The Substitute Bride's Plan Backfired

[Please add my next book, I Won't Stay a Widow for My Family's Enemy!]

Lin Luo was raised in the countryside, disguised as a girl from childhood.

When the emperor decreed a marriage between the long-feuding Lin and Pei clans, the matriarch could not bear to send her only beloved child into the Pei household to be humiliated. So she thought of Lin Luo, who was living at the country estate.

For Lin Luo to marry would be a crime of deceiving the emperor, but the matriarch threatened to take her own life if he refused.

Fortunately, Lin Luo had heard that the Pei family had a dissolute illegitimate son who liked men. Perhaps if he married that son, the young man could help conceal the truth and salvage this disastrous match.

But that illegitimate son was putting on an act.

Though rumors of his homosexuality had spread throughout Luoyang, he was utterly cold when Lin Luo tried to climb into his bed and win his favor.

After countless failed attempts to seduce him, with the wedding day drawing near, Lin Luo steeled himself and drugged the young man.

But he was caught red-handed.

Rain pattered against the windows outside. Lin Luo, who had failed in his scheme and been drugged himself, lay on the bed, cheeks flushed, and pleaded tearfully to the Pei family's illegitimate son: "Please take pity on me, my lord. I truly had no choice but to resort to this. If I marry Eldest Young Master Pei, I won't survive..."

The young man sat coolly by the bed, sipping tea without a word.

Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Luo reached out and hooked his little finger around the man's palm, begging pitifully, "Second Young Master..."

Only then did the young man ask in a quiet voice, "With your looks, you could surely win my elder brother's heart. Why ask me to take pity on you?"

Lin Luo sobbed, "Eldest Young Master doesn't understand these pleasures the way you do, Second Young Master. Only by marrying you can I enjoy them, so please take pity on me..."

The person on the bed was already whimpering in distress. His lewd words, paired with his winsome, bashful, pitiful appearance, were truly enough to make anyone's heart ache.

The young man gave him an inscrutable smile and finally took pity on him.

There were a few minor hiccups along the way, but the result was just what Lin Luo wanted.

Only, on their wedding day, Lin Luo watched the Pei attendants address the young man as

Eldest Young Master.

*

A major scandal has recently broken out in Luoyang. The ever-diligent eldest young master of the Pei family suddenly quit his post and led his private troops on a search across the land.

They say it's because his new bride ran off with her brother-in-law!

Onlookers were shocked. "How could that bride have such poor taste, running off with that dissolute Second Young Master?"

An insider laughed. "You wouldn't say that if you knew. Before the wedding, the bride was actually after Second Young Master Pei..."

Before he could finish, he saw the frost-cold Eldest Young Master Pei Yunzhi take a seat in front of him, and fell silent in embarrassment.

After turning the world upside down in his search, Pei Yunzhi finally spotted a small figure surrounded by a crowd one day, while attending a gathering at the famed Number One Tower.

He stepped forward, seized that slender wrist, and pinned the person against the railing of the corridor.

With empty space behind him and a darkness like an oncoming storm before him,

Lin Luo heard a low voice, tight with anger.

"Where else do you think you're running?"

Where else did he think he could run off to with his dear illegitimate younger brother and live happily ever after?

-

Lin Luo: Wait, isn't Eldest Young Master Pei not into men?

Lin Luo: qaq I seduced my fake brother-in-law, only to find out he's actually my real fiance.

What do I do? Asking online. This is urgent!

[Lin Luo x Pei Yunzhi]

[Delicate, beautiful shou x cool, dignified gong]

Guide:

[Exquisite weak shou]

1. An alternate-history mashup, drawing mostly on the Three Kingdoms and the Jin dynasties, but it's fictional, so don't nitpick. Fictional!!!

2. Includes cross-dressing. The gong and shou are devoted to each other in both body and heart.

3. I couldn't think of place names, so I borrowed real ones, but they don't follow real-world geography. There may be minor errors in the writing TT

4. The Book of Songs is quoted several times.

If you dislike it or aren't interested, please click <. Everyone's happy that way.

/Chapters 24-39 will be locked after publication. Please don't purchase if you've already read them!

-Coming Soon 1-

The Little Mute After Losing His Memory, historical school setting

[Amnesiac little mute shou x cool heir gong]

In the 43rd year of the Linqi era, Lin Jin, the fourth son of the prime minister, fell from his horse while playing polo at the academy. He was physically unharmed, but lost his memory.

When he woke, the room was full of people. They were supposedly the witnesses to his fall, along with several relatives who had come from far away to visit him.

But...

The one who claimed to be his eldest brother said, "You fell and lost your memory? Good!"

The one who claimed to be his second brother said, "Serves him right, hahaha! The brat finally got what was coming to him!"

The one who claimed to be his third brother said, "...I'm busy. I'm leaving."

Lin Jin: ?

He was mute, not deaf.

His relatives came and went in a hurry, and not one of his classmates offered a word of comfort.

In an instant, Lin Jin imagined a miserable background for himself.

Fortunately, amid the whole room of people reveling in his misfortune, one person showed him compassion.

After everyone else left, Xie Ningyun, heir to the Marquis of Zhenbei, stayed behind to apply medicine to his wounds.

The cool ointment touched Lin Jin's hand. He looked up at that exquisitely beautiful face.

Though the expression was cold, the touch was gentle.

So Lin Jin lightly hooked his little finger around Xie Ningyun's and gazed up at him through his lashes.

He mouthed: Ningyun gege, will you protect me?

*

Xie Ningyun couldn't understand why the little mute, who had been wielding a wooden mallet on the polo field and fighting him for the ball, practically trying to knock him off his horse, had suddenly changed his ways.

Now he was holding his hand, and even...

Xie Ningyun watched Lin Jin mouth: Ningyun gege, will you hug me?

Xie Ningyun, who was only applying medicine on behalf of his friend Lin Fengzhi, resolutely refused. "No."

But in the next moment, the slender figure, nearly half a head shorter than him, suddenly threw himself into Xie Ningyun's arms and hugged him.

Tightly.

Was this really the notorious little tyrant from the prime minister's beloved household in Linjing, the one who never behaved?

He was clearly so soft.

The arrogant, bossy behavior was nowhere to be seen. In front of Xie Ningyun, Lin Jin would only take his hand and hug him, then lift his lovely face, like a flower reflected in water, and mouth: Hug me.

*

While he had amnesia, Lin Jin always thought he was the least loved of the prime minister's four sons. His parents didn't care about him, his brothers didn't love him, and everyone at the academy disliked him and wanted nothing to do with him.

Except Xie Ningyun.

Though he seemed a little cold, whenever Lin Jin went to him for help, all he had to do was hold his hand, hug him, and mouth: Help me.

Then Xie Ningyun would indulge him in every way.

Lin Jin was very pleased with this powerful ally.

But when summer arrived, the academy went on break.

Lin Jin returned to the prime minister's residence in Linjing.

There he saw his three brothers, all now officials, kneeling in the courtyard as their mother lectured them for not reporting his fall from his horse.

Then his stern-faced father came forward, gathered him into his arms, and wept. "My poor Jinjin, you suffered so much. From now on, if you want to fight with other young masters, go ahead. If you want to bully one of your brothers, bully him! Your mother and I will never send you to an academy you don't want to attend again..."

Lin Jin: ???

Wasn't he a pitiful little mute nobody cared about?

[His muteness was acquired. The reason will be explained in the story.]

[Lin Jin x Xie Ningyun]

-Coming Soon 2-

The Little Prince's Guide to Winning Over the Imperial Preceptor [Book Transmigration], historical Book Transmigration

[Lin Youyu x Chu Yunli]

[Book Transmigration shou x cold on the outside, secretly... (a bit of a flirt?) gong]

-Coming Soon 3-

A Second-Generation Scion of the Righteous Path, But I've Fallen to Demonic Cultivation, xianxia, selfcest

[Lin Guanqing x Lingzhuo]

[Righteous sect's holy son shou x demonic sect's demon lord gong]

-Completed-

The Little Prince Who Won Over His Cold and Distant Hostage Prince, historical reborn

[Lin Ling x Ji Fuyun]

[Pitiful little prince shou x hostage prince gong who only wants to kiss his beloved]

-Completed 2-

I Was Raised by Beastfolk After Traveling to Another World, fantasy future

[Lin Bai x Tang Fan]

[Weak shou x beastfolk gong]

-Coming Soon 4-

Why Is CEO Shen Like That?, modern daily life

[Lin Yu x Shen Zhongzhou]

[Secretary shou x CEO gong]

Theme: Keep a level head and strive relentlessly