Jilted at the Altar, I Marry a Wealthy Heir by Contract

[Wealthy families + marriage first, love later + sweet romance] [Socially anxious, insecure writer vs. scheming, calculating heir to a wealthy family]

Xia Yao is socially anxious and afraid of being alone with strangers, especially men. At twenty-six, her parents finally reached the limit of their patience with the gossip. Unemployed and under pressure to marry, she decided to enter into a marriage-of-convenience agreement with a friend. But on the day they were supposed to register their marriage, her friend stood her up, so she impulsively married a stranger instead. She cautiously proposed that the marriage last one year, that she wouldn’t be expected to perform a wife’s duties, and that neither of them interfere in the other’s private life during that time.

Chu Hanyu, heir to a wealthy family, had been forced into a blind date. His date was late, and he already disliked arranged marriages, so he went straight to Xia Yao and proposed a marriage of convenience. Gazing intently at the petite, gentle woman across from him, he said, “I agree to what you just proposed, but we’ll add one more condition: a notarized agreement keeping our assets separate.”

Xia Yao agreed without a second thought, and they entered into their arrangement.

One day, Chu Hanyu complained to his childhood friend, looking troubled. “Do I look like some kind of monster to her? I almost confessed to her, and guess what she did? She ran off. I was completely stunned.”

His friend laughed without mercy. “I wonder who it was that said he’d never fall for a woman in his life, and that this marriage was just an agreement, with an immediate divorce once the term was up. So why don’t you just get divorced?”

Chu Hanyu: “I’d rather tear down ten temples than break up one marriage.”