A Marriage Built on Misunderstanding

Ye Zhen was the overlooked youngest son of the Ye family. His first twenty-two years were filled with contempt and humiliation. To outsiders, the Ye family was a powerful and prestigious clan, but to him it was a cage, and he was a sparrow with broken wings. The Ye family forced him to marry Liang Yunian, the disabled former head of the Liang family. He thought he was simply moving from one cage to another, more luxurious one.

Unexpectedly, Liang Yunian said tenderly, "Ye Zhen, I've had a crush on you for three years. I know you don't like the Ye family, so I struck a deal with them and had them send you to me."

After the wedding, Liang Yunian's love and care lit up Ye Zhen's bleak and barren life. Ye Zhen gave him his whole heart and soul, almost as if making a sacrifice. But just as he fell deeply in love with Liang Yunian, he learned that he was nothing but a pawn in Liang Yunian's bid to reclaim power.

As the Liang family's legitimate grandson, Liang Yunian was haughty and noble, with a ruthless hand. At eighteen, he successfully started a business with a classmate. At twenty-two, he was announced as the successor to the Liang corporation, and at twenty-four, he took control of the company. But at twenty-eight, he was betrayed by a close relative in an internal family power struggle. With both legs disabled, he had no choice but to lie low.

To spite him, the family elders foisted a male marriage partner on him, the illegitimate son of a mistress from another powerful family. To mislead his rivals, and to find some amusement during the dull days of recuperating at home, he put on an act: he pretended to be deeply in love with Ye Zhen.

After years of navigating the business world, manipulating Ye Zhen, who was innocent and starved for affection, was as easy as manipulating an ant. Ye Zhen fell for him, threw himself wholeheartedly into Liang Yunian's script, and played his part. With Ye Zhen's attentive care, Liang Yunian's legs slowly improved, and power returned to his hands.

On the day the production wrapped, Liang Yunian quickly dropped character, and Ye Zhen tactfully vanished from his life.

Back at the top, Liang Yunian thought he would feel a sense of accomplishment. But as he looked at the house, now devoid of any trace of Ye Zhen's life, he slowly began to feel that his whole world was empty...

Years later, the media exposed a trove of evidence of the Ye family's crimes. The Ye corporation collapsed and was acquired. At a business banquet, Liang Yunian saw Ye Zhen, whom he had spent years searching for. The Ye Zhen who had once looked at him as if he were his whole world now regarded him calmly and without emotion. "Mr. Liang," he said faintly.

A business partner beside them asked curiously, "Mr. Liang, do you know each other?"

Liang Yunian stared intently at Ye Zhen and replied, "We're more than acquainted. Our marriage certificate is still at home."

P.S.

1. This story is set in a world where same-sex marriage is legal.

2. The husband-chasing crematorium trope, no switching tops, both are each other's first and only, happy ending.

(The blurb has been screenshotted and archived.)

Theme: Treasure the person in front of you