Heroine: Yan Xiluo, the Yan family’s illegitimate daughter, gentle and long-suffering
Hero: Qiao Moli, the Qiao family’s third young master, mysterious and obsessive, pretending to be disabled at first
Yan Xiluo is an illegitimate daughter of low status. Bullied by her father and stepmother, she is forced to marry in her older sister’s place the Qiao family’s third young master, Qiao Moli, who is rumored to be disabled and violent-tempered. The marriage is presented as a union between families, but in reality, she is a contractual stand-in because she looks strikingly like the woman in the hero’s heart, the beloved of Qiao Mochen.
Early stages: stand-in, deception, and angst
Qiao Moli appears to be a wheelchair-bound gentleman, but his legs are perfectly healthy, and beneath his refined exterior he is calculating, obsessive, and domineering.
He marries her only to use her as a stand-in for his beloved. He pampers her by day and forcibly takes her by night. Knowing she wants to escape, he cuts off every avenue of retreat and uses his family’s power to keep her there.
The heroine suffers in silence: “I’m only a substitute. Please let me go.”
Middle stages: falling in love, the beloved returns, and a battlefield of jealousy
As time passes, Qiao Moli gradually falls in love with the real her, but refuses to admit it.
Then his beloved suddenly returns from abroad, and the stand-in drama erupts. The hero wavers repeatedly, misunderstandings pile up, and he torments the heroine in every possible way. Her heart dies, and she flees while pregnant or fakes her death to escape.
Later stages: a desperate quest to win her back and obsessive devotion
Only after losing her does Qiao Moli regret everything. He completely abandons his beloved and launches into a frenzied pursuit of his wife:
He searches the world for her, drives away every potential suitor, uses his power to force her to come back, and spoils her without limit: “My little wife, I’ll never let you escape again.”
Ending
All misunderstandings are cleared up, the hero is fully redeemed, and he devotes himself exclusively to the heroine, ending in a happily ever after.
