A Belated Love in a New Marriage

(Unruffled supermarket sales rep × Heir to a wealthy family who says one thing but means another; set in the 2000s, marriage before love, mutual firsts, age gap, slice of life) In the winter of 2005, in a rundown apartment block in an old factory district in Northeast China, twenty-five-year-old supermarket sales rep Kang Ning stares blankly at a marriage certificate. To escape her awful family, she marries business tycoon Shen Zichuan. On their wedding night, the cold man hands her a contract: First, we won’t interfere in each other’s lives, including but not limited to our social, romantic, and financial lives. Second, when either of us needs it, we may request the other’s cooperation in advance to deal with our families. Third, we won’t live together after marriage, much less have a physical relationship. Kang Ning signs without hesitation. From then on, she stays in her shabby rented room while he lives the life of a wealthy heir. She uses a PHS phone; he carries the latest Nokia. She squeezes onto buses for sales calls; he drives a luxury car to and from five-star hotels. Until the snowy New Year’s Eve When she faints at the hospital due to anemia and is harassed by her sleazy boss, Shen Zichuan, who has been gone for half a year, suddenly appears and shields her. “She’s my wife. It’s none of your business.” The man starts “crossing the line” with increasing frequency: The worst is that night, when he drunkenly corners her against the wall, his breath scorching hot: “Can we… cancel the third clause of the contract?”