An Honest Man Takes a Brooding, Maniacal Son-in-Law

Cake-loving, earnest heroine vs. championship-level green tea, gloomy, unhinged hero

(Don't worry, readers, I won't abandon this story. Feel free to bookmark it and let the chapters pile up at your own pace. Your little author is begging for support.)

Marriage first (physical), love later (emotional) | The hero's desperate pursuit of his wife (emotional) | A fiery reckoning (physical)

Bad news: Li Li had just won the dessert competition when she dropped dead.

Good news: She transmigrated, becoming the only daughter of the capital's greatest merchant family from thousands of years ago. Her family was rich enough to let her lie flat until modern times.

To inherit the family fortune in peace, Li Li decided to take in a live-in son-in-law, have a child, then be rid of him.

The first time she saw Fang Yan, she knew that any child she had with him would be gorgeous.

He was obedient and beautiful, and perfect in every way except that he was a little clingy.

She thought she would spend the rest of her life with a loving husband and children by her side.

Until one day, she discovered that the little cabbage she had been raising was black at the core, riddled with worms.

She ran away, taking the baby in her belly with her.

Fang Yan had spent more than a decade being praised by everyone as a refined young master, as gentle as jade and as refreshing as a breeze beneath a bright moon.

But only he knew that beneath his handsome exterior lay a heart completely smothered by bloodshed, hatred, and coldness.

The Li family's daughter, his enemy's child: hateful, flirtatious, wanton, and lustful.

Someone he hated to the bone ought to sink with him into this wretched world, locked in a struggle to the death.

Just as he was ready to abandon revenge and spend his life with this woman, she ran away. Ran away. Ran away!

Three years later, Li Li was summoned by the new emperor as the foremost woman merchant. They said the new emperor was a wise ruler, just and benevolent.

Trembling, Li Li bowed before the emperor on the throne, now a mature and brooding ruler, no longer the callow youth he had been.

"My wife, it has been a long time."

Li Li: "..."

There are lots of made-up details, so please don't overthink them, everyone.

The hero has issues. Please don't bash him.

Theme: Sincerity and kindness can create miracles.