Shen Zhiyan, the male lead, is twenty-eight, the president of the Shen Group and a ruthless business tycoon. Handsome and cold on the outside, he is decisive and merciless, with a possessive, dark nature. He hides the image of his beloved Su Wanqing deep in his heart and is convinced that the heroine, Su Wanxing, is the enemy who “killed” her. He forces Su Wanxing to marry him, using her as a tool for revenge and consolation.
Su Wanxing, the heroine, is twenty-two, an ordinary university student and aspiring designer just starting her career. She bears a striking resemblance to Shen Zhiyan's beloved Su Wanqing. Gentle on the outside but strong-willed within, she is kind and resilient. She can't understand Shen Zhiyan's inexplicable hatred, but her family forces her into the marriage, turning her into a caged canary.
Shen Zhiyan appears with a forced marriage contract and makes her marry into the Shen family in exchange for “saving the Su family.” The wedding is grand but cold. On their wedding night, Shen Zhiyan leaves her alone in the bridal suite, saying only, “Remember your place. You're nothing but Wanqing's shadow.” He confines her in a luxurious villa and forbids her from contacting the outside world. Yet when he's drunk or lost in midnight dreams, he treats her as Su Wanqing's stand-in, sometimes tender and affectionate, sometimes enraged and violent because she isn't “Wanqing.” Su Wanxing struggles with fear and humiliation, unable to understand why she has become the target of his revenge, and growing to hate Shen Zhiyan. When Gu Yanchen tries to contact Su Wanxing, Shen Zhiyan forcefully stops him, and the two men clash for the first time.
Shen Zhiyan's control over Su Wanxing grows ever more extreme. Every time she resists, he beats her down until she is covered in bruises, exhausted in body and mind. Yet in certain moments, complicated feelings begin to stir in her heart.
