In 1988, 180-jin Lin Xiaowan was set up by her stepmother, Wang Cuihua, and spent the night with a homeless drifter sheltering from the rain in a leaky, rundown county-town inn.
A year later, she'd shed 80 jin and was wearing a printed polyester shirt and red leather shoes she'd just brought back from Yangcheng. Selling bell-bottoms at the night market had made her the most radiant ten-thousand-yuan household on the block, as the residents of the workers' apartment buildings called her.
But Wang Cuihua was jealous of her money. She took a 500-yuan bride price to sell her to an abusive old widower, then used ration coupons to arrange a blind date at a state-run restaurant between her own daughter, Lin Jiaojiao, and an overseas Chinese investor returning to China.
Lin Xiaowan finished counting the big bills in her tin box, then rushed straight into the state-run restaurant and plopped down in front of the tycoon. “I'm stealing this blind date!”
Shen Jiange, the Hong Kong tycoon rumored to be ruthless, pushed a contract toward her. “We'll register a marriage of convenience and keep out of each other's business.”
Lin Xiaowan was delighted to focus on her career and build her business bigger and stronger. Little did she know that Mr. Shen, so impeccably dressed while negotiating projects worth tens of millions by day, would corner her under the grapevine in their courtyard at night.
“Mr. Shen, we agreed this was a fake marriage and we'd each live our own lives.” Lin Xiaowan clutched her ledger in protest.
Shen Jiange pulled an old 20-cent note from his suit pocket. His rough fingertips stroked the paper as he lowered his voice. “You slept with me a year ago and left me just 20 cents? Boss Lin, how do you plan to settle this bad debt?”
