The Wizard When Words Kill by Shi Wu

Seven years ago Cheng Jinxi killed twelve members of his family and even though he confessed Officer Liang Yuanfeng couldn't see how this young man was responsible for these deaths, especially since Jinxi had an alibi. Convinced that Cheng Jinxi is covering for someone Yuanfeng begins to visit him in prison, made all the easier because his Uncle, Yuxin, is the head of the prison. During these seven years Yuanfeng and Jinxi become close, something beyond friendship, and when a case comes in that Yuanfeng knows only Jinxi will be able to solve he and his uncle pull some strings to get him released to Yuanfeng's custody, ending up saving numerous lives, which for Yuanfeng seems to be a drop in the bucket compared to what Jinxi has done for him. 

This was so beautiful. Honestly, I thought I was getting a supernatural crime thriller and I got a wonderful story of love, grief, and redemption!

While this is most definitely a romance it's also a story of family. Both Cheng Jinxi and Liang Yuanfeng come from fractured families. But for both of them, they always had some in the corner who loved them unconditionally, however, in Jinxi's case that person was taken from him and so he becomes bitter and resentful, which is not something he fully realizes until towards the end of the book. He slowly processes this through watching the family he and Yuanfeng create with Uncle Yuxin and Jinxi's niece Yongshu. Yuanfeng goes through something similar but his malice (this term is used often in the book) stems from realizing the world is not fair, that bad people get away with bad things and even as a police officer he can't really stop it. Both of these men come from loving and supportive people and are absolutely beautiful at their core but make truly horrific decisions and this entire story is about how the people that they accepted into their lives bring them back from the brink of despair. And how they bring each other back. Their relationship is so pure and so breathtakingly loving that it was genuinely just a pleasure to read and see them grow together. 

What I really loved about this though was that this *is* about family. By adding Nie Yongshu, Grandpa Yuxin (Yuanfeng's Uncle), and Wang Tielin into the story this really drives home that family is so much more than genetics. Jinxi's and Yuanfeng's relationship grows around raising their niece, who has herself dealt with some serious trauma. But it's also that they recognize that they can't do it all themselves. Uncle Wang especially is important here, but I don't think we realize how important till the end of the book (it's absolutely blatant at the end). He's simply just there for them as a friend, as a confidant, and for Yongshu he's 100% the fun uncle by the end of the book. 

And yeah sure there's magic and a demon and what have you, but I think I stopped caring about that aspect halfway through, I just really needed this family to be protected at all costs.