The Art of Pretending to Be a Husband

◆ [Marriage First, Love Later | Ambitious Twists | Masterful Hunter | Teaching by Example]

● Fake-coerced, sunny and rebellious little firecracker × genuinely gloomy, hypocritically virtuous schemer of a devoted husband

1.

Xin Zizhen hated her husband, Yan Boyan, whom she had married for the sake of an alliance. He was gentle and proper, refined and elegant: a modest, distant gentleman, and a man so rational he was utterly dull.

After the wedding, they were strangers under the same roof. Yet whenever they attended a banquet together, everyone’s eyes were always drawn to him.

He stood at the heart of the power struggle, dazzling and polished, far beyond anyone’s reach.

She, meanwhile, was merely a gift her family had sent to the Yan family: lowly, meek, and insignificant.

/

Then one day, Yan Boyan unexpectedly lost his memory. At last, Xin Zizhen had her chance to trample him underfoot.

“You were so madly in love with me that you spent ten years acting like my lapdog before you finally married me.”

“You do everything I say. No matter how much I humiliate you, you never fight back.”

The day Yan Boyan woke up, Xin Zizhen planted her foot on his thigh and told him, “And you absolutely love it.”

Yan Boyan looked at her brazen pose, seeming half confused. He picked up the pregnancy test results from the bedside table.

“So did I grovel my way into this child’s life, too?”

2.

Even with his memory gone, Yan Boyan’s good upbringing and sense of responsibility as a husband led him to care for Xin Zizhen attentively throughout her pregnancy and delivery. He was thoughtful in every way, the very picture of a good husband and father.

But Xin Zizhen wasn’t satisfied. Instead, she bullied him more and more.

She installed round-the-clock surveillance cameras in the villa and his office, set up real-time location tracking on his phone, and refused to let him have any private space. She even replaced the walls of the bathroom at home with glass.

Even on his days off, she locked him at home to look after the child.

Unexpectedly, Yan Boyan accepted all of it without complaint. He even gently reminded her, “Don’t forget to install a signal jammer, too.”

“That way, all my time will belong to you.”

Xin Zizhen nodded blankly. “That makes sense. I’ll get one installed right away.”

3.

Yan Boyan was so obedient, giving her everything. Before long, Xin Zizhen decided she had enough leverage to keep the child and leave the father behind.

The night she finished packing, she was so tired she fell asleep. When she woke, she found herself locked in a secret room.

“Where is my wife going with my child?”

He emerged slowly from the shadows. In the dim light, the man’s clothes were immaculate and his bearing pristine. His pitch-black gaze clung to her, cold and sinister.

“Zhenzhen, have I been so obedient that you’ve lost interest in me?”

Xin Zizhen finally understood, and a chill ran through her. “You got your memory back ages ago!”

“Otherwise, how could I teach you to bully me?”

Yan Boyan slowly revealed a chilling smile. His eyes brimmed with greed and obsession, and his excited voice was almost feverishly thirsty.

“Didn’t we promise to stay together forever, Zhenzhen?”

“Even in death, we’ll die together.”

[His love is a dangerous flash of lightning striking through the dead of night.]

Reader’s guide:

1. One-on-one pairing, both leads’ first time, happy ending.

2. The child is the male lead’s. The child is the male lead’s. The child is the male lead’s!!

Blurb saved on the evening of May 18, 2026.

Theme: Love works best when two people are on the same wavelength.