Married as a Substitute to the Male Lead Who Was Rejected

Lin Qinghen is a thoroughly pitiful little thing.

His birth mother died young, his face is scarred, and he has little talent for cultivation. His family looks down on him, so he learned from an early age to be cautious and keep a low profile. Even when he was suddenly bound to an alchemy System, he didn’t dare show off. He just wanted to quietly grow vegetables and make pills to support himself.

Then a thunderously dramatic stand-in marriage plot landed right in his lap.

His legitimate cousin, Lin Qingshuang, is a heaven-blessed prodigy. She despises her down-on-his-luck betrothed. When she fails to call off the engagement, she has a brainwave and decides to send him in her place.

Her betrothed is Yin Jiuxiao of the Yin family. He was once a dazzling young talent, born with a sword bone, but unfortunately his cultivation method backfired and ruined his foundations. He’s blind now, and an utter cripple.

Before the wedding, Lin Qinghen met him once. They were both in the same unfortunate boat, and the man seemed decent and easy to get along with.

“I’m ugly, and you can’t see, so we’re a perfect match,” Lin Qinghen said, patting his new husband on the shoulder on their wedding night. “Don’t worry. I’ll grow vegetables and support you.”

Lin Qinghen has no idea he’s living inside a novel about a male lead who gets his engagement called off and rises to greatness.

His seemingly pitiful, quiet, down-on-his-luck husband is the novel’s male lead.

And this is already Yin Jiuxiao’s second life.

From the gong’s perspective:

In his previous life, after his genius faded, Yin Jiuxiao endured scorn and the humiliation of having his engagement broken off. In the depths of despair, he awakened his demonic bones and made a triumphant comeback, becoming the supreme being of the world, equally skilled in swordsmanship and demonic cultivation. Everyone who had once bullied him groveled at his feet, and he repaid every old grudge many times over.

After being reborn, he’s only pretending that his strength has regressed and that he’s blind. He watches people reveal their true colors, and when the Lin family tries to break off the engagement just as they did in his previous life, he doesn’t find it surprising at all.

But Yin Jiuxiao never expected the engagement to be so different this time around.

The one who married into his family was a well-behaved little duckling who held him and said not to be afraid, that they’d get along and build a life together.

Now that was interesting.

Please note:

1. A possessive gong who’s very good at pretending X a gentle, angelic shou who works hard and never gives up. The gong is reborn and the shou transmigrates. They dote on each other. Daily updates.

2. A sweet story. The shou is a technical type, not a fighter. [Please note! The protagonist has a powerful golden finger and a major farming storyline. In other words, this is fundamentally a farming-and-leveling-up novel!] They fall in love as they grow stronger. The shou’s face gradually recovers. The ugly duckling is actually a great beauty!

New story now open: The Three Dragon-Prince Protagonists All Want to Get Back Together

Before transmigrating, sixteen-year-old Lin Huaiyue only read domineering male-lead novels from Qidian. He never read a single Jinjiang novel.

And that was where he went wrong. He didn’t know you shouldn’t pick up the broken, battered men who fell from the sky.

Now Lin Huaiyue has not only picked one up, but happily picked up three.

The main reason is that he transmigrated into the body of a pitiful, impoverished country boy. Life had been terribly hard for the past two years. He was bound to a farming System, but unfortunately, in a world where strength reigns supreme, the farming lifestyle seems to have fallen out of favor.

Lin the fragile farmer and village chief has had to work incredibly hard and tread carefully, getting squashed and stretched by life like a soft, chewy rice cake. After two years, he’s finally saved up enough to buy an expensive contract stone. All he wants is to find an honest, obedient cultivator to protect his little farm.

He hears that the three strongest Tribulation Transcendence experts in the world died together in a fierce battle, and that the world is gradually falling into chaos. As it happens, he finds three down-and-out wandering cultivators in a remote corner of the world.

One is a sword cultivator who’s lost his sword, named Xie Xuan. Another is a strange wandering cultivator who calls himself Lin Ye. The third is some kind of beast, whom Lin Huaiyue names Xiaobai.

They don’t seem quite right, but they’re all great value for money.

Lin Huaiyue, who’s only thinking about how to grow more crops, never realizes that he bought a marriage contract stone, not a regular contract stone. He isn’t the employer of these three “wandering cultivators.” He’s become their shared “wife.”

He never realizes, either, that the three down-and-out, rather odd cultivators who signed the contract with him are the notorious, terrifying, ruthless, top-tier Tribulation Transcendence experts said to have “died together.”

Scene One:

Not long afterward, Lin Huaiyue discovers that the three wandering cultivators are actually his husbands. Stunned, he lets out a disappointed sigh.

He thinks, This can’t be right. What kind of world is this? Who gets married so casually? I wanted honest farmhands to help me work the fields, not husbands like these!

But Lin Huaiyue soon changes his mind.

He quickly figures out how to put his husbands to good use. He softens his voice and bats his eyelashes, saying things like, “Could you help me with this?” and “Wow, you’re amazing! I’ve never met anyone as amazing as you!” Even with a cold expression, these three are more useful than the tractor in his System inventory.

Oh, having a husband is great. Three husbands are three times as great ☺️

Scene Two:

The Sword God, the Demon Lord, and the Beast Emperor have never gotten along. After a great battle, they’ve been brought low and are forced to hide their identities here, recovering from their injuries and avoiding danger. They’ve always been at each other’s throats, and the only thing they agree on is that they could never fall for some country boy.

Lin Huaiyue will never learn who they are. The difference in their strength is too great. As they recover, the marriage contract will grow weaker and eventually dissolve, and Lin Huaiyue’s memories of it will disappear. This relationship is doomed to go nowhere.

So no matter how much they protect and help Lin Huaiyue, how helpless they are when he bats his eyelashes or looks sad, and how they gradually find themselves doing whatever he wants, it’s all just an act. They absolutely haven’t fallen for him. They’re just following their own pace and plan.

Later, once the three powerful Tribulation Transcendence experts have regained their strength and are once again the talk of the world, they wonder: What on earth were we pretending for?

Their little wife is irresistible. Who could bear to leave a hardworking, resilient, clever little wife who knows how to flirt and cling to them?

Scene Three:

Much later, Lin Huaiyue has become incredibly powerful, with the ability to make all things flourish. But after an accident, he can’t remember some things clearly.

His followers tell him those memories don’t matter, but sometimes Lin Huaiyue still finds things strange.

For example, he’s never even met the Sword God Xie Xuetian, the Demon Lord Lin Ye, or the Beast Emperor Jian Yubai, yet all three burst into tears when they see him, hugging him and each insisting that he’s their long-lost husband. The other two, they claim, are shameless homewreckers who deserve to die for ruining his relationship with his wife.

Lin Huaiyue shakes his head furiously. “Impossible. Absolutely impossible. We farmers are the most honest people there are. There’s no way I could have three husbands!”

Before you read: A cheerful, sunny farming-novel shou protagonist. The shou has a complete career-growth arc and a bit of a flirtatious, universally adored charm. He gradually becomes a peerless beauty. The three gongs ultimately become one, as they’re all fragments of the same person.

Theme: Walking together and growing together. An ugly duckling can become a swan, and flowers can bloom in the mud.