Three Years After Marrying the Cold and Aloof Heir

Gentle, graceful, and resilient heroine versus aloof stand-in

Marriage first, love later; a husband chasing his wife after losing her; a male stand-in; a forced relationship; melodrama.

Yan Yan was raised in the countryside and came from a humble background, yet she fell in love with Xie Ling, an elegant, noble young man from a prestigious family.

Because her family felt indebted to her, and because the Yan and Xie families' ancestors had made an agreement, Yan Yan managed to secure a marriage to Xie Ling.

After their wedding, Xie Ling was always distant. From the occasional look in his eyes, Yan Yan understood that he disliked her, even found her repulsive.

Yan Yan thought, It doesn't matter. If I just do well enough, he'll eventually be moved.

But all her thoughtfulness and tireless efforts earned her nothing but Xie Ling's cold reply: "You don't have to do all this."

One night, after risking her life to save Xie Ling, she was badly injured and trembling with pain. She cried, "A Ling, hold me..." But Xie Ling merely turned and walked away, indifferent.

Only later did she learn that he had an unforgettable former love in his heart.

Three years of swallowing her grievances earned her not a trace of affection from Xie Ling. Yan Yan was exhausted. "I only ask that you give me a child, husband."

But she couldn't keep that child either. Yan Yan met with disaster and fell into a riverbed with someone else. Xie Ling rescued his former love, leaving Yan Yan with a stomachache in the cold evening rain.

Yan Yan's heart turned to ash.

*

Xie Ling disliked Yan Yan, the girl raised by a merchant family, and especially disliked her greed for wealth and status and her unscrupulous schemes.

But when he saw his wife bedridden with illness after her miscarriage, her beautiful face fragile, his heart softened. Perhaps they could live happily together from now on.

But Yan Yan gave him no chance. Right in front of him, she leaped from a high cliff.

Two years later, while fighting the enemy on the border, Xie Ling saw Yan Yan again.

Overjoyed, he watched as Yan Yan wept and threw herself into another man's arms.

That man had a face strikingly similar to his own.

Xie Ling finally understood: more painful than the bone-deep grief of losing Yan Yan was realizing that she had never loved him at all.

*

Xie Ling brought Yan Yan back. On countless nights, he kissed her damp temples and red lips, asking again and again, "What about now? Have you fallen in love with me?"

Theme: Light and redemption