Why Is My Ex-Husband Seducing Me? (Girl X Boy)

[A clever, proud, and flirtatious merchant heroine x a ruthless, sinister, and scheming power minister]

Lin Yan took over her family’s business and made a grand entrance in the capital, attracting attention wherever she went.

Even on a bitterly cold winter’s day, with snow falling thickly, people hoping to curry favor with her still lined up from one end of the street to the other.

One day, on her way home, an ornate carriage blocked her path.

The curtain lifted slightly, and a clear, gentle voice came from inside. “I’m sorry, my carriage has broken down. Might I ride with you for a while?”

The person inside was none other than her stunningly handsome ex-husband, a man she had lusted after time and again but never truly managed to claim.

The warmth vanished from Lin Yan’s face, and she turned to leave.

The man’s inscrutable gaze lingered on her and the young male attendants around her.

*

Back then, Ji Runshu had fallen on hard times. In order to borrow money to sit the civil service examinations, he deliberately ingratiated himself with Lin Yan, the wealthiest person in Qingzhou. When they became engaged, he even wrote a promise to repay her a thousandfold.

But he considered himself too noble to consummate the marriage, pretending affection for years while treating her with disdain at every turn.

For a time, he regarded her as a stepping stone to success, ready to abandon her at any moment. But after placing in the imperial examinations, he regretted it and wanted to return to her.

Instead, he received Lin Yan’s divorce papers and a meticulously itemized accounting of what he owed her.

She had never loved him.

Ji Runshu went mad.

After years of political infighting, Ji Runshu became a ruthless opportunist, willing to do anything for gain. He used every means at his disposal to claw his way to the top.

Every time he was intimate with his former wife, it felt as if he were submitting under duress to repay a debt. The shame of it made him feel as though he had paid for the scraps of affection she deigned to grant him, so he never once said the word “love.”

Until Lin Yan was kidnapped. Under threat, he personally had the tendons in his wrists severed, then trembled as he held her after she had escaped danger.

She acted as if nothing had happened. He wept.

Only then did Ji Runshu realize that after fighting with all his might to escape his inferiority and wretched past, all he had ever wanted was her.

Ji Runshu endured a life in which he had no name or status, and had to compete with others in secret. He gave everything he had just to finally enter Lin Yan’s inner courtyard through the main gate, where he could push aside a group of handsome young attendants and kneel to beg for her favor.

Lin Yan watched coldly as he undressed. She held down his trembling hand, her fingers gently tracing his Adam’s apple.

The man, so long accustomed to his own lofty pride, was now meek and pitiful. “Send them away, will you? I’ll serve you for the rest of my life.”

One-on-one romance, happy ending, gender-bender with no role reversal.

This is a story about a terrible man who needs to be disciplined. The heroine is neither a naive innocent nor a wholly good person. The hero suffers, and there’s a long pursuit-to-win-her-back arc before they reconcile.

Blurb captured on December 12, 2024, with minor edits.

Set in an imaginary world, so don’t overanalyze the details.

Theme: It’s never too late to mend your ways