With love and career both going badly, Shen Xiuyuan just wants to return to his hometown, lie flat, and live like a salted fish. His ex-girlfriend's words about a "better life" still ring in his ears, while the notice that he was being let go during his internship cuts like ice. Exhausted and dejected, he has barely stepped through the front door when, instead of a warm welcome from his parents, he is hit by a storm of pressure to get married.
Just as much in hot water is Xu Zhixia, the childhood friend who grew up next door. Faced with the elders' "crushing siege," the two hit on the same idea: a marriage of convenience! Each gets what they need, neither interferes with the other, and together they can silence all the gossip. Shen Xiuyuan breathes a sigh of relief, figuring he can finally get back to his lie-flat plans and enjoy the peace and quiet of being "married" in name only.
But the story veers off course from the very beginning. The mutual respect and clear boundaries he imagined? Not a chance!
Xu Zhixia, his willowy, long-legged, dazzling childhood-friend "wife," is like a freshly made, impossibly sweet rice cake, clinging to him without warning! A sleepy hug in the morning, casually snuggling up while cooking, insisting on sitting right beside him to watch TV, even stealing a goodnight kiss before bed (all supposedly "part of the ritual of being married by agreement")... Her presence is impossible to escape, and her easy affection sends his heartbeat into disarray.
Shen Xiuyuan is bewildered. Weren't they supposed to stay out of each other's way? Weren't they just sharing a home? What's with this clingy girl? The walls he has so carefully built around his heart are crumbling before his eyes under her gentle, persistent campaign of affection.
He thought returning home would be a safe harbor, the end of the road for his lie-flat life. He never expected to tumble headfirst into a soft, sweet haven of tenderness called Xu Zhixia.
Progress is fast, no cow, no virgin, straight to the point
There is no ambiguity about the single heroine, and the development is rapid.
So sweet and worth seeing
It's pretty, not ridiculous, and very sweet!
The author's writing is very good and the content is very sweet!