After the Poor Thing's Substitute Marriage, He Finds Out His Husband Is an Evil Spirit

Tan Xueci is a sickly, universally disliked young man. His parents dote on their adopted son, and even his brother finds his constant illness irritating. The boyfriend he has been dating for three months only sees him as a stand-in for someone else. It is only when the Tan family forms a marriage alliance with the He family that Xueci realizes none of them truly love him. Their adopted son cries and refuses to go, so his parents ignore Xueci’s wishes and bundle him off to the He family instead. Only then does he finally understand why his younger brother didn’t want to go. Because the man is dead. The only thing waiting for him is the man’s memorial tablet and a pale, handsome portrait. On their wedding night, the He family locks him in the mourning hall. Funeral banners sway overhead, and a coffin sits in the darkness. “Mr. He… are you there?” Tan Xueci asks in a small voice, his face pale and his eyes rimmed red as he curls up. “Honey, are you there?” Silence. No answer. He doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or afraid. Rubbing his red eyes, he eventually succumbs to exhaustion and falls asleep. He doesn’t notice the cold, handsome man in the portrait move his eyes ever so slightly, his gaze dark and deep. It fixes on Xueci’s snow-white ankles. * Tan Xueci discovers that everyone who has ever bullied him starts having terrible luck. The actor who bought his way into a production and took Xueci’s role starts seeing ghosts on set, or the director falls ill. The adopted son who used to fight him for everything is suddenly in a car accident. Meanwhile, Xueci grows more and more famous. It’s as if everyone has suddenly realized that Tan Xueci exists. His parents cry as they apologize and say they want him to come home. His ex-boyfriend says he’s only just realized he never saw Xueci as a substitute. He fell in love with him long ago, and doesn’t even mind that Xueci has been married. Only Tan Xueci knows that every night he dreams of a man holding him and calling him Baby, taking him everywhere he wants to go, loving him more than everyone else in the world put together. It’s absurd. He has fallen in love with someone in his dreams, but that person is dead. * Then, on a variety show, his ex-boyfriend He Sui suddenly confesses to him on camera. When Xueci rejects him, He Sui flies into a rage and says, “I don’t even mind that you’ve been married. Are you really planning to spend the rest of your life with a dead man?” [???] [What do you mean, married? Holy crap, a secret marriage scandal, and his husband is already dead? Shocking.jpg] [Is that something you can just say? Tan Xueci is so ungrateful. Who used to chase Young Master He around? Why put on an act now?] Tan Xueci sways unsteadily. His face is deathly pale, and tears cling to his lashes without falling. Just as he tries to dodge the hand reaching for his shoulder, someone gently knocks open the studio door. A pale, handsome man in a black suit stands outside. Dark and yet tender, he gazes at Xueci’s tear-reddened eyes and asks, “Baby, who bullied you?” He has come back. A seemingly gentle, timid little white flower who is actually a dark, crawling-on-the-ground type bottom x a possessive, domineering, damp and gloomy ghost top who loves to scare his wife but is hopelessly devoted to him Reader’s Guide: 1. The bottom is sweet on the outside, dark on the inside, then sweet again. At heart, he’s still a good boy. The top is an evil ghost with a little humanity, but not much. 2. They’re both virgins. The top has a bad reputation, but he’s a devoted husband with no exes or messy history. The bottom has had no physical intimacy with his ex-boyfriend. * Coming soon, please add to your reading list: “When the Cool Buddhist Monk Transmigrates into an Old-School Regret-and-Redemption Novel” Xie Xianyu, the notorious treacherous minister of the Great Zhou dynasty, was known as the Jade-Faced Asura. After wreaking havoc in court for over a decade, he was sent into exile three thousand li away by a memorial from his nemesis, and forced to take the tonsure. At last, after facing the green lamp and ancient Buddha, he managed to cultivate some Buddhist nature. Then he opened his eyes and discovered he had transmigrated into a book. He had become the bottom protagonist of an old-school regret-and-redemption novel. The protagonist is a minor celebrity with a gambling father, a timid mother, a sick younger brother, and a life in pieces. For his family’s sake, he agrees to become the sugar baby of a scumbag top, then falls in love with him. The scumbag top abuses him in body and spirit. Even when he catches the man cheating, the protagonist only weeps in hurt silence. One time the scumbag drops to his knees, and the protagonist forgives him on the spot. Xie Xianyu: “…” Xie Xianyu takes a deep breath, squeezes his prayer beads until they creak, and silently repeats, Buddha have mercy. - At a certain banquet, the original protagonist makes a fool of himself and angers the scumbag top’s lover. Everyone waits for him to come out and apologize. Instead, Xie Xianyu appears, with long black hair, cool, clear features, and a string of white jade prayer beads in his hand. He is passionless and desireless, otherworldly and refined. Everyone: ??? Where did this Buddhist monk of the entertainment industry come from? - The scumbag top, Pei Yu, realizes that Xie Xianyu no longer chases after him or gazes at him with adoration. Panicked, he goes looking for Xie Xianyu. Xie Xianyu closes his eyes, coolly rejects the man, and says while fingering his prayer beads, “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.” The original protagonist’s gambling father and timid mother are afraid he’ll offend Young Master Pei and lose their money, so they urge Xie Xianyu to suck up to him. Xie Xianyu says, “Benefactors, you’re too impatient.” His gambling-addict parents are furious. Xie Xianyu: “See? Impatient again.” - The entertainment industry also notices that the once-insecure Xie Xianyu, who always kept his head down, is gone. The Xie Xianyu of today is refined and otherworldly, with exquisite calligraphy and a talent for playing the zither, like an ancient scholar brought back to life. A renowned monk even seeks him out to discuss Buddhist teachings. #Xie Xianyu Buddhist Monk of the Entertainment Industry# #Xie Xianyu What Do I Do I Want to Become a Monk Too# Just as the whole internet comes to think of Xie Xianyu as a frail, cool beauty full of Buddhist compassion, the scumbag top seeks him out on a variety show. Xie Xianyu holds his prayer beads and punches the man’s jaw crooked. Everyone: ??? Xie Xianyu rolls his prayer beads between his fingers, calm and pure as jade. “If you refuse to listen, benefactor, this humble monk also knows a thing or two about martial arts.” - The day after Xie Xianyu beats up the scumbag top, Pei Xiangjing, head of the Pei family, personally comes to apologize. Impeccably dressed, with crimson lips and a handsome face, he wears a smile that is especially infuriating. As soon as Xie Xianyu opens the door, he finds himself face-to-face with a familiar figure: the chancellor of the Great Zhou dynasty, the nemesis who got him exiled three thousand li away. - Xie Xianyu doesn’t know that after he was exiled, the chancellor fell ill and died, holding Xie Xianyu’s jade pendant in one hand and a letter to his wife in the other. I send my sorrow with the bright moon, to follow you all the way west to Yelang. Top: “Open your eyes and look at me. I refuse to believe there’s nothing behind those eyes.” Bottom on the outside: cool and clear as the moon, free of worldly desire. Bottom on the inside: Guys, I’ve got another crazy one. P.S. The bottom only seems cool and detached. He was forced to become a monk because he was too eager to kill. After taking the tonsure, he delivers physical salvation. The top is completely in love, a hopeless romantic. Cool, aloof bottom x flirty, smooth-talking top Theme: Love can transcend life and death.