After I Lifted the Lid of My Late Husband's Coffin

A bride sent in another woman’s place who tears up easily but has extraordinary fighting skills × a young general who faked his death and bears a sullied reputation

Lin Ting is a widow. Hoping to fake her death as soon as possible and search for clues to her first sixteen years of lost memories, she adopted an heir for her late husband to carry on the family line.

On the way back to her hometown to pay respects to her mother-in-law’s ancestors, her adopted son was abducted. She tracked him to a dungeon and, with no other choice, opened the innermost coffin.

The good news: the person inside was still alive.

The bad news: it was her husband, who had been dead for three years.

After her husband came back to life, Lin Ting found herself growing more and more ill at ease.

Quite apart from whether she could still carry out her original plan to fake her death, her husband kept saying he owed her something. He stayed by her side every day, taking care of the “trouble” that seemed to come from nowhere.

To be fair, her husband was capable and treated her well. He was handsome, too. But as they spent more time together, not only was her plan thrown into disarray, their original agreement to treat each other with courtesy and distance was also turning into a loving marriage.

She felt a little uneasy.

One day, her husband clashed with a friend’s older brother. After going over to apologize, Lin Ting asked her friend, troubled, what she should do. Her friend replied,

“If you really like him, tell him what you plan to do. If you only like him a little, fake your death. If you don’t like him, put him back in his coffin.”

Lin Ting understood. So she chose the second option.

At last, she found a good opportunity to fake her death. To make it easier to find clues about her past, she continued to present herself as a widow.

Then, one night of pouring rain, enemies came knocking. Lin Ting stood behind the door with a knife, on guard, but outside she heard a few faint clashes of blades, followed by a panicked, incoherent voice.

“N-no… weren’t we told a widow lives here?”

A familiar male voice spoke softly as he pushed open the door.

“Her dead husband came back to life.”

The next moment, Lin Ting, knife in hand, met the gaze of a man with slightly damp hair at his temples.

*

Li Chaoque had faked his death and returned. After his nominal wife lifted the lid of his coffin, he felt rather troubled.

First, he had been presumed dead for three years and felt he owed his wife. He wanted to make it up to her, but she didn’t seem to like him following her around.

Second, there were always some clueless people fawning over his wife and telling him they wanted a fair competition.

So he went through life afraid to close his eyes for even a moment.

At night, he searched for evidence to expose the corrupt and clear his name. By day, he tripped up his romantic rivals.

What a joke. Why should he have to compete fairly with anyone for his own wife?

On the twentieth day of tripping up his rivals, his wife disappeared.

He did everything he could to help his wife, who had faked her death, deal with her enemies. Sitting in her room, he asked quietly whether he had done anything wrong. After looking at him for a long time and agonizing over it, his wife finally said,

“You haven’t done anything wrong, but I only like you a little.”

Li Chaoque: What? What do you mean, you only like me a little?

Bonus Scene

One day, the two of them ran into each other upstairs at Nanfeng Tower while looking for evidence. Seeing the men who wanted to seduce Lin Ting and pay for her freedom, Li Chaoque turned and went into a room.

When Lin Ting came in, she looked completely taken aback.

“What are you doing here?”

“Warming the bed for my wife.”

After a night of passion, Li Chaoque contentedly brushed away the fine sweat at his wife’s temples. But the moment he touched her, she reached out and pushed him away.

“Don’t…”

Li Chaoque took her hand and guided it down to rest over Lin Ting’s heart. He pressed his lips to her ear and asked in little more than a breath,

“Ting Niang, how much do you like me now?”

Young married couple | Substitute bride | Love at first sight | Stoic heroine | Peacock hero

Notes: * The son is adopted by the heroine after the hero’s “death” to carry on the family line.

* A little romantic rivalry.

* There is more to the hero’s betrothal to the Cen family than meets the eye.

* The hero met the heroine in another identity, and fell in love with her at first sight both times.

* The heroine is slow to realize her feelings, and regains her memories partway through.

* One-on-one romance, both leads have no prior partners, happy ending.

Theme: Though spring is absent for ten thousand miles, an extraordinary flower blooms in the desert.