very fast; some of the plot points didn't add up and the choices characters made were pretty shitty ngl - how do you, as an emperor of a country that got literally obliterated in the war, just forget about the people closest to you who died and instead of idk mourning them and distancing yourself from the enemy to have a think!!, you just don't do that. lmao instead you chase the main lead (who is, coincidentally, the man who killed your people) around;all the while making excuses for everything that happened with yeah lol that's war that's how it was supposed to be;; yeah the plot got even more sloppy after 70% ;; a lot of characters that I thought were actually important to the plot just straight up disappeared from it and never showed up once after, while the others were there either a) to die for the drama or b) to serve as a ridiculous plot twist for the drama. the end was shit and the build up to it didn't exist. 3 stars only cause the first 35-45 per cent were somewhat fun.

[Huoshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

'𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶.'

[hirene "read omniscient reader's viewpoint" chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe it's the otome isekai manhwa lover in me but i lovee isekai'd as the villain

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll keep this review short since I've read a few other fantastic reviews on here that are way better than what I could write. This story was much more romance heavy than I anticipated which was perfect after reading the slow AF burn Thousand Autumns. The one gripe that I have is the 30ish chapters (the chapters are fairly short) of miscommunication/misunderstanding in the middle of the book that about killed me. I had to look for a spoiler to see if it lasted for the entirety of the book because I cannot handle that. The angst definitely increased but the cuteness and fluff did as well.

What I loved:
❤️Xiao Yu'an and Yan Heqing were THE cutest!
❤️Multiple gay relationships including a W/W
❤️The confessions- absolute perfection!
❤️XY's eagerness and nervousness, being bold then being shy- he is just the best (reminds me a little of Song Qingshi from MISVIL)
❤️The sweet sacrifices they made for each other without the other one knowing
❤️The humor
❤️The overall range of emotions this book made me feel

What I didn't love:
❌The miscommunication/misunderstanding in the middle and a little right before the end. I love angst but if it's miscommunication, it needs to be resolved quickly and/or not be the cause any major harmful events.


I read a fan translation of the complete novel immediately after finishing Vol. 1 of the official English licensed book by Rosmei because I was hooked and too impatient to wait. I loved their comments and notes at the end of each chapter almost more than I liked Rosmei's!

Okay, this review was not short 🙄

[Hugo #freepalestine · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book has such a way of pulling me from my boredom. because there's some parts like just a small amount of it where the story became a bit tedious, when I felt that. the next chapter usually just action and the plot is actually plotting and it prevent me to become bored.
I love our main characters, I love how they interact with each other, and how devoted they are.
I'm really really glad they are not one dimensional.

[NiaKantorka · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars

Sadly, this one was not for me. In the beginning I was entertained by Xiao YuAn‘s laidback charming and funny personality, but he just stayed like that for the whole book. He mostly acted before he thought and that grew old pretty fast. It took nearly two thirds for him and Yan HeQing‘s to get over their ongoing miscommunication and that’s the trope I can stand the least. I was pretty close to not finishing the story then and again during the extras. Honestly, I also started to skim through parts because I just wanted to be done with it.

I’m still not sure what Yan HeQing‘s personality was about. He was handsome and proud and in love with Xiao YuAn. He was handsome because he was the protagonist of a stallion novel, he was proud because he was a prince who lost his family and at times his kingdom and his pride was the one remaining feature to have. Why he loved Xiao YuAn? Well, I don’t really know: XYA was handsome no matter what body he was in, he was kind though I’m not sure how smart he really was with some of the things he thought were good ideas, he had a smile that made YHQ melt, and he talked a lot of nonsense (for people in a historical setting). All in all I had a hard time to believe their connection and the plot was way too repetitive for my liking.

I also couldn’t believe how weak some of the plot twists were. I won’t elaborate more on them not to spoil this book for others, but honestly now I regret to have bought the first volume of the official translation (even though the cover looks really pretty on the shelf) and I hope I can cancel my preorder of the second volume.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was on reddit looking for recommendations of authors who write better than the usual danmei standard, and this author was recommended. Picked this up, but I found her prose pretty standard. Nevertheless, I read most of this book. This starts out with lots of comedy and then the tragedy hits later on. The tropes are similar to The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 1 and the like, where the main character transmigrates into the villain and then in an attempt to save himself and prevent his future murder by the protagonist (the love interest), he is exceptionally nice to the protagonist, who then falls in love with him.

For this specific type of transmigration narrative, there is usually some sort of big misunderstanding in the middle where our main character may fake his death causing lots of angst before reconciling with the love interest. Part of the main character's arc is realizing that this transmigrated world is real and not just a romp.

These elements were all present here. One thing I do like about this author is how short her chapters are. They tell the event and they move on, so you don't have a lot of dragged out filler content. I still found this novel to be a bit too long, but overall, this is a good pick if you like the 'transmigrated into the villain' trope with comedy and angst.

[Sir croak-a-lot 🐸 ⚔️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this during one of my breaks from YUWU and it was exactly what i needed. It kinda read like trashy fanfic at times, but that’s why I liked it lol😅 i only have three issues with this book
1- Yan HeQing. He was a little boring. Most of his personality was him just being in love with our MC. I wanted more from him. This isn’t a huge issue, I just didn’t really care for him.
2- The miscommunication. OMG, it was BAD. Not bad enough for me to dnf or lower my rating, but bad enough for me to put the book down and take a walk a couple times.
3- Our Mc was a little dumb 😭 this was a big reason for the miscommunication. Please, please, please use your brains!!!

The good outweighs the bad though. I know I just insulted the Mc, but I loved him even though he was DUMB. I loved that he stayed himself despite everything he went through. He didn’t lose his silliness and Im very happy about that.
The side characters are all lovely. They all had distinct personalities and the way they all cared for each other was sweet. Theres even another mm couple and a wlw couple that I really liked.

Anyway, jt was a fun read and that’s all I needed. Definitely re-reading!

[Veronika · Rating 3 out of 5]

That Time I Got Reincarnated as the Homosexual Villain of a Straight Harem Novel
All my years of laughing at isekais and young adult romance novels have caught up to me. Karma is deliciously evil and now I, a literary snob, found myself reading an absolutely insane transmigration novel. My ancestors are surely rotating in their graves with enough power to bring electricity to a small village.
Well, enough of these laments. I stumbled across hsav while searching for danmei that has lesbian side couples. I was simply curious if such a thing exists. In any other situation I doubt I would have touched the novel, but somehow, bored out of my mind, I read it despite cringing at the insane few chapters.
HSAV is a bit of a parody novel. I read through the first few chapters without comprehending much (what the hell is an evil president quote even?) and only persevered through the beginning of the actual story because I was curious about what would happen. As it stands, curiosity killed the cat and I found myself actually emotionally invested. The tone of the story in the beginning doesn't prepare you for the kind of real emotions involved later. I got attached to all the wrong characters who ended up dying of course. The shock about the realness of this world is doubly experienced by both the reader and the isekai'd protagonist, who until then is seen being mostly carefree in this world he has been transported to.
For the first half of the novel you have the honor of watching the main character be impossibly dense - he's convinced the male lead hates him while at the same time he's trying to set him up with who he remembers are the wives in his harem in the original novel. Spoiler alert: the male lead is not interested in any of the women anymore. Hilariously the main character refuses to realize that in "taking over the plotline of the wives" he is becoming... the wife.
As for the characters I'd say the male lead is a bit shallow. We don't know that much about him beyond his bullheaded dedication to the main character. Otherwise even the main character has good character building and has a compelling backstory despite the crazy few chapters from before he was isekai'd.
And of course I can't not mention the humor and references. Throughout the whole novel our main character proceeds to terrify these poor (early middle ages? ancient? not sure about the time period) side characters by reciting Marx and Mao and singing Chinese pop songs in what I have no doubt is the typical ahjeossi at karaoke voice. I'd like to thank the author also to teaching me more about marxian dialectics than my four years at a liberal arts college. Also are all the authors of danmei secretly Chinese literature majors? How is it that there's constant literary references even in this work. Either China is doing something right when it comes to literature education or university professors over there write isekais in their spare time.
I gave this three stars but please consider it praise. It is simply that I'm comparing it to the other danmei I've read and that is being compared to books I read in general.

[Inn Auni · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEWARE of SPOILER

I came across the manhua and it was so good and yet the update was a bit slow. So, I decided to do some searching and I hit the jackpot. The manhua was adapted from a novel. Even though the novel was still in the process of translation at the time but, it was a bit further than the manhua.

The ML was like any other ML. He was stoic and cool and reserved. In short, he's like any other ML in most novels and dramas nowadays. The MC, however, was the opposite of him. Xiao YuAn was the head of his family. Since he was young, he was groomed to handle business and of course, memorized all the lines that a tyrannical president should say when he met his lover. Unfortunately, Xiao YuAn had no interest in any of it. Whenever he had free time, he spent it reading novels. And one of the novels was a stallion novel about the ML, Yan HeQing, who formed a harem while making his way to the top of the world.

Long story short, Xiao YuAn transmigrated into the novel as one of the villains. He was the king from the North that opposed Yan HeQing who was from the South. Knowing the bad ending of the cannon fodder character, Xiao YuAn decided to change the course of the event even at the cost of his life. Instead of being remembered as the scum king, he wanted to contribute something in Yan HeQing quest to unite the countries.

Not once in his life that he ever imagined instead of a harem, Yan HeQing only wanted him. It was sweet because, in front of Xiao YuAn, Yan HeQing was like a different person.

I would like it if the novel was also adapted into a drama even knowing that it won't have the LGBTQ tag as it wasn't permitted by some country. Better bromance than none I guess.

[noorii]

If you like to read about flat main characters with no depth whatsoever and if you like to read about random events happening with no real development then sure go ahead and pick this up. I didn’t finish it ofc because I almost died of boredom. I can’t believe I ordered a copy of this I have to cancel my order before they ship it, hopefully they will cancel it and refund me.



————————————————————————————————-
I didn’t finish this, I’ll remove the read date so it will not count in my reading challenge.

Read from: Sep 2, 2024 - Sep 2, 2024
————————————————————————————————-

[juuree · Rating 5 out of 5]

this wasn't perfect but there was just something about it that i especially loved. every chapter kept me turning pages and i just could not stop. it was a mistake to have started this book when it wasn't done being translated. i also have a temptation to re-read it all over again. i absolutely adore this book.

[Mehow Pazdan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm about to become a shen yuan in real life because of this book

[Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fue una novela muy entretenida, la disfruté bastante.

Al inicio, se me hizo muy parecida a save; no obstante, conforme fui leyendo más, me di cuenta de que van por caminos muy distintos. Las dos tienen esta trama de protagonista semental y protagonista transmigrado que no se da cuenta de que enamoró al protagonista, pero mientras save es una novela de cultivación, esta es más histórica y habla sobre dinastías.

No tiene una trama muy profunda o complicada, y en realidad no sabría decir exactamente cuál era el propósito del protagonista después de la primera parte de la trama original (además de vivir tranquilamente, nunca tuvo en claro alguna ambición). Aún así, nunca me pareció aburrida de leer y la relación de los personajes me pareció muy linda. También las otras dos relaciones canon homosexuales que hay, una sáfica y otra aquileana.

Siendo sincero, no me esperaba que el protagonista, Yan HeQing, fuera tan bueno. Pensé que sería similar a Luo Binghe, con esos toques posesivos y con ganas de encerrar a su novio, y no fue así. Siempre quiso la felicidad de Xiao YuAn, y nunca quiso forzarlo a quedarse a su lado (no lo digo en el sentido de que LBH haya obligado a SY a quedarse con él, me refiero a la manera en que intentó conquistarlo y su rara forma de coquetear con él, JAJAJ). Me gustó su personalidad.

En general, los personajes no diría que tienen un gran desarrollo o profundidad, aunque sí se habla un poco del trasfondo que tienen y su importancia dada en la trama original.

Xiao YuAn creo que sería el personaje que está mejor construido, porque vivió más de una vida y pude entender ese autodesprecio y culpa que sentía cuando pasaban cosas que no estaban en su control. Me dio un poco de pena; me alegra mucho que haya podido tener su propio final feliz a pesar de todas las desgracias por las que tuvo que pasar.

Si bien es una novela con un humor muy absurdo, que no siempre es tan gracioso, considero que vale la pena leerla para pasar el rato. No es una de esas historias para tomar tan en serio, y pese a todo, es bastante linda, la recomiendo.

[katchan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it sm! it seems a bit long with over 200 chapters, but they're short and fly by really quickly. it has a perfect balance of fluff and angst, and is very well constructed, both narrative, as well as character-wise. highly recommended~!

[Nothing · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly wish the last third of the story went in a completely different way bc it was just so disappointing??? like how many times can u recycle the same idea before it's let go???? idk man it was disapponting

[Yazmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los capítulo 80-90 y 170-195 son una tortura y mi corazón se rompía con cada palabra, es de los danmei con los que más he llorado por personajes secundarios, la historia está preciosa y la verdad agradezco el HEA, porque ya no podía con mi alma.

Siempre juro que va a ser mi último angst y luego vuelvo buscando justo ese tag en las historias 🤧

[Long Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book quite a while ago, but now I can’t remember much of it. It can be a sign of mediocrity, or my own declining memory. Still, I think I enjoyed reading it, so for the benefit of doubt, I leave it at 4 stars.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

currently Chapter 208

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting much when I picked up this story, but it ended up being a delightful read. Plus I was blown away by the quality of the translations by Foxholic and the many notes the translator included for all of the idioms and poetic references. I really appreciated her going the extra mile!

At it's core, it's a transmigration story. The MC, Xiao YuAn, transmigrates into a historical stallion novel after his death as the cannon fodder emperor of the Northern Kingdom who dies a painful death in the original novel after he abuses the protagonist, the captured prince of the Southern Yan Kingdom, Yan Heqing. To avoid the same fate, he treats the captured prince well as soon as he wakes up in the novel world and eventually makes the prince an Imperial Bodyguard. Little does he know, the protagonist, who eventually ends up with a whole harem of women in the original story and has such a strong body to do the deed ten times in a night, falls for him after all of his loving care.

**Warning: Spoilers Ahead**

It was hilarious to watch the whole story unravel slowly around Xiao YuAn, and it's so obvious to the reader what's going on, but he's completely clueless and trying desperately to stick to the original storyline. You would imagine he'd get the hint when the first and second female leads end up falling in love with each other and eloping back to the second female lead's home kingdom, but no, he doesn't give up by the time the third female lead makes her appearance. You gotta give Xiao YuAn an A for effort XP

In the first arc of the story, I thoroughly enjoyed reading how XYA's countless attempts to get YHQ together with his "love interests" kept failing and he ends up playing the part of the female lead each time instead. Eventually though, I started getting frustrated due to the lack of communication between them. They each speak in half sentences that can be interpreted with different meanings instead of clearly stating their thoughts, so once YHQ's uncle, who wants to break them up, is there to stir up trouble, then they end up separating because of all the misunderstandings.

I was glad to see them finally reunite in a distant village, when XYA finds YHQ buried in the mud half dead. Again, XYA tries to get the story back on track by pretending to be the third female lead and even changes his voice to a girl's voice, but YHQ does not cooperate with him at all until he gets his vision back and realizes his savior is actually XYA and not a girl. Then he turns into the most obedient and coquettish patient ever XP But I enjoyed this arc because FINALLY they get over their misunderstandings and YHQ even confesses his feelings!!

I won't say much for the rest of the book since it's more plot driven now that the MC and ML have gotten together, but there were surprisingly some heart wrenching and angsty moments still. Despite all that, I still enjoyed the book to the end. It was moving to see how much they love each other, and for the year that XYA was gone, I can't imagine how devastated YQH must've felt.

There are plenty of extras as well. Some of them were quite fun, especially the first side story where XYA woke up in his original body in the modern world and YHQ "transmigrates" to the modern world.

Overall I'd recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good transmigration danmei. It may look long at 200+ chapters, but the chapters are quite short, so they fly by pretty quickly.

[elli elli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bom demaisss, personagens ótimos, muito sofrimento mas com a dose certa de felicidade para nos consolar, amei amei amei. Enredo muito envolvente e bem desenvolvido, não foi cansativo em momento nenhum, e isso considerando que é uma novel bem grandinha.
Me quebrou, mas espero que o volume dois me conserte 👍

Ps: beeem menos censurada do que eu esperava.

.......

(Resenha a partir da morte do Xiao YuAn aos extras finais)

Ai ai...Decepcionada. Eu amei o primeiro volume, em parte porque o enredo e os personagens eram bons e em parte porque eu confiei que todas as minhas reclamações seriam resolvidas neste volume. E não foram.
A autora odeia personagens secundários, os que não morreram foram esquecidos por ela totalmente e mencionados apenas nos extras finais, ainda assim de forma insatisfatória. O enredo foi inexistente nesse volume, fraco fraco e fraco. Os extras deles em outro mundo, fraquissímos, só li porque tive medo de perder algo, mas não fez a miníma diferença. Muitos buracos foram deixados no enredo.
Frustrante. Ao todo ainda acho que a novel completa vale a pena a leitura, porque a primeira parte é muito boa.

[annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

"You'll have to stay with me for a lifetime."

i started reading this novel back in august, and i read around 170 chapters in a single day, then proceeded to never touch this story again. to be honest, there was no real reason why. i was expecting more angst and it turned out to be fluff and happiness and warm feelings but i loved that. i suppose i had to pause it for a while because i wasn't as entertained anymore, but then today i picked up the novel again and FINISHED IT. i'm really happy that i did, too, cause i really love xiao yuan and yan heqing. their relationship is adorable, their dialogues are everything, and they're so effortlessly funny they deserve props. it might seem like 3.5 is a rating a bit too low, but i do think the novel drags on a bit. aside from that, it's a really cute story and i like it very much!!!!!

[aseekerofbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edit: Manhwa title "To be or not to be"

I really liked this - although it's a transmigration novel similar to SVSSS, it also clearly stands on its own.

Also, must every single book in the danmei genre be filled with sorrows and tragedies??? I know something must happen in order for the action to move forward, but damn, my feels 😭🥹💔

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty fun! Lots of humor with the transmigration and various misunderstandings, and a fair bit of angst with the romance. Xiao Yuan isn't as ridiculous as Shen Qingqiu, but he's still pretty oblivious. The chemistry between Xiao Yuan and Yan Heqing is pretty amazing once they have things figured out. The translation is also excellent.

[Marzipop · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Caityyy ^⁠_⁠^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xiao Yuan is literally me

[delanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xiao Yuan you moved me