Weaving Warmth

(1v1, two equally formidable leads, the aloof beauty Third Miss Wen of the capital × the gentle and restrained Shen Yuanhe, heir of the Shen family)

Shen Yuanhe was like snow in the mountains and the moon in the clouds.

Everyone wanted to know who could claim this unattainable beauty, but very few knew that the young master of the Shen family had kept a girl in his heart for many years.

Wen Ran knew. She had once heard him say it with her own ears.

At the first formal meeting between their families, the young woman wore a long black dress that accentuated her slender waist. Shen Yuanhe wanted nothing more than to take her home and hide her away.

Later, after the young woman had a little to drink, she pressed him against the car. Her warm, alcohol-scented breath brushed his ear as she murmured, “Shen Yuanhe, I want you to marry me. I want Grandma to be happy.”

Wen Ran couldn’t remember when the prayer beads had disappeared from the man’s hand. Now that hand was wrapped around her waist as Shen Yuanhe said in a low voice, “Ranran, I only want you to be happy.”

One

No one knew when word first spread that Third Miss Wen, who had just returned from abroad, was engaged to Shen Yuanhe. Before long, everyone knew.

Everyone said the engagement was nothing but a formality.

That was until one day, someone saw Shen Yuanhe at the temple outside the city, renowned for granting prayers for safety. He climbed the steps and knelt at every one, utterly sincere.

Later, when someone asked why, he replied, “I only pray that my wife, Wen Ran, will have a safe and peaceful life.”

Everyone said that Shen Yuanhe was a god who had descended into the mortal world. Only he knew that Wen Ran had saved him from darkness.

(A note: The male lead is not a Buddhist monk. He stopped wearing the prayer beads after meeting the female lead, and they’re only mentioned in a few lines.)