After Tricking the Ice-Cold Beauty into Marriage

🔥 Marriage first, love later | Bride substitution and hidden identities | Old flames reignited | Seven-year age gap

A beautiful liar X a cold, abstinent powerful official

*

Qin Fu is the top courtesan in Yangzhou's pleasure quarter. On the night she was initiated, the whole city showered her with gold, and someone ended up dead.

To save her life, she assumes another woman's identity and goes to the capital as a substitute bride.

The Lin family is a prestigious household and seems inclined to call off the marriage. Her betrothed, Lin Zhiyun, is aloof, distant, and uninterested in women.

Fortunately, she was raised in the pleasure quarter and excels at winning people over and reading their hearts.

After only a few meetings, she has figured out Lin's temper, his likes and dislikes, and what sort of look to give him and when to soften her stance.

After the wedding, he remains cool toward her, but provides her with plenty of money. In bed, he is tender in every way and never treats her carelessly.

Qin Fu is secretly delighted. If she has to serve someone anyway, she might as well take good care of the man in front of her: plenty of money, little trouble, and a good time in bed.

Until one day, while serving tea, she happens to see Lin Zhiyun investigating a case involving the pleasure quarter in Yangzhou by imperial order. Her hand trembles, and she nearly drops the teacup.

He immediately takes her hand, gently brushing it with his fingertips. His eyes are full of indescribable affection. "Why are your hands so cold?"

Qin Fu clasps his hand in return, smiling brightly. "I missed you, husband."

Her back is already soaked with cold sweat.

Fortunately, Lin Zhiyun doesn't notice. He grows more affectionate toward her, though at night he is no longer as considerate as before. When passion takes over, he holds her in a long, relentless embrace, and several times leaves her too sore to get out of bed.

Qin Fu privately decides that men are all the same. Once she has saved enough money, she finally decides to run away.

When she wakes up, she is in a soft bed beneath fragrant covers, surrounded by unfamiliar darkness. She moves, and the gold chain at her wrist jingles. A low voice comes from behind the screen. "Don't you want your husband anymore, Fu'er?"

*

Lin Zhiyun, Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, was appointed one of the "Nine Young Ministers" upon reaching adulthood and is a trusted confidant of the emperor. Aloof by nature and cold-eyed, he has always hated lies and betrayal.

One day, a down-on-her-luck young gentlewoman from Jiangnan comes to his home with a dragon-and-phoenix jade pendant, mentioning an old marriage agreement between their fathers. Her story is all over the place, and he should never have taken her in.

But the young woman's clear eyes brim with tears, her lovely, limpid gaze still seems touched with childish innocence, and she looks straight at him. He can't help but soften.

Defying his family's objections, he marries her only to honor his promise. He has no other thoughts.

After the wedding, he treats her as nothing more than an immature young wife.

She is greedy for fine clothes, jewelry, and precious gems. That is nothing but a little money spent.

In private, she loves clinging to him and calling him "husband" again and again, only happy once he answers. That is nothing but a young girl growing attached to him.

Only in bed does her graceful, ardent passion nearly make him lose control.

He is not a man who craves pleasure, yet there is always a moment when he wants to lose himself with her forever.

Then the case of Prince Cheng's brutal death in Yangzhou leads to a courtesan known as a "lean horse."

His informant reports that the woman has a small red mole on the back of her neck.

The eyes beneath his frost-cold brows suddenly blaze red, just like the mole he rubs between his fingertips every night.

It's Fu'er.

His Fu'er.

He clutches the military dispatch token in his hand, but all he can think about is how she looked up and called him "husband" when he left home that morning.

His palm feels sticky. He looks down and realizes it's blood.

When he returns that night, she is asleep.

As usual, he gathers her into his arms and bends to kiss the red mole. His voice is hoarse. "Fu'er, what am I supposed to do with you?"

Theme: Without trust, a person cannot stand; without love, life has no joy.