Behind My Ex-Husband’s Back, I Remarry the Beijing Circle’s Crown Prince!

Ruan Wan awakens inside the novel Love as a Branch, realizing she is the cannon fodder ex-wife destined to be humiliated and discarded by the male lead, Li Minglan, and his female lead, Shen Zhizhi. Aware that her life is a scripted tragedy where wealthy suitors feign affection only to reveal their contempt after her divorce, she resolves to survive by securing financial independence and escaping the plot. She maintains a cold, transactional relationship with her husband, Li Minglan, who married her out of spite to provoke his first love, Shen Zhizhi. Li Minglan is unaware that Ruan Wan’s father forged a pregnancy to force the union, a secret that could destroy her if discovered by his ruthless grandfather.

On her birthday, Ruan Wan narrowly avoids a fatal accident by saving Li Yuan, the Li family’s eldest son and the novel’s tragic supporting character, who is destined to die in a highway collapse. In exchange for her intervention, she makes a shocking request: she asks Li Yuan to father her child, not out of love, but to secure an heir who is unrelated to Li Minglan’s lineage, thereby protecting herself from the Li family’s wrath. Li Yuan, intrigued by her boldness, agrees to consider the arrangement. Meanwhile, Ruan Wan continues to navigate the dangerous advances of Jiang Song, a wealthy young master who is part of a group pretending to pursue her to help Shen Zhizhi. Instead of falling for his manipulations, Ruan Wan treats every interaction as a paid service, recording their conversations and refusing expensive gifts, which confuses and frustrates Jiang Song.

At her workplace, Ruan Wan faces hostility from colleagues who favor Lin Yuying, a woman who stole her identity as the Ruan family heiress. Ruan Wan reveals the truth about Lin Yuying’s parentage, causing chaos but also asserting her dominance. When Jiang Song arrives for a scheduled interview, he is angered by Lin Yuying’s incompetence and publicly dismisses her, showing unexpected favor toward Ruan Wan. This sparks jealousy and suspicion among her coworkers, particularly Gao Yue, who hires a private detective to uncover Ruan Wan’s secrets, hoping to expose her as a mistress.

Ruan Wan also deals with Su Tongan, a younger man who deliberately caused a car accident to get close to her, another pawn in Shen Zhizhi’s plot. Ruan Wan exposes his scheme but agrees to continue the charade for payment, creating a complex web of financial transactions. The detective’s footage reveals Ruan Wan meeting with both Jiang Song and Su Tongan, leading to a confrontation where the two men realize they are competing for the same woman. Pei Baichen, a third wealthy suitor, proposes a bet: whoever makes Ruan Wan divorce Li Minglan first wins a sports car. The men, driven by competition and curiosity, intensify their pursuit, unaware that Ruan Wan is using them all for money and protection.

As Li Yuan returns to the country, Ruan Wan prepares to resign from her magazine job and return to her true passion: motorsport engineering. She plans to use the money she has accumulated to rebuild her life away from the novel’s plot. However, Li Minglan begins to show signs of possessiveness and confusion, particularly when he discovers Ruan Wan’s interactions with other men. The story culminates in a tense family gathering where Li Yuan’s presence threatens to expose the fake pregnancy, forcing Ruan Wan to rely on her alliance with him to survive the impending crisis. The narrative sets the stage for Ruan Wan to break free from her scripted role, turning the tables on the male leads who underestimated her.