After Becoming His Substitute, the Marquis Fell for Me

Official update begins March 10

An old-school wife-chasing crematorium story: the heroine suffers early on, then the hero suffers later.

As the star courtesan of Chunxiang House, Rong Yan was not only breathtakingly beautiful, but also naturally fragrant. The madam had raised her for years without letting any clients touch her, waiting to sell her for a good price at this year's Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the banquet marking her debut, Rong Yan stood in red and watched as the head of the wealthy man who had bought her rolled to her feet. Pei Hanqing, the Marquis of Zhenbei, a royal scion of Chang'an, gripped her chin and studied her for a long time.

"Looking a little like her is a blessing from heaven."

Because of her face, Rong Yan became the Marquis of Zhenbei's concubine, a substitute for the woman he loved but couldn't have, and his second-best choice.

The first time he took her, the man gripped her waist and warned her, "Don't think that having this face means I will let you run wild in my manor."

Afterward, Rong Yan kept trying to please him so she could make life in the manor a little easier. He dismissed her efforts as worthless. "No matter how well you imitate her, with the real jewel right there, everything you do is just a poor imitation."

He even worried that her presence might threaten the place his beloved held in his heart, and planned to give her to someone else.

After he trampled her sincere feelings into the dirt, Rong Yan finally understood:

A dog of a man like this is a waste of a handsome face. Being sincere with him is like playing music to a cow.

So whether he was taking a wife or lying at death's door, Rong Yan ignored him and remained a beautiful vase with nothing inside.

But gradually, the man's attitude changed. If he saw her smile at someone else, he would turn red with rage. He even spent a fortune building a golden house to keep her hidden from everyone else.

As the man gripped her hand, eyes red-rimmed, Rong Yan thought, "Oh no. He was already a dog, and now he's gone completely mad!"

Theme: Even when trapped in the mire, never give up. Keep going, and at last the dawn will come.