A Fake Marriage? One Tease From His Sweet Wife, and the Rough-Hewn Man Loses Control Every Night

[Period setting + frontier construction corps + marriage first, love later + insecure, rugged, devoted loyalist vs. stunning, alluring diva]

Ruan Yufu, a celebrated star of the capital, falls from grace overnight and is sent to work in an agricultural reclamation corps on the harsh frontier.

To escape harassment from local thugs, she grits her teeth and marries Yan Lie, the corps' fiercest pioneer-team captain.

"I'm just a rough sort. I'm not good enough for you. Let's make it a fake marriage. When things calm down, I'll let you go."

Yan Lie protects her so thoroughly that not a drop of harm reaches her.

He takes care of every dirty, exhausting chore. While everyone else makes do with coarse food, he hunts in the mountains to nourish her. Yet he stubbornly insists they sleep in separate rooms, afraid his own uncouthness might sully this swan.

Ruan Yufu thinks she will remain unmoved, but gradually sees through the insecurity and devotion beneath this lone wolf's hard exterior.

She doesn't want him as a bodyguard. She wants him as her husband.

So, on a winter night when heavy snow seals off the mountain, she walks into his room barefoot, wearing only a thin silk qipao.

"Yan Lie, I'm cold." She takes his rough, calloused hand and presses it against her waist.

Yan Lie jerks as if shocked and tries to pull his hand back. "Ruan Yufu, stop fooling around. Put your clothes on and go back."

Instead of retreating, Ruan Yufu straddles his lap, her gaze sparkling. "Didn't you say you'd protect me for the rest of my life? You don't even dare hold me?"

The last thread of the man's restraint snaps. He flips her onto the heated brick bed, showering her with rough, overwhelming kisses, his madness unleashed after years of suppression.

"You asked for this. From now on, even if you die, you'll die on my bed!"