Every top knows that in widow romance stories, they fall in love with a bereaved spouse who might be pitifully delicate, beautiful but dim-witted, or slow and innocent... and who has betrayed them before.
The tops sneer. "This time, there's no way!"
Jiao Ci is a hired worker in the "Widow" instance. He's cool and beautiful, and the last thing he wants is to be cornered by the tops with nowhere to run.
Hearing their declarations, Jiao Ci thinks they're all working together, after all.
Wouldn't it be nice if they all walked away unscathed?
But Jiao Ci doesn't know that the moment those hungry wolves open the door to his room, they fix their eyes on him and immediately break the vows they made.
They also discover the weakness of Jiao Ci, their "widow."
Later, they all use that weakness to fight over him, possess him, and claim him.
Instance 1: "Sleep Disorder"
Everyone in the upper district of the imperial capital knows that Jiao Ci is beautiful but dim-witted, kept under the wing of Lu, the eldest young master of a wealthy family.
Wei Yanjing, the sworn enemy of Young Master Lu, takes over the Lu family. Jiao Ci loses his protector and falls into Wei Yanjing's hands.
Wei Yanjing hands Jiao Ci over to his brothers and subordinates. "Do whatever you want with him."
Everyone thinks Wei Yanjing must loathe this widow, and that he'll watch them humiliate, toy with, and torment Jiao Ci without lifting a finger.
Only Wei Yanjing knows that his stepbrother, just like when they were children, will fall into an unconscious sleep at midnight... And so, in the dead of night, he quietly makes his way into Jiao Ci's room.
Instance 2: "Intermittent Face Blindness"
Young Master Ji knows that his younger brother's widow, Jiao Ci, is trying to seduce him. Jiao Ci disguises himself as a high-end male attendant at a club, calls him, makes video calls, says explicit things, and makes provocative gestures.
During the day, this same brother-in-law cries and chokes out, "I'll love Second Young Master Ji for the rest of my life."
Young Master Ji knows that, as an heir raised under the strict rules of an elite family, he ought to keep his distance from a widow. He knows Jiao Ci is up to no good and is scouting the social scene for another powerful man to latch onto.
But Young Master Ji still goes to the places where Jiao Ci is in disguise, again and again. When Jiao Ci can't recognize faces, he pretends not to know who he is and pins him down to do things that shouldn't be done in polite company.
Instance 3: "Cognitive Distortion"
Everyone at the aristocratic academy knows that Jiao Ci is deeply in love with his former F1, who is now in a vegetative state. He even works hard to earn money and become an exchange student so he can visit him abroad.
But the widow is so frail and pitiful that he's been preyed upon and bullied by the new F1.
Everyone at the academy feels sorry for Jiao Ci. Only the new F1 knows that the crying widow has a cognitive distortion. He'll joyfully call out to whoever occupies the F1 position, "Xingyuan, is that you? Have you come back?" It could be anyone!
The new F1 grits his teeth with jealousy, but secretly competes with the F3s. Holding Jiao Ci in his arms, he tenderly takes possession of him. "Darling, I'm back."
Reader's guide:
1. The protagonist is a bit of a magnet for admirers.
2. The tops are split fragments, and all the ones with substantial roles are fragments of the top.
3. Other details to be determined.
4. The blurb has been screenshotted.
Theme: Earn true love through your own abilities.