Shi Yan

Biodata

Background / History

Family and childhood

Shi Yan was born into one of Beicheng’s leading wealthy families, whose businesses span multiple industries and countries. His father, Zhao Shengqi, came from the countryside and married into the Shi family after meeting Shi Ning, Shi Yan’s mother, at school 10 53.

Zhao Shengqi gradually undermined Shi Ning’s confidence, discouraged her from learning company management, and pushed her into domestic isolation. Her health deteriorated by the time Shi Yan was seven, and she died by suicide when he was nine. Shi Yan later discovered that Zhao Shengqi had also been giving her drugs that damaged her health 54.

After Shi Ning’s death, Zhao Shengqi married Su Yue. Her apparent devotion—including rescuing Shi Yan from a freezing river—eventually won over a child desperate for maternal affection. At eleven, however, Shi Yan dreamed that she would abandon him during an outing. When she proposed a trip the following day, he refused and began distrusting her 54.

Discovery and revenge

At seventeen, Shi Yan dreamed that Zhao Shengqi would strip the Shi family’s assets, flee with Su Yue and their son, and leave his maternal grandparents to die after the family’s bankruptcy. He warned his grandfather and commissioned a secret investigation. It exposed Su Yue as Zhao Shengqi’s longtime lover and accomplice, as well as their son’s role in administering slow-acting poison to Shi Yan’s grandfather 54.

After a year of preparation, Shi Yan arranged for Zhao Shengqi to be run over and left paralyzed. He then shattered Su Yue’s kneecaps and wrist bones with 120 hammer blows, one for each month of his mother’s ten-year marriage. He kept both perpetrators alive in the old residence, treating their continued suffering as an unfinished punishment. Although others understood his responsibility, no evidence proved his involvement in the collision 54.

Connection to Li Yi’s previous life

In Li Yi’s previous life, the Lu family intended to use his resemblance to Shi Yan’s cherished first love to secure a business partnership. Li Yi nevertheless states that he never actually met Shi Yan in that life. After Li Yi’s death, Shi Yan retrieved his body, arranged his funeral, and chose an expensive burial plot—acts that prompted the reborn Li Yi to consider repaying him 1 7 144.

Appearance

• Face: Handsome, sharply defined features, prominent brow bones, long eyelashes, thin lips, and very dark eyes 12 100.
• Build: Tall and muscular, with broad shoulders, a tapered waist, and powerful arms 38 98 100 136.
• Expression: Usually cold or impassive; smiling softens his eyes and markedly changes his intimidating appearance 53 100.
• Clothing and scent: Frequently wears suits and fitted shirts. His usual perfume is recognizable to Li Yi on borrowed clothing 38 50 100.

Personality

Shi Yan’s public reputation is that of a cold, ruthless businessman who keeps strangers at a distance and gives opponents little room to recover. His suspicion of others is reinforced by childhood betrayal, and he initially investigates Li Yi rather than accepting his approach at face value 10 12 25.

His cruelty toward Zhao Shengqi and Su Yue is deliberate and sustained. He enjoys seeing his father suffer and prevents his death because he considers the punishment incomplete. Threats against Li Yi can provoke similarly extreme violence: he nearly strangles a paint-throwing attacker, stopping only when Li Yi intervenes 54 109.

With Li Yi, Shi Yan is teasing, indulgent, and physically affectionate. He tolerates playful retaliation, invents excuses to keep Li Yi talking, and makes time for simple pleasures such as pushing him on a swing. He also cares about animals, donates to animal protection, and declines to keep a dog because he cannot properly care for one 38 71 98 115.

His protectiveness includes possessive impulses, but he recognizes that isolating Li Yi would be wrong. He consciously reminds himself that Li Yi needs friends, freedom, and experiences beyond their home. When stranded together, he respects Li Yi’s competence rather than insisting on treating him as helpless 108 117.

Abilities & Skills

Warning Dreams

Shi Yan experiences dreams that reveal dangers and scenes resembling memories of another life 54 118.

• Forewarning: Dreams enable him to avoid Su Yue’s planned abandonment and investigate Zhao Shengqi before the Shi family loses its assets 54 118.
• Recognition: Recurring images of a child named Junjun—including his facial mole, cola, and broken umbrella—guide his search for Li Yi 44 60.
• Fragmentary information: The dreams arrive in disconnected scenes, and Shi Yan initially has no corresponding memories of visiting their setting 44.
• Corroboration: Li Yi later dreams of their childhood encounter and confirms that they met in a previous life, but not in the current one. Shi Yan says the recurring dreams become less frequent after he meets Li Yi 143.

Business Strategy and Investigation

As Huanxing Group’s president, Shi Yan combines financial leverage, private investigations, and legal resources 20 110 136.

• Investigates Li Yi’s background and directs further inquiries into his connection to Miao’an Town 12 20.
• Offers to act against the Lu Corporation but holds back when Li Yi explains that its collapse would damage his inheritance 65.
• Uses investment secured against shares and the Xizhou Plot to pressure the Lu Corporation, becoming its largest creditor 136 139 153.
• Funds legal representation for Lu Chuzhou’s victims and orders continued business pressure to prevent Lu Shixuan from leaving the country 110.
• Selects a professional manager to oversee the Lu Corporation after Li Yi takes control 153.

Physical Strength and Rescue

• Easily lifts, tosses, and catches Li Yi during a playful argument 98.
• Overpowers and restrains the man who throws paint at Li Yi 109.
• Reaches Li Yi in the sea and pulls him to safety after their lives are endangered 117.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Yingjun: An interactive household robot that conducts gardening interviews, assists around the villa, and sends Shi Yan photographs of Li Yi 11 12 20 72.
• Wisteria Garden villa: Contains a garden and multiple themed guest rooms; becomes the home Shi Yan shares with Li Yi 21 65 80.
• Shi family old residence: His private property, with secluded hot springs and household staff 161.
• Watches: Uses a watch as collateral to rent bicycles during Island Love. Later wears a limited-edition watch chosen for him by Li Yi 88 150.

Relationships

• Li Yi — Initially his gardener, later his boyfriend. Shi Yan identifies him as Junjun, the child he has sought for years, and becomes a source of protection, affection, and practical support 21 60 118.
• Shi Ning — His deceased mother. He remembers her gentleness and habit of feeding birds; her abuse and death motivate his revenge against Zhao Shengqi and Su Yue 54 160.
• Zhao Shengqi — His father and the architect of the scheme against the Shi family. Shi Yan leaves him paralyzed and keeps him alive as punishment 54.
• Su Yue — His stepmother and Zhao Shengqi’s accomplice. Her attempted abandonment first triggers Shi Yan’s distrust; he later permanently disables her 54.
• Maternal grandparents — His surviving family elders, whose lives and assets he saves through his warning dreams. He later brings Li Yi to meet them at Jade Spring Villa 118 158.
• Peng Yuyan — Close friend and divorce lawyer. Their friendship includes blunt teasing; Peng handles the aftermath of Shi Yan’s assault on Li Yi’s attacker 29 31 110.
• Qi Feiyu — Close friend and surgeon. In the original novel’s course of events, the loss of Shi Yan’s friends contributes to his worsening instability 32 37.
• Lu Junjia — A false lead in his search for Junjun. Shi Yan concludes that the Lu family misled him about Lu Junjia’s resemblance to the child in his dreams 53 60.
• Liu Xu — The elderly butler whom Shi Yan and Li Yi welcome into their household and appoint to manage the villa 153.
• Sheriff — Li Yi’s tuxedo cat, whom Shi Yan allows to stay at the villa and personally helps care for 25 38.

Story Role / Major Arcs

From Employer to Protector

Li Yi initially chooses Shi Yan as a potential ally because his wealth and reputation could discourage others from targeting Li Yi’s inheritance. Shi Yan rejects the suggestion of “keeping” him, but Li Yi later reaches him by applying for the gardener position at his villa 2 10 11 12.

Their relationship develops through daily contact. Shi Yan offers to handle people following Li Yi, publicly challenges Lu Xingluo after she knocks down his plate, and lends him a clean shirt. When Li Yi leaves the Lu family home, Shi Yan invites him to live at Wisteria Garden 38 50 65.

Finding Junjun

Li Yi’s account of being lost as a child matches details from Shi Yan’s recurring dreams. His mole and memories of a broken umbrella convince Shi Yan that he has found Junjun; Pei Ling’s confirmation that Li Yi lived in Miao’an Town strengthens that certainty 60 71.

While stranded on an island, Shi Yan explains the dreams and his years of searching. He confesses his feelings, Li Yi accepts, and they share their first deliberate romantic kiss beside the fire 117 118.

*Island Love* and Public Confession

Their appearance on Island Love combines flirtation with mounting conflict involving Lu Junjia and Zhou Xuanze. After obtaining footage of Lu Junjia deliberately throwing their rescue rope into the sea, Shi Yan announces that he will report him to the police 84 108 125.

Already together privately, Shi Yan and Li Yi use the show’s final confession to acknowledge their relationship publicly. Shi Yan arranges a seaside dinner, Yingjun’s arrival, and a fireworks display 135.

The Lu Corporation and Shared Future

Shi Yan’s financial pressure helps bring the Lu family to seek Li Yi’s assistance, but he supports Li Yi’s refusal to return home. He later helps interpret Lu Shixuan’s unexpected concern and arranges their Mid-Autumn Festival meeting 139 140.

After Li Yi is hospitalized, their matching dreams establish their previous-life childhood connection. Finding Li Yi’s notebook—with its recorded death date and reference to Shi Yan retrieving his body—leads Shi Yan to suspect that the Lu family caused Li Yi’s earlier death 143 144.

Shi Yan subsequently supports Li Yi at the Lu Corporation’s shareholders’ meeting, helps establish professional management, and settles into a shared household with Li Yi and Liu Xu. Later chapters show him introducing Li Yi to his maternal grandparents and traveling with the nursing-home elders 153 158 161.

Notable Quotes

“Don’t worry about Li Yi. I, Shi Yan, keep my word.” 71

“I don’t suspect it. I’m certain.”
— On identifying Li Yi as Junjun 118

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you with anything you want to do.” 125

Trivia

• Shi Yan is afraid of ghosts, a trait Wang Song teases him about despite his intimidating stature 136.
• Before Li Yi began living at the villa, Shi Yan returned there only three or four times a month; afterward, he started coming home daily 80.
• His fishing knowledge is limited: he uses oversized balls of bait and needs Li Yi to explain the basics, though some of his questions are deliberate teasing 115.
• He pays Xu Hang’s medical and nutritional expenses, a fact he invokes when Peng Yuyan asks him for another legal fee 150.