The Honest Man Who Was Jilted at the Altar

Main story complete. An older man's love means letting go and giving the younger man freedom, because he knows the younger man will put his own leash back on. A younger man's love means breaking and biting, because that makes the older man feel even better.

(At first you looked down on me, and now I'm your stepfather/stepmother? Our motto is: We want a daddy! We want a daddy!)

[Gentle and refined in public, dark and twisted in private, a two-faced top x cold, chaste, pampered and elegant bottom, a perfect wife]

Younger top and bottom, both strong, one-on-one romance / father-and-son love triangle / father and son fall for the same person / two-faced, ruthless male lead top

[Prologue, bottom's perspective:

The Pei family had been merchants for generations, a prestigious clan in the Rong Kingdom, powerful enough to give even the imperial court pause. As head of the Pei family, Pei Lianyi was known to everyone as the envied "Pearl of Rongchu."

From inheriting the family business to marrying and having a child, everything had gone smoothly for Pei Lianyi. He was like a magnolia raised in a hothouse, untouched by rain, frost, or harm.

Few knew that Pei Lianyi had a worry of his own: his only son, the spoiled and willful Pei Ziying.

Pei Lianyi had spent nearly twenty years juggling relationships and exhausting himself to keep the Pei family firmly at the head of the Four Great Families.

How could he sit by and let Pei Ziying ruin it all?

Just then, Pei Lianyi took an interest in Huo Jingzhao, whose family had fallen on hard times.

Huo Jingzhao was famous within a ten-mile radius for being an honest, good-natured man. He was not only handsome, but also gentle and courteous toward others.

Pei Lianyi thought Huo Jingzhao would make a good live-in son-in-law.

So he went to great lengths to arrange for Huo Jingzhao to marry his son. As long as he and Pei Ziying had a child, the Pei family would have an heir.

But what Pei Lianyi never expected was that Pei Ziying would run away on the very day of the wedding!

The joyous occasion had turned into a public embarrassment. Pei Lianyi had no choice but to set aside his pride and go to the Huo residence himself to apologize to Huo Jingzhao on his son's behalf.

Just as he had imagined, the gentle, modest man didn't take offense. Instead, he comforted Pei Lianyi.

"I don't blame the young master. Head of the Pei family, please don't take it to heart."

Pei Lianyi was relieved, thinking Huo Jingzhao was truly a generous, good man.

But that night, a man wearing an ogre-warrior mask climbed into his bed. With rough movements, he broke through Pei Lianyi's defenses and said in a chilling voice by his ear:

"Since you're so eager to ensure the Pei family has an heir, why not have another child yourself?"

Amid their fevered passion, Pei Lianyi, humiliated, trembled as he lifted the man's mask.

To his shock and disbelief, the handsome, honest face beneath it belonged to Huo Jingzhao!

[Top's perspective:

Huo Jingzhao had a pearl in his heart. Everyone else wanted to cherish it, but he wanted to destroy it.

For that, he was willing to consort with demons, building up his strength and quietly preparing to shock everyone with his revenge.

Just as he was about to make his move, the pearl came to him of its own accord.

"You saved Ziying. You're a good person. I want you to become the Pei family's live-in son-in-law…"

A fine live-in son-in-law! A fine "good person"!

Looking at Pei Lianyi's elegant, distinguished face, Huo Jingzhao sneered inwardly:

How could he refuse prey that had walked right into his mouth?

So he agreed to the marriage.

But no one expected Pei Lianyi's foolish son to run away on the wedding day.

Watching Pei Lianyi kneel at his feet and apologize, looking so frail, Huo Jingzhao's Adam's apple bobbed. On the surface, he told Pei Lianyi not to worry about it, but his mind was full of wild fantasies:

Pei Lianyi, if you want to make amends, why not give yourself to me?

Blurb recorded on 2024.11.24 and archived.

Friendly heads-up, no need to avoid anything:

1. The top is very good at pretending to be harmless while hiding his true nature. Sometimes he's a normal person, sometimes a dark, brooding ghost of a man.

2. The top is sexually inexperienced; the bottom isn't. (Important: the son was born by the bottom. Yes, he came out of the bottom's belly.)

3. If there isn't anything to your taste, the author has to cook it up personally. Please indulge my preferences (sob).

4. All of the top's romantic experience comes from the bottom. As the older, higher-ranking partner, the bottom teaches him a lot, including things that can't be said aloud.

5. Neither character is written to cater entirely to fans of the top or the bottom. They both have their own charms, so fans who only like one side should move along.

Theme: Turn the tables against the odds and win the heart of your beloved