My Brooding Stepson Won't Leave Me Alone

Gentle, earnest older sister x brooding, manipulative ghostly man.

*

Lin Ying was bought by force as a concubine by the master of the Li household. Born to a low station, everyone treated her like a songbird, except for the Third Young Master.

The Third Young Master was as radiant and refined as the moon, but as an adopted son, he suffered constant abuse in the Li household. Lin Ying once secretly brought him a meal while he was kneeling in the ancestral hall, and he never forgot her kindness. From then on, he treated her with particular courtesy and respect.

But the master tricked her, telling her that the Third Young Master had fallen gravely ill, and made her personally deliver the bowl of medicine she would regret for three years.

That very night, Lin Ying was also drugged and lost her voice.

Three years later, the Li household was confiscated.

Somehow, an official summoned her for questioning among the women of the household.

Why would anyone need to question a low-ranking, powerless mute like her about what happened at the Li residence? Lin Ying had been forcibly taken before, so she understood what the visitor wanted.

Swallowing her humiliation, she bound herself up like an exquisite gift, hoping to seize this last chance to survive.

The visitor saw the scene and laughed in anger.

"What a fine mood you're in, little wife."

The blindfold slipped, and Lin Ying saw the Third Young Master, the very man she had never even gotten to see one last time.

The Third Young Master had changed his name and become Lord Yan Fu, as everyone called him. He was taller now, broader than before, and his gentle brows and eyes had become deep and unreadable...

Only the calloused hands he had earned through hard work had barely changed. Now, one of them was twirling the ends of her hair.

"Why don't you come to my residence and catch up with me properly?"

*

Yan Fu saw Lin Ying as the only light in his life at the Li household. But Lin Ying betrayed him to curry favor with the Li family.

After returning to take revenge, he resolved to lock away the past and force her to marry him.

Since she owed him her life, she should spend the rest of it in his hands.

Once he has spoiled her until she becomes idle and knows nothing of hardship, surely she won't dare mistake who she can rely on again.

*

About the romance:

One-on-one. The heroine is not a virgin, while the hero is. The leads are not related by blood, and have no legal kinship when they marry.

This is not a typical forced marriage story. The heroine has feelings for the hero, though she is initially unsure how to define them. This is a forced marriage driven by love.

About the plot:

Set in an alternate historical world. Written to indulge the author's personal tastes, without much concern for historical accuracy.

The heroine will recover her voice later.

There are no pregnancy or childbirth plotlines. The hero is assumed to have taken contraceptive soup.

Theme: Together, toward a beautiful future.