After the Wealthy Family’s Favorite Was Mistaken for a Fake Young Master

For the first twenty years of his life, Huo Kairan lived like an exquisite, fragile glass doll. As the youngest master of the Huo family, he was the center of everyone’s universe, adored by his parents and indulged by his elder brother. Even though he was arrogant, sickly, and troublesome, no one ever uttered a word of reproach.

That changed when he accidentally overheard a secret: he was actually a “fake young master” of this wealthy house! He was merely an “adopted son” who could be discarded at any moment. It turned out that all the love he received was just a beautiful accident.

As his world crumbled, he thought of his eldest brother, Huo Lin, a man of few words who held the family’s lifeblood in his hands. To avoid being abandoned, the little young master clumsily hid his arrogance and began a flawed, desperate “survival” mission.

He tried to make coffee for Huo Lin, only to scald his fingertips, leading the man to frown and grip his hand tightly.

He forced his sickly body to stay up waiting for Huo Lin to return late at night, only to fall asleep curled on the sofa and wake up tucked neatly into bed.

He forced stiff smiles and softened his voice to say, “Brother is the best,” failing to see the dark, swirling intensity in the man’s eyes.

Huo Lin had been troubled lately. His beautiful younger brother, who used to look down on everyone and ignore him, had suddenly changed. He was like a timid kitten, trembling as he tried to show his soft belly, clumsily yet earnestly acting spoiled to please him. Huo Lin enjoyed this sudden intimacy, yet his heart ached for the insecurity hidden behind those forced smiles.

What was wrong with his brother? Huo Lin indulged and protected him, selfishly hoping this dependency would last a little longer.

Until one day, with red rims around his eyes, Huo Kairan grabbed Huo Lin’s sleeve and choked out: “Brother, I’ll be very good. Please don’t throw me away, okay?”

Huo Lin finally realized something was fundamentally wrong. After crushing the rumors from the gutters and holding a real DNA test, he cornered the trembling Huo Kairan against a wall.

“Ranran,” his voice was low and hoarse, thick with undisguised possessiveness. “Tell me, what are you afraid of? Losing this rich life? Being abandoned by the Huo family?”

He leaned in, his face inches from those tear-filled eyes, and said syllable by syllable: “Look closely. From beginning to end, the one who had to work hard to be accepted, the one who was afraid of being left behind was never you.”

“And I, Huo Lin, stayed in the Huo family as an adopted son with one great selfishness from start to finish, it was only you.”

Theme: A bad-tempered, sickly protagonist and his “old-fashioned” overbearing brother.