[Marriage Before Love + age gap + childhood friends who become lovers + a touch of raising-her]
[Innocent and carefree vs. clear-eyed and worldly]
In his third year back in the country, the old man of the family foisted a girl on him.
He’d heard that this girl was twenty and still dug around for birds’ eggs. He frowned.
The first time they met, she was catching a thief. She sicced a pack of hounds on him, chasing him until he was covered in dirt, while she laughed so hard she could barely stand.
And so began their first clash.
He Yun Cheng: “What are you doing here?”
Chu An: “?”
The second clash.
He Yun Cheng: “I’m not going to marry you.”
Chu An: “?”
He felt they couldn’t get a single word in sync. Whenever he faced her, he felt as desolate as a world with no birds in the mountains and no travelers on the roads. Her bizarre way of thinking always left him stunned.
Even rare animals couldn’t compare to how unusual she was.
Eventually, for one reason or another, he relented.
The two families made an alliance, and the pair became husband and wife.
He Yun Cheng took his household register and went to find her.
This time, she was surprisingly clear-headed.
Chu An: “Can we get divorced whenever we want?”
He Yun Cheng: “...”
From the heroine’s perspective
During the summer break of her freshman year, her grandfather sent her to stay with a man she hadn’t seen in ten years, whom she called her older brother.
He called it a perfect match and a way to bring the families closer.
She’d never had much say in anything, nor much room to make her own decisions, so she went along with it.
He Yun Cheng was very strict, but luckily, she wasn’t particularly invested in romance anyway.
Sometimes she felt stifled, but she wasn’t unhappy. As she grew up, she’d gotten used to not being valued much and had naturally accepted it.
Whether she knew it or not, she was gentle and compliant, accustomed to taking what came.
The first time anyone treated her as an equal was the day they registered their marriage.
He said, “Once we’re married, we’re one. I’ll always stand by your side. Whatever you stand against, I’ll stand against too.”
The heroine is very aggrieved, being manipulated by the elders in the family, and she feels a bit like being pushed. The male and female protagonists are not always on an equal footing. The male protagonist is always condescending to the female protagonist, and if she doesn't take them seriously, the female protagonist will explode. The author may think that the male protagonist treats the female protagonist a little differently, and he just likes it. Maybe he wants to write a two-way redemption, but from the text, it seems that the male protagonist does not really need it. If a person like the male protagonist wants, he can do everything well, disguise his feelings well, and be a good husband. The male protagonist is too sober, and cannot even be said to be sober. He does not understand love at all, and interests come first. His world is only about interests. He weighs the pros and cons in relationships. He himself said that he will like whoever is suitable for him. I still don't understand how powerful the heroine's stepmother is. Maybe I didn't pay attention to how powerful the heroine's stepmother is. She is not allowed to take the college entrance examination to a prestigious school for fear that the heroine's stepmother will kill someone. Moreover, the heroine grew up in this environment and grew into a little sun. She is strong, optimistic and self-improving. I can understand it, but her innocence is really unnecessary. She should have grown up when her mother died and her father was estranged. She is obviously capable and can work hard to climb up. She has good grades and is obviously very smart. I don't deny that the heroine's grandfather loves her, but he can't protect her as a fool who knows nothing. It's quite incomprehensible for him to develop a character who doesn't understand the world even though he knows she's in danger. The heroine is like a child who has not grown up. When she has no one to love her and her life is threatened, she is so naive. She is stupid. (I have read Chapter 44 so far, and there will be more to come. There may be a reversal) The only grandfather who loved the heroine wholeheartedly died. The hero entangled with one woman after another for investment, holding hands, hugging, kissing and so on. Sisters who care about this, and sisters who want to read sweet pet stories to avoid lightning, will be uncomfortable to death. In fact, the male and female protagonists are not from the same world at all, and they are not suitable. It feels like they are forced together. (I am a high school student, have not entered the society, and my thoughts are not mature. This is just my current evaluation. Different ages have different experiences, and reading this book is also different. It may be because this book, especially the male protagonist, is too realistic, so I really can't like it. I read the novel to see the beauty that is not available in reality. Sisters who like this book, just pretend that they have not seen my comments, be gentle and scorn)