To protect the cultural relic restoration studio passed down by her ancestors, Shen Tinglan gritted her teeth and signed a marriage contract. Her groom was Jiang Jingshen, the “Wolf of Wall Street” of the investment banking world, a man who seemed to have “quantifying everything in terms of profit” written into his DNA.
He needed a Mrs. Jiang with “no strings attached” to reassure his clients. She needed money to keep her studio afloat. They agreed to live together but sleep in separate rooms, act the part without getting emotionally involved, and part on good terms after a year.
But the deal went wrong from the very beginning.
At a business banquet, a rival deliberately splashed red wine on her. She pulled out the mineral pigments she used to restore ancient paintings and sketched a spray of ink plum blossoms over the stain with a few strokes. As she dazzled the room, Jiang Jingshen’s gaze shifted for the first time from seeing her as a “prop” to seeing her as an “unexpected surprise.” Late one night in his study, unable to sleep as PTSD tormented him, he saw her crouched over a worktable restoring an ancient painting. The warm light wrapped around her profile, and for the first time, he felt a sense of peace.
He began memorizing that she didn’t eat scallions or ginger, and “happened to be passing by” whenever he found rare restoration materials for her. He insisted it was all to “maintain Mrs. Jiang’s dignity.” When his clients questioned the authenticity of an ancient painting, she identified the truth by examining its fibers and ink, helping him secure a billion-yuan deal and showing him what it meant to stand side by side like two trees.
When the contract was exposed and her studio was destroyed, Jiang Jingshen didn’t choose the “optimal solution” of cutting ties. Instead, he used all his resources to protect her. “My marriage to Tinglan is the most successful investment I’ve ever made.”
Later, he burned the contract and pressed her hand against his palm. “The contract never accounted for you. Now I’ll spend the rest of my life paying the penalty for breaking it. Will you accept?”
In the end, the investment banking elite’s rational calculations lost to the gentle craftsmanship of a cultural relic restorer. This is a story of mutual redemption that begins with a contract and lasts a lifetime, a battle of wits between two brilliant minds, sweet enough to reach the heart!
