I Took the Heir Apparent for a Stand-In

A Gorgeous, Flirtatious Orphan vs. A Heartless General

Su Zhiyuan was the star courtesan of Zhichun House. With her willow-slim waist and songbird voice, she had once caused a sensation in the capital with a single dance, and countless young noblemen were willing to spend a fortune on her.

Yet this beauty had spent two years as the unacknowledged mistress of Shen Que, heir to the Marquis of Huaiyang. Their friends teased him, saying Miss Su was hopelessly in love with him.

Even Shen Que believed Su Zhiyuan couldn't live without him. Thinking back on her tender, attentive ways over the past two years, he decided to bring her into his manor as a concubine and give her a proper title.

But when he returned to the little courtyard, Su Zhiyuan was nowhere to be found.

After a long search, he finally found a small town in Jiangnan. There, the woman he had searched for so long threw herself into a man's arms, tears shining in her eyes. Her voice caught as she asked, "You really don't want me anymore?"

The man looked seven parts like Shen Que, right down to the identical mole on his chin.

★

Feng Yunyan was born into a family of generals, but bore a blood debt of vengeance. He laid his plans everywhere, all to set the winds and clouds of this prosperous age in motion.

Su Zhiyuan was someone he had found among a pile of corpses. He gave her the pet name A Yuan.

He spent a fortune hiring people to teach her to read and write, dance and play the zither, and even master the secrets of the inner chambers. He trained her to become a sharp blade.

He had thought of her as nothing more than a useful weapon. But when he heard that Su Zhiyuan had fallen off a cliff to draw the enemy away, he accidentally smashed a teacup.

★

Shen Que, heir to the Marquis of Huaiyang, had been arrogant and unruly in his youth. But after he was convicted of a crime and his family fell into decline, just when everyone thought he would never recover, he went alone to a military camp in the northwest.

A few years later, Shen Que made his name in battle, reclaimed lost territory, and became a great hero whom everyone admired. He also became the object of affection for the unmarried daughters of noble families.

But some people saw him return from the frontier with a veiled woman, attending to her with painstaking care. For a while, everyone in the capital was curious about her identity.

Later, someone spotted Shen Que holding the woman's hand at the Lantern Festival. He said softly, "A Yuan, turn around and look at me."

Reader's Guide:

① Both leads are sexually inexperienced. There will be a love-triangle showdown and a regret-and-redemption arc.

② The heroine truly has a beloved from the past, and the hero is also a substitute. Neither has made any unforgivable mistakes, but the author is very protective of the heroine. The men will suffer, both the first and second male leads. If you can't accept that, don't read!

③ A mash-up of dynasties, with lots of original worldbuilding.

Theme: Be self-reliant and love yourself, and happiness will follow.