23 Chapter 28: I Can Still Endure Part 1

The Pei family had been merchants for generations, a prestigious and influential clan in the Rong Kingdom that even the imperial court treated with caution. As the Family Head of the Pei family, Pei Lianyi was himself the envy of all—the renowned "Pearl of Rongchu".

From inheriting the family business to marriage and fatherhood, Pei Lianyi’s path had always been smooth, like a jade orchid nurtured in a greenhouse, untouched by frost or rain.

Few knew that Pei Lianyi harbored a private worry: his only son, the willful and spoiled Pei Ziying.

Pei Lianyi had spent nearly twenty years navigating complex social circles and exhausting his mind to keep the Pei family firmly established as the head of the Four Great Clans.

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

It was then that Pei Lianyi took notice of the down-on-his-luck Huo Jingzhao.

Huo Jingzhao was known far and wide as a famously good-natured man, an honest man. Not only was he handsome, but his conduct was also gentle and refined.

Pei Lianyi thought Huo Jingzhao would make an excellent live-in son-in-law.

To this end, he went so far as to scheme to have Huo Jingzhao marry his son. As long as Huo Jingzhao and Pei Ziying produced an heir, the Pei family would have a successor.

But what Pei Lianyi never anticipated was that on the wedding day, Pei Ziying would run away!

A joyous occasion turned into a humiliating one. Pei Lianyi had no choice but to swallow his pride and, in his son's place, go personally to the Huo Residence to apologize to Huo Jingzhao.

The gentle and respectful man was just as he expected. Not only did he not show Pei Lianyi any attitude, he even turned around and consoled him.

"I won't blame the Little Young Master. Please, Family Head Pei, don't take it to heart."

Pei Lianyi’s heart settled. Huo Jingzhao was truly a magnanimous and good man, he thought.

However, that very night upon returning, a man wearing a Ghost Warrior Mask climbed into his bed. With crude movements, he tore down Pei Lianyi’s defenses, whispering into his ear in a cold, deep voice:

"Since you want an heir for the Pei family so badly, why not just give birth to another one yourself?"

In the throes of this stormy encounter, the deeply humiliated Pei Lianyi reached up with trembling hands and tore off the man's mask—

What shocked him to the core was that the face beneath the mask was none other than the incomparably handsome, honest face of Huo Jingzhao!

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ATTACKER'S POV:

In Huo Jingzhao's heart, there was a bright pearl. Everyone else wanted only to hold this pearl up, but he wanted only to destroy it.

For this, he didn't hesitate to associate with Demons, amassing power, preparing to shock everyone with his revenge.

And just as he was about to make his move, that pearl delivered itself right to his doorstep.

"You saved Ziying. You are a good man. I want you to be the live-in son-in-law of the Pei family..."

A fine live-in son-in-law indeed! A fine "good man"!

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

Prey that walks right into the mouth—is there any reason not to eat it?

So he agreed to the marriage.

But no one expected that on the wedding day, Pei Lianyi’s foolish son would run off.

Watching Pei Lianyi kneel at his feet to apologize, his posture so frail and weak, Huo Jingzhao’s Adam's apple bobbed. On the surface, he told him not to worry, but his mind was filled with nothing but obsessive thoughts:

Pei Lianyi, since you want to make amends, why not give yourself to me instead.

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