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Alternative
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“We bloom roses in the dark night, then together become butterflies.”
The Huo and Lan families form a marriage alliance. Lan Su, forced by circumstances, marries Huo Yan.
Huo Yan comes from a powerful family, but her legs are disabled, and she spends her days in a wheelchair. Even more terrifying—within three years, three of her wives have died.
Lan Su steps into this dangerous den, replacing her younger sister.
The glittering jewelry, the luxurious gowns, the pampered “wife”—all are traps. Her greatest mission is to keep her identity hidden.
Yet, the very first time she pours tea for Huo Yan, her soul is laid bare, her long-hidden secret exposed.
“This hand… it was broken before?”
Fearful, calculating, and cautious, she tries to guard herself. But later, when Huo Yan stares at the fractured hand of the Lan family’s eldest daughter, her beautiful eyes flash with cruelty:
“This hand… must repay its debt.”
Backstory
Huo Yan grew up in Southeast Asia. At eighteen, during her coming-of-age ceremony in Vietnam, she was caught in a sudden gunfight.
A thin figure threw herself over Huo Yan, dragging her into a corner to avoid the bullets.
“I’ll draw them away. In twenty minutes, call for help.”
The twelve-year-old girl was astonishingly calm. Her right hand was broken, yet she gritted her teeth and straightened Huo Yan’s wheelchair, as if she felt no pain at all.
Huo Yan narrowed her eyes, as though she had glimpsed a little leopard baring its fangs.
That memory stayed buried in her heart, day and night, like a rose blooming silently in the dark.
After returning home, she numbly chose suitable marriage partners while her career soared. To her, marriage was merely another form of business.
Until that day, when her new “delicate wife” poured her tea, her gaze lingered on the deformed wrist, and memories surged back:
“This hand… it was broken before?”
The little leopard—she had found her.
Mini-Theater
Drunk, Huo Yan becomes quiet, shedding her usual gloom, curling pitifully under a blanket.
Lan Su touches the wound on her lips, ready to question the culprit. But seeing Huo Yan dazed and confused, she lets it go, instead bringing her a bowl of sobering soup.
The next moment, Huo Yan wraps her arms around Lan Su’s waist, pressing her ear against her stomach, and murmurs softly:
“Su Su… marriage is not a transaction.”
One-line summary: A disabled tycoon × A high-combat “delicate wife”
Theme: People who grow in the mire can still bloom roses, finding hope in the darkness.
