The Widower's Substitute Lover

Jiang Xingfeng is a widower.

After his wife, Jiang Lewei, dies, he meets Lin Huaizhi, who looks exactly like his late wife.

With a beaming smile, Lin Huaizhi suggests that Jiang Xingfeng treat him as the dead Jiang Lewei.

"Please call me by his name, Xingfeng."

Lin Huaizhi bent down, leaning close to the man's eyes, where his reflection could be seen.

He had Jiang Lewei's face, Jiang Lewei's figure, even the same upturned corners of the mouth when he smiled. He looked remarkably like Jiang Lewei.

With a smile that showed his plan had succeeded, Lin Huaizhi said, "I'll play your wife well."

In the shadows, where Jiang Xingfeng couldn't see, Lin Huaizhi had coveted him for years. After Jiang Xingfeng was widowed, Lin Huaizhi finally had his face remade to match Jiang Lewei's, cut by cut, with skin tightening and bone shaving. He even had a mole drawn at the corner of his eye in exactly the same place as Jiang Lewei's.

Lin Huaizhi deliberately entered Jiang Xingfeng's life and became his wife.

He swore he would play Jiang Lewei well, keep playing him, and never stop until the day he died.

-

Lin Huaizhi broke his promise.

At some point, he began to envy the dead Jiang Lewei so much that his heart ached. Every day he spent with Jiang Xingfeng became an ordeal.

After pretending to be Jiang Lewei for so long, Lin Huaizhi forgot everything he liked and disliked. And now the husband he'd longed for was right beside him, yet hadn't noticed anything unusual. In bed, he still murmured sweet nothings to him: "Lewei, I love you."

Lin Huaizhi decided to leave him.

At the boarding gate, Jiang Xingfeng appeared at the last possible moment, a touch of cinnabar-red coloring the corner of his eye as he grabbed Lin Huaizhi by the wrist.

The ring on Lin Huaizhi's ring finger dug painfully into his skin.

Jiang Xingfeng pleaded, "Don't go, Lewei."

"Mr. Jiang, I'm not Jiang Lewei."

As if making up his mind, Lin Huaizhi slowly pulled himself free of Jiang Xingfeng's grasp.

-

The stupidest thing Lin Huaizhi ever did was get Jiang Lewei's face reconstructed and spend three years playing Jiang Xingfeng's wife.

A socially anxious man who's afraid even to speak gradually lost himself trying to act as cheerful as Jiang Lewei.

After leaving Jiang Xingfeng, Lin Huaizhi went to teach in the countryside.

Like Jiang Xingfeng, he became a math teacher.

Years ago, Lin Huaizhi had watched through the railing of the school building as Jiang Xingfeng crouched by a flower bed, bandaging a stray cat. A wave of warmth had surged through his heart.

As if to prove that their unfinished fate still bound them, a figure suddenly crossed the snowy grounds while Lin Huaizhi was teaching.

The man wore a neat crew cut and a white shirt without a single wrinkle. His refined face had soft, puppy-like drooping eyes that stole Lin Huaizhi's heart in an instant.

As soon as class ended, he ran outside.

"Teacher Jiang!"

Jiang Xingfeng stood in the snow as it fell thickly, their shoulders both dusted white.

Jiang Xingfeng gazed at him from afar, his eyes filled with a tenderness Lin Huaizhi had never seen before. "Lin Huaizhi. I've finally found you."

-

Blurb dated May 14, 2026.

A scheming, obsessive, possessive, sickly-pretty bottom × a devoted, taciturn, older widower top

Doppelganger trope, groveling pursuit after losing one's love. Their teacher-student relationship continues, with no intimate contact during that period.

Theme: Sincerity is the ultimate weapon.