After Our Divorce, My Ex-Husband Regrets It Every Day

- This is a story where the second male lead gets the girl. The setting is entirely fictional.

- My other second-male-lead-wins story, Full Banquet, is complete. Feel free to visit my column to read it.

- Upcoming novel: Green Crossing, below.

Xue Yao is the daughter of a medicine merchant. When her family's business is in turmoil, a handsome young man comes to ask for her hand in marriage.

He is the most renowned doctor in town, distant and aloof, yet possessed of a compassionate nature.

After marrying him, Xue Yao can tell that he treats her differently: he is warm and intimate with her, yet an unmistakable distance remains between them.

She knows nothing of Ji Nianqi's identity, and she cannot melt this block of ice.

In the third year of their marriage, Ji Nianqi brings a beautiful, delicate woman home.

Right in front of Xue Yao, he dotes on her, cherishes her, and looks after her.

That year, Xue Yao divorces him.

Their shattered marriage fades away like a wisp of smoke.

--

When Ji Nianqi was seventeen, his life was turned upside down. His family was destroyed, and he barely survived.

For years afterward, he drifted through life in a daze. Getting married was the last thing he expected.

An arranged marriage was the best way to secure their business ties.

That was what he told himself.

But the truth was... he fell for Xue Yao at first sight.

He didn't deserve a stable life. He would carry the burden of his family's blood debt for the rest of his days.

So he kept silent.

But after Xue Yao left, he realized it had all been a deception.

He, too, was nothing more than a pawn being used by others.

Yan Mingyu, a young general, had won glory beyond compare.

The girl he had loved all his life married while he was away on campaign.

He defied military orders and rushed back, but didn't dare face her.

Fate was against him, and he still ran into her.

He heard the happy laughter she shared with her husband.

Yan Mingyu hid in a dark corner, exhausted in body and spirit.

Upcoming novel: Green Crossing (Double Rebirth)

Note: The second male lead gets the girl.

“Lin Qingqing.”

The boy, his face spattered with red blood, struggled to give her a faint smile.

“Next life, if you meet me, run. We make a terrible-looking mess when we die together.”

--

When Lin Qingqing became a lonely ghost, she often thought of Lin Zhengdu.

She lowered her head and touched her chest. The pain was still there.

She watched helplessly as Lin Zhengdu's corpse was brutally dragged away from hers. She watched helplessly as the Crown Prince held her dead body and wept tears of blood.

Lin Qingqing could feel nothing.

She had become a mere spectator.

Her body was cremated, and her ashes ground into a string of beads. She became a ghost, bound to the Crown Prince's side.

She watched him get everything he wanted and claim the supreme throne.

Then, when she opened her eyes, she was back in the past.

Xie Fei'an often dreams of a little girl whose face is blurred. She's dressed in dirty clothes, thin as a sickly cat, and utterly pitiful.

In the dream, someone grabs the little girl by the hair and beats her. He watches helplessly from the sidelines, unable to do anything. He doesn't know her, yet the sight tears at his heart.

Later, the dream becomes reality, and he reaches out to help the little girl.

Only...

It seems he saved the wrong person.

Theme: Once you've missed your chance, there's no point in turning back.