Pei Zhen’s rival in love is Meng Yichen, and his love guru is Zhou Sheng’an.
Outside the marriage registration office, the red marriage certificate stings Pei Zhen’s eyes. He grips Su Nian’s hand so tightly her fingers turn pale. Watching his tense jaw, she knows this whirlwind marriage is nothing but a reluctant compromise forced on him by duty.
“Pei Zhen,” Su Nian says hoarsely, trying to pull her hand free. “If you still can’t let go…”
“Can’t let go?” Pei Zhen turns sharply. His eyes, usually clouded with gloom, now shine with startling intensity. He catches her fingers and rubs the plain band newly slipped onto her ring finger. His voice is more resolute than she has ever heard it. “Su Nian, look carefully. I’m standing here with you.”
Su Nian is stunned. She knows he loves Hu Xiu, a girl as dazzling as the sun. She also knows Hu Xiu loves his younger brother, Xiao Zhiyu. This is a love triangle doomed to go wrong, and she is merely the woman he married to give him a way out when he was at his lowest.
Yet the determination in his eyes now unsettles her.
Later, Su Nian becomes the only little ray of sunshine in his bleak world. She clumsily warms his heart and stays by his side through the long nights when news about Hu Xiu and Xiao Zhiyu comes in. On his birthday, he does something he has never done before and prepares a cake. In the flickering candlelight, he gets down on one knee, not to propose, but to ask, “Su Nian, will you be my girlfriend?”
Su Nian thinks this is the start of their happy ending.
Until news of Hu Xiu and Xiao Zhiyu’s wedding floods every headline. Pei Zhen is silent for three whole days. His ashtray overflows, and his eyes are bloodshot. Su Nian aches for him, but she knows some knots can’t be untied.
One star too many