The Poor Little Mute Is Carrying the Villain's Baby

Gentle and restrained older love interest | first time for both | pregnancy | marriage first, love later | stand-in bride trope | romance-focused.

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Xie Shuangxi transmigrates into a book, becoming the darling of the protagonist's family.

He is a poor little mute, made to work like a wage slave and ultimately give up his life.

In the book, after the father of the politically scheming family rebels, the family is defeated by the gloomy, ruthless regent and dragged off to the market to be executed.

Xie Shuangxi, who appears for only a few chapters, is abandoned in the wilderness, and a dog carries off his head.

Xie Shuangxi: Aba aba aba. (Help! Help! Help!)

The Regent: What are you saying?

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Feeling his head still attached, Xie Shuangxi decides he can still be saved.

* (A little scene)

As it turns out, the Regent marries him.

On the second night of their marriage, after the Regent keeps him awake all night and leaves him alone in the bridal chamber, Xie Shuangxi is heartbroken and packs his things to run away.

The Regent catches him and pins him to the table. "Don't you like me? You're so good. Just like me a little."

Xie Shuangxi: Aba aba aba.

(If you keep being so mean, I'm going to stop liking you. And if I stop liking you, I'll leave you.)

* (A little scene)

One day, the Regent's consort squats under the covered walkway eating grapes. The Regent secretly takes two, and he doesn't notice.

The Regent is about to steal a third when the consort looks at him and suddenly throws up.

The Regent: Do I look disgusting?

Later, the consort's slender shoulders hunch as he cradles his increasingly rounded belly in his long arms, tears pattering down.

Everyone in the Regent's household loves the consort, and they blame the Regent for having no restraint and being a bad husband.

Xie Shuangxi: Waaah. (I'm a male mom, a male mom!)

*

After a lifetime spent on the battlefield, Jing Yun sees the little mute in front of him, fidgeting and only able to whimper. He reaches out to ruffle his fluffy hair, then unceremoniously carries him out the door.

On their wedding night, Jing Yun sees the little mute wriggling on the bed and only able to whimper. He reaches out to touch the red wedding robe he is wearing, then lets down the bed curtains.

The powerful regent x the adorably helpless little mute.

★ First time for both, happy ending, older love interest. Two strangers inexplicably take a liking to each other, then marry through a series of misunderstandings and settle into married life.

★ The pursued cannot speak. He's a timid little lovesick fool with few material desires, but plenty of thoughts, so the story has a lot of inner monologue.

★ The pursuer has the same personality as in the original book, but the pursued thinks he will have him executed and assumes he's a bad person. The pursuer is still gentle, but he is a general and a political schemer, so he can be forceful and cunning. He has plenty of thoughts of his own, too, though most of them never come to fruition.

The political scheming is just make-believe; the author's IQ is limited.

Theme: Nothing is impossible if you keep reaching for it.