Fu Yanli

Biodata

Background / History

Fu Yanli was born relatively late in his parents’ lives and was doted on by them, though he remained aloof and independent from childhood. He built his own fortune and expanded Zhongyu Group through his abilities within a few years, earning a reputation that distinguished him from the wealthy heirs around him 5 121 125.

He and Ye Jing had known each other since childhood. When her mother discovered her relationship with Song Yan, she refused medicine and treatment and threatened to die unless Ye Jing married a man. Ye Jing asked Fu Yanli for help. Having no interest in romance or marriage himself, he agreed partly because a marriage would discourage his own unwanted admirers 108.

Their legal marriage concealed separate private lives. They quietly divorced a year later but continued appearing publicly as a harmonious couple. By the time Fu Yanli explained the arrangement to Jiang Xun, they had been divorced for two years; Ye Jing’s mother had died, removing the reason to maintain the deception 108 109.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and broad-shouldered, with a narrow waist, long limbs, and a muscular physique that looks slim when clothed. His chest and eight-pack are defined without being exaggerated 27 82 123.
• Hair and complexion: Short black hair and light-tan skin 82 141 162.
• Eyes: Dark, slightly elongated eyes with narrow double eyelids and subtly upturned outer corners. His gaze is usually distant but noticeably softens toward Jiang Xun 109 162.
• Distinguishing features: A prominent Adam’s apple, sharply defined facial contours, and large hands with long fingers, pronounced joints, and visible veins 5 109.
• Clothing: Often wears suits, overcoats, and dark turtlenecks. Even his loose loungewear can be buttoned neatly to the top 41 54 112.
• During Jiang Xun’s critical illness: His usual immaculate appearance deteriorates into wrinkled clothes, unshaven stubble, a haggard face, and bloodshot eyes 170.

Personality

Fu Yanli is reserved, economical with words, and exceptionally difficult to read. His composure persists through business encounters, unwanted advances, and family confrontations. Although generally courteous, he has little interest in cultivating intimacy with people he does not care about and can reject persistent admirers with blunt coldness 54 66 70 119 123.

His restrained exterior conceals a calculating and sexually assertive side. He engineers opportunities for closeness with Jiang Xun while appearing uninvolved, such as arranging for the sleeping Jiang Xun to lean against his shoulder. Jiang Xun’s mind-reading card later exposes the desire hidden behind his calm expression 40 72.

His pursuit also includes clear violations of Jiang Xun’s boundaries. He restrains and kisses Jiang Xun despite his protests, and later admits to installing a hidden camera, agreeing to remove it when confronted 102 144.

With Jiang Xun, Fu Yanli becomes attentive, teasing, and openly affectionate. He cooks, provides practical care, arranges medical treatment, and takes handmade gifts seriously. His usual emotional control collapses during Jiang Xun’s life-threatening illness, when he cries, pleads for him to recover, and turns to religious prayer despite never having believed in gods 16 74 148 170 171.

Abilities & Skills

Business Leadership

• Built his fortune from nothing and substantially expanded Zhongyu Group within a few years 5 125.
• Commands assistants, executives, and bodyguards, and has access to a private hospital owned by the group 27 78 146 155.
• Uses his resources to bring together an international team of ear specialists for Jiang Xun 74.

Combat and Physical Strength

• Defeats three armed men using a brick, a wrist lock, and a shoulder throw 34.
• Intercepts an attacker before he can kick Jiang Xun 67.
• Carries Jiang Xun and, on Jiang Xun’s request, carries the injured Bai Lian upstairs 48 108.
• Brutally beats Jiang Yongqiang in private after restraining himself in front of Jiang Xun and other students 79.

Perception and Investigation

• Recognizes Jiang Zixing’s attraction and understands the schemes behind his attempts to approach him 70.
• Notices inconsistencies in Jiang Xun’s abilities and behavior, including his unexpected piano skill, without forcing him to reveal his secrets 48 144 170.
• Continues investigating his car crash despite finding no clear evidence that it was deliberate 155.
• Learns from Ji Ming’s confession that Ji Yuntian arranged Jiang Xun’s kidnapping to stage a rescue and win his affection 155.

Domestic Skills and Social Adaptability

• Prepares breakfast and other meals, shops for groceries, and adjusts food to Jiang Xun’s condition 16 124 144.
• Peels an entire apple without breaking the strip of skin 123.
• Researches Deng Shu’s interests and converses comfortably about cooking, baking, and jewelry to improve her opinion of him 138.

Unexplained Recovery

Fu Yanli recovers from severe crash injuries at a medically inexplicable speed; the supplied account does not establish the cause 154 155.

• Transfers to Zhongyu Group’s private hospital rather than remain under the original specialists’ scrutiny, and prevents news of the recovery from spreading 155.
• Suspects Jiang Xun knows more than he says. During Jiang Xun’s later medical crisis, he invokes his own recovery while asking whether Jiang Xun has a way to save himself 155 170.

Possessions and Gifts

• Apartment: Occupies an entire floor with private elevator access and fingerprint entry. Fu Yanli gives Jiang Xun a guest room and registers his fingerprint 15 16.
• Watch: Allows Jiang Xun to keep the watch he took while drunk. Later catches him bowing to it with chocolates placed beside it 16 41.
• Wedding band: Initially wears a plain band matching Ye Jing’s. Later claims it fell down a drain and asks Jiang Xun to keep that explanation secret 5 41.
• Silver bracelet: Gives it to Jiang Xun after they begin their relationship and fastens it around his wrist himself 113.
• New Year bank card: Gives Jiang Xun a card whose PIN is the date Jiang Xun first kissed him 124.
• Handmade mug: Receives it from Jiang Xun for his thirtieth birthday and calls it the most precious gift he has ever received 148.

Relationships

• Jiang Xun — Romantic partner. Fu Yanli first receives him as his nephew’s prospective fiancé, develops feelings while they live together, and becomes his partner after Jiang Xun explicitly accepts him 16 48 112.
• Chu Xingye — Nephew and romantic rival. Chu Xingye initially interprets Fu Yanli’s attention to Jiang Xun as an elder’s care, then is devastated to learn they are dating. Fu Yanli acknowledges having wronged him but refuses to end the relationship 48 134 135.
• Ye Jing — Childhood friend and former wife in an arranged marriage. Their public image as a loving couple conceals a private divorce and her relationship with Song Yan 108 109.
• Jiang Zixing — Unwanted admirer who has pursued him for years. Fu Yanli first maintains polite distance, then explicitly tells him to stop coming to see him and later rejects his confession and attempt to undress in his office 19 70 119.
• Bai Lian — Rival for Jiang Xun’s affection. Bai Lian condemns Fu Yanli’s pursuit because he believes him married; Fu Yanli tells him Jiang Xun will be his lifelong partner and warns him not to waste his effort 69 70 108.
• Jiang Huaijin — Jiang Xun’s older brother. Initially respects Fu Yanli, then angrily confronts him over the relationship. After learning the truth about his divorce, he recognizes Fu Yanli’s genuine feelings but warns him never to hurt Jiang Xun 124 125.
• Jiang Shiyuan — Jiang Xun’s father. Openly hostile to the man dating his son and once chases him with a broom. Fu Yanli remains composed during later family visits 137 138 160.
• Deng Shu — Jiang Xun’s mother. Fu Yanli deliberately wins her favor through shared conversation and offers to help prepare dinner 138.
• Fu Hongshu — Father. Beats Fu Yanli with a cane after learning he is dating his nephew’s former prospective partner, then reluctantly stops opposing the relationship 135.
• Mrs. Fu — Mother. Distressed by her son’s injuries and intervenes when his father beats him 135 155.
• Fu Sang — Older sister and Chu Xingye’s mother. Recognizes that Fu Yanli would not promise to find a partner unless he already had someone in mind 121 135.
• Ji Yuntian — Social acquaintance who becomes implicated in the staged kidnapping of Jiang Xun through Ji Ming’s confession 32 155.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Meeting Jiang Xun and Sharing a Home

• At a banquet, Jiang Xun openly admires Fu Yanli’s physique, prompting him to look at the younger man with renewed interest 5.
• After returning from a trip, Fu Yanli finds Jiang Xun asleep on his sofa. He subsequently provides him with a room and makes him breakfast, forgetting to prepare any for Chu Xingye 15 16.
• Reassures Jiang Xun that he is “perfectly fine” despite the disparaging rumors surrounding him 28.
• Witnesses Jiang Xun’s exceptional piano performance while drunk, becoming increasingly aware that he is hiding important things 48.

Protection and Growing Attraction

• Helps rescue a young man from three violent debt collectors and later protects Jiang Xun from Jiang Zixing’s friends 34 67.
• Jiang Xun confirms Fu Yanli’s attraction through a mind-reading skill card, ending his hope that the attention is purely familial 72.
• Arranges specialist treatment for Jiang Xun’s damaged hearing 74.
• Rescues Jiang Xun from the knife-wielding Jiang Yongqiang. After taking Jiang Xun home, he visits the warehouse where his bodyguards are holding Jiang Yongqiang and beats him 78 79.

Confession and Beginning the Relationship

• Asks Jiang Xun to be with him during a camping trip. When Jiang Xun invokes his prospective engagement to Chu Xingye, Fu Yanli emphasizes that they are not actually engaged 85 86.
• Comforts Jiang Xun through a temporary hearing emergency, then uses the fact that Jiang Xun sought him first as evidence of trust and affection. In the hospital stairwell, he kisses him despite resistance and demands to stop 101 102.
• Reveals the truth about his marriage and promises that they can be together openly 108 109.
• Jiang Xun visits him early in the morning, explicitly agrees to become his partner, and asks for a kiss 112.

Surgery and Family Disclosure

• Travels to Country E for Jiang Xun’s ear surgery, presenting the visit to the Jiang family as a convenient stop during a business trip 121.
• Cares for Jiang Xun after the operation; the reported prognosis is that hearing in his left ear could recover to approximately fifty percent 122 123.
• Jiang Huaijin discovers them holding hands. Fu Yanli explains his divorce and promises not to let Jiang Xun be mistreated 124 125.
• Confirms the relationship to Chu Xingye and faces his own family’s anger. Despite accepting a reprimand and several blows, he insists that their opposition will not change his decision 134 135.
• Begins visiting the Jiang household openly and cultivates a warm relationship with Deng Shu 138.

Birthdays and the Car Crash

• Celebrates his thirtieth birthday with Jiang Xun’s homemade cake, rose, handmade mug, and piano performance. Unlike previous birthdays spent working, he earnestly makes a wish and blows out candles 148.
• Survives a severe car crash and recovers within ten days. He keeps investigating because he remains uneasy about whether it was truly accidental 154 155.
• By three years into their relationship, visits the Jiang home frequently enough to keep daily necessities in Jiang Xun’s room 160.

Jiang Xun’s Illness and Death

• After Jiang Xun develops persistent nosebleeding, fever, and worsening bruises abroad, Fu Yanli brings him back to City A. Tests confirm high-risk acute myeloid leukemia M2, and Jiang Xun begins treatment 163.
• Celebrates his thirty-third birthday with Jiang Xun and their family. He eventually grants Jiang Xun’s request to watch a mountain sunrise, carrying him to the car before dawn; Jiang Xun subsequently loses consciousness in his arms 169.
• Waits outside the hospital room in visible distress and later breaks down at Jiang Xun’s bedside, asking whether the secrets behind his own recovery might offer hope 170.
• Climbs 999 temple steps in the rain and prays to give Jiang Xun half his lifespan. He keeps the other half because he wants to remain by Jiang Xun’s side 171.
• After Jiang Xun’s death, takes his cold hand, repeatedly kisses his fingertips, and begs him to wake up before collapsing into grief 172.

Notable Quotes

“You're perfectly fine. Don't worry about what other people say.” 28

“He'll be my partner, my other half for the rest of my life.” 108

“More than anyone, I want him to be happy.” 125

“Mom, Dad, whether you approve or object, it won't affect my relationship with Xiao Xun.” 135

Trivia

• In the original novel remembered by Jiang Xun, Fu Yanli was a minor supporting character mentioned only briefly when Chu Xingye and Lin Jian went home to meet the family 5.
• Jiang Xun frequently calls him an “old pervert,” contrasting his respectable appearance with his private thoughts and behavior 72 103 141.
• His claim to be a “fox spirit” is a teasing response to Jiang Xun’s questions about his recovery, not a confirmed supernatural identity 155.
• When he tells his family that he will never have children, his father mistakenly interprets the declaration as evidence of a medical problem 120.
• Before his thirtieth birthday celebration with Jiang Xun, he had not worn a birthday crown, wished over a cake, and blown out candles since turning ten 148.