The Concubine Seeks Affection

Censor Lin secretly kept a mistress. The woman came from a humble family but was exceptionally beautiful. As soon as she became pregnant, she prayed day after day, hoping for a daughter so she could be officially brought into the Lin household.

But fate did not go her way. She gave birth to a taciturn, awkward son instead.

The words Lin Wenxi heard most often from his father were, "You really don't know how to make people like you."

In the end, the mistress left in bitterness. Since Lin Wenxi did at least share Censor Lin's blood, he was hurriedly brought into the Lin household.

He grew up there walking on eggshells, and came to understand why his father had been so determined to enter the household. Life dependent on others was truly miserable.

He could never end up like his father. He would become the principal husband of a household.

He heard that the Shen family was seeking a marriage match. Knowing this was his only chance, Lin Wenxi asked the principal husband of the Lin family to add him to his household register under his name. In the end, this was how he arranged the marriage for himself.

As Lin Wenxi had expected, after their marriage, the Shen family's Third Young Lady was a libertine who spent her days drinking and carousing, paying him no attention.

Lin Wenxi didn't care. If the Third Young Lady of the Shen family had been a decent person, there was no way he'd have become the young lord of the Shen household.

He wanted a future of his own, not love.

For that, he was willing to do anything, including drugging his wife and leaving her half-paralyzed.

But something went wrong. The Third Young Lady of the Shen family was nearly strangled to death by a convict and carried back to the Shen household, barely alive.

From then on, it was as if she had become another person.

She devoted herself to entering officialdom and building a career, spending most of her time bent over a desk drawing all kinds of plans he couldn't understand.

When he was sick, she made soup and cared for him. When others gave him a hard time, she stood up for him...

To hold on to this little bit of warmth, he was willing to wager his life again and again.

In the end, he managed to stay by her side.

The Third Young Lady of the Shen family rose steadily through the ranks, and he seemed to have become a husband everyone envied.

Little by little, he realized that perhaps he'd managed to find himself a truly good match.

Both leads are virgins. [Content warning: Male pregnancy! Neither lead is perfect, and both can be selfish. The male lead suffers a little early on, but later they dote on each other. Don't read if that's not for you.]

Set in an imaginary dynasty. Don't scrutinize the official titles.

Theme: Love can overcome every hardship.