Male lead's perspective: secret love turns to reality + female lead's perspective: marriage first, love later
A cool, reserved businessman in power (don't judge the male lead by appearances) x a resilient, growing heiress and painter (late to realize her feelings | rather slow on the uptake)
With the Chu family in crisis, Chu Tangqing sat across from Fu Yanshi and calmly signed the marriage contract.
She said, "Mr. Fu, this is only a transaction. Once the Chu family gets through this crisis, we'll part on good terms."
Fu Yanshi lowered his eyes to her signature on the contract. His fingers curled slightly, and his voice betrayed no emotion. "Fine. You can decide the terms."
*
Everyone said this was a business marriage in which both sides got what they wanted, and Chu Tangqing believed the same.
She put away her paintbrush, donned a respectable mask, and prepared to walk away at any moment.
But as they spent every day together after the wedding, she repeatedly caught glimpses of his wholehearted devotion to her.
No matter how busy he was, he came to pick her up in person. He remembered that she couldn't eat spicy food and was afraid of thunder. When others criticized her, he would quietly shield her from them.
The doubts in Chu Tangqing's heart grew and grew, until one day she accidentally opened the brass-bound wooden box that had been locked in the study for years. A young man's sketchbook and yellowed notes laid bare the feelings he had kept sealed away for ten years.
*
Holding the unfinished sketch, she asked in a trembling voice, "Fu Yanshi, was this really a transaction, or was it a plan you set in motion from the start?"
He raised his eyes. Beneath them lay an obsession held back for ten years. He answered softly, "It wasn't a scheme. I waited ten years for the chance to stand by your side."
*
After the art exhibition ended, only the two of them remained in the gallery. Fu Yanshi clasped her hand and lowered his head to kiss her forehead. "My wife was always meant to shine. She deserves to be admired by everyone and treated gently by the whole world."
