noname_marco
I prefer Ning er as the female MC. Hard working, dedicated, loyal, cooks well, had many challenges to overcome, showing her true character and got the bum end in the original timeline and in main storyline. As for Nie Lie, you can just set it up as MC arriving in the original timeline and not the timeline in which Nie Lie returned. This Nie lie will be a regular teenager and not some 1000 year old man in a kid’s body. You’ll have to set MC into the same class and then realize that Nie lie didn’t have/receive the knowledge from the future. This will give you the freedom to ignore him as a side character.