The Borrowed Name Register

A male lead + the fated bond between two heroines + a scheming, ruthless heroine + pure historical romance with no System

After taking the place of his moonlight, I tore up the script.

Shen Qingyi, a noblewoman from Jiangnan, died. As she lay dying, she passed her identity to me, the lone wolf she’d rescued by the roadside.

“Want to go to the capital?” she asked, coughing blood. “Take my place and live the way they want you to... or the way you want to.”

Shen Qingyi was an orchid raised amid Jiangnan’s mist and rain, accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

But I, A Ruan, had the scars of the streets etched into my bones and a poisoned blade hidden up my sleeve.

I learned to write like her, hiding my wild nature beneath delicate hairpin-script;

I learned to play chess like her, concealing a deadly move beneath each gentle placement, one that would rather shatter jade than leave a tile intact;

I wore her cool, aloof exterior, but couldn’t hide the wildfire blazing in my eyes.

At our first meeting, beneath the matchmaker tree, he asked, “Miss, have you come to pray for a match?” I smiled. “No. I’ve come to ruin one.”

“Afraid?” I taunted, baring my fangs.

He smiled and wiped the blood from my fingertips. “I love you even more.”

Taking her place was a life stolen from someone else, and a blade hanging over my head.

The capital was a gilded cage, but also my hunting ground.

I would live as myself, even if thousands cursed me. I would stand at the very top!

See how a streetwise villainess takes the place of the unattainable beauty: she can put on an ethereal air, hide her fangs, ensnare a dangerously obsessive heir, and tear apart her own fate!

In the spring breeze, she poured clear tea into the empty air. Her smile remained, as a single tear slipped down her cheek:

“Thank you for lending me your name for a while, and helping me through this life.”

Author’s question: Guess who A Ruan loves more, Shen Qingyi or the male lead, Xiao Heng?