After Refusing to Be a Substitute (Seduction and Conquest)

Everyone says the second daughter of the Shi family, Shi Yirong, is as beautiful as a goddess, a beauty capable of bringing a kingdom to its knees. Anyone who gets to see her once would have no regrets in life.

Sadly, the Shi family has fallen, and the moon in the sky has become a reflection in the water.

At the biggest pleasure house in the city, she dances amid swirling winter snow, wearing nothing but a thin veil. Wealthy merchants and nobles sit all around her. Whoever bids the most tonight will be the first to have her as a guest.

The men grow restless, their eyes fixed on her.

Only one man, with the bearing of a pine and gentle eyes, walks up to her and drapes a crane-feather cloak, still warm from his body, around her shoulders. He asks softly, "Would you like to come with me?"

Everyone present falls silent, and not another person dares raise their eyes to look.

Xie Yanchen, the legitimate son of the head of the Xie clan, the foremost noble family. He is of exalted status, peerless in the world. When Shi Yi meets his gaze with her clear, cool eyes, she nods obediently.

Everyone knows that Second Young Master Xie has a beloved woman he can never have. They were childhood sweethearts, in love with each other, and should have had a storybook romance. Sadly, the woman met with an accident before marrying into the Xie family, leaving an indelible wound in Second Young Master Xie's heart.

And Shi Yi looks somewhat like her.

She obediently serves Xie Yanchen, wearing the clothes he likes and using the fragrances he prefers. At night, she even calls him "A Chen" in that woman's voice, indulging all his moods and obsessions.

She knows she's only a substitute.

Xie Yanchen likes how sensible and obedient she is. Like an affectionate cat, she is sometimes allowed to visit her family when he's in a good mood, and he treats her a little more gently.

He thinks she will always be so sensible. After all, she's timid and meek, and never dares disobey any of his orders. That is, until he is injured in an accident and falls unconscious. When he wakes, he searches the whole city, but she is nowhere to be found.

Later, Xie Yanchen thinks her daring to run away is the biggest surprise Shi Yi could give him. But then he finds her and sees the man beside her, whose features are seven-tenths similar to his. In that moment, all he wants is to kill her!

Reading guide:

Both leads are virgins; happy ending; melodramatic double-substitute trope; coercive pursuit.

The hero only pretends the heroine is a substitute. The heroine truly treats him as one.

Theme: Love is precious. Cherish it.