Defeated by My Secret Crush

[Younger Brother Steals His Older Brother’s Fiancée + Tension and Teasing + Both Inexperienced + She’s Secretly in Love with Him + He Tempts Her: Why Does My Secret Crush Keep Trying to Seduce Me When I’m Engaged?]

Cool and aloof on the outside, deeply devoted within, vs. a seemingly untouchable gentleman who is really a refined villain

Li Zhengyue / Li Jingshu vs. Shen Tanshi

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Li Zhengyue was engaged to Shen Tanshi’s cousin.

Shen Tanshi had heard that Li Zhengyue was proud and cold, dull and conservative, and a bona fide workaholic.

Li Zhengyue never looked him in the eye and refused to speak to him.

For a while, he was sure she hated him.

That was until, shortly before returning to China, he happened to learn that Li Zhengyue had borrowed every book he had ever checked out from the university library.

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The night Shen Tanshi returned to China,

Li Zhengyue was drugged by her fiancé and nearly assaulted. While fleeing, she ran into Shen Tanshi, who was staying at her fiancé’s house.

What happened between Shen Tanshi and Li Zhengyue that night was entirely because Shen Tanshi offered himself to her.

“Li Zhengyue. Choose me.”

“If you don’t open the door and ask me to leave, I’ll take it as a yes.”

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After Shen Tanshi resolved to become the other man, he handed Li Zhengyue his room key.

In a tone that was almost matter-of-fact and utterly free of guilt, he said, “If you need to blow off steam next time, you can come to me again. I won’t tell my cousin, either.”

Li Zhengyue resisted. “This isn’t right.”

Shen Tanshi asked humbly, “What part isn’t right?”

Li Zhengyue said, “I’m getting married.”

Shen Tanshi seemed puzzled. “And what does that have to do with anything?”

He turned off the lights and naturally reached for Li Zhengyue’s hand. Leaning closer, he whispered, “Look, with the lights off, no one can see what we’re doing.”